Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:00 The next episode of gig ready is here. I know you're excited, but before we get started, let me remind you of just a few things. Number one, value. We want to provide value to you. So please tell us, email us, message us on Instagram. Send us a DM, tell us how we're doing. Tell us how we can help you, let us know what you want to see in here so that we can get better. Secondly, if this podcast has been valuable to you, share it with somebody, tell a friend, let them know what you're doing, let them know what you're listening to because we are going to help as many people as we possibly can. I want to say thank you so much for the value that you provide each and every week as we supply more podcasts, more content and more exciting things for you to look forward to. I thank you for your dedication. Thank you for all the hard work you put in each and every day to become a better event professional, because this is the gig ready podcast.
Speaker 1 00:00:58 <inaudible>
Speaker 0 00:01:13 Good afternoon, everybody. Jordan Goodfellow here, gig ready, excited for some new friends that we're meeting today back of house is a weekly publication that is sent directly to your email inbox from some industry insiders and those who love to work in the live events. They have spent a lot of time working in the promotion ticketing, um, the, the front of the house back of house, as those of us in the technical world might call it, um, working very hard to service the clients, the customers, uh, and really kind of helping to drive our industry forward. They saw a huge shake up just like we did, um, in the beginning of this whole pandemic. And they've decided to come together and join us on gig ready today, to talk a little bit about what they do, where they're from, how they do it. Uh, but then also look at the future and what the event industry is going to look like in the near future. So we've got Sally, Jesse Hannah, they're joining us from all over the country, guys. Thanks for being here and really, really glad to have you on today.
Speaker 2 00:02:22 Thanks for having us Jordan. We're happy to be here. So
Speaker 0 00:02:25 Sally, give me a little bit of background on, uh, let's, let's start with back of house first, um, and then kind of how the three of you got together or met or knew each other stumbled across each other, um, and then really decided to form a team and, and get this, get this weekly publication going.
Speaker 2 00:02:47 Sure. So back of house is, as you mentioned, we're a free weekly newsletter. We come to your inbox every Tuesday morning. Um, we, our goal is to help industry professionals, staff to date on news practices and ideas. We take, um, we curate the top news stories each week and we feature leaders in our industry as guest writers. We also highlight upcoming webinars and events and conferences, and we started recently including relevant jobs in our industry because we know that that's so very important. Um, we started doing this because there wasn't really a place that did this and we all, all three of us really value education and we value, um, the importance of events. Um, and we working in the industry, we wanted to have this resource available and, um, you know, it really started with Jesse and Hannah. So I'd love for Jesse to jump in and, and tell the story of how the three of us came together. Awesome.
Speaker 3 00:03:55 Yeah. So before, um, March, I was really, you know, following reading multiple newsletters from across the industry, from across other industries that I thought related to what I was doing and that I was interested in. And, uh, it's a lot, you know, when you're going from gig to gig, as I'm sure you're know you are busy, you're always traveling. You're on airplanes without wife by, um, and it's hard to keep up with everything that's going on. Um, especially when you have such an interest in a niche of like the live side of the business and what I started doing when I started having more time in March, when gigs started getting canceled was I started pulling together top stories for myself. I noticed that there was tons and tons of virtual events, uh, webinars discussions happening between tour managers, between artists managers, between production people.
Speaker 3 00:04:51 And what I started realizing was that I was putting all these into one place and I was shooting them over to friends, like a friend that was interested in marketing. I shoot them over that one. And the question that always came back was how are you finding these? Where are you getting them? I started realizing that I was really just following the right people and socials. I was subscribed to the right newsletters and publications that I always kind of had my finger on the pulse of what was happening. And I started pulling them together into a website and just a very simple calendar format and it started being spread around. And then that's kind of how we initially started coming up with the idea of the newsletter, because the real interest from people across the industry is keeping up to date with what's going on.
Speaker 0 00:05:37 Yeah, very true. Um, what, uh, uh, kind of what brought you and then Hannah, and then Sally together, um, to CRE to say, Hey, let's put this all into one place so that we can then send it to people.
Speaker 3 00:05:52 Yeah. So Hannah and I had worked together at a few different festivals previous to this year and we had worked together well and stayed in touch and talked a lot. And when we started putting this together, um, we, you know, really understood that what we were doing was important that people were enjoying it and that people were, um, really starting to value it. And we wanted to bring in some more experience and we wanted to get a better idea of someone that has been in the industry longer than we have that can guide us in the right direction of, you know, what's important. What's not what, what is of value to people in terms of their education and their careers.
Speaker 0 00:06:39 Got it. Okay. And Hannah, what, uh, what kind of draw drew you into, Hey, this is a great idea and something that I want to, that I really want to sink my time into.
