Our team at Club Liverpool will support you to bid for a conference, find a venue, book accommodation etc. whether it’s for 50 people in a local hotel or 5,000 at the Arena and Convention Centre.
Sometimes ambassadors also require support with the organisation of the conference and this is where our PCO (Professional Conference Organiser) partners can work as an extension of our team to help with many things from abstract submission, registration and speaker management to budgeting, marketing and sponsorship.
We’ve been chatting to Abbey Conference and Events about how companies like them can help our Ambassadors organise their events in the City.
Take a look at how a PCO can help you.
Abbey Conferences, please tell us a bit about yourselves and what a PCO is…
Abbey Conference & Events have been planning events on behalf of our clients since 1988 and operate all over Europe. We have a team of 25 in our conferencing team and offer all the services needed to successfully host a professional conference. Our services range from delegate management through to budgeting, marketing, onsite staffing and logistics.
The support provided means that our clients can focus on their programme and hopefully enjoy the experience of hosting a conference. Planning a conference is complex, it requires a lot of know-how and time, which often is the biggest challenge for hosts. Employing a PCO means anyone can be the chair of an event, without needing to worry about the logistics and different elements that need to be considered. We like to work as a team with our clients; they focus on their area of expertise and we focus on ours – event planning!
What is the benefit of using a PCO?
When you work with a PCO, you not only get the man-power required to co-ordinate an event, you gain expertise, skills and experience. When we work with a client, their team grows and they gain access to the knowledge gained from hosting hundreds of previous events. We come with ideas for how to engage audiences, an understanding of how people work at events and a wealth of experience gained from working with committees and clients across multiple industries.
Working with a PCO means you are not starting from scratch – you’re gaining a team with the skills needed to deliver, the systems in place to provide a registration and abstract process, plus an established PCO will also come with buying power and a bank of trusted suppliers, whom they can utilise to their client’s benefit.
Is there a certain size of conference or event that would require a PCO?
Events of all sizes can find a use for a PCO and you don’t always have to use them for everything, some clients choose to keep some aspects of event planning in-house and only outsource elements like registration, sponsorship or abstract management. Even small events can be complicated, depending on the ideas and ambitions of the organiser. Each event will have different requirements and may find themselves suited to a specific PCO with strengths in different areas. Often people will think they cannot afford a PCO, but the value-added from employing one makes it worthwhile.
What conferences and events have you organised?
Abbey has organised many conferences of various sizes and in many different subject areas, all over Europe.
We recently organised the 16th Congress of the European Society of Paediatric Otorhinolaryngology (ESPO 2023) at the ACC Liverpool. The Congress welcomed over 1000 scientists, clinicians and families over 3 days, with 99 sessions and more than 600 speakers.
It was a full-service project for us, so we handled all aspects of the planning from start to finish. The Congress was a great success and the feedback from delegates was excellent. They loved being in Liverpool!
We couldn’t have done this without local help of course and we worked closely with the Club Liverpool Team (ACC Liverpool and Liverpool Convention Bureau). We had an amazing Gala Dinner at Liverpool Cathedral – the team there were also fantastic and the highlight of the evening was a performance by The Cheatles.
What’s the best part of being a PCO?
Getting to travel all over the UK and Europe, working with local committees and suppliers. Working closely with different destinations and adding local flair is an exciting way to be creative and give attendees a memorable experience.
We work with people from all specialties, and while all conferences are similar in some ways, the different industries add new challenges that make each event completely individual. We’re aware that conferences are hugely important to every industry. Through speaking at events, networking and learning, attendees are progressing their careers and contributing to their industry. By providing the means to network and learn effectively, we feel like we are supporting that, which is very rewarding.