Speaker 0 00:00:00 This is the gig ready podcast.
Speaker 1 00:00:02 <inaudible>
Speaker 0 00:00:17 Hey everybody. Welcome to gig. Ready. We are here today with Antonio at Geary, a two audio Xtrordinair master of all things. Uh, and we are excited to talk about being an audio guy and being part of an audio team here in the live events industry. Um, I think that one of the most important and critical positions within the audio industry and within live events in general is the a two he's the guy that mikes everybody up. He's the guy that, uh, does RF coordination. He's the guy that manages the backstage. He's the guy that is the last person that many people see the moment before they take the stage. And so a huge opportunity to impact and influence those people right before they go on stage and their confidence, their ability to perform and present, uh, and just playing all be awesome. So, Antonio, thanks for being here today. We appreciate it.
Speaker 2 00:01:20 Thanks a lot for having me do it. It is an incredible honor to be interviewed by such a person that I find, uh, a huge inspiration. And I, uh, I, I, I coerced you into, uh, taking me under your wing in some other facets. So I, I believe me the honors mind, dude,
Speaker 0 00:01:35 I assume you're talking about the guy behind me
Speaker 2 00:01:40 Playing keys, play our jingle jingle.
Speaker 0 00:01:44 Exactly. No, we'll we'll, we'll put that in. Don't worry. You'll you'll have the intro jingle. It'll sound awesome. And you'll love it. Um, so let's go back all the way to the beginning. Ultimately, my goal with gig ready, just to kind of give everybody up a synopsis is gig ready is the idea of how can we be better tomorrow than we were today. We can be more gig ready to go out and do events do shows because ultimately we want to help our clients have the best experience, the best, uh, opportunities to grow, to get better, to learn how to sell more. And when they're successful, we're successful and vice versa when we're successful, they can be successful. So let's talk first off. Um, you know, you and I have done many shows together. You have done such a great job of handling the, a two position, the audio. What do you see as your, what is your, um, idea of an a two, when you come in and approach, approach doing an event as an a two, how do you approach that? What is your idea of doing that?
Speaker 2 00:02:49 Well, it's, uh, you know, th the, hopefully there's some emails that have come in with some, some prep work that's been done by, uh, the Awan or the TD or somebody that, that has a plan of as a list, you know, and that's always a good indication about, um, what kind of show that's going to be, that's going to be happening and, and kind of the ones that, you know, and sort of the things that I'm going to be responsible for. Um, it's funny, I did a show, one of the, like one of the second or third, like real, real big shows that I did, um, was in Dallas and I got there and I was, and I introduced myself to the Awan who I'd never met before in my life. And he, uh, and he goes so urinate too. And I said, yeah. And he goes, okay. Um, well, if you're an eight two, and there was another guy standing there and you're too, and there was another guy standing there too, as well as four of us standing there total. And he goes and urinate too. So
Speaker 3 00:03:36 Who, so where, where do you come
Speaker 2 00:03:39 In? He said that to me and I thought, Oh man, I, you know, I'm going to be honest. I really don't know. I mean, I tell him that, but it's like, you know, you're like, Oh, well, um, so he goes, did, did Aaron who the client was? Did she bring you in? I said, yes. He goes, okay. So you're representing the client. And right then and there, I finally understood what my position was when she asked me to come in and do a show rather than to come in and be a technical person of any kind. I mean, you have to have the technical background and she's going to find that out by talking to the Awan, because she has a relationship
Speaker 3 00:04:07 Long before, you know, a long,
Speaker 2 00:04:09 You know, upstanding relationship with the <inaudible>. Well, before she has one with me. So when she brings me in to eight two for her, she's going to get the idea from the Awan and say, Hey, does this guy really knows what he knows what he says? Does he know enough? Um, how is he with you? Does he, does he use establish a good relationship with you? Can you find yourself working with him again in the future? And then, you know, because she knows that she likes me. She likes me for how much that she deals with me when sometimes on that show specifically, it wasn't very much at all. Honestly, we were there, we were in Dallas for 10 days loaded in for four. Um, and I think I saw her maybe twice every day. And that was, I mean, we were in like the, the Dallas convention center that's connected to the, to that one downtown it's, it's huge.
Speaker 2 00:04:51 Um, and it was like, you know, 4,000, 5,000 people, large show. And again, a guy had no idea what we were doing day on day. I mean, when I had gotten there, most of it all was already hung and ready to go, you know, and same with the <inaudible>. I talked to him once per day. I mean, for two or three days, we were stood on calm and read a book. And every once in a while I would, I would page him and go, Hey, man, you're out there. And he's like, yeah, I'm out, I'm out here, I'm out in front of house. Would you what's going on? And I was like, nothing. I'm just,
Speaker 3 00:05:16 You know, what are we doing? And he's like, we're waiting there building,
Speaker 2 00:05:21 They're building the show when we're waiting. And I was like, okay. He goes, stay on, come. And that was it. I mean, like, you know, you're like, okay,
Speaker 3 00:05:28 So the, you
Speaker 2 00:05:29 Know, so it was like, it's, it's, it's weird because in my, in my role, when I'm brought in by a client and there's a new a one every time I have to, re-establish my S my relationship with this person, they say one right off the bat. And it's kind of a, it's kind of a weird line that I have to sort of toe where it's like, I have to look out for our client because a lot of times I'm her representative, if you will, or at least that's how I, that's how I approach it. I'm her representative for the audio department. If the audio department is not familiar with her way of, of, uh, operation, if you will. Um, not that it's like special by any means, but everybody operates in a different way. You know, everybody runs a ship a different way. Everybody's the captain in a different way.
Speaker 2 00:06:07 So it's kind of my responsibility to kind of catch them up to speed. And then, but at the same time, not act like I'm their boss, cause I'm not, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm there to serve them. I'm there to serve the client more the client than I am them. I would say it's probably 70, 30, but, uh, but I have to make sure that I set them up the audio department up with success with how much that I know. Uh, and then at the same time, you know, just make sure that I'm not overstepping my, my, my role in with the audio department. You know, as soon as I kind of prep them, I let them prep me. Cause a lot of the prep work comes on there. And with again, like we'll go back to the type of gear. So we'll just say, you know, if I could see a list of gear and I go, okay, so we have 12 channels of wireless.
Speaker 2 00:06:47 That's a good indication right off the bat of how many speakers I'm going to deal with per day. Um, how, you know, what days does the show start? So you're like, okay, we flew in on Sunday, we're loading it on Monday. And the show starts on two on Wednesday. So you're like, okay. So I got a couple of days of load in maybe one day a load in, that's not a lot of stuff. You know, that's not a lot that we have to get done. It's not a huge room. It's probably not going to be a huge show. Probably not a ton of presenters. I mean, not a ton of people like in the audience. So again, you're to, you're looking at thinking about, okay, there's not a lot of people in the audience. There's probably not a lot of PA. And if there's not a lot of PA, there's probably not a lot of backstage space.
Speaker 2 00:07:19 So now I have to kind of, you know, you're, you're sort of imagining this world until it gets built, just so that, you know, I mean, you were saying about how we always want to make sure that our show is kind of the best that it can be up to that point in technology, in our, in our relationships, in our, our, our, our interpersonal communications, it's the same stuff backstage. How much can I gather from this list to be able to imagine how well it's going to go for the rest of the weekend in the space that I'm going to operate in and how far ahead can I mentally get, you know, ahead of that stuff. So that nothing catches me off by surprise, you know? And, and, and if it does, at least I'm, I'm prepared for, you know, options, a, B and C. It's like, you know, you go to home Depot and I tell the guys, here's what I need to do. And they go, okay. And I go, now this is plan a, I'm going to also purchase plan B and plan C and then plan C 0.2. And hopefully I can make a, you know, I can make a solution by all those things that I'm buying, you know, by the store and bring it home. You can always return it. Yeah. But if I, you know, if I got to plan ahead, at least it's not so bad.
Speaker 0 00:08:25 So as an AE to flexibility within the confines of what you're handed, because most of the time you're handed something that is already established, like the plan is already there. And the Awan has, has executed on gear list. He's executed on, you know, PA he's executed on wireless, he's received all this information. And so essentially you're coming in saying, all right, my job is to take what I'm given and make the absolute show out of it possible to ensure that the client, my client, the end client gets exactly what they've desired and what they've paid for.
Speaker 2 00:09:06 Yeah. A hundred percent. I mean, the, um, we, we did it, you know, one of the first so that you and I did, I realized that there wasn't an just as just a simple example, there wasn't enough wireless come on on the order. That's nobody's fault. Because a lot of the times the, the audio department who's providing the gear, they don't, they just say, this is what we will give you will that work. Um, and it doesn't really like, and, and even the TD sometime goes, yes, sir, that'll work eight channels. That's, it's pretty standard. You know, they get a standard amount and then we get there and we start handing it out. And all of a sudden everybody's like, I got a wireless comm. Right. And you're like, yeah, cause I've never met these people. I don't, I don't, I don't know. I don't wanna say no to them, you know?
Speaker 2 00:09:44 So you just start handing it out. Now, listen, you look down. You're like, I don't have one for the client. She definitely needs one. She definitely needs the best one with the best headset and the best, you know, and the best cable. And that looks the greatest and it's cleanest and all this. And then you go, I already handed them out. So then you go, all right, I'm going to start asking for them back. So therefore I took that example. Then I went ahead and I did the next show. And I said, Hey, man, we're going to need, I should, we should probably need like 12 channels of wireless, maybe two extra wireless headsets. And he goes, okay, I'll I have on the order is eight. And I have 10 in the shop. So I'll bring two more. And I'm like, okay. And so we get there.
