Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:03 Hey everybody, Jordan Goodfellow here, gig ready, excited for another episode this week, this week's a little bit different than what we've been doing. We're going to be talking to meeting planners and their ability to select platforms for virtual and hybrid events. And as we know, the importance of this is so critical to being able to give our customers and our clients exactly what they need. And so being the event professionals that you guys are, we're really excited that we're gonna be talking about this today. Just a quick reminder as we go today, please remember, share, share this out, let people know, drop us five stars because of how awesome we are. I know you know that and, uh, let everybody know that gig ready is helping to teach event professionals, how to get better at what they do and do better events tomorrow than they did today. Thanks for listening guys, because this is the gig ready podcast.
Speaker 0 00:00:57 <inaudible>
Speaker 1 00:01:09 Oh, right. Well, we are here with some wonderful meeting and event planners and we're excited to talk today. It is ladies day. It is ladies month. It is, uh, we're excited to have this discussion today. We have Lynn stout, Tiffany English, Sarah Bookbinder and Lynn Edwards. And, uh, ladies, I'm going to start top left Lynn who just so happens to be top left on my, uh, my screen today. Lynn, why don't you give us a quick background who you are, who you work for and what your primary industries are.
Speaker 2 00:01:44 So I'm Lynn stout and I'm the owner of bond events, which is a, uh, a woman owned female production company based out of Washington, DC. Um, we work internationally, but, um, mainly take, uh, organizations that are based in Washington DC and travel with them across the country. Um, we also run three venues, so we have one in San Francisco and two in Washington DC.
Speaker 1 00:02:07 Very nice. That's awesome. And have you been jumping into the world of virtual completely or you guys do an hybrid or what what's been your main over the last 12 months?
Speaker 2 00:02:16 Well, it's, it's interesting. We jumped in initially, um, in April of last year and trans transferred some clients over pretty quickly that had meetings that needed to be serviced very quickly. During that period of time, we, we built a platform, um, with our technical director and really, uh, you know, there was nothing that we could find initially off the shelf that we liked. So we really treated it like a, an, uh, an event venue and we sort of built the bells and whistles. We've ended up moving away from that platform for a variety of reasons, but, um, that's how we started. And, and now it's interesting. I mean, we're, we're working on a week in October where we have three events that are one is all in person. One is all virtual
Speaker 3 00:03:00 And one is completely hybrid. So we're seeing, we're seeing the gamut right now.
Speaker 1 00:03:04 Awesome. Fantastic. And Tiffany English, Tiffany, where are you from? What do you do? Who do you work for? You know, tell us five secrets. You don't tell anybody else. Give us, give us a quick download on now where you're from, what you do.
Speaker 3 00:03:20 Yeah. Great. Thanks Jordan. I'm from Chicago. So I, um, I'm enjoying a little bit of warm 45 to be weather after, uh, a bit of freezing, uh, snow temperatures. Um, but again, yeah, my name is Tiffany English. I am the founder of velvet, salivate marketing. Uh, we help people create and, and plan their own events as a marketing strategy to help grow their business. I also work as a full-time marketing communications coordinator for a downtown Chicago, the law firms. So I handle all of our corporate events there. And then lastly, I'm a founder of a network called women in business connect. It's a professional support network for women, entrepreneurs and professionals, and we thrive that through events and networking.
Speaker 1 00:04:05 Awesome. Fantastic. And what's been your kind of the last 12 months. What's your been your prime? Um, I guess mode of operation in terms of virtual versus hybrid versus in person, you know, all of that.
Speaker 3 00:04:18 Sure. Um, yeah, the last, um, I wanna say, yeah, almost a year now, a hundred percent virtual, um, looking into, uh, the outlook for 2021 is to hopefully go into hybrid mode, um, in the fall and at least, you know, have a good backup of virtual, but we're looking to really, at least, uh, for a small amount of, uh, attendees, uh, being able to do live in-person events, just sort of smaller scale, uh, hopefully this fall
Speaker 1 00:04:51 Outstanding. Um, outstanding. I love that. Lynn Edwards, the other Lynn here in Lynn with two NS. Um, give us a little bit, uh, give us a little bit of a download where you're from, who you work for. We already know you love Napa. Uh, so we, uh, give, uh, give us the download.
Speaker 3 00:05:10 That was the pre show. Yes. Hi everybody. Lynn Edwards. I'm the owner of proper planning. Uh, we're a full service event planning company based in Seattle, but we produce events all over the country. Um, and we produced it. We went from live to digital with an event in three days. Uh, we had a large association, um, second week of March and a week from the first diagnosis COVID diagnosis in Seattle. So we were on the front line three days, turn it around, got done. And we were like, what just happened? And so we ended up, we produced over 50 digital events last year on 18 different platforms. And we have a really diverse client base. We are also seeing like, I would echo what Linda has said that for the fall, we've got a hundred percent in person plan. We've got
Speaker 4 00:05:58 A sturdy group in Alaska. That's just going to ensure that they're happening live. And then we've got, you know, a hybrid I'm super excited about where we're going with hybrid. And then also we've got some that are staying virtual through the end of this year.
Speaker 1 00:06:11 Awesome. Fantastic. Well, that's a huge, that's a great mix. And then Sarah, I probably totally butchered your last name on the intro. I should have asked.
Speaker 4 00:06:19 No, you got it exactly right. And I was waiting for it. I was very impressed. It's Sarah Bookbinder. Um, and I am with meetings made easy. I'm actually in New Jersey, but the company is based in Las Vegas. Um, I'm a meeting broker, so I'm, I'm a reformed meeting planner. I was a meeting planner for 15 years. Uh, and now I work with meeting planners, um, admin assistants and anyone who's planning an event either for their corporation or association to help them typically in non COVID times, we focus mostly on the site selection and the sourcing, and obviously we've pivoted to virtual and we've just been working with our clients on absolutely anything they need for their in-person hybrid virtual events from happy hours to sales, kickoffs, everything in between.
