Sure do, the company I work for organizes business seminars. We're a small team (6 persons) organizing 15-20 conferences a year. We have two programme managers,

Sure do, the company I work for organizes business seminars. We're a small team (6 persons) organizing 15-20 conferences a year. We have two programme managers, two marketers, one person on customer support and one administrator/office support. The cost breakdown is roughly: 25% speakers 25% location, F&B, tech 25% marketing 25% margin Starting without funding in advance is damn near impossible. All parties will require an advance, you'll make costs without even having one single paying customer. Starting an event from scratch is really hard, people won't be familiar with it. There's an old adagio: first time you loose money, second time you break even, third time you'll make profit or you won't exist anymore... If you have an awesome idea I think the best way for you to go is to partner up with a corporate sponsor who will take care of the costs/risk. However, if you don't have any experience and a network in the field I doubt you'll be able to convince anyone... Good luck!