Speaker 2 00:10:17 And so we start handing them out. And then I kinda, you know, again, you're towing the line, that flexibility line of like who, you know, and, and I, I was trying to establish a way to ask people, not ask them another, another way of who are you and what do you do, right. You really need this. What does he do? Right? Because like, yeah, exact, do you need this? I'm not gonna, but it's like, I don't want to ask like the executive VP of like operations who owns the building and any, and he's like a president of the world, you know? And you're like, you don't want to ask that guy that question. So I came up with a way of asking it, I think the way I have to remember, cause I haven't had to ask it for a while. Cause I've gotten to know these people more often.
Speaker 2 00:10:56 But, um, and hopefully that happens. Let me be clear about that. Hopefully in, in people's worlds and in their business and being a freelancer and, and owning a business and owning equipment, hopefully at some point you're always continuously doing the same shows year after year and only adding like five to 10, in my opinion, five to 10 new shows a year, because two things happen. You establish a great relationship. So it's returning business. And then number two, you're staying within technology and you're staying at your, with the game, updating yourself and updating your relationship skills, technology skills, equipments skills, gear skills, show skills by doing these new shows and these new requests from new clients. But eventually, hopefully you kind of get out of that. Like I still don't know who you are and I don't want to ask who you, what you do. So the thing I came up with was, um, you know, Hey, it's really nice to meet you, shake their hand, you know, nice firm, warm handshake, uh, and then ask them, what, what kind of answers could I go to you for?
Speaker 2 00:11:53 You know, which was a nice way of saying, who, who are you and what do you do? And then that's like, that's a great question, right? In the <inaudible> world. It's like in parentheses, you know, a lot of parentheses that they'll never see. Do you deserve this wireless headset? Yeah. Can I, can I give this to you without getting in trouble because I got to get it? Somebody else who's more important or are you literally just a guy that walked over here? Who cause you got, I mean, this has happened to me a million times before four PA's walk up and they go, Hey, can we get one of those headsets? And I go, um, yeah, sure. Um, what or another great question is, what department are you in or, or, or not, what are, what are you, you know, cause I find not using the words you or I in, in any of those questions does meet very well.
Speaker 2 00:12:33 So I always say, um, and, and what, what departments should I, should I assign these out to? Right. And they go, Oh, well, I'm, I'm um, I'm a production citizen and I go, Oh, okay, no problem. And um, so I don't really have enough right now, but I'm going to hand these out a couple of more people that have already reserved these and then I'll let you know. But, uh, w w I know we have a ton of radios. So at the end of the day, you're going to get some radios faster. You'll have communication, but the idea is you want to make feel in my world, in my, in my approach, I always want to make people feel like they are, they are accounted for, you know, and, and that's just like life skills, man. I mean, I remember, I remember listening to Oprah one time after she did her show her talk show for a gazillion years, and everybody gets a cars.
Speaker 2 00:13:15 She here, you know, ran out of cars to give, uh, she goes, you know, and after interviewing people for like a gazillion years, everybody just wants to be validated. They just, they just want to be listened to, they want to know that they got listened to. And so I took that forward and I was like, yeah, okay. So you just gotta make sure you hear them and you understand them and that you were, and that you, you, you, you give them the accountability, you know, like the, the, the accountability that you, that you think of them. And you're like, you're an important human. And I want to give you this headset. I want to listen to you. I'm not going to pass you off. I'm not going to go. You're just a PA. Cause we were all just PAs at one time. Let me be clear about that. Right. We were all there at one time. Hear them out. So tell them no. Yeah, yeah. And hold them know nicely. Tell them you're going to get one. It just won't be today. Uh, so, uh, sorry.
Speaker 0 00:14:05 He didn't bring 30 wireless <inaudible>
Speaker 2 00:14:10 This stuff is expensive and the client doesn't have enough for him. So, you know, I took that ahead and went to do that show in. Oh. And I got there and, and they just, you know, it, it was like not a lot of people for, I asked for wireless comment, I had enough. And then, you know, I would continuously ask that question. And then it's funny because you find out pretty quickly, like when you ask people those sorts of questions, they'll, they'll break it to you. Real real. They'll get real with you. And they go, you know what, dude, I don't really need to where it was pretty fun or wireless headset. And I go, Oh no, you don't. And he goes, nah, I just I'm like the LD, like three, three guys down. I don't, I don't. It's cool. I'm sitting next to him.
Speaker 2 00:14:48 It's from Sydney. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Whatever. It's not that those positions are not important. He just was like, he could see the concern on my face that we don't have enough. I can't just be handing them out. You know, I'm not Santa Claus here. And so he just goes, you know what, if you have extra, let me know. I'll, I'll take it from it. If you don't then no, no, don't worry about it. I was like, okay, cool, man, you get my concern. You get my, you get my worry. I go, you can see the worry on my face. He goes, I hear you, buddy. It's all good baby. And he walked away and I was like, well, that was easy. He said, no for me, you know? Perfect. So,
Speaker 0 00:15:19 So wireless, calm is one of the last things that you tend to deal with. Walk me through a quick step-by-step load in. Here's what I do. I walk in the door at seven 45 because I'm early, I'm ready to work. And boom, here's what I do in this, you know, rough order.
Speaker 2 00:15:40 Yeah. So typically if it's a fly day, we'll fly. You know, I used to fly out like the very last flight on my, that a possible. And then I would get into like 1130 at night starving and then try to find food that doesn't exist and you know, nobody's open and then get up the next morning and just be wrecked. Cause I spent, you know, three hours on a flight and then you're hungry and you didn't go to bed. You went to bed way late. And you're like, Oh God, it's a nightmare. So then I did it. You know what? I'm going to have dinner. When I get there, I want to be comfortable. And I did that. So then I did that and then I went out and then I was talking to these guys and they went, Oh yeah, I found the room last night.
Speaker 2 00:16:13 And I'm like, Oh damn, I got to find them. I got, I got to do that. I got to, I gotta like map my space out so that tomorrow morning when I go to Lowden, I'm not stressed out about it. So I, I started then I started doing that. So, so, you know, let's say you're flying in Sunday, Sunday night, you have dinner, you go walking around, walk off the cabs, you know, walk off the carbs, you're eating and then go find the ballroom and I'd find the ballroom. And I look inside and go, okay, this looks like a ballroom, maybe walk the backstage space. You know, I don't want to take a ton of time because it's like, it's also my time as well. And um, and I walked the backstage area, not the backstage area, but like the, the service hallways and go, okay, this is where we're going to be great.
Speaker 2 00:16:50 And I walk away. So then the next morning when I walked down there, it's familiar and I'm comfortable. So at seven 30, when I leave the route to hotel room at seven 30, seven 40, you know, you got your cop coffee in hand, you got time to stop at the Starbucks or whatever you get into the room at quarter to tend to. And the first thing I do is try to find the TD and then try to find the audio guy or the, if I don't know him, then if I can try to find the audio department, um, it's perfect. Actually, this question is perfect. The last show I did out of town in DC was, was exactly this, exactly this. I had no list of gear, no maps, no, um, no drawings, no emails, nothing. I didn't even know the audio, the audio company's name.
Speaker 2 00:17:25 Um, because I had done this show specifically so many times in the years past with this, with this client that I have a great relationship with. She doesn't, I don't, you know, and it was a new TD. So I don't even think, I think he maybe had my email. So it was, uh, you know, uh, a crew letter and some information so enough to enough normal stuff, but nothing real technical, which is fine. So I find the audio guy, I introduced myself, I say, do you have, do you know, do you have some, um, do you have some drawings I can look at, I'm just looking for a list of gear. I just want to try to insert myself and be helpful in any way I possibly can. And, um, that show he had because he owned the company and he had, uh, he owned all the gear that was providing the audio departments equipment.
Speaker 2 00:18:05 He had brought in a bunch of freelancers and staff guys that he had helped set his stuff up. Cause we had kind of a tight loading. Um, we didn't have a lot of time and kind of allowed to do so he had all that taken care of, and I, I tried to insert myself as much as I could to, to be helpful and, and try to offer help in, in any way, you know, and I, I would run some cables in, in, you know, and kind of, you know, help out, um, running, running stuff as much as I could, but their guys knew their stuff so well that it was like, wow, I feel sort of out of place. I feel like I'm being lazy, you know? Um, and then, you know, I just try to, you know, again, establish a great relationship with him and then, and then, um, you know, and, and try to also very importantly, establish the goals at the end of the day. What do we want to do before we get out of here? What has to be done? And then I, and then what's, what's, what's our ask list of ourselves that we can be really comfortable again, to try to get ahead of tomorrow. Um,
Speaker 0 00:18:56 Yeah, so not just be the bare minimum when six or seven o'clock rolls around tonight, but we want to know that when we walk in tomorrow morning at 8:00 AM and when they told us the client was going to be in at nine 30 and then suddenly at eight 10, they're telling us, Oh, clients walking in at eight 30 now. Right. You're already, Oh, boom microphone.
Speaker 2 00:19:18 Yeah. I mean, you know, and so exactly right, dude, you're absolutely right because that's going to happen. And, and, and if it doesn't happen to you, then you got a gift, but let's pretend that's always going to happen. You know, it, all rehearsals starts, starts at two 30. We're going to pay for tech at two or at noon. Okay, great. Let's pretend we're going to pay for tech at 10 because that will always get pushed up because somebody's schedule all of a sudden opened up and he wants to show up and they don't want to tell him no. So, uh, you know,
Speaker 0 00:19:40 Everybody wants to start the paper tech earlier anyways. I mean, especially stage managers and stuff they want to get, they want to get it written down. They want to get, you know, everybody wants stuff done. We, we want to build in as much margin as possible into a job. So. All right. So you've talked to the <inaudible>, you've got some paperwork, you've got some, you know, you've got some information drawing, whatever, where, where are you going from there?
