How we produced Fintech CONF 2026: 180 registrations at Celonis
Speakers, venue, agenda and what we would change next time.
Fintech CONF 2026 took place on 28 January at Celonis, in Madrid. 180 people registered and the room filled before the first talk. This is the part the photos do not show: how an afternoon conference gets built.
Four weeks out
The countdown starts when the venue is locked, not when the poster looks good. No venue means no date, no date means no speakers, and no speakers means no programme. Any other order ends with a room booked for an event that no longer exists.
As soon as the date exists, three fronts open at once: closing the speaker list, writing the registration form, and deciding who owns what on the day. That last split is the one most often forgotten and the one you notice at seven in the evening.
The day, from setup to the last chair
- Setup and sound checks two hours ahead, with the first speaker in the room.
- Badge desk open thirty minutes before; late arrivals walk in without interrupting.
- One person owns the clock only: they warn the speaker five minutes out and do not negotiate.
- Recording running before doors open, even if the room is half empty.
The hardest talk to produce is not the first one. It is the one after the coffee break, when the room is full of people who have already talked to three others and have no wish to sit down again. That is why the order matters more than the content: whatever follows the break has to compete with a good conversation.
For next time
We will raise capacity and cut the unconfirmed places. With 180 registrations attendance was high, but the margin in the room was so tight that any surprise turned into people standing in the aisle.
And we will publish the recording the same week. Half of the people who register cannot make it, and today that half gets nothing.
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