Speaker 1 00:07:05 Awesome. Okay. And have you been mostly virtual for the last 12 months? And it's just been,
Speaker 4 00:07:12 I feel like a lot of clients were hesitant in the beginning to switch over to virtual. I think, you know, in March when we were canceling and rebooking, everyone had this idea that, Oh, everything will be fine by Q4. So we did a lot of canceling and rebooking for September, October, and then once it kind of looked like, you know what, this really, this isn't going away anytime soon. I think they became more open to doing the virtual. So I've worked on virtual for years. Um, I feel like I'm a hipster by saying that I did hybrid before it was called hybrid. Um, but I used to work on medical conferences and, you know, it was a one day conference, so we couldn't get the, you know, the Asia team or the Europe team out. So we just did kind of a hybrid at the time. And that was, you know, 10 years ago. So we, we very quickly pivoted over to virtual. We tested out tons of different platforms. Um, and you know, I think we all agree that there's no one platform that has everything. So, I mean, I haven't done 18 like Len, uh, but we've, we we've used our share
Speaker 1 00:08:08 For sure. Um, man, the last 12 months, uh, I guess, depending on who you talk to, some of it has sucked. It's been awesome. It's been, I would say life changing for everyone. Um, you know, none of us ever expected any of this to happen in the way that it did. Um, and then suddenly like everything blows up and there's this huge flood of try this, try that, do all this may make this virtual event happen. How do we fix, how do we figure out audio video, uh, you know, audio on all, this was one thing that nobody like we didn't think about until 12 months ago. And then all of a sudden it's like, Oh crap, how do we deal with this? Um, you know, we used to be like, I know for us as the company, we'd be like, Hey, hand this signal cable to the guy in the corner.
Speaker 1 00:08:52 He's the streaming dude. And you know, it's going somewhere. We're not sure where, um, but it has quickly become this. All right, now we have a focus and this focus is how do we deliver the best content to the people that need it no matter where they are in the world and deliver it in a way that people actually like it because frankly, sometimes delivering it isn't is not very, I guess the content is an amazing, so content makes a difference. So let's talk real quick. First off, um, you all move very quickly into the virtual landscape. What are two things that you look back now? 12 months in, I say, man, I wish I had known these two things before any of this started. And now that I've learned it, I would say my word, I would have been able to move into this so quickly. Had I known these two things? Um, whoever wants to go first can, I'm not gonna, I won't put you guys in order. What do you give me your thoughts?
Speaker 4 00:09:48 I wish I'd had more devices at hand initially, like, you know, more screens in my more screens purchase. And I wish I had bought a black magic box like a month earlier. Um, just a few years tech insights. Got it. Okay.
Speaker 1 00:10:07 So screens. Yeah. I mean the, the streaming boxes are critical. What else?
Speaker 4 00:10:11 And the amount of time it takes to plan it, you know, I, I don't think we initially took, because initially you had clients who were just looking good transition really quickly. So you had three days or you had a week, you had, you just had a really certain finite amount of time. So when we actually got into the real world of planning the event, we had an unrealistic timeline in our heads. So I wish that we had had sort of a, a more realistic kind of timeframe to plan these events. Cause they're really no different they're actually harder than, than in-person events to plan. Sure.
Speaker 1 00:10:42 Yeah, definitely. Yes, sir.
Speaker 4 00:10:44 And I wish that I'd had the examples that I have now to give my clients to kind of reassure them of what it would be like. Um, I, you know, I think in the beginning, like I said, everyone was hesitant, you know, they think, Oh, people want to travel. I had to cancel programs in Spain and Vegas and Miami people did want to go. And I think everyone was thinking, no, one's going to want to come to these virtual events. No, you know, our attendance is going to drop and you know, our ROI is going to drop and I wish that I was able to show them what I'm able to show them now and say, look, it's not a lot of times, it's the opposite. And you're able to expand. You're able to, to grow much more easily. Um, you may get a, a better attendance because people don't have to travel. They don't have to take so much time off of work. Um, and you have so many tools of analytics that you can show basically what your ROI is, you know, on paper. And so I wish I'd had these two kind of magic, uh, tools to be able to show everyone to kind of ease their fears of moving everything into virtual. We ended up having to, we, we actually put on an event to show our clients that it could be fun and it's still my
Speaker 2 00:11:54 Most fun event to date because we programmed it exactly the way that we wanted to program it. And that's how we gave ourselves like realistic, good examples to show to the client because there weren't any out there existing.
Speaker 1 00:12:06 Great, well, Tiffany Lynn, what are you?
Speaker 3 00:12:10 I wish I would have, um, personally just embrace virtual quicker, um, because we were so hesitant, especially starting out and, uh, when Edwards I was right there with you, we, we did a turnaround event, not, not as quickly as new day, but about a week, week and a half that we went into virtual, but I wish that we would have just, instead of doing that, wait and see approach just dived in, into did the research on, you know, getting the right platform right away. Um, and then another thing too is just reassuring more reassurance for our clients. Um, because I think they sense your hesitation and then they're like wanting to block out. So doing more of a open communication, this is what's going on and keeping them updated. Um, those are just a couple of things that I would have done quicker. Um, you know, obviously we didn't know this was going to last as long as it has, but just would have really just took the time to embrace the virtual aspect. Um, that's something that I would have done.
Speaker 1 00:13:12 Yeah. I was insanely resistant at first. I didn't even, I'm like, that's it? No, may and we're back.
Speaker 3 00:13:17 Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, for me it took that one, that first event, and I think we're all resistant, but the, um, and I think Sarah, you mentioned the analytics. I mean, they were through the roof, people were engaged. I mean, it was an impressive, um, information that we thought that we wouldn't ever have gotten life. And I think that's what kind of sealed the deal to keep going and just do it better and better.
Speaker 1 00:13:44 Huh? I like that. Very cool. Lynn Edwards. What are your,
Speaker 3 00:13:48 Yeah, I think, um, I wish I would have understood a little bit more about what the attendee journey was going to be like as far as getting onto the platforms. I really went into it a little bit, blinded around understanding the user experience as far as, um, you know, just everybody's instead of getting themselves to the Hyatt, uh, but their own GPS and escalator with the sign to get a badge and walk to the ballroom, it became this enormous lift. And I know we, you know, one event, we did 1500 in person and 15,000 online. And so the support, the red support that was needed and the access support, you know, we did an event for a couple of hundred people in a state agency. Well, everyone had their devices where like an IEP six or, or older, and they were trying to put them on a platform. So the lift that it took to get everybody quickly on, and we, we implement implemented some strategies about a little bit of a pre-con event, you know, one group with the 15,000, we did a movie watch the night before to let people kind of like having your own, you opened the day before, right. To get people in and get their, we were able to
Speaker 5 00:14:52 Troubleshoot the tech issues. Um, so just understanding kind of the, the guest goggles of accessing and at virtual event platform would have been helpful. And we tried to learn really quickly what those pain points were in course. Correct. And then secondly, I think, um, I, I've worked with great 80 vendors over the years and even live stream providers. And it was literally Jordan, what you said, you know, plug into live stream and let them do their thing, you know, fill the ballroom first and then maybe we'll stream for some, some others who can't be there, but just having the technology move to the forefront in the way that it did. You know, I had to create my own visual infographic to understand the tech stack that needed to happen. I just, you know, I put out an RFP that, you know, gosh, March or April for a virtual event.
