It's very scary to put on an expensive conference, because you don't 
know if you will meet costs.

One way to minimize costs is to find a hospital to co-sponsor the 
conference and provide free space in return for discounted registration 
for their staff. If free space is not available, shop carefully.  Costs 
vary greatly in different conference centers and hotels.  Some 
conference centers will give a good deal hoping that you will use them 
in the future.  Make sure that av materials are included in the 
conference center fee.  Some places charge daily for each piece of 
audiovisual equipment, up to $500 per day for an LCD projector (used to 
project powerpoint presentations or dvd video from a computer).  Most 
presenters use powerpoint these days, so this is a necessity.  Many 
places charge extra for cordless microphones as well.  Add all this to 
your calculations.

Another thing to consider is the reputation of the speakers.  If the two 
OTs are well known across fields (like Lynn Wolf and Robin Glass, for 
example), this gives you both OTs and IBCLCs to draw from. Since they 
specialize in Suck:swallow issues, speech therapists are also 
interested.  The wider the potential participant pool, the more 
potential participants.

Think carefully of the date, check around and make sure there are no 
other conferences that would appeal to your audiences within a few 
months and 100 miles.  The worst thing that can happen is that there is 
another great conference the same day, and each of you get only half the 
motivated audience.  Communicate with organizations with similar 
interests and goals to avoid this (we learned this the hard way in NY).

Establishing an early registration deadline before some of your deposits 
are due allows you to both confirm the feasibility of the conference, 
and have money for those deposits.  It also helps with planning for how 
much printing to do, and how many meals to order.

As for grants, the March of Dimes provides grants for conferences in 
their sphere of interest.  If you feel it is right ethically, you can 
sell exhibit tables to commercial interests that provide tools and books 
to lactation consultants and occupational therapists.  You need to use 
some of the conference time to allow the participants to browse the 
vendor tables, and need to carefully consider issues such as WHO code 
compliance, and the effect on prices to moms of HCPs getting freebies, 
including conference sponsorships.

Advertising is important.  Postcards or emails with "save the date" 
teasers are helpful so that participants do just that.  ILCA Globe and 
website give free conference publicity to afilliates, and inexpensive 
for others.  The OT journals and any local association newsletters could 
be consulted, and nearby college OT programs should receive notice as 
well.  Making your brochure look professional and interesting is 
important.  You want the conference title to be intriguing enough that 
people open the brochure to learn more.

Hope this info is helpful.
Catherine Watson Genna, IBCLC  NYC (and NYLCA executive board and 
conference committee member for the last zillion years.  NYLCA puts on 2 
conferences a year, one general, and one advanced practice).

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