Changing the Face of Public Procurement Conferences

I started organizing conferences in 2000 because the I.T. conferences I was attending left much to be desired. They were formulaic, boring, and ultimately, didn't provide good value for money. Having attended and spoken at numerous conferences by then, I knew what I did not like and like any entrepreneur who gets bitten by the "I can do it better." bug, I knew exactly what I would like in a conference.

The typical conference goes something like this. A few people decide they want to organize a conference. They find a hotel, typically something close to an airport, solicit speakers, throw up a conference web site, take out ads, send direct mail pieces, do email blasts, in the case of bigger events, hire a telemarketing firm, and hope for the best. If the organizers have their own money at risk and also have a profit motive, they might pay a bit more attention to the factors that make for a successful conference, though it's not necessarily a given. If the conference convenor is an association, the job of organizing the conference usually falls upon volunteers who may not have the same level of commitment as someone whose own money is at risk.

The conference web site will have something like, "Here is the conference. It's only $1495. We have a group rate of $169 per night, if you want to stay at the hotel but here are a few other hotels in the area if you don't like this one." We've all seen those conferences. They're the norm. If someone has to seek approval to attend conferences from their boss, the first question the boss is going to ask is, "How much?" If the answer is "$1495 for the conference and $169 a night for the hotel." The boss might ask, "Do you plan to eat while you're there?" The employee might get a per diem for expenses like meals, travel, etc. but the reality is that a conference that is "only" $1495 can quickly become a $3000 conference when you factor in travel costs, especially if airfare is involved, meals, hotels, gratuities, etc.

The typical conference might provide sticky buns for breakfast, rubber chicken for lunch, and nothing for dinner. At 5 o'clock, everyone scatters to various restaurants and if you don't know anyone, you'll end up eating alone. I find that I learn as much or more from other attendees at conferences as I do from the speakers. If my only objective in going to a conference was to have a brain dump from an expert, I could save a wheelbarrow full of money by buying a book and reading it but most of us, yours truly included, are social learners. We learn best by interacting with other people. I've often wondered why so many conference organizers neglect to pay attention to that fact and virtually ignore "the spaces in between sessions". I believe "the spaces in between" are just as important as the formal sessions, hence, one of the reasons for all-inclusive pricing.

You may be wondering, "What does all-inclusive pricing have to do with the 'spaces in between'?" First, it creates the social environment that I believe is crucial to the success of any conference. All-inclusive pricing makes the decision of where to stay and where to eat a no-brainer for attendees. Of course it makes it that much more vital for us to make sure that we pick a venue that is suitable so that people aren't eating powdered eggs, cold cuts, and pizza for three days but that is a relatively easy problem to solve. If the majority of attendees are sleeping and eating under the same roof for the duration of the conference, even the most introverted people start opening up after a couple of days. The dull roar of people chatting with their table mates at meals is music to my ears.

Second, it makes it easier to get approval to attend the conference for those who need it.

Third, all-inclusive pricing gives us leverage with the venue. We can now approach the venue with the premise that they will get virtually all of the food and beverage and lodging revenues for our group. I'm sure I don't have to explain to purchasing professionals what kind of buying power that gives us. That enables us to keep the conference fees reasonable.