Speaker 2 00:20:05 Yeah. So then I will establish my space backstage, um, and not necessarily like my, my like, ownership of that space, but just say, you know, again, you always want to establish relationships with, with people everywhere and I'll usually go to the TD and say, or, or, and, or the assistant stage manager, the ASM and just say, Hey, um, where would we like to mic people up? Where do we envision that happening? Um, because then I'll, I'll, I'll be able to kind of build a mobile office if you will, in that area. And then also mentally prepare myself for being like, okay, we're going to stand him here. And this is where we're going to be. I probably need a little bit of light to see, okay, cool. You know, this is where he's going to want to set his coffee down. And guys are going to have a coffee. Let's have some flat space. You know, my, one of my old bosses used to call it the crap catcher, the table in the shop that does nothing, but literally just crap, you know, catch crap. No, but that, it's a place you can, let's go to the table up. At least we have somewhere to like, you know, it's not on cases, you know, we're not leading coffee on road cases.
Speaker 0 00:21:00 I have that table. I need to hang a sign over it that says the crap catching table
Speaker 2 00:21:05 Catcher. Yeah. You know, and then if you haven't listed at the end of the day of things that need to be done, the last thing on that list is clean the crap catcher. Yep. Exactly. Because you know, there's stuff there that
Speaker 0 00:21:16 Where else that's right. So you clean your space or find your space. You establish an area, um, gear starts rolling in the door normally by about this point in time or, or at least your gear, because your gear is never the first thing off the truck. So,
Speaker 2 00:21:32 You know, and that's okay.
Speaker 0 00:21:34 So what's happening after that.
Speaker 2 00:21:36 So we're kind of getting into the, we're kind of getting into, you know, at this point it's probably 10, 10 30, and then, um, you know, we usually send the local crew at, on coffee and that's a perfect opportunity for me to again, touch base with the Awan and see where he's at in his day and see where I can catch him up if he's behind or, and then, um, and then ask them and say, Hey, um, do you have any, uh, kind of wherewithal on the show? Have you worked with the stage manager before? Have you worked with the show caller before? Have you worked with the producer before the EAP before? And a lot of times it's no, which is a great, I always hope that that's the case. It's a lot easier to establish them if they haven't with zero knowledge off the bat than it is with like a little bit of knowledge, um, because you almost have to like retrain them, but when they say, no, I go, great.
Speaker 2 00:22:20 This is a perfect opportunity for you and I to really get tight and establish a really strong connection because we're going to be working a lot with each other for the next five days. And we're going to be jamming in each other's ear all day. Um, great. Let me walk you through it. So I'll, I'll usually say, you know, this client will always look for BGM. Let's say, I'm gonna use this. This show is a perfect example. You know, I go very often, we're going to be sitting in paper check, right. And we're going to be sitting there and she's going to be calling a few cues and we're going to kind of get it going. And all of a sudden she's going to go, okay. And BGM is rolling. And that is your cue to fit, to fade that up. You know, and I've had a lot of a ones in the past who have worked at the EAP before a bunch, but not the show caller before.
Speaker 2 00:22:59 And when the show caller did say that a one just stood there and no music, which is very accepted, you know, very acceptable and very, very, um, expected. I never I'm, you know, I, that happened to me mentally when she goes, okay, BGMS rolling. And I waited for her next call and she goes a one, a one. And he looked over at her and it looked at, and I looked up and I was like, did we miss something? If something is broken, is a broken, you know? And I just go, yeah, we can hear you. Cause I thought she was talking about a calm thing. And she goes, no, why isn't BGM rolling it up. Can you fade it up? And he goes, Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't have it. I didn't have it going. Cause again, it's a paper tech, you know, we're just writing cues on paper.
Speaker 2 00:23:35 So some people's definition of, of rehearsals and paper text specifically are different than others. So I try to establish that with him. And I go, I want to set you up a one with best possible show to Jordan's words, uh, that I possibly can. So I said to him, I go, when she says BGM role and you fade that thing up a thousand percent at all times, every single time, just do it all the time because you're going to, you're going to, even if she doesn't want it, she knows she she's, she's just go with the idea that she does, mom. Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:24:01 Creates that mental note, that confidence of, Oh, he knows what I want and he's listening to me. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:24:08 Yeah. And he's hearing me, you know, and, and, and I'm being taken seriously when we do this paper tech, uh, because I think a lot of times in my experience, a lot of, a lot of times, some show callers, um, kind of frustrations can be established when they're doing a paper check and none of the departments are ready. Right. And then all of a sudden it's like, she's calling a few things or he's calling a few things and nothing's happening, you know, or like not enough is happening. And they're like, guys, let's get into it. Come on. And we're like, Oh, sorry. We're not, we're not ready backstage. And that's not anybody's fault, but we're like, you know, so to go back on your thing too, it's like, and that again at that break at that 10, 10 30 break I'm, I'm asking him to like, okay, what are our goals we want to get done at the end of the day.
Speaker 2 00:24:50 And, and that you tell me your goals. He does. And I say, great. And he'll go. And he'll usually say, what do you know? And I go, I know that we are going to want to be ahead of our times tomorrow as I'm sure you do. And he goes, yes. And I said, so the things we should have in line in, in the past is we should have microphones heard in the line. We should line check our stuff. Let's make sure everything working. We got to make sure commas is at least if not rolling. And, and our wireless is established that we can maybe even get hardwires established wireless comm is more important in that situation when we have a tight loaded than wired calm. Cause I can always drop packs in all day. Some guy shows up and goes, Oh, I'm sitting here. Where's my pack.
Speaker 2 00:25:27 I go right here, plug it in cable headset, gone. Wireless comm is way different. When you have to scan for frequencies, there's no interference. It's not jiving with the house, uh, frequency stuff. It's not jiving with another free speaks, um, frequency stuff in the next room, another show, you know, uh, another pack or another, another, uh, base station. Um, I want to make sure that that stuff's full-proof because when the client shows up, which they will and they go, Hey, you got a headset for me. I want to, when I hand it to her, I want to be able to, to tell her it's show ready. Yeah. Then, then totally gig. Ready, ready to go then to be like, Oh, you're just, you know, here you go. But I might have to make some adjustments, you know?
Speaker 0 00:26:02 Um, nobody, nobody wants that. So crew comes back from coffee, 10 30, 10 45. Where are we going from here?
Speaker 2 00:26:11 So from here, we're going to, we're going to try to, um, get the PA probably hung, ideally, um, maybe making some noise before one o'clock before lunch. So that way when the crew walks away and everybody in the room is quiet, we can eat Q the room. And we got RTA Mike's out in the, out in the house and we got our, our, our software is talking to our console. You know, um, some lines in the, in the Dante network is, is run and, and connected. And we're at least seeing the stage box backstage or the, or the, um, the snake head, um, you know, console at least is talking to all of our devices. And then, uh, and then we go to lunch and then,
Speaker 0 00:26:47 Or flown or ready to fly by lunch, you know, so that they get some quiet time.
Speaker 2 00:26:54 Right. Exactly. I mean, again, it depends on the, on the day, right? So that specifically Dave, we had one day a load in tech was at noon the next day, or like 11 or 10 the next day. So we really had to be like, if not already very close. Um, and then whatever we were fixing or, or finishing the next day was offline. Right. It was me backstage running around dropping headsets and, and figuring that sort of thing out or, um, so yeah, so we wanted to be ready to go and, and have our, have our, you know, probably subs aren't going to be placed because the deck usually has dropped at noon, you know, at lunchtime while we're all out of the way the decks were getting dropped in. And so, uh, so then yeah, so we go to lunch and then typically we're sticking around a little bit, while lunch is called.
Speaker 2 00:27:34 So when those stages are getting dropped, we're saying, okay, cool. So we see where that's going to be. Then we're going to start running our, our, uh, our stuff so that we go to lunch and come back. And then it's like, okay, stages in, let's start running our front bills, let's start running our fullback, let's start running podium. Mike's our, our downstage snakes. Um, you know, our, our, our, um, our 100 foot hardwired, uh, 58 downstage. That's the Holy Holy Holy panic button where you just grab it and it's hardwired right into the console. And, you know, you know, you're going to be saved if there's something there's something a miss. And then, um, and then, you know, it's, it's kind of picked back up right where we left off, um, on our goals and say, okay, we're where are we established? And then three 30, you know, there's a three 30 break or whatever.
Speaker 2 00:28:17 And we're like, okay, now it's time to get serious. Where are we behind? Where can I help you catch up? Um, what questions do you have? Cause usually around three 30, four, o'clock the client's walking in and she's kind of seeing, and he, or she is kind of seeing where things are at and, and how nervous that she should be. Uh, as far as like how well we're going to actually nail that paper tech tomorrow, she shouldn't be nervous at all. Ideally not at all, but that's what they're coming in to see, you know, it, they're coming in to see like how these guys do in a day load in for this show is a little tight and you're like, it is a little tight, but we're, but we're, uh, we're good.
Speaker 0 00:28:53 You get it, you get it, get gear placed. PA's flown, you know, you started to tune the PA all the rest of the stuff. So everything's now placed in position. Now, I assume you're working backstage, you're working on table wireless, you know, tidy, clean up.
