Abstract
Every conference organiser can see how arrangements for a particular event, no matter how successful, could have been improved. Southport '99 was no exception. We were very proud of the results and learned some useful lessons about things that worked well, those that worked less well, and where there was room for improvement This report attempts to identify and summarise some of those lessons.
Choice of venue
`Southport '99' was SRP's 6th International Symposium. The first major decision for any such event is the choice of venue - our experience showed the value of including in the initial long list any favourite town or city, regardless of whether or not that place is known to be suitable. Basic enquiries whittled our long list of 8 possibles down to three probables, Scarborough, Southport and Llandudno. The decision to visit all three over a two day period, marking each against agreed parameters, proved sound (and an interesting experience at times - we learned, twice in the early hours of the same morning, that the fire alarms in one hotel functioned all too well, while another resort promised us the moon but reduced us to begging for a cup of tea!).
The compactness of Southport, both the venue itself and the town, with a range of hotels and the main street all within easy walking distance, plus the financial and other support offered and social programme opportunities available (particularly the sight of the interior of St George's Hall, Liverpool), proved irresistible - and we had no cause to regret the decision. Holding a committee meeting at the venue was useful, as it allowed other members to get the feel of the town and the conference site; the Southport liaison officer was also able to attend part of the meeting and focus our minds on matters we might have overlooked. Visiting the site occasionally and touching base with the venue personnel also paid dividends - having a committee member local to Southport who could do this more frequently, seeing the effects of different times of year (see later paragraph under `Exhibitors') would have been even better.
General considerations
General points for the future in respect of delegates', and exhibitors', requirements at the chosen venue include growing expectations for readily available office facilities - fax, e-mail and Internet access. These will need to be independent of either the venue's or the conference organisers' own equipment. More basic, but nonetheless important, details include ensuring adequate cloakroom facilities/coat stands for inclement weather, suitable means for affixing directional signs and photographic proofs (Blutack and Velcro respectively proved unsuitable) and we subsequently regretted not carrying through our original intention to have an official photographer for the opening session.
Southport was very successful on the networking front. The foyer layout, with groups of occasional tables and easy chairs, and the exhibition hall with varying sized tables and seating for lunchtime, each offered opportunities which were well used during the day. Some delegates commented specifically on how pleased they were with this aspect, which is often one of the main benefits of attendance at an international event.
Our T-shirts, bearing the symposium logo, were also a great success. We had considered trying to find a local supplier, in case delegates wished to purchase their own as souvenirs, and the demand was such that we could have done a roaring trade had we made such an arrangement. However, as part of the purpose was easy recognition of committee members and escorts, perhaps our compromise of having a draw for spares as part of the closing session was the best approach.
This was the first time that SRP had had the luxury of its own (vastly overworked) administrator (Tessa Berry). As Tessa had previous conference organiser experience this made the job of the rest of the committee much easier, as few employers could now allow the amount of time that committee members had needed to devote to the organisation of previous symposia. However, such reliance on one person is dangerous and it would be better to find a way of individual committee members being able to shadow Tessa (or whoever) in a way that kept them properly in touch and involved without causing the administrator either extra work or claustrophobia. But the spectre of Tessa falling ill or breaking down on the way to Southport with all the signs, papers, equipment, etc was a potential nightmare! The Organising Committee should be in a position to carry on tasks if the conference organiser is indisposed.
Financial sponsorship
Generous sponsors make it easier to add the gilt on the gingerbread and we were very lucky in that respect. However, the mental agonies of the Organising Committee on the Saturday night, when it seemed that the main delegates' bags had gone missing, demonstrated the need for a single delivery and storage location for materials arriving on site, or at the conference HQ hotel, before arrival of conference representatives, and for designation of a single responsible receiver. The receiver should confirm delivery of each item to the conference organiser by telephone, fax or e-mail, and there should be a physical handover of responsibility between the responsible receiver and the conference organiser.
The success of the one-off (specially organised at our request and largely to our ideas) Lancastrian evening was such that a similar package will in future be offered to other conference organisers - remember, you saw it first at Southport '99! We wanted to end the week with a bang, not a whimper, and those who might have wished for ear plugs during the finale will testify to our achievement. Previous SRP international symposia have held the Conference Dinner/Banquet on the last (Thursday) evening. We moved it to the Tuesday to allow exhibitors also to attend (as the exhibition traditionally closes on the Wednesday), to help them to maximise their involvement in the event, and the move seemed a success.
We offered potential sponsors a list of opportunities, with approximate costings. This helped us to identify what we particularly wanted to achieve and seemed to work well. Perhaps if we had decided to offer prizes for, e.g., best poster, etc (a decision that needs to be made and publicised early) this would have been an attractive addition to that list of sponsorship opportunities. When to present any such prizes would need careful consideration - during the closing ceremony, in the hope that it would encourage more people to stay to the end, or earlier, e.g. the Thursday evening if that offered a suitable occasion, in recognition that travel arrangements often dictate time of departure before the end of the conference.
Refreshments
Despite people's eating habits apparently being much more adventurous, delegates would have liked a wider, and more orthodox, choice of food than that provided by the venue (wanting salads and sandwiches (some plain) plus healthy options). Delegates need to be reminded of the days when lunch is not provided and a generous provision of tables and chairs is appreciated. Exhibitors want to be fed and watered before delegates' refreshment breaks, so that they are back on their stands at busy times; they also want a free and continuous supply of tea and coffee, ideally in a nominated exhibitors' room (as was provided for speakers), claiming a need for a constant supply of caffeine to ward off boredom. Charging exhibitors for refreshments is seen as petty, given the fees that they pay for the privilege of attending.
