A conference checklist that lists everything anyone has ever done for any event is a wall of two hundred items that nobody reads past the first month. The one that works is by phase, sized to the event, and short enough to be checked in a meeting. This page is that checklist, in five phases: the plan, the programme, registration and sponsors, the preparation weeks, and the day, with the items that every conference shares and the ones that scale with tracks, days and delegates. The conference planning checklist worksheet on this site counts the items for your event and places the milestones on your runway, and the conference planning checklist template is the worksheet saved under your event's name in Pro.
Phase one: the plan, with most of the runway to go
Date fixed; venue contracted with plenary and breakout capacities in the contract; insurance in place; the planner template worked for sellable capacity and blended price; the budget template worked and the break-even below the expected count; sponsorship packages priced; the timeline's milestones placed as shares of the runway; an owner against each phase. Nothing in the later phases is decidable before these, which is why the venue is the first item on any planning a conference checklist worth the name.
Phase two: the programme and the call for speakers
Programme builder worked for slots per day, sessions to fill and room hours; the call for speakers opened with that slot count and closed at the halfway point of the runway; keynotes confirmed with contracts covering recording rights; the grid filled with a chair per room per day; the AV needs of each session collected at acceptance; accessibility requirements, captioning and step-free access, decided before the programme is published, not discovered at the room door.
Phase three: registration, sponsors and the preparation weeks
Registration open at three quarters of the runway against the sellable capacity and the tiers; the bookings a week checked against the checklist worksheet's target; sponsor contracts signed and their deliverables listed; the programme published in the last third; dietary and access needs collected at booking. The conference preparation checklist for the final weeks: badge order sized from the live list with a spare, signage and print ordered, the run of show written with a name per line, speakers' slides collected and checked, the registration desk rota, the catering count confirmed, the spare badges printed.
Phase four: the day, and the week after
Desk open an hour before doors with the spare stock and a printer; room chairs briefed and holding the run of show; AV checked with each speaker before their slot; a person watching the stream if there is one; a floor walker for the room that overfills. Afterwards: the feedback survey the same evening, attendance by session collected, the actuals against the budget, supplier invoices matched, the debrief page written. Then the checklist worksheet is run for next edition with this year's numbers, and the template it saves is the one that phase one starts from.
Questions people ask about conference checklist
How many items should a conference checklist have?
The worksheet counts fourteen that every conference shares, plus one per track per day, one per keynote and six for the day itself. A two day, three track event with three keynotes comes to about thirty. Anything longer belongs in an owner's own task list, not the committee's.
How to plan a conference checklist for a short runway?
Run the timeline template with the weeks you have; the milestones compress in proportion. With under twelve weeks, drop the call for speakers and invite directly, hold the venue before anything else, and open registration the week the venue is signed.
Is the checklist the same for a virtual conference?
No. Venue, catering, badges and signage drop out; the platform contract, a technical check per speaker, a producer per stream, captioning and a rehearsal day come in. The virtual conference ideas page on this site sets out the differences.