Speaker 5 00:15:37 And I got a bid for 6,000 and a bid for 96,000. So the buyer experience of being an educated consumer was just like wild West, you know, and everybody, and I'd say, well, how many digital events have you done? And they'd said, Oh, well, we haven't done any yet. You know, it was like the true gold rush of these apps saying selling themselves as end to end solutions. And it wasn't until I got this visual in my mind of like each of the elements that I needed to decide, okay, do you do three of the five? Do you do one of the five and do it really well? That's great. So it's just understanding that tech stack a little better. And I don't think we need to be the pros. We hire people like you guys, Jordan and Lana and everybody. So it's something where you just have to know enough to be educated and ask the right questions and make comparisons
Speaker 2 00:16:19 Cool. But don't, you still feel like it's the wild West? I mean, I had three, I had three platforms come across my desk today, which were old. We've got people demoing them to check it out, but I feel like it's changing so rapidly even technologies we were using in November, December all went away for the break and did updates and change the whole thing because they had two weeks to focus on it. So then we had to go relearn them again.
Speaker 5 00:16:43 Yeah. So true. Then I'm on version three or four of some of the platforms we started with in the spring last year. And, um, so we, I understand there's like 120 plus platforms right now. We've, I've demoed personally about 65 demoed them. And I've had eight demos since the first of the year, either re a redo of an existing platform with new functionality or brand new platforms. So it's just, it is, it's a bit of the wild. And so to be able to consume it, you know, and I don't think the clients expected us to know every venue in the whole world, but you know, it felt like it was easy to get what you needed from the venues. And so this selection of a platform is, has just been, you got to constantly keep up on it and ask them, what's your differentiator? Why, how are you different the next platform? And they're learning how to even sell their learning, what that answer should be. So that to help us Wade through it right now, Lynn, I completely agree. And I think in addition to just because there is such a various, you know, especially with production, you know, when it comes to the $6,000 versus a $60,000 event, you know, meeting planners will typically know how to budget an
Speaker 4 00:17:50 In-person meeting because you know what you can sort of expect for food and beverage meeting room rental, AAV, uh, sleeping rooms and transportation, et cetera, you know, an onsite stuff, but this is something completely new to them. So I feel like a lot of my clients were getting sticker shock when they would get the, you know, the charge of what either the, the platform license is or the per registration fee or the production, which I really think production is, uh, an invaluable tool. You know, we're meeting planners. I don't have the capabilities. You know, you talked about having more screens. If I could, I would make this look like, you know, ground control, but I don't have all of the technology to be able to queue up all the videos and cue the presenters and have going on in the back. It's it's more like virtual production is more like a TV broadcast, like a news broadcast than a live meeting. So I think a lot of meeting planners first went into it thinking, Oh, I know how to plan a meeting, but it's a completely different ballgame. And so when they would get those, those rates, and especially because there was so very, they didn't know what questions to ask. It was so hard to know like what's too much what's enough. And what am I going to do to be able to fulfill the goals of my meeting?
Speaker 5 00:18:57 Yeah. Well, I felt like they were doing a zoom meeting. You know, they understood that. And then there was, they could have their own personal avatar and it was everything soup to nuts between, you know, I find, I found after 30 years in the business, I used to fight the good fight around production. And this is Jordan, your company, the sight and sound, you know, the I'd have clients really committee deep in the $5 difference between chicken or steak or whatever it might be. And they convincing them to make the ultimate investment in sight and sound. You know, I, I had a 10,000, our keynote speaker in my client wouldn't pay for stage wash and it was just this voice coming out as black voice. And I was like, Oh my gosh, if we're going to get one thing, right. They came to see here, not eat the chicken.
Speaker 5 00:19:38 Now we'll hear about it, the chicken or the steak. Wasn't great. But I'm just saying, like, it seems like it's a constant education process around investing in the technology and the audio visual, and it came to see and hear, and you need to make sure that's tight and right. And is an amazing guest experience. I don't know if you guys watched last night, the golden Globes, but when they had the first nominee, you know, the first winner announced it was, he was on mute or something and there was no sound. And I thought of every meeting planner in the world last night, as about what must that have been like to hold their breath and go, Oh my gosh, planning someone didn't menu. And here we are thought, yes, a prime example that it can go wrong. I'm with you Lynn validation,
Speaker 4 00:20:22 The one good thing that's come out of this. I think it's been, people's acceptance of these little glitches and these things that do go wrong, you know, a kid walk them to the shot or, you know, uh, your audio goes bad or someone's on mute or someone accidentally has a cat filter on their face. Like, yeah, we're all seeing into everyone's homes. We're seeing into everyone's life. So I think we've all become a little bit more, uh, you know, accepting
Speaker 3 00:20:48 Of some of these small little things, but when it's your event and you, it's your, you know, everything's on your shoulders are, you know, do you want to be the one who's responsible for making sure that, you know, Daniel Kaluuya is, is, is un-muted when he gets his award.
Speaker 1 00:21:01 And you're like, yes, you're like, where's the audio guys pushing the button. It's not working.
Speaker 3 00:21:06 Right, right. The podcast audience can't see, but I have a mug that says you're on mute with a picture of a microphone. I just hold up and then I take it. That's always me. You made a good point because you know, of course we want everything to go without a hitch, but, uh, a lot of times these events are, they, they make it even more personable because it's like, we've all been there. You know? And the fact that we're going into this, we were all kind of going into this together. So it's like the learning curve, the events it's, we're all altogether in this, I feel like, you know, when we first started, people were, you know, very aware that there were technical glitches and things like that. So they were definitely forgiving. Um, but even, you know, I think we can all relate to the, the cat filter and get a good laugh. Like it's all kind of bizarre way. It's made people, I guess, closer and understand the amount of work that events you take. Uh, before this, I, you know, people would be like, Oh, you're just smelling that planner. Oh, you know, you just, you're here to, you know, throw a party. And the fact that you throw in these virtual events and all the things that go behind it, I think people get a better sense of the effort and work it takes to put on, like you said, a production.
Speaker 1 00:22:25 Yeah. And it's a broadcast. I mean, that's really what it is. It does keep mentioning the cat filter. I assume you're referring to the video of the lawyers and the guy and the guy that got his face stuck on the cat filter that yes, I saw that last week. That was absolutely hilarious. And he had no idea how to fix it. And that was the best part. Um, you know, when we're moving to virtual platforms, each one does something different, they got some special whizzbang, like you guys said, suddenly two, we have two weeks off change everything, fix the whole pro you know, there are all these problems that everybody's trying to fix. Um, how did you, how have you navigated that, uh, that world of, okay. Do you start with, here's a list of all the things that I need and then go and find only the platforms that fill that list of needs, or are you kinda like you Lin, uh, Edwards demoing platforms constantly saying, I'm sure I'll find something that this, you know, that I need this one for, you know, at some point in time, um, talk me through the process of what that kind of that selection looks like.
