Student Number Submit this document via my. TAFE with all required evidence attached. See Procedure below for details. Performance objective Candidates will need to conduct individual research of available materials and local resources (web, phone book, etc. ) and show initiative and problem-solving skills to develop a conference concept; a full conference plan that meets the needs of the organisation; and to produce a cross-section of documents that support their conference plan.
Assessment description You are required to complete this task in three parts. Part One requires you to develop a conference concept document. The concept document is designed to help a conference manager in developing a scoping document for a conference to be held. You are required to review the case study outline below, and create and complete all aspects of the concept document. Case study You are one of the senior administrative staff who work in the marketing department of MacVille Pty Ltd.
The MacVille events steering committee with ultimate authority in convening the conference have requested that you plan and manage a conference that they would like run in the next 4–6 months. The purpose of the conference is to promote the Mezzo range of imported Italian espresso that the firm has recently secured the rights to distribute in Australia. MacVille senior management believe that the conference will primarily secure sales leads of the espresso coffee machines as well as increase awareness of MacVille’s association with the specialist espresso coffee market and build relationships between MacVille and its clients.
These conferences will be held in every major city in Australia, but yours is the firsts in the series. The target market for the conference is the owners and managers of retail coffee shops. It is anticipated that 40–60 people will attend. Included in your instructions from the MacVille events steering committee are that the conference should be for one day and culminate with a dinner. You have also been instructed to design a conference that breaks even on costs. The budget you have been allocated is $25,000.
The steering committee have suggested that engaging the right keynote speaker coupled with an interesting program should make the registration fee you set, well accepted by the target market. The MacVille events steering committee have asked you to first prepare a conference concept document for their approval. For Part Two of this assessment task, you are required to create and complete a conference plan. You are required to review the case study outline below, and create and complete all aspects of the plan. A venue location map should be submitted along with the conference plan.
Case study The MacVille events steering committee has approved your conference concept for the espresso coffee machine launch and now requires you to prepare a conference plan document. MacVille have some existing planning templates that you will need to complete and include in your documentation. This plan will document the research, planning and decisions you make as you plan for the conference. Assuming approval of your conference concept document, use this as the background to complete the conference plan.
This plan must include the following: •The conference will run for one day and will include dinner •MacVille’s expected outcome is to secure sales leads for the Mezzo range of espresso coffee machines •You report to the MacVille Events steering committee •Your budget is $25,000 and you will have the sales manager and two MacVille Espresso sales people at the conference to help you with organising and presenting •The venue choice is to be held in your city or the closest geographically located major city •Speakers can be keynote and company
presenters •An income and expenditure budget is required •Your target audience is owners and managers of retail coffee shops within the surrounding geographic zone. For Part Three of this assessment task, you are required to complete several documents to fulfil a range of criteria: •Cash flow: a three-month cash flow spreadsheet, detailing predicted expenses and income. Some notes should be included outlining how this will be monitored throughout the four-to-six months leading up to the conference.
•Conference cost: a statement of the final cost to delegates for attendance at the conference including a clear description of how this cost has been decided, and benchmarks costing against other conferences offering similar outcomes. •Registration: a delegate register, to be used to collate all registration information, and this must include notes on how data is to be protected (especially in regard to respecting privacy laws). Finally, you will need to populate your registration table with the registration information for 10 attendees. •Presenter’s plan. This document has three key sections: 1.
a plan for how and when presenters and guest speakers will be used within the conference. This is the start of your conference program, and must allow for two keynote presenters or guest speakers, and must also include detail for the role of the MC (Master of Ceremonies), as well as any entertainment to be used either during the day or the conference dinner. 2. a formal letter to be mailed to each guest speaker, outlining the requirements for the conference (the brief), describing the conference aims, and requesting presentations, videos and supporting images to be supplied two weeks prior to the conference.
3. a process plan describing how you will manage the collation of the range of presenter materials that you are to receive from presenters, sponsors and delegates (a DVD, range of videos in . avi format, several PowerPoint presentations and one Keynote presentation), including all information slides you will use to inform delegates of conference proceedings. •Program schedule: a detailed breakdown, including timings, for the entire day of the conference from pre-registration coffee and tea through to the end of the conference dinner. Your conference program must
allow for at least two keynote sessions with each guest presenter, and allow for some breakout times into smaller rooms, when the conference delegates can join special interest discussions in small groups. •Flyer: a promotional flyer (post-card sized) containing all details (including guest speakers and registration costs) of the conference and with relevant images. This will also need to include a plan for how the flyer will be distributed. •Conference bag: a plan for a conference bag, outlining the printed and promotional materials to be included in it.
•Requirements: a floor plan of the venue, clearly outlining where the conference will be held, the location of the presenters, registrations desk, break-out rooms for small-group activities, morning and afternoon tea, etc. and detailing the audio-visual requirements for the conference (including microphone requirements, presentations requirements, etc. ). Procedure You are required to: 1. Review the case scenarios outlined above. 2. Complete a conference concept document. 3. Create and complete a conference plan document.
