Planning, organising and executing a successful training conference is both rewarding and challenging. To hold a successful conference you need to gain the talents, cooperation, coordination, contacts and participation of lots of individuals. A Conference Planning Committee is a good way to establish these involved individuals early on, before too many decisions are made about the conference particulars.
The planning committee should consist of a group of people who share responsibility for shaping the conference and planning the program. Members should broadly represent the target audience for the conference, and include members of any companies which agree to sponsor the event.
In the event of several agencies or businesses sponsoring the conference, a representative from each organisation should be on the committee. A committee is ideally used to distribute the workload among many people, but it is important that decisions are made at a group level so that the conference represents more than one individual.
Generally, the larger the conference, the larger the planning committee, as larger conferences will involve more decision making during the planning process, and more actual work to be carried out. Large committees can often run into problems, since getting committee members together for meetings can be difficult, and getting everyone to agree on important issues can be even more so. Sometimes unanimous agreement cannot be reached, and the point of having a planning committee is lost. Try not to create a planning committee so large that reaching agreement is difficult.
Look for people to serve on the committee who are qualified due to experience, their organisation or their unique skills. Enlist members who are dependable, responsible and receptive to the ideas of others.
Once the ball is rolling, the point of the committee and the responsibilities of individual members becomes more clearly defined. To avoid confusion, the committee's purpose and function should be clearly communicated to committee members.
On different issues the committee will be expected to behave differently. It could be that the committee is used for brainstorming ideas, making recommendations, or approving other decisions. It's important that members know what is expected from the committee in any given instance.
Creating written documents which state the purpose and function of the committee can help minimise the conflicts and ensure that everyone knows what is expected of them.
There are some important issues around committees which should be addressed at the outset, such as whether committee members will be reimbursed for time or travel expenses, how often the committee will meet, for how long, and to who the committee is responsible.
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