An event for researchers to come together and make presentations about their research works and conduct related discussions. Apart from providing a stage to present, these conferences also provide crucial access to academic and scientific journals. All the participants and researchers come together to discuss and develop their ideas. The highlight of these kinds of conferences is the reactions and critical analysis that the researchers do of each other’s topics and ideas.
Importance of academic conferences in today’s day and age
The research work is submitted in a concise form, and usually, a single presentation lasts for an average of about 30 minutes. There are panel discussions, round-table discussions, and workshops as a part of the entire program.
Academic conferences are essential for a researcher because feedback is given on their ongoing research. Researchers get to meet other fellow researchers who are working in the field, and this is a great opportunity to develop and discuss better research methodologies. Attendees indulge in high-level debates that ultimately enhance their presentation and communication skills, along with expanding their knowledge base.
Key factors while planning a conference:
The team in charge of organizing an academic conference must ponder over the following factors:
Planning and goal setting: The organizing team needs to set a target audience so they can attract relevant attendees and researchers.
Fix the date, time and duration: The best time to hold a conference is during an active academic term. This will attract more and more young minds to the event apart from the researchers.
Know the size and scale of the conference: The topic of the program is a crucial factor that dictates the size and scale of the conference. The more popular and contemporary themes, the more researchers and attendees the event will attract.
Setting a budget: To avoid incurring a loss, a team needs to set a budget and plan on the financials and carefully track all payments, both in and out.
Identify your speakers/presenters: For a successful event, it is essential to decide how many notable speakers will be invited.
Choosing a location: The two most important things when it comes to choosing a location are the accessibility of the target audience and a convenient transport system for the easy and hassle-free commute.
Finalizing the venue: The venue should have the necessary facilities like an adequate seating area, sufficient space to accommodate the crowd, enough clean restrooms, etc.
Publicizing the event: An early and effective publicity exercise is vital in building up the excitement and also spreading awareness on the event so it will help rope in the cream in terms of researchers.
Setting-up and tracking attendee registration: A close eye should be kept on the registration and application of the participants. This is easier said than done as some of these events can have more than a thousand people in attendance.
Resources for organizing or manage a conference successfully
Event management involves a dedicated workforce for the program that is divided into three segments: planning committee (data collection, preparation of name tags, number of guests and corresponding accommodation etc.), executive committee (emailing attendees, attendee registration, advertising and social media, and food & beverages distribution) and control committee (feedback collection, parking management, disciplinary seating arrangement etc.)
The entire process of managing a conference would fail if anyone of the above-mentioned teams fails to complete their assigned tasks.
Introducing Confygo – Conference on the go!
Confygo is an effective all-in-one Web Based Event Management Software designed to support organizations with academic conferences, workshops, and seminars. As a product from Texila Technologies, a business unit of Texila America University Consortium, Confygo helps in automating and thus simplifying all the manual tasks needed to plan and successfully organize academic events and conferences.
How Confygo change the way the academic conference is conducted?
Man Power Usage: manpower usage and expenditure is brought to almost nil. Everything is automated and this, in turn, helps in flawless management and tracking.
Time management: Since most conference tasks are automated, less time is spent on the manual organization.
Report Generation: Generating a report is easier online than through human hands and minds. It’s is almost incomparable in terms of time, data volume and level of accuracy.
Human Error: There is no scope of human error as everything is automated. All the registration, liaising and sending of email needs are done using an automated form.
Increased ROI (Return on Investment): Expenditure on workforce and smaller things are less, resulting in the event to be conducted flawlessly. Hence, the ROI would be comparatively high.
Timely Delivery: All the liaising is done correctly on time. All the collected feedback is submitted and analyzed on time.
In all, Confygo provides any organization or institution with the power of web-based conference management. Supported by a team of highly-experienced industry experts, Confygo is dedicated to providing high-end technological solutions in a cost-effective and timely manner, so that you can effortlessly run any event you desire, without any trouble what so ever.
To know more about Confygo and how it can help you grow as a business, please visit: https://www.confygo.com
