The most important thing before you can start planning and organizing is to know what you want to do.
And this means on the one hand how many people shall attend (this is important not only for the location but also for the business plan) and on the other hand what shall the conference format be.
For example we as the JSUnconf decided that we want:
- about 300 - 400 participants
- 2 days on the weekend
- 3 tracks with 30 minutes talks and 15 minutes breaks
- therefore at least 3 halls̨
- at least one hall big enough to fit everyone in there
- a large space in front of the track halls where the participants can spend their time between the talks, talk to sponsors, drink a coffee or spend time on their computer. This space is also used for catering.
Other examples:
- single track conference with curated schedule, 200 attendees, 2 days
- single track mini-unconference, 1 day, 100 attendees, second part of the day workshops run by attendees
It's your conference! The concept you have for your event will influence the amount of required work to organize the event. It will also influence the atmosphere of the event.
- type of the conference (e.g. single track classic conference, multi-track, unconference)
- the planned size (cozy vs very big)
- length (half-day vs 5 days)
- things that make the conference unique and more awesome
Smaller events are usually a bit easier to organize. If you want to plan your first event start with a small event to gather first experiences.