There's always a sense of nervousness when running a conference which involves bringing together 1100 people!
No, not the food (although sometime, yes, the food!) or the WiFi or even if the coffee is drinkable! It's much more than that.
What we at the ACT worry about most is that everyone gets the fullest benefit possible from 48 hours with their peers, their financial services providers (or at least as many of them as we can get to the conference) and the many other disciplines and organisations who are attending. We are trying to create a sense of community and identity for the profession and the people who work in it.
I talk elsewhere in social media about the 'hard yards' in treasury, the work we and other treasury bodies do to represent the professional treasurer to regulators, policy makers and legislators. Well, that work only has true value when we can distill the contributions we get from all those attending our conferences wherever they are, UK, Europe, Middle East or Asia (Hong Kong). That's what gives us the credibility that regulators et al don't get anywhere else.
There's more than that of course. Treasury depends on relationships, whether formal or informal, whether directly financial or otherwise beneficial or even just between a couple of friends and their beer! We try and reflect that too because it gives strength and depth to what we say and who we say it to.
So, what I am going to do over the next 3 days in these blogs is pick out just a few of the things that appeal to me. It might be a little gossip, maybe a nugget of knowledge about doing business in a frontier market (one for the Trekkies!) or perhaps a good joke or two! We will of course have a formal record of events in the June edition of the Treasurer so keep your eyes peeled for that!