Speaker 2 00:29:15 Exactly. Yeah. There's a lot of, there's a lot of that. A lot of cleanup, you know, you're kind of sweeping out all your, um, all your empty cases out of the way. You're, you're, um, you're establishing, who's sitting at, at video world and, and who needs hardwired packs. And then, um, you know, you're kind of establishing your list of people that do get a wireless calm, and you're making in your, your labeling, your wireless comes. So when they show up tomorrow, it's like, here, this is yours, and this is your headset. Um, you know, and then me personally, I want to make sure that I'm not leaving myself behind and I'm not, I'm not, uh, not leaving any time for myself and I'll go backstage again with the ASM and the TD and say, Hey guys, you know, did we land on a spot that we're gonna Mike people, where do we think they're going to walk in?
Speaker 2 00:29:52 Where do we want to control that area? So we make sure that we have no, um, bogeys in the background, you know, just some random presenters that walk outs out onstage on accident. Cause they don't know their way around. Um, you know, and then, uh, and then, you know, we're trying to cross off our teased and, and go down the line and I'll usually bust out the input list at that point and go out to front of house and say, okay, man, what haven't you heard? What do you need to hear by tomorrow? Um, here's what I think you need to hear by tomorrow. Um, a lot of times it's, you know, definitely got to hear playback pro you know, you definitely got to hear video playback online and we definitely have to make sure that records are being at least seen that they see it.
Speaker 2 00:30:28 We can establish levels and all that stuff after that. And it usually, it's like a 15 minute thing, you know, and walk over to the record decks and go, you know, walk over to the camera guy and go, Hey, is this your recorded X? And go, yeah, I'll go. And then I'm on, okay, hit me with some tone. And I go, you see that? And he goes, yeah. And he goes, I see I'm in he'll, you know, he'll always say the same thing. I see it. But I'm 10 years down the road from that. I go, great, no problem. And I walk away and go, I just gotta make sure that you see it and that coming off the right sub mix and it's coming out of the group and we can establish all that stuff down the road that can be done offline. Um, and then, you know, but like, you know, uh, graphics, graphics, a and B um, playback, we, we pro you know, there's very rarely that anybody's embedding audio in their graphics, um, machines anymore, but we have, we have the right tools that are dropped there for machines, like on natural specifically, there wasn't even a machine there yet.
Speaker 2 00:31:17 The graphics guy was still doing offline rehearsals, but I got a D I sit in there and I got an iPod and a cable and cables on my hands and we're like, plug it in. You see it? Got it. Cool. Going out to, you know, same thing. There's a DIY out front at the podium, same thing, plug it in, see it, got it great. And we're, you know, crossing things off so that we know when there's a surprise, you know, and says, Oh, Hey, a guy wants to plug his laptop at the, at the podium. Definitely needs to have it there. And you're like, Oh, and he's like, and he's here and he's standing here. This is George. And you're like, Hey George. And you're looking at him going, Oh man, I'm glad I tested all that stuff. I know audio is good. Yeah. Good. Ready for you right now. And they go, Oh really? I go, yeah, that's good. You know, slap on the rear end and get them out there. Uh, so you just got to establish all the surprises.
Speaker 0 00:32:03 Yeah. Love it. So coming to the end of the day, you've tested wireless. We've tested video, we've tested records, we've tested playback, we've tested audio playback. We've tested wireless. Everything now comes probably what is the most important part of the show. And everybody takes it the most for granted, which is dealing with calm, which is, tends to be the last thing you deal with at the end of the day. And, and, and everybody needs, it is so frustrated when it doesn't work, but yet it's the one thing that everybody takes for granted. It is the last thing
Speaker 2 00:32:43 Often on people's lists. So really around like three 30, that three 30 Mark, there is a mental clock in my brain. That goes, all right. One of the things that you haven't established for your own sanity for yourself is the space that you're going to do, stuff that you're going to operate in and calm, let's get way ahead of it. And so I'll walk up to the Awan or, or his, or the <inaudible> the systems engineer usually, and very nicely, you know, uh, cause a lot of times, and maybe it's just my, in my own head, but a lot of times if the client brings in their own aid too, it can kind of be, it can be seen as a slap in the face to the A1C or the audio department in general because like, Oh, who's this guy he's just going to come in here and do nothing. He's going to be, you know, he's going to come in here and he's going to have, you know, walking in off the plane, he's not going to load out. He's not going to any of that stuff off.
Speaker 0 00:33:35 Yeah. White gloves all the way, you know? And so I, I always try to
Speaker 2 00:33:39 Establish the idea that like, Hey, I'm on your side, I'm here to help. I, um, I am, I am not a guy that likes to sit around and not do anything. Um, that's just not who I am. I come from a different place. So let me help. And if you, if, if you literally don't need my help because we are so tight on time and you guys have had a plan for weeks now, I don't want to get in the way of that plan. I'm only going to jump in when I see that there's a moment of break and ask some questions and go you in where we, where we definitely need to be filled in on. Yeah. So usually around three 30, I'll walk up to the systems engineer and go, Hey man, where are we at with comm, Oh dude, I'm miles away. And in my brain, I go, I know, I know. And you're not going to think about that until like nine 30, tomorrow morning. And that's really going to be a bummer for me because yeah, we are going to get hosed so badly and calm for this client is always an issue. It's an issue for every client. It always is. It never sounds the greatest, right? I mean, it's just the way life. Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:34:33 So of course, I've got this buzz in my ear. I can't, it's like PD, like how it is now
Speaker 2 00:34:41 With people being on zoom. That's essentially the same world I've lived in for the last 20 years now. Calm does sound good. Eventually we do get it there, but it's because we always say, well it's because people are always treated as the last thing on, on the list that they're working on an offline for like the first three days of rehearsals, which is not the time that we were working on that. That's not the time to be dealing with it. Hey, can I borrow your headset real quick? No client loves to hear that more. Hey, uh, uh, cowboy. Oh, I've got to make some changes and they just look at you, like, why, why do you have to make changes? You gave this to me. I thought it was show ready when you gave it to me. Yeah. Yeah. And so, yeah. Uh, so therefore I'll go over to the Iran three 30. I'll go over to my, uh, my system engineer and go, Hey man. Um, where are we at with common? Oh, I'm miles away. Great. Um, I would love it if you could give that to me as my job, as my, as my project. And I will, at least, I know I've never worked with your system before, but it's all kind of has the same idea behind it. I would love to get you caught up in that department. Oh, wound up behind. I know. That's okay. Uh,
Speaker 0 00:35:38 I just, you're not behind, but you are behind.
Speaker 2 00:35:41 Yeah. Calms not ready by 10 30 on loading day. You're behind. Let's just establish that. Let's always go with that plan.
Speaker 0 00:35:49 Well, I think 10 30 might be asking a little bit. Hey guys, get your cable out of my, out of my way. Who's running calm already.
Speaker 2 00:35:58 Yeah, exactly. Dude. So, uh, so then I'll jump in and I'll start in and I'll go to video land and I'll go, Hey guys, uh, who needs hardware back here? And they always say the same thing. Ah, I'm miles away from that. I go, okay, great. No problem. I totally understand. Give me the bare bones. Who's my, who's my spider off. Who's my, uh, my screen switcher right here. Great. I'm going to drop it right there. And I'm going to put this sets out there. I'm going to start running calm there and I don't tell them that I just do it. Um, and then, you know, and then who's my camera director right here. Okay. Where's my graphics guy right here. And it's like, boom, boom, boom, boom. Playback broke. Right? Boom, boom, boom, boom video director right here. Great. I laid them out, lay them out, wired them, listened to them on my own.
Speaker 2 00:36:35 They all I hear. I hear each other, you know, I put headsets on both ears. Great. I get the wireless going. I start booting that up. I start frequency, you know, checking and I start opening the software to play with it. Start getting that going. I get it far enough so that when the systems engineer guide on a load in that tight comes over to me, dripped in sweat because he's been busted his butt so badly. He comes over, goes, okay, where are we at with calm? And I go, we're close. I just need frequencies. Uh, I didn't, I didn't want to go that far. Cause I figured you guys had a plan and you guys had done that in the shop before. Yep. We did. We did. We did. Okay, great. Okay, great. Um, where do we got to go? And I go, I mean the, you know, this is what I have done a, B and C.
Speaker 2 00:37:15 This is the questions I have. And, and then I was going to lay out some antennas. I saw you guys had two antennas. I put one on the trust. It's in the air. I was going to throw one on the ground. Is that a bad idea? I mean, that's a great idea. Okay, great. You already run the cables. Yeah. And they're already plugged in. Yeah. Well damn dude. Yeah, man. I'm here to help baby. And all of a sudden they go, you're on my team. I am on your team. Yeah. Cause if I get yelled at tomorrow, it's all of our, it's all of our tail because Tom's not ready. And if it sounds like poop, then I get yelled at and it's all of our tail. You know, they know that I don't own the gear. They know that it's not my equipment. They know that I'm also not responsible for it, but they know that like I'm responsible to, to look out for them on the audio department side. So I definitely need that to be in the air. Not only for my own, my own tail, but for all of our tales. I don't want to come in here with the white glove face. I want you guys to know I'm on your, I'm on your team. I want to be on your team. I like working with people. I want to keep it that way. Um, so yeah, so usually the rest of the day, I'm really just dialing in that calm.
Speaker 0 00:38:14 Yeah. And they're getting that finished. So comms done. Everything's tested, everything's checked, it's all done. It's all ready to go. You're ready. You're like, ah, you know what? I'm ready to start rehearsals. And you walk away that, that night come back the next day. What are things you're doing rehearsal day to stay organized, to keep yourself organized, to keep, uh, you know, your area, all of that stuff ready for presenters to walk in ASM to come in. Um, what are you, what are you using to stay organized?