4. Source a venue location map, and attach it to the conference plan. 5. Develop a cash flow spreadsheet with plans for monitoring of budget. 6. State the delegate costs with reasoning. 7. Develop a spreadsheet to gather registration information from conference delegates. 8. Enter all supplied delegate registration information into the prepared spreadsheet. 9. Develop a list of presenters to be used within the conference. Develop a formal letter, able to be sent to each presenter for the conference. 10.
Develop a plan for management of presenter support materials, visual aids and media to be used throughout the conference. 11. Develop a program schedule. 12. Develop an interesting flyer (postcard-sized) to market the conference, with a promotional plan for distribution of conference information. 13. Develop a plan for the conference bag and contents to be issued to delegates at the conference. 14. Develop a conference floor plan, for issue to delegates and presenters, showing the venue and locations of all conference inclusions.
Checklist You must provide: Completed conference concept document. Completed conference plan Completed documentation as detailed above Your assessor will be looking to see that each area of the conference planning has been addressed thoroughly, including: clearly defined purpose, and reason for holding the conference the style and type of conference a clear description of the target market a list of the benefits to the business a clearly defined communication strategy accurately documented planning and preparation details
outline of the type of resources required clearly defined and accurate systems and timelines to manage the event balanced and accurate financial report an outline of potential barriers and all contingency situations as they may arise. each area of the conference plan being addressed a clear, easy to read location map showing the venue relative to local streets and landmarks. an accurate cash flow spreadsheet which reflects all expenses a clear explanation detailing how the cash flow will be monitored and managed a statement of the delegate costs
a clear description of how delegate costs have been determined all registration information accurately entered into spreadsheet a list of the presenters to be used within the conference, with a description of their role a formal letter addressing the required criteria a clear description outlining the management and preparation of all presentation media in the two weeks leading up to the conference a program schedule with a clear timeline for conference proceedings an easy to read conference flyer, with a clear usage plan
a description of a conference bag containing interesting resources and all conference proceedings and materials a floor plan of the venue, clearly outlining how and where all requirements of the conference will be met. Conference concept instructions The conference concept document should use the headings provided below. Purpose Explain briefly what the conference is, what it’s for and who the target attendee is, and how this ties in with the strategic direction and mission of your organisation. This is a statement of purpose.
Also include a brief concept statement of the format of the conference, as well as a very rough overview of the program you are imagining. Type Explain the type of conference it will be, and why this type of event is the most suitable for your target attendee. Benefits Describe the types of benefits and outcomes you expect attendees or others to receive from this conference. When, Where and Who Briefly describe approximately when and where the conference will be, as well as the expected number of attendees.
In particular, check the timing of the conference does not clash with any other key events for your organisation or for target attendees. Resources Describe broadly what resources (facilities, equipment and people) are available or accessible to support the conference? Note especially which of these may need to be hired, purchased or tasked from another department or part of the organisation. Time Is there sufficient time for planning and organising the event? In particular, do you have sufficient human resources to ensure you achieve deadlines in the lead up to the event?
Financials What are the estimated costs (time, personnel, money)? What is the estimated income (money and in-kind)? This should not be a detailed budget, just an overview of your estimates for these figures. Barriers What barriers could present for this conference? How can any potential barriers be overcome? Summary Your final thoughts and comments about the feasibility of running this conference. Conference plan instructions Background Scope The inclusions/exclusions – a description of what is and what isn’t within the requirements for management of this conference.
This should particularly describe any items that you know are high priorities for your organisation, and any items that you know have expressly been excluded. (e. g. ‘Don’t worry about organising security staff, the venue will deal with that. ’) Reporting The ‘who’ – a description of who you report to and answer to (these may be different people or groups) leading up to and throughout this conference. In particular you must outline lines of authority, and the budget approval process, and should reflect organisational policy and procedure. Constraints The limits – a description of any constraints for the conference.
Some common ones may be: •cost, where there is a fixed budget with no possible extensions •attendees, where there is an absolute upper or lower limit for attendees •legals, where various forms of legislation may affect proceeding. Preparation Venue The ‘where – details of the venue you have identified as suitable with a description of the alternate venues that you have chosen from. Include in your description the key criteria that this venue meets, and the estimate costs for planned usage. Attach to this plan a location map showing where the venue is. Timeline
A description of all deliverables for this conference, with clearly observable milestones and activities to be detailed. Ensure you include detail of when you need to finalise details for speakers, venue, publicity materials and conference programme. See attached template. Speakers A description of the presenters and guest speakers to speak at the conference. The description should include the relevance of the speaker to the target audience, and the total cost for them, including transport, accommodation, hospitality, etc. See attached template. Budget
A full budget breakdown describing all expected costs and attendee income. See attached template. Risk management A description of the risks associated with organising and running the conference, along with the type of risk (external, technical, organisational, other) ways to mitigate and contingency manage the risk, and the level of the risk (high, medium, low). See attached template. Promotional strategy A description of how the conference will be promoted to the identified target audience, including thoughts for the mediums to be used to promote and follow-up conference information being released to potential attendees.
Monitoring A description of how the planning and management of the conference will be monitored throughout both the planning and management stages. Ensure you discuss how you will monitor the two key stages (preparation and management) together with how you will communicate any actions that need to be taken to address significant variations from the conference plan, both leading up to and within the conference. Conference documents The following documents are required to complete your conference plan. These have previously been detailed under the heading ‘Specifications. ’a
