Nowadays there are countless professional gatherings, but these can be very diverse. Even with two events of the same kind, their features always vary. If we only take the number of participants and the type of event into consideration, there are different conditions and different needs to meet.
Events are also rooted in history
Conferences are nothing new, people had all kinds of meetings in ancient Egypt already. Often they were looking for solutions for the same concerns and challenges and were setting common goals, and this is a purpose conferences and professional events still have today. In the course of Hungarian history one of the most significant events was the 1896 Millennial Exhibition, which was attended by trade operators economic operators, and representatives of national defense and the naval force. The first business events were held soon after the 1st World War, but became more widespread after the 2nd World War, in the US. In the first few years after the war, functions organised in Central and Eastern Europe were limited to party events, gatherings of the representatives of the central state authority, exhibitions and conferences. The world has changed and expanded since then.
No two alike
Since every event has its specific purpose, topic, atmosphere and audience each and every one of them needs special attention and management.
Official functions
Conference
Conferences have a strict agenda and schedule, basically these are meetings where problems are solved. The host is usually a senior expert with credibility in the field. Organising a conference requires a lot of consideration, as for events with a large number of participants, accommodation needs to be provided to foreign guests and the conference dinner needs to be organised. Interpreters may be needed at international events. The number of meeting rooms and hotel rooms needed depends on the number of participants. The number of meeting rooms and hotel rooms needed depends on the number of participants.
Scientific conference
Scientific conferences have scientific purposes, these are not profit-oriented meetings. Such conferences are organised with the hope that the speed of information flow will increase and research results will be published, and the purpose is to serve humankind and use the results to move the world forward.
Business conference
Quick material gain is expected from business conferences: in order for a company to stay afloat in the world economy the constantly changing and quickly improving results need to be integrated into the economy.
Congress
The congress is the queen of events. Congresses are regular meetings of hundreds or even a thousand people from the same political, professional, cultural or religious group, or people who share a well-defined interest. Congresses are not open events, only members of the organisation that is organising it may attend, by invitation. Usually congresses are held annually, with the purpose of discussing a single topic.
Corporate meeting – board meeting
Corporate meetings are typically small, with fewer than 50 people attending, but very elegant. Attendees are treated as VIPs, with special attention, and often special security measures are taken at the venue. The venue is usually in a quiet environment with leisure activities to ease the tension caused by tight work schedules.
Session, meeting
Another professional gathering, a mid-sized one. As for the layout, a smaller board and the audience sit facing one another, and participants raise their hands if they want to contribute to the topic. There are regular and ad hoc meetings.
Training
Education or training sessions for groups of different sizes. It is an intensive type of work meeting that is gaining popularity these days.
Workshop
This is a larger brainstorming event. Originally a room where manual work is done, the term “workshop” now refers to a meeting of people interested in a specific field, with the purpose to work together to create something new – usually some intellectual product – in the given field.
Press conference
As the term shows the representatives of the press are provided with information at these events basically about anything the general public or a professional community may be interested in. These may involve, among many other things, negotiations, conferences, trade fairs, expos, trade shows, corporate anniversaries or award ceremonies. Press meetings and press conferences may be attended by reporters from several countries.
Exposition
Although they vary in size, expositions are usually larger events. This is a way to boost sales, and its types include fairs, exhibitions, trade fairs, shows, expos and world’s trade fairs.