A practical guide to conferences, from both sides of the room

What this is

conferences.co.uk is a guidance site covering conferences from both sides of the room: the professional deciding whether to attend and how to make the case to an employer, and the person organising the room in the first place. Each guide is built around a decision a reader actually has to make.

What it covers

Attending a conference covers whether a particular event is worth the ticket price and the day out of the office, and how to put that case to an employer. Organising a conference covers programme design, speaker sourcing, venue contracts, ticket pricing and break-even, and the accessibility and code-of-conduct decisions that need making while the programme is still being built. Speaking is covered too: getting selected through a call for papers, and what to do with the slot once you have it.

What's not here

The site carries no listings of conferences, no rankings of venues or speakers, no affiliate links and no booking function. A guide that lists and recommends is answering a different question from a guide that explains the mechanics well enough for a reader to judge for themselves, and this site is built to do the second thing. Where a claim needs evidence, it names the standard or body behind it, such as the Equality Act 2010 or the Event Supplier and Services Association.

Who it's for

The guidance assumes a capable professional: someone who understands how a workplace runs and how a project gets managed, but who has not necessarily seen a venue contract, an AV rider or a call for papers before. First-time organisers and first-time speakers are named readers throughout.

Something missing from a guide, or a question a page doesn't answer, can go to the contact page.