Speaker 3 00:23:30 Well, I think, you know, being a professional meeting planner, we have to start at the highest level of what the goals are. You know, even when, and I look at it very similar to selecting a venue, you know, it's like, where is the event going to take place? So we use that model as a guide around let's our
Speaker 5 00:23:46 Requirements. Let's put out a request for proposal, let's understand we need a hundred rooms and 30,000 square feet of ballroom. We want to, you know, cool atmosphere. So we need to be at a resort. We need to, you know, let's talk about our goals and strategies, what our functionality, and then prioritize the functionality that exercise with my clients has been very interesting to be like, you may not get it all under one roof or on one platform. So the process of, um, really understanding our needs and keeping educated on the platforms to understand who does what, um, we keep a running list. I just found three new networking platforms that are plugins to an overall event platform. So I'm constantly keeping those in a bucket that say networking, social elements, you know? Um, and, and I have an amazing team of planners, a lot of digital natives that they just eat this stuff up.
Speaker 5 00:24:31 They love it. They love going and doing a demo and asking questions. And then we just, again, keep a big grid of everything. Kind of, it would be similar to finding venues and being like, well, we love that Arizona resort. We love that, you know, Boston downtown hotel, Oh, you know, uh, Senator a new product, uh, new venues coming online in Chicago. Let's make sure we know about that. Is it a convention center it's keeping up to date on that stuff? Um, we attend a lot of events where you can have the platform, watch the platforms, do a demo. Um, but I think one thing I want to say, it's really interesting when we started this, the clients were shocked that we would even be able to have an event platform. And in a very short order, they've gotten very particular Lynn, can you move that button over there to the right and make it green instead of red?
Speaker 5 00:25:14 And, you know, you're just like, Whoa, we just got you an automobile. And now you're asking for custom interior with pinstripe and white leather, like, hang on. Let's, let's, let's get the fundamentals down. And the, you know, make sure our speakers are not on mute. And, but it's really interesting how the demand, I don't know if anybody else has experienced that, but the kind of the demands of the client have escalated very quickly with custom everything. Um, and like Lynn, you said, you know, the platforms off the shelf. And so I just, I'd be curious to see what others say about their platform selection, but that's how we've gone about it.
Speaker 2 00:25:46 We have a, we have a list of about 19 questions we send to them that they come back like is networking important. Uh, you know, do you mind avatars, are you like all of these different questions? They fill it out. And then we really, uh, have digital digitized it with the platforms across what their things are. And then we can cross it off really quickly. Um, I think we had about 85 platforms that we just have files on. So we can go in if we need, you know, better, better information about them, but we really broke it down high level and then sort of we'd wheedle it down, whittle it down. And yes, I'm right with you. Linda Edwards that, um, we've given them an automobile and now they want a Lamborghini.
Speaker 5 00:26:24 Yes. Everyone's a virtual
Speaker 2 00:26:26 Expert. Now, now coders, like they're all probing websites and things that I just never in a million years thought we would be doing it this way.
Speaker 5 00:26:36 I was writing code on a back end of a platform last week. And my team was like, you need to step back quietly, no business here,
Speaker 6 00:26:44 Old dog, new trick. I don't care. Just get out of that writing code. I'm like, man, let me see what the hype is all about them.
Speaker 4 00:26:51 You see, I think in Lynn, Lynn, Edward, Edward, you touched on this before that. I think, you know, you're coming out actually from both sides. We have to understand the, the attending journey. It's so important. I, you know, I was a meeting planner for 15 years. I can never take that meeting planner hat off. I always kind of see things through that lens of who are your stakeholders? What are their goals? What's it going to be like, you know, th the same platform would not work with an older demographic versus a younger demographic, a more tech savvy demographic, uh, you know, versus a working mom demographic, just, you know, there's so many different, um, different things that you have to take into account. And so getting to know and understand their, their, their journey and their needs is such an important first step. But you have to have that basic in the back of your heads as like, okay, I know these 15, you know, 20 kind of go-to platforms.
Speaker 4 00:27:38 And I, and now that I find out what my client wants, I can put them together. So you have to have from both sides, you have to be constantly seeing what's out there, but also really making sure you're understanding what your clients want. And I I've talked to my clients about it before, because I feel like as soon as you have an event, everyone will say, Oh, w what platform did you use? Or what's your platform? And they, they think that they can then just use the same platform and the event will be exactly the same. And I like to say that, um, a platform is like a DSLR camera. It's like a great photographer with the right equipment, with an amazing camera can take an incredible Ansul Adams shot. Um, but if I just give someone that camera, they won't necessarily be able to take the same great pictures. They have to know how to use all the functionality, but also on the other end, I can give that photographer and I phone, and they can probably take a pretty good shot too, because they know what they're doing. So it's, you know, the platform and having the tools with functionality is a huge part of it, but making sure that the people who are running it and working on and looking at the meeting from both the technical and the content side, know what they're doing make it makes all the difference.
Speaker 6 00:28:44 Yeah. Tiffany, what about you in the marketing space? Where did that fall? So one thing we,
Speaker 3 00:28:51 Um, want to make sure we're aware of is the user-friendly, uh, friendliness of the platform first and foremost. Um, and it, you know, we've been talking about the, um, the attendee journey, but making it easy enough for people to at least, you know, log on, um, what I've noticed that there are so many different platforms and there's, you know, now bells and whistles and everything is getting more extravagant, but, you know, fundamentally people need to be able to access the effects, you know, easily. So we do look for that, um, to making sure that it's just in its sinful Sully publicity, that you can be able to have a good experience. Um, and then going from there, depending on the type of an event, um, right now we're into more
Speaker 4 00:29:42 Of, um, engagement tools, you know, what, what are the base best engagement ways with these platforms? Um, what can you do besides coli? What are, what are the things that we can really create a live experience virtually? So those are a few things that just as a shell that we look for, um, for most of us, and then we go from there depending on how to customize that event. Okay. Tiffany, I like to call that the, the grandma factor, the grandma, if I can get my grandma, my 95 year old grandmother for login and be able to access and go through the platform done. Yeah. That's a funny, Sarah, my mom attends all of our events and then I see her in the chat and I'm like, Oh no, it's not working. The sound's not on. That's true. Right. I mean, when you think about it, you don't want to underestimate someone's knowledge of tech and you don't want to assume, so that's a good, good way of testing things. Yeah. If, uh, if anybody purchased a platform, cause we did, we purchased two and I'm interested if anybody's going to re up on the same platform. So like, do you guys have workforce platforms that you use your go-to and then the others are ancillary or we'll have to talk about our individual platforms. Are we allowed to talk about them?
Speaker 1 00:31:09 Yeah. We're, we're agnostic to, to anything here. We're just talking about what people are doing. And so platform is, you know, it doesn't matter to me. It's great.
