INDEX: Date | Site | Theme | Budget | Publicity | Green Conference Planning | Meetings | Evaluations | Jobs | Coordinator | Workshops | Keynote | Registration | Printed Materials (Reg. Packet/Program) | Other Jobs
For background, see Michael Charnofsky's Conference Coordination Manual for much greater detail! (48 pages, in PDF-464K). Also available in Word for updating/revising. If you do add to or revise this document, please work with webmaster to keep a current version online.
Dates:
Choose conference dates carefully - try not to conflict with other events of interest to our members, especially in California. Watch for NAAEE, CSTA, NSTA, AEE, ACA, ROEE, NAI and other "alphabet soup" organizations' events to try to reduce or eliminate conflicts. Check the AEOE Calendar! The Fall Conferences are general held anytime from late September through early October, and the Spring Conferences are usually held in April.
Site:
Things to consider: Keeping costs as low as possible to better serve members, large enough facilities for our needs, especially dining room, camping areas and various types of lodging available, good workshop spaces, both indoors and out, for enough workshops (and rainy day plans, too!), proximity to airports, ease of access for both sections, etc.
Start EARLY to find a site!! Many larger sites book weekends a year in advance, or more! Some Institutional Member Organizations may be willing to work with us on the price. We have discussed offering organizations a year institutional membership as a thank-you for hosting an AEOE Conference, but this has not become policy. I guess it depends on if they give us a better deal or allow us to do things they don't allow other facility renters (such as camp on site). Most sites work very hard to accomodate us and this would be a very nice way to encourage and thank them.
One way to handle more people is to not have family-style meals, but have longer buffet style meals, which make the dining room capacity not as much of a limitiing factor. This makes it necessary to find other ways to get information to attendees rather than meal announcements... but that's probably a good thing.
Theme:
This should be chosen with the keynote in mind, to help with conference cohesiveness, but if it is general enough, it should work with most. Have workshop strands connect to theme. Best to choose early to help with publicity! Check the "Detailed Conference History" page for past themes.
Budget:
Set up a Proposed Conference Budget in the Fall with the CFO and try to stick to it to prevent budget disasters.
Consider dividing up the cost of the conference into sections:
- Housing and meals, usually the largest chunk - up to 75% of our conference fees go directly to the site to pay for this.
- Keynotes (including travel expenses)
- Entertainment (including travel expenses)
- Workshop Presenters - we pay for part of their fees by giving them a 50% discount
- Publicity, including fliers, registration packets, signs, etc.
- Income needed for operating budget over next two years (Insurance, newsletters, board expenses, activities, and paying for the next conference!)
Then if there are any grants, decide which portions they will help cover (often they are specific about that) and take the money off of that part.
For example, if you consider the site wants $65 per person for meals and lodging (a great deal), the keynotes will cost $3000, the entertainment another $1500, publicity about $1000, and income needed about $30 per person (that’s what we’ve been doing—I don’t know if it is sufficient, but it seems to be) Then for 300 people at the conference, you would need to charge them:
$65 + $10 + $5 + $2.50 + $30 = $115 each to cover conference and budget costs.
Of course, charging extra for workshops and getting money from book sales could offset the cost of keynotes, and grants could be used for things like that as well, which could lower the effective cost per person.Sample Conference Budget for 2005: Available in PDF (29k) or Excel (100k)
Proposed Conference Budget for 2006: Available in PDF (28k) or Excel (100k)
TEMPORARY SALES PERMIT: It is required to get a temporary Seller's Permit from the California State Board of Equalization in order to sell merchandise, such as tee shirts, mugs, pencils, bandanas, books, etc at conferences. Records/receipts of any such sales must be carefully kept and turned in to the CFO for tax purposes.
Publicity
To promote the conference and build excitement, have articles (not just fliers) in each of the newsletters building up to the conference. Articles about speakers, interviews with speakers, reviews of books or bands, reprints of articles by keynotes or presenters are all good.
Acorn Naturalists has helped in the past by putting a conference flier in all of their packages shipping to California addresses.
Listservs and calendars of other organizations: CREEC, GSEEC, CEEIN, NAAEE and EE-link, Orion Grassroots Network (also a good source for finding other places to publicize), ROEE, ACA, AEE to name a few. Also, regional organizations such as the Bay Area Science Alliance (BASA) and EECOM, GLATSA, and Magazines like Sierra, Bay Nature, California Wild, and Clearing. Of course, AEOE email newsletters reminding folks of deadlines and giving conference news should go out as well.
And of course, everything goes on the AEOE website!
