Conference Programme Design
Whether you are starting an agenda or improving a draft, we turn audience questions into sessions, speaker briefs and a practical running order. Work with your own producer or agree production with us separately.
Programme design connects the audience’s questions, the purpose of each session, the contributors and the way participants take part. Start from scratch or build on your draft. Production can stay with your team or be commissioned separately.
Perhaps your agenda is still a list of names. Perhaps several stakeholders want a session and the tracks no longer connect. Or your team knows the subject but needs someone to do the editorial work. We start with what participants need to understand, discuss or decide, then build the programme around that.
These projects show how we have shaped programmes, formats and contributor preparation within broader event commissions. Explore the original tasks and the work we took on.
Illustrative working example. This is a way to explain the method, not a client document or a fixed session package.
You share the event purpose, audience, existing agenda and stakeholder constraints. We agree what the programme should help people do.
We shape themes, session purposes and formats. You can see why a session belongs and where ideas repeat or gaps remain.
We define speaker roles and briefing requirements. Proposed, approached and confirmed contributors remain visibly distinct.
Your producer checks feasibility. We record changes, responsibilities and outstanding approvals so the programme can move into production.
A working brief records the audience, prior knowledge, occasion and programme objective. It gives the track a central question and an editorial thread.
Each agreed session has a purpose, format, duration and participant task. Talks, discussions and working sessions each earn their place in the running order.
Briefs set out the task, expected audience knowledge and contribution to the programme. A status record distinguishes proposed, approached and confirmed speakers.
Questions, discussion time and meeting formats fit the objective and timetable. Preparation, hosting and room requirements are visible.
A programme with timings, responsibilities, operating requirements, approvals and open dependencies gives your producer a working document they can assess.
You approve editorial content and the final programme. Your producer checks rooms, technology, changeovers and feasibility. PIRATEx designs the programme and records the decisions. A designed programme is only confirmed once the required speaker confirmations and producer approvals are in place.
Before quoting, we agree the tracks, session count, schedule, review rounds and responsible contacts. Speaker sourcing and booking, rehearsals, hosting and event-day delivery require an explicit additional scope. Your existing suppliers can stay involved.
The handoff is complete when every contracted session has a purpose, format, timing, speaker status and operating requirements, with outstanding approvals clearly identified. Your team can see what is ready and what still needs a decision.
Yes. Send the draft and explain what is not working. The agreed scope can focus on the editorial structure, selected tracks or session briefs, rather than rebuilding the whole event.
Yes. Programme design can sit alongside your existing production team. We agree who checks rooms, technical requirements, timings and changes before the handoff.
Speaker criteria and briefs belong to programme design. Sourcing, approaches, fees, contracts, rehearsals and hosting are agreed separately when needed. A suggested name is not a confirmed booking.
The number of tracks and sessions, research needed, state of the existing programme, review rounds, speaker work and production interfaces. Share the event date and known approval deadlines; the proposal makes the agreed work and dependencies explicit.
No. An audience, a subject, the date if known and your current planning situation are enough to start. We use the conversation to identify the work you actually need.
Send your audience, topic, date, planned tracks and current production setup. The first conversation establishes the editorial need and supplier interfaces. We then propose the scope, responsibilities and basis for a quote.
Discuss programme design