Organising a seminar offers many benefits, such as strengthening team cohesion, sharing knowledge and showcasing talent. The seminar provides a welcome break from the daily routine and allows all employees to refocus on common business objectives.
After the experience we gained in 2022 with more than 300 organisers using our ticketing system for their seminar, Weezevent is happy to share this article full of practical tips to make your seminar a success.
Summary
1. All you need to know about seminars
A seminar usually brings together a company’s entire team for work sessions, brainstorms, original activities (such as sports, wine tasting…) and meetings between departments or business units. It gives teams a chance to take a break from their daily tasks and look at their work from a new perspective. The formats can vary widely: from a few hours to several days, with flexible content depending on the company’s objectives.
Why organise a seminar? Besides business goals – such as sharing a vision, presenting results or celebrating successes, seminars also have a human dimension. They strengthen team spirit and the atmosphere within the company, two key components for overall performance.
Seminars can also tie in with other occasions:
- Webinars, online or virtual seminars
- Management seminars
- Introduction or inspiration sessions for team building
Want to organise a seminar but don’t know where to start? We will explain it step by step:
2. Define the objectives and framework of the seminar
Like any other event, a seminar needs effective logistics to be successful. To organise a successful seminar, take the time to determine what you hope to achieve. Do you want to introduce a new company strategy? Strengthen the cohesion of your teams? Celebrate a success?
Then find the best format by asking yourself the following questions:
- What activities and key elements do you want to highlight?
- What will be the dominant atmosphere at the event?
- What topics will participants debate and focus on?
- What information will be provided to participants?
- What are the main points you want participants to remember?
- How can you satisfy all your employees? What extravagant activities should be proposed?
Each business meeting has a distinct topic that will be developed throughout the day through interaction and activities. A seminar can be organised for a variety of purposes, as mentioned above. Think about your expectations and motivations. Do you want to strengthen your teams? Reward them? Educate them on a particular subject?
3. Choose a date
Of course, the ideal is for the seminar to be useful to as many employees as possible! There’s nothing like a survey beforehand to help you decide on a date (using simple tools like Doodle, for example). Your task will be easier because participants will indicate their availability and unavailability. However, plan to organise your seminar during a quiet period when few people are on holiday.
4. Draw up a provisional budget
As with any event, you need to draw up a precise budget estimate that is consistent with everything you wish to organise. You will need to take into account the estimated number of participants, as well as the venue, entertainment and duration of the seminar. Don’t forget to include travel, accommodation and food costs.
5. Define the venue and timetable for the event
The venue for an event is chosen on the basis of a number of factors. Capacity is the first. The term “capacity” here refers to the number of people a space can accommodate while remaining open and uncluttered.
The venue itself is the next factor to think about. Even if you’re trying to be creative, there’s no reason to choose the most isolated room in town for a seminar for your company’s employees, especially if the participants are covering their own travel costs. What’s more, finding the venue doesn’t have to take hours of searching. Visits are important when a venue seems appropriate.
Before choosing the venue and activities, carefully analyse the offers made by the various suppliers. Don’t hesitate to ask for a customised quote based on the number of participants! Depending on the venue and the agenda, you need to decide whether the business meeting should last all day, half a day or several days.
6. Use a quick and easy registration service
Your workload is reduced if you use an online registration method. It will be easier to buy seminar tickets online and register for the event, or even for the various seminar activities if they are optional and limited in number of places. This solution is essential to the success of your seminar. To manage your registrations, you need to ensure that the online registration solution you choose is easy to use, quick to set up and packed with features.
7. Create a calendar for the occasion
This makes it easier to keep track of the seminar day by day. The dates, names and telephone numbers of the people involved, as well as deposits to be paid and bookings to be finalised, are all listed in a back-planning document.
8. Plan the activities to be shared with participants
Draw up a programme for the seminar that your staff can follow. They should be told the time of the conference, the date of the event, the activities and the breaks. Avoid creating too rigid a timetable, as the unexpected often disrupts the day.
9. Share the event with the company
Announcing the event to the teams by e-mail and on notice boards on your premises will make the event official. You can then compile their responses and make adjustments if the event is cancelled. Take this opportunity to advise your staff on what they should bring (a swimming costume, sports shoes, jogging gear, etc.) so that no one turns up unprepared.
10. Restez en contact après le séminaire
Send thank-you emails with souvenir photos after the seminar! This is also an opportunity for you to submit a satisfaction survey to get feedback from your staff. Thanks to this feedback, you can make improvements to your next seminars.
Organising a seminar efficiently and easily is within reach with Weezevent. With a seamless registration and access control solution, everything is designed for an optimal experience, both for the organiser and the participants.
