حفل التوقيع قريب من الندوة.

A careful Egyptian-style pronunciation would be:

Ḥafl et-tawqīʿ qarīb men en-nadwa.

A few notes:

• حفل = ḥafl
• التوقيع is pronounced et-tawqīʿ, not al-tawqīʿ, because ت is a sun letter, so the l in ال assimilates.
• قريب in Egyptian is often pronounced ’arīb or qarīb, depending on the speaker. Many Egyptians pronounce ق as a glottal stop.
• من is usually pronounced men in Egyptian speech.
• الندوة becomes en-nadwa, because ن is also a sun letter.

So in everyday Egyptian speech, you may hear something close to:

Ḥafl et-tawqīʿ ’arīb men en-nadwa.

In Arabic, sentences like this usually do not use a present-tense verb meaning is.

So:

• حفل التوقيع قريب من الندوة literally works like: The signing ceremony near the seminar

But the natural English meaning is:

• The signing ceremony is near the seminar.

This is very normal in Arabic. In the present tense, Arabic often just puts the subject first and then the description.

Because قريب agrees with حفل, and حفل is masculine singular.

So:

• حفل = masculine
• therefore قريب = masculine form

If the subject were feminine, you would usually use قريبة.

For example:

• الندوة قريبة = The seminar is near

In your sentence, the thing being described as near is حفل التوقيع, not الندوة.

It is an iḍāfa construction, often called a possessive or genitive phrase.

It is made of:

• حفل = ceremony / event
• التوقيع = the signing

Together, حفل التوقيع means:

• the signing ceremony
• literally: ceremony of the signing

Important features of iḍāfa here:

• The first noun (حفل) does not take ال
• The second noun (التوقيع) can take ال
• The whole phrase becomes definite because the second noun is definite

So حفل التوقيع means the signing ceremony, not just a signing ceremony.

Great question. من very often means from, but after words like قريب it means from in a way that English translates as to.

So:

• قريب من = close to / near

Literally, you can think of it as:

• near from

But in natural English, we say:

• near
• close to

So in this sentence:

• قريب من الندوة = near the seminar

This is just the normal Arabic pattern.

It is understandable in Egyptian Arabic, but it sounds a bit formal or Modern Standard Arabic-like.

A more conversational Egyptian version might be:

• حفلة التوقيع قريبة من الندوة
• حفلة التوقيع جنب الندوة = The signing event is next to / beside the seminar
• حفلة التوقيع قريبة من مكان الندوة = The signing event is near the seminar location

Why?

• حفل is a bit formal; in everyday Egyptian, حفلة is often more common.
• قريب من is fine, but in casual speech people may also say جنب for next to / beside.

So your sentence is correct and understandable, but slightly formal in flavor.

The sentence follows a very common Arabic pattern:

• subject
  • description

Here:

• حفل التوقيع = the subject
• قريب من الندوة = the predicate / description

So structurally it is:

• [The signing ceremony] [near the seminar]

In Arabic grammar, this is a type of nominal sentence.

Because of sun-letter assimilation.

In Arabic, the ل in ال is pronounced clearly before some letters, but not before others. When the next letter is a sun letter, the ل is absorbed into that letter.

Here:

• التوقيع starts with ت, a sun letter
  so ال is pronounced et-
• الندوة starts with ن, also a sun letter
  so ال is pronounced en-

That is why you hear:

• et-tawqīʿ
• en-nadwa

not:

• al-tawqīʿ
• al-nadwa

No, قريب من is the normal and correct combination here.

Use:

• قريب من = near / close to

Not:

• قريب ل

So the sentence should stay:

• حفل التوقيع قريب من الندوة

الندوة usually means something like:

• seminar
• panel discussion
• symposium
• sometimes talk or forum, depending on context

It is not always exactly the same as a single formal lecture.

So if the meaning shown to you was seminar, that is a very good match.

In Egyptian usage, the exact English translation can depend on the event.

You technically can rearrange Arabic word order for emphasis, but it would sound marked or literary.

The neutral, straightforward order is:

• حفل التوقيع قريب من الندوة

Putting قريب من الندوة first would sound like you are emphasizing the location:

• قريب من الندوة حفل التوقيع

That is not the most natural basic phrasing for a learner to use first. Stick with the original order unless you have a specific reason to emphasize.

Yes. If you say حفلة, that noun is feminine, so the adjective should usually become feminine too.

Compare:

• حفل التوقيع قريب من الندوة
  formal / masculine حفل

• حفلة التوقيع قريبة من الندوة
  more colloquial / feminine حفلة

So the adjective must agree with the head noun:

• حفل → قريب
• حفلة → قريبة