Academic conference planning: 6 must-do tips 

When it comes to academic conference planning, there are some things that always get checked off: secure a venue, set a date, order catering and furniture, hire the team on-site. When you’ve done those things, you certainly have an event. However, it’s the details in execution, the points that sometimes get overlooked, that will ensure you create an experience to remember. And one that people will come back to.

Summer vacation is now over and it’s time to check for the blind spots in academic conference planning. What are six bases that you need to cover to ensure you create the smoothest, most engaging and successful academic conference.

1. Make it easy for your reviewers.

There are many points of friction that come with the abstract collection process. The complex back and forth between reviewers and authors, while ensuring anonymity and trying to meet the deadlines can easily become a frustration for many. An abstract management system removes a lot of those hurdles and automates processes to ensure the best experience for all.

• Add reviewers into your platform before the first abstract submissions arrive, so that they can immediately get started with reviewing in their own time.
• Let the system assign abstracts according to topic and expertise matching, fairly and anonymously.
• Reviewers and authors can follow feedback, comments and suggestions in real-time and adjust as needed.
• Use email automation to remind people of deadlines, to announce any timeline changes and to send out the completed abstract book.

Curious to learn more about how an abstract management system can help your academic conference? Explore the possibilities with our abstract management brochure.

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2. Registration is data: use it!

In academic event planning, registration is more than ticket sales. It’s where you gather the insights that shape your conference and where you already give your attendees an idea of what is to come.

• With ticketing you can segment attendees into faculty, students, industry, exhibitors and any other groups that you would want to include.
• Incentivise people to purchase their tickets timely with early bird discounts, first wave student passes, limited VIP passes and game entries.
• With a registration system you can collect data on dietary preferences, transportation and accommodation details, which can all help you deliver the best experience possible.
• Build in optional extras like networking dinners, wellness activities, or gamification kits.

When is the right time to start looking for a registration system for your upcoming academic conference? Get in touch with a member of our team who will advise you on the best fit and timeline for your event.

3. A good event lasts longer than the event itself

An influential academic conference has a much longer timespan than just the moment of the conference itself. The quality of exchanges, connections and knowledge shared at the conference greatly depends on the amount of engagement leading up to the event. You can do this with a great event app.

• Share programme previews, speaker spotlights, and venue maps.
• Send push notifications for early-bird deadlines or abstract reminders.
• Open networking spaces early so attendees can connect before arrival.
• Let sponsors and exhibitors upload content to build visibility in advance.

Are you interested in seeing what your event could look like with your own branded event app? If you get in touch and share details of your event we can come back to you with a free mockup and evaluation of what the best fit for your event would be.

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4. Use automation and save a lot of time and confusion

Organising an academic conference runs on a huge amount of emails. Not all, but most of those can be automated. However, you need to first define all your stakeholder groups that require different kinds of information and create individual templates for them.

• Automate submission and review reminders.
• Tailor updates by role and timeline.
• Pair emails with push notifications for instant reach.
• Store templates in your platform so you can send polished updates fast.

With a good automation system and well-formulated AI prompts you can cut down many hours off of your email exchanges. And a simple well-structured push notification plan can keep your audience well informed. Get out push notifications guide now!

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5. If your event is accessible, your reach is much wider

Accessibility in academic conferences is often misunderstood as a checklist item, but in reality it’s a continuous commitment. It’s about making sure every attendee, whether onsite, online, or catching up afterwards can participate fully. The more people can do this, the bigger reach you have.

• Gather accessibility requests during registration: languages for live captioning, mobility support, sensory-friendly spaces.
• Ensure your event app is compliant with accessibility standards: clear navigation, screen reader compatibility, translation options, and high-contrast modes.
• Caption hybrid or recorded sessions so the content remains accessible well beyond the event itself.
• Communicate accessibility measures upfront, so participants know you’ve thought about their needs before they even arrive.

Accessibility is incredibly important for us. We believe technology is the easiest way to cover many accessibility bases and reach the diverse audience of academic conferences. Learn more about how we achieve this here.

6. Don’t do the same work twice: use last year’s data

One of the biggest mistakes in academic conference planning is treating every year as if it’s new. In reality, the data you collected from last year is the blueprint for this year.

• Identify which sessions had the most engagement and why? How can you recreate the most positive qualities of these sessions into this year’s program?
• Review how attendees used your app, networking tools, or gamification: what excelled and what didn’t?
• Measure which sponsors and exhibitors had the most meaningful interactions and how that was achieved.
• Use these insights to refine pricing, format, and promotion for this year.

We covered this in detail in our article on how to use last year’s event data to plan your next one, turning data into strategy for continuous improvement.

What to use in your academic conference planning?

The fundamentals of academic conference planning are rarely forgotten. What makes a difference is whether you tackle the less obvious areas: reviewer workflows, registration insights, early app engagement, automated communication, meaningful accessibility, and building on last year’s data.

In other words, the success of your next academic event depends not just on what you plan, but on what you don’t forget. If you are curious how event technology can help you create a better and smoother event experience, get in touch below.