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Running a Major Event: Challenges of scaling up

Trevor McCrisken & Denise Hewlett, PAIS

+Running a Major Event:Challenges of Scaling Up

US Foreign Policy Conference at Warwick, September 2014

Sponsored by BISA, ISA, US Embassy, ESRC, Institute for the Study of the Americas

Organised by PAIS – Academic-Administrative partnership

Oz Hassan, Trevor McCrisken, Denise Hewlett, Jackie Smith, Mary Sheffield, Michiel Foulon

Attendees – 80 including 18 Early Career Researchers

Three days: Early Career Day and Main Conference Days

Budget: £32,500

+Start planning early!

Started discussions 1 year before the conference

Ambitions – THINK BIG! Biggest US foreign policy conference in Europe Big name keynote speaker Not just a meal – a banquet – at WARWICK CASTLE!

Practicalities – venue, accommodation, responsibilities, costs, FUNDING

What could each of us bring? – experience, contacts, time and energy

+Get the keynote – all else follows

Key part of thinking big and being ambitious

Former US President Bill Clinton Had spoken at Warwick at the end of his presidency Surely he’d want to come back?? But his fee….was1 million dollars!!!

Plan B: Hillary Clinton

Madeleine Albright, former US Secretary of State

John Negroponte, George W. Bush’s Director of National Intelligence Role in Central America in the 1980s

+Who you know helps

Robert Wescott, President of Keybridge Research, Washington DC Special Assistant to the President for Economic

Policy, Administration of Bill Clinton

US Embassy connections

Liz Dibble, Deputy Chief of Mission, US Embassy London Plus Assistant Cultural Attache, Robert Adelson

+Show me the money

IAS Grant £18,000 Oz as early career researcher wasn’t able to be lead so I

had to take lead on this application Joint effort among the team – lots of rewrites to get the

emphasis right – Early Career development

US Embassy Had contributed to previous BISA USFP Working Group

Conferences to the tune of about £1500 We applied for £2,950 They granted us £1,950 On the basis of “If you don’t ask you don’t get”, I pressed

them for the full amount Bob Geldof principle!

+Timetable 6 months prior to event: website, invitations, flyers, keep

speakers warm, off campus bookings (University permission)

4-5 months prior to event: sort out speaker accommodation and travel, monitor conference registration, put conference programme together, alert panel members

3 months prior to event: print up publicity and programme, finalise registrations

2 months prior to event: Request papers from presenters, check with venues

1 month prior to event: prepare information pack for attendees

2 weeks before event: send out info pack, prepare badges, finalise venue information

Be prepared for anything, dropouts – keep a spreadsheet

+Working with the University

Rules and regulations – costs, what you can use/what you can’t

Going off campus

Booking VIPs – University can help, but maybe take a deep breath!

Security – potential for protests, etc.

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+And finally…

Don’t be in Australia when your conference runs!!