1:12

Perhaps ask the question what are you going to do for us besides

1:14

the technology ? How can you add value

1:16

beyond the technology ? Because technology

1:18

is just a conduit to make all

1:20

of your assets and your stories come into

1:23

the space right , but really the

1:25

most important part of any event and

1:27

any production is connection , creating

1:29

the space for community and connection . And so how can your

1:31

production team help create the conditions to

1:34

where you go beyond

1:36

mere technology ? In a ballroom or

1:38

in a venue ? We need to be thinking more

1:40

strategically . We need to be thinking bigger than that big

1:42

blue sky . What kind of environment

1:45

do we want to create for our attendees ? And when you find

1:47

the right production company , they're going to ask you those

1:49

questions .

1:56

Hey , there , you're listening to the Missions to Movements

1:58

podcast and I'm your host , Dana Snyder

2:00

, digital strategist for nonprofits

2:02

and founder and CEO of Positive

2:05

Equations . This show

2:07

highlights the digital strategies of organizations

2:10

making a positive impact in the world

2:12

. Ready to learn the latest trends

2:14

, actionable tips and the real

2:16

stories from behind the feed , let's

2:18

transform your mission into a movement

2:20

. Hello

2:25

, and welcome back to another episode

2:27

of Missions to Movements . I

2:29

am your host , Dana Snyder , and I

2:32

am very excited to be in your earbuds

2:34

in your car , wherever you're listening today

2:36

, because we have a great conversation talking

2:39

about event experiences

2:41

, and with me to discuss this

2:43

topic is Joey Goon . He is the president

2:45

of Utopia Experience

2:47

. Joey , welcome to the show .

2:49

Thank you so much for having me . This is a

2:51

full circle moment for me . This has been years

2:53

in the making , so I'm grateful to be here .

2:55

Of course I know I was very grateful

2:57

to be on your show and now I get to return the

2:59

favor . Will you please do a quick highlight for

3:01

your show , Because I don't want to wait until the end . Let them know right

3:03

at the beginning when can they listen and what is your show about

3:06

.

3:06

Yes , so it is called the Impact Roadmap

3:08

. It's all about entrepreneurs that are making an impact . And

3:11

for season two , we are specifically

3:13

diving into the world of events , because

3:16

that is our world .

3:17

We live it eat

3:22

it , breathe it every single day . I don't know if we eat events , but

3:24

some events are more delicious than others . That's very true , very important . Food

3:26

at an event is very important .

3:27

But you can find us on all the platforms Spotify

3:30

, apple . There's a bunch of them out there

3:32

. It's Impact Roadmap . If

3:34

you're watching right now , just look for someone that

3:36

looks just like me and that's the right podcast

3:39

.

3:40

Perfect , okay . So , joey , I want

3:42

to take us right in . I

3:44

know you are just coming off of an event in

3:46

San Diego . Take us

3:48

to an event , describe

3:50

one that is one of the

3:52

best event experiences you've

3:54

ever been a part of , and you could

3:56

either have been producing it or you could have been an

3:58

attendee .

4:00

Can I do one of each ?

4:01

Sure , I've got two that come to mind .

4:02

Okay , so the one , of

4:05

course , is the one that's coming to mind is

4:07

the one where I just touched down from . I'm

4:09

still buzzing from the high , so

4:11

just got back from San Diego producing a three-day

4:14

mastermind , and

4:17

this mastermind is regarded as the number one celebrity mastermind in the world

4:19

. So there's YouTube influencers , bachelorette

4:22

contestants , technologists and entrepreneurs

4:24

who are pioneering this integration of AI

4:26

with robots , which was super freaky

4:29

to see but really fascinating . Larry

4:31

Namer was there . The founder of E Entertainment

4:33

, wrote all the music for Seinfeld and Curb your Enthusiasm

4:36

. Ex-nfl and NBA players

4:39

the movie Cool Running .

4:41

Did you ever watch that ? Yes , of course .

