5 Don’ts When Planning Nonprofit Conference
One of the best ways to learn and grow as a professional is to attend professional conferences and this is no different in the nonprofit world. While attending these conferences and summits can be very rewarding, there are also many downfalls which impact a conference run by a nonprofit organization, its staff and its volunteers. Over the last three months, I have had the opportunity to attend three conferences where I have witnessed strengths and weaknesses.
In this post, we will explore five don’ts when planning a nonprofit conference and how to avoid these pitfalls when your organization puts on a professional conference.
Don’t Plan the Keynote Address at the End of Your Conference
The timing of your keynote address can make or break your conference. Just because you have a great keynote speaker coming to the conference doesn’t mean that the other sessions scheduled for that day aren’t important. If you have a celebrity or politician as the keynote and security is going to take over an hour to get to the keynote address, look at the impact on the rest of the program for the day. Also scheduling the keynote on the last day of a conference means many of the participants will be heading back home.
Don’t Forget About the Technology
With all of the new technology with Twitter, Facebook, Prezi (the “new” slide show presentation), YouTube and more, you need to make sure all technology needs are met for your conference. Make sure you have all the projectors, laptops, microphones and speakers needed for each session. At many of these conferences there are five to six different sessions going on at the same time and you need to make sure all presenters have what they need. Find out before hand what your location provides and see if this can be included in the cost of the rental. Also, if you have a keynote speaker, make sure you have a hands free microphone so they can move around while they talk.
Don’t Have Volunteers Run Everything
Yes, your organization might be tight on cash (all organizations are) but utilize the staff available to you where your conference is being held. Just because you have a technology expert on your board doesn’t mean they know all the technology at the hotel or conference center you are using. Volunteers can be great in directing traffic, helping with the registration table and working the information table but if you are trying to make everything seem professional then use the professionals.
Don’t Hand Write Signs or Nametags
If you are trying to showcase your organization as being professional, handwriting signs for sessions brings down the quality of the conference. All conferences will have participants who sign up late or show up without having a reservation but bringing a laptop and a printer to print name tags makes these participants feel valued rather than a quickly written name tag which is hard to read.
Don’t Ask for Money at the End
A professional conference isn’t the time to make an ask or serve as another fundraiser. Yes, you want to make sure you can put on this conference in the future but asking conference participants who just paid for the entire weekend (hotel, registration and travel) to give can be a huge put off. Know your audience and wait for the ask.
These five don’ts can be easily avoided and addressed early in the planning process. Remember each program and conference your organization puts on will have hiccups along the way but try and plan for the unexpected.