It is always the people at the table. Never the flowers or the food.

principle — attributed to Kathy 'Coach' Kemper

Kemper is clear about what makes or breaks a gathering. The flowers can be nice. The food can be nice. Guests will not come away talking about the flowers or the food. They will come away thinking I really liked meeting that person. They will repeat the conversation because they connected with a few people there. The curation of who is in the room is the entire game. Everything else is decoration. The implication is that a host with a thin budget and a strong guest list will outperform a host with the opposite. The room is the message.

For salon hosts and private convening designers tempted to overspend on production at the expense of curation. The principle is most useful as a budget allocation guide.

guest-list, salon, hosting, curation