Ran around during play-off's conferences (8)
I believe the answer is:
seminars
'conferences' is the definition.
(I know this)
'ran around during play-off's' is the wordplay.
'around' indicates an anagram.
'during' is an insertion indicator.
'play-off' becomes 'semis' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'ran' is an anagram of 'nar'.
'nar' going into 'semis' is 'SEMINARS'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for seminars that I've seen before include "workshops" , "classes" , "discussions are academic" .)