Planning

     I just got back from Austin, where I ran a conference. I've assisted with others before, but once a year my two colleagues and I are responsible for a 100-person conference all by ourselves. Luckily, my organization runs a lot of conferences, and they have been doing this particular one (on the topic of physics teacher education) for ten years so it's pretty much a well-oiled machine. Still, there are an enormous number of details to monitor, and I'm really looking forward to the coming long weekend. I worked some long days: on Tuesday morning I walked across a courtyard, and the 30 seconds of fresh air and birdsong hit me like a slap in the face. That's when I realized that I hadn't left the building in 36 hours.
     Looking back, I can see that I've been an event planner for a long time. In Germany, I'd plan train day trips for me and the other exchange students. For most of the last two decades, I've been throwing big dinner parties, including parties that are sometimes big enough to need a waiter or waitress. But this job is taking it all up a level, and I can see the effects in my regular life.
     When I recently went camping with my graduate school friends, I couldn't help but use everything I've learned. Once everyone agreed on the date, I made the cabin reservations. A few months before, I reminded everyone to request a day off. I encouraged friends to help me make three different spreadsheets, where we signed up for meals and shared gear. The only thing I didn't do is send around a post-weekend evaluation survey. But now that I think about it, that might be a great way to gather feedback to improve our next camping weekend...
     I'm lucky to have friends that tolerate so much planning.