One of the basic features of participation-rich and participant-driven conferences is the smooth flow of conversation. The sole purpose of a peer conference is to uncover topics that people want to talk about as well as providing multiple opportunities for participants to discover others who share their ideas and interests.

Planning a successful peer conference can be a massive challenge as it is different from a mainstream corporate conference. The article talks about how you can tackle this challenge.

Step by step guide to planning a successful peer conference

Before planning a peer conference, start with the why. Highlight the main reasons why you want to hold the conference? What do you expect to achieve? After figuring all that out, with a clear goal in your mind, you can start working on the conference.

The following points provide a brief guide to planning a successful peer conference with maximum communication.

Setting up the conference

Basic things needed to set up a conference before the planning phase are as follows:

1.      The organizing team

Start with fewer people in the organization team as it ensures flexibility and lower cost. After the significant organization of things, you can increase the size of your team for a bigger pool of ideas, but it would require more organization on the part of the team lead.

Some conventional roles required in the organization team for a peer conference are:

• Organizer: The person taking care of all the logistics and contacting different parties.
• Facilitator: Person managing time and discussion each day.
• Social organizer: Takes charge of lunch/dinner and other social events around the conference.
• Content coordinator: Chooses topics and selects different participants for discussions in the event.
• Relation officer: In charge of finding sponsors for the conference.

The organization of the conference itself requires a lot of different people in charge of different jobs. Sometimes getting the right person for the job can be a very vexing task. In such cases, you may opt for top event companies in Dubai to organize the whole event for you or provide you with professionals in the industry to make sure your conference is a success.

2.      Diversity

In a peer conference, it is essential to include a team of diverse participants and speakers. The conference will be more empathetic, especially if the speakers are from different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives.

Make sure to understand the main essence of your conference and think outside your bubble to seek people in relation to the theme with different perspectives. When it comes to diversity, gender, ethnicity, and profession are very important but make sure to stay away from stereotypical roles.

3.      Dissemination

With the internet and social media, everything goes online. So the question is how to share information presented at the conference to increase awareness?

One of the most prominent features of some of the successful conferences is the use of hashtags way before the start of the event. It gives a preview of the conference to the people on social media to give them an idea about what to expect. As hashtags are easy to follow, it makes sure the information on the conference is disseminated on social media along with videos and photos.

It can save you a lot of time as participants request organizers to share the speaker’s power point slides for information. It also serves as a form of branding for the event.

4.      Planning the event

At this point, you have decided why you want a peer conference, the organizing team is put together, and you have chalked out a basic map of the event you are holding. Now, the real task of planning begins. This step includes different things to consider on days when the conference is going to take place.

Following are some of the things to keep in mind for a hassle-free peer conference:

5.      Number of people

Take note of the number of people that you want to invite to the event. It is crucial as it affects the whole vibe of the event and also the consistency and flow of communication. For a peer conference, a lower number is preferable as it is easier for discussions and workshops.

Peer conferences are held for one primary purpose that is communication between friends, colleagues, etc. With an adequate number of people, everyone can be heard, and feel like their opinions matter, altogether keeping a good flow of conversation.

6.      Participants

Participants are the key to the success of the peer conference. There should be a perfect mix of different opinions, personalities, interests, and backgrounds. But it can be really hard to arrange the perfect participants for the event.

Following points should be considered before seeking out potential participants:

• Do you want an international guest speaker?
• Do you want local participants?
• Do you want fresh participants with no public appearances?

You can choose different approaches. Invite some of the participants personally, have some on the first-come-first-served basis, etc. But keep the budget in mind before making a choice.

7.      Theme

For a peer conference to be successful, theme is fundamental as it can make people feel like they have to contribute something to the conference, and it inspires conversation.  The theme needs to be a perfect blend of depth and consistency. It needs to provide an environment of focus for the conference but should have enough scope to evoke discussion among the peers.

Whatever content you choose, make the theme buzz, so it attracts attention and makes people think about it even after the event is over.

8.      Venue

The peer conference influences the venue you choose. Just like the theme, the venue itself has an impact on the conference outcomes. Keep in mind that the venue is vital in these conferences to facilitate the conversation you want to achieve with the event.

Following are some of the things to consider when choosing the venue for the conference:

• Room layout: for group discussion, make sure to have a round table. For a traditional peer conference, take a more theatrical and classroom approach.
• Food: food is essential as you do not want to serve people with left-overs. Makes sure there is enough food for everyone. Take notice of speakers who might have allergies to certain edibles or some dietary restrictions.
• Equipment: do not waste time waiting for a technician to come and fix the multimedia. Keep a check on your audio and visual equipment requirements.

Creating peer conferences that work!

Make your traditional corporate conferences more interesting with hands-on experience for your partners, colleagues, clients, and consumers. A good event requires time and proper resources, which can get hard to manage on an individual level as you have to contact several vendors for different tasks.

Hiring services of event companies in Dubai can be an effective way to get that perfect event at a venue of your choosing be-it top of Burj-Khalifa or among the clear waters of Palm Jumeirah. Make your conference stand out by a well-designed meeting, where different minds clash, giving way to new perspectives.