Speaker 2 00:38:46 So basically I will imagine, um, before even we start to pay per tech, I will imagine in my brain, I will talk myself. I'll look at the, you know, hopefully by then we have some show, some show, um, cues and, and uh, and, um, so I'm sure she used to go off of, you know, and I'll look at those and go, okay, I imagine her saying these cues and I imagine her doing these things. Where am I in that, in that position, on that day, in that, in that moment, I'm doing this, I'm putting this mic on. And all of a sudden my brain goes, you know what? I didn't check. I did not. I did not roll my, my WL one 85, my microphone cables. I did not re I did not roll them over under right now. They're still wrapped around the patch from last night when we sound checked.
Speaker 2 00:39:25 Great. I'm going to do that right now. Uh, I'm usually taping the clip on the back of the clip to the guy's shirt. You know what I haven't established yet. I don't have any tape out. I don't have any white tape. I don't mean white gaff tape. I need to find some white gaff tape. I don't need a black gaff tape. I need to find some black gaff tape. I need to make some, some tabs of tape, tape them to the top of my, of my shoe bag. Uh, Mike stands so that they're ready to go. I can just bam. Throw it on a guy right now. Um, all of my cables have been tied in knots. That's very common. Um, none of the cables are looking real, real good right now, but one 80 fives. I need to start rolling those over and under right now so that when I untangle them, when I undo them, they untangle very easily.
Speaker 2 00:40:01 And they also look really nicely when the clients one, when my presenters show up, I should be establishing that right now. Great. Okay. I'm going to be doing that right now. So you try, I'm trying to like prepare myself when the paper tech does happen. I can just listen and familiarize myself with that show instead of like imagining where I'm going to be at, in the show when the paper tech does happen. Now, all of a sudden I'm like doing all that work. I just mentioned, except she's still chatting in my ear about like, you know, okay. And go this. And then this guy walks on and then this is what's going to happen. And then we're going to play this video and now I'm sound checking this. And so, uh, all that stuff, if I didn't mentally go through that in my brain, then I'm not, I'm not listening to what she's saying. And now I'm all of a sudden, I don't know what day it is. We're paper checking. I don't know what show it is we're doing. I don't know if it's an afternoon or morning or, uh, or reception, you know, dinner, reception, or it's a breakout where we're, that got thrown in our room last minute, you know, I'm not listening to that stuff. So usually in that moment, like you said before, I'm always trying to get ahead to the next to the next place. So I'm better prepared, not surprised.
Speaker 0 00:41:01 What is this a, what is this shoe rack? Mike Stan, you mentioned
Speaker 2 00:41:06 The infamous. So, uh, long ago when I was a wee pup in the industry, uh, uh, the company that I first got started with, um, the, the audio department. So it was four owners and myself as the employee. So one of the owners was audio audio only. He only did that. His whole life that's all he's ever done. Um, he was on tour with, uh, some on Broadway and off-Broadway tours for like nine or 10 years. And he established this, uh, I'm sure not the only one, but I, I, he, you know, and I don't think anybody gave him the idea. So he, so when you have multiple microphone packs that you would have for these Broadway performers, he went out and got a shoe bag and it's, uh, you know, it's an over the door shoe bag with the hooks that you would essentially stick your 2012 as a 24 holes.
Speaker 2 00:41:52 So you could say 12 pairs of shoes in each of these little pockets while they also, coincidentally are perfect for storing microphone packs. So he would put the pack in the, in the sh in each pocket. And they were in, you know, four in a row, which was great, easy to remember, easy to do the math, and then he would put their label, their name over each pocket. So because a lot of times when he was on tour, he wasn't able to make up these Broadway performance because they didn't need it to be, I mean, they, you know, they're professionals, they do this night in night out. So he would just put the, the, you know, he was always start with the most, you know, the, the biggest leader, if you will, on the front, the first number one, and it goes one for one on the, on your console.
Speaker 2 00:42:28 So he'd be like, you know, like Phantom would be one. And then, you know, Phantoms lady would be two and then, or, you know, you're doing some of those shows. Uh, and so that's what I would do. So I took that into the corporate world. Then after, I mean, man, I've seen, you have 16 channels of microphones and guys will walk out and bust with bus tubs. And where does people want to be miked in the house? Yeah, of course they do. They don't want to come backstage as a rehearsal. They're there they're corporate executives. They don't want to be, you know, they don't want to be uncomfortable. They want to be out in the house with all their other colleagues talking about the show and, and about business. I mean, they have real business to attend to. It's not, you know, believe me, they're not there to entertain us.
Speaker 2 00:43:04 So, uh, we want to make them feel as comfortable as possible. So, you know, you want to be a mobile. I was want to be mobiles and they too, I want to be able to Mike anybody anywhere, you know, sometimes it can be, it is really corporate theater. Sometimes, you know, sometimes these people will run in from a breakout. They just went and laid in and they're seconds away from running onstage and they run up to you and go, I'm so sorry. I got, I had to get stopped and get a coffee, or somebody stopped me in the hallway and they wanted to talk business and, Oh my God, I'm so sorry. Am I late? And I'm like, no, you're not late. And you're slapping this microphone on them. And you're trying to be really quick about it or whatever. And hopefully you've established a relationship and then things can get a little weird.
Speaker 2 00:43:37 But, uh, uh, so when you're out, so when I would be rehearsing, you know, we're backing up now a few days I would walk out with my, my, my shoe bag hangs on a, uh, uh, a mic stand that has like a, a base, like just a round base mic stands with the, with the, um, a boom arm that just goes straight. And it, and it gets up high enough to where the bag of the shoe bag, just drapes from the bottom. So I picked that mic, stand up with all the microphones in each pocket, and I just walk it out onstage or walk it out anywhere. And they go, Oh, we're going to mic them out in the house. Like, okay, did I just pick it up every single mic channel, boom. And I drop it in the house and I sit down in the chair and I just wait my turn.
Speaker 2 00:44:15 And I wait for the EAP and she goes, okay, Antonio, we're ready for it. You're supposed to, is it uncommon? I'll walk over there and go, Hey, you know, and she'd go. And I wait for her to introduce me. You know, these are all lessons that she has taught me, uh, you know, and she introduces me as the two. And he's going to put a mic on you. He'll you'll see him backstage. And then I'll just, you know, take everybody out. And everybody, dude, everybody loves that shoe bag and they go, Oh, that's pretty cool. Is, is that a shoe bag? And I go, yes, it is. It is a shoe bag, you know? And you'd think I'd be embarrassed and full disclosure. I was at first, you know, when you asked me, you were like, Hey, is that a shoe bag? And I was like, yeah, yeah, that's a shoe bag. And he's like, dude, that is brilliant. I go, isn't it. It is kind of brilliant. It is. I'm not going to take credit for it. I'm going to give credit where credit is due. And that guy to this day, I just called him a couple of weeks ago. He's one of my, one of my first mentor. He's just an incredible guy.
Speaker 0 00:45:07 That's outstanding. Well, so we stay organized. We've got all the mic packs organized. We got all of our stuff, gear, uh, sheets, show, show flows, written on notes, all that stuff. So it comes to show, um, what are you doing when you're miking people up? Because there are you're, you're the last line of defense. There might be an ASM that ushers them onto stage, but you know, you're actually interacting with them. They're preparing to go on stage. It's the CEO, that's going up to present the new brand or the new idea or the new concept, or he's getting ready to say, Hey, we're going into a tough time and we've got to be ready for the bumps ahead. You know, what are, what are you doing? Give me a, just a quick synopsis of how are you interacting with them, um, to help them know that they are a hundred percent capable to be awesome on stage
Speaker 2 00:46:03 Two things that come to mind. I always say that whenever I approach a presenter, no matter, no matter who they are, I always approach him with the idea that they are the president of the United States, right? They are, they are the most important person in that moment is them because they have to, like you just said, they have to like present whatever kind of information it is. It, it, I'm not doing it because it's hard for them. I'm just doing it to give them the confidence that, that they deserve and that they should have, um, to present the best version of themselves. And the only way that, that the way that I kind of attribute to that, that I related to is that this person is the president of the United States. They're the president of, of my, my job right now. Their most important person to me right now is this person that I'm putting this microphone on.
Speaker 2 00:46:53 So I'll introduce myself, uh, and then, and then put the microphone on it. That's number one, uh, number two, whenever people tell me that, um, that they, that they, you know, it's very common that they'll say, Oh my gosh, I'm so nervous. Oh my gosh, I'm so nervous. Do I look nervous? And I go, no, you look great. Oh my gosh, I'm so nervous. Oh my gosh, I hate, this is the best thing I hate presenting. I just hate it. And I go, you know what? This is what I've told people in the past present, like, it's your birthday. And they go like, it's your birthday? And I go, yeah. Think about what that feels like when you, Oh, I know it was my birthday and I go pray. But, but at the end of the day, people are celebrating you and they're wishing you all day and there, and it kind of makes you happy.
Speaker 2 00:47:31 Right? I mean, it's pretty, okay. It's a pretty, okay. I mean, think about when you were 14 and you had a birthday, it wasn't the best. You were super excited and they go, yeah, that's true. And I go, not present, like it's your birthday. And they go, okay, that makes me feel a little better. I go, right. Cause it's just like a relief. Everything is about you. You, you can't do anything wrong on your birthday. Everything has passed on your birthday. And that sort of like confidence, that sort of like weightlessness is a lot easier to present your information because you look at it and you go, ah, it's my birthday. I can't screw this up. And it's like, you, right. You won't screw it up because you know it really well. And you've rehearsed it a gazillion times. Not only have you rehearsed it because only times with us, believe me, I was there.
