We recently enjoyed reading Do Curate by Clare Hieatt, one of the people behind the Do Lectures. She explores everything from curated wood smoke to the joy of hidden gin bars.

In many ways, it's a book about sweating the small stuff and the extraordinary lengths they go to at Do to bring moments of joy. 

Why interesting? 

- People notice the little things, even if they never mention them

- Food, welcome, atmosphere, and setting do a lot of the work

- The Friday 'magic' meetings are a good idea 

A strong two-minute example of how to present one big idea clearly.

Dino Ambrosi starts with an empty chart, then reveals the data bit by bit. He changes the pace, lets the audience catch up, and only shows them what they need at each point.

Much better than putting the whole graph up and talking over it.

Why interesting?

- Building data visually makes an impact

- The pace of the reveal is doing as much work as the design

- If a statistic is worth putting on stage, it should change something for the audience

Freeman’s short guide to Gen Z is worth a read mainly because a lot of it is very practical.

They want to know what they’re walking into, have an easier way into meeting people, spend time in smaller and less formal settings, and have some say in what happens.

Why interesting?

- Pre-event information has more influence on the experience than we sometimes give it credit for

- Keep the momentum going post-event 

- Smaller, less polished formats can make it easier for people to talk

Oana Leonte writes about culture becoming white noise by design. More content, more brands, more things competing for the same patch of attention.

It feels pretty relevant to events, where the answer can too easily become another speaker, another session, another screen.

Why interesting?

- A fuller agenda is not always a better one

- Spend more time editing than adding

- Worth asking which bit of an event people would notice if it disappeared

In Kensington Gardens, 4,000 yellow cords have been hung to create an artwork you can walk straight through.

It looks a bit like giant spaghetti, which is reason enough to like it. But it also got us thinking about event spaces, particularly the bits people usually just pass through.

Why interesting?

- Not every interactive idea needs a screen

- Corridors, entrances and walkways can be part of the event, not just the route through it

- There’s something nice about using a physical installation to signal that you’re moving into a different bit of the day

PowerPoint has been blamed for boring presentations for years. Now it seems to be having a bit of a cultural moment.

At Edinburgh Fringe, Josie saw this sign for The Late Nite PowerPoint Comedy Showcase, where comedians build their sets around PowerPoint.

We’ve been playing with this in the Great Audience Experiment too, turning standard presentations into PechaKucha-style talks, interactive decks and more participative sessions.

Why interesting?

- Everyone already knows how PowerPoint works, which gives you something to play with

- Changing the pace and format can make the same tool feel completely different

- We probably don’t need to get rid of slides. We just need to do more interesting things with them