Speaker 4 00:31:18 So we did purchase a platform, um, because we're a broker, so we have different attendees and different meetings overall. Um, in our corporate corporate association, all industries, um, we purchased Visibo and we think it's really flexible and we're able to anything that's not native to the platform. We've been able to embed it really easily. I mean, it's, it's a very, user-friendly, um, kind of wizzy wig builder in the backend. So that's, that's pretty easy. My grandmother can't build one yet, but she can definitely go through one that's it's a thing when we purchased, I mean, I it's a workhorse, so I, you know, that's interesting. And then if they want the, you know, the avatars where they're moving around, that that's something different, but that's not the majority of the cases that we're seeing, uh, visible can, you know, handle everything they need for their meeting and everything. You know, that there are, like you said, you have to prioritize what are things that are the most important would you like to have avatars? Okay. But is that really necessary? Are people gonna use it? Is it going to enhance the user experience and if not then, no.
Speaker 1 00:32:21 Yeah. It seems like there's a lot of look at like the avatars and like the convention space. Um, I guess for my edification, like I personally look at and say that's kind of stupid, um, personal opinion, but how do your clients feel about it? Do they really like that sort of stuff? Does it actually add anything? And they say, Oh, I can see this little thing I made wandering around.
Speaker 2 00:32:47 I think people are so zoomed out anything that gives them an experience that doesn't feel like you're online, even if it's cartoonish is fun. And I find it two ways. It's very visual. So especially for older demographics that they don't have to figure it out on a keyboard. They can just point and click on the screen, which is great. But also it just feels like you've elevated the experience just a little bit. So I that's one of the main reasons I sort of tend to drive clients that are doing something that, that needs to be a little bit upscale to, to something with an avatar. Got it. Yeah. Okay. There's a little bit of a, there's a little more of a learning curve. I think with them feeling comfortable, moving around the space, you'll see that a lot of people kind of walking in circles in the beginning are bumping into each other.
Speaker 2 00:33:31 Um, but the, the technology has gotten so great with these platforms that when two people kind of come closer together, their voices get louder and you can hear each other or, you know, as you're walking away from a group, you no longer hear the group. And these are, these are kind of mimicking these feelings of Oh, being around people that we haven't had for so long since we've all been locked down. Interesting. So it will be interesting to see if it, to me, I don't know if it's sustainable. I think once we started easing into hybrid and live, the shiny new effect will wear off. Um, but you know, like I said, it's something an elevated, something different. Um, I just don't know how long it will last. I think once you do it, you're like, okay, that's another project. I mean, I just am working on hybrid budgets for clients for October and it's, they're gonna freak because it's, it's a whole different, I mean, basically you're planning three events essentially. Well, we have two sites and so, you know, it's two different production teams. It's, it's, it's a whole different world. Yeah. So I don't think it is sustainable, but I do feel like the price ranges of the platforms that are coming down. So you'll find a good stream platform, like stream yard or something. That's cheaper that you can get all this information out and it looks good, but it may be, it's not like the $40,000 platforms. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:34:49 Interesting. Did you feel like your investments in, in <inaudible> visit something? Um, like it was good enough that okay, great. For the next year I'm going to keep using this and our, our customers, our clients are very happy with this. They're getting exactly what they need.
Speaker 2 00:35:07 We have our license through July and frankly I'm not, I don't know if I'll re renew it. I'm not sure there's there. They're starting to be comparable platforms out there and we can build our own sites that, that kind of rival it. So I'm not, if the price point is the same as it was when we purchased it. I'm not sure we'll re up it. Although it's been invaluable this year, I couldn't have done my business without that platform. But, um, there are just so many now. I'm not sure we need that
Speaker 5 00:35:38 Level of,
Speaker 1 00:35:39 We can build it. I think that
Speaker 5 00:35:42 It's probably, you know, having such a diverse client base in so many different budgets and different priorities. Um, I mean, I had one client that changed platforms three times across five events last year. And I was just like, Holy smokes, can we just slow down and learn one and have your team? You know, like it was a lot, but they did not want to get locked into an annual with something. Um, I, you know, we had, we had some challenges with Visibo. I mean, they're, they do a great job at what they do, but we had some challenges. So it was really great to have the flexibility to go on another platform. You know, I had one client that all they cared about was the landing page, being this hyper branded. Like it was, it was crazy beautiful. It was all HTML. And they just linked out to zoom.
Speaker 5 00:36:24 They were like, we don't care about any of this move around to the vendors. We, they only had one key sponsor and they just wanted that to be amazing on there. You know, I'm thinking, I looked at the cost of that. I was like, wow, we did that in a page, on their site, in with beautifully beautiful branding, easy navigation. And they just went out to the zoom in back and they, they figured it out. But I think that it goes back to understanding what the priorities are and every platform has a different kind of what I think a competitive advantage. And I think the more consumers, you know, wild West, it just went crazy. Some of those rates just went through the roof once they knew the demand was just the only option in town. It was even platforms that we had tried that we really liked within one year they had tripled the, their fees. Wow. You know, we got in on the ground ground and, but they were just, they, it was like the gold rush. They were seeing this opportunity to scoop in this money, in the bucket. And it, so it's been a little, um, challenging to try to find the right platform. But when you do, I feel like for our clients, we need flexibility to kind of go back to the drawing board each time we have a new event and find the right tool.
Speaker 1 00:37:31 Huh. So then, and that's when you would use your, you know, the, the list, the grid and all that stuff and say, okay, customer comes to you and says, I've got an event that wants to be this drug launch, for instance. And then you can go in and you just pop it, you know, pull out the sheet shit, all enrolls 55,000 names later. And you're like, okay, one, two, three, four. And then you go to them and say, okay, here's where we think this needs to be, you know, pick from these
Speaker 5 00:37:57 Essentially. And that's why we wouldn't get into an annual type partnership with somebody. We need that flexibility to be completely agnostic because we need so many different solutions for different clients. You know, I think if your internal company having the same meeting over and over every month, then yeah, that makes sense to do an annual subscription. Same users get used to the, the UI and it's, but, but if you've got different clients with different, again, price points and budgets, I do want to share an interesting thing. I was on a, um, one platform asks 10 planners to come on and talk about what they need from the platforms in going to hybrid. All 10 of us had a different request. And I, so
Speaker 2 00:38:36 I felt for a moment, a little empathy about these platforms going, we're trying to build a tool and these 10, you know, pro planners, they, all, their vision of hybrid is completely different. I mean, there's one gal. She said something she's like, when we're not doing that, we're doing the exact opposite. And it was just in an hour call with 10 different planners and telling this one platform, what they did and did not need. And in the hybrid environment was quite interesting. This was army platform. Yes. There is a, I mean, but there is a cost baseline. So if you know, you've got six events throughout the course of the year and those six events can all use that one platform, you know, we've ended up making money off the platform, just having purchased it on a whim. We didn't know that we had options initially. And now it's now everything is gravy. Everything we do for it is so I'm glad we did it in that respect because it didn't prohibit us from doing others. But, you know, it's, it's good to, to think through how many events like events you're going to have to make sure it's exactly the same.
