30th June 2023 Friday a very productive lunch

Si Yong and I decided to have lunch to discuss the way forward with PDF2023, our little design festival in November. We had many of the loose ends stitched up; speakers and moderators getting signed up, venue confirmed, sponsors lined up, format and time table decided. What we need to do next was to identify the people to manage the components of the festival, SY and I will manage the overall structure and pace of the festival, individual events will be managed by team leaders; the Urban Installation by Tay's team, the Forum by my team, sponsors by SY and so forth. 

We waited for Pik Shia to order her meal before launching the question/ request - can you manage the trade expo? Aiya, cannot la, I'm very busy, what's involved? when is the event again? Over the span of one sentence, she declined, resisted, explained, queried and seemed to agree. By the time her meal arrived, she was making plans about who to involve and how to plan and delegate.

We then talked about the education aspect of the festival. We have had student exhibitions, and workshops before, and were looking for a new team to plan and manage this. I thought of a young couple I met during a university crit, I rang them, they offered to drop by at our lunch. After understanding the format, they agreed to head this section of the festival. 

I thought that this was a very productive lunch, and mentioned this to SY. People are naturally attracted to successful teams but what's more attractive is the freedom to express themselves, implement their own ideas and be acknowledged for their work.