| When |
What |
Comments |
| 12 months before |
- Decide on city location and hosts
- Line up an organisational team and a team deciding on the programme (if different to steering committee)
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| 6-8 months before |
- Decide on dates
- Publish the dates on different channels (<to be filled in>: Twitter, wiki, forum… email??)
- Start thinking about external speakers, programme
- Book locations bearing accessibility in mind:
- Conference location
- Conference drinks and dinner
- Any other social activity?
- Organise registration website / software / etc
- Decide how (through which bank account) the funds will be collected / spent
- Including travel for external speakers
- Decide whether or not we want to allow cancellations and refunds (and up till when) - must be possible in the registration system
- Decide on deadlines for registration, particularly bearing summer / Christmas holidays in mind and also the time people need to book travel - plus deadlines in the contract with the conference location for financial consequences when changing numbers of people
- Set up a central place for all documents for the organisational team
- Decide who will review abstract submissions (and how and when)
|
- Check other potential project GA conflicts / school holidays etc
- Check additional funding options for the conference (e.g. for the one in Bonn, we could cover the travel expenses of the invited/keynote speakers by applying for certain funds provided by the University of Bonn)
|
| 6 months before |
- Ask potential sponsors for funds!
- Write text to advertise the conference for use in email / Twitter / wiki / forum / ……)
- Set up an overview of expected costs (based on contracts with conference location / dinner / etc) and income (based on any sponsorship) and determine what the fee for entry needs to be - NB include VAT straightaway both in income and costs
- Start getting key-note speakers involved
- Set up registration form for attendance including data protection statement and sponsors’ logos
- Set up registration form for abstract submission including data protection statement and sponsors’ logos
- Decide high-level programme and include any key-note speakers known (include a workshop?)
- Decide on contacts who need to be targeted, and by whom
|
- Eg consortia, institutions involved
|
| 5 months before |
- Open up registration and advertise it everywhere, making clear what the deadlines are for registration and abstract submission
- Entire steering committee and organisational team sends out targeted emails to specified contacts (decided upon together) and repeats these at regular intervals
- Continue working on getting key-note speakers confirmed
|
(For Groningen 11-13 Oct:
We opened registration on 22 May
Officially closed 31 August, but extended to 6 September)
(For Bonn, September 24-26:
We opened registration on April 22
Abstract submission until May 31, extended for oral contributions until June 14, and for posters until August 28
Registration until July 31, extended until September 4 (deadline caterer/restaurant for final number was 14 days before event))
|
| 2-4 months before |
- Keep website up to date as the programme is firmed up
- Continue to target specific people and consortia
- Get key-note speakers confirmed
|
|
| 3 months before |
- See how registration is going and if necessary consider making it more expensive to register after a certain date to encourage people not to register at the last minute
|
|
| 1-2 months before |
- Close registration
- Depending on contract with conference location, make definite:
- Numbers of hotel rooms for organisers / key-note speakers
- Catering numbers
- Continue to get programme finalised
|
|
| After registration has closed |
- Send confirmation mail to participants including directions, programme, ‘things to do in ….’, link to folder to upload presentations, any technical requirements for the workshop if one is being held
|
- We closed registration a week before the deadline for giving numbers to the conference location without incurring financial consequences
|
| 1 month before |
- Book travel for speakers
- At the same time get all the same info from the speakers (dietary requirements, eating at project dinner yes/no (and if so, which menu?) etc etc) as if they’ve filled in the registration form like everyone else
- Depending on contract with conference location, make definite:
- Numbers of hotel rooms for organisers / key-note speakers
- Catering numbers
- Dietary requirements
- Test audiovisual etc set-up in the conference location
- Discuss with the conference location what to do in event of a fire / health emergency / etc
|
(see note above about luggage allowance when booking) |
| 2 weeks before |
- Set up a meeting folder accessible by all participants where (eg) the programme can be found, presentations can be uploaded in advance, etc
- Depending on contract with conference and dinner locations, make definite:
- Final numbers and dietary requirements
- Print sponsors’ logos to be pinned up in the conference location
- Print registration lists, name tag stickers, programmes
- Small presents for external speakers (NB must be able to go in hand luggage, no liquids)
- Make placeholder slide (including logos) for use during the conference
- Make a slide detailing eg what to do in a fire
|
|
| Within a week after the event |
- Send out survey(s) for full conference and workshop if one has been held
- Thank the external speakers and ask for permission to share their presentations, get everyone’s presentations into one place if this hasn’t already happened
- Capture lessons learned from this time round and update this process document!
- Save programme etc for reuse next year
|
|
| Within two weeks after the event |
Send thank you email to all participants from the DataSHIELD email address including the following information:
- Presentations
- Save the date for next year
|
|
| As soon as possible |
- Plan the dates for current year + 1 (if not already planned) AND current year + 2
- Sort out the finances and get any remaining monies over to the party organising next year's conference
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