Conference Organisation and Mental Health: How to Promote Among Professionals

Conferences are large events that can take place over several days, often involving a range of activities including talks, workshops, networking opportunities and sales meetings. As a conference organiser, you can help to promote the importance of positive mental health and improve your attendee’s experience by implementing a variety of approaches that can support mental wellness and acknowledge that these events can be draining.

Event Burnout

Burnout is described as a kind of exhaustion that can be physical, mental or emotional and is often accompanied by other symptoms including a low mood, lack of motivation and negative self-esteem. It can be triggered by a variety of things but is often the result of working too hard for too long, failing to take necessary breaks for rest, or just pushing yourself for an extended period of time.

Burnout can be a problem for both event organisers and attendees, but from an attendee perspective is most likely to happen at a conference if someone’s schedule is overly full or they fail to give themselves a break for the entire event. They might be fine whilst the conference is happening, but may feel burned out as soon as it’s over.

To help prevent burnout in your attendees, consider promoting the message to spend time at the conferences mindfully, plan in breaks and avoid an overflowing schedule. Try not to schedule major events immediately after each other and consider putting breaks into the schedule that will ensure people take time to recharge.

If your conference involves sales meetings or even a hosted buyer program, consider advising attendees to stick to a maximum number of meetings, which can help to avoid burnout.

Work/Life Balance

The importance of a good work/life balance is something that has been thrown into sharp relief in the past couple of years. Whilst putting in extra hours and thinking about projects in our free time is sometimes unavoidable, everyone should be able to switch off from their jobs and dedicate a fulfilling amount of time to things outside of their career.

Conferences are tricky to navigate when it comes to work/life balance, as many people feel as though they can’t switch off whilst they are attending. To try and mitigate this, consider hosting talks or workshops offering advice on finding the ideal work/life balance and avoiding any speakers or events that centre around ‘hustle culture’ that may promote a negative approach to dividing your time between work and your personal life.

You could also consider when and where your conference is held and whether this allows attendees to consider coming just for the day, travelling home in the evening instead of staying in a hotel, or even just fitting in time to enjoy other activities around the schedule.

Alcohol and Networking

Networking is seen by many people as an essential aspect of attending a conference, and many organisers set up specific events so that attendees can mingle, meet others in their industry and socialise outside of more formal items on the itinerary. There’s sometimes an expectation that these kinds of events need to involve alcohol, which can present problems.

Firstly, plenty of people are sober for a variety of reasons, and attending a networking event focused around drinking and socialising may not be an option for them. Consider hosting sober networking sessions as an alternative, or just make sure other activities are available so there isn’t such an emphasis on drinking.

Some people may use alcohol to cope with their mental health issues, and being in the unfamiliar environment of a conference may lead to more of a reliance on this. The intensity of a conference can also lead to overindulgence with alcohol, which can cause problems in the days that follow if people act without inhibitions or just feel unwell for the remainder of the conference. 

If possible, control the alcohol available to attendees to avoid issues caused by an open bar for example, and try to promote a culture where excessive drinking isn’t a given aspect of the event.

Accessibility

Accessibility for people with physical disabilities is incredibly important at events like conferences, but the same kind of considerations should be taken when it comes to mental health and neurodivergence.

Conferences can be very loud and overstimulating environments, which can be difficult for all kinds of people with everything from anxiety to autism. It’s worth allocating support spaces in a conference venue that allows anyone to take a break from the event when needed, such as quiet rooms with low levels of light or calming activities.

Offering a hybrid event can also make it easier for people to attend whose mental health may otherwise have made in-person attendance very difficult.

It’s also definitely worth having an allocated member of staff to handle any issues or access needs when it comes to mental health and disorders so that anyone who needs help whilst at the conference knows who to contact. This can also be very useful if you identify an attendee that appears to be struggling and you think would benefit from some support.

Event Support

As well as accessibility, consider what kind of support systems you have in place for attendees at your conference. These events can often be overwhelming or draining and when people are away from familiar environments it can be harder to manage mental health.

As part of your conference schedule, you could organise wellness activities like yoga, meditation sessions, walks, art classes or more informal socials to give attendees a space to take care of their mental health. These should be advertised clearly and without any kind of euphemisms - make it clear that mental health is important for your organisation and that these services are for everyone.