Comments on: Essentials to Designing a Conference

By: Katrina

Katrina — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 02:33:38 +0000

When I am sent to a conference I am always excited because I mean new people, learn new, things, eat a lot with all the foods being served and most of all I get another collection of conference badge. I have been collecting conference badges for ten years now and I already got a bunch.

By: max191

max191 — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 19:23:48 +0000

Definitely a great post. Hats off to you! The information that you have provided is very helpful.
regards
charcoal grill

By: sarahcooley

sarahcooley — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 14:17:57 +0000

These are great tips! I agree with every single one, and I have been to my fair share of poorly designed conferences.

By: Dan Saffer

Dan Saffer — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 14:21:21 +0000

I did a post a while back on Conference Badges 101:

http://www.adaptivepath.com/blog/2007/11/25/con...

By: Russ

Russ — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 13:00:11 +0000

Ahh–thank you.

While I'm planning IDEA 09, the rest of what you pointed out is absolutely fantastic–and since you've now posted about badges, it saves me from having to pester you with your insights and opinions.

I should have pointed out that the entire article was absolutely on the money. Thanks for acknowledging the mistake & correcting it! Much appreciated! (and it removes my own minor freak-out!)

By: Whitney Hess

Whitney Hess — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 12:51:25 +0000

My sincere apologies, Russ. That's what I get for writing in the middle of the night. It was actually the reception at IA Summit in Miami with the $10 glasses of wine. I have updated the post to reflect my mistake.

By: Russ

Russ — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 12:42:06 +0000

“I was astounded to see that IDEA was charging $10 per glass of wine at their evening receptions.”

That wasn't IDEA charging that, please don't falsely put that on us. I don't honestly recall the $10 charge for a glass of wine, but I did not drink any at the happy hour; that was the sponsor of the event, who I believe provided a pretty incredible spread, space and a variety of other drinks, as well as transportation to the event, all of which was pretty classy. Since IDEA did not provide t-shirts–and I realize that you're probably just making a comparison to the cost, but it's important to note–In fact, Manifest Digital went above and beyond as a sponsor, and they could have simply *not* provided a wine option. They also provided transportation to the event, which was a nice touch.

It's important to remember that, in many cases, these events are sponsored. Sponsors typically handle the finer details of what they put together, and not necessarily the event coordinators.

By: Christopher Fahey

Christopher Fahey — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 11:29:52 +0000

Regarding badges, the simplest solution is to print the same information on both sides. It never ceases to amaze me how so many events, especially the IA Summit, fail to do this year after year.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 07:19:35 +0000

The absolutely best organized conferences I've been to was MEX (Mobile User Experience) 2008 in London. A lot of what you noted in your post, they did (great food, clearly posted schedule on wall and on badges, good notebooks, etc.) They also used a great location, and split people into “breakout groups” of 10-20 people — the breakout groups were of varying value from dumb to fabulous (depended a lot on the group facilitator), but they provided people with a way to get to know other attendees without having to go up and get introduced first.