Speaker 2 00:06:52 Yeah. So I think one of the biggest questions at the beginning of March that I was faced with was how am I going to continue to learn being a newer individual in this industry, not being able to go onsite, not being able to have those hands-on experiences. And just around that time is when Jesse came to me, kind of explaining his calendar. He had come up with congregating all this, um, these different pieces of resources. Um, so it kind of was a no brainer. And I knew it was a great value to me. So I wanted to be able to share that with other people as well. Okay.
Speaker 0 00:07:28 It's awesome. Um, tons of value. I mean, just by even taking the information that other people have put together and created and then pushing it out there, um, you know, and putting it into one concise places, outstanding, um, Sally, where kind of, where did you fit into all of this when you came, uh, when you came in and joined the party?
Speaker 2 00:07:51 Um, so I worked very closely with Hannah, uh, prior to all of this. So Hannah and I kept in touch and, um, I sort of worked with Jesse, but indirectly we worked on similar events, but never in the same place. Um, so when Hannah, let me know that she was working on this project, I got really excited because, um, something I'm really passionate about is not only the event industry, but helping people grow in the industry. And I know that's something Jordan you're passionate about too, is the next generation. So, um, education is really important when I heard what they were doing. I got really excited and wanted to be part of it. So, um, I jumped on board and, uh, kind of jumped in with two feet and really love both the, the product that we put out. And also the team that we have, uh, Hannah and Jessie are so passionate about this.
Speaker 2 00:08:49 I think, I think you have to be passionate toward them, the live events industry, no doubt, but Hannah and Jessie, so passionate, they work so hard. They're so focused on providing this resource for other people. And that's, um, really inspiring to me. And it's something that I'm excited to, uh, to work with them and to help them in this journey, help them, help guide them through this process and offer, um, advice, experience, and some connections I've been in the industry a little bit longer than them. Um, and so it's been, uh, it's been really fun to go back and talk to people I haven't talked to in awhile. Um, and, uh, really just stay in the game. You know, it's been, uh, it's been tough. I've been, I lost my job early in the, in the whole pandemic. So this has really kept me going and, and these two and the rest of our team, we have, uh, two other people on our team have really kept me focused and, uh, giving me something to look forward to each week. So I'm really excited to be part of this.
Speaker 0 00:09:51 That's that's awesome. How much time a week do you guys spend building the whole thing, creating it, putting it together?
Speaker 2 00:09:58 Uh, Hannah and Jessie are the work horses here, so, so they can dig in for me. Uh, I meet with them at least once a week and then all week long, we're, we're just going back and forth, but Hannah and Jesse put most of the work into this project.
Speaker 0 00:10:13 Got it. How much time Jesse? What do you think? How many, how many hours a week?
Speaker 3 00:10:17 Oh man. It's, it's, it's nearly a full-time job, I will say. Yeah. Um, but a lot of that comes from, you know, it's not just trying to put out this product each week. It's so much more than that. There's always my, you know, my head is always spinning of new ideas of how to engage the community and, you know, just provide more value in how they can continue to learn. So if you're looking for a hard number of hours, um,
Speaker 0 00:10:44 I'm not looking, I'm looking, that's a great description. I mean, it's a, it's a labor of love. It's, you know, some weeks it probably takes 20 and some weeks it probably takes 40. Um, and I totally understand working harder than you've ever worked and making no money whatsoever. So I, I, I am assuming that that's probably about the same vein that you feel like you're at at the moment. So, um, I totally understand the, the education. Um, we have a lot of education equipment and a lot of education on, um, how to, I'm trying to think of how to say this best, how to use something. Here's a piece of gear. Here's a projector, here's a speaker. Here's how you work on these things. It's the, it's the interpersonal skills. I think that we lack a lot of, a lot of training, teaching, understanding within people.
Speaker 0 00:11:40 We get a lot of, um, I don't want people to get grumpy at me when I say this, we get a lot of the misfits in, in what we do, because it's unusual. It's very niche. Um, and it's something people who might not fit into your standard corporate culture, they fit in a lot better because we look at them and say, Hey, yeah, you can do that. Come on in, it's a party, let's just do something that's a little bit different. Um, but a lot of those people in many ways, especially for those of us in the technical side of things, you get people that frankly at times, don't know how to interact very well with other people. They, they just don't play well in the same pond. Um, do you guys see long-term being able to help create something or, or work to create some education around those sorts of things?
Speaker 0 00:12:29 I mean, you guys spend a lot of time in working with customers, ticketing, sales, you know, you guys have to do a lot of that interaction with people. So you have a lot more experience in, in that side of things. Um, I guess number one, do you see D am I off track on my thoughts on, on the, those that come in and need a little bit of help understanding the interaction with others and on the other side of things, what can we do to help educate people to help them become better at those things?
