Guidelines for Hosting a Regional Conference

Transcription

1 (Attachment #15) Guidelines for Hosting a Regional Conference So you want to have a Regional Mini conference in your area. Here are some helpful guidelines to use in your planning process.! LEADTIME Since there are many considerations involved in convening a Regional Conference allow a minimum of 18 months for the planning process.! FORM A PLANNING COMMITTEE the more people involved in planning the event the easier and more fun this experience can be, but the Committee should be large enough to carry out the scope of the planned Conference, but small enough to be able to work together. It should also be composed of an odd number of people Try to make your decisions based on consensus of the Committee rather than an actual vote. The following is a list of the key positions that needs to be filled: o Conference Chairperson: Has the overall responsibility for all aspects of the event. Oversees the various committee activities and fills in when needed. Chairs the Committee planning meetings. Coordinates the Conference site selection considerations and signs the contract for the venue once the site is determined. Prepares interim and final reports. o Treasurer/ Registration coordinator: Works with the Planning Committee to develop a Conference budget including determination of registration fees, meal charges if applicable, exhibitor fees, program book advertising rates. Receives all payments and writes all checks. Keeps accurate records of all financial transactions and bank deposits. Maintains a list of all attendee registrations. Arranges for people to staff the registration table at the event. Coordinates the preparation of attendee name badges. o Program/Speaker Coordinator: Works with the Planning Committee to develop an educational program and social events. Works with the Planning Committee to develop a list of potential speakers. Contacts all speakers to determine their willingness to present advising of the suggested topic and the date and time of the presentation. Works with the Volunteer Coordinator to establish workshop monitor need. Prepares speaker introductions. Determines speaker audio/visual needs and takes necessary steps to see that the AV equipment is in the right place at the right time and operational. Determines meeting room set-up requirements and communicates these to the Facility and Food and Beverage Coordinator. o Volunteer Coordinator: Is responsible for recruiting volunteers to serve as workshop monitors, to assist at the registration table, to assist in the stoma clinic if applicable, and to be a resource for attendees seeking information about the local area. 1

2 o Exhibition Coordinator: Works with the Planning Committee to identify potential exhibitors. Contacts Develops exhibition area/hall layout. Arranges for exhibitor tables, chairs and electrical outlets if necessary. Arranges for supplies for the Stoma Clinic if applicable. o Secretary: Works with all members of the Planning Committee to assist with their clerical needs by helping to write letters/ messages to speakers, exhibitors and potential sponsors. Keeps minutes for all Committee meetings and works with the Committee Chairs to track the fulfillment of all action items. Prepares Thank you certificates for all speakers and Conference staff and volunteers. Develops the Conference Evaluation. o Publicity Chair: Is responsible for preparing and distributing Conference flyer/s to area ASGs, UOAA Office, local print and electronic media. Responsible for publishing Program Book. Works with the Program/Speaker Coordinator and the Exhibitor Coordinator to determine contents for the Program Book. Works with the Exhibition Coordinator to solicit advertising for the Program Book. Coordinates activities of photographer if applicable. Works with the Speaker Coordinator to prepare workshop signage. Works with the Volunteer Coordinator for workshop sign placement. o Facility and Food and Beverage Coordinator: Serves as the Planning Committee s point-of-contact with the Conference venue (hotel, etc.) staff. Responsible for working with the on-site Banquet Manager regarding all food and beverage considerations. o Stoma Clinic Manager: This position applies only if a free Stoma Clinic is planned. The Stoma Clinic Manager is a WOC Nurse who is responsible for recruiting fellow WOC Nurses to work in the clinic. The Manager will work with the Registration Coordinator to schedule examinations and the Exhibition Coordinator to secure ostomy supplies. The Facility Coordinator will arrange for a hotel room/s and waiting area for the Clinic. Right from the start a policy has to be adopted that includes a statement regarding the payment of Planning Committee member expenses what if any expenses will be reimbursed.! SELECT A DATE Determine the date/s you want to hold your Conference on. Traditionally a Regional Conference is held on a weekend with a reception/social scheduled for Friday evening; educational programming; product exhibition; Stoma Clinic; and evening banquet (optional) held on Saturday; and, Leadership Training or Visitor Training, or both held on Sunday morning. To get the best room rate try to schedule your event for a time of the year when travel to the area is down and hotel rates are lower. It is recommended that before selecting a date you check with the WOC Nurse Society to determine the dates for their Regional Conferences, especially if you are thinking of holding it in the Fall.! SELECT A SITE Regional Conferences have been held in medical facilities such as hospitals, non-profit organization facilities such as those utilized by ACS, public facilities such as halls, and, 2

