A conference or exhibition either lands the message an organization wants to send, or it quietly undermines it — there is rarely a middle ground. Between the venue, the broadcast equipment, the translation booth, the sponsors and the press, dozens of moving parts have to line up at the same moment for an event to actually work. The Arab British Fellowship Training Academy built this course to walk participants through exactly what that coordination looks like in practice, from the first planning meeting to the closing media statement.

The course pairs the technical side of running a conference — venue, visual identity, broadcast and translation — with the strategic side of managing exhibitions: who the stakeholders are, how partnerships and bids work, and how a new event concept gets built, marketed and evaluated from the ground up.

Who Should Attend?

• Employees of companies responsible for organizing exhibitions and conferences.
• Managers, designers and implementers of exhibitions and conferences.
• Specialists in media coverage for exhibitions and conferences.
• Individuals interested in developing their skills in this field.

Knowledge and Benefits:

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• Plan and structure an exhibition or conference from concept to execution.
• Identify strategic options and key considerations when designing an event.
• Map out project tasks, timelines and responsibilities for exhibitions and conferences.
• Evaluate an exhibition project efficiently and organize the human resources behind it.
• Build marketing strategies and measurable sponsorship proposals based on organized plans.

• Module 1: Planning the Conference — From Concept to Venue

  • Conference planning from the very first stage.
  • Designing the visual identity of the conference.
  • Securing and preparing the venue.

• Module 2: Technical and Broadcast Production

  • Securing audiovisual equipment for the event.
  • Photography and broadcasting via satellite and online channels.
  • Arranging simultaneous translation for the conference.

• Module 3: Media Coverage and Documentation

  • Coordinating media coverage of the conference.
  • Documenting the event for institutional and press use.

• Module 4: Mapping Stakeholders in Exhibitions and Events

  • Identifying the different stakeholders in an exhibition.
  • The host organization, the community sector and types of host organizations.
  • Understanding the hosting community around an event.

• Module 5: Media, Colleagues and the Audience as Stakeholders

  • Media, colleagues, participants and the audience as event stakeholders.
  • Building and maintaining the exhibition file.

• Module 6: Operational and Strategic Stakeholders

  • Operational stakeholders versus strategic and funding stakeholders.
  • Defining roles and responsibilities across the team.

• Module 7: Partnerships and Industry Relationships

  • Executive and regional partnerships.
  • Working with industry associations.

• Module 8: Winning and Assigning Exhibitions

  • How exhibitions get assigned and how bids are submitted.
  • Granting franchises for exhibitions.
  • Developing an existing exhibition versus building a new one.

• Module 9: Creating a New Event Concept

  • Creating a new event and shaping its exhibition concept.
  • Identifying the exhibition audience and determining timing.
  • Choosing the exhibition venue.

• Module 10: Selecting and Evaluating the Concept

  • Selecting the exhibition concept through a brainstorming process.
  • Summarizing the exhibition-creation process.
  • Evaluating the final exhibition concept.

• Module 11: The Three Screens — Marketing, Operations and Finance

  • The marketing screen and the operations screen.
  • The financial screen and where the numbers come from.
  • Creating synergy between ideas across all three screens.