SYMPOSIUM AFTER ACTION REPORT Table of Contents 1. Overview... 3 1.1. Functional Goal... 3 1.2. Summary of Activity... 3 1.3. Dates of Operation... 4 2. Structure... 4 2.1. GOC Structure... 4 2.2. Venue Structure... Error! Bookmark not defined. 3. Scope & Description of Operations... 5 3.1. Scope... Error! Bookmark not defined. 3.1.1 Functions Provided... Error! Bookmark not defined. 3.1.2 Constituent Groups Provided... Error! Bookmark not defined. 3.1.3 Types of Venues... Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.2 Description of Operations... Error! Bookmark not defined. 6 Budget... 10 6.1 Budget Information... 10 7 Appendices... 11 1. Equipment Requirements List... Error! Bookmark not defined. 2. Forms... Error! Bookmark not defined. 3. Diagrams... Error! Bookmark not defined.
1. Overview 1.1. Functional Goal To provide and manage a highly informative and educational Symposium over a 2 day period in June 2003. To ensure that all topics related to the theme of supporting families are included in the area of symposium and ultimately to ensure that the event meets the expectations and needs of all the participants and to ensure maximum participation at Symposium. After Action Comments: This goal was realistic and within the scope of the Organising Committee. Whilst the overall goal is seemingly simple this was not the case and a lot of work had to be done to attract papers and to ensure high attendance by families and other interested parties. Ensure that all deadlines are realistically set for achieving the goals. In review our deadlines should have not been as far out as they were set (see notes in relation to time lines under the headings Call for Papers and Registration. 1.2. Summary of Activity Theme of Symposium was established Supporting Families Keeping in Line with the overall goal of Symposium a committee was put in place in September 2000 and comprised of leading figures in the area of intellectual disability, university professors, family members and GOC staff. Location of Symposium was determined, as an All Ireland approach was one of the missions of the Games; Belfast in Northern Ireland was the chosen location. A Venue was then chosen to meet the needs of the event itself; which was a number of parallel sessions, which took place over 2 days. The venue was a Hotel with a large number of conference rooms, and one large open conference facility. Another reason this hotel was chosen as a venue was to facilitate accommodation and catering requirements. A block booking of rooms were also made with the hotel for accommodation. Regular Committee meetings took place to discuss the content of Symposium. A call for papers was circulated globally in March 2002 and again in August requesting submission of papers by September 2002. Once all papers received were analysed a programme was then set and divided into theme parallel sessions. The programme was then printed, attached to a registration form and circulated globally to attract a wide audience. Registrations were accepted up to 30 th April at the printed conference fee and then right up until the Symposium a higher fee. Registrations were handled locally in Belfast, as the currency is different to the Republic of Ireland. GOC only handled accommodation requirements with the speakers on the programme, all other attendees dealt directly with the hotel.
Regular meetings took place with the hotel staff. Regular meetings took place with Belfast City Council who organised social events around the Symposium Signage and technical equipment were procured for the event. A number of volunteers were recruited and trained to work at the event. A small targeted media campaign took place before the event to generate interest. Regular committee meetings were imperative. Advise different timelines for the circulation of information please see timeline notes for Call for papers and Registration. Establish Volunteer programme earlier Please see timeline note under Volunteer section below. 1.3.Dates of Operation Symposium took place prior to the Games on the 19 th and 20 th June, with an evening reception organised for the night of the 18 th Dates of operations: as it was prior to the Games it was perfectly in line with the games. 2. Structure 2.1. GOC Structure See attached Organisational chart in appendix Symposium Committee set up comprising of University Professors, 3 Leading people in the field of Learning Disability, 1 x Parent and 1x GOC Staff. (see appendix) Call for papers attracted over 52 submissions of high quality. Committee meetings should happen on a regular basis with a structured approach. The handling of the registration process and call for papers should be managed by the GOC with full assistance from committee members. Procurement of Venue, Accommodation, signage and technical equipment should also be managed by the GOC
3. Scope & Description of Operations 3.1. Set-Up 1 Day Before Arriving at venue on day before event Set up conference facility (Managed by Hotel Staff) Event company set up Back drop Technical Equipment put in place Registration Desk put in place Venue laid out room for tea/coffee and lunches for next day (Managed by Hotel staff) Lay out of venue indicating location of each parallel session printed and left at registration desk Morning of Event 2 hours before, technical equipment, including laptops, LCD s, video and PA checked to be in full working order Registration Desk manned with specific roles assigned to each individual volunteer. Games signage in place throughout venue Water distributed to each conference room That venue is set up entirely on evening before event That all registration information required is secured at registration desk the night before the event. That all signage is put in place (where possible on evening before event) That all volunteer roles are walked through and clearly understood on evening before event. Sound check and complete equipment check completed on evening before event. That there is a clear venue layout plan for each attending delegate and that visible signs are placed on each conference room indicating what session is in that room. EQUIPMENT & SUPPLIES Conference Bags were supplied to all seminar attendees. Contents of Bag: Report of Finding on Attitude Study Brochures from the Northern Ireland Tourist Board