Speaker 2 00:48:13 You did it at home. Right? You did it on the plane. You did it in your hotel room. You've been thinking about this moment. Cause you hate presenting for the last three weeks. You've been telling your, your spouse about it. You've been telling your kids are excited about it. I've seen people come off stage FaceTiming their spouses. The minute they stand off stage because of how excited they were. Oh, I did it. It was so much for all of my gosh. Well, it was so great. So I'm, I'm so relieved. Oh my gosh. Yeah. It was great. They really took it. Well, good for you babe. You know, all this stuff. So it's just trying to, again, you're president of the United States present, like it's your birthday? Awesome to have that one is for me and the other one's for them.
Speaker 0 00:48:48 That's perfect. That's great. Yeah. Mean give them confidence, help them know that they can do it. That are perfectly capable. They don't lack anything necessary in that moment to do exactly what they were there to do.
Speaker 2 00:49:01 I just thought of the other day after I was getting so much flap from, uh, the birthday one is, I said, you know what, though? They didn't choose anybody else to be here. They didn't choose anybody else to present this information. They chose you and they chose you for a reason and they just go, yeah, that's that's, that's true. When I go, you already got them fooled. And that, that kind of gets them like that kind of gets them pretty good. That's pretty good. And you just sorta like, Hey man, it's all good. This is nothing. You're not, I go. And I always say, Hey, at least you're presenting in English or they go, Oh, that's true. And I go, imagine if I sent you out there with a room full of like, you know, Portuguese speakers and you know, you're from, uh, you know, you, you speak Ukrainian.
Speaker 2 00:49:42 Then they go, Oh yeah. That's, that would be pretty tough. And I'm like, that's not that bad. See, what is this? An English? Yeah. They go just things to kind of lighten the mood. You know? Um, a buddy of mine, I used to, I used to work in LA for a couple of years doing film and a buddy of mine. I didn't know that I was doing this. He didn't, he, he, he mentioned it to me. He goes, you're hurting, you know, Seinfeld? I said, yeah. I said, yeah, of course he goes, he has this episode where he goes, always leave them laughing when you walk away from him, whoever it is, whoever you're talking to just leave them laughing and then walk away, you know, don't walk away until they're laughing, small little joke, light, little comment, whatever it is, just leave them laughing.
Speaker 2 00:50:19 And I thought, man, that's good. He goes, you do that. And I go, I didn't know I did that, but I'm going to keep doing that. Now that you've said that, and that same idea is never to leave them laughing, leave them feeling light, leaving me feel uncomfortable. Because like you said, very often, very often, I'm the last person that they're going to deal with in an interpersonal way. Right. I'm my microphone's going in their shirt on their back pocket, putting the microphone on. I'm very comfortable about, I'm very warm about it. I'm very honest about it. Um, but, uh, but you know, so you're just, just because I know that I'm in that moment, a lot of times less is more. I won't, I won't really, you know, um, inject my, my, you know, isms, if you will. Uh, unless I see that they're really nervous and they're, you know, and, and, and unless they open up to me.
Speaker 2 00:51:04 Yeah, of course, when I do it, I do it with the confidence that they are the president of the United States. But unless they open up to me, like, should I be nervous? Then I will. Then I'll say it, then I'll say something. But if you know, a lot of times I just, I just go, it's going to be great. You're going to be great. It will be that's right. When you get back, I'll be right here. When you get back, you know, I'll be probably standing right here to take your microphone when you come back. And I, you know, I kind of say like, sir, is your, is your phone on you? And he goes, yeah. Do you want me to, I'm going to go, well, you can keep it on you, but we just want to make sure you put it in airplane mode because the transmission can affect the microphone.
Speaker 2 00:51:38 Oh really? And I said, well, it's sort of that like airplane thing, will it really bring the airplane down? Probably not, but it's better to be safe than sorry, I think. Oh, okay. And I go, and then when I take the microphone back from you, when you're off stage, yeah. I'll be sure to remind you to turn your phone back on. I don't want you to go out there and into the day and be like, why is my phone not going off? Because I made you put it in airplane mode and then never told you to put it back on, you know? Awesome. I love that. Okay. Got it. Got it, got it. Got it. Or another thing too about that, that shoe tree, which is sorta like, not, not intentional. Uh, I had a guy when I was putting his mic on, he took his badge off and stuffed it into the pocket where his, where his name was.
Speaker 2 00:52:14 That's perfect. That's yeah. And, and the guy goes, can I put my phone in there too? And I go, absolutely, sir, that pocket is yours. And just without trying, I was like, man, that's, that's a really good idea. I'm just going to tell everybody that, you know, Oh, can I leave my phone on the table? You know, what's our, actually I have this bag with your microphone pack in it. Let's pocket it in there. I'm standing right next to it. The whole time. It's totally safe on the table that might get confused with other people's microphones. You know, people call me off stage. They whip off their mic and they're bolted on to the next breakout room or their next appointment.
Speaker 0 00:52:42 That's your, that's your cubbyhole. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:52:44 I don't want you to, I don't want your microphone to get swiped on ax or your, uh, your phone to get swiped on Afro. But yeah, this, this pocket here is totally, or the only pack that goes back in there. There's one with your name on it. So it's total on it.
Speaker 0 00:52:54 Yeah. So speaking of airplane mode, we travel a lot for this. What are, what are the things quick synopsis of the things that you travel with?
Speaker 2 00:53:05 Uh, I travel with the law of bullet, which you can't call it a live blood anymore because so funny story with a lot of bullet, uh, buddies of mine were like, Oh, I I've had mine taken from the TSA. Like three times, three years. I had mine three years and I was like, I've never even been stopped, not once. And then like two months later, or two weeks later, or two shows later, I'm walking the airport and they pull my bag aside. And then when my bag was pulled aside all the time, it's full of like, you know, uh, I got a wireless router, a little mini wireless router. I do some shows for a, um, for a client that never packs her, brought her in there in their console. Yeah. So I can use the iPad version. So I always, I've just bought like a little pocket router.
Speaker 2 00:53:42 It's, it's a N 300 router. Um, that works really well. Um, and so that's another thing that I always carry. So anyway, they pulled out the labile and they go, what's this like, Oh, it's a lot of bullet. I use it to Mike people and they go, Oh, okay, well we, we have to take it from you. And I said, why you gotta take it from me? And they go, well, it looks like it's, it's a replica, but there's no, there's nothing in there. Well, yeah, we got to take it. And I was like, okay, well, I guess that's gone. So now I travel with that, but I check that because I don't want it to get taken. Cause they're not that easy to find. You'd be surprised. Um, so that's a thing, um, wireless, uh, you know, uh, Bluetooth headphones to watch on an airplane and iPad for sure.
Speaker 2 00:54:22 Always an iPad, Sharpies galore. I can't have enough Sharpies. They have to be dual appointed. You have to have the thick end on one end. I don't have one in the thin on the other side. Yeah. I got one went here. Yeah. Uh, cause that's the only way to go. That's the only way to do it. Um, label, tape label tape is, is sort of a thing of the past, but it does help to have, you know, I'm always labeling things on the ground. I'm always labeling packs. I mean, that's still is not, uh, not, uh, not a gone by, uh, a necessity, a label maker. I do a label maker. So I can label when I, when I labeled people's packs, I re I type it out on a label maker and stick it to the back of the pack so that I can read my own writing if you will.
Speaker 2 00:55:03 Um, and then, uh, you know, laptops sort of, of course, um, uh, I always bring an extra pair of socks. I took that from Forrest Gump when they get to Vietnam. Right. They go cause you know, I be gigging out of town is a little bit, you know, I want to say it's like war, but there is a certain mentality that you're like, wherever I go. So I have to pretend that they won't have a Walmart down the street. Yep. And there's not a Walgreens down the road, you know, um, uh, uh, face tape, 3m, um, uh, you know, uh, bandage tape. You can always use that to tape two bodies. And, and then, um, band-aids, I'll usually, I'll usually bring a latex free band-aids because some people are allergic to latex. I used to work in a theater doing kids shows long, long time ago.
Speaker 2 00:55:51 And a lot of them, I would like tape the microphone of the kids' faces. And a lot of them were allergic to latex and they didn't know until, of course, after I used that tape and I went, Oh God. And they were like, um, I'm sorry, really scratchy. I was like, Oh my God, what am I dead? So then I would re there was a CVS, thank God. There was a CVS right across the street. I would run across the street and get, uh, and get, um, uh, latex free band-aids that was cut the band-aid strip and strip and put that over the face. And they, and they, and one of the gals wrote, she reviewed our show and she just said, Oh my gosh, they're so, you know, so wonderful. They even got my kid latex free bed when they found out he was allergic.
Speaker 2 00:56:28 And I was like, well, I don't want to send the kid home with a, you know, a five Ray arm, you know, rash. Uh, and then this might sound kind of weird, but, um, non lubricated condoms, lubricated con is if your pack, if you have a person who's presenting or performing in a way, and they have to use one of your packs and they sweat like crazy, they will sweat. And, uh, they'll split the pack out. And the pack will not work after that two or three days of rehearsal. And that happened to me a couple of times. And then I had to order non lubricated condoms from Amazon and had them shipped to the hotel because that's what, that's what they do on Broadway. To be honest again, that's about that is they take non lubricated condoms and they wrap the pack in it and it's totally protected. There you go. All right.
Speaker 0 00:57:08 Awesome. So what are, what are three things that you need on every show? It doesn't matter where the show is three things that you need on every single show.
Speaker 2 00:57:17 Oh man. That is easy. The law of bullet, my Sharpies and, um, yeah. Headphones of any kind headphones of any kind. I can label things. I can look on things, you know? Um, yeah. I mean, that's, that's, that's it, that's it for sure. Perfect. Anything else? I would say anything else that we need, we can always get from Walgreens, you know, we can, you know, I was raised in such a way that like, always like you and I were smoking, speaking about this before, too, the type of equipment we get or the things that we, the systems that we put in place, we want to make sure that they're easily purchasable by Amazon within two days. Yeah. You know, like we were talking about, uh, fiber, I think one day and you, you and I had mentioned, we needed more, um, uh, fiber, fiber, uh, couplers.
