#So you want to run a NodeDay?

Planning a NodeDay conference might seem a bit daunting at first, but nothing that can't be overcome with a bit of planning.

These notes are from the innaugural NodeDay held at PayPal on Feb 28th. They include actual numbers, resources, vendors, things taken into consideration, and things we wish we had taken into consideration.

##The timeline:

Planning for nodeday should be started at roughly 90 days in advance. These are the things we had to do (Some can probably be reused):

• Book Room: (T - 90) The venue should be the very first thing to reserve. Large meeting spaces are hard to come by without a long lead time. Ideally this should be sponsored by the company hosting NodeDay.

• Register Domain Name: (T - 80)

• Register Twitter: (T - 80)

• Give Comms / Dev Relations heads-up: (T - 80) Your company's PR / Comms people are sure to want a piece of the action. Let them know what you plan on doing, as they can be very valuable partners in promoting the event.

• Finalize Topic List: (T - 80) Topics should appeal to an Enterprise level audience. What topics do you care about as A) An organizational leader, B) A technology leader, C) A footsoldier in a tech compamy. Once the topics are defined, you can reach out to speakers; but be flexible and receptive to ideas the speakers might have for their own topics.

• Book Speakers: (T - 80) This will be an ongoing process that can go down to the last few days. You can do direct recruitment via Twitter if you want to get specific people, and you can also put out a call for proposals. Be sure to book an representative cross section of the enterprise.

• Publish Website: (T - 70) Hosting was done in GitHub.

• Open Event Registration: (T - 70) Give people enough time to prepare for travel, and shuffle their calendar. Keep an eye on registration to make sure you don't oversell the event!

• Order T-Shirts: (T - 60) We decided not to order shirts for this event, since it was 100% free. We reused some existing shirts to hand out to volunteers that worked the event.

• Book external vendors and determine their needs (Monitors? Tables?): (T - 60 ) We required vendors for catering, lighting/stage setup and video production. These should also be booked well in advance.

• Sponsors: We decided not to use sponsors for this event. The host company would cover it.

• Get speaker bios + pictures for site and day-of intros: As you book speakers, don't forget to get their info. (Bio, picture, topic title, twitter handle, website, company)

• Line up internal appearances: (T-45) You'll want your company's senior leaders to be present. Their calendars tend to be very hectic, so be sure to set up time for them in advance.

• Tweet about speakers: As your speakers decide on their topics, you can start drumming up excitement for the event by tweeting individually about them.

• Publish Blog Post: Drive traffic to your company's blog and to the conference by leveraging this resource.

• Finalize and Post Conf Schedule: (T - 30) At this point all the speakers, topics and location should be confirmed. Add this information to the website.

• Tweet about conference: This will also be ongoing. Encourage speakers to promote it as well.

• Recruit 15 volunteers: (T - 15) The wait list is a great place to recruit people from. Offer them admitance in exchange for volunteer work.

• Determine how to collect feedback from audience: We used survey monkey,

• Close registration: (T - 10 BUSINESS DAYS) But do keep a waiting list open.

• Print Event Badges: This should be done immediately following the registration close, to avoid paying any rush fees.

• Confirm numbers for Catering: Now that registration is closed, you can give a headcount to catering. Our event experienced about a 20% attrition rate of registrations Vs attendees. We backfilled from the waiting list until we reached venue capacity.

• Contact Security about event: (T - 10) Your company's security people need to be in the loop to facilitate parking, entry passes, etc.

• Finalize production schedule - share with Facilities/Catering

• Work with venue and speakers for A/V needs: (T - 7) Make sure that speakers have all the resources they need for a great presentation (Wireless microphones, proper A/V connectors, projectors, etc)

• Assign roles to volunteers: (T - 5) Let volunteers work in one-hour shifts so they can attend the conference too. Most of the work will be needed during event registration.

• Print Signs for Parking / Post Directions + Map online: if parking is unclear for a first-time visitor, you may need to do this.

• Confirm / Coach Speakers: (T -5) Follow up with all the speakers via voice, face to face or video. Have a real conversation with them to make sure that they're ready, and to let them know what to expect.

• Confirm vendors: (T - 5) Double check with vendors to make sure that they're ready for the event.

• Print Wifi Signs: People want their internets... print instructions explaining how to get it.

• Send RSVP list to Security (T - 2)

• Send reminder emails to Audience (T - 2)