5) Keep it tight. A conference's success is not neccessarily dependent on the number of people running it. We run the Infiniti conference on international finance with two people – a chair and an organiser. That's it. One makes final binding academic decisions, the other organisational ones. Yes, there may be others doing stuff – local organisers selecting restaurants, paper selection committees etc. They are not running it. You are. Resist conferences that foist a pack of CV stuffing useless mouths onto you.