Company, association · conference, symposium
Wine for a conference or symposium: 300 delegates, two days, four services
A two-day conference does not drink all at once. Two lunches before going back into sessions, a welcome reception in the exhibitors' area, a gala dinner on the second evening: four services, four calculations, and about 460 bottles in cases for 300 delegates. At this scale, three questions matter as much as the volume: delivering in two drops, taking stock in between, and invoicing the organiser.
The calculation, one service at a time
The calculator works out one event at a time. Here it is set to the largest of the four services, the gala dinner: 300 delegates, 75% of whom drink wine, one hour of reception then a seated dinner. For the other services, change the settings following the table below and run it again: each row of the table is what it shows with those settings.
Session by session
Four services worked out separately, each with the calculator's rules: two glasses in the first hour of a reception then one per hour, three glasses per seated meal, six glasses per bottle, an 8% margin standing and 10% seated, rounded up to the case of 6 per colour. At lunch, the share of drinkers is set to 35%: most delegates go back into sessions, those who drink have one glass, and that comes to roughly one bottle for six people before the margin.
| Service | Settings | Bottles | Colours | “Good” budget |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day 1, lunch | 300 · 35% · 1 meal | 66 | 42 red, 24 white | €1,008 |
| Day 1, welcome reception | 300 · 75% · 1 h 30 reception | 114 | 54 sparkling, 36 white, 24 rosé | €2,520 |
| Day 2, lunch | 300 · 35% · 1 meal | 66 | 42 red, 24 white | €1,008 |
| Day 2, gala dinner | 300 · 75% · 1 h reception + meal | 216 | 84 red, 72 white, 18 rosé, 42 sparkling | €3,912 |
| Two days | 77 cases | 462 | 168 red, 156 white, 42 rosé, 96 sparkling | €8,448 |
Prices incl. VAT at the calculator's “good” level, delivery excluded: €28 per delegate for the two days. At the decent level, €5,400, or €18 each; at the grand cru level, €16,788. Adding up four services, each rounded up to the case, gives more than the expected consumption of 386 bottles before rounding: that is what delivering in two drops lets you claw back.
Two deliveries, a stock count in between
Unopened cases are not taken back. At a conference, that is the reason to deliver in two drops rather than everything the day before: what is still sealed on the first evening is used the next day, and the second delivery does not need to bring it.
First delivery
Lunch and the reception on the first day: 180 bottles. Whites, rosés and sparkling in the cold room overnight, reds in the hall. A named contact takes delivery, with lorry access.
The stock count
Count what is still sealed, colour by colour. If the first day drank as planned, around thirty bottles stay sealed: reds from lunch, whites and sparkling from the reception. One phone call, and the second delivery is adjusted.
Second delivery
Lunch and the gala on the second day: 282 bottles at most, minus what is left over. The time slot, the unloading point and the cost of each delivery are to be confirmed in the quote.
The one requirement: the same wines in both deliveries, so that the bottles left from the first day go on the tables on the second. Delivery terms are on the delivery page, rates to be confirmed.
Invoicing the organiser, and when you don't need us
The invoice goes to the conference organiser: the association, federation, learned society, company or agency that holds the budget, with the conference venue as the delivery address and your purchase order number when your procedure requires one. If the wine budget is split between several payers, a sponsor for the reception for example, say so in the quote request: how the invoice is split is settled before the order, not after.
Many conference centres impose their own caterer, with wine included in the package or a corkage fee on yours. Wine included in the package: you don't need us. Corkage fee: do the maths on 462 bottles before deciding; the corkage page does it for you.
How many bottles for a two-day conference of 300 people?
About 462 in cases for two lunches, a 90-minute welcome reception and a gala dinner: 168 red, 156 white, 42 rosé, 96 sparkling. That is 386 bottles before rounding; the gap comes from each service's margin and rounding up to the case, and is partly clawed back by delivering in two drops.
Why does the calculator only count one service?
Because a conference lunch and a gala are not drunk the same way: at lunch, a third of delegates have a glass; at the gala, three in four. Mixing the two in one calculation would give the wrong share of drinkers everywhere. Work out each service with its own settings, then add them up, as in the table.
What if not every delegate stays for the gala?
That is the most common case: the gala dinner has its own registrations. Enter the number registered for the dinner in the calculator, not for the conference. With 250 registered instead of 300, the gala goes from 216 to 186 bottles. For table service and magnums, the gala dinner page sets out the running order for 200 guests.
How is it different from a gala for 300 people?
The dancing and the share of drinkers. The 300 guests page counts a gala with two hours of dancing and 80% drinkers: 300 bottles for a single evening. At a conference, delegates speak or listen the next morning: 75% and no dancing, 216 bottles for the gala.
A conference organiser's mistakes
- Delivering everything the day before day 1. 77 cases to store for two nights, and no way to make use of what is left on the first evening. Two deliveries, a stock count in between.
- Serving at lunch as at the gala. The afternoon sessions suffer, and so does the budget. One glass for those who want it, water on every table.
- Counting conference registrations for the dinner. The gala has its own registrations, often a sixth fewer. Each service has its own number of guests.
- Finding out the venue's conditions after ordering. Imposed caterer, corkage fee, delivery slots: ask the conference centre for them in writing before getting the wine priced.
A different running order, three days, a single lunch? The general calculator combines moments freely. For your conference: ask for a business quote listing the four services, reply within 48 working hours.