So you wanna start a conference...: In Da Beginning

I've been involved with a couple conferences before and agree with wholeheartedly with the post.

  As a conference chair, you’re responsible for delivering on every promise to the attendees and sponsors! Stop and reread that line.

This is key. I've seen situations where teams bring on too many volunteers who promise all sorts of things. The chair is optimistic at the beginning since they have a large team. Eventually, about 1/3rd of the team will flake and the chair is left holding the bag. The remaining volunteers are pushed to uphold all the promises and the stress collects.

It'd be great if you write a follow up post going into more details about your experience.