I said yes to something big… and barely made it through

Let me tell you about the time I well and truly bit off more than I could chew…

I’d taken on organising a major national health conference - in-house - after years of it being run by an external events company. The contract had ended, Covid lockdowns were over, and we thought, “How hard can it be?”

There were a lot of moving parts: delegates, speakers, sponsors, suppliers, abstract submissions, a hybrid element, post-Covid unpredictability… and only six months to plan what usually took twelve.

I said yes because I was enthusiastic, up for a challenge, and had the full backing of my team and managers. Which is how a lot of launches start, right?

Some things did go well. I brought in a brilliant external consultant who helped steer the ship. We worked with trusted suppliers, didn’t make too many early promises about livestreaming, and the assistant I hired was an absolute gem. In the end, we hit our delegate target, it was heartwarming to see the community back together again after two years of virtual events and lockdowns, and feedback was overwhelmingly positive.

But behind the scenes? Chaos.

There was no proper handover from the previous organisers, so we were constantly digging through old files and making it up as we went. I’d run smaller events and online webinars, but this was next-level.

I was totally overwhelmed, managing a team for the first time and drowning in delegate and speaker emails I didn’t have answers to. One senior doctor even wrote to the association president to say our events team “either didn’t know what they were doing or were completely overwhelmed.”

Spoiler alert: It was both.

I missed details, worked ridiculous hours, and ended up with a conference platform that kept draining our budget because I didn’t know enough to spec it properly at the start.

But I learnt a lot.

Communication is everything.

People don’t mind a wait — they just want to know what’s happening. Templates, FAQs, realistic timelines, and clear boundaries would’ve saved me hours (and probably some grey hairs).

Overestimate on time.

You almost always need more time than you think, especially if you're doing something new — or doing it differently.

Know what you need your tech to do.

Know exactly what you need it to do before you commit to it, or you’ll end up paying to patch holes later or tying yourself into knots with complicated workarounds.

The following years? Totally different story.

We planned ahead, narrowed the scope, and grew our team. Delegate numbers jumped from 800 in 2022 to over 1,400 by 2024. The exhibition floor doubled, we had more than 60 exhibitors, and the team was even asked to run events for other organisations.

I’ve since moved on to focus on my own business, but the planning cycle and blueprint I put in place set a strong foundation - and the event’s only getting bigger and better.

That experience shaped the way I help clients now. I get what it feels like to be excited, then buried in a project. And I know how much smoother things run when we take the time to plan, communicate, and keep things human.

If you’re gearing up for a launch and don’t want to go it alone, start with the delegation checklist – or head over to the Launch Wizard page to book a chat and see how I can help.