Speaker 1 00:39:37 Got it. Um, so many of you pivoted quickly, so Lynn, for instance, when you went to visit boo Visibo, whatever, um, did you make that decision? You know, you said it was like the only decision that you knew about at the moment, did you just, boom, you made that decision to move to it immediately. So July, I assume it's an annual contract, which means July of last year. So that was about three, four months after everything kind of really took off. Did you take that four months to decide on that? Or was it a beginning, July 1st? We need something we're picking this.
Speaker 2 00:40:09 So we had sort of been slowly looking for a platform when we started, but we were also building our own. So, you know, we started doing events with our own platform in may and June, and then we had an issue in an event and I just thought, Hmm, there's gotta be something better out there. That's off the shelf. Because I mean, I think like you, Sarah, you said, I mean, 10 years ago we were sort of doing virtual with live streaming and that had its own platform. We were television producers and moving, you know, microphones around there had to be something that was coming on the market. So we started really digging in and I didn't want to trust our platform again, even though it's great and it looks good, just the actual coding, but we're not coders. Like that's not what we do. Yeah. So I looked and we looked at sort of six or eight initially and landed on that one. So it was a pretty fast decision because we had a really big conference in July. We want to just service with the new platform for the reg portion. Um, so it was, uh, it was, it was pretty quick, but, um, I feel validated, especially when I hear other people think it's a workhorse platform as well. So that gut instinct was quite good.
Speaker 1 00:41:18 Got it. Uh, Lynn, Edward, Sarah, Tiffany. And if you guys, how quickly did you find the platform you're on or, or the ones that you use the most? I should say. Cause like some of you don't have contracts, so you're, you know, you did, was it a very quick or just as a per you know, per event basis, new client, new, new needs, all right, let's go find something else. Here we go.
Speaker 5 00:41:41 Election process again has been similar to a venue selection, you know, there's that process of identifying the needs, pulling all the tools together, putting it in some sort of summary where the client can say, okay, here's our top three recommendations. So as we started doing business on certain platforms that were really proven, we bubbled those to the top, just from a, uh, that confidence that they had delivered. You know, and one thing I will say about the platforms is that, um, it goes back to that visual tech stack that I had. Some people are great at reg, you know, and, and some people have a wonderful platform, but they're not live stream pros. You know, we we've been working with EVs out of the Seattle area. They do all the Microsoft shows. They did ignite 500,000 people on a stream for a week. You know, that's the kind of, um, experience I want in my stream provider.
Speaker 5 00:42:30 I don't want a platform that's just plugged in and off the shelf stream. That's like, eh, and nobody's really running it. You know, I need a stream team. That's going to be on it that thing's gonna fly no issues, you know? And so it, it's interesting because you look at your planning a live event, you've got a cater, an AAV, and you've got, you know, the reds deck, they got the decorator, you got the floor, you got all those pieces. It's very similar. I know I I've experienced in the, in the virtual events to put all those vendors together in the right puzzle to make it work. And so I just, I just want to go back to, again, reiterating the importance of production, audio visual, and the streaming partner, having a proven tool that can push this thing to 15,000 people. I wasn't willing to try a platforms like, well, here's a stream off, off the shelf stream plugin, you know, with no Nope.
Speaker 5 00:43:21 Expert that at that stream available to you the day of the show. And, uh, so I think it's important to look like just like it is with live events, to look at those vendor relationships and find the ones that you gain confidence in and that they are proven and they're available for, they understand your support needs. And I think that's just critical. And we did that when we did live events is as important as the platform really. I mean, have partners you can trust with your backup plans absolutely. That you want to know that they can handle anything that goes wrong. Like you want to know, you want to like put out what's the worst that can happen with the attack and being able to hassle and have your back. Um, for me, I look for referrals and like even events that I've attended, like I want to see it live. I want to see this in action. I want to hear from people. I know I want to hear the good and the ugly. So yeah. You know, researching a platform definitely took a longer in research thing, actually having the virtual event. I mean, and even then you're just still, you know, nervous about is this the right platform, because there's always things you don't think of until the actual event.
Speaker 3 00:44:32 Right. So something's running and you're like, Oh man, you know, that chat, that chat role should have went like this. So it's interesting that I don't even think, you know, even when you, you do all these platforms, there's always something else on the horizon. Maybe I should check this out next time. You know what I mean? So not even, and I think that's why, at least for me in a lot are so hesitant just to lock in on one single platform because you know, you don't want to miss out on the, you know, some new platform that's going to do something incredible or make the experience a little bit different. So I think that's why, at least for me, it hesitant to just really hone in on just one platform. Um, because I, I don't know, I guess I'm not loyal. I'd like to keep your options open. You're discriminating shopper. That's what I,
Speaker 1 00:45:22 And back to every, every event has its needs. Um, do you guys find that day of like support from a support standpoint from all these platforms is one of the most critical things for a platform to offer the day of support, like someone like a phone number, like you call this and that person can fix your problem kind of kind of deal
Speaker 3 00:45:42 A hundred percent. Yes. Possibly a dedicated person, not just, you know, someone that's going to answer or, you know, support, but like if we had a dedicated person throughout the planning and AI. Yeah, absolutely. I feel like that's gotten better because when we initially started back in June, July, they weren't, none of the platforms were equipped to staff us that way. They were all like, okay, here's our platform. You go do it. So we were doing it, but we needed support. And we really, I feel like I've helped them build these platforms because they didn't know what they didn't know. And until they had a whole bunch of users using it, it's, it's slowly gotten better. But, um, yeah, it's, it's extremely important to have somebody from the tech platform side paying attention. I also created, you know, new jobs. I mean, a lot of these platforms you reach out to freelancers.
