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conference organizers handbook notes
Casey helpfully sent along this link: http://www.quirksmode.org/coh/
Here are @danbernier's notes on parts of it that are relevant to us running SupaTech, the smaller 2014 conference. Much more of the handbook will be relevant for the bigger 2015 conference.
Where I editorialize, I'll italicize.
I'll link into the handbook as much as I can.
Lots of emphasis here on picking a city & language; we know ours will be New Haven & English.
Split the work into 5 "portfolios":
- Location affairs (venue, hotel, parties, catering, equipment, wifi)
- Administration (ticket sales, attendee database, customer support)
- Marketing (media partners, social media, website)
- Speakers' affairs
- Sponsor affairs
Administration & Location affairs are the most work. Those divisions aren't gospel, but don't load too much work on one person.
Based on our choices, we can cut out some of those categories.
Assume 8 to 12 weeks of full-time work. Again, we can maybe cut some out, but for me, that was sobering to read. read more
Organizer defection. I hadn't thought about this at all. Good to consider. read more
Calculate your risk. Figure how much $ you'd lose if you had to cancel 2 months in advance. It's good to know. read more
You don't necessarily need them. For SupaTech, we're going close to this approach. read more
Don't give them speaking slots: they're less-relevant, less-committed, and annoying. read more
Instead of speaking slots, let them fill a goodie bag, or pay for the party. read more
Sponsor stands depend entirely on the venue. read more
This is great stuff. Read this. read more
8 months out: Pick a venue & speakers' hotel.
5 months out: Start selling tickets. Advertise venue info, hotel suggestions, & some of the speakers.
2 months out: End early-bird sales. Announce more speakers. Speakers are finalizing their bio & talks.
2 weeks out: Ticket sales are picking up. Lots of email from attendees & speakers, asking questions.
2 days out: Print attendee badges. Prepare goodie bags.
The week after: Pay the bills, send thank-you email. Take off the week from work. Srsly.
Subtract 4% of ticket price for handling. EventBrite takes 2.5% + $0.99, capped at $9.95 per ticket, plus 3% for credit-card processing. That means, if we charge < $25, their cut is > 10%. We can pay that ourselves, or make attendees pay it. I say we pay it ourselves: build it into the ticket price. I hate tack-on fees.
Don't assume you'll sell all the tickets.
Budget:
total cost = venue + catering + equipment + speakers' flight & hotel - any sponsor $ you raised
ticket price = total cost / (60 to 75% of your venue capacity)
(Why 60-75%? Because speakers, organizers, and volunteers, plus some buffer to help us break even.)
Have a budget for venue, catering, equipment, and speakers' flight & hotel, plus 10% buffer. Subtract any sponsor money you raised.
"The end of early bird is the most important marketing moment of the entire conference."
Set both a maximum number of tickets and a final date for ending early bird. You might want to advertise fewer early bird tickets than you actually have.
If they want, give 2 free tickets to sponsors.
If sponsors want more tickets discounted (so their dev team can attend), it gives a nice formula to determine how much of a discount to give. read more
There will be 2 big spikes: the end of early-bird, and during the last 2 weeks.
Expect about 2-3% no-shows.
Most ticketing systems don't disburse funds until after the event. I read - but can't find the source - that EventBrite pays you 5 days after. This protects the ticket seller from scammers who host fake events.
We're aiming to minimize need for up-front cash, so should be less of a problem. If we do t-shirts, we'll need the cash up-front, but at least we'll have commitments from registrants.
Keep things close together. Keep the venue & the party pub at most a 10-minute walk from each other: 2/3 of attendees won't know New Haven. Provide a map, and have volunteers guide attendees from venue to party. read more
Picking the venue is crucial, because it's really hard to change. The handbook says, "venues know how to put on a conference because that's what they do, so everything should go tolerably well." But for 2014, that's not something we can rely on. TEAL will make this easier. read more
The venue's capacity determins our attendee limit. It'll need:
- good chairs (sitting ALL DAY)
- stage (big enough for speakers to walk)
- projector & screen
- headset or lapel mics for speakers, & PA
- lights
- wifi
Again, all provided by TEAL
This can be booked 2-4 weeks in advance.
Two rules:
- keep it close to the venue
- no music at the party - people want to talk to each other
Keep it exclusive - you can only get in with a conference badge.
Have a sponsor buy the beer, and put up their logo somewhere.
Some local attendees will skip the party, but most visiting attendees will be there.
Try to make it a New Haven-specific experience. Modern? Bar? ...would Pepe's be too much?