Conference Planning

***Note: if you came here hoping to find find help on how to plan conferences, click here to go to Conference Planning Checklist.

Definitions and Technicalities

Conference planning goes hand-in-hand with corporate meeting planning, and in many ways these two event planning areas overlap. While the exact distinction is hard to define, here are some main differences:

Meetings are usually (there are always exceptions, and no steadfast rules):

• hosted by and targeted to one company
• internal in nature (designed for employees of the host company) (click here for a more thorough explanation).
• less than 3,000 people
• held in one venue, such as a hotel
• constructed of only meetings, and not an exhibit hall or trade show floor.

Conferences and Conventions, on the other hand, usually:

• are hosted by an organization or an association
• are external; open to other companies in the industry, or to the public
• can vary in size, but commonly average around 10,000 attendees
• due to the large size, are held in a convention center, with the attendees staying in multiple hotels. Sometimes a convention is so large that it literally takes over a city, utilizing every hotel room in town. This is called a city-wide convention.
• consist of various seminars happening simultaneously, along with a large Exhibition Hall or Trade Show.

Along the same lines (just to make things even MORE confusing), conventions almost always include an exhibit floor, or a trade show. Click here to read more about trade shows.

What exactly is a convention?

If you’ve never attended one, it is hard to fathom exactly what a convention is. However, you have heard of them, you just don’t know it. Ever heard of a Star Trek convention? Sure – it’s a common source of jokes, referring to the thousands of people who converge on a town to mingle with other people who share the same obsession. They dress up, they hope to meet some of the actors from the show, and spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on Star Trek products.

A convention is no different….other than perhaps the bizarre costumes. A group of people might meet to discuss, learn, share, and otherwise focus on any given topic; computers and software, anything relating to any type of any business, scuba diving expo’s, boat expo’s, sporting expo’s, hunting expo’s, fashion expo’s, cosmetic expo’s, jewelry shows, and the list goes on and on and on.

And, just like anything else, someone has to plan, implement, and supervise the entire thing. In addition, each exhibiting company has to have someone plan their part of the pie; the seminars they might be hosting, the trade show exhibit or trade show booth, the food functions, and even the evening events. There’s big business in conference planning; and would be a great source of steady income for future planners just like you!

Conference Planning

Conventions and conferences make up a large percentage of job opportunities in event planning. Click here to see the startling statistics regarding the event planning industry, and why you should consider making conventions and conference planning a focus in your event planning career.

If you are interested in working conferences and conventions, there are a number of routes to take. The following are just a few of the positions that work directly with conferences and conventions:

• Your local convention center, as a CSM (convention services manager); this is the liaison between the venue (the convention center) and the client or host companies or organizations who handle their internal conference planning.
• A planner within the host organization (for example, the Star Trek Convention has an organization that plans the convention every year)
• A planner within any company that attends conventions (for example, any of the costume companies, toy companies, media companies, websites, or anyone else that deals with Star Trek products). Many large companies have entire departments dedicated solely to conventions and conferences, in the interest of PR.
• Trade Show Exhibit / Display Companies: Trade show booths and displays are a huge business; if you have a creative streak, you might find your place here.
• DMCs: Destination Management Companies are the local experts in any city, and manage anything from the transportation to the decor for the huge evening events. Click here to learn more about DMCs.

So, while most people think that “corporate meeting planning” and “conference planning” don’t sound nearly as glamorous as “party and event planning,” it is a dynamic, fast-paced, large scale, and consistent form of big income, with endless opportunities for you to find your career.