Speaker 3 00:46:38 I know I've had how hopped on it, did some tech support for a few. Um, so it's, uh, it's interesting that this is now like a new, you know, maybe a, a job creation or a freelance where people can come in and really, you know, get involved in helping, you know, behind the scenes for these, uh, platforms. Yeah. I would equate it to, Oh, go ahead, Sarah, go ahead. No, I was going to say, I think it's, it's dangerous to think of I'm taking a, an in-person event and I'm just going to turn it into virtual and think that you can convert exactly. But I do think that if you go through the different parts of a, of an in real life meeting and you say, okay, we've got the breaks, how are we going to do that? We've got the entertainment, how are we going to do that? And then you get to the, you know, you have a CSM, you have a red coat or a concierge or someone who's there. If you have, if your attendees have a problem, you have your content, you know, answering content questions
Speaker 4 00:47:30 At the hospitality desk. How do you turn that into the visual component? I'm sorry, the virtual component. And then you have someone who's helping with the kind of the AAV and the logistical stuff day up. That would be like the CSM or, you know, the person who's helping the meeting planners on site. So there are some parts of an in real life meeting that you really do want to try and see if you can replicate them as best you can for virtual. Um, and I, I just wanted to say that I think it's dangerous to, to try and equate them exactly. Because people think like, Oh, I'm going to have a five day long, you know, eight hour a day virtual event, or, you know, cause that's what I used to do in real life. So those are some things that you have to think about, but definitely having day of support, you know, whether it could be a live chat, um, again, it's the, you know, it's the grandma factor, uh, can, you know, can people get through, will they know how to click into the different sessions? Um, that also factors into how soon before the event do you launch the website so people can get in there and they can kind of play around. That's something you can't really do when you're onsite. You don't invite them to the Hyatt or days before to try and walk the space. So they know where the, you know, the meeting rooms are. Um, but it, you definitely need to have that, that support in the front end and in the backend, I think for the planners and for the attendees. Yeah.
Speaker 5 00:48:44 Yeah. And I just want to add, I equate that to, you know, not having tech supports, like getting to a loading dock on a Sunday at 6:00 AM with four semis to unload and no one there to unlock the roll-up door. It's just it, you know, and it's interesting. Cause I've had a few platforms where like our support is Monday through Friday eight to five and I'm just like, that's, that's not when this is going to go down, you know? And, and I need a, you know, I need a nine one, one phone number and there's the front end support, like you said, Sarah. And then there's the backend support. And I, you know, I'll share, we had an event in July that was on a platform that was internationally based and they had an AWS update that went out one hour before our show. And it, the entire event did not launch.
Speaker 5 00:49:25 I had 87 speakers text me within 30 seconds. And in 30 years of planning, it's the first time I called it, like time of death. One hour in, we had to rerecord 35 hours of content and we delivered the content to the ticket holders. But essentially I was saying, you know, we, we didn't have the keys to the car. We could maybe look under the hood. But when we did, we didn't know what we were looking at. We didn't know how to fix it. So to have zero Nao, I was texting my contact person directly and I got zero response with, you know, 800 people and 37 speakers just like what's happening. And, and you know, it had, we had some communication. I, I equate it to sitting on a tarmac. Like if I'm in technology is going to break, planes might break. If you tell me, Hey, we're checking it out. It's going to be a few minutes. Or if you come back. So I expect you to communicate often and as comprehensively as possible, Hey, we've had an update. That's impacted our entire show. We're going to give us a few hours to fix it. Log back in at noon, whatever might happen.
Speaker 4 00:50:28 It's just, I feel like you need to be ready with that contingency plan and you need a tech support to tell you, are we dead in the water? Like, are we not happening today? Are we, there's a glitch, let us fix it. Give us an, a bias an hour. You know, when I was onsite, I could be like free beer in the lobby. Well, there's nothing over here. I can distract him. But you know, when you're on the technology platforms, you just, you have to have this like contingency planning where you're, but you need that back end person who understands the engine of the car too. That's on call that can say, you know, please deport the plane. We're not going to say
Speaker 2 00:51:06 Some of the bigger ones. Aren't communicating updates. And I mean, I've, we were affected two hours before, uh, an event, same way the whole platform went down, but they didn't send anything out to everybody. We just happened to be on the platform, you know, checking it out. And so I do feel like the better communication from the platform teams. And it's just something that they are not used to. Yeah.
Speaker 4 00:51:30 Yeah. I think virtually, I mean, me communication virtually versus in-person, I mean, in person you're seeing the needs of tech guy bundled with the mic and you're like, okay. But like you don't see them behind the scenes when you're virtually. So yeah. Like, I, I agree over communicating, letting people know, like, you know, consistent over again because, you know, I think we forget that, you know, virtual, you have dead silence and you don't know what's going on. It's like, you know, just black page. So, um, yeah, it's definitely a difference, um, versus, uh, being a live event. It's funny
Speaker 2 00:52:09 Feelings we all have had collectively, and we all know what the feeling is, but you could never describe it in a million years.
Speaker 4 00:52:16 I was just about to say that Lynn, when you were talking about that in your event, just suddenly everything went out. I think our forum meeting pled, our hearts just dropped collectively at the same time. Cause we can just feel what that feels like. It's funny because I, you know, we can, you know, we are, I would say the subject matter experts in that we're constantly looking at different platforms and constantly attending and setting up different virtual events. And that's really important, you know, that's, what's keeping us in business right now and we can tell our clients as much as, you know, as much as we can, this is what you need. This is what you don't need. This is, you know, we would highly recommend you invest in day of support in production, in whatever it is, but they're going to do what they're going to want to do.
Speaker 4 00:52:57 And it only took one time for one of my clients to have an issue where, you know, we had suggested like, we really think you should do the production. You have multiple speakers, you have whatever. And they said, well, we don't have the budget for it. We're not going to do it. Or, you know, we'll do it for the big days. We won't do it for the smaller dates in the middle. And they were going to go live. And what, you know, because she was using just her regular equipment, they tried to upload one of the videos for one of the presenters and it wouldn't upload computer died and boom, that was it. And everything was on their shoulders. And Tiffany, just like you mentioned, nobody knew that at that moment she was scrambling trying to send the video to someone else, get it up on Slack.
Speaker 4 00:53:33 So someone else can, you know, they just, they just hear crickets and it's, it's, you know, it's like a microwave minute too much longer than a normal girl playing committed to much, much longer. A virtual meeting is not working. Minute is like the longest minute that you can have. And they can't see you, you know, like a duck with your feet under the water, you know, moving as fast as you can. And so having that support and speaking to that, you know, having good communication with them beforehand. So you do tons of run-throughs and, you know, check all the equipment. Everything is, it's just invaluable. And I think, uh, platforms, you know, I think all these platforms they're creating them from their point of view. And you know, even the four of us have probably planned meetings that are completely on, you know, unlike any of the others have done.
Speaker 4 00:54:18 And so I may need a functionality that you would never, ever need, or you wouldn't even know that someone needs it until I'm doing my meet my meeting. So I think that the platforms that are going to be the most successful, are they going to be the ones who take the feedback from the people who are actually using it to, you know, taking the user feedback? We had a meeting or we were having a meeting, this is what we need. Can you do it? Why do we need it? You know, et cetera. So, um, I know that a lot of the platforms started out as other companies like visible, started out as a registration platform. And then they added the virtual component. I think Steven did too, you know, a lot of other, other ones, um, or they started out as a production company and they built a platform just like you did learn. Um, and I think that as long as they are flexible as well and taking that feedback and they just keep continuing to add, we'll just have better options that are, you know, that are more cost-effective as we keep going. Because like we said, it's not going anywhere. Yeah. I'm working on my stand-up routine for virtual events.
