Comment by atoav | Hacker News Reader

Comment by atoav | Hacker News Reader

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I mean you could literally go and just consult Maslow's pyramid and ensure the needs are somewhat sufficiently met in this order:

1. Physological needs: warmth, water, food, rest, toilets, hygiene, accessability, shelter

2. Safety needs: security, safety (both in the practical and the psychological sense)

3. Belongingness & Love needs: while this is something we cannot control, making space and time for actual contact between people might be a good idea. Can be combined with the things in point 1

4. Esteem needs: Feeling of accomplishment (the actual content of the event needs to give the audience something new and valuable)

5. Self-actualization: Again something we cannot easily control, but there might be ways of having the attendees actually do something themselves in a creative and/or productive sense. But my guess would be that if you rocked the first 4 points, this one is a nice extra.

Too many events focus mostly on point 4 and forget the importance of the first 3.

I’m the author. I never thought about the Maslow connection, but now that you’ve made it, it is TOTALLY on point. Thank you!

There’s one aspect of all this I didn’t mention in my post but it’s germane here: this is a group of men and women whom I LOVE in a way you’d have to be another veteran or maybe a cop or a fireman to appreciate.

We’ve bled together. We’ve buried the same friends. So I don’t have to work very hard to muster up the emo stuff at the very top of Maslow’s pyramid. I FEEL it. And so the audience does too.

That’s probably pretty hard to fabricate if it isn’t already there. But if it IS there, it’s a pretty powerful foundation for a host relationship.

> 3. Belongingness & Love needs: while this is something we cannot control, making space and time for actual contact between people might be a good idea. Can be combined with the things in point 1

This is part of what ensuring that panels are representative and do not just consist of the first four or five white males you can think of. Ensure your speakers come from a variety of backgrounds and experiences, and even consider people to keynote who can provide lessons from entirely different professions and walks of life.

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