The management of conferences is as important as the management of any other initiative being undertaken by an organization. Conferences are short term program platforms that are carried out by organizations because their focus is on consultations or exchange of information or discussion, especially those dealing with a formal agenda. They identify the basic personality clusters that take part in a program or project including the contributors, the collaborators, the communicators and those who may challenge the aims and objectives of an initiative.
At the same time, conferences can be used to enhance the effectiveness of programs set for the implementation of a portfolio of projects. Portfolio managers use conferences to bring together the management of an organization with opinion leaders and decision-makers in order to exchange ideas on how a project can be carried out successfully. In recent times, resources are shared between different programs being undertaken by an organization. It is prudent for managers and other members of the human resource team to come together to discuss the equitable and most viable distribution of these resources .
Accordingly, well-run conferences can be valuable to the activities of any portfolio of projects while poorly conducted conferences can be a waste of time and resources; hence, the cause of frustrations. The same principles for a successful meeting apply to all manner of conferences encompassing any sort of an organization’s project. Some of these principles may include well-defined conference objectives, clear methods and procedures of conducting the conference, the financial organization of the conference, and the limitations and provisions that provide a clear and practical basis for the efficient management of the activities during the conference .
Issues raised on conducting of successful conferences:
Some projects that are carried out by an organization are done so independently. However, due to the strain that the world’s economy is putting on the finances of many organizations, different projects carried out by an organization have had to share the same resources. Therefore, organizations have to be able to balance the resources they expend for the initiatives and projects they undertake. This leads to the creation of various programs that are used in the implementation of these initiatives. Conferences are examples of such project programs which are used together with other smaller programs to make the success of an entire initiative possible .
In this perspective, the scarce resources organizations are, not only limited to finances, but to the materials and manpower as well. Since conferences host important focus group meetings and stakeholder discussions, they are vital programs that organizations run during the implementation of an initiative. Depending on the kind of initiative being implemented by the organization, there are other supporting programs that run side by side with conference meetings to ensure the success of the larger initiative.
Thus, conferences like other sorts of meetings bear some similar standard dimensions that guide the directions they take. The effectiveness of employment of these dimensions greatly depends on management decisions and goodwill and the amount of resources set aside for other programs of a similar importance. The drafted goals, aims and objectives of the conference have to be used to guide the decisions made, not only by the management but also by those tasked with designing the program plan for the conference .
Another issue is the use of professionals to implement conference objectives. Only those qualified to organize formal meetings such as conferences can make sure that conferences end up being successful. This variable is of utmost importance in the design, organization and implementation of the objectives that make up the body of a conference. Using manpower with little experience in conducting conferences can lead to the careless and wanton use of resources available, running the conference beyond the planned duration of time and poor organization during the conference activities .
Benefits from proper organization of conferences:
Additionally, it goes without overstating that the proper organization of conferences has more benefits than it does disadvantages. The most important benefit from this proper organization is the responsible use of resources set aside for this program. As mentioned earlier, more and more projects run by an organization are sharing resources due to the tough economic times. Thus, it is only sensible than when implementing a portfolio of projects, one section of the projects, e.g. a conference, uses its resources responsibly so that it does not have to usurp the resources set aside for other programs when its own run out .
In this perspective, the one good thing with proper organizational implementations of conferences like any other initiative is the smooth transition of various parts of the planned activities of the conference. A good plan ensures that conferences have a clear schedule and purpose, the topics of discussion are dynamic, the conference commences and ends promptly and the next steps or stages pick up automatically. Looking at this from a business point of view, it is a way of limiting preventable risks and maximizing on the benefits that can easily be achieved by proper planning. It is also a way of selling the organization to potential clients, who may not have appreciated the management capabilities of the organization’s top management before.
At the same time, proper implementation of the conference initiatives ensures that timeliness is observed. This also means that all the other related programs of an initiative can be completed on time in the most cost-effective manner. Since costs are the main concern of any organization, with profitability permanently in the back of management’s mind, any cost reducing programs during initiative implementations are highly welcome.
Also, participation is an element that is key to the success of the conferences. However, this is promoted by how many participants would be willing to engage in the activities of the conference. In turn, willingness is influenced by the individual activities set out in the agenda of the conference. Engaging and interesting activities will automatically influence the participants in taking an active part in the conference and vice versa. Such participation can always be used as a variable to measure success of a conference .
