Case Study Story: Coordinating the Chaos

A Fictional Look Behind a Leadership Summit

Imagine this: You’re tasked with planning a high-stakes, three-day Executive Leadership Summit for 50+ senior leaders from across the company. No pressure, right?

This fictional project scenario is one I use to illustrate how I approach large, multi-stakeholder events — where communication, planning, and adaptability are the name of the game. Currently, planning software is limited to Excel and PowerPoint as well.

Let’s meet the players and walk through the journey.

The Setup:

Goal:
Design and deliver a strategic leadership retreat for EllisPoint Consulting that fosters cross-functional collaboration, provides space for focused planning, and leaves everyone feeling more inspired than exhausted.

Timeline:
6 months. Which sounds like plenty — until you start scheduling meetings with eight VPs who all have different definitions of “free next Tuesday.”

Created a high level timeline, with details filled out in a future planning session:

Meet the (Fictional) Team:

• Lena, the visionary COO who kicked off the project with one guiding principle: “Let’s keep it elegant, impactful, and under budget.”
• Dev, the tech guru who once ran a livestream from a ski lift and is now in charge of making sure the hybrid breakout rooms don’t implode.
• Marcy, a wizard in corporate communications who insists on color-coding the entire agenda (including snacks).
• Tariq, the travel logistics lead who treats airport codes like chess moves.
• And me — the project manager, translator of chaos, herder of details, and fan of a solid Plan B (and C).

The Plan:

• Lock in a location (we went fictional-fancy with a lakeside resort in Oregon).
• Build a master timeline with venue, vendor, and internal deadlines.
• Develop a content strategy for keynotes, team-building, and planning sessions.
• Coordinate flights, ground transport, meals, and “optional-but-mandatory” yoga.
• Manage expectations and pivot gracefully — always.

Plot Twists (of course):

• A major airline strike stranded 12 execs overnight in Denver. Tariq had them rerouted and re-caffeinated by morning.
• A keynote speaker canceled last-minute due to a surprise board meeting (classic). Dev stepped up and ran a panel discussion with zero prep and somehow stole the show.
• The catering team misread “gluten-free” as “fruit-free” on one day’s lunch menu. Marcy smoothed it over with custom swag bags and a spontaneous trail mix bar.

The Result:

Despite every curveball, the summit wrapped up with high energy and even higher satisfaction scores. Participants left with renewed strategic clarity — and a surprisingly competitive desire to win the collaborative Lego-building challenge we used to close Day 3.

Takeaways from this Fictional Project:

• Communication beats assumptions. Especially when execs and event vendors speak different dialects of “urgent.”
• Flexibility is a superpower. Especially when you can rework an agenda mid-event without anyone noticing.
• A good team makes everything better. Even when the projector stops working and your COO starts using interpretive dance to explain Q1 revenue.

This case study represents the kind of complex, people-centered project I love managing: one where logistics meet leadership, and planning turns vision into impact.