Dear Karen,

The group I have belonged to for many years, the Rochester Regional
Breastfeeding Network, has put on annual conferences.  We have used local
people as well as nationally known presenters.  Don't have a lot of time
right now, but can give a few quick pointers off the top of my head.

1.  Nail down your presenters as soon as possible and get the material
needed to file for CEUs from whatever organizations you want to apply to.
 Find out their deadlines - some are far in advance of the conference and
they are very strict about meeting them.  Providing CEUs is a very
important part of the conference.  We usually do them for the nurses,
dieticians, and IBCLCs.

2.  Get someone reliable to handle registration/money.  This can get
overwhelming very quickly and poor communication can lead to problems.
Try to keep it as simple as possible - too many options can make things
very complicated.  We are dropping group rates this year because it was
too hard to keep track of who was coming with whom and who was paying for
it.

3.  Make sure you know exactly what your presenters need as far as AV
equipment and any other site requirements. Will they be standing or
sitting during the presentation?  Do they want a podium or a chair or
what? Do they want something in particular to drink during the
presentation?  Some of them can be really cranky if everything isn't just
so.  Having backup equipment or paying for a crew that guantees
everything will work is worth the money - if your slide projector or
monitor doesn't work, you are in big trouble. (think extra light bulbs)

4.  Check out the site carefully.  Does it have enough room/rooms?  How
easy will it be to set up and use necessary equipment.  Will everybody be
able to see/hear what is going on?  Get all your costs on paper.

5.  Food is important, at least it makes for a much more pleasurable
experience.  I think some people come to our conference every year for
the food, especially the huge and delectable dessert buffet that we
always offer.

6.  Lots of paying vendors can really help out the budget.  Get one of
your most enthusiastic and energetic members to head  up this committee.
We also offer a bookstore - most large stores will order books for you
and you only have to pay for the ones you sell.  You don't make a lot of
money on books, but it's a nice service to offer.  Hale's book was a big
seller last year - it's well-known and inexpensive.

7.  You will be doing a lot of copying - we make up folders for each
attendee with handouts for each presentation, evaluations,
bibliographies, etc.  Check out prices or see if one of the local
hospitals will do it for free as a contribution to ILCA or in exchange
for putting a brochure in the packets.  We usually ask all of the
hospitals to donate something.  One of them gives us folders every year.

8.  We get good printing(brochures) done at a reasonable price at the
Center for Retarded/Disabled which runs a print shop.  Most large cities,
and even some small communities have these type of resources available
(our local; town of 10.000 has a print shop and nursery run by the
Developmental Center).  They do nice work and it supports a very worthy
organization.  Or a large hospital may be willing to do it as a
contribution to the cause.

9.  Get as much help as possible.

Running a conference is a lot of work.  You need at least a few people
who are really dedicated to making it happen and who will keep track of
everything so that no piece gets left out.  Then you need a committee for
each important piece (ok, so often it's a committee of one).  You will
learn a lot the first time around and handing out and then reading the
evaluations is very important - you will learn a lot from them, some
people are very outspoken.  It is, however, very gratifying to run a good
conference and to see the benefit that comes from it.  You meet a lot of
really neat people and gain a lot of valuable skills.  Have fun and good
luck.  E-mail me if you have any specific questions.

Sharon Knorr, BSMT, LLLL, IBCLC
Lactation Consultant Services
Rochester, New York
mailto:[log in to unmask]

_____________________________________________________________________
You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail.
Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com
Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]