04/09/2026
The Neurodiversity Affirming (Un)Conference that I hosted 2 weeks ago was the biggest thing I've ever done. Two days, 18 speakers, and years of it popping into my head.
Now it's over, the odd bit is how little my effort had to do with my outcomes.
I lost a tonne of sleep overthinking every way it could go wrong. Wrong Zoom, wrong time zone, my internet dying. A week before the event, I shut out everything else and wrote what I dramatically called… my disaster plans.
I almost needed none of them. Some of that might be luck, some of it the planning, and a fact I have to face is that the event probably would've gone off fine on 20% of the effort. (Thanks anxiety! I'm working through this one with my psychologist!)
Meanwhile, my marketing effort was maybe 10 to 15% of what I'd planned, and I never believed my ‘stretch’ goal for ticket sales would happen. I went three tickets past it, despite not doing even a smidgen of my marketing plans. I think there's a lesson for me in that, still working this out!
Would I do it again, overthinking and all? Absolutely. (And I am in 2027!)
The ticket tiers, the systems, the lessons I learned, the good and wonky decisions I made: I spill it all in this week's podcast episode!
Differently Aligned Podcast Ep 47 - I ran my first (Un)Conference. Here's what worked (and what I'll never do again)
Listen now: https://differentlyaligned.com/podcast-47/
Here's what I want to leave you with: If you have a big idea, a big dream, a big scary thing (it doesn't have to be an event), maybe do a minimal version of it that allows you to prove to yourself that the big scary thing is worthwhile. Give it a go, because sometimes that big scary thing is just what you needed to do.
