It’s been a busy week, which is strange for the first week of the year. But I’m ending a project we started in September, with about a dozen CEO’s from companies around the world meeting over a few days. C-level events require everything to go ‘just so.’ Everyone, the CEO’s included, seem a bit amped up, like they’re running on high voltage. The challenge to creating a good event is making it so everything is thought through and runs smoothly. Most importantly, people are comfortable enough they can have the business discussions they need to, with no surprises.

I texted our event team and said, “My highlight for the day was the coat rack.”

When we did a walk-through of the conference space they didn’t have a coat rack for our CEO’s, which we thought we could manage through (it’s Seattle, they get transported from one controlled environment to another, and none of them had a coat at the welcome reception, the first night). But I asked if they could double-check when I got there the next morning and they found one, and sure enough, when the CEO’s arrived each of them had coats, beautiful coats, and it sure was nice to hang them in a row and for me to sit there later admiring later.

People just need to know the Wi-Fi instructions and where the bathrooms are, where they need to be, and when. They need that, and about five other things. And to hang their coats vs. draping them over a desk.

Categories: Memoir, writing

Tags: creative nonfiction, Memoir, Project management, William Pearse writer