4:43

So the Jamaican bobsled team , the main character

4:46

that put together the team , his name's Devon

4:48

Harris . He was there , he talked about his

4:50

experience and , last but

4:52

not least , there were a number of other people in the

4:54

space , but any Seinfeld

4:56

fans out there would recognize the no soup

4:58

for you . He was there

5:00

as well . So there's this super eclectic

5:03

group of people from all walks of life , from all

5:05

over the world , and so

5:07

my key takeaways

5:09

from this experience were twofold , and

5:12

it was one . It was like there were

5:14

50 speakers , this three-day

5:16

show , back-to-back-to-back

5:18

days , 16-hour days , and it was

5:20

content and breaks and lunch and entertainment

5:23

in the evening , and to see

5:26

our team seamlessly manage all

5:28

of the sizzle reels and the assets the walk-up

5:30

music , the calling of the cameras , changing

5:32

slides , managing the AV and

5:35

making the speakers , most importantly , feel like a million

5:37

bucks . Our team and a shameless

5:39

plug to our team just knocked it out of the park

5:41

and I had to pinch myself multiple times because

5:44

this is the company that we've been working

5:46

so hard to build and here we are

5:48

.

5:49

So cool . That's amazing . So

5:51

was it from the standpoint of best

5:54

event experience ? Because everything just

5:56

flowed so well . Everybody

5:59

seemed prepared . What , from your production

6:01

side , made it feel

6:03

like , oh yeah , creme de la creme ?

6:06

Yeah , it was when the audience

6:08

doesn't realize there's a production team , and

6:11

it's just seamless in how it integrates

6:13

and flows . We had AI 3D robots

6:16

dancing on the LED wall in between speakers

6:18

and music pumping and people were getting up

6:20

out of their chairs dancing and then we'd

6:22

queue up the next speaker . You see someone

6:24

with a headset from our team running to grab the next

6:26

speaker , getting them mic'd up , getting them ready

6:28

, playing the sizzle reel music , walk up everybody

6:31

out . It was just that seamless integration

6:33

and doing that in a way . Think about

6:35

doing that three days in a row , 16

6:38

hours a day , and still being high from

6:40

the energy in the space . Yes , it

6:42

just reminds me that something

6:45

Gary Vee said . Are you a Gary Vee fan ?

6:47

I mean I haven't listened to him in a while , but

6:49

yes .

6:50

So there's this video on my plane

6:53

flight home that I heard from Gary

6:55

Vee . On

6:58

my plane flight home that I heard from Gary Vee and he said there's two different types

7:00

of people . The first type of people are ones who work really

7:02

hard . These are the people that fully

7:04

love it and just own

7:07

it and embrace it . And then he said then there's the reverse

7:09

. There's the people that are fearful and insecure

7:11

, that they think , like getting straight A's in school by working

7:14

12 hours is going to fix it , and

7:16

they don't really know themselves . And if someone's insecure

7:18

, they may think they might have to

7:21

work those 12 hour days and

7:23

make the million dollars , because then that million dollars

7:25

is gonna show them that I'm good . And then they

7:27

have the 12 hour days that they can brag about . And

7:30

that's not work ethic , that's insecurity

7:32

. So what really

7:34

resonated for me in this whole thing is hard

7:37

work is remarkably enjoyable

7:39

when you love what you're doing . Yeah

7:41

, and I think the world and it's really hard if you don't

7:43

I think the world just has this super reversed

7:46

so to see our team come together

7:48

in the way that they did and at the end of the day we're

7:50

high fiving and hugging and we're

7:52

laughing , we're crying , like it just

7:54

reinforced that we've built the

7:56

right team . We've got the right members on the bus

7:58

.

7:59

So I want to ask you a question before you go into

8:01

your like event personal

8:03

experience . Your team sounds

8:05

like rock stars . If I

8:07

am an organization that is

8:10

planning an event and wants to hire

8:12

a production team , what is

8:14

a question , or a couple questions , that

8:17

I can ask to

8:19

get a team like yours to know I'm making

8:21

the right decision with the production team that I'm about to hire

8:23

?

8:24

That's such a good question . Do you have experience

8:26

, dana , in working with different production companies , whether

8:28

it's in-house or creative agencies like ours ? I

8:30

do , so just maybe

8:33

throw out your perspective . I can throw out mine , because

8:35

I've got a couple of different things that come to mind , but I'd just be

8:37

curious what your share would be around

8:39

that .

