In preparation:

• 6+ months in advance:
  • Develop an event proposal that includes date, topics, audience, # parallel sessions, # speakers (locals and travelers), and budget estimate; and get Section/Council endorsement and Section/Council funding commitment.
  • Define team member roles and/or committees (fundraising, publicity, technical program, facilities/logistics, etc.). Schedule planning meetings frequency.
  • Form a Planning Committee to bring the event to fruition (at least 3-4 volunteers or more)
• By 5 months in advance:
  • Refine budget and identify potential funding sources (Section, Region, IEEE Technical Societies, Companies, Universities, attendee fees, and/or partnering professional societies)
    • Identify potential corporate and other Supporters ($ donors) and assign solicitation role to team member(s)
  • Candidate venues identified (hotel | university | company | other) and assign responsibility for obtaining preliminary quotes
  • Outline a preliminary agenda (session lengths, breaks, lunch, opening and/or closing sessions); list session topics and identify potential speakers; identify potential sessions chairs, if parallel sessions; and assign responsibility for the technical program
    • Draft an event description for use in speaker solicitation
  • Identify Distinguished Lecturers to whom you will solicit participation (IEEE, IEEE Society, if a Student track is planned then S-PAC) and identify which funding sources will support the DL’s travel
  • Finalize the event date
• By 4 months in advance:
  • Define publicity plan (who will compile/design, what channels, i.e. eNotice, social media, IEEE newsletters, etc., when will info be sent and how often) and create content. Assign reponsiblity to team member(s).
  • Solicit funds from previously identified sources
  • Review speaker response and identify alternates for gaps. Collect speaker presentation title, abstract, bio, and headshot.
  • Establish plan for offering CEUs
  • Review Supporter response and decide on any continuing efforts (sponsorship commitments are needed for final budget adjustments at the 3-months-before-event milestone)
• By 3 months in advance
  • Finalize budget – set participant fees (professional member, student member and life member, non‑member)
    • Attempt to make non‑member fee approximately equal to member fee plus new member dues
  • Commit to venue and food arrangement (breaks, meals)
  • Coordinate logistics, i.e. transportation schedules, accommodations, and on-site volunteer schedules
  • Execute the publicity plan
• By 2 months:
  • Review all previous actions
  • Finalize speaker lineup
  • Enter meeting into IEEE vTools and start accepting paid registrations
  • Execute publicity plan — publicize to all IEEE members in host Section and adjacent Sections (vTools e-notice)
  • Communicate with all speakers and thank them for their agreement to participate. Offer local transportation, and assistance with lodging reservations
  • Define appreciation actions for speakers (thank you gift, speaker’s dinner, etc.)
• 1 month before event:
  • Reconfirm all contracts and commitments (venue, food, speakers, etc.)
  • Execute publicity plan
  • Establish last month actions with start & finish dates, assigned team member, i.e. printed materials like posters, signs, name tags, etc; collect presentations of keynote/plenary speakers; draft run of show for opening/closing sessions; identify technical liaisons for session rooms (students are good at this); etc.
  • Schedule weekly review meetings
  • Define needed contingency plans

On day of event: — follow your Technical Meeting plan for “On day of event” actions

• 4 hours before (or as soon as possible):
  • On-site volunteers arrive and receive/confirm assignments
  • Check venue setup
  • Test A/V equipment
  • Arrange registration table and welcome materials
• 2 hours before:
  • Open registration to attendees and provide welcome materials and refreshments, if any
• 1 hour before:
  • Speaker arrives
  • Test speaker’s presentation equipment, if being used
• 30 minutes before: Open doors to auditorium, if used
• When attendees arrive: Direct to registration table
• At meeting time:
  • Monitor speaker(s) for adherence to the schedule
  • Assist attendees with questions or issues
• After talk:
  • Provide speaker(s) with appreciation gift
  • Offer survey link for attendees to complete
  • Announce upcoming events

Later – after talk:

• Send a thank you note to speaker, share comments from attendees.
• Report attendance in vTools.