Clifford Ilkay's blog

There are a host of factors that all contribute to a successful conference. In no particular order and by no means exhaustive, they are:

• a coherent and focused program,
• top-notch speakers,
• a venue that is conducive to "connecting, sharing, learning",
• reasonable and easy-to-understand pricing,
• great food,
• paying attention to the "spaces between sessions" as well as the sessions,

I started organizing conferences in 2000 because the I.T. conferences I was attending left much to be desired. They were formulaic, boring, and ultimately, didn't provide good value for money. Having attended and spoken at numerous conferences by then, I knew what I did not like and like any entrepreneur who gets bitten by the "I can do it better." bug, I knew exactly what I would like in a conference.