A case of the 4 P's

That sounds like a case of the Four P's: Piss Poor Prior Planning.
  - my college roommate's grandfather

This post made me laugh out loud. We've all seen it: some element at an event that made us think, "Who did they put in charge of THAT?"

Here are a few of my favorite "Worst Of" experiences at recent conferences:

• Shuttle bus stops that were so poorly marked that no one rode the buses. 
• Name badges with font so small that you absolutely couldn't see the names from more than 2 feet away.
• More than 5 hashtags for the same event, leading to absolutely no meaningful social engagement on Twitter.
• Online engagement built purely on flash - guaranteeing that anyone with an iPad or iPhone had no way to participate.
• No pocket guide due to pure reliance on the event app... and event app didn't work.
• Ran out of coffee cups 30 minutes into breakfast buffet (plenty of coffee, though!)

And here are a few little brilliant nuggets that I experienced at recent conferences that made me think, "Now THAT was a brilliant event team":

• Eggs at breakfast! THANK YOU for some protein!
• Hashtag table tent signs in every breakout so attendees knew how to notate their Tweets.
• A mobile app that let me complete a profile and locate people with similar interests and meet them in a lounge area.
• Interactive way-finding digital signage so I could touch the screen to figure out where I needed to go next.
• Name badges that were printed on both sides so when it turned around, I could still see people's names.

Got any favorites?