Putting on a Regional Conference

Great Lakes Regional Conference Planners

7/13/2015

July

History of the GLRC

• The Great Lakes Regional Conference has been rotating around the Great Lakes Chapters since 2007.

• The first GLRC Conference was in Michigan.

• This year, GLRC9 will be held in Cleveland. Here is the logo:

July

Conference Logistics• Regional Leader Jack Stein has performed

considerable research into various professional groups that host conferences.

• Jack has identified these two that are appropriate for INCOSE conferences:– IEEE Computer Society Technical Meetings

Handbook– Convention Industry Council (CIC) Body of

Knowledge• See Jack Stein’s “Event Guide” Draft v1

July

GLRC9• For GLRC9, we created a task list from Jack’s

research and assigned a Project Manager (Ernest Ansu-Gyeabour – Treasurer of the Cleveland Chapter.)

• We invited other chapters to participate by taking one of the roles.

• The team meets weekly to update tasks status and make sure the project is working well.

• You need to start no later than 12-16 months in advance of the date!

July

GLRC9 Roles• Project Manager: Ernest Ansu-Gyeabour• Publicity Chair: Patrick Hagerty• Local Arrangements Chair: Bill Klinger• Finance Chair: Marian Cronin• Exhibits Chair: Edith Parrott• Publications Chair: Rose Schamberger• Program Committee Chair: Carl Dister• Session Chair 1: Thomas Lockhart• Session Chair 2: Jack Stein• Session Chair 3: Stephen Lewis• Tutorial Chair: Larry Bugh• Registration Chair: Katie Trase

July

Profit Sharing

• A profit sharing plan is established between the chapters.

• Volunteer time and sponsorship is tracked – profits (and losses) are split among the various chapters

July

Hotel Contracts / Venue

• Picking a hotel is one of the longest lead items.

• Signing the contract is daunting – the hotel usually has strong penalties for cancellation and the Host Chapter needs to have enough money to cover this until Sponsors are discovered.

July

Sponsors and Budget• Having Sponsors early helps with the budget. • Of course, you can’t get sponsors without a

theme, venue, hotel and some idea of number of attendees!

• The GLRC9 budget for approximately 100 attendees is around $12,000.

• Make sure the host chapter has enough money in their budget to sign any contracts with costly cancellations! Other chapters will help, but the cash comes late in the game – and there is the risk of cancellation with low signup!

July

Sponsorship/Exhibits• Get a person who is outgoing is best, if possible• Really think about your sponsorship levels.

– Do you want to be typical and have only 4 levels which could hamper your limits or have a variety to allow companies to pick what is best for them.

– Think about what benefits you want to provide for each level

• Create a sponsorship flyer identifying levels and benefits

• Create a brochure to help spread the word about the conference.

July

Estimating Attendees and Presenters

• Estimating Attendees and Presenters requires balance!

• The more Extroverted planners (e.g. those with a Marketing/Sales/Exec bent) will want to project high numbers and be full of optimism.

• The Conference Team, typically composed of volunteer engineers are very conservative and are offended, or may even walk away, if optimistic numbers are thrust upon them (“we get this enough at our day jobs!”)

July

Conference Days

• Some folks wanted the conference to be held over a weekend since their employer won’t always pay.

• Some folks wanted at least one weekday in case they can’t attend the full weekend.

• GLRC9 therefore is holding the conference on a Friday/Saturday with Tutorials on Sunday

July

Helpful Technology

• Easychair – Very helpful for submitting presentations and reviewing

• Regonline – Several options available for more complex registration pages

July

Tracks

• Allow plenty of time between presenters for room changes and networking.

• Consider keynotes at breakfast or lunch while the rest eat – this saves time.

• Make sure to have some good tours and fun local events, e.g. a Banquet at a local famous location.