Documentaries
👉 Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened on Netflix — a masterclass in how Akasha (Ether) vision without execution falls apart.
Must-watch for every party planner. It’s was the most hyped festival that never happened - and what 20 years of getting it right taught me.
In 2017, Billy McFarland sold the world a dream:
- luxury villas,
- gourmet meals,
- supermodels and
- music festival on a private Bahamian island.
The promo went viral. Tickets sold out. Influencers lit up Instagram.
Then the guests landed.
No villas
disaster-relief tents.
No gourmet food — cheese sandwiches in styrofoam.
No infrastructure, no plan, no festival.
Fyre collapsed in a single day.
Must-watch for every party planner. It’s was the most hyped festival that never happened - and what 20 years of getting it right taught me.
In 2017, Billy McFarland sold the world a dream:
- luxury villas,
- gourmet meals,
- supermodels and
- music festival on a private Bahamian island.
The promo went viral. Tickets sold out. Influencers lit up Instagram.
Then the guests landed.
No villas
disaster-relief tents.
No gourmet food — cheese sandwiches in styrofoam.
No infrastructure, no plan, no festival.
Fyre collapsed in a single day.
Four lessons every founder should carry:
1. Marketing can't outrun operations. Hype writes cheques that only execution can cash. Great branding on a broken product just helps you fail faster.
2. Vision without groundwork is fantasy. Permits, logistics, accommodation, contingencies — the unglamorous details *are* the event. Build the engine before you sell the ride.
3. Listen to the people who warn you. His own team flagged the problems. Confidence that ignores reality isn't leadership — it's denial.
4. Reputation takes years to build and one day to burn, I've protected 300 clients' reputations because I treated every detail as non-negotiable.
The glamour is the easy part. The discipline behind it - the planning nobody sees, is what separates an unforgettable experience from a viral disaster.
- Plan deep. Build real.
- Promise less, Deliver more.
- Every single time.
1. Marketing can't outrun operations. Hype writes cheques that only execution can cash. Great branding on a broken product just helps you fail faster.
2. Vision without groundwork is fantasy. Permits, logistics, accommodation, contingencies — the unglamorous details *are* the event. Build the engine before you sell the ride.
3. Listen to the people who warn you. His own team flagged the problems. Confidence that ignores reality isn't leadership — it's denial.
4. Reputation takes years to build and one day to burn, I've protected 300 clients' reputations because I treated every detail as non-negotiable.
The glamour is the easy part. The discipline behind it - the planning nobody sees, is what separates an unforgettable experience from a viral disaster.
- Plan deep. Build real.
- Promise less, Deliver more.
- Every single time.
Books
Event Planning Apps
Zoho Backstage - End-to-end event software for registration, ticketing, event websites, and attendee analytics, all in one platform.