Effective conference planning text

Planning Your Conference Effectively

Plan, Execute, Rinse, Repeat

● 20 Speakers● 24 Presentations● 1 (very small) Expo Hall● 7 Sponsors● 30 Team Members● 400 Attendees● 3 Interns● 3 Tracks● 1 Day

Then: MongoNYC 2011

● 50 Speakers● 40 Presentations● 1 Expo Hall● 10 Sponsors● 100 Team Members● 900 Attendees● 10 Interns● 5 Person Film Crew● 7 Tracks● 1 Day

Now: MongoNYC 2012

Plan

There are a few keys to effective planning materials. They should be easy to use, non-exclusive, and they should allow you to clone projects. Below are some tools we use for our conferences.

● Mavenlink ○ use Mavenlink as an overall project management system. Syncs with Google Apps

● Dropbox ○ use Dropbox as a collaborative document store for your team

● Jira ○ use Jira as a project management system for contracts or colleagues who only own one item for

your conferences, such as design and email campaing ● Google Apps

○ use google apps to create calander invites for your speakers and staff, elimating document loss and confusion

● Fiesta.cc ○ create mailing lists easily for your speakers, sponsors and staff.

● Wiki Pages ○ Create wiki pages for your speakers, sponsors and staff to communicate key information in a living

document. ● Eventbrite

○ use eventbrite for registration and ticket sales. Eventbrite is easy to use with almost any CMS and has standard promotional templates for groups without the need for customizeable options.

● Twitter ○ use twitter to promote your event and speakers, and on day of to tweet content in real time

● Qrious ○ use qrious to help your attendees network with each other, to autogenerate nametags with unique

QRC (it syncs with eventbrite), and to provide your sponsors with leads. ● Guidebook

○ use guidebook for your mobile agenda and conference information needs

Planning:

Execute

Execution:One drawback to planning conferences in multiple locations is that you often have no control over your environment, and limited knowledge of your resources until the day of the conference. Here are some ways to help keep your conference environment consistent:

● Wifi Needs: ○ Order wired lines

■ Presenters can use them and you can use them to connect a custom wireless network○ Merakis

■ cloud managed wireless solutions put control of conference wifi in your hands ■ Tips:

● Find out the conferences up bandwidth● Kill the conference's house wifi so you are not fighting with them● Get informed before you buy - Meraki has many different solutions for many different conference

● Walkie Talkies ■ These help your staff communicate immediately. Simple ones work for most environments. #protip: get on

the same channel as your A/V or catering crew, and you will know immediately when there is a problem on your end or the venues

● "Go" Bag: ○ Fill your "go" bag with these goodies and refresh immediately after a conference, and you will never be scrambling

for sharpies again! ■ scissors, tape, med kit, twine, extra stickie labels, pants, pens, sharpies, batteries, usb keys, extra charges

and extension cords

Execution (Con't)● Film Equipment (try B&H for your needs!)

○ Record your speakers to add value to your website, or just to provide internal feedback, and avoid the cost of a film crew and the uncertainty that comes from having to use different film crews in different cities!

○ We like: Sony HXR-MC50U Ultra Compact Pro AVCHD Camcorder,Sennheiser EW112-p G3 Camera Mount Wireless Microphone System with ME2, Lavalier Mic (G: 566-608MHz), Sony VCT-60AV Tripod with Remote in Grip

○ #protip: buy a super durable external hard drive to back up your video immediately● Presentation Equipment:

○ Buy 3 - 5 laptops and laod them with presentation software. ○ This allos you to pre set your resolution, manage controls like hibernate, and keep speaker transitions

smooth

Rinse

Manage Feedback (Rinse)

● Collection and managing feedback presents several difficulties. You want your feedback to be in depth, but you also want it to be low entry barrier, and you want your attendees to engage in feedback while it is fresh in their minds. Here are some tools we use.

● Twitter ○ Set up a twitter handle dedicated to your conferences. Ask people to tweet at you with feedback, and use

DM to engage in dialogue. This creates a low entry barrier method of getting feedback with potential for more in depth conversation, and it prevents one negative comment (or even just a silly comment) from turning into spam on your #event twitter feed.

● Guidebook ○ Set up low entry barrier questions on guidebook with general multiple choice questions, and a link to your

full survey● SurveyMonkey

○ Use survey monkey to create a conference survey that ecompasses every talk, meal and any other aspect of your conference for complete feedback. Use giveaways to encourage participation

● JIRA○ Use JIRA to encourage and promote internal feedback. Your colleagues are probably passionate about

your work and have a lot to say, but may feel intimidated by addressing you directly or even feel badly for providing criticism on something you've worked very hard on. Start general and get more specific based on what feedback you get the most!

Special Sauce - Time to Repeat

● Know your team● Know your resources● Know your audience

Additional Resources

● [email protected]● @melia_10gen● http://www.mongodb.

org/display/DOCS/Conference+Management+Tools