Exhibitors
Exhibitors generally appreciated the layout of the venue, which allowed them to be very much part of the event. Apart from the comments regarding refreshments, recorded above, the only other aspect of concern related to the need for reserved parking and access space for unloading, and for wide ramps to be available (they were). Parking and access were aspects that had seemed particularly good when we had visited the venue, but we had not foreseen the difference that a busy summer (pre-)holiday season would make. A room for exhibitors containing office facilities (access to e-mail, Internet, etc) was also on the wish-list.
Delegates
Although full week registrations must remain the ideal, increasingly it seems necessary to make proper provision for day or part-week attendance, with a suitable cost differential. During the week, organisers need to be prepared to offer considerable back-up support for matters such as confirming transport arrangements, etc.
Co-sponsoring societies
Co-sponsorship from three other European professional societies, the NVS, SFRP and FS (Dutch, French and German-Swiss societies respectively), helped to ensure a proper international contribution from speakers and delegates, but enthusiasm and good intentions all round did not always compensate for regular formal feedback. We had always intended to have a small Organising Committee and the main co-sponsoring societies' involvement (and feedback) through the Scientific Programme Committee. However, it would have been better if the Organising Committee had produced, and circulated to the co-sponsors, meeting minutes that gave a clear picture of the proposals and emerging arrangements. This might have had the added benefit of identifying, and helping to avoid, organisational weaknesses that only became apparent during the week. Perhaps it would be helpful to encourage the co-sponsoring societies to set up their own working groups for input through the nominated representative. It would certainly be useful to have shadow representatives as well, not necessarily to attend committee meetings but as a back up in case of communication failure or difficulties. Greater efforts need to be made to avoid clashes of dates internationally and thus loss of potential delegates.
Scientific sessions
The Scientific Programme Committee plays a vital role in the success of any conference. If you have a technically excellent chairman of that committee, with good contacts, then you are already halfway there. Experience showed that such relatively minor details as a laser pointer for speakers, and roving microphones, should be available from the opening session, also that there is a need to develop a set of instructions to authors for electronic presentations, as is done for printed papers and posters. For electronic presentations, although it shouldn't be necessary, it may be desirable to encourage authors to bring their own PC, as hardware compatibility is much easier to achieve than software capability. Good backstage access from outside the auditorium is extremely helpful. Back projection makes it easier to liaise with both the audio-visual technician and the chairman on stage. Professional audio-visual support is invaluable. As in the case of Southport '99, it is prudent to have a local company with hardware backup facilities.
Authors should be asked to identify keywords for their abstracts and papers, to aid indexing. The designated poster viewing sessions at the end of each day seemed to work well, but there are divided views on whether chaired discussion is useful as this can feel artificial.
We thought that the topic of non-ionising radiation was sufficiently live to deserve its own separate day, running in parallel with the other sessions. However, the response was nearly non-existent and organisers may need to be much more proactive to encourage contributions relating to this, or any other, important but neglected topic.
The extra CPD points for speakers may need to be made more generous, as the current position is seen as offering little encouragement for the additional effort.
Technical visits
The excellent weather at Southport, apart from on the Sunday, was a bonus - unless you happened to be a technical tour organiser/host whose original long list of visitors dissipated into a short one on the day! Mass cancellations are not only disappointing (and expensive) for hosts, who may have hired guides, brought in people especially and made catering arrangements, but may deter them from volunteering again. Confirmation of booking and a handout provided on registration might encourage greater take-up or reduce cancellations. The handout should give background on what will be seen, indicate an itinerary and, where possible, give the names/job titles of people who will be met. However, this would mean greater effort on the part of hosts, at an earlier stage, and would increase the costs and disappointment factor if the high fallout rate were maintained.
Social programme
Southport '99 offered a varied and successful social programme, for both scientific and social delegates. Social delegates would have benefited from more advance information in their registration pack, however, such as confirmation of booking, times of departure and return, itinerary and preferably handouts about the places to be visited (we had expected the visitors' pack provided by Sefton Council to include rather more than it did, in this respect), lunch arrangements etc. Confirming the departure/return times, etc, on the delegates' message/notice board is helpful. Good quality, modern, air-conditioned coaches and tour/driver guides, and fully escorted tours, should be provided, as visitors can feel disappointed if they do not learn about the new places they are passing through or visiting. Our coach arrangements fell well below the standard that we thought we had booked; therefore there should preferably be a way of double-checking standards in advance. All of this means finalising details before the final announcement, to allow proper and realistic charging. It should be made clear what is covered in social events, e.g. what a Lancastrian evening will offer (no food!).
Publicity
As well as the usual printed announcements, the symposium was announced on the Internet via the medical-physics-engineering and the UK occupational health mailing lists and the IRPA, SFRP, FS and PhysicsWeb websites. The second announcement was published on an interim website with some supplementary information for exhibitors. The third announcement and programme were published on the SRP's newly established website (www.srp-uk.org) at which time the interim site simply carried a link to it. After the symposium, a report, a review, a CD version of the proceedings and pictures were put on the site.
Conclusion
It doesn't matter how much you do, you could always have done more and done it better! But with luck and hard work (and a `can-do' philosophy during the week) you will still be able to look back with pride and satisfaction. Finally, a lesson learned the hard way: always carry contact information for the conference organiser with you!