The 11th edition of ffconf is fast approaching with just 18 days to go ::squee:: before we open doors to welcome another year of attendees, we, Julie and I, wanted to share the progress of the organisation to offer a few insights into what goes on in the lead up to doors open.

The things you can't control

For those you attending in person, something you won't be able to avoid seeing is how our beautiful venue is currently looking.

Julie took this photo just last week and it's fair to say the grand Duke of Yorks isn't looking their best right now. The inside is marvellous as always, but the exterior is having major restoration work.

In the restoration work they've discovered that under the plaster there's some original artwork (including pineapples…obviously) dating back to the early 20th century.

From the outside it's a bit of an eyesore but there's a good possibility that the scaffolding will be gone for ffconf next month. Certainly we have arranged for no building work to be going on during our event ::phew::

All the deliveries

Being a small team (in the preparation and lead up, it's simply Julie and myself), it means that all the deliveries are delivered to our home.

Swag, t-shirts, banners, lanyards, stickers, more stickers, MOAR STICKERS, and anything else required. So our home quickly becomes an assault course of boxes (if it wasn't already).

We also looking for opportunities to recycle some of our conference material from one year to the next. Last year we took our previous 9 years of popup banners and turned them into cycle bags to gift to our "lifers" - the handful of individuals who have attended every year.

The last stages

As everything comes together over the coming 18 days, the last bits are (mostly, but not exclusively) dotting the eyes and crossing the teas. Making sure those last details are all in place.

This work, all the logistics comes down to Julie's amazing event organisation work, whereas I, Remy, don't get involved (my strength is elsewhere). It's impressive how much Julie juggles to pull the event together.

As all the tickets are sold out, as you read this you'll either see you in November, or hopefully you'll be able to catch the videos when we post them online.