Initial Conference Planning: Six Questions

Initial Conference Planning: Six Questions

Here is an interesting bit of trivia: the CAP National Conference, under normal conditions, begins its planning at least 18 – 24 months out from the conference start. A city and venue are selected based on several criteria, and decisions are made about how best to have the most members experience one of CAP’s signature events. Not the work of one person, but rather of a cohesive team of planners, vendors, presenters, speakers, hotel employees, host wing members, and attendees (yes, attendees), the annual conference is the result of careful planning. Yours should be too.

It is common for a wing conference to start planning at least 14 to 18 months out. This is in part because hotels book events at least that far in advance. The more people expected, the more hotel and meeting rooms are needed, the farther out a contract is required. If a virtual conference is desired, planning can be compressed a little bit, but not much. Time also equals quality.

First thing to do is assemble a team to assist in the planning and execution of the conference. Members of this team should include team leads for the following areas (list below assumes F2F or F2F/Hybrid):

• Schedule (at this point only types of sub events, time blocks and number of planned rooms are needed). Titles and speakers are determined later.

  • General assembly/plenary sessions

  • Learning sessions/seminars and meetings

  • Co-conference activities, ceremonies and banquet

• Protocol/Distinguished Visitor (DV) liaison

• Lodging, food & beverage and hotel liaison

• Logistics and transportation

• Conference registration, conference programs and handouts

• Safety and risk management

• Financial management

• Information technology

  • Registration technology/payment protocols

  • Onsite A/V (if used)

  • Remote learning/attendees and on-demand

  • Remote presentations and prerecorded presentations

• Cadet activities and oversight

• Awards

• Marketing and communications

These people, approved by command, will assist in the planning and execution process. These members can be selected from the wing staff, cadets, conference veterans, or others with an interest and talent for working in a conference environment.

Why?

Recall that the purpose of a conference in CAP is to connect, to collaborate, and to celebrate. Notice that this leaves a lot of room for personalization by region or wing. At the same time, they represent strategic objectives or touchstones of the event. It is what sets it apart from other wing-wide activities and is the reason why members attend.

In truth, it could be all of these things and usually for a wing conference, it is. All these reasons are relevant and valuable to the membership. All must be considered and defined before getting into the meat of the planning content later on.

When?

Deciding on a block of time to schedule a conference helps to answer most of the other questions, as it informs questions about site, speaker and DV availability. When scheduling a wing conference, some things to consider:

• Other CAP or civic activities sharing the same time. The CAP calendar should be an automatic consideration, but also look at the calendar for the areas in which the conference may be held. You may not want to book on top of a sporting event, a political convention or other large-scale event which may affect pricing, traffic, hotel rooms and dining.

• Religious celebrations. Consult the web and search for “Religious holidays, 20XX.” Try to minimize overlap with major religious observances. The wing chaplain can help with this.

• Major holidays. For some wings, scheduling over an extended holiday weekend is advantageous for them. For other wings, it hinders participation. It’s important to carefully consider whether holidays help or hinder participation.

• Spring or Fall. These are the two big conference seasons; but they may also conflict with functions such as weddings and sporting events.

• Major CAP happenings within the region and wing. Is the conference normally planned around wing changes of command time? Is it scheduled for the same weekend as another conference within the region? Is the conference combined with another event such as Cadet Competition? Every wing is different.

• Friday night through Saturday night? Friday night through Sunday? Saturday AM – Sunday AM? If a hybrid is used, will there be additional original content before or after the conference proper?

What? (*denotes items specific to F2F or hybrid conferences)

Going back to the theme and to the “why”:

• What do you want the members to have as a take-away from the conference? These can be cognitive, such as teaching new skills or being exposed to new programs? These can also be behavioral as in, what do you want them to feel about something? What attitude do you want them to carry back to their units?

• What “official” events are to take place? Awards? Displays? Skills development? Meetings? A change-of-command? An “Ask the Commander?”

• What social events are planned? Will there be a reception? If so, will alcohol be served*? Will other meals (outside of the banquet) be provided*? Will the wing host a hospitality suite (if adult beverages are served, consider reserving a different one for cadets)?

• Will there be a banquet* or other Saturday evening event? What form will it take?

• What awards will be presented? Are there any awards (such as Medals of Valor, Distinguished Service Medals, Spaatz Awards or Wilson Awards) which require special ceremony and handling?

• Will the conference be a full-on conference with multiple breakout sessions, general assemblies, other things to do, displays? Etc.? Will it be a “town hall,” where most events are held in one room?

• What platform will be used to support and transmit content to members*? Will it be solely “push” content (where the content is sent to the user), or will it also be “pull” content (where the user acts to find and retrieve the content)?

There are many other “what” questions that can be asked. To brainstorm, get a group together and discuss the events that have happened previously to consider what took place and whether these events are still desired.

Where?

Where a conference was held used to be a simpler question. The decision was bound by geography, availability, number of people attending (and staying overnight if need be), and budget. Now, where can also include whether to hold a conference in the ether: virtually or as a hybrid (a mix of a F2F conference and a virtual conference where members attend remotely). For the purpose of this conversation, let’s look at F2F first:

• Geographic area of the state: wings like to schedule their conferences around the state, so over a few years everyone has a conference close by. North to south, east to west, the idea is the same. The decision is influenced by availability of facility, cost and relative distance to member population centers. Often small wings try to keep things centralized, but even they will occasionally move around to reduce the stresses on the hosting squadrons or to accommodate areas of the state which may be close “as the birds fly” but hard to reach using highways.

• Will the conference be held in a hotel, resort facility or conference center? Each represents differences in capability and cost. Will it be held on a military base? If so, is billeting and messing available?

• What types of airports are nearby the locations being considered? Do they meet the anticipated needs?

Virtual and hybrid conferences have their own set of “where” questions:

• Where will pre-recorded and “live” events be streamed from? Speaker’s homes? Recordings through a wing’s server?

• Where will attendees access the content? Is the wing going to engage a conferencing service? Will it use utilities such as Microsoft Live? Will it use Zoom for phone conferencing? A combination?

• Where will the content be located after the conference for later viewing? The wing’s website? A conferencing website? For how long will the content be available?

Who?

On the surface this seems to be an elementary question, but scratch the surface and find that who attends can drive a fair part of the planning process:

• Will cadets attend? This question drives chaperones, alcohol service, activities and learning labs, color guards, whether to hold specific meetings (such as CAC), social events for the cadets; etc.

• Will national and region leadership, elected officials, military leadership, and civic leaders be invited? What roles will they have? Will they be staying overnight? This drives protocol decisions, comped registrations or meals, hotel rooms, and other amenities. Don’t forget to include these comps into your budget. (It’s better to plan sooner and to invite sooner to ensure acceptance).

• Are families invited? If so, consider what may or may not be included into the planning process. What events might they attend? Are additional activities needed just for them?

• Will non-members have access to the content?

How? (* denotes virtual or hybrid)

How questions tend to get into the necessary weeds. Among the questions that should be asked are: