In the last post we talked about all the good things that can come out of hosting an international conference and a little bit about how to do it. Well, now that you’ve decided that it’s a brilliant idea and you’re ready to get on with it, here’s a bit more about what’s actually involved.
There are three key stages to your role as conference chair or co-chair: winning the bid, managing the conference, and celebrating its success.
Winning the bid for your city and your country
You will need the support of your national organization, the city and/or venue where the meeting might take place, and a professional meeting management company (hint hint!) to help you with the preparation of the bid to your international organization. These partnerships are crucial to increasing your chances of hosting your organization’s international meeting in your country.
International organizations often require the written support of their national affiliates to host such meetings. Once you’ve got that, the city and venue will have a vested interest in securing the meeting and, in conjunction with Sea to Sky Meeting and Association Management (who else?!), will:
- Provide professionally designed promotional materials at no charge
- Provide financial support in bringing the key decision makers in the international organization to experience the destination
- Produce the bid book, a comprehensive document outlining the ability of the destination to host the meeting and a key tool to convince the international organization’s decision makers
- Build relationships with the international organization’s leaders by visiting them on sales missions and inviting them to events promoting the destination
Sea to Sky, at no cost to you, will draft an action plan and budget and help you, the city, and the venue win the conference for your city and country.
Managing the conference
Once you have won the conference one of your key roles will be to lead and delegate responsibility. This involves assembling your team of volunteers and finalizing an agreement of services with Sea to Sky.
Our job at Sea to Sky is to help you with as much or as little of the work as you need. We’ve got a great team of experienced staff who can help you create the big picture for the conference, establish the infrastructure as well as take care of all the mundane but necessary details that all successful conferences are built on.
Celebrating success
After the conference is finished, you can expect increased exposure for your organization and major new achievements and skills to add to your resume. International conferences are a great way of focusing global attention on timely topics and areas of discussion in your field or industry. Happy and motivated friends and colleagues from around the world will associate the new ideas and best practices they learned with your country’s conference and the people who organized it. All of this is worth celebrating. Cheers!