Including information on Belfast, information on Northern Ireland Timetables for transport, rail and buses Information on Eating out. Updated programme Welcome letter from Mary Davis, CEO. Laptops, 6 needed in total, supplied by GOC and committee members. 1 x Laptop for Opening plenary located in large conference room, supplied by AV company as large projection screen and full technical support were needed on site. LCD projectors, 1 in main conference room supplied by AV Company. All others supplied through University of Ulster, where 1 of the professors on the committee lectures. All projection screens provided by Hotel with exception of screen in main conference room, which was supplied by AV Company. Flipcharts and paper supplied by Hotel. 2 x Video players required for different sessions. 1 in large conference room and 1 in workshop session. Technical support supplied by event company : Conference Bags: contents of bags to be sourced and collated well in advance of Symposium, to be ready at least 4 weeks beforehand. All speaker presentations received by the GOC to be downloaded and tested on corresponding laptop for that session (where possible) on evening before event. Technician on Site at all times. It was imperative to the running of the event that a technician remains on site for the duration of the Symposium, as technical issues undoubtedly will arise. This enhanced the smooth running of the event. CALL FOR PAPERS Circulation 15 months before, March 2002, Call for Papers circulated (copy attached) to a large number of organisations and individuals to attract papers for the Symposium. Date for receipt of papers was September 2002, 9 months prior to event. Call for papers were re-issued in July 2002. Organisations targeted were, Inclusion International, National Association for the Mentally Handicapped in Ireland, IASSID, Disability Action and associates, Meath Sheltered Workshop and associates, KARE and associates. University Professors on the Symposium Committee circulated papers at various conferences, Special Olympics Programs worldwide. Individuals included all family co-ordinators for Special Olympic Programs, associates of members on the board of directors, all family members of Special Olympics in Ireland. A number of Voluntary bodies circulated the papers in their newsletters. Attached to the call for papers was a registration of interest form for people to return to the GOC if they were interested in attending Symposium
Receipt and Selection of Papers A large number of papers covering a wide range of topics was received by the due date which offering a wide and varied programme. The papers were then categorised by topic which automatically led to the selection of topics for all parallel sessions within the Symposium 4-5 papers were selected for each session and 1 additional paper to cover a workshop running simultaneously to each session. The author of each selected paper was then contacted by both email and surface mail to inform them that their paper had been selected. All speakers were requested to forward a copy of their symposium presentation 3 weeks before the event so that the GOC would have 1 master copy and would also be able to load all laptops. : That all speakers provide accurate contact details including correct affiliation. That the main author of the paper also provides contact details of other contributors to the paper and that they also forward all communications to them. That no further changes to the paper and or paper selection take place after the programme is printed unless completely necessary That all speakers acknowledge receipt of all communications forwarded to them by the GOC. That the speakers make the GOC aware well in advance if they require a VISA to enter the country. It is highly recommended that the speakers are encouraged to forward a copy of the presentation to the GOC. This ensures there will be no hitches on the day and that the GOC have a copy after event. All speakers were issued with a power point template on which to produce their presentations. This worked well and added to the over all look of the Symposium. Registration Registration form designed and printed in February 2003 (copy attached) Circulated to all target organisations and individuals (same list as for Call for Papers) In March 2003. Return Date for receipt of Registration forms was 30 th April 2003. Symposium Manager was responsible for design, print and circulation of forms but as the Symposium was been held in Belfast, Northern Ireland and the currency there is different to Southern Ireland all forms were handled locally and returned to the Belfast Office. A Excel template was set up for recording all registration details and monies received / owing A weekly update of this spreadsheet was forwarded to the Symposium Manager, Director and to Finance Department As registrations were slow to return an PR launch was organised by the GOC Marketing and Communications Department, who organised a photo shoot for Belfast and newspaper articles both in Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland. Registration numbers started to pick up in June Projected attendees were 300 +. At time of registration number of attendees were actually 250.