Speaker 2 00:12:58 I'll, I'll jump in here, Jordan, excuse me. I think it's incredibly important. I think it's not just, you know, we may be dealing with, uh, the guests at events makes us a little bit better at that stuff, but, um, events are high-stress situations. Uh, we see each other at our best. We also see each other at our worst. And so the worst times is when those things come out and it's really important for us to learn things like conflict management and just empathy is so very important. Um, I know personally I've been doing a lot of reading during this pandemic on a nonviolent communication and empathy and, and leadership and things like that, that I've found so important. Uh, and I think it's important across the board. Yeah. How we teach it is really tough, especially when you go from gig to gig and you're working with different people each time.
Speaker 2 00:14:02 There's not a lot of downtime. We're so focused on, um, producing the event at hand and everyone is so task oriented that we don't have time to really, uh, build those skills unless we're doing it in person. And, and that's not always the best time. Um, so I definitely think that there's a need for it. I'm not really sure what the answer is. We've tried to incorporate some of that stuff. Uh, one of the first guest writers we had on back of house was Mike Hanley and he talked a lot about leadership. I actually did a two-part series and, um, I thought that was really great. And I think it's something that we do need to focus on across the board to get better in this industry. Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:14:53 I'm with you there. Um, what is, so you mentioned conflict resolution, um, little bit of vulnerability here for everybody. What is one time that you did not resolve a conflict? Well, and you completely screwed it up. I'm just gonna throw that one out there.
Speaker 2 00:15:14 Ah,
Speaker 0 00:15:17 And if you're perfect conflict resolution people, then I should probably come learn from you. Uh, because that would be, um, I am definitely not one to resolve conflict beautifully in every shape or form. In fact, sometimes I, maybe here's a better way to put it. Maybe sometimes you've avoided the conflict because you didn't want to deal with it. And you just like, cause that's what I've done personally. I'm like, I know I need to deal with this. Uh, but I'm not going to deal with it right now.
Speaker 2 00:15:46 Uh, I'll jump in. Um, I can think of a time when, uh, I was festival director at an event, uh, end of the night. Uh, you know, we'd been through, been up since before Dawn and it's time for blowouts time for egress, everyone to leave. And, um, my parking manager had, uh, her, it was a husband and wife team and their feelings were hurt because they felt that they weren't being included in a staff meeting. And, uh, I think it was a buildup of things and they said I quit. And, um, I had, uh, probably some of the biggest headliners onstage at the time. Uh, it was actually Blake Shelton was our headliner that night. And, uh, it was his 40th birthday that day. Uh, he decided to bring his then girlfriend now, fiance, Gwen Stefani on tour with him. And it was the first time ever that they were going to do a duet together, live was happening onstage.
Speaker 2 00:16:59 At the time we had record crowds and my parking manager in charge of blowout had quit. Um, and rather than get to the root of the problem, I just said, all right, see you later. I put on a high vis vest. I grabbed my flashlight and boom, I had just shifted from festival director to parking director and started getting people out. Um, it was a heat of the moment. Like I couldn't deal with this. I, I know that their feelings were hurt and I probably should have listened to them. We did have a conversation the next morning and they tried to apologize or they did apologize. I'm sorry. Um, but I just said, look, let's get through the festival. We'll figure it out. Uh, I didn't take the time to really understand at that point what their issue was because I was in the heat of the moment and all I knew is I had to get all of these people out. Yeah. Um, so looking back, I don't know if I would have taken the time to understand it. I hope that I could have seen something beforehand and, and maybe stopped them from quitting in the first place. But, uh, I definitely just said, all right, we'll figure this out later, I walked away and, and got the job done.
Speaker 0 00:18:21 Yeah. I've, you know, you mentioned that that's a very interesting scenario. I've done the same thing where instead of stopping, slowing down, I just like spit it like you just like word vomit comes out and you just like, it just comes out immediately. Um, I had a guy, in fact, I can remember a very, it it's a much less significant situation than that, but they were putting up some drape on a show and I was the technical director. And some guy had asked me, you know, Oh, well, why are we doing this? And I just, I, instead of like taking a minute and like actually turn around and being respectful and, and explaining to him what was going on, I was like, Oh, just do it because you should, if you don't want to be here, just leave. And I was, and, and I look back on that and reminding myself, um, slowing down is one of the biggest things within our industry.
