If a category is public or you have access rights to it you can create a conference in this category. To do this click on 'Conference' under Add Event you will be presented with a form in which you need to fill with the details of the conference you wish to create. Once this is done your conference will be created. The creator of this conference will by default have modification rights to it and is referred to as a Conference Manager as is anyone else listed in the modification access control list.
To access the Management Area of a conference you need to click on the modification icon next to the Conference Name.