8:40

Yeah , I mean I think I always look . I ask for

8:42

, like examples Do you have previous

8:44

events that you've produced that you have video

8:46

footage of ? How long has

8:48

the team been , maybe like

8:50

working together , or

8:53

is there certain things that you truly

8:56

focus on that you say you're experts in

8:58

, and then , of course , like testimonials

9:00

from other organizations that you can speak to about what

9:02

it was like running your event with this team ?

9:04

Yeah , love those . Yeah , I would

9:06

think to piggyback off of that , perhaps ask the

9:08

question what are you going to do for us besides the technology

9:10

? How can you add

9:13

value beyond the technology ? Because one of

9:15

the things , dana , we talked about before we hit record

9:17

was the technology is just a conduit

9:19

to make all of your assets and

9:21

your stories come into the space , right

9:23

, but really , the most

9:25

important part of any event and any

9:27

production is connection , creating the space

9:29

for community and connection . And so how can your production

9:31

team help create the conditions to

9:33

where you go beyond

9:36

mere technology , in a ballroom or

9:38

in a venue ?

9:39

Yep .

9:40

I love that . If they're just talking to you about

9:42

how many microphones you need , how many speakers on

9:44

stage , are you doing PowerPoint or are you doing

9:46

keynote ? We need to be thinking

9:48

more strategically . We need to be thinking bigger than that

9:50

big blue sky . What kind of environment

9:53

do we want to create for our attendees ? And when you find

9:55

the right production company , they're going to ask you those

9:57

questions .

9:58

Yes , I love that . You know what I this

10:00

takes me back to , which is funny , but

10:02

it's an event . A production is a wedding . And

10:05

I remember when I was planning my second

10:08

wedding , because the first one was canceled due to COVID

10:10

, so the second time we had

10:12

to plan it I remember saying

10:15

to myself and to my husband what

10:17

is the experience that I want my

10:20

guests to have from the moment that

10:22

they arrive ? And I was

10:24

walking the grounds , walking the venues

10:26

, from their perspective . What do I want

10:28

to have happen here ? How do I want them to feel

10:31

there ? How are they going to meet

10:33

each other here ? How are they sitting

10:35

? Who's sitting ? Like all of these

10:37

things to think about . And I think if you

10:39

have a team that's able to

10:41

, so often we're so close to

10:44

our own events that we need someone else

10:46

to have that like 30,000 foot view and

10:48

to ask that question of what

10:51

do you want someone to feel when they walk through the door , so

10:53

simply as do they know where they're going ? Some

10:55

of like the common questions like feel when they walk through the door , it's

10:57

so simply as do they know where they're going . Some

10:59

of the common questions , like do they know how to use the rest , where the restrooms

11:02

are Like , what's the food experience , all that kind of stuff . But

11:04

then , of course , when you're sitting down in your seat , what is the visual experience ? And then

11:06

where are the connections being made ? I love that . What about

11:08

for you as an attendee of an

11:10

event ? What event has stood out for you and why ?

11:12

Yeah , I think this segues perfectly , and what you

11:14

just shared is that there

11:16

was an event where I was an attendee . It

11:18

was marketed as this personal development event . Like you

11:21

know , come you're going to have the opportunity to hear from incredible

11:23

speakers like Jeff Hoffman , the co-founder

11:25

of Priceline and Expediacom , and

11:27

Nick Santanastasso , who is

11:29

an amazing human being who was born with head

11:31

heart syndrome , so he doesn't have arms or legs

11:34

and so you know limbs where his arms and legs

11:36

were supposed to be right , and so , anyway , I'm

11:38

trying to be diplomatic and politically correct . I

11:44

just don't have the verbiage or the language around his particular syndrome , but

11:46

it's head heart syndrome and he was going to inspire us , and he did inspire us to say yes

