Mastering the essentials of conference production

Today’s conference producer faces more challenges than ever before, both within and outside their organisations. The producer must rapidly master new markets as well as the mechanics of production — research, writing, analytics and marketing — all while building and preserving relationships with internal and external partners. By attending this master class on conference production, you will be able to find solutions to the key pinch-points in the production process. Using winning case studies from the Conference Awards, producers will learn best practice through real case studies and examples.

Course outline

Conducting research to develop timely content

• Setting realistic targets for desk and phone research
• Multi-tasking — integrating your research targets with related functions
• Comparing ‘organic’ and ‘one-off’ programme development

Formats for events and sessions/Add-Ons

• Comparing production cycles for LSE, Annual, Stage 1, Roundtables
• Choosing the right format for the content: talk, panel, interview, discussion
• Developing creative (and profitable) add-ons

Writing compelling event and talk titles

• Brands vs. titles vs. straplines — what are they for?
• The conference producer’s play-book: tried and tested titles
• Sub-points and why they matter

Speaker selection, invitation, and liaison

• Setting targets for speakers by seniority, industry, geography, etc
• Managing the inviting phase to ensure deadlines are met
• On-going management of the relationship — what can/should you delegate