Most conference problems are scheduling problems. The call for papers goes out too late, so submissions are thin; abstracts close too close to the event, so reviewers are rushed; the programme is not settled when registration opens, so nobody knows what they are paying for.
Put in the date of your conference and this works backwards from it, milestone by milestone. Each step links to the guide for that step.
Pick a date and the schedule below fills in.
-
52 wk
Form the organising committee
Agree who chairs, who owns the programme, and who signs off spend.
-
48 wk
Draft the budget
Fixed costs, per-delegate costs and the registration fee that makes them meet.
-
44 wk
Book the venue
Rooms, capacity and dates. Everything after this depends on it.
-
40 wk
Approach sponsors
Sponsorship packages need to exist before anyone can say yes to them.
-
34 wk
Put the conference website up
Even a single page: dates, scope, and where the call for papers will appear.
-
30 wk
Open the call for papers
The longest lead item. Circulate it the day the website is live.
-
30 wk
Set up abstract management
Decide how abstracts arrive and how reviewers will see them.
-
18 wk
Close abstract submission
Expect a third of submissions in the final 48 hours.
-
16 wk
Run peer review
Assign reviewers, agree the scoring, decide single- or double-blind.
-
12 wk
Notify authors and publish the programme
Acceptances first; the programme follows once presenters confirm.
-
12 wk
Open registration
Early-bird pricing only works if there is a later price to compare it to.
-
8 wk
Push promotion
The programme is the marketing. Promote sessions, not the event in the abstract.
-
3 wk
Send badges and signage to print
Names, affiliations and session labels have to be frozen by now.
-
Day 0
The conference
Doors open.
-
+2 wk
Collect feedback
Ask while it is fresh — and ask something you would actually act on.
These are the conventional lead times organisers work to, not a standard — shift them to fit your field, your venue and your reviewers. Nothing you enter here leaves your browser.