ANOTHER STRAND IN THE CREATIVITY AND MADNESS MAGIC CARPET.
February 16, 2019
Having decided to put on the Creativity and Madness Conference, I went looking for a hotel on Maui to host the meeting I first went to the Hyatt Regency. We would be delighted to host your conference. Our first availability is in five years. Not what I had in mind. I went from hotel to hotel. Everyone told me pretty much the same thing. Then I heard that Marriott was building a hotel on Maui. I contacted them and they said, We would be delighted, and we can host your meeting on the date that you want which was April 3, 1982.i.e. next year when we have completed our construction.I signed the contract, put down a small deposit and we were off and running.
I contacted a travel agent who reserved seats on United and American Airlines to get people to the conference.
In October 1981 Marriott called me and said, Just a reminder that in 10 days your deposit of 15,000 dollars is due. At that time, we had three registrations. What to do? Should we quit and forfeit the small deposit, or should we hope for the best and go forward. We did the latter. Fortunately, people started to register. By March 1982 we had enough people signed up that I knew we would probably come close to breaking even. In mid-March, the Marriott people phone me and said
You know the Hurricane that swept through the islands a few months ago has altered many things including our construction schedule. We are not sure if we will be open on April 3 when your meeting is scheduled to begin. I said, No problem, what’s your backup plan for me. They said, Sorry we have no backup plan. All other hotels were booked. People had made their airplane reservations. All we could do was go forward and hope for the best. On April 1, 1982, the hotel opened. People started to arrive on April 2. The meeting began on April 3. Most everyone had a great time. After we had finished the conference and returned home, I looked at the numbers and found that we had lost about $2000, I was okay with that because of all the excitement and pleasure of putting it all together and hosting the meeting. We would have lost a great deal more money if it were not for the travel agent that we had used. During the time leading up to the conference, I thought I had made a big mistake in picking him. He was very erratic. He didn’t show up for meetings and then would say, I don’t remember anything about a meeting.It turns out that he was a Coke head. He was stoned half the time. However, he did save the day. He had negotiated with the airlines that for every 15 people who paid, we would get one free seat. If it were not for that, we would’ve lost a great deal of money and would never have considered repeating the conference. Our original plan was to hold only one conference. One and Done as they say. But, after the conference was finished and we returned home I began to feel very sad. I soon realized I was suffering from PCD - Post Conference Depression. The conference had been so exciting and so very different from the practice of psychiatry and psychoanalysis. As you know in the practice of psychiatry and psychoanalysis treatment is long-term. It’s challenging to know when to end it. When it is ended, it’s very difficult to know if you did the right thing. Should I have ended it sooner or should I have continued for however long? How very different from putting on a conference. With the conference you put it together, advertise, people register, you hold it and as they say in Hawaiian POW! It’s done. So, after seeing me mope around for a while, Mary Lou said, Why don’t we do it again next year.Great, let’s do it. And that’s how creativity and Madness came to be.
And thank all of you who have been and continue to be interested and supportive of what we do.
Written by Dr. Barry Panter