How Poor Event Planning Ruined My Daughter's 8th Birthday
A parent's honest account of what happens when you skip the concept development phase and try to wing a children's party.
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Parenting Lessons
Learning through events
We publish pieces about how events shape ideas. From interviews with people who build them to case studies on what works and what doesn't, this site tracks the planning, execution, and lessons.
124
Articles Published
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Active Sections
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Years Running
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Regular Contributors
Latest from the field
Entertainment Programming
Why Your Event Entertainment Always Falls Flat: The Backup Plan Nobody Talks About
Most beginners book entertainment and hope for the best. Here's what happens when you skip contingency planning and how to actually prepare for the inevitable hiccups.
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Entertainment Programming
Mixing Entertainment Styles Without a Plan: What Actually Happens
Combining a jazz band, a comedian, and a silent disco sounds creative until everything clashes. Here's how beginners mishandle variety programming and how to avoid the chaos.
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Entertainment Programming
Getting the Schedule Wrong: Why Your Entertainment Timing Never Works
Beginners consistently underestimate setup time, overestimate performance length, and forget about pack-down. Here's how to actually schedule entertainment that runs on time.
Read interviewSeries and connected pieces
Building gift card programs
Four pieces that walk through the setup, promotion, and ongoing management of gift card systems for events. Covers both digital and physical formats.
4 partsFormat experiments
Six case studies on event formats that broke from convention. Some worked, some failed, all taught something worth documenting.
6 partsInterview collection: Logistics heads
Conversations with people who handle the operational side of large events. Technical details, budget trade-offs, and coordination challenges.
5 partsWorth your attention
Post-event surveys that actually work
Most surveys get ignored. This piece breaks down response design, timing strategy, and follow-up tactics based on data from 200+ events. Practical and immediately applicable.
When to skip the gift card altogether
Not every event benefits from a gift card incentive. This analysis looks at three scenarios where gift cards reduced engagement instead of increasing it, with specific numbers and participant feedback.
Interview with Daphne Kowalski
She ran 40 events in 18 months across eight cities. The interview covers logistical failures, vendor relationships, and what she would change if she started over. Honest and detailed.
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