Planning a conference is, historically, far from a walk in the park. With industry experts and your colleagues in attendance, your professional reputation is on the line. No one wants a conference washout or boring speakers, and nobody wants a dull venue. Fortunately, Melbourne is blessed with a bewildering array of beautiful conference spaces, conference halls, exhibition centres and smaller conference rooms. Booking all of these conference venues has never been easier, and we're here to show you how.

Conference Planning Checklist

To help you plan and execute a memorable conference or corporate event, we’ve compiled a planning checklist. First off, you need to define your objective. The more specific you can be here, the better as it will help you to clarify the attendees you would like to attract and the value you want to provide them, plus it will help you understand the organisations and speakers who would make ideal partners for your conference. Next, we recommend selecting a theme and conference format, whether that’s a large scale seminar, trade show, workshop session or something else. Establishing a budget will help you to start bringing your ideas to life. When setting your budget, remember to leave some wriggle room for any incidentals. A great conference needs a great venue and we have the best conference venues Melbourne listed with us at HeadBox.

Speaking the lingo

What actually is a conference venue? It's a fair question. In short, it refers to a large space that can host a professional event that may include speakers, stalls and light refreshments. A conference room, on the other hand, will be a much smaller affair – and the price will reflect this. The largest conference-based event normally takes place in an exhibition centre (also called an expo centre or a convention centre), and these will be huge venues that cater to thousands of attendees.

Getting in touch

A Melbourne conference is a big deal. There are a lot of moving parts and you'll want to approach Melbourne's best conference centres with really robust criteria of everything you expect and need to make your event go off smoothly. Think about timing, capacity, catering, accessibility and who your speakers will be – this last one is vital as if they’re on your list to have at your conference they’re probably in high demand. Get all these factors worked out before you approach Melbourne’s best conference venues and you’ll make the booking process a whole lot easier for yourself and the venue.

Travelling

A lot of conferences attract visitors from afar (especially the large ones in convention centres). Take this into account when booking your Melbourne conference venue. Looking for quality venues near travel hubs such as Flinders St Station or Melbourne Airport is a great way to make getting to and from your conference much easier. And less travelling = less grumpy conference attendees.

Some attendees may wish to get to your Melbourne event via car. If this is the case you’ll want to enquire with the conference venues about parking facilities.

Budgeting

Budgeting for a conference can be a tricky thing. Venues will often provide a base hire fee before adding on extra costs for things like staffing, audiovisual equipment and in-house catering (think of all the coffee needed to keep your attendees going!). Some venues will quote you for a price per attendee, so you know how much is being spent on each individual. It’s good to get an idea of how much you’re willing to spend before you approach the venue, this reduces any misunderstandings down the line and could be a massive time saver.