DUO-Onderwijs: partner of the National English Congress

Organising a conference requires much more than just a good programme. As well as inspiring speakers and informative sessions, it’s also about ensuring everything runs smoothly behind the scenes. To enable them to focus on the content, the volunteers behind the National English Conference teamed up with DUO-Onderwijs. 

The National English Congress, held every two years, is the key event for English teachers from across the country. It is a meeting place where colleagues can exchange ideas, gain new insights and find inspiration. There are speakers, workshops and an information fair featuring publishers and educational organisations. In total, around 450 visitors attend. ‘When you organise a conference, you tend to think that it’s mainly about the programme,’ says Hanneke Gloudemans-Andringa, chair of the conference. ‘But in practice, everything else is just as important.’

In the past, the volunteers behind the conference used to do everything themselves. ‘You end up constantly dealing with one-off enquiries and administrative tasks,’ says Gloudemans-Andringa. ‘But really, you want to focus on the content. That’s why we decided to outsource everything to do with the information market and part of the PR. This allows us to focus entirely on the programme, the speakers and the quality of the conference.’

This year, the conference partnered with DUO-Onderwijs for the second time. ‘They handle everything to do with the sale of stands at the information market,’ explains Gloudemans-Andringa. ‘From bookings and payments to answering questions from stallholders and providing information on set-up and dismantling times. These are all things that need to be done, but they take up a lot of time.’

The information fair features publishers, foundations and theatre companies, amongst others. ‘The big advantage of DUO-Onderwijs is that they have a huge network. They know which organisations are interested, offer the packages and ensure that all the administrative matters are taken care of. Some exhibitors also want to run a workshop. In that case, we work together to see if it fits into the programme, but we can leave the rest to DUO-Onderwijs.’

There’s no conference without attendees. This is another area where DUO-Onderwijs’s network comes in handy. ‘Through newsletters and targeted direct mail campaigns, they ensure that the conference is brought to the attention of the right people, such as English teachers and subject department heads.’

According to Gloudemans-Andringa, this has clearly had an impact. ‘We looked into where our visitors were coming from and found that a large proportion of ticket sales were generated through the direct mail campaigns. That’s a great result that we, as a foundation, could never have achieved on our own. DUO-Onderwijs knows the target groups, has the addresses and knows how to reach them. As a foundation, we don’t have that, and if you want enough people to turn up, that’s certainly important.’

After the conference, a thorough evaluation was carried out. Because although the conference was a success, there are, of course, always areas for improvement. One of the points that came to the fore was the need for support during the set-up day. ‘The conference takes place on Friday, but exhibitors can often start setting up as early as Thursday. That’s when questions always crop up: an exhibitor might want an extra table or would prefer to be situated somewhere else. It’s really helpful to have someone on hand who knows exactly how everything is organised and can take immediate action.’.

’For the next conference in 2028, we will therefore be expanding our collaboration further and asking DUO-Onderwijs to be present on the Thursday as well and to provide support.’Finally, the media partners also benefit from the partnership. They can rent a stand or opt for a package that includes advertising space in trade publications. This provides them with visibility and generates revenue.

Here too, Gloudemans-Andringa sees a big difference compared to the past: ‘We only organise one conference and weren’t really sure what the going rates were. DUO-Onderwijs organises many more conferences and knows exactly what’s normal.”
Gloudemans-Andringa is pleased that her predecessor decided to enter into a partnership with DUO-Onderwijs. ‘It gives us the time and space to do what the foundation does best. As an organising committee, you want to focus on the content and your visitors – that’s our area of expertise. DUO-Onderwijs knows how to organise everything else.’

Hanneke Gloudemans-Andringa is chair of the National English Congress, the meeting place for everyone involved in English language education.