The Business Plan…
The business plan – what is it and why?
Well, it’s basically a summary or statement of the conference, outlining current progress and acheivable goals. It should evolve as progress is made with regards to booking facilities and attendee resistration.
The business plan is therefore central to your own organisation of the conference. It can also be used as a formal means to communicate the conference to internal and external groups where necessary, in instances where a flashy poster or website are not appropriate. For example, it may be necessary to seek funding for your conference – the cost of receptions, coffee breaks and meeting facilites soon add up (take our word for it!!). This business plan is the place to formally establish the budget for your conference and communicate the importance of achieving it to potential sponsors.
With regards to the business plan, we won’t say what you should and shouldn’t include, as it will probably vary a lot from case to case. What we will do though is provide you with a generic plan we use. It should be noted that this plan is always tailored specifically to the potential sponsor, varying between academic and private companies. The version available here was tailored to a University Faculty and is therefore heavy on the science. Private companies probably won’t be as interested in this level of detail so its probably better to keep it shorter and punchier in such cases.
You can download the business plan below.
Karl and Peter
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