11:48

, and he's like , hey , if I was born with this and I'm

11:50

saying yes , you need to say it . So it was like all these incredible

11:52

speakers . But what resonated with

11:54

me the most out

11:57

of anything that we did there was green

11:59

juice and yoga , and it was in a nature

12:02

retreat or nature reserve . So

12:04

we went outside and we hiked together and there

12:06

was community building and connection , and once we did

12:08

all of those things together and we felt this bond

12:11

as a community , we came back into

12:13

the room , there was this video

12:15

that was played about this little girl named Hannah , and

12:18

she was this seven , eight , nine-year-old little girl and

12:21

played this fun to need video for the charity

12:23

that was there , benefiting from all of our ticket

12:25

sales and the sponsorships . All the money that was

12:27

raised was going to benefit this particular charity

12:29

, and so this video was

12:32

played . It was Hannah's Wish it's not Make-A-Wish

12:34

different group and all she

12:36

wanted to do was go to this Taylor Swift concert . And

12:39

we knew through that video that

12:41

the only thing that she had seen the last

12:43

six months of her life was the inside

12:46

walls , the four walls of a hospital , and

12:49

she had this terminal disease and they gave

12:51

her like two months to live , which is just tragic

12:54

. Yeah . So after that

12:56

video played , they

12:58

asked us to write a letter to Hannah

13:00

. Oh , wow . So

13:02

there was blank stationery on every table and

13:05

they said every single attendee in the room right

13:07

now , you've all loved on each other , you

13:10

know you've connected with each other , you feel like you're a part

13:12

of this group . Well , now you're a part of Hannah's family

13:14

. Wow , as a group of

13:16

150 of you . We want you to just take a moment

13:18

and write words of love , words of endearment

13:21

, words of encouragement to Hannah and her family

13:23

for all they're going through right now . And

13:25

after we turned those letters in , then we

13:28

went into a paddle race . Do

13:31

you think we raised that $100,000

13:33

needed to send her to the Taylor Swift concert

13:35

100% ? Hell

13:37

yeah , we did .

13:39

Wow , what a cool experience , and I have attended so

13:42

many nonprofit events . I've never

13:44

had a participatory moment like

13:46

that . That's beautiful . What

13:48

a cool , cool experience

13:50

. Okay , so this goes

13:53

into perfectly . My next question is what do you think

13:55

are the elements that make up a great event ?

13:57

Yeah , I come back to Hannah's story and

14:00

what I shared a moment ago about the

14:02

technology in the room is merely just

14:04

technology . You have to create the conditions

14:06

to enable the hearts and the minds of

14:08

many , and so , as event organizers

14:11

, we have to understand the importance of psychological

14:13

safety , of how that event

14:15

that I just described unfolded . First

14:20

it was learning from influencers

14:23

and great entrepreneurs , then it

14:25

was yoga , then it was a walk

14:27

in the woods , getting good in the woods , then it was

14:29

green juice and vibrant nutritional

14:32

food that we were nourishing our bodies . Then

14:34

it was the story . So it's how

14:36

we engineer it and set it up . If we just walked

14:38

in 150 people that didn't know this

14:40

organization and the first thing they did was

14:43

play a fun to me video or have a sit

14:45

down for four hours and deliver a one-way

14:47

program to us , it

14:49

would have failed miserably . The technology could

14:51

have been incredible , didn't matter , and

14:54

so all of the tech that we

14:56

bring to events is really informed

14:58

by something much deeper . It's not merely technology

15:01

in a venue . So everything that we're

15:03

doing as a production agency is

15:05

anchored in neuroscience and psychological

15:08

safety . Our goal is

15:10

to understand

15:12

how the brain works , and I'm not an academic

15:14

professor , neuroscience extraordinaire

15:17

. I don't have my doctorate or PhD , but I've

15:19

been coached by those individuals and we bring

15:21

that coaching back to our team so we can understand

15:24

how to incorporate this stuff into

15:26

your events .

15:27

I think that right there is a question that people should ask

15:29

for people that they're gonna work with

15:31

for an event .

15:32

If they have an understanding of neuroscience .

15:34

yeah , yeah , I mean , is that something common

15:36

that you see in your space with other production

15:38

companies ? I don't think I've ever heard anybody talk about that

15:40

.

15:41

I think that's our competitive advantage . I really

15:43

do .

15:44

Yeah , that's incredible .

15:51

We didn't deliberately seek it out . I just was trying to take in as much personal

15:53

development that I possibly could during COVID to figure out what's out there right

15:55

, and this was a group that I stumbled

15:57

upon . It's called Exchange Approach . They're

16:00

a group of event organizers

16:02

that train facilitators and keynote

16:04

speakers on neuroscience and psychological safety

16:07

, and so I just stumbled into

16:09

this group . I got trained by them and they bring

16:11

in some of the top researchers doctors , physicians

16:13

, scientists and because of that I've

16:15

been fortunate enough to just be

16:18

in the right place at the right time and then bring this back to

16:20

our clients .

