Event Organizers

We welcome individuals and organisations with an interest in running an event together to contact us. Our events typically bring together 60-120 leaders with diverse areas of expertise in a sector but who are interested in working together to focus major challenges, explore new ideas, and develop new collaborative approaches. We will work with you on event organization, including the following:

Select theme and title

The events are intended to draw researchers, business and industry experts together around a major challenge, for example, the development of sustainable energy or therapeutics agents.

Choose a theme that is big enough to attract the attention of a few hundred participants from companies and universities in the region, yet focused enough to yield a fruitful discussion and explore opportunities for growth and investment.

Consider an event title that includes the overall theme [e.g. Low Carbon, Digital World or Innovative Healthcare], and consider including three elements that describe the breadth of space, and suggest an overall goal, e.g. “Low Carbon Meeting: Humans, Habitats and Heat: making homes fit for the planet”.

Venue

Find a central venue that speaks well for the city’s image and offers:

convenient access for public transportation and within walking distance of the many great legal and financial firms in the city.
comfortable theatre space for 60-150 people, as well as adjoining reception area for buffet dinner and small meeting rooms.
screen, projector, microphones and wireless internet access.

Some of the venues we have used are Hotel du Vin, Hippodrome and Maplehouse. Ballrooms and cavernous halls don’t work well.

Timeframe

Select a date that gives you enough time to contact potential speakers, e.g. 6 months or more away.

Plan to run the event annually, and choose a default date that avoids holidays and that is easy to diarize, such as the second Wednesday of June.

Choosing a date that coincides with a relevant annual activity such as the National Science and Engineering Week or Climate Week (March), British Science Festival (September) or Big Data Week (April) can help to get the word out.

Speakers

Our meetings usually include 1 hour sessions with 4 or 5 speakers who give short (10-15 minute) talks.

Create a short-list of around 10 candidate speakers. For suggestions check relevant conference websites, university websites and youtube videos, and ask past speakers and colleagues for suggestions.

The speakers should represent the diversity of talent in the region, including emerging leaders.

To cover the different perspectives, consider including researchers from different universities, directors of several actively growing small companies, as well as industry leaders.

Use local speakers where possible. Speakers are not paid to speak, although their receipted economy expenses will be covered.

Once they have indicated an interest in speaking, ask speakers for a title, bio and photo, point them to the Speaker Guidelines and offer to call them if they have any questions.

Event Programme

We typically start with an afternoon business plan session, inviting people to present and discuss their ideas with a panel of advisors. Speakers may also be filmed to convey their interviewed message to a broader audience online.

The evening session usually starts with a reception at 5:30 pm, followed by talks from 6pm, a panel discussion between the speakers and audience, followed by dinner and networking until around 9pm.

The speaker line-up should start with a strong opening, someone who can present the overall context. End with a speaker who can present an innovative solution or emotive talk that resonates with the audience.

Our audiences typically includes a mix of academics, company directors and business experts looking for entrepreneurial individuals, innovative ideas and emerging technologies for high growth areas. Most will be based in the region and will be looking for direct access to local experts and networks.

Supporting partners

We ask organizers to identify potential new sources of support to Science Capital before contacting them.

Note that Science Capital does not accept support from organizations dealing in weapons, tobacco or adult-oriented products or services.

Team

Several people will be needed to run the event on the day, including for:

Chairing the evening session,
Chairing business plan sessions,
Greeting: to welcome people and hand out badges, programme and participant list,
IT support: to ensure that presentations, pointers, microphones and lights work,
Video: to interview speakers, edit video and take photographs, and
Venue: key point of contact to make the necessary arrangements for the event.

We can assist, but appreciate the help of volunteers.

Marketing

We welcome a diverse mix of experts and decision makers to ensure that a healthy debate and consensus can emerge.

Let us know who might be interested in attending the event or have expertise in the area.
Upload the speaker and event information promptly onto Eventbrite, and send us the link.
Connect with speakers via their linkedin and twitter accounts, thanking them for agreeing to present.
Use related networking and event/conference websites to spread the word.
Join relevant linkedin groups to start conversations (but not to sell).
Send out email invitations to the event (e.g. 3 months beforehand for advance discount, reminder 1 month beforehand, and last call 2 weeks beforehand).
Never send more than one email per week and never send more than 4 emails about an event to a general list.
Never send emails for a purpose other than communicating about the event, although you can mention a few related events of interest at the end of an email.

Download PDF Forms

Payback

Running a Science Capital event can be a very rewarding experience, providing a network of new contacts, enhancing your profile, and helping deliver impact.

Once you've run your first event, you'll know the people and processes to run your next event.

Science Capital also pays expenses and offers a free membership to successful Event Organisers, and gives them an honorarium or makes a donation to a charity that supports local research.