A conference is a gathering, meeting, or congregation of peers or work colleagues which allows them the opportunity to discuss, present, and ‘confer’ over topics relevant to their mutual, shared goals.
There are four different types of conference meetings that can be identified and differentiated based on the conference agenda. These differing types of conference meetings include Team Building Conferences, Innovative Conferences, Decision-Making Conferences, and Information Dissemination Conferences. Certainly, it is important to note that each of these conference styles, for the most part, occurs predominantly within the corporate space.
Perhaps more importantly, each of these types of conferences presents an unsurpassed opportunity for a company to stand out from other businesses also presenting at the conference. For instance, companies can offer and provide conference attendees with complimentary branded merchandise – i.e. merchandise items printed with company branding, such as the brand logo.
How A Company Can Stand Out at a Conference with Branded Merchandise
Popular branded merchandise items for a company to give out to people attending conferences are custom-printed lanyards, which are an easy, cost-effective, and simple way to make a business brand visible and memorable to a prospective future customer. Other branded merchandise items a company can offer to conference attendees can also include branded clothing items such as hats or caps, tee shirts or long sleeve polo tops, jumpers or hoodies, or even beanies and scarves.
Another way to make a business brand stand out at a conference is to provide attendees with branded flyers. Branded flyers are an optimal way to showcase a business’s product and services, as they can also include longer text to disseminate the brand promise or message and to discuss the business’s product and service offerings in greater detail than, for example, a business card or other smaller formats which do not allow room for extensive text content or copy.
Outdoor media, such as billboards or signs, can also be a great way to display business branding at a corporate conference.
The Four Different Types of Corporate Conference
Team Building Conferences
In the corporate world, team building is considered essential to boost worker morale and foster a positive company culture. Team building exercises such as interactive games and group activities focused on fun, collaborative effort, and genuine enjoyment are often featured as areas of focus.
Active sporting activities for colleagues to participate in together are often a key focus. For example, the company may choose to take their employees out for a day of go-karting or even an interactive ropes course. Other activities can include rock climbing, team sports, or even an athletic-style sports day featuring games such as tug-of-war or shuttle relays, for example. In each of these examples, the end goal is, of course, to invite and involve team members and colleagues to collaborate to reach mutually beneficial goals while also having fun and enjoying themselves along the way.
Decision-Making Conferences
Perhaps the most important type of conference, a Decision-Making Conference, allows employees and peers to discuss and reach mutually beneficial decisions on company strategies and goals. Usually run by leaders of the company such as the CEO or members of upper management, these meetings are where the big decisions leading and changing the overall direction of a company and its goals are discussed.
Innovative Conferences
Almost as essential as Decision-Making Conferences, Innovative Conferences – also known as Creative Meetings – allow the opportunity for conference attendees to brainstorm and share ideas on how to improve company processes, methods, and protocols. Crucially, they are also the perfect opportunity for companies to come up with new ideas to increase sales and revenue, as well as better ways to reach company goals.
Information Dissemination Conferences
Information Dissemination Conferences play a pivotal role in employee education and disseminating information to the wider company. Often presented in the form of a PowerPoint slide presentation, video, or debate, they are a great way for company employees to feel involved and informed on company objectives, as well as product knowledge and information on company services. The visual tools mentioned above – ie. PowerPoint slides and videos – can help to make the Information Dissemination Conference feel more interactive, making it more engaging and interesting for conference attendees.
