Assessment Task 2 Instructions

Carefully read the following:

You are the Administration Manager for Manager Networks, an organisation who provides networking events for business people across Australia.

The company runs regular networking events but has now decided to start an annual conference event focussing on an area of business considered to be of key importance.

As the Administration Manager for the company, you have been asked by the CEO to plan and organise the conference.

Complete the following activities:

1. The first part of this assessment requires you to participate in a meeting with the CEO (role-played by your assessor) to plan the conference. 

Your assessor will advise you of the date and time of the meeting.  Prior to the meeting, prepare and write down a series of questions to ask at the meeting to help you to plan the conference. 

Your questions will need to address as a minimum the following items so as to determine conference requirements:

• Purpose of the conference

• Style – formal or informal

• Outcomes of the conference

Bring along a pen and paper to the meeting or your laptop to take notes. You will need to use these notes in the next part of the assessment. 

2. Now participate in the meeting with the CEO (your assessor) to discuss the conference. 

During the meeting, you will be required to demonstrate effective communication skills, which you will be assessed on including:

• asking and responding to questions

• active listening techniques. 

• effective non-verbal communication to assist with understanding. 

At the conclusion of the meeting, ensure you verbally summarise the information provided to confirm the initial discussion about the conference. 

3. Following the meeting, you will be required to develop a Conference Plan Brief that confirms the conference requirements as discussed at the meeting and describes your plan for the conference, Use the Conference Plan Brief Template.

The Conference Plan Brief that you develop must be written in clear and concise English.

The document should address the following: 

a. Confirm the purpose, style and outcomes of the conference as per the meeting discussion. 

b. Based on the conference requirements, details of at least two venues that could be used for the conference.

c. Recommended speakers based on discussion with CEO and research conducted. 

d. Draft conference program as per the purpose and outcomes provided. This should also include the speakers name against each conference session. 

e. Outline of participant profile based on the information provided at the meeting. 

f. Confirmation of budget allocation and timeline, as well as proposed registration fees. 

g. Conference Action Plan that sets out tasks to be completed prior to the conference. 

h. Promotion strategy to be adopted to ensure identified number of participants is achieved. 

i. Registration procedures to be followed at the conference. 

When you have completed the conference plan brief, send it via email to the CEO (your assessor) for feedback. Your assessor will advise you of any feedback and give you approval to proceed to organising the conference.  The approval will also include confirmation of one of the venues you suggested. 

4. Promote and organise conference

Assume that you have received approval to promote and organise the conference noting the following information:

• You need to book the venue as per the agreed arrangements.  This needs to be done immediately so as to ensure that the required venue is booked. 

• Assume that the five speakers you have identified have been approved and you are required to contact the speakers to confirm all of the arrangements including conference details and travel arrangements, as well as payment arrangements and a request for a summary of the topic they will be speaking on. 

• As part of the identified promotion strategy, you have been asked to prepare a flyer about the conference to send out to the organisation’s contacts. This should be at least one page, include all key information about the conference, as well as contact details. It should include images to create interest and attention plus the company logo. 

Now complete the following tasks:

a) Prepare and send an email to the conference venue providing full details of the conference and facilities and equipment required, as well as accommodation requirements.  Send the email to your assessor.  Your assessor in the role of the conference venue will email you back to confirm the arrangements. 

b) Prepare and send an email to the identified conference speakers as per the requirements indicated.  Develop a generic email that could be sent all speakers assuming that each speaker will be accommodated on the night before the conference and will be paid an amount as per the budget developed.  Send a copy of the email to your assessor. 

c) Prepare flyer as indicated above. When you have completed your flyer, email it out to the organisation’s contacts (this will be your assessor). The email should include a short summary of the conference. It should be professional presented and error free. 

5. Prepare conference papers 

Assume that you are required to prepare conference papers.  Your CEO has advised that based on the information he has received from the speakers who will be presenting, the conference papers are to be developed as follows:

• Name of speaker

• Organisation if applicable

• Short biography (paragraph)

• Photo

• Summary of conference paper to be presented

Develop conference papers according to the guidelines above. The conference papers must be professionally presented and error free. 

When you have prepared the papers, email it to your assessor as though they are the conference participants and identifying in the email that this is the pre-conference information. 

6. Confirm participants

Assume that the company has decided against using an online conference registration system this year and conference participants are required to complete a registration form and send in via email. Participants are required to include their credit card details or indicate that they will pay via bank transfer. 

Assume that you have received registrations from the following three people and that each has paid their conference fee of $1,000:

Jackie Badger, Badger and Sons Pty Ltd, Address: 100 Bonnie Avenue, Salisbury, Paid in full via credit card

Jason Simms, Business Professionals Pty Ltd, Address: 93 Garden Street, Sydney, Paid in full via EFTPOS.

Cindy Smith, Cindy Enterprises Ltd, Address: 4/35 Crescent Avenue, Ipswich, Paid in full via credit card

You are required to set up a conference registration list to record all necessary details and then email the three participants (this should be sent to your assessor) confirming attendance.  Your assessor will advise you of a date for confirmation of registration, which you must meet, in order to demonstrate that you have met the required timelines. 

7. Develop a conference evaluation form

The final part of this assessment task requires you to prepare a conference evaluation form to be provided to participants in their conference pack and that can be completed and handed in at the end of the conference. 

Design a conference evaluation form that:

• Includes at least five short questions about satisfaction with aspects of the conference. 

• Allows participants to provide an answer based on a five point scale.