When I think of lines I always look to the masters of line management: the Disney Parks. Even before getting all high-teched up, Disney cleverly relied on combinations of in-line entertainment, monitors with views of the ride to get your endorphins going, and curving lines so you were always overhearing a new conversation. More than Ford, Disney turned lines into behavioral science. 

Skipping the line became a source of revenue. For those unable to fork over between $400 and $900 a day for the elite VIP tour, there are enough other Disney line enhancement choices to make your brain hurt. There were Fast Pass days (now retired) and Magic Bands (based on RFID). The latest include Disney Genie, a free line-manager app that basically tells you where to go when, though you will spend a fair amount of your day with nose-in-app. For an extra daily fee (under $50) there’s a mind-bogglingly complicated series of options including Genie+ and Lightning Lanes. Top it off with Digital Photo Passes that act as your built-in paparazzi at certain locations.

A Tell-All About Tech

Kara Swisher is the Tom Wolfe of tech journalism. She’s spent a lifetime creating a narrative about the “tech bros” of Silicon Valley that has become widely acknowledged. They’re smug, overeducated, mostly white males, who move fast and break things with little regard for anything but tomorrow’s valuation. In her new opus titled Burn Book she has painted a narrative that’s Bonfire of the Vanities meets the Silicon Valley. Her book and excerpts like this one in New York Magazine tell the story of a young reporter (Kara) who knew that predicting tech would change the world, for the better or not. What I love about Swisher is the media agnosticism. She’s comfortable writing a book, hosting a podcast, or writing a Tweet (on X) pointed enough to make Mark Zuckerberg sweat. 

Destinations

Doha, Qatar, is eating the events businesses’ lunch, looking a lot like the next shiny/shiny. Dubai has already cemented its place as a leading conference destination with conferences such as GITEX continuing to grow. What these two sovereign states have that others lack is lockstep support from the government and the business entities. The Qatar Incentive Scheme assists with everything from fast visas to working with event organizations. 

Next week, the Web Summit meets for the first time in Doha. The headliner is Trevor Noah and Qatar Airlines offers Web Summit attendees a 15% flight discount.

Silicon Valley Video Summit

Last month our team helped produce the Silicon Valley Video Summit, a day in the heart of the Valley to look at how video production has become the lingua franca of corporate life. We put the spotlight on technical directors and event producers from companies including Microsoft, Facebook, Adobe and Google. 

Adobe MAX Does DeSantis

Adobe’s annual creativity conference for its users was a regular fixture in LA until a few days ago, when it was announced that the 2024 event was heading east to Miami, Florida. According to Business Insider (paywall), hundreds of Adobe employees are protesting the move to “unwoke” Florida. Just how sensitive to politics should event planners be?