Know-How Exchange : Other

By "overall ballpark" I mean a cost estimate, or "guesstimate" or price range. That is from "x dollars - y dollars". That is what I mean by 'overall ballpark'. Thanks for responding.

The range you seek is enormous. It's like asking "How much will dinner cost?"

If you eat alone and have macaroni and cheese, it will cost you less than a dollar. If you go out to a fine restaurant with someone and have a 5-course meal with good wine, it could easily cost 100 times that amount. And if you fly to Paris with your whole family and go to a great French restaurant it could cost thousands of times more ... especially with the current exchange rate for the Euro.

So you need to do a zero-based budget, figure out which hotel you'll want, what city, what's included (coffee, lunch, buffet or sit-down, etc.), how many days, how much you'll pay your speakers, what hand-outs you'll want for attendees, what your travel expenses will be, etc., etc.

The final number -- even the range -- could be macaroni and cheese, or it could be a very expensive French restaurant 6-7 time zones away.

Another thing: How do you plan to market the conference to your target audiences -- prospective attendees and sponsors?

Chances are the marketing costs will represent the largest single expense for the conference. If you already have a great list, then it will be less than if you have to rent or create one, but it would be a mistake to assume that "if you build it they will come."

It's conceivable that marketing costs could represent 25-50% of the total cost, especially if this is the first time you've run a conference and don't have a good list of prior attendees (or sponsors).

And don't forget about the pricing strategy. The more you can actually charge and receive, the smaller your marketing cost will be as a percentage of the total. But you may hurt attendance if the price is too high, and then your marketing costs will be even more (as a percentage of the total). The goal should be to find the sweet spot, and that won't be easy your first time out.

Net, it's not just a question of "how much it will cost" (range or not). It's a matter of what your objectives are, how you plan to accomplish those objectives, and what THAT will cost.