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b'The Nitty-Gritty:\\n\\n\\n\\n* How Kickass Conferences founder Isaac Watson manages massive projects like organizing a conference* The 5 phases that each event plan goes through and how project management works at each stage* What tools Isaac and his teams use to ensure every detail is accounted for and every guest has a fabulous experience* How he manages the experience on the ground during a live event\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nI used to balk at project management.\\n\\n\\n\\nIt felt like the systems I was supposed to follow were imposing rules on things that didn\\u2019t need rules.\\n\\n\\n\\nI\\u2019d get it done. And I\\u2019d do it my own way, gosh darn it.\\n\\n\\n\\nBut then, at some point\\u2026\\n\\n\\n\\n\\u2026probably the 341st time I didn\\u2019t have enough time to execute a project the way I really wanted it to be done\\u2026\\n\\n\\n\\n\\u2026I realized that project management is as much about honing your craft as it is about making sure you hit deadlines or don\\u2019t forget a step.\\n\\n\\n\\nTeasing out the bits and pieces of how projects happen helps us make better stuff\\u2026\\n\\n\\n\\n\\u2026whether what you\\u2019re making is a publicity campaign, a book, a set of complex financial reports, or a podcast.\\n\\n\\n\\nThis month, Sean and I have working hard on the next phase of our project management at Yellow House Media. Yellow House is the full-service podcast production agency we co-founded back in August.\\n\\n\\n\\nThe way we look at it, every step in the process of producing a podcast is an opportunity to make a show better\\u2014to make it more engaging for the listener and to drive more results for the business owner. But to fully take advantage of those opportunities, we have to have our process down.\\n\\n\\n\\nWe can\\u2019t just throw an episode together. We have to carefully and intentionally work each step of the process so that both the host that we\\u2019re working with and our team has the greatest freedom to innovate and improve.\\n\\n\\n\\nThe structure of project management gives us the space to hone our craft, to get creative, and to make something great.\\n\\n\\n\\nAnd the better we get at making great podcasts, the better our project management gets too.\\n\\n\\n\\nMy guest today has had a similar experience learning the ins and outs of event planning and hosting kickass conferences.\\n\\n\\n\\nIsaac Watson is the founder of Kickass Conferences, an event strategy and production studio based in the Pacific Northwest. Isaac helps community leaders develop and deliver transformative events for their audiences that inspire them to build a better world. So far, he\\u2019s planned and managed events that have touched over 21,000 lives across the US and Europe.\\n\\n\\n\\nIsaac is a natural event planner. I know because I\\u2019ve attended a number of events that he\\u2019s planned and I hired him to plan a conference for me 4 years ago.\\n\\n\\n\\nBut Isaac hasn\\u2019t relied on his natural aptitude for creating meaningful and engaging experiences. Instead, he\\u2019s designed a process he can rely on to pull off one great event after another.\\n\\n\\n\\nThis process and the way he manages his events is clearly a product of the way he\\u2019s honed his craft over the years.\\n\\n\\n\\nHe notices what works, he notices patterns, he notices the things that go unnoticed\\u2014and then he adapts the way he manages future projects.\\n\\n\\n\\nIn this conversation, Isaac and I talk about how things have evolved since his ve...'