The importance of curating place

10 ways to make your events more magical

Dining among the raised beds at the Do Lectures, Wales

Over the years at the Do Lectures, we have learnt to understand the importance of small events in building community. There is something very magical about gathering a group of strangers and gifting them the space, the freedom and the opportunity to connect on a deeper level and become part of a like-minded community. This is what we want our events to feel like for people; a place where you belong, where you are understood and where you can be yourself, and we want you to be able to carry that feeling with you long after the event is over.

Relationships thrive when people feel that you value their presence and are willing to go the extra mile to give them a great time.

We have witnessed this time and time again, and we love hearing stories of how people have grown these relationships following the event. Do has been the spark that has ignited work collaborations, enduring friendships and love interests. There are small humans in this world because their parents met at Do!

We see a future where small events will provide a welcome refuge from the digital world. In essence they will create much needed opportunities for authentic human connection. With the advent of AI and its impact on all aspects of our life going forward, this is something that we will all be in search of and it is something that technology will not be able to provide for us. As we learn to adapt our work and our play, one thing is certain: our ‘humanness’ will never change, and small gatherings will enable us to continue to explore the magic in being human.

Ideas on curating place

1. If you already have a place where your event will be held, try to imagine yourself as a person attending your event for the first time. See it through their eyes. Sometimes it’s hard to see the beauty and potential in a space that you are very familiar with.

2. Don’t be afraid to shake things up; just because you have always served food in a particular space, what would happen if you dined somewhere else? Get your team involved in decisions on how to use the space. Sometimes fresh eyes can make a huge difference. Do a dress rehearsal of space and layout, mix things up and try things out before the event. Think of the journey of people attending, from arrival to departure. Ask yourself how you would like them to feel, and does your space live up to it? If not, what could you change?

3. If you are looking for a space to hold an event, find somewhere that represents what you are about. This could mean that you steer away from a traditional event venue. It may also mean that you create more work for yourself at the start, but, as one of our favourite sayings goes, ‘Easy don’t build great’. The attraction of a ready-made event venue is obvious, but often there is a compromise on how truly the space represents you.

4. Even though a unique venue may mean you spend more budget on decoration or fit-out, and you may need to bring in your own staff to run it, you are likely to balance that out with the cost of hiring the venue itself.

5. Before you commit budget to hiring an event venue, it’s worth considering your home, office or workplace as a potential venue. You might have to spend on temporarily converting some of the areas for different usage, but this can be done cheaply and effectively if you spend time on creating a concept. Turning your car park into a beach for example might not be as difficult or expensive to create as you might think, and it is likely to be a truer reflection of your business.

6. If you have outdoor space, use it. It could be for that first welcome drink, or it could be for an evening of music under the stars, but punctuating your event with time outside gives your guests a chance to take a breather and get a different perspective. If it’s cold, get a fire going. If it’s raining, get everyone to cosy up under a canvas canopy. And if the sun is out, put out a few hay bales and rugs for your guests to relax on.

7. If your aim is to create an event where people feel considered and valued, putting in the extra effort to find a unique and inspiring venue will elevate their experience. Relationships thrive when people feel that you value their presence and are willing to go the extra mile to give them a great time.

8. Consider spaces that require a journey to get to. Taking people away from their comfort zone and inviting them to a location that is without the usual distractions is a great way to break down the barriers and encourage your guests to think differently. You could curate their journey to and from the venue, through the method of transport, a thoughtful travel gift, music, subtle messaging, or even a pit-stop in an inspiring location.

9. Create a sense of home, whether you are in your own home or in a conference hall. It’s often the intangible things that make people feel at home — things such as consideration for a guest’s comfort, how they are welcomed and how you or your team interact with them.

10. Even in a generic conference venue, try to find ways to make it your own. Maybe there is one big centrepiece you could create for people to congregate around, something that makes a statement and distracts from the surroundings. It’s worth putting more budget into making this work rather than trying to decorate the space as a whole. It could be an interactive piece where people leave messages and comments. This could be as simple as a chalkboard or, if budget allows, a digital capture of words and photographs from the day. The centrepiece could also have some sort of live element to it, such as music or performance that brings intrigue and delight. In these environments you can also soften and personalise the experience through sound and smell, so the right music and fragrance could help create the mood you are after. You might also be able to control the level of lighting in the venue to change the atmosphere.

If you too are hosting events or creating community through bringing people together in some way or another, we hope that you feel as excited as we do about where we can play in the digital age. As ‘hosts of human connection’ we have an opportunity to fully serve our communities. We can provide space for deeper in-person connections. We can offer respite from screens and machines and get people face-to-face, bonding through shared experiences. The world might be moving from human systems to machine systems but as David Mattin, a recent speaker at the Do Lectures, said, ‘You are a human being. A machine can never be a human being.’ And that is our opportunity.

This is an extract from Do Curate: How to create a small magical event by Clare Hieatt. Published by Do Books. Text © Clare Hieatt 2026 Photography © Alex Lloyd Jenkins 2026.

Clare is the co-founder of the DO Lectures. She started her working life in London as a copywriter. She lives on a farm on the west coast of Wales, where she and her husband raised their daughters and founded two other businesses: howies and Hiut Denim. Now with an empty nest and just one business to nurture, Clare is looking forward to time and space to put some of the learnings from 15 years of hosting the Do Lectures into practice.

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