Conference Organisers - Hidden Friction in Event Planning

If you are running a conference, your biggest enemy is not your budget. It is entropy. Think about a headphone cable in a drawer. There is only one mathematical way for that cable to stay perfectly straight. But there are millions of ways for it to get tangled. The universe always defaults to chaos. People do the exact same thing with conferences, especially in their first few years. They add more moving parts, more complex agendas, and more glitz. Years ago, I had two years to plan a massive launch event for a brand new housing estate. I started planning an elaborate English tea party with live music and bouncy castles. The plans got incredibly complex. Then I realised something. By overcomplicating it, I was making myself the centre of attention, rather than enabling the community. So I scrapped the entire thing. I set up a local Facebook group and just told everyone to bring their own picnic to the park. It was the simplest idea possible. And it was a massive success. The residents actually connected. They formed an association that is still running to this day. To beat entropy, you do not add more things. You just remove the ways the event can tangle. You keep it beautifully simple, and you focus entirely on the human connection. Right now, I am researching the hidden friction in event planning. If you organise conferences, I am looking to interview a few people about your biggest, most tangled headaches. I’ve been running conferences for years - first one was when I was 23 and it was a youth event for the SW of the U.K.! Not something I’ve really said here on LinkedIn yet … but helping conference organisers think through all sorts of issues is something I’ve been doing quite a bit in the last couple of years. There is no pitch. I just want to listen. Maybe come up with some solutions from experience. Drop me a message if you are open to a quick chat. It will cost you nothing but your time!