Accordingly, Preventive, rather than curative measures put against those aspects that may put an initiative like conferences at the risk of failure, best work under a well-planned conference facilitations. This provides the benefit of cushioning other organizational programs from any resonating shocks that result from unprecedented and unforeseen implementation gaps. Even with such shocks, programs can still end up being successful as long as the right countermeasures are put in place to remedy these shocks .
In addition, the proper implementation of conferences is also beneficial through the outcomes of the discussions held during the conference. Whether it is a stakeholders’ meeting or focus group discussions, the results of the conference are also benefits that result from proper implementation of the conference objectives. This also spells success for the conference.
Risks of poor implementation of conference objectives:
As mentioned earlier, every organization only wants to run with those initiatives that will be beneficial to them. However, there are times when objectives and activities set for a conference are not implemented as intended. Such poor implementation can lead to loss of resources which may have been limited as it is with nothing to show for such a loss.
Similarly, the conference participants may not be too motivated to take part in the subsequent days of the conference, assuming that the conference was planned as a more than one day activity. This lack of motivation for participation is already an indication of failure in itself .
Additionally, this might lead to a loss of confidence by the organization’s publics. Poor implementation of the conference activities could be assumed as a portrayal of the kind of management system within the organization itself. It can change the opinions of those who were hoping to work closely with the organization .
Of even more risk is the arbitrary use of resources during the conference which would then mean that other competing interests of the organization will have to make do with whatever little resources are remaining. This poses a lot risks for the success of other programs because they may end up having less than enough resources to expend within their implementation activities.
In line with this is the fall-out that may be created among the employees especially if blame has to be apportioned for the failure of the conference. Those concerned with the conference may want to point fingers at their colleagues not willing to take personal blame especially if the management asks for responsible personnel .
Influence diagram showing the factors that would influence the success or failure of a conference:
This influence diagram shows the possible variables that may determine the success or failure of a conference organized by an organization. More variables can be added to it depending on the kind of conference it is the people involved as participants and its aims, goals and objectives. It is important because it shows the relationship between the variables that are related to the implementation of the conference activities. It also simplifies various clusters of activities and materials that may be needed use in the conference implementation stage. A full list of all these activities and materials may look cumbersome in the diagram, thus, not allow the diagram to make any sense.
Assumptions made for completion of the diagram:
- The conference is a three-day stakeholders meeting that is intended for charting out the future growth of an organization. Due to its immense significance, the meeting has to be put as part of the organization’s calendar.
- Actual costs are determined depending on the number of participants attending the conference within the three days of involvement.
- Miscellaneous are the costs incurred in overhead expenses that include any unprecedented expenditure that may arise during the course of the conference.
- Human resource refers to all those involved in organizing the conference from the management panel to the personnel involved in organizing and arranging the conference venue.
- The competing interests of the organization e.g. other currently running projects, directly influence how much human resource and finances will be availed for the conference.
- The use of available ICT resources e.g. laptops and projectors can help in reducing expenses that would be incurred due to increased conference days as a result of lack of technology to hasten the meeting.
- The conference venue is not within the organization’s premises. This is meant to move employees away from the monotony of the usual office environment to provide an environment to gauge performance of tasks out of the office and under a different kind of pressure.
- This can also be used to encourage competence and also as a team-building opportunity among the organization’s internal employees.
- The conference’s success highly depends on how much human resource management is willing to expend in the organization and conducting of the conference. This will also determine the duration of time on top of the three days set aside for the conference, which could be added for the completion of all the objectives and goals of the meeting if the need arises.
- However, the three-day duration set for the conference estimated to be adequate to cover all the objectives set out for the conference and any variables not included that would affect this duration will be covered in the contingency plans.
Areas where additional data would be captured:
- The diagram’s influence would benefit from knowing information on any on-going organizational projects that might make the management make decisions not favorable to conducting the conference.
- Management decisions would have to be captured to determine what resources are made available and what resources cannot be availed for the conference, plus the human resource that will lead the conference to its success.
Reference List
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Bourne, M., Neely , A., Platts, K. & Mills , J., 2002. The Success and Failure of Performance Measurement Initiatives. International Journal of Operations and Production Management, 22 (11), pp. 1288-1310.
Morris, P. & Pinto, J. K., 2007. The Wiley Guide to Project, Program and Portfolio Management. 1st ed. Hoboken: John Wiley and Sons.
Perry, M. P., 2011. Business Driven Project Portfolio Management. 1st ed. Fort Lauderdale: J. Ross Publishing.
