TRAINING AND MENTORING
Planning Your First Academic Event
Organising a conference is often seen as a rite of passage for budding academics, or just part of the job for research professionals. However, most people are never offered any support or training to do it well. That can result in lacklustre events, perpetuating bad practice, lost confidence and cries of ‘never again’!
Who it’s for…
This training helps early career researchers, PhD students and early career research professionals understand all the moving parts involved in running research-related events and put them together in the right order to produce an event they can be proud of.
What we cover…
– Defining the purpose and structure of your event.
– Event operations, budgets and logistics.
– Planning the event content.
– Managing speakers and other contributors.
– Marketing, communications, registration and audience management.
– Essential tasks before, on and after the big day.
What to expect…
Highly interactive using discussion, practical activities, and event planning scenarios. Participants will also receive a set of templates and checklists for planning their own events.
Can be delivered as…
Full Day (6h)
Half Day (3h)
Webinar (1h)
Online cohort programme over 3 months
Gathering with Purpose – Advanced Event Planning
Once you’ve got a few successful events under your belt you might start noticing recurring problems or want to do something a bit more creative. This training will help you understand common sticky situations from stuffy formats to accessibility or power dynamics, and come up with strategies to do things differently.
Who it’s for…
This course is for research professionals or researchers who have nailed the basics of event planning and want to uplevel their skills and start improving things.
What we cover…
• What it means to gather with purpose and create an outcome-driven event
• Understanding how people learn and what they want from events
• Doing things differently with creative or complex scheduling and formats
• Accessibility and inclusion beyond the basics
• Managing interpersonal issues and power dynamics
• Advanced operations, environmental issues and contingency planning
• Creative communications, guest experience and evaluation
What to expect…
Highly interactive using discussion, practical activities, and event planning scenarios. Participants will also receive a set of templates and checklists for planning their own events.
Can be delivered as…
Full Day (6h)
Half Day (3h)
Webinar (1h)
Online cohort programme over 3 months
TRAINING AND MENTORING
Many of the people organising events and engagement in universities and research organisations are doing it without any formal training. They’re talented, committed, and working hard, but they’re often copying a format that wasn’t working in the first place, without the tools or confidence to do things differently.
What I can help with…
I offer training for event/meeting organisers at all levels. From academics planning their first conference, collaboration or participatory research project, to research professionals who want to level up their practice.
How we’ll work together…
Training can be delivered as a standalone workshop, a short course, or on as an ongoing coaching/mentoring process as you plan a specific event. It’s always practical, interactive, and grounded in real experience of research events and collaborations.
This is a good fit if…
You want to invest in your team’s ability to plan and run better events, or if you’re an individual looking to develop your own skills and confidence as an event organiser in the research world.
WHAT ARE YOU PLANNING?
I can help with all kinds of research conversations including…