Conferences has consistently provided excellent support for PTI's annual Transportation Engineering and Safety Conference for more than ten years. The conference team handles all of our speakers' needs including registration, AV equipment requests, expert AV technical assistance, and travel assistance leaving speakers, moderators, and session coordinators free to focus on their session content. We can rely on Conferences to provide our speakers and participants with an enjoyable conference experience that brings them back year
after year.

Janice Dauber
Program Coordinator

FAQs

  1. I have never conducted a conference. What do I need to know about this process in order to have a successful program?
  2. What are the conference planner's responsibilities, and what role does he/she have in the program content and delivery arenas?
  3. What role does my college or department play in decisions about my program?
  4. Some financial questions: (A) How is the price of my program determined? (B) What does the conference management fee include, and is it part of the program expenses?
  5. What is the revenue-sharing model, and how is it applied to a program?
  6. I want to develop a conference, but I don't think the audience can pay what the program is likely to cost. What options do I have?

1. I have never conducted a conference. What do I need to know about this process in order to have a successful program?

Your conference planner will walk you through the entire planning process, help identify your responsibilities, and provide guidance from the initial planning through the evaluation. Your conference planner will explain all the details of the conferencing process, including program design, time lines, scheduling, financial issues such as budgeting and pricing, marketing, and hospitality options. Planning time varies considerably—depending on the program demands, audience, and complexities—and can take six months to one or two years.

2. What are the conference planner's responsibilities, and what role does he/she have in the program content and delivery arenas?

Your conference planner's role is to ensure that your conference is planned and conducted professionally, with the highest level of educational integrity. In a sense, the planners are your production managers. They will help you shape the conference by assisting with instructional design; connecting you with the marketing and promotion team; developing and monitoring the budget; acquiring CEUs and program accreditation; assisting in registration and program implementation; and making all arrangements for facility usage, technology, publications, and conferee amenities. In partnership with you, your conference planner concentrates his/her efforts on these management responsibilities while allowing you to place your time and effort in areas related to program content and speaker/audience identification.

3. What role does my college or department play in decisions about my program?

All programs delivered through Conferences must be approved by a sponsoring degree-granting college, thereby ensuring that each conference meets the standards and academic rigor of all Penn State programs. Conferences submits the necessary paperwork to the college regarding the program content and instructors. The appropriate department in the college reviews the information and approves the program.

Whenever a program is repeated from year to year, the college typically reviews the participant evaluations and financial outcomes of the previous year's program to determine whether the program should be offered in subsequent years.

4. Some financial questions: (A) How is the price of my program determined? (B) What does the conference management fee include, and is it part of the program expenses?

A. The conference registration fee that a participant pays is determined by evaluating several factors: the number of participants, the average price of competitive programs, the uniqueness and value-added elements of the program, and the direct and indirect costs of the event. Program subsidies, the market value of the conference, and price points also are considered in calculating the registration fee. Some typical examples of program expenses are speaker honoraria and travel expenses, the cost of program promotion and materials, facility and technology fees, the cost of conferee amenities (including meals and transportation), and a conference management fee.

B. Penn State's Conferences is a financially self-supporting service unit whose operating costs are covered through a conference management fee assessed on all programs. This fee reflects the cost to Conferences in working with you to plan and deliver your conference, as well as the value that Conferences adds to the quality and success of the program. It covers the salaries of the conference and support staff, as well as other fixed operational costs associated with administrative technology, managing liabilities, supplies, the guest shuttle, the Americans with Disabilities Act requirements, etc. These expenses need to be recovered through the management fee since they represent the cost of doing professional work and reflect an investment in a successful and high-quality program. The Conferences conference management fee is very competitive, compared with that of similar university conference centers.

5. What is the revenue-sharing model, and how is it applied to a program?

A revenue-sharing agreement exists between Outreach and the deans of academic colleges, whereby net revenue across an entire college's Conferences portfolio is shared. This policy minimizes the financial risk for the colleges and allows for greater financial return once full program costs are recovered.

Consult with your college's outreach representative about the details of the revenue-sharing policy and your college's approach for dispersing this money among its departments.

6. I want to develop a conference, but I don't think the audience can pay what the program is likely to cost. What options do I have?

Your conference planner can provide you with many alternative cost-effective program models for groups with limited resources. One way to fund your program is to include a conference or other outreach component as a line item in your research grant proposal. Contact your Conferences liaison for help with estimating a realistic budget to include in your grant proposal. If your program meets the criteria, you may also apply for funding from the Research Conferences Support Fund.