3 most frequently, in hotels. These guidelines will address those considerations which come into play when you select a hotel as the venue for your Regional Conference. First, Prepare a Request for Proposal listing the date/s when you plan to hold your Conference and the hotel requirements based on the criteria listed below. Then: 1. Utilize local visitor and convention bureaus. These organizations will take your RFP and shop it to the properties in their service area. Interested hotels will then provide you with a preliminary proposal listing their terms and provisions. Note that these terms and provisions are negotiable. The contract you sign with the hotel where you have the event is crucial to your budget. 2. Check the Internet for possible locations. 3. Personal experience local Regionals in past years or other similar events you might have attended for other events 4. Talk to people who have planned a Regional Conference in the past. 5. Contact the UOAA Office for information and advice Factors that you need to consider when selecting a hotel what is it you require? 1. Room block: This is the number of sleeping rooms you project you and the attendees will need that the hotel will set aside for you. Consider those attendees that do not live close enough to commute to the event they will need a room to stay for the weekend. This room block is a negotiable item and some hotels will penalize you if you do not book (usually 75 0r 80%) of the rooms you have blocked. It is not in your best interest to sign a contract that provides for a guaranteed room block, so try to stay away from this if possible. Be realistic when estimating the number of attendees you might attract. The normal Regional Conference will draw between 70 and 130 attendees. The nightly rate the hotel charges for its rooms is also negotiable and depends on the total number of room-nights that is attributable to your event. (For instance if your room block is 30 rooms and your conference includes 2 nights and you use all of the rooms in your block, then you will have 60 room nights.) Often a hotel will give you one free room night for every 40 to 50 room nights you use. You will want to tell the hotel that the attendees will be responsible for reserving and paying for their rooms. You may want to establish a master bill for the expenses of those VIPs that will be paid for by the Conference. When negotiating the contract ask for the Conference rate to apply a few days before and a few days after for the event since attendees may wish to include your event into a vacation trip. You also need to know what is the cut-off date for the room block at what date do you lose the special Conference rate and the normal rack-rate applies this often varies from 3 to 4 weeks before the Conference date. 2. Meeting space: These are the rooms that will be used for your social functions, your general and breakout educational presentations, your exhibition hall/area and your food functions. Also try to have the rooms for your Stoma Clinic viewed by the hotel as meeting space. Depending upon the number of roomnights you can project and the amount of money that you will spend for your food and beverage functions, and the number of meeting rooms you need, your meeting space may be given to you on a complimentary basis. If there is a charge, keep in mind that this amount is negotiable/ 3

4 3. Space for exhibitors: Before committing to a room for your product exhibition try to utilize common space near the meeting rooms. Space in wide corridors, foyers, reception areas is ideal. 4. Free and ample parking 5. Food: It is best to select a hotel that has a restaurant that will cater your food and beverage events. These food and beverage events may include a Friday night reception, a continental breakfast on Saturday, a lunch on Saturday and an evening banquet. On Sunday there may again be a continental breakfast. It is often possible to get sponsorships for these functions. Consider where your attending will be traveling from. Easy access to public mass transportation is important (buses, trains, airlines). A central location is often a good solution. Types of hotels that best fit the needs of a Regional Conference medium hotels with free parking and an on-site restaurant for food events. Examples are: o Best Western Hotels, Crowne Plaza Suites, Holiday Inns, Local chains o Many areas have Native American resorts and casinos. These types of sites offer added incentives for attendees if you can get the right prices. Be sure to make an on sight inspection. Most hotels will want you to visit. You need to look at the facilities to make sure your needs for space, etc. are what you need. Many hotels will offer an all day package for your event days which could include a continental breakfast, lunch and snack break all for one-price-per-person. This is usually less expensive than picking items from their catering menu. They can tailor the needs of your attendees and make a package that benefits you as well as them. Be sure to include your exhibitors and any speakers who care to stay in your meal counts.! EXHIBITORS Invite all the major ostomy manufacturers and distributors, local suppliers, kindred nonprofit organizations in the area such as the American Cancer Society and the Crohn s and Colitis Foundation of America and don t forget the Youth Rally Committee and UOAA. Give non profits free exhibit space, but give location preference to those who pay a fee. Send a letter of invitation to all potential exhibitors. Remember to a commercial exhibitor the location of their booth is very critical. The most equitable way to handle exhibitor placement is to include an exhibit area layout with the invitation to exhibit and be sure all of the invitations are mailed on the same day. In the invitation instruct them to choose a preferred and secondary location for their booth and make it known that these spots will be assigned in the order that their exhibitor fees are received. Look in The Phoenix magazine and on the UOAA website, for possible commercial exhibitors. In your invitation to exhibit letter you need to tell them the time when they can set up their exhibit and when them they can tear it down. Also they need to know what the viewing hours are and how many people you expect to attend. 4

