Your professional association just asked you to plan next year's conference. But where do you begin? Cynthia Winter, a professional meeting planner with 25 years' experience planning academic conferences, guides you through the many details necessary for planning a successful, smoothly run conference. Winter addresses the planning process for the novice conference chair, from the initial design to the final wrap-up, with useful advice on some of the major tasks involved: program planning, budgeting, pricing, finding a suitable location, advertising, scheduling rooms, finding speakers and entertainment, and organizing banquets. This volume also describes the benefits to and activities of savvy conference attendees. A series of appendixes and resource listings provide you with the tools you'll need to run an enjoyable, informative conference.