Speaker 0 00:19:14 Like, you know, like you just said, Sally Fides slowed down and, and actually looked at what was going on. There would have been a different resolution that in the long-term would have helped better, not only, you know, yourself, but also your parking manager, it would have helped make, um, the rest of the weekend, the rest of the festival better, because then we would've been able to resolve a conflict and keep someone on staff all at the same time. Um, and keep somebody from, you know, keep yourself from getting frustrated. Um, it's something I've been focused on the last three or four months. It's like slowing my tempo down. Cause I tend to move so fast that I don't get anything. I don't actually accomplish the longterm goals because all I'm doing is looking at right now. Um, but that's, uh, that's a great story, Sally.
Speaker 0 00:20:03 And it's a great example of why we need to just put on the brakes and, and relax because it's not the end of the world. We can figure this out, but an extra 30 seconds, isn't going to cause any less cars to get out of the parking lot or whatever the case may be. Um, kind of looking at the events. What do you guys miss the most right now? What do you think about what are the things that cross your mind on a daily or weekly basis? You know, kind of that nostalgia. I miss that, like, that's the thing I miss. What do you think Jesse?
Speaker 3 00:20:41 You know, we talk about, you know, one of the goals of back of house being in an effort to really provide this resource so that as we're traveling from event to event, we can slow down and we can take a step to, to think about what's going on in the world. And what's important for us to know as we go into our next event, but I miss that. I miss getting on a plane every week. I miss traveling every week I miss the go go, go. Like, that's such a big part of who I am. You know, I'm very nomadic. I love going from place to place exploring new places. And that's a big part of doing events too, is that you see parts of the country that you never would have expected to see. Um, you know, I didn't even know where Fargo was on a map before he did a festival there. Um, so I mean, that's, that's one of the big portions of the thing that I miss the most. The other big thing is, is meeting people. And I, you know, I thrive on meeting new people that I work with, but also festival goers. I think that there's been tons of interactions and conversations that I've had with, with new people along the way that have been just so meaningful and some lifelong friendships that have come out of it. And that's, you know, definitely one of the big things that I miss the most
Speaker 0 00:22:00 Hannah you're up.
Speaker 2 00:22:03 So for me, I'm definitely not an individual who can sit at a desk every day and perform a job. I love being hands-on and onsite, and also getting to see your hard work, pay off in a very visual way. Um, for me, there is always that one moment at every show or festival that kind of made it all worth it, all the hard work and so kind of dismissing those aha moments. Um,
Speaker 0 00:22:31 That's awesome. Those are great moments. The moment were you thinking, Oh man, I am so thankful to be here and that I get to do this. And other people just don't realize that I have the best fricking job in the whole wide world and they just don't know it. I get that. Sally, what about you? What do you miss?
Speaker 2 00:22:50 Um, I miss the chaos and the unexpected stuff, as terrible as that sounds like I miss the, Oh crap, the wind just wind storm just came through, blew over everything. We've got to start from scratch. How do we fix this? How do we get doors open on time? I missed that. Like, here's the challenge now let's figure out how to do it now. Holy crap. We figured it out. We just did the impossible. So I guess you could say I miss those moments of, um, I don't miss the bad part about it, but I miss the finding the solutions and just making the impossible possible. Um, and I miss being around a team that I know can do that stuff. So, uh, surrounding myself with people that are all working towards that same goal. And I know I, when shit hits the fan, sorry, I don't know if I'm allowed to curse here.
Speaker 2 00:23:50 Uh, but when things go wrong, I'm surrounded by people who are all going to work together to make it go right. And then when the doors open, no one knows the difference. No one knows that, uh, all the tents blew over last night and they walk in the door and it's a beautiful venue and they had no idea what happened to get there. Uh, and then, like Hannah said, I miss that. My favorite thing to do at an event is to, uh, get up high, whether that's standing on stage somewhere or, um, up as high as I can get and see the crowd, watch the crowd enjoying it because that that's all worth it. That's what makes it all worth it. All those people are at an event because of the hard work that our team put into it. And nothing replaces that.
Speaker 0 00:24:37 No, it doesn't, that's very true. Um, there's something about 50,000 people in a stadium doing a rock show that, uh, is unlike anything else that you, that anybody will ever experience. And it's something that we definitely miss these days. Um, as you guys have kind of gotten the pulse on people,
Speaker 2 00:24:57 What's your favorite? What is
Speaker 0 00:24:58 My favorite? Um, or what do I miss? I think I miss, I do miss the travel. I miss going unique places. Um, I'm a, I'm an I I'm a mile whore. I just be honest with you. Um, I, there's something about racking up airline miles that is, is relatively addicting in my mind. Um, but just the going places and, and experiencing something different, whether it's traveling to another country and doing an event in a country, you've never done an event in, um, seeing how they do things differently, seeing and interacting with people that I like to interact with, um, that are my friends that, um, I like to do good work with. But then also, like you said, the, the unexpected and making miracles happen where people did not think that they could happen pulling things off. And it's the worst thing too, because you do it and that a client expects it.
