Can you make money running a conference

Sign Up. This image and quote right above the ticket purchase widget alone increased sales 2. Most offices LOVE hosting meetups.

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Zach Inglis and Laura Sanders are the creators of HybridConf , a really awesome web design and development conference focusing on bridging the divide between the … More about Zach Inglis …. Earlier issues. Our industry is a great one. Ever more people are organizing conferences, arranging meetups and creating memorable experiences. Nothing compares to a good conference: the atmosphere of being immersed in a crowd of people who share the same passion as you, the lessons you learn and advice you take in, and the friends you get to meet and the new ones you make. You leave a good conference re-energized — full of zeal for your job and bursting with fresh ideas. Our guests learned, shared stories, made lasting friendships — even a relationship or two — and undoubtedly had a good time.

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Zach Inglis and Laura Sanders are the creators of HybridConfa really awesome web design and development conference focusing on bridging the divide between the … More about Zach Inglis …. Earlier issues. Our industry is a great one. Ever more people are organizing conferences, arranging meetups and creating memorable experiences. Nothing compares to a good conference: the atmosphere of being immersed in a crowd of people who share the same passion as you, the lessons you learn and advice you take in, and the friends you get to meet and the new ones you make.

You leave a good conference re-energized — full of zeal for your job and bursting with fresh ideas. Our guests learned, shared stories, made lasting friendships — even a relationship or two — and undoubtedly had a good time.

I felt like I had succeeded in giving back to the community some of the same experiences that I so value from conferences of the past.

The advice has been invaluable to me, so I wanted to pay it forward with this article and help more of you succeed. If you are going to run a conference, then you will need to be prepared for many late nights, big money worries, a roller coaster of emotions and a prolonged period when your loved ones, social life and free time take a back seat. It really is a massive amount of work, especially for those of us like me who do this on top of a day job. Sometimes it feels insurmountable.

Add to that the worry of not really being able to control exactly how well the big day goes. You just have to plan and organize and sell as well as you can and keep your fingers crossed. Considering all of this thoroughly, therefore, and whether you really want to commit this much time and brainpower is really important. You need to have a solid reason that you can believe in and that will drive you forward and help you to make a lot of the decisions along the way.

My reason was that I was tired of so many UK conferences featuring the same speakers with the non-divergent opinions. After complaining about it on Twitter for so long, I decided that I had to just stop complaining and try to fix it.

So, I took the opportunity to make the type of conference that I would want to attend. This section shares my top tips for getting started with your conference and staying organized along the way. Having some kind of unifying idea is important. JavaScript conferences do incredibly well, in part due to the language being the hottest topic in the industry and because such conferences have such a sharp focus.

Having a theme helps to unify your ideas, to get appropriate speakers, and to sell and market to the right people. It will also help you to come up with a. Pick something simple, punchy and on topic. A mission statement will also help you to can you make money running a conference on track and attract your target audience. We wanted something that was both welcoming and awe-inspiring.

We wanted a place where we talked about all aspects of the web, in an easy-to-understand way for even the most novice attendee, yet where seasoned attendees still had lots to learn. Thus, HybridConf was born. We spent almost a year of intense hard work, tears and sleepless nights to help empower people in their goals. We hope you join us and celebrate that the people including you!

Running a conference is a lot of work and emotionally very tiring. Some days you wake up literally paralyzed by fear; other days, you feel invincible. You need to find someone who you can rely on to understand when you get stressed, who can pick up work when you are feeling overwhelmed, who gets excited by your great ideas and who curbs your enthusiasm a bit when you go overboard. Of course, you should provide the same values to your partners. Finding someone you trust to share this experience will be the biggest help you can.

We chose to hand-pick our speakers. I already had in mind a lot of people who I thought were doing cool stuff and would have something interesting and original to say, so I approached them personally and asked. An open call for proposals might make more sense for you and is a great option. Just make sure that whichever way you choose, you do it early.

Good speakers get snapped up really far in advanceso if you want your top choices, secure them as soon as possible. Try to see whether a desired speaker has any mutual friends. If so, ask the friend to introduce you. Our mission, to better the industry, was something many people could get. Be honest. Try to capture everything in one email, so that they have enough information to make an informed decision.

Make sure to explain the mission, the date, the theme, any compensation you can offer and anything else you feel relevant. This year, we decided to share revenue with speakers. This protects us, and it gives them a nice bonus if we do. Figure out what you can afford from the beginning. Many people are still very happy to come without expecting a fee.

Dermot Daly has a lot of great advice on. Last year, we had wanted to hold HybridConf in the Coal Exchange, an old historic building in Cardiff Bay; unfortunately, they had to close for some repairs, and we had to find a new venue.

In the end, we chose Cineworld. Comfortable seats. And guess what one of the main things everyone talked about was?

How comfortable the seats were compared to other conferences. Your guests are going to be sitting in one place for the better part of eight hours. Pick somewhere butt-friendly. The venue will also have a big effect on the overall feel. Do you want a spotlight on the speakers or warm lighting over everyone? Do you mind whether people use their laptops? Lower lighting deters. Do you want to provide an area for people to work if needed? So many decisions will affect the overall feel.

Use your best judgement — you should know what attendees want more than. We choose to cater. We provide lunches, snacks, tea and coffee and this year breakfast as. If you do want to provide food, just find a good caterer and let them do what they do best.

Many venues have a dedicated caterer or a shortlist that they work. Figure out in advance the cost per person, the type of food you want to provide hot or cold, buffet or sit-down and any special requests last year we wanted to include some Welsh food. Our spreadsheet had at least 20 tabs. We had tables for best- and worst-case scenarios, and we updated them constantly. With a spreadsheet, all of the vital information was in one place, and we always knew how we were doing. You can never write down too much or be too organized.

Combining the spreadsheet with a great ticketing solution helps. Our ticketing solution, Titobreaks down sales and provides reports as much as we need — it was a godsend for us. When we got our first request for a refund, I must admit I was a bit taken aback. Splitting hairs about what counts as a good reason just leads to complication and misunderstanding.

So, we keep a strict no-refund policy. You may choose to do things differently, and I commend you if you do — no way is easy. One of the biggest perks of being in this industry is that most of us have a lot of contacts. Use. Ask them to promote you, whether on Twitter, on their blogs or at their own events. Ask whether they have contacts in the sponsorship department at their company.

Ask them for an introduction to a speaker whom you would love to. From our experience, most people are only too happy to help. Last year, we decided quite late to hire a company to handle all of the lighting, audio and visuals. The extra cost was high, but having professionals organize all of the equipment, set it up and be on hand to make sure it works all day was totally worth it.

Some of the most common things that go wrong are minor technical issues — microphones not working, laptops not connected to the projector — so having a skilled person there to fix issues as soon as they arose was invaluable. The time saved and peace of mind was far more valuable than the cost. Different items take different lengths of time to print. Start looking for printers, and talk to them well in advance. If your designs are done, let them know when the printing is needed, and give estimates on the quantities, following up closer to the conference with more accurate figures.

Double-check. Last year, knowing that our materials were a rush job, the printer took our address from our email footers.

It was a billing address, and no one was at that address to pick up the printing packages. So, during the pre-conference drinks, we had to drive an hour away just before the sorting office closed to pick them up — or else no one would have gotten their name badges! Last year, our head volunteer was Andrew Nesbitt.

Making Money with Conferences 💰 [Six-Figure Secrets]

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