The Association of United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) wants to organize a symposium of tourism research in which the latest sustainable tourism efforts and examples are to be discussed and analyzed. Such symposiums will be held regularly on a yearly basis on cities that are well-known for having been leading examples of sustainable tourism, giving the organization of each symposium to the city’s leading Tourism University. For a university, the fact of taking charge of the organization of a UNWTO symposium represents a series of indirect benefits such as recognition and collaborations with other universities and companies. In this case, imagine that you are the coordinator of the research department of the university in your city, and fortunately you have been awarded the task of carrying out the UNWTO 2023.
It is expected, according to data from the latest conferences, that more than 1000 people from the field of sustainable tourism or related will participate, including:
• Researchers
• Representatives of research centers
• Representatives of tour companies
For participants, attending an event of this type means:
• Disseminate your research in the form of 15-minute conferences and obtain feedback from attendees. In this case, they send a work to the scientific committee and if it is approved, they have the right to hold a conference.
• Know the progress of the work carried out in the field of sustainable tourism
• Offer services by companies in the field of tourism
• Generate networking and synergies among attendees
The conferences of the attendees are carried out within some 'slots'. Each slot is 1 hour and a half long and has room for 3 conferences of 15 minutes each. There are between 25-30 slots that run in parallel, that is, in the same time slot. There are a total of 5 time slots per day. With all this, some a thousand-ish conferences are expected to be held during the event.
Obviously, the organization of a conference of this type supposes a great effort in terms of time and costs, not only on the dates of the event but also before and after. The following points detail the organization and related activities before, during and after the event.
Organization:
• The organization of the event is mainly based on two committees:
o Organizing Committee: It is made up of a president, who organizes the entire event. Given the complexity of the organization, the president appoints a number of people to be part of the organizing committee and they jointly plan and execute the necessary activities. He is also in charge of creating the scientific committee and a team that will help the organization, normally made up of student volunteers, during the days of the event.
o Scientific Committee: Depends on the organizing committee. It also has a president and at the same time, he can designate different members of the committee who will be in charge of the acceptance/rejection of the works sent by the participants, proposal of plenary conferences and preparation of the event agenda. Unlike the organizing committee, the members of this committee must be PhDs.
Before the event:
The UNWTO tend to be held during the first half of they year. UNWTO assigns the holding of the event to a university approximately two years before its realization for its correct organization and dissemination.
As tasks of the organizing committee before the realization of the conference are the following (although there may be more):
o Find a venue
o Outsourcing of a catering company during the days of the event
o Create the support group for the organization
o Creation and maintenance of the website
o Disseminate the event in other eventes prior to the date and in related publications.
o Create accreditations and other complementary material for attendees on the day of the event.
The scientific committee will be in charge of the following:
o Reception of the works sent by the participants to the event interested in holding a conference
o Approve or reject jobs
o Organize plenary sessions. Sessions in which the speaker is a prestigious scientist and that his conference is of interest to the whole society
o Create a conference agenda for the days of the event
The web page of the event is basic for the realization of the event and it is where it brings together all the information regarding the event and acts as an exchange of information. The information and functionality that does not need to be operational from day one but can be released in phases. So that:
o From the previous year's conference until 10-12 months before the conference, the website must be active, indicating at least the dates of the event, the location and the possibility for users to contact the organizers.
o From 10-12 months before the event it is necessary to have:
Exact information on the place of the conference as well as a list of recommendations to arrive. It can be in the same organizing university or in convention and event centers, etc.
Functionality related to the submission of papers by the attendees to participate in the conference (period from-to the participants can send the papers and the maximum date in which the scientific committee will communicate the inclusion/exclusion of the papers in the event)
Functionality related to the payment to attend the event
2-3 months before the event, it is necessary to have the conference program finished for the attendees with all the programming.