Here is the golden rule for organizing Flyertalk dos... whether the mega ones or even small ones:

SIMPLICITY

Let me take my Catman DO Trois for example.

THere were a grand total of three events, ONE was the MAIN event, the Big dinner on Saturday night.

First night was meet and greet. Very causual, very open. At a bar. What a surprise for Flyertalk events.

The end of the weekend was a casual brunch, smaller than most and I kept numbers to a minimum.

The REST of the time was free time to do whatever people wanted. I also needed "me time" to do final preps, decompress and emotionally prepare for the main dinner.

Simple menu:

*One main Dinner
*One possible meet/greet event
*one last day get together. a Brunch.
*Lots of free time in between.

After all, we would not want to drive each other crazy with our company.

And as my Big Bruddar PremEx said, every event has it own rules.