5 And then you must include in your letter of invitation the fee that you will be charging them. When quoting a fee to your exhibitors you need to tell them what they are getting for this fee. For example: 1. The size of their exhibit area 2. How many comp registrations will they receive for their reps and how what is the fee for additional representatives. 3. Whether they are entitled to partake in the food functions, or do they have to pay for lunch, banquet, etc. When looking for exhibitors, remember that ostomates are people too, so not every exhibitor has to be ostomy related. Consider insurance companies, health food companies and medical professions such as Chiropractors and Massage Therapists.! FUNDING As with any successful project, you need to prepare a budget income and expense. So where does the money come from? Income 1. Registration Fees: Registrations are the bulk of your income. Keep in mind that you want to keep these fees as low as possible to attract attendees. Your registration fees needs to cover the cost of your expenses and a miscellaneous factor of 10 to 15% to cover any contingencies that may arise. When determining Registration fees decisions must be made if a special fee is going to spouses, children (under what age), medical professionals; if there is going to be a discounted rate if the registration is received before a cut-off date? 2. Exhibitor Fees: These vary from event to event. It is a good idea to check with several UOAA Conference Chair who have held recent conferences. 3. Sponsorships: Ask exhibitors to cover the cost of a Friday evening social. One single vendor might be willing to do this. Make sure they get plenty of publicity for doing any sponsoring in all printed material such as your flyers, Program Book, signage outside of the room/area where the sponsored event takes place, and have the Conference MC thank all of the sponsors at the opening ceremony. In addition to sponsoring food and beverages they can be asked to sponsor name tags, goodie bags, things for the goodie bags, feature speakers. Ask outside vendors for a discount on printing your Program Books, signs, nametags, etc. Ask them for door prizes and items for the goodie bags. Think outside the box for free stuff. Don t be afraid to ask! If you don t ask they can t say YES 4. Advertising Fees: Establish Program Book advertising rates depending upon the size of the ad desired (business card, 1/8 page,! page, " page, full page) and the placement within the book (front inside cover, back outside cover, back). In addition to commercial ads establish a rate for individuals who wish to bring a one line greeting. And where does the money go? Expenses 1. The cost of your meeting space when applicable 2. The cost of your unsponsored food functions 3. The cost of your AV equipment 4. Reimbursement of speaker expenses when applicable 5. Reimbursement of Planning Committee member expenses 6. Administrative costs (name tags, flyer prep and distribution, goodie bags if not sponsored, speaker certificates, speaker gifts if given, mail and shipping charges, etc.) 7. Banking fees especially if credit cards will be accepted for registration payments. 8. The cost of Event Liability Insurance 5

6 9. The cost of any on-site signage and decorations 10. A miscellaneous factor to cover contingencies maybe 10 to 15% 11. A nominal profit for the Host ASG! MISCELLANEOUS CONSIDERATIONS 1. Establish a Time Line to keep yourself on schedule 2. Speakers/Workshops Consider utilizing/scheduling the following: a. Surgeons b. GI and Urological Docs c. WOC Nurses d. Moderated patient panels e. Spouses only panels f. Representatives from Allied Health Agencies g. Naturopathic Practitioners h. Physical fitness gurus i. Pharmacists j. Government Agency Officials k. Great Comebacks Award Recipients l. Age specific panels such as Seniors, YODAA, Teens Your imagination is your only limit to programming. However, remember that this is an ostomy conference and non-related workshops/speakers are inappropriate. 3. Bank account could be at same bank as the host ASG but should be separate and specific to this event. 4. Make sure to let exhibitors know hotel s policies on receiving and shipping boxes and packages. 5. Let exhibitors know if the hotel is unionized. LeeAnn Barcus September 25,