An entry-level guide to Conference Production

What is Conference Production? The role of a Conference Producer and what skills you need to be a successful Conference Producer

Events create a fun, intimate and engaging experience for your audience - there’s nothing like being in a room of like-minded people with fresh ideas.

The purpose of events is to allow the offering and sharing of intellectual content and communicating information and practice in ways that engage attendees. Events facilitate networking and business opportunities and help businesses promote their brand or products.

What is Conference Production?

Conference Production is a multifaceted, highly exciting and rewarding career path that allows you to create an event concept from scratch, curate the content and watch it come to life on the day.

Through extensive market research, (desk, phone, and face to face) a Conference Producer will identify key industry trends in order to create topic ideas that meet the needs of their audiences.

They write content-rich and commercially viable conference programs that will offer networking and knowledge transfer opportunities for paying delegates, sponsors, and speakers.

The role of a Conference Producer

Key tasks and responsibilities include:

Market Research & Analysis?– In-depth research of trends, hot topics, financial investment, breakthrough technologies, new laws and regulations, competitor events etc within a particular industry sector. Identifying the target audience and finding out what they want / need to know

Speaker Acquisition?– Identifying and contacting high-level, influential industry experts to speak at your event. Having the right speakers will play a huge part in attracting attendees and sponsors to the event.

Copy Writing?– Writing promotional copy in the form of a conference programme, in the language of your target audience.

Project Management?– Working with internal teams, sales, marketing and operations to ensure the success of the event and that it is delivered on time and in budget

Onsite Attendance?–?Events take place all over the world, so depending on the company you work for, you might have the opportunity to travel internationally. Attending the event will give you the opportunity to represent the company, network with key players and speakers within the sector, build relationships and shake hands with the people that helped shape your agenda.

What skills do you need to be a successful Conference Producer?

• Outstanding academics with a 2:1 degree. History, Geography, Economics, Philosophy, Languages, Literature, Politics and Social Sciences are often preferred, but not essential and only favoured due to the research aspect of the industry. Excellent qualitative research capabilities to keep abreast of current affairs & business news
• Having a keen eye for business is vital, so that you can draw parallels with developments in other industries
• ?Having a thick-skin and outstanding verbal communication skills as you will need to conduct research calls with industry stakeholders in order to discover industry news and developments that might not yet be common knowledge.
• Strong commercial acumen to be able to produce a profitable and sustainable event
• Creativity and natural curiosity to produce industry-leading content that will stand out amongst your competitors

Job titles, career progression and average salaries

Conference Production is one of the highest paying jobs in events and a role that you can quickly grow through the ranks.

Graduate Conference Producer/ Conference Producer?- ￡24-￡28k + profit share/bonus

Senior Conference Producer?- ￡28k - ￡40k + profit share/ bonus

Conference Manager -?￡35k - ￡45k + profit share/bonus

Portfolio Director?- ￡43k-￡60k + profit share /bonus

Division Director/ Head of Content?- >￡65k- + profit share/ bonus

If you wish to explore opportunities in Conference Production further, please get in touch with us on LinkedIn or email [email protected] with a brief introduction and your CV