Four hundred people, five workstreams
Behind a congress of this size, five workstreams move at the same time: accommodation, transfers, the room, the technical set-up and the welcome. Each has its own timetable, suppliers and surprises.
The risk is not that one of them fails. It is that they do not talk to each other. A flight list that never reaches the transport provider, a room change the hostesses discover that very morning: this is how the first hours of a congress are lost.
For its first congress, ANASER entrusted all of it to B2B Travel Tours, which handled the full organisation and logistics coordination.
The 1st ANASER Congress, March 2024: the officials and the group photo.
The congress starts at the airport
For a delegate coming from another region or from abroad, the first contact with the event is not the plenary: it is the airport exit. Blaise Diagne International Airport lies some fifty kilometres from Dakar. One badly timed transfer, and the stay opens with an hour of waiting.
Transfers are planned from the list of arrivals and departures, which makes it possible to group delegates by flight and arrange the welcome at the exit. For ANASER, transfers covered the full route, airport – hotel – airport, on top of delegate accommodation.
The plenary: seeing, hearing, recognising the institution
A plenary room is judged from the back row. Screens must be readable from everywhere, sound must be clear and the stage visible. At the ANASER Congress, the plenary room set-up and the technical set-up, screens and sound, were handled by the agency.
It also dressed the venue in the institution's colours. For a first congress, this is not decoration: it is the image the institution gives of itself to its partners.
The welcome, or proof that you are expected
The badge and kit handed over on arrival tell delegates they are expected. They are prepared from the final list of registrants and handed out at a welcome desk staffed by hostesses. At the ANASER Congress, the welcome, badges and delegate kits were part of the same set-up as the transfers and the room.
Key point
For a congress of several hundred delegates, a single point of contact for accommodation, transfers, the room, the technical set-up and the welcome keeps decisions from getting lost between suppliers. That is the choice ANASER made for its first congress.
Four questions before entrusting a congress
- Who keeps the list of arrivals and departures, and until when can it change?
- Who checks the room and the technical set-up, and how long before opening?
- Who prepares the badges, and from which list?
- Who is the single point of contact over the three days?
The congress at a glance
B2B Travel Tours – Meetings & Events
Based in Dakar, the agency supports companies and institutions in organising their seminars, conferences and corporate days, in Dakar and on the Petite Côte, for groups of 50 to 400 participants.
Sponsored article. Written by Teral Travel's editorial team from information supplied by B2B Travel Tours, which has validated the facts. Photos: B2B Travel Tours.