How to Structure your Conference
Timing is everything, especially in a business sense, so if you’re planning a conference, you’re going to want to set out some structural guide lines before hand to help everything run smoothly. Sometimes over planning can be an issue but by setting up a basic skeleton of what will happen and when will warrant a successful conference. At Kents Hill we have fully compliant meeting spaces for your hire, with modern amenities and details so don’t hesitate to get in touch if you’re looking for the perfect venue.
The finer details
To begin with you need to set out the basics. Who do you want to attend the conference and where will you have it? There’s no point hiring out a space that’s too big and equally a lot of people squeezed into a small room will be uncomfortable and steal focus. Set out your guestlist and make allowances for people who might not make it before deciding on a venue. Think about what sort of layout would be best for the conference, be it a lecture theatre for presenting information or a U-shape for a more discussion focused meeting.
The focus
In any meeting or conference there will be one main issue or idea to focus on. Decide what this is and understand how you are going to tackle it in the conference. Make sure this gets resolved and stays as the focus or things will get off track. You can always forward the agenda to the guests ahead of time so that they can get prepared. Listening to the attendees of the meeting is important, so you can always allow the wants and need of your team to influence where it goes next. Equally be aware that the focus can be lost if the conversation becomes irrelevant so keep an eye on that.
Presentation
If you are going to provide a presentation for your conference it can be a good way to aid structure. Note down how long roughly you want to spend on each slide and idea and leave some time for discussion where relevant. If you are presenting with others schedule some time to practise and go over who’s saying what. Make sure all the points are covered and aren’t repeated to save time.
Breaks
If your conference or meeting will span more than a couple of hours its important to structure in breaks for people to get some air, have some refreshments and recuperate. Go over your material and schedule the breaks at appropriate moments, for example at the end of a particular segment so they don’t cause distractions.
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