How to plan a corporate conference in South Africa: a month-by-month checklist

A corporate conference has hundreds of moving parts, and most of the stress comes from finding out about one of them too late. This checklist works backwards from the day, with the things that are specific to running events in South Africa.

Six months or more before

• Agree on the purpose. Write down what the conference must achieve (for example: launch the new strategy to 300 managers) and who signs off decisions.
• Set the budget. Agree a total, then split it by category: venue, catering, AV, staffing and so on. Our event budget template in rands has a starting split.
• Pick the date carefully. Check South African public holidays (for example 21 March, 27 April, 16 June, 9 August, 24 September, 16 December and the Easter weekend), school holidays and long weekends, and any big industry events in the same week.
• Shortlist and book the venue. Visit in person. Ask about capacity for your layout (theatre, classroom or banquet), parking, accessibility, Wi-Fi capacity and breakout rooms.
• Ask about power. Confirm the venue has a generator or backup power that covers the plenary room, AV, kitchen and Wi-Fi, not only the emergency lights. Get it in writing.

Four to five months before

• Book the big suppliers: AV and staging, catering (if the venue doesn’t provide it), décor, photography and transport. Ask for each supplier’s B-BBEE certificate if your company reports on procurement.
• Confirm keynote speakers and agree their fees, travel and technical needs.
• Plan accommodation and flights for out-of-town delegates and speakers. Block hotel rooms early; Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban fill up around big events.
• Draft the programme: sessions, breaks, meals and networking time.

Three months before

• Open registration. Keep the form short: name, company, role, email, phone and dietary requirements. Ask for consent to use their details, as POPIA requires (see POPIA and event registration).
• Send invitations and a save-the-date, with a clear RSVP deadline.
• Plan safety. Do a risk assessment and an emergency plan, and check what permits your municipality needs for an event of this size.
• Confirm sponsors and list what you owe each one (logo placement, speaking slots, stands).

One month before

• Final numbers to the caterer, with counts for halaal, kosher, vegetarian, vegan and allergies.
• Seating plan for dinners or any seated sessions.
• Write the run sheet: every item with a time, a person responsible and a cue (“lights down, walk-in music, MC on stage”).
• Brief your team and assign roles: registration desk, speaker liaison, AV runner, VIP host.
• Print or prepare badges, ideally with QR codes so check-in takes seconds.

The week before

• Reconfirm every supplier: arrival times, access, contact person on the day.
• Send delegates the final details: venue, parking, programme and what to bring.
• Do a technical rehearsal with the AV team and any speakers who have videos or live demos.
• Check the load-shedding schedule, if there is one, for the venue’s area, and share it with the AV team.

On the day

• Open registration at least 45 minutes before the first session.
• Keep one person on the run sheet whose only job is timing.
• Log incidents as they happen, however small, with the time and who dealt with them.
• Track attendance, so you know your real turnout against registrations.

After the event

• Send a thank-you and a short feedback survey within 48 hours, while it’s fresh.
• Settle supplier invoices and compare final spend against budget, category by category.
• Hold a debrief with the team: what worked, what to change next time.
• Send sponsors a report on what they received.