That one time I had a 3-day event run like a dream then crashed hard on day 4

Last month I was running a 4-day conference in Austin, and the first three days went off without a hitch. We hit our 500 attendee goal, the keynote speaker actually showed up early, and the AV system didn't glitch once. Then day 4 came, and a vendor contracted for 200 boxed lunches only sent 50 because they 'misread the order.' I spent my whole morning scrambling to find a backup caterer while the attendees were getting hangry. Has anyone else had a smooth start fall apart at the finish line like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

finley72915d agoMost Upvoted

50 boxed lunches out of 200 is a serious vendor screw up, but that sounds like a catering fail not an event day problem. The first three days went perfect, you just got unlucky on day 4.

adamgreen15d ago

@finley729 I think you're kinda missing the point though - sure the vendor messed up on the boxed lunches, but that's still an event day problem when you're standing there with a bunch of hungry people at noon. I've been in that spot where the first three days feel like a victory lap and then something dumb like an order getting misread throws everything off. The hangry attendees don't care whose fault it is, they just want their lunch and you're the one they look at. So yeah, the root cause was the vendor but the problem landed right in your lap on day 4.

umathompson13d ago

ugh yeah that vendor thing is brutal. once the chain breaks even for something small it feels like the whole house of cards is coming down. i've had that exact feeling where you're just patching holes while trying to keep everyone else from noticing.