16:21

So cool . So for listeners who might have

16:23

a live event versus maybe

16:25

hybrid , versus full virtual

16:27

production which slight

16:29

teaser and I'm asking this for my own benefit

16:32

I'm planning a monthly giving

16:34

virtual summit on September

16:36

5th and 6th , which is super

16:38

exciting . So I get to ask you some questions

16:40

and then hopefully everybody can learn . But

16:47

I'm also learning right alongside the listener today . Listener , by the way , I will put a link

16:49

in the show notes , but if you're interested in attending , you can go to positive equationcom

16:51

backslash . Monthly dash giving

16:53

, dash summit . It's just an interest

16:55

page right now . It's not an official registration . I

16:58

will share that shortly . But

17:00

to create what you're talking

17:02

about virtually , have

17:05

you seen that done ? Well , what does that look like ?

17:08

Yeah , the virtual and hybrid 1.0

17:10

events are the ones where it's

17:13

just like a webinar

17:15

Right , Think of a webinar

17:17

experience where you're a passive attendee

17:20

being fed information downstream

17:22

our

17:24

experience where you're a passive attendee being fed information downstream . So I think the way

17:26

that you might consider creating those communal elements

17:28

in a virtual or a hybrid well , virtual

17:30

first would be use Zoom

17:33

and do breakout rooms . We've

17:36

had such a great experience with

17:38

asking people a question . We

17:41

do a mastermind and we'll

17:43

ask people like hey , let's talk about your

17:45

best year ever , what kind of event do

17:47

you want to create ? What kind of content to

17:49

promote and market that event ? Spend two

17:51

minutes reflecting on that and we give them some reflection

17:53

space and then we put them

17:56

in a breakout room with one other person . So it's two

17:58

people connecting , sharing ideas , connecting

18:00

with one another , and then we bring them

18:02

back to the main room together as a group of

18:04

you know a couple hundred people and we ask them to raise their

18:06

hand and share their ideas , because you never know what

18:09

insights people might clean and have those

18:11

aha moments from hearing other audience

18:13

member shares .

18:14

Absolutely . That's a big part of what I want to

18:16

do and I'm doing two half days to

18:19

not overwhelm with volume

18:21

of content and like day one being

18:23

big picture conversations

18:25

, kind of like keynote style , a couple of panels , and

18:28

then day two is all going to be breakouts . It's

18:30

going to be , one-to-one kind of speed networking , and

18:32

then you're going to get either assigned a group

18:34

or you can choose a group to be in based

18:37

upon the size of your monthly giving program . Or

18:39

there'll be like a room with

18:41

a copywriter , there'll be a room with a website

18:43

designer , there'll be a room with like X

18:46

experts , and you can pick to go into

18:48

those rooms like work on something that

18:50

you actually want to get accomplished . And

18:52

so I think for me , some

18:54

of the best events have been

18:56

when there is like a matchmaking

18:59

almost of understanding

19:02

what's the reason that

19:04

an attendee is here , what

19:06

are the questions that they have . And my

19:08

goal as an event facilitator

19:11

creator is that you leave this event

19:13

with not only those questions answered

19:15

but the people and the resources

19:18

to help you make it happen afterwards

19:20

. Because it's one thing to leave inspired

19:23

, that's a beautiful thing , but then you sit down

19:25

at your desk , like most of us do in

19:27

our virtual remote working

19:30

homes , and I'm here by myself

19:32

. I'm here by myself

19:34

and there's no more like groups

19:36

of people inspiring me anymore and I just like

19:38

need to like get it done Right , so

19:41

that is my hope . And I love the fact that like get it done Right , so that is my

19:43

hope . And I love the fact that , like , the

19:45

production team is also thinking about those elements

19:47

as well .

19:48

Yeah , I think that the way you've just explained

19:50

, that you are less than 1%

19:53

of the population , which is not

19:55

, I mean we could come at that from a scarcity based mentality

19:57

and say , well , there's not enough there , you know Dana's doing it . And , like the scarcity

19:59

based mentality would say , well , there's not enough there's , you know Dana's doing it and like the scarcity-based

20:01

mentality would say , well , there's not enough resources , not enough time , not

20:04

enough effort for me to do something like that , but Dana

20:06

can do it because you know that's good for Dana . The

20:08

abundance mentality says , oh gosh

20:11

, if she's doing it , what might

20:13

it look like for us to do something

20:15

like that too in our community ?