Speaker 0 00:26:04 So like in the corporate world, it's like somebody showing up with, you know, uh, a presentation in PDF that's supposed to be in PowerPoint and they go on stage in 90 seconds and like, you pull it in and you, it sounds very menial, but like those sorts of things where it's like, you just make something happen, you pull something, you pull a rabbit out of a hat. You know, some CEO comes in and says that he needs five elephants to walk across stage tomorrow morning at 8:00 AM. And then suddenly, somehow you've now made five elephants walk, just pull it off the impossible. This is the other thing that I miss. Um, eh, and then people turn back and it's, it tends to be things that people don't remember, but I sit there and say, you know, we did that. We did that together. Um, and it's just having a great group of people around that really execute.
Speaker 0 00:26:58 Um, so yes, there you go. Those are the two things I think, um, when we look at where the industry is going, kind of, how do you guys feel? How are people feeling? You guys interact with a fair amount of people on a weekly basis, kind of what is, you know, I live at a lot in my own company, so I like, I know my people, but I haven't had a huge, you know, I don't have long conversations with, with tons and tons of people outside of my company. How, how are people feeling out there right now? What are the thoughts? What are, especially with the new restrictions, lockdowns, every state's different kind of thing. Um, what does, kind of the feeling you guys are getting right now from others that are out there?
Speaker 3 00:27:42 So feeling hopeful overall, I'm feeling optimistic, um, for a number of reasons. There's what we've seen more recently, um, in the past few weeks is that there are some major events that are announcing 20, 21 days. And that's fairly a good sign because that means that those events are starting to put in work. Yeah. An hours onto those events. They're not just announcing dates and doing nothing. And
Speaker 0 00:28:12 What kind of events are those?
Speaker 3 00:28:14 Yeah. So we've, we've seen them announced all across of 20, 21, nothing really in the early spring, but starting in may, there's rolling loud Miami, uh, in July there's country jam USA in, uh, I think BottleRock has moved there usually Memorial day there now labor day 2021, um, EDC Rio Lando is November, 2021. So all across the board of 2021, but nothing really until may,
Speaker 0 00:28:42 But that's, I mean, they're, they're putting numbers on, on paper, which is, uh, you know, w which is a good sign. That's awesome.
Speaker 3 00:28:49 Right. And on those websites too, as you kinda go through them, there's a COVID compliance and safety verbiage that is brand new to these websites, health, and safety, um, guidelines that fans need to be following. Um, so it it's all at the forefront of their minds, but overall hopeful because of not just what's happening here in the U S but in terms of announcing, but also what's happening internationally is something that we look very close at because it's, it's so important to understand what other live event professionals, other festivals, other, you know, even just business conferences are doing everywhere from Australia to Taiwan. There are other events happening right now. Yeah. Um, even if they're small, there's new practices being put into place that we can watch and implement into our future plans. And we're seeing that through different, you know, educational opportunities, whether that be like industry conferences, um, that are, you know, updating us on what's happening globally and what went on last week.
Speaker 3 00:29:57 Um, and so the, the overarching thing to think about is, is preparedness. And that's really what I've seen as a trend of what every industry professional is trying to push. Is it we're going to come back. And when we do come back, being prepared is, is number one, because if we're not prepared, then we're just going to start from scratch. And so really keeping your finger on the pulse of what's going on, how they're doing it, why they're doing it, that's going to help us come back faster so that when we are allowed, our events can run seamlessly as, as they ball. It has. Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:30:37 Okay. Got it. Hannah, what about you? What are, what kind of, what feelings are you getting from those you you've been talking to lately?
Speaker 4 00:30:45 Yeah, I think a lot of the guests that we've had the opportunity to speak to for the newsletter have an optimistic outlook, and they're using this time to really, um, practice innovation and using this time to think of creative, new ideas, um, to possibly implement when events come back in full force. So it really has been an experiment the past couple of months to see how we can produce events. And I think there has been a lot of good that has come out of those practices.
Speaker 0 00:31:18 What's a, what's one new thing that you think hasn't been utilized in events or utilized very much that we're going to see when we, when things start coming back.
Speaker 4 00:31:30 Um, so one headliner, which is what we call our guest features, um, that I really thought was interesting and could potentially, uh, act as a new way to experience events is we talk to an event professional Matt mud from Canada, and he had created a 360 degrees stage to kind of maximize the amount of people who are able to enjoy a dry then experience. So just kind of stage design and kind of playing around with that. I think that could be something cool that could be implemented even, not in a drive in scenario
Speaker 0 00:32:11 For, so for instance, to do more of a distance scene type event where they, where they wrap it three 60, but they maintain, you know, like vehicle distance, things like that, or, um, is that the, is that the idea and the concept, or is it something different than that?