Green Conference Practices - click here for an entire page about this
Meetings
The toughest thing about planning and organizing a conference, is, after the conference is over, you are exhausted, want to go home and do a victory dance (or nap!) to have to hold a board meeting. People are tired and really ready to just exhale and go home with the conference afterglow, not roll up their sleeves and make tough decisions. But state conferences are a time when all the state board are usually present in one place, so it's great to meet. The best solution, if enough people can make it, is to have an all day state board meeting on Friday, and have board members come a day early. This was very successful at Walker Creek, but unfortunately, not everyone can get away from work an extra day. Another great solution is to have some built in down-time/meeting time in the schedule - Saturday afternoons are great for this. It's hard to have enough time to get much done then, however. No one likes missing workshops for meetings, but sometimes that has been necessary, too. Sunday afternoons are left when most people can make it for at least part of the time (the non-host section folks may have to leave early to make it home or catch planes). Work with the board and find out when most key players on the executive board (President, section chair(s), SCS, CFO, and past and future presidents/chairs) can be there and plan around that. Try to make sure BOTH sections are well-represented, in addition to having a quorum for decision-making. If any items on the agenda would require or benefit from input from any other positions, add them to the list of people to work around (ie, membership, publicity, webmaster, newsletter, activities, etc). Good luck making it work!
Evaluations
Be sure to review evaluations from previous years' conferences for guidelines on what was successful and what wasn't - especially important for planning schedule, workshops, speakers, etc.
Conference Evaluation from 2005: Available in PDF (280k) or Word (100k)
Big Jobs:
Conference Coordinator
Conference Coordination Manual (48 pages, in PDF-464K). Also available in Word for updating/revising. If you do add to or revise this document, please work with webmaster to keep a current version online!
Sample Conference Planning Report (pdf-133k) from the 2004 conference (also available in Word to download and use as a template, if desired) - it might be helpful for people working on future conferences. This was used to summarize all the information, timeline, pricing, etc. for the August State Executive Board Meeting so that even folks who weren’t working directly on the conference would be up to date and able to contribute as well as to promote the conference. This is an excellent model to follow, and will have helpful information for what future conference planners should look for.
Sample Budget - meet with the CFO to make a preliminary conference budget by fall. (Also available in Excel)
Past Conference Coordinators to consult with: 2005:
and
Workshop / Presenter Coordinator
The main thing to keep in mind is ~you don't have to re-invent the wheel!~ Many people have done this job before and have created forms and formats that you can use to save time and energy. Be sure to ASK for help from those who went before, from the newsletter editors, and the webmaster also, who likely have files you could use and can give you advice.
Past Presenter Coordinators to work with: 2005 -
Workshop Coordinator Timeline - excellent resource put together by Duffy Ross in 2005! (PDF-120K, also available in Word for editing/revising)
Presenter Application Form (in Word for editing/revising for your needs): CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD This application form, or variations of it, has been used since 2000, with each successive presenter coordinator tweaking it as needed. Feel free to customize it, and check with past presenter coordinators to see what worked well and what could be improved. Don't forget to change workshop times/durations if they are different, and of course all contact information, location, and dates. We started using online presenter application forms for fall conferences in 2005, which was very successful, and added them for the spring conference of 2006 - click here to see the online form. It is set so that the form is emailed to the presenter coordinator, and can be changed by the webmaster to be sent to you. Of course, it may also be revised as needed for your needs.
Suggestions from Duffy (2005):
Major Suggestions:
- Convene a Workshop Review Committee (at least 3 people to review applications and weigh against criteria and make sure these three people represent different arenas of EE)
- Flesh out Guidelines for AEOE Workshop Acceptance (suggestions below)
- Have emergency funding for special recruit presenters and/or last minute equipment rentals
Guidelines: (Ideas)
- Balance strands as much as possible
- Recruit or cultivate non-traditional EE providers
- Encourage education, not advocacy; expose multiple perspectives on issues; expose complexity; avoid workshops that oversimplify
- Work for authenticity of voice (for example, Native Americans speak to the Native American experience)
- Balance new with veteran tailored workshops; indoor with outdoor education etc
Trends (and suggestions) from sign-up sheets from spring 2005:
- Double workshops were significantly less popular than single workshops.
- Youth panel discussions were not as popular
- Site based workshops (walker creek hike, walker creek garden) were especially popular because they were so hands-on
- Research based workshops were less popular in general but likely more popular for management tier of conference attendees (who need options as well)
- Natural history (birds, bugs, flowers etc) and curriculum based workshops always a hit with all the newer educators but need to be balanced out with alternatives
- Native American workshops very popular as well
- Try to arrange more heady workshop topics in the morning (panels, discussions, pedagogy) and put the hands-on natural history stuff (which always sells out) in the afternoon
- Schedule more workshops for Saturday morning (early and late) and less for Saturday afternoon (early and late). Many people get tired and take a break from attending workshops.
- Balance large and small capacity workshops - make sure not to schedule several small capacity workshops at the same time. Perhaps have a minimum size limit - no workshops that have limits under 20.
