I've been on convention staffs a lot. Everything here rings true. I've got less experience with heavy corporate sponsorship micromanaging content, though I don

I've been on convention staffs a lot. Everything here rings true. I've got less experience with heavy corporate sponsorship micromanaging content, though I don't doubt it: for everything else, as far as I can tell this advice is gold. I've even tried to organize an event myself, knowing that it had to be vision first and the content would follow: got a little way along and brought in some good people, but one of the key fellow organizers showed he was an astute choice by having his OWN vision and running with that :) I went along with this, as it was also a good vision and less ambitious, but covid hit and the whole thing rather fizzled. It's possible that, had it not been for a pandemic, we'd still be growing an event: we were at least somewhat interested in the process and how events take hold and grow, and we had some comparable events we'd been involved with that had recently flamed out through running into all these problems. No, you can't Kickstart a conference, and what's more be cautious about attempting one. Think of it like a small college, except it's an event. Sayre's law applies: the reason the politics will be vicious, is that the stakes are so low. After the event, everyone will go home, including you. Therefore, anybody you bring in to help run the event will feel mighty licensed to get their way on their 'fun weekend'. Your job may well be to keep your vision intact (and, along with it, the conference itself). 'cos you likewise can't Kickstart a vision.