Speaker 2 00:55:20 I think the platform failures are as big of a learning experience as the successes. Like I wouldn't want, want it to have a year where I didn't have a failure because we learned our biggest lessons through the failures we had. So yeah.
Speaker 4 00:55:34 Yeah. I would either say you're having any failures. Like we did everything, right. It was straight your worst stories, but a little bit of time are the funniest ones. That's why I say my worst stories, you know, complete failure with a little bit of time, I'm going to make it really funny. We're all going to be able to empathize and get a good laugh out of it. I'm gonna remember your story. So if you need me to give you a story to tell your clients why they need to do something
Speaker 1 00:56:03 My throat, you said like, as soon as you said AWS global update, I was like, Oh my gosh, I can't even imagine I would've. Yeah, I would've probably fainted. I just been, I mean it, and you can't control it either. And that's the other thing is how many more things are out of our control in this world? I mean the, the miles and thousands of miles of cable and fiber and everything that's between you and your customer and the client and all of their attendees, I mean, and you have no control over any of it. And so, um, it's a totally different ball game, um, real quick. Wow. We're already the end. I can't believe that was an hour almost already. Um, number one, I want to say first off you guys are all awesome and you know your stuff and I love it. And I love to hear what you guys are talking about.
Speaker 1 00:56:52 Second off. I would like to do this again, but do it about hybrid meetings because that is where we're going. And I think that that is an incredibly important part for our listeners to say, okay, now that we know virtual works, now we've got to take it to the next level, which is hybrid hybrid is going to be just crazy. I, I I'm actually looking forward to it personally, cause I think that there's going to be some incredibly cool things that come out of this. Um, lastly, so I will let you guys sometime in the next couple of weeks, if you guys want to get back together and do hybrid, I would love to do another episode talking just about hybrid. Lastly. Um, thank you first off. Um, and then right before we go, just, I want to get from you guys the next six months are going to be critical to the success of many meeting planning companies, many production companies, people who man, the last 12 months for some people have been very tough. Um, what are two things and we'll go round Robin real quick, two things from each of you that you think that, uh, you know, live event professionals, meeting professionals should be focused on. Um, if they could pick only two things for the next six months to make sure that they are able to not only like coast through the next six months and get into the hybrid and in-person, but like really take that trajectory going upward. Um, we'll start with Lynn on the top left. Um, Lynn, what do you, what do you think,
Speaker 2 00:58:17 I mean, we're moving into hybrid now and the two things that have taken the most time are developing that the budget template to sort of really give you a foundation of what that's going to look like and a timeline for planning. Like I would spend the time and getting those two pieces for your, for yourself, right? So that at least you can eliminate, you can cross reference. Cause it was really thicker shot going back to the old in-person event and really matching it up with the virtual event. And it took a lot longer than I expected it to. I would start awesome. Tiffany. Okay.
Speaker 3 00:58:49 Um, two things I would say, um, definitely coordination. Um, we, you know, we were talking about a hybrid and just coordinating all the pieces because I don't think it's cookie cutter. You can't just, you know, this side, your virtual events and then, you know, do the elements vibrate. So coordinating the two and then, um, I'm going to echo with Lynn and just do timing, giving yourself enough time. Um, and, and I'll just throw this in and also, um, you know, pulling your, your clients
Speaker 5 00:59:22 And your audience, getting their opinions on where that, what it looks like to them, because I think it's going to be very different for everyone. So it would be great to kind of get a knowledge on what your clients think hybridness means to them as well.
Speaker 1 00:59:40 So awesome. Linen works. What do you think?
Speaker 5 00:59:43 I think it's about reinvention and I'm carving out with my planners. I'm an, I'm forcing them to take an hour each week. That's called re-invent and to go through lot that, you know, their clients, what they had live, what they had virtual and this reinvention of how this is going to look and feel and sound and be really, really creative. You know, there's this window, hybrid's a big term, a big umbrella. A lot of things are getting stuffed under it. Um, but I really want, I want our team and our planners to be thinking of every client and what hybrid looks and feels and sounds like for each one and to not what's the here today, not just stuff, everything that was live back into it, you know, to really think about the different audiences. One out there out in the ether went here and where do they intersect and where do they, where are their unique needs?
Speaker 5 01:00:26 And so I think, I think that's one of the things. And the second thing is to get your teams ready. You need a live team, needed an online team and get those, get those people trained up and ready to go get them on there. You know, just that team effort that's going to take to run two different, um, audio support to different audiences. So yeah, thinking team Sarah funnel, it's hardest to go last because I was going to say budget. I was going to say you get your teams ready. Um, I think it's really important to look back in the past 12 months and really try to understand your stakeholders, understand what kind of their comfort level is, you know, find out how many people are going to be comfortable to travel. So you can get these numbers of, are we going to have 40% attendance live or are we going to have 60, 80?
Speaker 5 01:01:09 Um, and then also the second would be to understand your resources. So who in your company can be tagged on to be a moderator during a virtual event who feels comfortable, you know, taking, taking this role and you know, who would be comfortable taking the role kind of with the planning. So I think understanding, you know, more than ever your attendees and your stakeholders, and then also understanding your, your resources and your teams that you have right now, because it's not going to be super easy job. You know, roles are going to change. People are going to wear multi, you know, lots of hats coming back. So what can you utilize that you already have around?
Speaker 1 01:01:43 That's awesome. Wow. Tons of knowledge. Tons of experience you ladies are awesome. Thank you so much. Um, for a really great time, um, hour just flew by and I learned a ton and, uh, I really had a great time doing those. Thank you so much for taking some time today to talk about virtual, talk about the events, the future, what it was like and what it's going to be like. Um, you know, as you said, I think it's still the wild West in many ways. And, uh, the next three to six months are going to be interesting. So, uh, thanks for everything ladies. We appreciate it. And uh, hope you guys have a great afternoon. Thanks.
Speaker 1 01:02:23 Thanks for listening today. Really appreciate everything that you guys do each and every day as professionals in the events industry, live events is our favorite thing to do. There is absolutely nothing like it. We love it with everything inside of us. And our goal is to make sure that we are better every single day. I hope that today brought you a little bit more information on virtual events, on how you can be a better professional to make better decisions and do the best show you possibly can. Thanks so much for listening. I hope you guys have a great day, share it out, tell people about it, let them know that gig ready is the place to come and listen to the best content to get the best information on doing better live events. Thanks and have a great day.
Speaker 0 01:03:09 <inaudible>.