Registration fee was due to be returned to the GOC prior to the Symposium. However as a number of attendees were expected to arrive and register on the morning of the Symposium facilities such as Credit Card Machine and Cash Float were placed at registration Desk Morning of event: 6 volunteers worked on registration desk from 8.30am to register attendees. Name Badges were all placed in alphabetical order for distribution. 1 person was assigned to the role of collecting any monies owing and money from those attending on the morning. Conference Bags, changes to the Program, Name Badges and Venue layout were all distributed at registration. Registrations form should be designed printed and circulated at least 6 months in advance with return date due exactly 2 months after circulation Should there be a poor response to the circulation of registration forms then a second circulation should take place 4 months before conference and Marketing and PR campaign put in place then. As the Symposium and the games began to approach however more interest developed. Registration on morning event as illustrated above ran smoothly and effectively. VOLUNTEERS Recruitment and Training The members of the Symposium committee were not relied on to operate assigned roles during the Symposium as it was felt that their presence could be required across the board at any give time giving their knowledge and familiarity of the event. 10 Volunteers were recruited for the event from the Belfast area and this included 1 volunteer co-ordinator. The Volunteer co-ordinator assigned 9 people form her pool to Symposium and they then met with the Symposium Manager 1 month prior to the event Although all volunteers had attended the Volunteer General Orientation Session from a Games wide perspective a separate training evening was chosen for this session During this training all Volunteers were given the background to Symposium, briefed about the event and structure of event, given an outline roles that had to be filled. Volunteers were then assigned to the various roles, as follows: Morning of event for registration: 1 x Volunteer front of us for directional purposes 7 x Volunteers on registration desk including 1 to deal with all monies 1 x Floater 1 x Co-ordinator During Event
1 x volunteer assigned to each break out session.1 x volunteers to man registration desk, 2 x Volunteers to float between sessions to assist where needed, 1 x volunteer to liaise with technician and 1 x co-ordinator. All Volunteers met with the Symposium Manager in the Venue on the evening before the Symposium. A run through on the break down of roles, together with registration process, expected queries, and structure of the event were all discussed. Volunteers were expected to arrive 30 minutes before start of registration process. The volunteer process for this event was efficient and worked quite well. All volunteers should have been assigned to the Symposium at least 3 months before the event to avoid the need for briefings at the last minute when time is tight. RECEPTIONS / VIP Dinner: As the Symposium was one of the few events been hosted in Northern Ireland in association with the Games Belfast City Council were eager to get involved in anyway they could. They therefore offered to host a Civic Reception in Belfast city Hall on the Eve of Symposium and a VIP Dinner in Belfast Castle on the first night of Symposium. Civic Reception Civic Reception was due to start in Belfast City Hall at 7 pm on Wednesday 18 th June. All Symposium Attendees were invited to attend this reception and were made aware by such an invitation in advance by requesting that when filling out registration form they indicate whether or not they would like to attend the Reception. Belfast City Council issued the official invitations to the event to the GOC 2 weeks prior to the event The reception was due to run over 2 hours. Belfast City Hall was within walking distance of the Europa Hotel. Entertainment was provided at the reception Regular meetings took place between the GOC and Belfast City Council. A number of local dignitaries were also invited to the event and the GOC also invited a number of local people. Not all people indicated their desire to attend the reception on the form and as the invitations were issued 2 weeks prior to the event it was too late to deliver by surface mail. The result being that the GOC had to phone all attendees to confirm how many people would be at the event. As the event was held on the eve of symposium, a lot of people were unable to attend as they were only arriving on the morning of Symposium. This was unfortunate as the council had made a huge effort and contribution to this event and it would have been of great benefit for all delegates to be able to meet and mingle. I would therefore recommend that such an event be held
on the evening of the first day of Symposium to allow for greater participation. The reception was slightly formal in that it was a sit down meal, I would think a less formal, and stand up affair would have better suited the invitees. VIP Dinner: VIP Dinner was hosted on Thursday evening 18 th June for all attending VIPs at the Symposium Amongst the VIPs invited were the Shrivers. The Lord Mayor of Belfast and other local dignitaries were also in attendance. All attendees were transported by bus to Belfast Castle organised by Belfast City Hall. PRESENTATIONS: A template (encompassing the Look of Symposium) was circulated to all speakers. All speakers were requested to return presentations 3 weeks prior to the event. Presentations returned were burnt on to a master disk and then downloaded in sequence on to the laptops being used for the appropriate sessions. No printed copies of the presentations were made by the GOC Speakers brought their own printed material if they chose. Not all speakers forwarded their presentation to the GOC. : I would strongly advice that all speakers be urged to return their presentations to the GOC. This will avoid any technical issues on the day interfering with speaker s presentation and also for the potential loss of speakers disk etc. 3 Budget 3.1 Budget Information. The Symposium was a self-financing project. Items required and approximate prices were calculated, where upon the registration fee was set. A price was set for the speakers and other attendees. Family members got a reduction. This was printed on the registration form. The items calculated were: staff travel costs, signage and look, stationery, couriers, printing and design, IT technician, hire of venue, catering, advertising and awareness and a contingency.
Sponsorship / Funding: Kim Samuel Johnson 10,000 Lloyds TSB Trust 30,000 (Branding at event and logo was printed on all bags) This money was in addition to the monies received through registration. Origninally, we had not planned to buy printed conference bags but to supply a simple folder. On receipt of funding, we bought conference bags. The biggest cost is venue hire and catering costs. Ensure you can negotiate a good price with your venue otherwise it will push up the registration fee When calculating the price of the registration fee, ensure that you calculate 80% of particpatns at the lower rate as most attendees were family members Entertainment was supplied at the reception, which had to be paid for by us. We had not calculated this cost in the planning phase 4 Appendices Organisational Chart Budget Template Registration Form Registrations Received Excel Template Call for papers Volunteers role assignments Job Description Symposium Manager After Action Comments Symposium Manager Template Symposium (generic presentation slide used by speakers for presentations)
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