0. Organise your bank account.This takes forever, get it started ticking over before anything else.

1. Research your venue. Use the Venue Masters website/service. Go to the Accademic Venue Show.ย Work out how much you are happy to charge your attendees, therefore how much you can afford to pay for the venue. Consider Where in the country recent BiCons have been. Consider where is good for you/your team to visit. In perspective, 2014 only visited twice in advance. We trusted our venue contact and felt we didn't need to face to face any more than that. Accessibility is key. Make sure there are step free access routes and the locations are close enough together. Factor in a *hanging about* space. In recent years the temperature has been an issue, ask about air conditioning in the session rooms.

2. Have an email address and a website. Use a gmail, people are fine with that and forwarding results in things getting lost. Pay the *trusted* thingy for the website. Not having it will stop people going to the website. If it lapses you will get a deluge of emails telling you about it. Have one email address that all team members can access. That way you can all see what is happening, and if anyone is missing anything.

3. Have your booking form available to fill in online. Have it really obvious. Have the payment options really clear. Only put on options that you think you can do. Don't assume that you can do it because previous years did it. Don't assume you can't either.

4. Not everyone will agree with your decisions. Have a vision of the BiCon you want to be. Run the BiCon you want to see. Every decision will have supporters and detractors, so decide what you want and be prepared to say why, calmly. Be prepared to change your mind.

5. You wont be able to reach all of your vision. You can't guarantee that you'll get the volunteers you'll need. You can't predict what will happen in their lives, causing them to drop out. You can't be sure whether they'll answer their emails in a timely fashion. What you need and they can do can be vastly different. You can't be in more than one place at a time.

6.