The schedule of events at conferences is frequently packed with activities like keynote speeches, panel discussions, breakout sessions, and social gatherings. These international conferences can be a great opportunity to meet new people and broaden your professional network because they attract guests from all around the world.
The main objective of a conference is to bring together people who share interests in order to facilitate information sharing. Speaking, chatting, and networking can help with this. Small or major conferences are typically organized around a specific topic. Smaller meetings might only draw a dozen attendees, whereas larger ones might draw thousands. The major objectives of conference planners are to create a schedule that will pique participants' interest and give plenty of time for networking. Academics, researchers, experts, and professionals congregate at conferences to present the results of their research. Conference papers are shorter, more condensed, and have fewer pages.
Types Of Conferences
Professional Conferences
Firms gather at conferences to discuss many facets of managing a business. These seminars may address everything from marketing and sales tactics to financial management and planning. Business conferences offer excellent chances for professional networking and idea sharing.
Academic Conferences
Scholars and researchers gather to present and debate their work at academic conferences. These conferences may be interdisciplinary in nature, or they may be narrowly focused on a particular discipline or topic of study. Academics, students, and industry experts are frequently present. Academic conferences offer a great chance to meet other experts and learn about recent advancements in research.
Educational Conferences
Education professionals gather at conferences to discuss pedagogical concerns and exchange best practices. These conferences may be transdisciplinary in character or narrowly focused on a particular subject or grade level. Teachers, administrators, and other education specialists frequently attend. Attending educational conferences dramatically enhances the chance to network with other educators and learn about new educational advancements.
Press or News Conference
A trade conference is a gathering where representatives from various businesses or industries discuss strategies to increase trade. Trade conventions may be held locally, nationally, or internationally. Businesspeople, government representatives, and economists are frequently present. A trade conference's main objective is to encourage trade and investment by locating opportunities and dismantling obstacles.
Trade Conference
A press conference is a gathering where a business, group, or government spokesperson addresses the media and responds to inquiries. Press conferences are frequently organized to introduce new ideas and goods or to share news about recent occurrences. Reporters from various media outlets and curious public members often attend these events.
Best Conference Program Design Tools
You don't have to spend hours agonizing over a Google Sheets template or pay a designer to wrangle your sessions into submission when it comes to conference program creation. There are several excellent design tools available that are just ready to do the work for you.
The optimal program tool for your event, however, relies on a few different factors. For instance, if your event's intricate structure cannot be supported by a gorgeous drag-and-drop conference program builder, there is little need in fussing about it. Additionally, if you were holding a showy commercial event, using software meant for creating complex academic schedules would be a waste of time.
Think about your event goals to ensure that you select the tool that is best for you. Do you wish to draw in a global audience of prospective podcast listeners? Or do you hope to host the astrophysicists' preferred conference in your area? Different conference program design tools were developed to manage various levels of complexity and satisfy various priorities. Do your research before making a purchase.
Hubilo: Best For A Straightforward Conference Agenda Design
Do you only have a short list of sessions to plan? You are indeed lucky. If your conference program falls on the simpler end of the range, Hubilo is fantastic for designing it. Consider everything from displays to short workshops.
If money is scarce, this application also enables you to build an event website where you can host your presentation online. (Having a good conference website is crucial since it serves as your online storefront.) Additionally, Hubilo says that you can start using it right away. Therefore, if a lack of a program is the only thing holding you back from sharing your event with the world, get to work.
Ex Ordo: The Ideal Program Planning Tool For Research Conferences
Have a more intricate setup? That's a different situation if there are concurrent sessions on each day of your conference, each session can include several presentations, each presentation can have numerous presenters, and each presenter has a bio. Ex Ordo-like software is what you need when you require a conference program design tool that can handle complexity.
A conference program with hundreds of authors, subjects, and submissions can be designed with Ex Ordo's assistance. The ability to check for timing problems between your presenters and session chairs is one of its useful features. Additionally, you can provide downloadable resources for each session, such as presentation files or paper PDFs, to the attendees. The best part, then? All of your conference's content will be available and awaiting to be inserted if Ex Ordo was utilized to gather and evaluate contributions.
Blokks – Best For Design-conscious Conference Programmes
Blokks is the best option for conferences that prioritize design. Blokks claims that they provide "excellent, embeddable schedules." It is also legitimate. You can easily add days, stages, and speakers to your conference agenda thanks to the user-friendly interface. You can also include pictures, YouTube videos, and connections to other ticket providers. Blokks is accessible to all levels of technical expertise. With a few little changes, your calendar can be made to match your conference's logo. Alternately, you might create a conference schedule from scratch. To add the code to your event website, just copy it and paste it, plainly said.
Blokks was created with social interaction in mind and is better suited for a straightforward conference setting. Delegates can save favourite events, receive reminders when they are about to begin, and discover which friends are attending by logging in with Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter.
Sched – Best For Convention Timetable Design
What do the planners of San Diego Comic-Con, the biggest comic and pop culture event in the world, utilize to create its schedule? Sched. A conference program design tool called Sched can handle and sort a lot of sessions and parallel tracks, making it simple for your attendees to find the sessions they wish to attend during your event. Therefore, if you're planning a larger commercial event like a convention, it's perfect for creating your schedule.
