A lot of work and planning goes into a successful camp or conference. It is
important to gauge the work involved beforehand so that there will be no
surprises down the road. To maximize your time, you should try to complete
steps one through three before contacting our office.
This is your guiding principle. You will need to decide the purpose of your event.
What will be the goal?
What will be the size and scope of topics covered?
Finally, you will need to determine who your target audience will be.
Before you go any further, you will need to set some parameters.
How many people do you want to participate?
How many staff will you need to accommodate this number?
How long will the conference be?
Pick some potential dates.
Be sure to include whether your staff will be required to come early.
You have plenty of options. Be sure to know what you will need before you
come. Here are some questions you should be prepared to have answers for:
Housing:
Will your guests be in doubles or singles?
Will your staff be in doubles or singles?
Would you like standard residential rooms or would you like apartment-style rooms with kitchenettes?
Do you need communal bathrooms, or would you prefer to have more private baths?
How important is on-site parking?
How much communal space do you need?
If your event is co-ed, do you need to put men and women in separate floors or separate buildings?
Do you want linens?
Food:
Will your group need meals?
What kind of dining plan would you like:
one price for all you can eat,
catered meals,
al-la-carte style meals,
or a combination of them?
Do you have any special needs, such as allergies, vegan or vegetarian meals,
or the need for Kosher facilities?
Meeting Space:
Will your group require meeting space?
If so, be prepared to give a basic outline of the number of rooms necessary
along with the capacity
for each room.
Learning Technologies:
Do you need audio-visual support?
Do you need access to computers?
Will your group be bringing any laptops?
Recreation:
Will you be having scheduled recreational time?
If so, you will need facilities for these activities.
What do you plan on doing during that time?
Will you need instructors or equipment?
How many people would you like to participate?
At this point you should have all the information necessary for the Office of
University Conferences at Emory to assist you. We can tell you if we have what
is necessary for your group, and give you estimates on pricing. We can also
start to do preliminary booking of the necessary facilities and services.
After you have decided to come to Emory, you will need to set an agenda that
accounts for the time of everyone in your group from the time you arrive to the
time you leave. Start with check-in and go all the way to checkout. Outline
everything in between. Begin with times only, and make sure you account for
travel time for getting from venue to venue. Once you have the times of your
activities down, start compiling a resource list: what will be needed for each
activity, both services and facilities? What will the setup of the rooms be?
Make sure you submit any agenda changes to the Conference Office as soon as
possible.
If you follow these easy steps, your event will be a success at Emory. Make
sure to continue communicating your needs, especially if anything changes. One
of our dedicated conference managers will be assigned to your group for the
duration of your stay to make sure your stay is a success!
