Conference Organisation Amelia Philpott Sarah Pannell

3 rd year Biochemistry DPhil students (surely we don't have time to organise a conference?) Who are we? Why are we giving this talk? Chemistry and Biochemistry PG Seminars at Sussex started 06/07, expanded 07/08. In Spring 08 started forming links with other local universities – Seminar Exchange. Interest from other universities increased, so decided to bring everyone together in a symposium day.

General Considerations Audience Purpose Location Time

Bioscience Post Graduate Symposium Aimed at Bioscience PGs in the South East of England To share research, gain confidence in presenting work to a wide audience, network with people from different universities and speak to company reps about their products. At Sussex University, 15 th December 2008

Budget – raise money Decide date and book venue Publicity Presenters (oral & poster) Creating contacts Catering Registration Encouraging attendance Arranging day programme Prizes BPGS08 Checklist

Budget How much money have you got? How many people are attending? Are you feeding them? –Lunch from UoS catering service costs £5.25/person. –100 delegates x £5.25 = £525! And that's without any coffee/biscuits. What other expenses might you have? Travel expenses for speakers? Printing of posters/flyers/programme Stick rigidly to costings – you can’t spend what you don’t have.

Budget Where can you get funding from? Companies –Will usually want something in return  can you offer them anything? Societies Department University Accounts department (in Sussex House) can set up account codes to pay in to/take from.

Publicity Targeting publicity is so important Posters and flyers –Mass s to students –Targeted s to Heads of Department and Directors of Graduate Studies at other universities Website ( Word of mouth from company reps and presenting authors

Issues we’ve encountered Need to start with a good proposal Problems with venue Quotes from suppliers e.g. printers Organising catering – accurate numbers etc. Communication with other universities – important to create reliable contacts Communication with sponsors (£!) Publications and branding

Negatives of the whole experience Time consuming –Need to be disciplined about time spent Will be stressful and exhausting on the day Always something you won’t have thought of –Working as a team helps with this.

Positives of the whole experience Encouragement from sponsors – if you don’t ask you don’t get – be ambitious! Enjoyable experience (overall) Looks amazing on your CV Forces you to develop excellent organisational and teamwork skills

Overall Good experience Proved it’s possible but needed good foundations Sign up to attend!