Sched is quite helpful if you need attendees to pre-register for individual conference sessions on your schedule. Additionally, you can do useful things like manage session waitlists, determine session capacities, and use data from your most popular sessions to accommodate additional people.
Sava Events – Best For Conference Programmes For Digital-first Delegates
Sava Events is the tool for you if your attendees are tech-savvy individuals who appreciate using the most recent event technology. An event management suite that uses chatbots includes the Sava Events programme designer. You can easily integrate the conference agenda you generate using the conference schedule generator into your website. You can show information on the speakers, a summary of the session, and abstracts. Additionally, attendees can design a personalized schedule of the sessions they want to attend. Once more, the program design is a tad on the basic side, thus this works best for an event with a straightforward schedule.
It's also a helpful tool if you want to keep attendees interested in the program material after the event. Sava will suggest session content to your attendees based on what they attended and evaluated during the conference. You can upload post-conference films of sessions.
Whova – Best For No-nonsense Event Programme Design
With Whova's event agenda planner, you can convert your chaotic schedule into an online conference schedule. To Whova's web dashboard, just submit your program spreadsheet. Even the most complex agenda may be transformed into a stunning web and mobile agenda using the program design tool. Exactly like that. The code created by Whova can then be copied and pasted onto your conference website. Change something in one location, and all of your calendars on other websites will instantly sync.
Bizzabo – Best For Conference Programmes That Drive Engagement
Consider using a conference program design tool like Bizzabo to build impressive speaker bios if your conference is jam-packed with keynote speakers with significant draw. This program builder connects with LinkedIn, so all you have to do is enter the session information and speaker names, and it will automatically grab the speaker bios from LinkedIn.
By including colours and banners, you can change how it looks and feels. And to encourage participation from within your conference program, use built-in elements like session rating, surveys, social sharing, and attendee personal calendars. Additionally, Bizzabo offers useful event marketing capabilities including the ability to create customized program content and URLs for various audience segments.
WP Conference Schedule – Best For Small Events (with Small Budgets)
You might create your schedule using a free plugin like WP Conference Schedule if your event has a WordPress.org website and you have a very straightforward schedule. This plugin will create your schedule in a simple tabular format and can handle single-track and multi-track events. You may switch between bright and dark graphics or change the colour using CSS in your WordPress theme or customize. WordPress themes from templates might also be handy.
It is only truly advised to use a free plugin like this if you have a tech-savvy member of your organizing committee. Otherwise, you can be in danger if something goes wrong just before the conference day.
Regpack
Use Regpack to build an endless number of attendee kinds and modify registration forms. You can use a mobile device to check people in, or you can let them do it themselves. Even your website's sign-up page can use the software by embedding it there. Group registration and secure payment processing are further advantages. If you decide to sell goods in addition to the event, you can also add a cart and an instant checkout. Utilize the software's survey function to then ask participants for their feedback.
Member Solutions
Fitness studios frequently use Member Solutions because it was designed to handle membership registrations. It has grown since its founding in 1991 to now feature a variety of tools for event planning. Using a library of templates, its event registration function makes it simple to construct signup forms, liability releases, and other attendance papers. All forms are blank and easily customizable with your company's branding. The email marketing tool of Member Solutions might assist in keeping guests informed about your event if you also dabble in marketing.
Conference Program Design Tips
Designing a conference program involves more than simply the looks. Here are five suggestions for creating an intelligently designed conference program.
Build In Lots Of Breaks
Are the delegates being asked to work nonstop from 8am to 7pm? No one ever runs out of fuel. Plan a lot of breaks so they can rest, process what they've heard, get some fresh air, and have some refreshments. Designing your program with breaks in mind will give attendees precious respite throughout a day filled with learning.
Avoid Overworking Presenters
Make sure that the same presenters are not scheduled for conflicting sessions or numerous presentation times on the same day. You owe your delegates better. When building a program using a tool for program design like Ex Ordo, Member Solutions look out for scheduling problems.
Increase The Variety Of Your Program
With a few spirited conference breakout sessions, you may inject some originality into the design of your event. These enable you to adapt the information to various learning modalities and result in a more individualized event for attendees. Additionally, getting a break from passive learning in the form of lectures can be just what individuals need after a morning of hard oral presentations. To mix things up, you could also include a couple early-bird and late-bird sessions in your schedule.
Establish Specialized Networking Events
Conferences aren't only about the sessions, keep it a secret from your presenters. People can meet new people and reconnect with old ones at networking events, but they can also get to know other delegates in a more casual atmosphere. When designing your conference program, don't forget about these. For specialized groups like department heads or attendees in their early careers, organize casual workshops. Additionally, if your event is big, think about hosting a pre-conference event for visitors.
Contact Your Presenters To Confirm Before The Event
Few things disrupt a session more than multiple absent presenters. To prevent having a program with more holes than Swiss cheese as the conference date approaches, utilize your registration software to check which presenters have signed up to attend. Discover who hasn't, and if required, change your program design to accommodate them. Have someone at the registration desk keep track of which presenters are absent on the conference day, and then reshuffle.
References
- 28 of the Best Event Management Tools for Planners | Social Tables