Planning a Project, Planning A Company Meeting

We discussed earlier the thinking behind the project planning. Here is how a project plan work breakdown structure (WBS) might look for a project to plan a company meeting:

1. Pre-plan The Project

1. Determine the budget
2. Discuss with CEO to establish project goals
3. Contact previous Project Manager (PM) for tips
4. Determine the stakeholder list
5. Contact stakeholders for input.
6. Establish preferred date for the event
7. Determine how many speakers/presenters are needed
8. Determine how many support staff are needed
9. Determine how many employees will attend
10. List possible locations for the event

2. Build The Project Team

1. Get rep from Marketing
2. Get rep from HR
3. See if Purchasing will assign someone to help
4. Ask Susan to handle all the speakers details
5. Get rep from Facilities
6. Schedule project team kick-off meeting

3. Develop The Agenda

3.1 Plan Day One

1. Set start time
2. Set time, arrange place and staffing for registration
3. Set length of morning session
4. Set length of speeches
5. Calculate number of speakers needed for morning session
6. Recruit speakers
7. Plan mid-morning break (time and length)
8. Arrange refresh of conference room during break (water, trash, etc.)
9. Plan lunch break (time, length, location, menu, who pays)
10. Plan afternoon session (length, number of speakers)
11. Recruit afternoon speakers
12. Plan Day One closing (time, who, length)

3.2 Plan Day Two

1. Set start time
2. Set length of morning session
3. Calculate number of speakers needed for morning session
4. Recruit speakers
5. Plan mid-morning break (time and length)
6. Arrange refresh of conference room during break (water, trash, etc.)
7. Plan lunch break (time, length, location, menu, who pays)
8. Plan afternoon session (length, number of speakers)
9. Recruit afternoon speakers
10. Plan Closing Speech (time, who, length)
11. Arrange check-out timing with hotel

4. Plan The Space

1. Determine number of attendees
2. Plan seating arrangement (rows vs. tables)
3. Calculate space needed
4. Investigate places available with that amount of space (costs, location, services included)
5. Count number of speakers each day and total
6. Determine number and type of support staff needed
7. Find out how many attendees/speakers/staff will need rooms
8. Negotiate costs and dates with available locations
9. Sign contract with selected location

5. Publicize The Event

1. Finalize all details with the event location
2. Make sure attendees are notified
3. Notify all speakers of topic and presentation time/day
4. Notify all support staff of duties and shifts
5. Get RSVPs from attendees
6. Notify replacement attendees as needed

6. Follow up

1. Get draft speeches from all speakers
2. Review final speeches
3. Get nametags for all attendees, speakers, staff
4. Purchase any materials and gifts for attendees
5. Reconfirm with event location

7. Review and Rate

1. Send satisfaction survey to all attendees
2. Send review survey to all speakers
3. Send thank you to all speakers and staff
4. Hold close-out meeting with project team

Further Planning

The Project Plan work breakdown structure (WBS) above shows a sample for planning a company meeting. It is just an outline. The project team still would need to work on these items and expand on many of them. In addition, they would need to work on the time needed for each task, the relative importance of the tasks and the inter-relationships/dependencies between tasks.

Previous

• 1
• 2

Next