--- title: 'Planning a Conference in 3 Months: Why We Chose Boise' source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=MjKEloiHNag' video_id: 'MjKEloiHNag' date: 2026-09-03 duration_sec: 336 channel: 'Nathan Barry' --- # Planning a Conference in 3 Months: Why We Chose Boise > Source: [Planning a Conference in 3 Months: Why We Chose Boise](https://youtube.com/watch?v=MjKEloiHNag) ## Summary ConvertKit's CEO shares the behind-the-scenes process of planning the company's first major conference in Boise, Idaho, on an accelerated timeline of just a few months. The video captures the logistical challenges, the strategic decision to host the event in Boise, and the rationale for choosing a compressed schedule to maintain momentum. ### Key Points - **Conference Planning Begins** [00:00] — Barrett, the Director of Marketing, is flying to Boise to plan the upcoming conference. The event is scheduled for June 23rd and 25th, with 500 attendees expected. - **Short Timeline Challenge** [00:27] — The hardest part of organizing the conference is the compressed timeline. The decision to hold it in June rather than October was made only five weeks prior, requiring rapid coordination of venues, speakers, and logistics. - **Pareto Law Applied to Planning** [01:11] — The team applied the Pareto principle (Parkinson's Law) to conference planning: if they planned for October, they would spend the entire year on it. By doing it in June, they sacrifice a few percent of quality but free up the rest of the year for other projects. - **Today's Goals** [02:03] — The immediate tasks are to finalize the venue, book a conference planner, and work with the design team. - **Why Boise** [04:05] — The conference is held in Boise because ConvertKit is based there. The CEO wants to showcase the city, correct the common mispronunciation ('Boise' not 'Boisey'), and highlight its appeal as a place to live and work. ### Conclusion The video offers a candid look at the trade-offs of aggressive timelines and the strategic choice to host a major event in a non-traditional city like Boise, reflecting a deliberate focus on efficiency and brand authenticity. ## Transcript I'm on my way to the airport to pick up Barrett. So Barrett's our Director of Marketing at ConvertKit. He's coming to Boise for the day because we are going to plan our conference. I mentioned the other day that we have a conference coming. 500 people come to Boise June 23rd and 25th. And so Barrett's coming to town. We're going to tour the venues, meet with conference organizers, meet with our designer, all that kind of thing. So it's going to be good, but it's going to be in the airport. The hardest thing about this conference has been the short timeline that we're doing it on. So, out of Team Street, which was five weeks ago, we didn't have, well, we were discussing what city we were holding it in. I think we were planning October as the timeline for it. And basically, we had no idea what we were going to do. and then now five weeks later tickets are about to go on sale we've got most things figured out i think we have seven or eight speakers confirmed we're waiting on maybe four or five more but then you know all the details are coming together the hardest thing though is doing it on this compressed timeline but we just thinking about the quote from maybe it pareto law of cash will grow in scope and complexity etc to fill all the time a lot of And so we thinking if we do this in October then we going to spend all year planning this conference But if we do it in June, then we're going to throw a great conference. You know, there might be a few percent not quite as good because of the compressed timeline, but then we'll have the rest of the year to do other great, awesome, you know, big projects. So that's what I'm most excited about. We're going to throw an amazing conference and we're going to do it in basically what? What is that? Two and a half? Three months from now. What are we trying to do today? Today we're throwing the conference venue and we're trying to book a planner for the conference and work with our design team. We're living in Fort St. Louis. Okay, is this my third time here? Yeah, it's supposed to be one in 20, but maybe it's all gone. I've got to support my family. This is walk over. Thank you We can walk away with a huge scope. We have a frame for what we need to pay here. We're going to have to get there. We're going to have to get there. We're going to have to get there. We're going to have to get there. We're going to have to get there. We're going to have to get there. I'm tired now. And, yeah, I've got the kids in bed. Barrett flew home. So he lives in Portland. We're running the event in Boise. He flew out just for the day, luckily I flew in a one hour flight. So he flew out here this morning and then just flew home. A couple things. One, when you're doing a vlog, it's hard to not have all of your footage just be like talking in your office or sitting on your couch as I'm doing right now. I have a hard time remembering to take footage like out and about the other thing oh I want to talk about why Boise like why we doing a conference here in Boise When we were planning this just five weeks ago you know we were throwing out ideas for speakers, we were throwing out ideas for locations, and the two main locations that we settled on were Nashville and Boise. And, you know, ConvertKit is from Boise. I've never heard of a conference, you know, a major conference happening in Boise. And so I really wanted to bring everyone in, show off the roots of Boise, show off, you know, where I'm from, where ConvertKit is from, because it's a pretty amazing city. And I think a lot of people, when they think of Boise, they, well, first they pronounce it wrong. By the way, quick tip, Boise, not Boise. There's no Z in Boise. But Boise is an amazing city and I want to show it to people because I live here for a reason and I have no plans to move somewhere else because it's fantastic. So that's where Convertible was born. So first I wanted to do it in Boise, so it's great to see this come together so quickly. I don't know what number two was. There was something else that I was going to say, but... © transcript Emily Beynon