State Conference Planning Guide

THE CONFERENCE AT A GLANCE

What the host is responsible for

Being selected to host the conference is both challenging and rewarding. The host unit plans and runs a full weekend of events, keeps records of everything, takes good notes throughout, and recommends improvements to the SOP for next year's host.

PLANNING TIMELINE

Milestones, month by month

Based on a late-winter or spring conference. Shift the months to fit your date. Hold an in-progress review (IPR) with unit senior enlisted leaders and committee members every month, then weekly in the final four weeks.

Space and capacity

• How many can be seated and fed at round tables of 10, with room in the center for the Parade of Colors and a full color guard?
• Is the ceiling high enough for the colors?
• Stage, lighting and audio-visual capabilities
• Rooms for the banquet, check-in, silent auction, vendors, business meeting, workshop social and hospitality night
• Keep the business meeting, silent auction and vendors close together
• Is child care available?

Food, drink and bars

• Menu and price options, wine options and prices
• Tax and gratuity rates
• 3 to 4 bars with 2 to 3 bartenders each — the goal is no lines. Any setup fee?
• Coffee and water for the business meeting
• For the opening social and hospitality night, confirm you can bring your own food and drink at no charge

Dates and logistics

• Open dates for the banquet, lodging, golf course, camping area, hospitality night and meetings
• Restrictions — the do's and don'ts
• Security manager or chief of police contact

Comps

Every location offers comps of some kind — rooms, rounds of golf and so on. Know who to ask, and keep control of them under your leadership's guidance.

SETTING THE PRICE PER PLATE

A worked example

Start from the venue's capacity and your estimated attendance, then add wine, tax and gratuity, and spread the total across paying guests. This example assumes 1,200 guests at tables of 10, a $24.95 plate, one $18 bottle of wine per table, 9% tax and 18% gratuity.

Leadership holds 30 complimentary plates, so the cost is spread over 1,170 paying guests. That comes to $34.78 per plate — rounded up to $35 for retirees and E-1 through E-6, and $40 for E-7 and above.

The extra $5 from senior ranks covers centerpieces. Set a centerpiece budget — ordering them outright won't work. Buy vases, decorative rocks or marbles, artificial flowers and bows in bulk from a dollar store.

Brief the price to leadership before making it public, and confirm with your venue whether tax applies to the gratuity, which changes the math.

Meetings and IPRs

• Meet with senior leadership weekly, or at least every two weeks, to review milestones and proof the next agenda
• You set up and run the conference call: send the reminder and agenda twice, dial in and take roll
• Walk the agenda day by day, Thursday through Saturday night, then review the milestones
• Send notes to everyone afterward and keep them as a record
• Add anything missed to the milestones — even if it's already past — for future years

Lodging

• Block as many rooms as the venue allows; unused rooms are released at the cutoff date
• Hold about 20 rooms for the work detail
• Reserve a few rooms in your own name early — you'll be asked
• Block camping spots and cabins too

Banquet work detail

• Two junior enlisted from each unit, plus a detail NCOIC, color guard NCOIC, stage workers and A/V operators
• Workers outside 50 miles may be put on orders
• Never use work-detail members as unit color bearers
• Uniforms: business-casual civilian attire, field uniform and service uniform
• Get all equipment trailers to the venue the day before setup, and coordinate where they park

Event POCs and reporting

• Each event (golf, bowling, poker run, fishing) gets its own POC to recon, price, make flyers, handle registration, and find sponsors and raffle items
• Upfront money comes from the association
• At the business meeting, each POC briefs: event, when and where, participants, winners, money received, expenses and net raised

Silent auction and auxiliary

• Arrange a securable room; it can double as the auxiliary's meeting room
• Name the silent auction POC a month out and share it with every unit
• Make sure each unit's name is on the items it donates
• Staff the room for drop-off; winners pay and pick up Saturday
• See our silent auction service →

Vendors, sponsors and coffee

• The association usually solicits banquet and meeting sponsors; coordinate tables, chairs and locations
• Plan about 20 vendor tables; confirm the venue will allow vendors and whether there's a fee
• A sponsor such as a local credit union often buys the business-meeting coffee and may want its own cups and a small sign — clear it with the venue
• Never run out of coffee or water
• Clear the location for banquet photos with the coordinator

Banquet details

• Make reserved-table plaques and post them; confirm locations with leadership
• Type toasts on small strips of paper and hand them out at Friday's rehearsal
• Consolidate all unit colors at least one week out, accounted for and hand-receipted
• Previous and current Best Warrior winners attend; their units cover meals and lodging

Hand off to next year

• Next year's host should shadow you whenever possible
• Before this year's conference, they should recon next year's location and propose dates against the master calendar
• At the business meeting they report: location, dates, and POCs for registration, bowling, golf, poker run and other events, decorations — and whether the date falls during Lent

Thursday

Senior Enlisted Workshop

• Registration opens at 0800 for the workshop and the whole conference — have a table ready to register all E-9s for the weekend
• Business casual
• No-host lunch: money collected to cover the meal
• Breakout rooms for Army and Air, with A/V support
• Hand out the business meeting and banquet agendas

E-9 Social, about 1800

• Often a crawfish boil — pick a cooking team and have a cost estimate for every IPR
• Arrange the location, check for fees, and confirm you can bring your own food and drink
• Retiree awards are presented

Friday

• 0800 — Work detail reports for banquet setup; golf tournament tees off
• 1000–1300 — Bowling tournament
• Set up flag and unit-color stands, A/V checks, and mark reserved tables
• Emcee rehearses (needs a laptop and printer); centerpieces and awards tables set
• 1300 — Silent auction opens for drop-off
• 1500 — Parade of Colors rehearsal; registration ready to operate
• Set up the Fallen Comrade Table
• 1700–1830 — Cocktails
• By 1830 — Tables set with salad, drinks, wine and dessert
• 1830 — Banquet and Parade of Colors; food ready to serve at 1900
• Emcee reminds units to pick up their awards and colors

BANQUET CEREMONY

Parade and posting of the colors

• Position a start-point guide to hold each unit until the emcee calls it, and a midpoint guide who signals the emcee to call the next unit
• Senior enlisted leaders peel away from their colors once they reach the front tables
• At the command "Colors, Post," the national color guard leads up the steps to its mark, faces the audience and marks time; the other color bearers follow
• Once all colors face the audience, the command "Colors, Halt" is given, and the NCOIC reports to the head table that the command is present
• Post two workers behind the flag stands to assist

Hosting the conference this year?

John Harris LLC can help you plan the timeline, negotiate the venue, set your pricing and run the weekend.