Speaker 2 00:58:04 And I was like, Oh, I found a pack of a thousand or whatever on Amazon for like $11. And you're like, yep. Those are the ones you can get. Because the system I built, I wanted to be able to use, you know, use, um, retail stuff, you know, because then you can get it. I mean, so often, like you said, we travel sometimes when you get out of town and things go wrong, or all of a sudden you need a thousand couplers. And because somebody didn't tell you that, Oh yeah, we're running 40 monitors out in the hallway. He didn't know about that. Or you're like, Oh, that sounds excellent. That's debit. Perfect. Oh yeah. We're just going to call everybody. So
Speaker 0 00:58:38 Is the, what is the toughest toughest gig you've ever done?
Speaker 2 00:58:44 Oh dude. So I know this show so, well, it will, it will be forever a burn in my memory. Not because it was so hard. I, I said out loud to my buddy, who I did the show with, who I wasn't really close with that at the time, since then him and I are, are, are very, very close. I talk to him almost on a daily basis. Uh, I said to him out loud, I was like, I've never worked harder in my life than I have today. I have never worked this hard, have done so much. I, every single time, I I've never taken a break to do anything I had to eat in hand. I've had to, I've had a drink of water in my hand. I didn't even have time to go find a bottle of water. I just steal it from like one of the coolers behind the bar as I was lighting up the bar.
Speaker 2 00:59:31 So, uh, one time I got asked to do South by Southwest now, South by Southwest is a very weird, a very weird thing to do as a tech, because in at least the shows that I've done there, you can't just do in a two. You can't just be a video guy. You're usually everything, everything, everything. And you have had to plan it and prep it and bring a crazy amount of extra equipment. Because very, very often, very often, um, um, often things happen like that, Oh, we're gonna put 40 monitors out there on that street. They all have to say different things. We want them to go into a different time. And then at 3:00 PM, they have to say the same thing
Speaker 3 01:00:09 All at the same time. And it's two 30,
Speaker 2 01:00:14 Come on, man. This is silly. And they're like, but you could do something like that. Right. You're like, no, no, no. But yeah, I guess so, I guess.
Speaker 3 01:00:23 Sure. So, uh,
Speaker 2 01:00:25 Down, um, South by Southwest opens on Friday, the tech one, the tech, the, uh, the tech festival opens on Friday. My show was Saturday. I had, so we set up Friday. Oh, it was, it was in mellow Johnny's bike shop, which is owned by Lance Armstrong, which doesn't matter at all. I just like the name drop that, uh, not that I ever saw him there cause I didn't. And not that he ever had posters in the, in the store anywhere. Cause he didn't, but it was the first time I ever had a pour over coffee. And that was where my love for pour over coffees has started. Was that mellow Johnny's in Austin. Shout out to those guys that places in incredible
Speaker 3 01:00:57 That's it I'm totally cool. I mean,
Speaker 2 01:01:00 They were repairing bicycles. They're selling t-shirts. I mean, they're like, you know, it's like doing a shore, you walked into a Walgreens. They were like, Hey, we're going to set up some heavy equipment. They're like shot until we're closed. So w we couldn't set up till 9:00 PM. We worked until 4:00 AM, uh, to finish setting up. I had never done the show there. I never been there in my life. Never did a, pre-pro never done a tech scout, nothing, no pictures of anything. Only thing I had was a Google earth image of what it looked like on the outside, but nothing was going outside. Oh. But the parking lot had a show. So at least I knew where we were going to set up the tent and like some stuff, dude. Oh my God. So we, uh, we get there and I'm like, well, I can't put a base in boom for like a light tree to light this stage.
Speaker 2 01:01:38 There is no like, space for that. I mean, okay. So I, I, I took a LICO and I put a, a round base on it and I stuck it up on top of the roof of the walk-in door. I like climbed a ladder, you know, ran cable and all this stuff. And I had it controlled to a manual dimmer that I got from my shop, because they were video, uh, video production guys, film guys that had one K dimmer. So I used those. And then it was like, you know, at least it could be some way. So we had a morning, a morning panel discussion that went from like, I think like noon to two. Then they would do a reception outside from four to seven with barbecue. And that was sponsored by Chevy. So it had to, um, to, uh, uh, concept cars. And of course it rained.
Speaker 2 01:02:24 So they're thrilled about that. And I got water out there and, and it's Austin, Texas. Right? So it doesn't rain like sprinkles. It rains like downpours. So I'm out there with like plastic bags from like the trash to tire out all my electrical connections to make sure that they don't, they don't, you know, fryer, we don't pop any breakers. That was fun. And then at eight 30 or nine o'clock was the, was the after party from nine until two. So I run outside. I quick mix this band. They're playing from four to seven. I get them going. I run back inside, strike all what I had done. And then, you know, from the panel discussion, the stage goes away. The table goes away. The screen goes away. We struggle that DJ sets up. Uh, and we get him gone. We get him going that's from nine to midnight and all of a sudden, Oh, I got to two bars and I got the guy coming.
Speaker 2 01:03:06 Remember, Hey, remember when I told you we were going to have those bars, this bar set up. I said, yeah, he goes, we gotta, we gotta light those up. Did you bring anything to kind of make those look cool? And I was like, I bought a bunch of tiny little, like, what were they par par twelves, a little baby things, you know, before uplights were a thing. I just, I, I borrowed a bunch of them and I was a little jealous. You had a Jhelum, but were no LEDs. I low square gels that came with red, blue. I stuck them in there and I ran into every bar and I put them in there. I brought, what else did I bring? Oh, I brought, uh, um, uh, Le uh, clip lights. So I cut gels and put, put gels, like taped them onto the clip lights and stuck them into the bars and lit the front of the bar. Cause it was all, uh, it was all frosted plastic. All I got dude who I didn't get it.
Speaker 2 01:03:57 It was, Oh man. It was just terrible. The guy who I did it for, it is an incredible friend of mine. Walks up to me, goes, dude, I have never, never seen anybody run so hard. What am I paying you? And I told him, he goes, I'm going to, I am definitely paying you more. And I was like, okay. So then cut to the next year. Hey, you wanna do it again? And I was like, I'm bringing this guy, this guy's going to come with me. We're paying him a real rate. He was a buddy of mine that had no experience in the industry, but I knew he was going to do the best job. He was going to be incredible. And he would be the God. And they said, you can't, but you know, you didn't do it last year with him. I was like, right. And it was the worst year I've ever had worst day ever in my life. I was like, I'm not doing it without him. And he goes, Oh, okay. And they did. And I brought them with me. I was like, I'm never, I'm never going to do that again without somebody else.
Speaker 0 01:04:42 That's awesome. Well, you're getting other people gigs. That's great. And I love that. So how, how are you as a freelancer? How do you get gigs? What do you do? Do you have the silver bullet, the you like, what is the, you know, the best way for freelancers to get gigs, find games, all that. Yeah.
Speaker 2 01:05:02 Yeah. You know, it's, uh, it's, uh, it's kind of a two-way street. So there's a, it's an honesty thing for me. It's where I find people that I really connect with yourself, uh, for sure is, is probably if not first on that list, way up there, um, that I really enjoy working with. Um, you know, and I, I enjoy being around. They have the same interests as me. We can, if, if I find that we can hang out a coffee shop and have a great as good a time as we do at the coffee shop than we do at work, then I definitely want to continue to work with that person. Um, so that's always the thing that I will say is, is say, you know, Hey man, I just love working with you. I think we have a great time. I would love to stay in contact. I would love to stay up to date with what you're doing. I don't necessarily need like work from you. I'm not, I'm not trying to like, you know, this isn't what that is. I'm just, I'm just saying that I really enjoy working with you. And I've really had a good time. Um, that a one that we did that I did that show with in DC, he was another one where I was like, man, I there's a special connection with him. And I, and I really appreciated that. Yeah.
Speaker 0 01:05:58 So capitalizing on those networking, you know, being that person that ever, that people want to be around, not the person that, you know, talks too much and knows too much and all, but just kind empathetic, compassionate, understanding, friendly, uh, you know, but also also capable of leading, you know, cause people, you know, when you need, you need self-starters in this industry, we need people that are going to do stuff without being asked. And if you're going to be someone who always has to be asked to do something, then I don't want you on my crew or my team because I can't go around babysitting.
Speaker 2 01:06:42 Yeah. Right. And you know, it's, it's funny. You should say that because like we don't, we don't intentionally tell that person. That's just the way that our brains are subconsciously wired. So when I say to myself at the end of the day, this job was over, who would I have back? Those people that aren't, self-starters don't come to mind and it's almost sometimes I can't even put a word on it. I can't figure out why. I don't want them back. I, it, Denver comes to me, but who I do choose is people that are self-starters. And then, you know, two or three times in that iteration of that down the road, you go, I know what it is that I love it's that they just picked up the ball and they ran with it. And I said, dude, I got 40 monitors out in the hall.
Speaker 2 01:07:19 This sucks. I know I'm not ready for it, but I desperately need somebody to just go out there, take these six guys. And they're all standing there, like, we're ready. This is what we're here for. And I go, can you just, can you go start that? And I'll be out there in like a half an hour. I just have to put this fire out real quick. Or I have to like clean up backstage. It was like 3000 cases back there. I had to clean that up. And then, and then I'll, I'll be out there to help you with that stuff. And they go and they ask the right questions. Do you know where they I'll just, I'll just take that. That's all I need. See ya. And you just go on and you're like, I, I would take that guide. I would do a show in hell with that guy.