Speaker 4 00:32:28 Yeah, exactly. So, um, just really maximizing what you can do capacity wise while still abiding by those guidelines. Got it.
Speaker 0 00:32:40 Okay. Sally, what are people saying promoters people that you're talking to, you know, artists managers are those you've interacted with over the last month or two. Um, now that they've started to like, Oh no, we're coming into fall. Things are getting stringent again. Now Thanksgiving, you know, what, what are kind of what, what's the, what's the pulse there?
Speaker 2 00:33:02 I think, um, you know, like Jesse said, we're not events are gonna be pushed back a little bit. So a little bit of a later start this year. I think people are optimistic though. They want to be able to bring events because event goers want them, you know, there's a huge demand. And we're seeing that when events go on sale, they're selling out quickly or just sales are at record paces because people want to go to these events as soon as they're able to do it. They want to be out there. They want, they want that feeling of attending a concert, or even we look at sports, you see, um, you know, people are going to football games as much as they can. They want, they miss that. They miss being with other people. They miss cheering on their teams. They miss the feeling of being at events.
Speaker 2 00:33:54 So the demand is certainly there. Um, I'll admit I was a little bit skeptical. I thought, uh, you know, it would take a bit for people to, to feel comfortable going out to be in large crowds again. And I think, um, from an event attendee perspective, they're, they're putting their faith in the promoter to make sure that the events are safe, but they want to be there. So, um, I think on the, excuse me, on the promoter side, people are moving ahead, they're moving ahead, cautiously. I think it is, you know, we're not, we're not seeing tons of jobs back on the market. We think of all those folks who lost their jobs or laid off or furloughed like those jobs aren't, they're not back. So those that are moving forward or moving forward with skeleton crews, they're cautiously optimistic, and just trying to put the right plans in place so that we can have safe Haven.
Speaker 0 00:34:53 Got it. So if there, uh, okay. So hope just all, something all of us can use a lot more of right now. I think, um, it's, uh, it's a very interesting time. Um, but you know, coming into Christmas, coming into early next year, when do you think we're going to start to see people say, okay, is everybody waiting for, you know, Oh, suddenly the vaccines being distributed and we're getting, you know, a million doses a day, you know, that are, that people are getting, or do you think people are going to push forward without, without that? And they're just going to say, okay, we're going to start hiring people. We're going to start confirming things for events, you know, mid spring, early spring, you know, mid March, maybe. Um, do you think we could see something like that? Or do you think it's still gonna, you think we're still looking at three or four months of very pensive action on, on what's going to happen?
Speaker 2 00:35:51 I think there's different levels of risk tolerance out there. Um, especially geographically in our country, like, um, you know, rolling loud Miami, uh, is a perfect example. That's a event that's scheduled early may, which is probably one of the biggest events in may. I think there's a, uh, country festival that's scheduled in may, uh, in Florida as well. And I think Florida has certainly has a different tolerance for events, large events, uh, then, you know, New York might have, um, we saw events this summer take place like in the Sturgis motorcycle rally took place in Sturgis, South Dakota, uh, amidst the height of the pandemic. Well, what we thought at the time was the height of the pandemic. Um, and those folks just wanted to go and want it to be there. And the government said it was okay. So I think we're going to see different things, um, based on what's allowed and what's not allowed. Um, so I think Florida will probably be place where we'll see events sooner rather than later, uh, versus some other areas like California is we're probably not going to see major events in California anytime soon, uh, with what's happening there. So it really depends geographically and, and unfortunately, politically,
Speaker 0 00:37:12 Yeah, unfortunately I'm with you on that. Um, Jesse, you mentioned BottleRock, um, that's in California. Are they, do you know much about how they're, um, how they're working to kind of, I guess, work because they have to work with the state. I mean, if they announce, Hey, we're doing a show labor day next year, there's no way they haven't talked to people, the state saying, Hey, by the way, we're moving forward with this. Um, uh, I assume they're consulting with, with the government of California to figure out how to best do it so that they can abide by the rules, but still do the festival. And even, I mean, we have no idea what the rules are going to look like come September next year. I mean, we have no clue. I'm kind of interested in how they're going to navigate that. Do you have any idea on how they're going to do that or push forward with that?
Speaker 3 00:38:01 So I don't have quite the inside scoop on anything, California. Um, but I imagine that they have been speaking a lot with California. I'm sure that there's an tons of discussions with the health department in terms of the food and beverage side of things BottleRock itself is, you know, it, it's a higher end, a little bit more luxurious festival experience. And so they have the affordability of having that crowd that is already bought in and love event. It's, it's an amazing event from what I've heard. Yeah. And I'm sure that if they are allowed to go labor day 2021, that if there is reduced capacity, that they could still pull it off because you know, it may be more socially distanced, but some of the packages might be higher priced and making up for, yeah. Maybe not having as much.
