Conference Project Planning - Essay Example

Conference Planning Project Due Project Scope The specific aims and objectives of the conference include: To expose both aspiring and practicing electrical and electronic engineers to the dynamics of the field. To enlighten the practicing and aspiring electrical and electronic engineers to the importance of creativity and innovativeness to the development of the field, and To educate people on the current trends in the field, and how they can best apply their acquired knowledge to take the field to the next level. There are numerous stakeholders in the field who will also find it useful to attend the enriching conference. These include the government, private and public electrical and electronic engineering practitioners, aspiring electrical and electronic engineers, most specifically students and other fringe players in the field. Like any other engineering profession, the contribution of electrical and electronic engineering to national economies and, by extension, the global economy, cannot be gainsaid. There is need to conform to the dynamicity of this field, and that is only possible when people are abreast to the current and emerging trends in the profession through themed conferences and induction workshops. The conference will also provide a platform for comparing notes and mentoring. Continued fruitful engagements and consultation will be made possible by exchanging contact cards. Being a milestone conference, a lot of activities will be executed in the planning process to ensure that the conference is a success. A team has been assembled to oversee the planning process, and duties have been assigned. The planning has activities such as publicity, correspondences, reservations, logistics and more. Division of roles will ensure that each planning activity is given the maximum concentration it requires, and, therefore, that each activity is a success. Risks and fallback options This project, like any other, has a number of associated risks. Risks have been identified as follows: Absentee guests Over-attendance The risks listed above have been identified as the most serious and their occurrence may affect the success of the conference in the most negative of ways. Take for instance absentee guests. The planning team has identified five key speakers to grace the conference, two being foreigners from Kuwait and China. All these guests have different presentations to make, and should any one of them be absent for whatever reason, a gap will result that would be difficult to fill. The planning team has created communication channels with those the important guests of the day to ensure that they communicate their likely absence in good time to enable the conference planning team to get a replacement. Another option is for the speaker to send someone to stand in for them, and adequately make up for their absence. The latter option will be the most workable because it will ensure that not many adjustments are made to accommodate a different person. Over-attendance is another risk that is likely to occur, though a positive one. The conference planning team plans to send invites to about 100 persons, 80% of whom are projected to attend. There is, however, a risk associated with this. There is definitely publicity bit of the conference planning process. The publicity may be so successful and the public reception of the conference so positive that many more people would want to attend. The demand for attendance may exceed the capacity of the preplanned conference venue, Bangor University campus. It is difficult to turn down people, and if they exceed what the venue can accommodate, then definitely something will have to be done. To avert a crisis situation resulting from too many people attending, the conference will have to take place in the open field, such as the Bangor University Sports arena. Tents will have to be erected and seats arranged in it. The project has quality concerns. Hardly anything is expected to go wrong on or before the scheduled conference dates. Therefore, all the factors involved in the project, such as the budgetary issues, will be closely monitored to ensure that everything proceeds according to plan. Assigning different people differentiated roles during planning is also a way of making sure that everything happens in the best possible way. Lastly, and most importantly, there will be a quality assurance teams following up on every planning activity and ensuring that everything remains within the project scope. This way, an overall project success is certain to e achieved. Work Packages and the Work Breakdown Structure The conference planning process involves a lot of activities, which are what are typically referred to as the work packages. Some of the activities include budgeting, publicity, communication, venue interior décor, logistics and the quality assurance teams. All these activities, as already indicated, will be assigned to teams. The activities will also have subdivisions where deemed necessary. This will especially be the case for the broad activities that would most likely overburden a single small team. The quality assurance team will check on the progress of all the teams from time to time, and recommend adjustments so that, in the long run, everything tends towards maximum attainment of the conference aims and objectives. The work packages are then assigned costs. There is a budget of 1000 pounds for the entire conference planning project. The different work packages will be assigned portions of the budget depending on how much each requires to successfully. The quality control team, for instance, will have the very important role of ensuring that everything is kept within the project scope, but will have to rely on the budget of every other team in the work breakdown structure, because they have a cross-cutting mandate. The quality controls issues will be overseen by the project manager, and will need about 2000 pounds. The communication team will need airtime and communication gadgets, and will perform both internal communications, and all communications to the guests who have confirmed attendance. Work Breakdown Structure Change Management Any changes to the original plan, such as change in the project scope will be handled in a manner is convenient to all the project players. Necessary adjustments will be made and proper communication channels used to ensure that all the stakeholders such as guests are not kept unaware of the changes until it is too late for them to respond accordingly. For instance, if the project planning team resolves that any one of the five guests should not be involved, every other player should be made aware of the change, starting with the affected guest(s). Another serious aspect of change is any changes to the original conference dates. There should be very clear communication channels, which would ensure that necessary communications are made in good time whenever changes are made. Necessary internal structural adjustments are also made to accommodate the change. The conference planning team will review the project scope from time to time, and will be the ones to recommend any changes, which may be effected for strategic reasons. The communication team will therefore be one of the busiest because every single change must be communicated effectively and timely to the stakeholders. However, any changes may only be effected on dates not beyond three weeks to the set conference dates. There has to be sufficient time (three weeks in this case) for the guests to rearrange their schedules. The procurement teams will not be in action until the final event date has been confirmed, and no further date changes are expected. This is so because once reservations are made, the dates are never very easy to change to conform to the project planning date changes. The illustration is as below: Conference Project Activity Timelines (Gantt chart) Read More