20:18

right , y'all , you can totally do it . I must have

20:20

a one and a half one and a half

20:22

, and then this mama likes to play with her daughter

20:24

. So

20:28

I do not work a 40 hour week at all . I just think

20:30

I am like honed in , I'm zeroed in on what it is I want to

20:32

accomplish and focus to do

20:34

that , and I am especially having Kennedy

20:36

. I've gotten very good at like time

20:39

management . I

20:43

have a to-do list and I am not randomly Google , searching or

20:46

scrolling Instagram during the day

20:48

. Let's be real . But you can totally

20:50

do it , totally do it .

20:52

If only 1% of the people are doing it , that gives you

20:54

like 99% , like what

20:56

your goal should be . And this is a

20:59

competitive side of me that I don't

21:01

typically bring out because this sits way

21:03

back in the seat of consciousness . But sometimes

21:05

that competitive nature can be good , because competition

21:07

invites us to bring our best

21:10

selves and to continue to innovate right . And so

21:12

the competitive nature in me says , hey , if

21:14

99% of the world is not

21:16

doing this , that is a huge opportunity

21:19

to make my event way more

21:21

awesome . So when they go to other

21:23

people's events , they're just a little less awesome and they

21:25

come back to mine .

21:27

It's just a little less awesome and I'm also

21:29

happy to share . Every time I go to an event

21:31

, I always try and talk to the event

21:33

creator and be like may I provide you

21:36

with a couple suggestions on X

21:38

, y and Z thing , because it's one thing to like come

21:40

home and be thinking these things , but I'd rather just tell you then

21:42

hopefully the next year can be even better . So

21:44

okay , let's just say we have a

21:46

knockout dope event . That's

21:48

happening . It's amazing . How

21:51

do we get people there ? When

21:53

you work with your events

21:55

, do you talk to them about , like , the pre-marketing

21:58

assets and then even

22:00

, like , when the event is happening , the

22:03

creation of the marketing assets are there for the

22:05

next year's event ?

22:06

I'm so glad you brought this up . Have you seen this

22:09

book ?

22:10

A hundred million leads . I have not

22:13

it says at the bottom how to get

22:15

strangers to buy your stuff . I

22:17

have not read this book .

