5 Ways to Run a Smooth and Successful Convention

Planning ahead and having a clear timeline are key for running successful conventions and conferences.

Running a convention or conference of just a few days can take months of planning.

What can make or break a smooth conference or convention you’re planning is how you spend those months. By spending time on setting goals, marketing effectively, planning for worst-case scenarios, your attendants can leave with the best experience possible.

Here are some ways you can make your next conference go smoothly — whether it’s your first or your tenth.

1. Set clear goals and deadlines

Having a clear timeline throughout your convention-planning process will help you stay on track and avoid scrambling days before the event.

Booking a venue, speakers and vendors can eat up much of the planning process. Setting goals like booking five vendors or reaching out to three venues by a certain date can help you lock down those key details sooner than later.

It’s not enough just to make a plan. You have to stick to it, too. Use your team to split up tasks and hold each other accountable to make sure nothing falls through the cracks.

2. Know your audience

Your planning process should always keep the needs, wants and interests of your attendants first.

The look, feel and demographic of a digital marketing conference is probably going to look vastly different than an accounting conference. By knowing exactly who your target audience is going to be, you can focus your time finding speakers and planning events that they’ll actually enjoy.

3. Plan for worst-case scenarios

Make it a point to think of everything that can go wrong ahead of time. There’s no such thing as overthinking it.

What if someone on your team leaves the conference programs at home? What happens if a speaker or vendor drops out of your conference the day before? Those are the types of questions you need to ask yourself long before your event starts and create backup plans.

You should also get to the venue as early as possible. Hopefully you won’t have any metaphorical or literal fires to put out before the event starts, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.

4. Test your tech

Test all your technology ahead of time and bring backup devices. Many conferences have an IT person dedicated to this task.

Some presenters may rely heavily on a computer for their sessions. They might be able to press on without a computer or projector, but the quality of your conference may suffer.

That’s why checking everything ahead of time can improve your event — and save everyone from watching you tinker with a projector for 10 minutes. Test it early and make a swift replacement if you need to without affecting your speakers or attendees.

5. Keep virtual components in mind

If your event is completely virtual or hybrid, test your processes well ahead of time. Since hybrid and virtual events are more popular than ever, your attendees probably have high expectations that your virtual components will be done right.

It may be easy to overlook your virtual components if you’re doing a hybrid event. But your virtual attendants matter just as much as your in-person ones. You should have people dedicated to making sure that both mediums go smoothly.