Airmic countdown: Work hard, play hard

Chloe Green, Airmic conference organiser:

What makes a good conference programme? Well, a mixture. It must be a serious event, but not too much so. There needs to be a good variety of topics, so there’s something for everyone. But if you offer people too many break-out sessions you may find that some really good presenters get smaller audiences than they deserve. There’ve got to be social occasions and we want to have fun, but we don’t want people to think it’s just an excuse for a party. And so on.

Every year we hope we’ve got the balance right. Guessing which are going to be the most popular lectures and workshops can be quite interesting – there are usually some surprises in there. So far all our sessions have at least 12 people booked in, and the vast majority have well over twenty rising to nearly 100 in some cases. When you consider that the numbers are certain to go on upwards as more people register, and that we’ve chosen to cater for some pretty specialised niches, our something-for-everyone format seems to be working.

As for fun, well, I’m looking forward to the Baywatch beach party. I’ve been practising hard on the strength machine and think I have a fairly good chance, which would be a great day for girl power.

Everyone at AIRMIC will be pulling out all the stops to ensure that the conference is a success. However, it’s really up to the delegates to get what they want out of it. Some of them will go off for private parties, and quite a few organisations are putting on their own events. For most, it’s a case of ‘work hard, play hard’. The main thing is that they meet people they want to meet, enjoy themselves and learn a few useful things as well – and then they’ll be back again next year.

Meanwhile, I’m praying that the forecast of a long hot summer holds good, at least for June 16 and 17.

The AIRMIC annual conference takes place at the Bournemouth International Centre, June 16-17.

See also: Hurrell's blog