EuroCVD 18 - Case Study

Conference Ambassador: Prof. Martyn Pemble

Date of Conference: 4th - 9th September 2011

No. of Delegates: 200 from Ireland, UK, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, New Zealand, Greece, USA, South Africa, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, China, Japan, Korea, Russia, Holland, Finland, Norway, Belgium

Why did you decide to invite and host this international conference?

As Ireland's representative on the EuroCVD Board I felt that it was timely to suggest that the meeting be held in Ireland. I also felt that if the bid were successful that it could raise the profile of Cork and Kinsale considerably, with a view to other possible conferences in the future, while also helping the local economy.

How far in advance of the event did you begin the preparatory work to bring it to Ireland? 

2 years. I proposed that the conference should take place in Kinsale at the previous meeting, EuroCVD 17, which was held in Vienna in October 2009.  

Was there an official bidding process to win the event? Who made the final decision in the bidding process?

Yes. I assembled a case to present to the International Board of EuroCVD of which I am Ireland's representative. My bid was in direct competition with a bid from Bulgaria.
The EuroCVD Board made the final decision.

Can you describe what support you received from Fáilte Ireland? Financial / practical etc.

Financial support in the form of a grant towards the costs of attending the first bidding meeting in Vienna plus a marketing allowance of ca. €10 per delegate for the conference itself.
The staff at Fáilte Ireland were extremely helpful during our discussions.

What were your main steps in organising this conference? Did you have any difficulties or discover other supports along the way?

Having chosen Kinsale as the venue town, the first step was to select the conference hotel. I had attended a smaller meeting at Actons Hotel previously and so I was aware of what Actons was like as a conference venue. We then entered into negotiations with the Actons event staff and as a result decided to hold the meeting there.
Throughout the organisation process I was greatly assisted by other members of the Tyndall staff who agreed to act on the Local Organising Committee, namely Ms Mary-Claire O'Regan, Dr Ian Povey and Dr Simon Elliott.

UCC provided us with the secure, on-line payment web pages, which allowed delegates to register on-line.
 

We contacted a number of possible sponsors including Science Foundation Ireland. I submitted a successful proposal to the SFI Conference and Workshop Fund and was awarded a grant of €20,600.
 

Together with our industry sponsors we raised ca. €40,000 in sponsorship support, which helped to keep the registration fees as low as possible.

Did you use the services of a PCO (Professional Conference Organiser)?

No, the primary activities were performed by myself and Ms Mary-Clare O'Regan.

How did you promote the conference?

Conference website www.eurocvd18.org
Promotion on websites of Institute of Physics, American Vacuum Society, Materials Research Society. Electrochemical Society, use of previous meeting mailing list, LinkedIn pages for specialist groups.

Were any social events incorporated into your conference?

On the evening of Sunday 4th we held a Welcome Reception to which we invited the Mayor of Kinsale, Councillor Fred Treacy. At this event we served refreshments and finger food, accompanied by a string quartet  (all Cork school students).

On the afternoon of Wednesday 7th we sent delegates on an excursion to Blarney to allow them to kiss the Blarney stone (coaches to take people to Blarney, then Cork, then back to Kinsale).
 

On the evening of Thursday 8th we held a Conference Banquet (also in Actons). During the meal we had a harpist playing then after the meal, speeches, student prizes etc, we had the band the Irish Weavers playing for 2 hours.

Any Top Tips for organising a conference in Ireland?

1. Have a really capable organiser who pays particular attention to detail. In our case this was Ms Mary-Claire O'Regan

 

2. Publicity and sponsorship- without this the conference could not have happened. We are particularly grateful to Fáilte Ireland and SFI in this regard

 

3. Have a well-defined and inclusive budget planner so as to help set fees. This must have a built-in margin for uncertainty in certain costs

 

4. Have a mixture of well-known and some less well-known invited speakers to entice people to attend

 

5. Use a good location having a range of possible accommodation/meal  options so that people can keep the costs of attendance within their particular budgets.

What was the highlight of your conference?

At the Conference Banquet, we received a huge amount of praise from a number of people in terms of the organisation, the location and the scientific content of the meeting. This was most gratifying. We have also received a large number of 'thank you' messages since the meeting finished.