Episode 11 | What Could Possibly Go Wrong in Tokyo?

You can build the perfect agenda, confirm every detail, and still discover at lunch that half the room refuses to sit down. Because sometimes the biggest event curveball isn’t AV, catering, or weather—it’s realizing important cultural rules everyone else knows but were never actually explained to you. Jen Santos sits down with David Moore, Director of Fun at Moore Style Events, to talk about the particular brand of mayhem that comes with producing events around the world. What starts as a story about trying to seat 150 doctors at lunch in Tokyo turns into a masterclass in cultural awareness, adaptability, accessibility, and knowing when the agenda needs to bend. David shares lessons from Japan, Buenos Aires, Spain, London, and Europe, including why 7:00 dinner may not actually mean 7:00, why site visits still matter, and why event planners apparently now need speaker vetting protocols nobody imagined 20 years ago. Top Takeaways from David & Jen’s convo: Culture beats your run of show. Meal times, hierarchy, seating, breaks, and social expectations can derail a perfectly reasonable agenda if you assume your version of “normal” travels with you. Accessibility requires painfully specific questions. “Are there stairs?” sounds simple until someone’s mobility—or a very expensive piece of equipment—depends on the answer. AI is a tool, not your new event team. Use it for translations, comparisons, cultural research, and tedious admin work. Just maybe don’t let it run the show unsupervised. Links: moorestyleevents.com LinkedIn @davidlmoore LinkedIn @moorestyleevents Instagram @moorestyleevents This episode was produced by Audiotocracy Podcast Production. Music license #: HVOMSRYTQCIUNZTJ