Designing Temporary Universes
What actually makes an event feel like somewhere worth being
Every event is a small universe with its own physics. It exists for a few hours, sets its own rules about who may speak to whom, and then dissolves. The essay argues that the parts people credit for a good event — the speakers, the topic, the photos afterwards — are rarely the parts doing the work. Venue, pacing, social permission and the operations nobody sees are.
It is the longest thing I have published, and the closest thing I have to a playbook for the events I run at the Creative Entrepreneurs Society.
The full piece is published on Substack. A canonical edition will live here once it has been re-edited for the site.
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