Are you a natural born leader?
Although it may not always feel like it - when you're alone in the office in the wee small hours stuffing delegate packs - conference organising is a team operation. And chances are, as PA or office professional, you'll win the title of team leader. So how do you assume the mantle and lead your event team from the front?
- Make sure you are comfortable in the role of conference team leader.
If not, investigate some staff development to boost your confidence and
abilities in areas you feel concerned about. Spend time identifying which
new skills you will need, such as financial planning or people management.
- Are there experienced people around you who you can bring into your
team? Even if you only recruit them to cover specific areas, their experience
can be invaluable, and can save you a lot of time and energy.
- Remember that some members of your team will be outside your control,
such as representatives of the host venue. Take time to build effective
working relationships with these people - you will be entirely at their
mercy for many aspects of your event.
- Include on your team only those prepared to attend meetings and to shoulder
an area of responsibility. This is essential for the whole process to be
workable. A conference team is a busy group of people, and there is no room
for passengers. Ultimately it can lead to resentment.
- Be careful not to overload individuals, and offer support to make it
as easy as possible for them to fulfil their roles. Plan meetings for midday
with a light working lunch, for example, or offer clerical assistance if
needed.
- Embrace delegation. As leader of the planning team you may feel you
should be involved in every area, but beware - that way madness lies. Colleagues
will be more willing to contribute if given full responsibility for an aspect
of the event, such as the development of the exhibition running alongside,
or the compilation of delegate packs.
- Be realistic about how long planning and leading a conference is actually
going to take.
- Schedule time in your diary well in advance. You'll need to include
time for planning, administration, troubleshooting and dealing with contingencies
as well as time for the actual event and follow-up activities. Organising
a conference is like an iceberg - the visible bits don't actually make up
the bulk of the endeavour.
- From the outset, create a highly organised system to manage your paperwork.
Trivia can easily get missed if your filing is slack.
- Clear your desk. Ensure you have no major activities in your diary in
the weeks leading up to the event. The point must come where this is the
most important task on your agenda, so re-schedule competing workloads.
- Build a personal conference planning file. This should include all the
duties you have taken on yourself, the places you need to go to, reminders
and checklists about housekeeping, announcements, etc.
- Save your sanity by budgeting in advance - if you can - for a temp to
help you with last-minute administration. You shouldn't be staying up until
midnight on the eve of your conference to finish the badges and signposting.
- Play to your strengths. If you are a visionary with poor finishing skills,
use your talents to set the tone for the conference and step away from the
detailed planning. Try to identify your blind spots, too. We all have them.
What are your 'unconscious uncompetencies'? Difficult question, as they
are 'unconscious', so we're not aware we have them! But be on the lookout
for important things that you don't yet know you're not very good at, and
consider ways to deal with them once you find them.
- Have plans in place to cover you, in the event of illness, accident
or other problems which may prevent your being there. Make sure your team
knows what to do, if this happens. This could well be the truest test of
your leadership skills - the strength of the team you have built!
Want to know more about the art of conference organising? This advice was taken from 'Essential Tips for Organising Conferences & Events', by Fiona Campbell, Alison Robinson, Sally Brown and Phil Race (published by Kogan Page, £15.99). The four authors are all seasoned event organisers, and their book reflects this wealth of hands-on experience in step-by-step tips and guidance.
