Insights from a Conference Producer

Insights from a Conference Producer

Interview with an Experienced Conference Producer June 2021

How long have you been a conference producer? I’ve been producing events for three years now.  I began working in the conference industry as ‘Head of VIP Relations’ for one of the largest conference companies globally.  This role involved building relationships with top company executives, usually Chief Executive Offers. This gave me an edge when it came to speaker recruitment since i’d already had years of experience building relationships with speakers and researching topics to capture their interest.

What do you love most about the job? I love getting inside the minds of extraordinary innovators, leaders and greatest visionaries within the industries in which we work. The fact that we literally create spaces for world leading experts to meet and showcase the technologies that are changing the face of our future excites me! I love how as a producer, we’re trusted to produce content that inspires our audiences and helps accelerate growth and digital innovation by attracting leaders from across the globe to meet in one place.

What’s the most challenging part of what you do? The biggest challenge is making sure the content addresses challenges that are real and current for each industry at the time of the conference.  As producers, each event has a life cycle from when you begin doing your research to when the conference itself takes place. In some cases, this can be four to six months which means you need to ensure your research is thorough and conducted with Chief Executives Officers and key decision makers because of their strategic mindset. Covid is a great example of where we’ve had to adapt and transform the way in which we work to adjust to unforeseen circumstances.  It keeps the job interesting and challenging!

How do you describe what you do when your friends and family ask? I usually explain that my job involves intense listening and talking to incredibly interesting people about incredibly interesting things.  As a conference producer, we are the glue that holds everything together.  We work closely with sales, marketing and event management who rely on us to be able to carry out their work effectively so when the conference comes to fruition, there’s a real sense of achievement and team success.

What’s the secret for getting people to take market research calls and finding engaging speakers to talk at your events? I’ve found that the more research you do prior to the call, the better.  By finding exciting articles about the person or product, you have a common meeting ground on which to begin the conversation. If you make a call and know the person’s interests, achievements or speaking engagements at other events, it sets the stage nicely for a more in depth conversation. Another great trick is to be yourself, don’t change the way you speak and instead show genuine interest and enthusiasm.  People resonate with you better this way.

What top tips do you have for new producers? Be extremely organised.  Use a diary to manage your time, making sure you’re never late for a call or appointment.  Know your industry, take the time to read articles, watch videos and thoroughly research your industry before talking to the experts.  Enjoy your work, take pleasure in discovering new things, remain curious and interested in what is happening. Let your enthusiasm be known to everyone involved in the event by believing in it’s greatness.

How do you motivate sponsorship sales teams to maximise the profit of your events?

The key I’ve found to motivate the sales team is to really believe in the product (conference) yourself and to know exactly who you should be targeting for sponsorship.  Through research, we discover exactly who should be sponsoring the event and can use our creativity to find exciting ways to attract the sponsors based on the needs they have.  For example – creating an executive dinner that we know will attract CEO’s and result in connections for our sponsors.  It’s about understanding the industry and ensuring your agenda reflects both the needs of your sponsors and the industry’s innovators.

Are all conference producer roles the same? This depends on the type of product you’re working on.  For example, the role of a producer who works solely on online events (which has become more common since Covid 19) will differ from someone who is used to creating in-person networking events.  The research and agenda writing will remain the same more or less but the overall strategy and delivery can change.

I hear recruiters talking about the commercial element of events, what exactly do they mean? This is how skillful the producer can be at creating an event that attracts monetary investment.  As a producer, we must understand strategically what content will attract sponsorship and how to create different opportunities throughout the agenda that meet the objectives of different companies.

On the day of your event, how do you feel? Extremely excited.  Usually, it’s hard for me to sleep the night before the event because i’m so excited to meet the speakers and sponsors i’ve been talking to for months in the lead up.  It’s an amazing feeling when you finally get to see the conference come together and meet such inspiring people.

Can you tell us the best way to discover the hottest topics for your agenda? Ask your speakers, they will tell you.  You’ll start to notice the same hot topics being mentioned over and over which helps you to know you’re on the right track.  I prefer to ask people than read articles but this is also a way to know what’s hot and what’s not.

For more information on working in Conference Production please contact Helen@jbrecruitment.co.uk