Speaker 0 00:38:59 It makes me wonder if they're going to try and do burning man in 2021. Um, cause that, I think the same crowd kind of falls. I think there's some good crossover between BottleRock and burning man. And I have some friends that go to burning man every year and, um, they were super bummed that, of course it got canceled this year, but maybe we'll see because burning man is what August. Right. Am I, am I wrong?
Speaker 2 00:39:25 Yeah. I think it's the end of August, beginning of September, like right around that labor day timeframe. And it's in the middle of nowhere too. So, well,
Speaker 0 00:39:34 See the social distance from any photos I've seen of, of burning man. Social distancing is not a problem out on, out, out on the salt flats, but, um, we'll see. We'll see what happens. Okay.
Speaker 2 00:39:47 Um, I think that, uh, Jordan, I think it also depends on the genre of the event too, like different events and different, uh, audiences will social distance differently. You know, I can't think of, uh, an EDM crowd is not exactly social distance friendly. Neither, neither is country music, no country. Uh, we saw some, uh, chase rice concert earlier in the summer where crowds were just rushing the stage. Cause that's what, how country fans liked to experience their country music. Whereas, you know, um, a jam band festival may be, uh, you know, they spread out cause they want to dance. So it's, it's definitely a little bit different. And it's also, um, you know, the, the demographics of like at a higher end festival, like, like BottleRock, you know, it's already small, smaller because it's, it's more niche than big 50,000 person country music festival.
Speaker 0 00:40:50 No, very true. We'll just have string cheese incident headline, every festival for all of 2021 and everyone wants a social distance and dance and that that'll just
Speaker 2 00:41:02 Everyone stay one hula-hoop distance away. Right.
Speaker 3 00:41:07 That's the perfect plan right there.
Speaker 0 00:41:10 It did years. One of the first, one of the first shows and it was kind of a festival, but not really a festival that I did. Um, and 20, it was like 2005. I did this thing that was on the barge in downtown Nashville. I don't know if any of you guys have ever done any shows downtown Nashville on that big, huge barge that's connected to. So it's on the Cumberland river and you, you play up the Hill. So there's this Hill that's there and the barge is the stage and you play up this Hill. And, um, it was like, this hippie is this one day hippie festival. And it was the, it was the craziest experience I've ever had. I was like one of the audio guys. And then these bands, like they weren't even really bands. They were like groups of people that got together down on the ground or like, Hey, you play this instrument.
Speaker 0 00:42:04 You play this instrument. Oh, we're a band let's play. And um, and we had people coming up with all kinds of weird instruments and I don't know where I was going with this story, but it was, it sounded good at the time. So it was quite the experience. I've never, uh, there was, we, we, we had audio, uh, power problems because what happens is the Cumberland river, um, floods. And it covers the disconnects where they get power from. And so they had to bring us a generator while we were waiting this like 75 person drum circle formed in front of the stage and like this huge. And it was, I'm sure that you've experienced drum circles before I personally am not a fan, but it got, it was a, it was quite quite an exciting festival for myself. Anyhow. I have no idea where I was going with that.
Speaker 0 00:42:53 So I apologize for wasting your last 90 seconds. Um, well wrapping up, I know we kind of shot all over the place here and, um, I apologize if it seemed like we were a little scattered, but you know, thinking about where we want to go next, everybody has everybody had a goal or a vision before we walked into the pandemic and where, where did we want to go? And so I think that there are going to be some people that want to pick up on that goal and that vision when, you know, when we can get back to work. And there's some people that are, that are going to want to shift, maybe someone that wants a more stable job or a more stable career than what we're necessarily in. Um, what, what do you think, and w I'd love to get an answer from each one of you guys about this.
Speaker 0 00:43:40 What do you, what do each one of you think is one thing that people can do to be ready to kind of get into that next adventure? I mean, what I say is how can we be more gig ready when we do our next gig? Because ultimately each and every one of us has a responsibility first to ourselves. And then to the others that we work with to be, I think personally, to be better than when we went into this has been eight months, we've had more than enough time to get our hands dirty, figure things out. So, you know, what is one thing that we can be doing to get better and be better as we come out of this and start working again?
