Where do I find a technology conference planner ?

April 19, 2007 1:02 PM

What are good sources of information to find a corporate conference planner ?

I'm looking to create and manage a multi-day educational technology conference, which would include presentations and forums, meetings, exhibits, tours of local schools and networking sessions. The conference would likely be held in a major city.

I don't know if a traditional event planner would necessarily be a good fit because of the size (anywhere between 250 and 1000 attendees) and scope.

Are there individuals or companies that do this kind of work ?

posted by jurczyk to Technology (7 answers total)

Yes, absolutely. While a lot of companies have event planners in-house, there are also independent event planners that will do type of work for small companies or organizations that don't do events on a regular enough basis to support having a full time event planner on staff.

The woman who was the event manager for my firm recently left and started a company with some others doing this exact work. She's fantastic and I'd highly recommend her. Drop me an email if you'd like her contact details.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 1:17 PM on April 19, 2007

The International Special Events Society is the professional organization for event managers and associated vendors. I believe they have a search (by job function and location) on the site.
posted by Sweetie Darling at 1:32 PM on April 19, 2007 [1 favorite]

Bizbash.com is a resource for event planners, but the directories also have listings for event planners.
posted by kimdog at 1:36 PM on April 19, 2007

I have a couple planners to recommend. Please contact me at the email address in my profile.
posted by ba at 1:51 PM on April 19, 2007

I also have planners to recommend, as well as audiovisual services, should you be interested.
posted by tomierna at 6:33 PM on April 19, 2007

ISES is good; so is MPI (Meeting Planners International).
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 8:07 PM on April 20, 2007 [1 favorite]

You can go to Bournemouth, lots of conference places. The Venues will co-ordinate it with you.
Try Royal Bath Hotel or BIC
posted by LM at 1:27 AM on May 26, 2007