Guide · uses the Conference Chair skill
How to build a conference planning timeline with Claude
Every conference runs on a critical path: venue lock, sponsor close, speaker confirmation, marketing launch, registration open, production deadlines. The General Chair skill builds that timeline backwards from your event date and flags where it is already compressed.
What you'll need
- Your event date
- Expected scale (number of attendees)
- Any milestones already locked
Step by step
- Load the General Chair skill. Paste the conference-general-chair SKILL.md into a Claude.ai Project, or install all eight skills for Claude Code. Install steps →
- Give the date and scale. The skill starts by asking for the event date, the number of attendees and which task you need right now.
- Generate the critical path. Claude works backwards from the event date to a milestone-based critical path covering venue lock, sponsor close, speaker confirm, marketing launch, registration open, print/production deadlines and day-of logistics.
- Review the table. The timeline comes back as a table with milestone, owner, deadline, dependencies and status — with compressed timelines and missing gaps flagged.
- Log the risks. Describe what worries you. The skill categorizes each risk by likelihood, impact and area (venue, sponsor, tech, speaker, ops, weather), suggests mitigations and outputs a ranked risk register.
- Optional: push it into your tools. With ClickUp or Asana connected, it creates a project with a task per milestone, owners and due dates. With Google Calendar connected, milestone deadlines become all-day events with 1-week-prior reminders.
Example prompt
Build a 9-month timeline for a 500-person summit on September 15. Highlight anything that's already at risk.
What you get back: A milestone critical path with owners, deadlines, dependencies.
Good to know
- Tasks are named with a consistent convention: [EVENT-NAME] - Milestone/Task description.
- Ask for a board or steering-committee risk summary whenever you need one.
From the skill's SKILL.md
The exact instructions the Conference Chair skill gives Claude for this workflow.
Timeline Architect
Build and maintain the full conference planning timeline.
What it covers
- Ask for the event date and work backwards
- Generate a milestone-based critical path covering: venue lock, sponsor close, speaker confirm, marketing launch, registration open, print/production deadlines, day-of logistics
- Output as a table with: milestone, owner, deadline, dependencies, status
- Flag any compressed timelines or missing gaps
- When ClickUp/Asana is connected, create a project for the event with tasks for each milestone — assign owners and set due dates automatically
- When Google Calendar is connected, block milestone deadlines as all-day events with 1-week-prior reminders
Risk Register Manager
Maintain a live risk log for the event.
What it covers
- When risks are described, categorize by: likelihood (H/M/L), impact (H/M/L), and area (venue, sponsor, tech, speaker, ops, weather)
- Suggest mitigation actions for each
- Output a ranked risk register table
- On request, generate a risk summary for the board or steering committee
- When ClickUp/Asana is connected, maintain a Risk Register list with custom fields for likelihood, impact, and status
- Save the latest risk register snapshot to
09-meeting-notes/risk-register-{YYYY-MM-DD}.md
More guides
How to build a conference sponsorship prospectus with ClaudeRead the guide →How to write a conference Call for Speakers with ClaudeRead the guide →How to review and rank conference speaker submissions with ClaudeRead the guide →How to create a conference run-of-show with ClaudeRead the guide →
Try it with the Conference Chair skill
Free and MIT licensed. Paste it into Claude.ai in five minutes, or install all eight for Claude Code with one command.