I found that I reacted to the conference-organization suggestion with a visceral self-protective curl -- I think it's because it's organizing people, rather than organizing information. But I'd have to talk to someone who actually does the work to get a better sense of what it's really like.

Lab manager, on the other hand, sounds really interesting. And I am very interested in science; I just have no education or training in it.

Would you mind telling me more about what you do? (You can e-mail resonant8(at)sbcglobal(dot)net, if you like that better than a public LJ post.)