Speaker 0 01:07:57 Totally. Just missed that whole thing. The connection paused and stopped. Do you want to say that again?
Speaker 2 01:08:05 The, the, just this last one? Yeah. Oh yeah. Easy, easy, easy. You were ready? Yup. Okay. So, uh, the question was, um, you know, how, how do we know who to, you know, who to hire back and how to get and how to get hired? And, and the, and the one thing that came up was very specifically was with self-starters. And, and I always, you know, whenever I walk away from a gig, I always ask myself, like, who would I have back? Or, or, or who did I like? And it's not like, I'm, I'm not trying to make a list of anything, but it is a, it is a certain list in my phone that I go, you know, cause sometimes clients will go, Oh, do you have an <inaudible> that, you know, that you really like, I'm going to be in DC or I'm going to be on the East coast so they can fly.
Speaker 2 01:08:41 But they got to provide for me from the East coast. Like I do, I have a guy really enjoy. So yeah, it's always trust. I'm always trying to come up with that list of people and always trying to establish that, that good, that good crew, you know, to, to, to kind of work with. And ideally at some point down the road, you get to choose entirely your own crew. Yep. You know, when you get to pull from these like co all-stars that you've had the chance to meet throughout the years. Uh, but anyway, um, you never realized, I never realized like until two or three iterations of that and I'm like, why did I like this person? But I didn't entirely like that person. And a lot of times it's because you can just say, Hey, you know, I mean, they just pick up the ball and they go and you're like, Hey dude, I got 40 monitors out in the hallway.
Speaker 2 01:09:21 They all gotta be set up. And they all, they all get their own thing. You give them some detail and you're like, I'm sorry, I can't go do it right now. Cause I got to put this fire out right now. Can you take these six guys that are standing here? You know, these local guys that are like ready to do anything, you ask them, um, can you take them and get started? And they go, Oh, who do you know where they go? And I go, I don't know where they go, but there's a guy out there. His name is John. He, he knows where they go and he's waiting for you to show up and he'd go, Oh great. I'll just, that's all I needed. See ya. And they go and you go that guy, that guy, I would do a show in hell with he, he just, he just gets it.
Speaker 2 01:09:53 You know? So a lot of it is, um, two things, right. Everything that we do in our business is temporary. So, so getting upset or getting frustrated or, or, um, getting bogged down by how much change is happening and how much is changing around us, just on the show and how much the client is asking us, or we got to, I know you set up a PA like that. It actually goes on their side of the room and it needs to be done in three hours and you just go on. Okay. Understood. No problem. Um, is there any other detail that I should know, um, to get that done? Do you think you can get it done in three hours? You know what, I, I'm going to try my absolute best. If I, if it won't be done in three hours, it will at least be close and I, you know, it will be, you know, we'll be able to hear it.
Speaker 1 01:10:41 Yeah. Anywhere do you?
Speaker 2 01:10:47 Oh, well the goal you need to hit I'll link it. I'll I'll do just that. I'll get a sound good, but just, just to look pretty sweet, but that's the goal you need to hit. I'll hit it for you. Um, and just doing it with a smile, just doing it with a, with, uh, with a, uh, uh, very, uh, you guys are sure. Isn't it like sure. You got it or sure. No problem. Anything. I knew. What was it? You got it. Tell her
Speaker 0 01:11:23 You got it. My internet connection has just gone to crap.
Speaker 2 01:11:29 Bye-bye yeah. Put that on. Right, right, right, right, man. Right. So as we're, as things are temporary and always being prepared for that month.
Speaker 0 01:11:39 Yeah. That's very true. So as we're wrapping up here, um, the whole idea behind, as we mentioned before, gig ready, we want to be more ready tomorrow than we work today to do the gig that we're going to do. So what are two things that I could apply tonight to be ready for the gig tomorrow and do a better job than I did today?
Speaker 2 01:12:10 I would say the things that I'm always asking of myself is reflective of the things that I am asking of other people. So if, if, if a person is coming up to, let's say, just, just shovel your driveway or they're mowing your lawn, let's say, and the guy, most of the lawn, and then, you know, how did he interact with me when he got here? How did he do the job? How did he interact with me when he left? That's very applicable to anything anybody does in their day, day to day, um, in their day-to-day world, especially in business, how did they approach you when they showed up? How did they actually physically do the job? And then the, how would I have done it? What would I have liked more from them in those, in those. Uh, and now I say to myself, how would I do it?
Speaker 2 01:13:00 And then I say to myself, how can I apply that lesson to my interaction with the next job, with everybody that I interact with, that the show produced with the client and definitely the presenters. So, um, that's one thing that I would, that I would say I could always walk away from is, is, uh, not over analyzing, but just, just sort of like internally asking yourself what better is, uh, how could I apply the lessons I learned today to be more prepared for my jobs coming up. So like, very specifically, just in, in, in like in a real good example is three 30 on this job on load day. This is w felt I was missing out on how can I make sure that at three 30 on the next job, I'm, I'm more caught up, you know, what are the questions I didn't have answered then, can I ask those questions now?
Speaker 2 01:13:56 Can I send an email and ask some of those questions, you know, without being over, over, you know, stepping over my boundaries or acting like the DVA two that needs more information than he deserves or whatever, the white Glover, you know, how can I try to just more prepared? And, and then, um, I felt like maybe I was introducing myself a little bit late on that one when I just walked up to him and just never met him day in my life. And so I said to myself, why can't I just send an email to the TD and go, Hey, man, uh, I'm just, I'm just curious who are a two or a one in our, in our audio provider is on the next show and they go, it's these guys. And I go, great, thanks man. And I will tell them on my own, Hey man, I'm the eight two for the show. Um, I mean, brought in, I just wanna introduce myself and say, Hey, and drop you a line and tell you, I'm really looking forward to meeting you and, and, um, and checking in with you, um, any information that you think that I should know or any questions that you may have, I'd love to answer them, but if nothing else, man, uh, I look forward to seeing ya, you know, working together. I'm excited about our show.
Speaker 0 01:14:56 So communicating, communicating early, and then ultimately having a good attitude, no matter what happens and where you go.
Speaker 2 01:15:05 Yeah, always man. I mean the, so I got from aunt, I was being replaced. I was replacing the eight two that they brought in locally. I was actually the, uh, the, uh, the screen switcher I had, uh, I had, uh, uh, I can't remember the name of it, but it was a very real screen switcher. And I'm sitting there. One of the first of the company came up and said, Hey, uh, how tough is your job? And I go, well, I went from 17 presets, 10 out to, I bring the bog on at the beginning of the webcast and I take the bug off at the end of the webcast, that's it. And he goes, okay, do you think I could do that over at my one station? I said, Oh yeah, absolutely. Cause he owned the gear. He knew it really well. He's a, he's an, Are you firing me? And we're in Austin. I can't, I can't walk home, you know? And he goes, no, I need you to go out and be the two for the show. And I go, Oh yeah, I can do that. I said, what did we do? We not have one? And he goes, no, we had one. I have to go fire him, wall
Speaker 2 01:16:15 Awning. Well to the client, he has his phone out all the time. He's texting all the time. He's not paying attention. These are just like everyday things, pay attention, put your phone away. Don't
Speaker 1 01:16:29 Sure
Speaker 2 01:16:33 It'd be a good listen to repeat stuff back to you and understand, you know, make him and make him know that you're understanding what he's saying. Um, this just simple stuff that you learned in high school. And I went, okay, sure. Yeah. And I went out there and I just said to myself, whatever that guy did before, I'm just going to be really, really good at, at them. Like they're the president of the United States, every presenter. And I did that. And then lo and behold, after the fact, she just said, Hey, I really liked the way you handle these people, you know, keep it up. And I just thought, okay, great. That was all the like,
Speaker 0 01:17:10 No, you know, making a, make it a good choice in what, in what my, uh, my way of operating was. Awesome. Well, cool. Well, Hey, thank you for spending some time with us today. I appreciate it. Um, the last 15 minutes, a hundred, all words, the last 15 minutes have been terrible. Cause it keeps cutting in and out. So we're going to have to have to go figure that out. Let me know if you want, we can record it in another. All right. We'll see. We'll ask them. Well, thanks dude. I appreciate it. Um, have a great day and we will certainly talk to you soon. Love you, buddy. See you. Bye bye.
Speaker 4 01:17:54 Thank you so much for joining us today. I am so excited and so humbled that you would choose to take just a little bit of your time to join us on this podcast and listen in on some of the great conversations that we're having. I hope that your next gig is better than your last, because ultimately that is all that matters to me. I want to make sure that you were able to do better events, better shows better tours than you did yesterday. All because you gained valuable information and valuable knowledge from what we discussed here today. You know, I think that every single day we are looking to get better. And that is exactly where I want us to be. Now, the value that we bring to you is directly tied to each and every one of you, we could sit here and talk all day long about all the stuff we do, all the great events and everything like that.
Speaker 4 01:18:44 But if we're not giving you the value that you want, there's no way that this is going to be good for you. And ultimately who cares, who I talk to if you're not getting value. So please let me know gig
[email protected]. You can reach out to me. I'll make sure to read every single email because I know that it's valuable to you to be heard. And I want you to share your ideas, your thoughts, who do you want to have on the podcast? Who do you want to share? What are things you want to learn? What are the things you want to grow in so that we can get better at creating live events, people connect in person and each and every one of us facilitates that process in our own small way. I'm excited for what the future holds. I'm excited for, where we're going and know that there are great things ahead of us. And they're not just behind us. Have a great rest of your day and we'll see you next time. <inaudible>.