Speaker 4 00:44:17 Who wants to go first? I'll go first. Um, I think one of the big things is using this downtime to your advantage. Um, so capitalizing on this free time that as event professionals, you're not typically used to having. And I think one of the things that we touched on in our safety issue of back of house is training and planning out safety, um, plans. And so we highlighted USA and that's one thing that we've found that individuals are, um, moving forward with and using this time to get trained because not only just COVID safety, but safety as a whole is extremely important to running successful events. Yeah,
Speaker 2 00:45:05 That's great. I love that.
Speaker 3 00:45:09 Yeah, I would, I would piggyback off of the education in, in the light of, you know, this is a great time to take some time to invest in something in yourself that you've been wanting to learn, whether that be event related or something else. Um, you know, as an example, I'm super, super interested in sustainability at events, um, with my experience working with food vendors a lot, and just from my own personal research, I found so many great courses out there, different blogs, you know, just different people to follow that highlight sustainability. Some of them are very event related and that specific, and some of them are not. And then I use my own time to connect that back to what I'm doing. And, you know, even if you're not planning, even if you want to go back to events, the reality is that we were just talking about dates and when things are coming back, there's still quite a few months till we are going to have enough events that it's going to be enough.
Speaker 3 00:46:16 You know, there's gonna be enough opportunity to have working events be full-time job. Again, there's plenty of time to go learn something else that you can use as something that will, you know, make you a more competitive candidate when it comes to different job opportunities. If you are so interested in marketing, but you've never taken the time to learn really, you know, hard data analytical skills, that this is a great time to go do that. And then that way, when you go back to working a lot events, you can bring that knowledge to the events, and then that makes the event even better,
Speaker 2 00:46:55 Sally last but never least. So, uh, we mentioned soft skills before, and that's something that I've really been working on, um, is, is, uh, developing and honing my soft skills. I think as a, a leader it's so important to, uh, to learn about them, to continue to grow them and figure out how to teach them to other people. Um, I, I mentioned that I've been reading some books. I actually am part of a book club with a couple other event industry professionals, which has been really awesome because we pick out a book, um, that helps us it with our soft skills, with our leadership and we, and then we talk about it. So we read a couple chapters each week. I, my book club on a Thursday afternoons and we dig in and then we really think about how, not only how it applies overall, but how we can apply these in event and festival situations. And that's been really helpful. So that's something that I'm really looking forward to applying, uh, when we get back out there.
Speaker 0 00:48:03 That's awesome. Great, great information. Great advice guys. I really appreciate it. Um, thanks so much for taking an hour out of your day, join us here. Um, I hope we can do it again. I think that over time as we grow, um, and then as, as more content is gained and the ability to teach, just help people get better at what they're doing. I know we didn't necessarily talk a ton about edgy, you know, actual physical, here's some great educational tips and things today, but, you know, as we grow, we're going to need the ability to learn, listen, create more opportunity for others. Um, you know, hopefully help people find ways that they can do at live events and something else. Like you said, Jesse. I mean, it's, it's going to be a little while before we see live events, being able to be a full-time job as it was for a lot of people a year ago.
Speaker 0 00:48:53 Um, and hopefully we can help some people find, uh, more opportunity out there. So thank you so much guys for coming on today. I appreciate it. And um, I wish you guys all the best back of house is a weekly Tuesday morning publication, uh, that Jesse, Sally Hannah, and the rest of their team bring to you, uh, to your email inbox, you should go sign up. Where can they work? Actually, can they sign up Sally? Where can they get on the mailing list? Get on the newsletter list so they can be gaining all the valuable knowledge you guys are putting out.
Speaker 2 00:49:26 Yeah, they can go to B O H live.com and it's super simple sign up right there. And we'll be in your inbox on Tuesday morning.
Speaker 0 00:49:35 Awesome. And, uh, guys, I'll drop that email address down in the notes from the episode down below and go check it out. I highly recommend, uh, checking these guys out, subscribing letting them know you're there. You're a part of the community or part of the family. Cause after all, uh, we're one big live event family. And, uh, we're looking forward to getting back to work soon. So guys, thank you so much. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your week and uh, we'll talk to you soon.
Speaker 2 00:50:04 Thanks, Jordan. Uh, thanks for having us. And we look forward to having you on a back of house coming up soon.
Speaker 0 00:50:10 Outstanding looking forward to it. Thanks guys. The last eight months in our lives have definitely not been easy. It's certainly been a challenge to figure out how are we going to navigate this timeframe? How are we going to move change, shift, adjust mindsets
Speaker 5 00:50:29 That have been ingrained for so long as you go forward through today, the rest of your week or your weekend know that there are others out there that are standing right beside you fighting the same fight you are working just as hard as you are to try and figure out a way to be better, to be stronger, to move on and get to the next phase of where we are get ready is about just that working together to find a better way forward. Thank you so much for listening and I hope you have a great day.
Speaker 1 00:51:05 <inaudible>.
