It has got to be a golden rule. The project plan has been developed, site inspections, venue booked, accommodation block booked, partner and post-conference touring planned, web site up. All the usual stuff that needs to be done well to ensure your conference has a solid foundation.

And then comes along the X-factor that requires the foundation has to be rebuilt.

Against Australia-wide competition Desliens had won the Department of Health and Ageing Healthy for Life Conference in Alice Springs for October 2007. The conference targeted improving Aboriginal health across a range of issues.

And then along came the Federal Government’s intervention into NT Indigenous communities. The conference became an ‘unintended consequence’; new city ( Adelaide), new date (March 2008), new foundations.

And that is just one of the skills Desliens has – meeting the challenge of the unexpected. The new foundations are in place. Actions speak louder than words.