Post-conference thoughts

Now that I’m finally getting over the euphoria and excitement of hosting the first ever national conference designed specifically to support payroll bureau managers I thought I’d share a few tips to help anyone else organising their first major event (as this was for me).

Team

It can be very lonely shouldering all the responsibilities unaided, so I’d urge you to have a good network of friends and supporters around you. I’m lucky enough to have an excellent network of connections I can call upon and I leant on them all to various degrees and at various times. But I want to single out one person for special thanks; she gave me tremendous help and support during the months before and during the event.

After the success of my Bureau Managers Roundtable meetings, I knew that I wanted to organise a national meeting, but self-doubt made me hesitant until Victoria Thatcher ChMCIPP gave me an extremely firm kick up the backside, telling me to “stop messing around and do it”. She even offered to help and I accepted her offer immediately. Vic became my designer, researcher, listening ear and trusted advisor, without whom I might well have given up several times. Amazingly, she did all this while also running a large payroll bureau, managing a software migration project, working on a dissertation, and being a wife and a mother to her 2 kids. ???? ???? ???? THANK YOU VIC, YOU ARE AMAZING!

Thanks are also due to her payroll team at Rickard Luckin who provided fantastic logistical support on the day, helping to get the event off to a smooth start.

Venue

You should aim for the best venue which your budget permits and, if you’re planning to host a conference for 80-120 people, I cannot recommend 30 Euston Square highly enough. The staff, the food, the space, the rooftop terrace, the AV guy, everything was brilliant. A bonus is the on-site mini hotel they offer too.

Event marketing

If you want a videographer anything, but especially for a business event, then please contact the guys at HNE Media Services Limited , James Garrett was superb throughout and could not have been more helpful.

Keynote

It’s easy to go for a well-known name in your industry, but I recommend that you go for a less obvious speaker - one who will challenge and inspire your delegates. In this regard James Ashford and his team at GoProposal were just amazing. Thanks for you fantastic presentation James and for printing up special copies of your first book 'Selling to Serve' which includes a foreword by yours truly!

Merchandise

You must never skimp on quality here. The cheap pen which breaks 3 days after the event will reflect badly on you whereas the more expensive option which lasts for years will always remind delegates what a great conference you hosted. Personally, I chose to avoid pens and instead I chose: yummy chocolate bars, notebooks, tote bags, ‘A promise to myself’ postcards and super-smart hoodies, all of them personalised with my company logo and/or message. Thanks to Cadbury, Better Printing , Purple Moon, Vistaprint (UK) Ltd , Everything Branded and Go Custom . Not forgetting Enterprise Rent-A-Car & National Car Rental for the hire van which I used to ship the merch to London and back from Bolton.

?And finally, thanks to all the delegates who bought tickets and contributed so actively to making the event a great success. I sincerely hope that the event was everything you hoped it would be.

Barry Matthews, Bureau Strategy

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