Conferences

Like any form of marketing communication, conferences should be used strategically as a means for reaching Solvay’s target customers/audience. When deciding whether to be a speaker, start by defining the business objective that requires the conference.

Common reasons to speak to a conference include:  

1. To build brand awareness
2. To promote new products and technologies 
3. To make public product patents (R&I process)
4. To gain access to decision makers and influencers who are otherwise difficult to reach  
5. To receive exclusive promotional opportunities (tradeshows...) 

Note: The objectives described above are similar to those for sponsorship. The benefits of participation are often similar.

To ensure consistency, starting with the Group-critical tradeshows, all Visual Identity and Key Messages will be replicated/cascaded for Market- and Business-critical webinars, conferences, and sponsorships

Ask yourself the following questions to help you decide whether this is the right event for Solvay:

• Is the conference the only of its kind, well-respected or renowned?
• Is there a cost to present? 
• Who else is presenting? (competition, pears to speak, etc…)
• Will our (target) customers attend?

When deciding whether to speak at a conference, it’s important to have clear business objectives in mind:

• Is there a commercial objective such as promoting business / technology or launching a new product?
• Is it purely technical, i.e., to show R&I progress in an area, to make sure we stay relevant, or even to present as part of our patent application process?

A. Registration process & follow-up with the organization

Each conference has its own characteristics, logistics, and processes. If you are interested in presenting, let the organizers know. Sometimes they select their presenters up to a year in advance. It is important to keep track of event deadlines to make sure you do not miss out.

1. Contact the organization, and apply for the selected conference. Ensure in advance that your billing address is the one designated for the cost center being used. (Your financial controller should be able to provide this information.)  
2. Read the General Terms & Conditions, and sign the contract. 
3. Contact the organization, having prepared what you want to share during the conference.
4. Share conference plans internally with relevant business stakeholders + your BtoB Marcom team and/or Connector for their information. 
5. Follow the instructions and deadlines to ensure you provide all needed materials (Solvay logo, abstract of the presentation, company information, contact details, etc,),

B. Payment guidelines: 

1. For payment, it’s key to comply with Solvay purchasing rules as you would for any other service purchase. Depending on the region, follow your local purchaser’s recommendations. 
2. According to the supplier offer, reach out to procurement: for any order below 10K€, no procurement involvement is required. For others between 10K and 100K€, reach out to your site buyer associated with the site of the cost center.  For needs above 100K€, reach out to Sonia Heinebal. 
3. When the supplier proposal is approved and signed by the BU representative who has the attorney rights, and you receive confirmation that your conference application, proceed to invoicing.*
4. Invoicing solutions: 

• For 1 time supplier, 1 invoice below 10K, proceed via the p.card or the remediation process. 
• For a regular supplier, for which several invoices will be received with a total amount above 10K€, ensure the supplier is created in SAP and proceed to create a PO. Should you need further guidance to create a purchase order, visit the “MyContacts@SBS page,” and refer to the “Purchase Orders & Supplier Invoices” section.  
• Ensure, the PO number is confirmed to the supplier in order to have the reference on the invoices. 
• Immediate payment through “Meeting Card” : solution implementation on going.

C. Submission process: 

To be fully enrolled as a speaker you must ensure you supply all required elements on time. In some cases your paper will not be accepted once your abstract has been accepted.

It is key to follow the conference rules in terms of length, word count, formatting, etc.

In general technical conferences expect speakers to supply the following elements, one by one, in the run up to the event:

1. Abstract: A quick written summary of your presentation (Word doc.)
2. Paper: One page written document giving an overview of the conference, including also the speaker reference.
3. Presentation: Most of the time you have to provide a PowerPoint (G.slide) presentation. Please do not leave this to the last minute. A lot of work has to go into developing (original) content as well as validating the content and rehearsing the delivery.
4. For content guidelines, please follow the Messages and Visuals. 
5. Needless to say, you also need to follow the sign off process for the type of conference you will attend.

D. Speaker preparation 

1. Once you have been accepted as a speaker, it is time to start preparing. Carefully curate your content, ensure your visual presentations look great on the big screen and that you don’t have any typos, and rehearse your presentation enough that you sound genuine and not speaking in a monotone voice. 
2. Here is a LINK to a speaker's preparation (Online public speaking training available on YouGrow platform)

E. Hardware 

If the conference at which you will be speaking offers the opportunity to display a Solvay banner, please see HERE what’s available for you to borrow.

. Think about promotion before and after the conference.

. To ensure a successful conference, be sure that someone from the business team is available to listen to the conference and see who was attending. 

. After the event, review new contacts collected, relevant market intelligence gathered and awareness/exposure gained through participation. 

External promotion: 

A. Explore any opportunities to boost your visibility: conference sponsorship, solvay logo, etc… If available, refer to the Sponsorship Playbook to make it happen. Assess the opportunity for this addition with the business team.

B. For Market: digital campaign activation: solvay.com, Social media, Organiser, and any other kind of options, refer to Digital campaign

C. Social media: If you wish to give more visibility to your conference, think about sharing it on your own social media account (e.g., Linkedin, Wechat, Facebook…)

- Sample post: “Proud to be a [sponsor/partner] to [event]. At Solvay, we look forward to creating sustainable, shared value for the [industry], driven by our Purpose and One Planet agenda.” 

D. For business: inform B2B Marcom and/or your GBU Connector in order to add the conference to a shared global event calendar (gathering all kinds of events for Communicators only) and promotion on personal Linkedin profile. Refer to Digital campaign
 

Internal promotion: 
a)   Share broadly with the relevant teams in the GBU but also on  any digital platform ( G+ Community) , etc... 
b)  For broader promotion within Solvay, check with your B2B Marcom team and or Connector.

Key questions to ask yourself or third parties:

• How many people follow the conference?
• How many questions did I get during the presentation?
• Did I establish contact with key people after the conference? 
• Any release in the media?