How we delivered an association event, working with a committee of full-time Vets   

At a glance 

 

Client: The British Association of Veterinary Ophthalmologists (BrAVO)

Brief: To work with a committee of full-time vets to organise and deliver an annual CPD (Continuing Professional Development) event to include sponsors’ exhibitions, AV, social gatherings, and event support.

Location: Crowne Plaza Hotel, Stratford-upon-Avon

Lead time: 6 months.

Duration: 4 days.

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The Brief

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To offer support with: venue finding, event website, delegate management, ticket sales, exhibitor management, venue liaison, on-site support, organisation of post-event recordings, distributing CPD certificates.

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The Challenges:

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We understand that the challenges of working with a committee are that you're dealing with a group of people who all have full-time roles (and not in the field of event management!) and are organising events on a voluntary basis in their spare time. It makes communication very difficult. There is a lot of late-night messaging!  The joys of modern technology and a WhatsApp group really help! Each committee member has a specific role in organising the conference, but we find we are the magnet that pulls them all together to build the event.  It’s an honour.[

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Our Approach

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Discovery and Concept

To start with, we generally attend a committee meeting to discuss the objectives of the next conference: Content, location, run times, etc.

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Building the Foundation

We start off with sourcing the venue; offering three or four options to the client. This is normally done about a year in advance of the event. After attending site visits and nailing the budget, we choose the venue and sign the contract. 

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The Gala Dinner is a major part of this event; this group does love to party. We plan the theme, entertainment, and games.

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We gather a full report of associated costs so that the ticket prices can be ascertained: accommodation, gala dinner and entertainment, day delegate rate, AV, any additional room hire costs, theming, wine and drinks vouchers, speaker and event management fees.

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Ticketing Site

The next step is to design the ticketing site. These events are paid for by the individual delegates and are contingent on how much of the event they are participating in.  The full package runs from Thursday evening to Sunday lunchtime. Alternatively, they can choose to just attend certain days or specific elements of the event.  There can be up to 12 different ticket options. We also gather any special dietary information to pass on to the hotel.

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Sponsors’ Exhibitions

Working with a list of potential sponsors provided by the Association, we invite them to exhibit at the event. We have around ten exhibitors and manage the full set-up and dismantling of their stands, as well as all communications about requirements such as power, space, furniture and catering.

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Pulling it all Together

Once the ticketing site is up and running, we keep an ongoing database of registered delegates and what aspects of the conference they're attending. We transfer this information into a detailed rooming list (a master roster used to organise large group bookings), which highlights how many delegates are attending the dinner, the conference on each day, their accommodation requirements, etc.Our client is regularly updated with all the numbers.

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With hundreds of delegate questions and queries, exhibitor and venue requirements and supplier requests, the time between the site going live to the delegates’ arrival takes hours and hours of administrative handling.  This is where we find we are most useful to our clients! Being the single go-to for all administrative questions and queries.

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A week before the event, we take the proceedings to the printers. We normally print around 200 copies.

Then we start printing the name badges. We have a name badge printer, so can do this for our clients. There are always changes to the delegate names, but we take the badge printer with us on site to the event for any late bookers or spelling mistakes.

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With residential conferences one of the most difficult  tasks is managing the rooming list: the arrival and departure dates, number of people in each room, and any special accessibility requirements.

Also, if your rooming list is at capacity, juggling cancellations and late bookings is always very time-consuming and nail-biting! Good communication with the venue is a must.

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Show Day

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With most of our delegates arriving the previous night, our team is there nice and early to make sure there are no hiccups with the accommodation check-in. We also lay out the proceedings for the following morning and all the name badges, to make sure we're fully organised and ready for the arrival of the delegates.

We also have a last-minute operations meeting with the hotel to ensure that the layout is right, the set-up is right, all the timings are still correct and we take a final count of the numbers.

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The registration desk is always a hive of activity on the first day with Speakers arriving and hooking them up with the AV team so their presentations run smoothly, plus Delegates turning up for tea, coffee, and registration, and distributing delegate packs and name badges.  Once the delegates are settled and everything gets started, it's a chance for us to regroup and catch up with any queries that might have arisen at registration, liaise with the venue over no-shows, additional delegates, room changes, etc.

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The Gala Dinner requires a quick turnaround from the hotel and from the Planet Pursuit team. We relay the room and dress it with any theming that's required.  This year was a 1980s theme, but we've also done a 70s Abba night, a Queen tribute night and a Hawaiian beach party, always followed up with a silent disco—an event where people dance to music listened to on wireless headphones, rather than a speaker system.  It’s one of our favourite things!! From table centrepieces to rodeo balls, distorting circus mirrors to fairground side stalls. We love to pimp a Gala Dinner!

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After everyone has had a great night, our team, working on-site from 7am, are back again at 1am, ready to dismantle all the props and turn the room back around again so it is ready for the conference the next day.  No rest for the wicked!

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The following day at lunchtime is when we join the committee meeting to start planning next year’s festivities.

On the final day we send the delegates off with a packed lunch and look forward to seeing them all again at the next one!

 

What the client said

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"Thanks for organising another great meeting! Honestly, Planet Pursuit, I don't know what we'd do without you"

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BrAVO Vets!