What we’re learning while building tools
for program and event teams.
Journal
Hi, I'm Jonathan!
Founder of Hand-Off — the next-generation program and event operating system.
Before building Hand-Off, I spent years producing major conferences, including the renowned Aspen Ideas Festival.
I've seen firsthand that the difference between a good event and a great one often comes down to a few simple operational choices.
This is my journal that explores ideas, discoveries, and tips on how make your events and programs run as seamlessly as they can.
Please like, comment, share. We'd love to know what you think!
A Single Source of Truth isn’t a dashboard. It’s not another place to check. It’s a living system where information updates once—and flows everywhere it’s needed. When a detail changes, it changes everywhere. When someone needs information, they don’t ask who has the latest version—they already know where to look. Better yet, the information comes […]
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Copy/paste feels harmless. Efficient, even. But it’s one of the most damaging habits in modern work. Every time we copy information from one platform into another, we’re freezing it in time. The moment the original changes, the copied version becomes outdated—and no one gets notified. Multiply that across teams, tools, and deadlines, and you get […]
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Spreadsheets are the universal language of work. They’re familiar. They’re flexible. They make us feel productive the moment we open a blank grid and start typing. For many teams, spreadsheets are where ideas are born, plans take shape, and complexity feels manageable. And that’s exactly why we keep using them—even when they’re quietly failing us.Spreadsheets […]
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A Frankenstack is what happens when your tech stack grows piece by piece—tools added over time, each solving a real problem—but never designed to work together as a whole. It’s the spreadsheet linked to the form, synced to the CRM, exported into a slide deck, updated again in email, and “finalized” in Slack. Every part […]