Registration Packet and Conference Program
Examples of past Reg. Packets: 2005 (pdf-276K), 2004 (pdf-732K), 2003 (in the newsletter - pdf-580K), 2002 (pdf-248K), 2001 (pdf-196K)
Templates in Word for registration packet (use if it helps!): Registration Info | Directions/What to Bring | Workshop Descriptions | Schedules | Reg. Form | Back of Reg. Form
Contact people who have done it in the past, as they may have templates you can use! 2005:
The registration packet needs to go out in the Spring Newsletters and go on the website in a timely fashion - that is, with enough time before the early registration deadline (usually a couple of weeks at least). Make sure you work closely with both newsletter editors and the webmaster to make this happen.
For the conference program, it is nice to have a pull-out page with the site map, alphabetical key to locations, and general schedule on one side, and a grid showing all the workshops and locations on the other. Here are some examples for Camp Hess Kramer: Map (also in InDesign) | Workshop Grid in Word from 2002 (5 workshops) and 2004 (4 workshops) It doesn't have to be a pull-out page - some people have put the map on the back of the program, and a grid of workshops on the inside back cover, and that works, too, depending on your number of pages.
Registrar
Work closely with the membership coordinator and the CFO, as well as workshop/presenter coordinator, scholarship coordinator, and housing coordinator (to keep track of discounts, scholarships, housing choices, etc). Also work with Presenter Coordinator to make sure presenters are registered! Make sure the information on the Registration form includes everything you will need (see examples below)
Past Conference Registration Forms: 2006 (pdf-this one only opens with Acrobat, and comes out gibberish in some other readers, like Preview, for some reason) 2005 (pdf-100k), 2004 (pdf-76k -also available as a Word document for use as a template, if desired), 2003 (pdf-24k), 2002 (in reg. packet - pdf-248k), 2001 (pdf-196k)
Past Registrars to work with:
Registrar Resources
Registrar Manual - Kara Walker 2005; Helen de la Maza 2008
Registrar FAQ
On Site Registration:
List of things to bring! This very useful list can be added to as folks thing of more details. These are things we should be sure to have on hand at registration/set-up to make the process go smoothly.
Liability Release Forms: Conference Version (long list for names - photo permission added): Word
or PDF
Individual version for minors: Original (Word)
Updated 2008 Form (Word)Directions: Please place out at conferences and events for ALL participants to sign liability waiver. Minors must have parents sign the original form. Send signed forms to State Coordinating Secretary to keep on file with insurance information after events.
Keynote and Entertainment Coordinator(s)
Finding great keynotes:
Don’t’ limit yourself! Think of anyone you think AEOE members would like, who would you like? Brainstorm people you think would be great, and ask the top people on your list first, because, believe it or not, they will probably accept! Be careful if you are "just looking" in your inquiries - make sure you are clear that you are shopping around for potential keynotes and just gathering information - you may end up with someone accepting before you have decided if not.Be sure to have other board members check your communications with potential keynotes, whether email or other, for typos and accuracy before sending to make sure AEOE is well-represented.
A great way to find a keynote is through publishers - who has just written a book they'd like to promote? Another is to check out the conferences of other state EE associations and see who they have had speak - you can contact them to find out how they were, too! If you read something that inspires you somewhere, see about getting the author as a keynote. If you hear about an organization or project that would be instructive to AEOE members, see about getting someone from there as a keynote.
Here is a brainstormed list of potential keynote speakers which may be useful - feel free to add to it by emailing suggestions to the webmaster!
Affording expensive keynotes:
If you get someone who is local, it saves on money and energy for transportation. If the keynote is someone who would be interested in attending the conference and interacting with attendees beyond their talk, that is better. If they are willing to give a workshop or two, that is wonderful. If they are willing to sign books, that is a way we can help finance their appearance.
There are several ways you can make it happen if you want a person badly enough!
- Asking them to do workshops and then charging a small fee for those taking their workshops can help to subsidize an expensive keynote.
- Publishers often will work a deal with book signings as well—Simon Schuster offered to sell us a quantity of Byrd Baylor’s books at a discount and we can then sell them to be signed at the normal price and keep the difference. We can also return any unsold books for a refund, so there is little or no risk in this option.
- Of course, building the cost of the keynote into the conference cost structure is always an option—if you add $5 to everyone’s fee, that’s about $1500 for a 300 person conference.
Contract: Here is a sample contract to download (Word)
Past Keynote and Entertainment Coordinators: 2005:
TEMPORARY SALES PERMIT: It is required to get a temporary Seller's Permit from the California State Board of Equalization in order to sell merchandise, such as tee shirts, mugs, pencils, bandanas, books, etc at conferences. Records/receipts of any such sales must be carefully kept and turned in to the CFO for tax purposes.
Be aware of non-profit guidelines for "non-related income"
Ideas for merchandise: See the Green Conference page for past merchandise, ideas for new merchandise, logos used, etc!
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