22:18

Sounds like I should have to read this book and if you're planning

22:20

an event and you're scaling a business , pick this

22:22

book up , okay . It will change your

22:24

perspective . And it oversimplifies

22:27

to the point of like how to scale a business

22:29

for dummies type language . It oversimplifies

22:31

, which is good for many

22:34

of us , right , because we have so much information

22:36

coming at us information overload . We live

22:38

in an information economy . Alex

22:40

makes it super simple

22:42

to think about how to scale a business . So , dana , to

22:44

answer your question , I don't know

22:46

how much time we have for this question , but I'll

22:49

give you the Cliff Notes version and if you want to hear

22:51

more of it , buy his book or

22:53

send me a message and I'm happy to unpack

22:55

it further . But there's basically like

22:57

four quadrants and four ways

22:59

to grow your business . So imagine dividing

23:02

a piece of paper into four

23:04

quadrants to represent these strategies . Draw

23:06

a vertical line and then cross it with a horizontal

23:08

line , create four sections , x and Y axes

23:11

Axes yes , sounds

23:13

good . And then label the Y axis

23:16

with one to one on the

23:18

top and then one to

23:20

many on the bottom . And then for

23:22

the X axis , it's people you know

23:24

and people you don't know

23:26

. So the top

23:28

left quadrant is one to

23:31

one people who know you and

23:33

so this strategy is focusing

23:36

on leveraging personal networks

23:38

through warm outreach , so organic

23:40

reach tactics like social media posts

23:43

, text messages , calls to friends and family

23:45

to promote your business or your event

23:47

. So this approach helps

23:49

a ton of our clients when it comes to planning

23:51

their event . It's really just getting into your Rolodex

23:53

and saying , hey , who do I know ? And can you

23:55

just record a quick 15 second video on your

23:57

iPhone and say , hey , we're doing this thing

23:59

, come support us . That's

24:02

one way to do it right Just warm outreach

24:04

consistently . But you reach a point

24:06

to where you run out of people to contact

24:08

. There's only so many people that we know , and

24:12

so the top right

24:14

quadrant is one-to-one people

24:16

who don't know you . So this

24:18

is cold outreach to individuals that might

24:20

be unfamiliar with your business , and

24:22

there are platforms like ZoomInfo or

24:24

LeadIQ or Apollo and

24:26

you can use these platforms to build

24:29

personal communication funnels to invite people

24:31

into your ecosystem , to invite them to come

24:33

to your event . Linkedin absolutely Take

24:35

content like this , dana , like what you and I are

24:37

recording , chop it up into small soundbites and put

24:39

it out there on LinkedIn promoting your event

24:42

. Maybe , if you're a nonprofit , utilize

24:44

your recipients and bring them on and do a day in

24:46

the life of what it's like to be a recipient of this

24:48

particular organization . How has the organization helped

24:50

them ? How has it created this

24:52

new life-changing , life-altering experience

24:54

? Post that content online , invite people to come .

24:57

And there's two more quadrants , but

25:06

I'm going to stop there just in the interest of time and we can unpack it further in

25:08

another conversation on another day .

25:08

I'm just curious what are the bottom two ? The bottom two , bottom left

25:11

quadrant is one to many people who

25:13

know you .

25:14

Okay .

25:15

So the strategy here is to provide free

25:18

, valuable content to your existing audience , so

25:21

this could be through webinars , youtube

25:24

, instagram , and so we always encourage

25:26

people in this particular bucket to use the

25:28

three E's Make it entertaining , make it educational

25:31

, make it emotional and remember . Make it short . The

25:33

average attention span is now less than seven seconds

25:35

per video , so seven seconds is

25:37

ideal . You want your hook and

25:39

your call to action in your first 10 seconds

25:42

.

25:42

Unless it's a really good bingeable Netflix

25:44

show .

25:45

Yes , very true , Dana . This is way more

25:47

up your alley than mine . I'm just sharing some

25:50

of the things that I learned from just pushing

25:52

off the hooks yeah . The

25:54

idea in this quadrant is really to

25:56

build trust and goodwill without asking for money

25:58

. People expect you to ask for money

26:01

, so remember that , and when

26:03

you don't ask for money , you

26:05

build trust . So

26:08

give away 100% of what you

26:10

know and don't ask for a darn

26:12

thing and watch your business or

26:14

your event triple as a result .

26:16

I've heard that too .

26:18

That was a Tony Robbins quote .

26:20

Oh , look at that , hey , tony

26:22

Little . Anthony Robbins Love

26:25

him , love him .

26:27

And then the last quadrant is one to many people

26:29

who don't know you , and so this strategy is just

26:31

paid ads , which , from

26:34

what I hear you are one of the

26:36

best , if not the

26:38

best , in the industry at paid ads Reaching

26:41

new audiences . So it's identify

26:44

the ideal platform , identify the audience

26:46

, create content for that specific

26:48

audience .

26:49

Yeah , cool , okay , I love it . What's

26:52

your feedback ? This is something

26:54

that I really learned from working on American Idol

26:56

. When I was a digital producer

26:58

on the show was

27:05

a digital producer on the show . Something that we did all the time was when we were recording content

27:07

that was not going to be a live

27:09

episode . We were

27:11

batch filming a bunch

27:13

of things that then we would act as

27:15

if it was live when the show aired

27:17

. So when you

27:20

are at events

27:22

, do you ever have organizations that are asking

27:24

you to create extra subliminal content

27:26

, for example , even like testimonials

27:29

from people at the event talking about the event experience , like something

27:31

that's not necessarily going out live right in

27:33

that moment , but it's going to be used further down the line ?

27:36

yeah , 100 . One of the things that immediately

27:38

comes to mind is you

27:40

know , we talked about psychological safety and

27:42

you mentioned , from the first moment

27:44

someone steps out of the car . How do you create those conditions

27:46

so people feel welcome , like you

27:49

just mentioned , capturing information

27:51

and testimonials and sound bites . You can do

27:54

that with a red carpet , you know , in the

27:56

parking lot and as people are coming into

27:58

the event , you're interviewing them like wow

28:00

, you know , why are you here ? You could be anywhere in the world

28:02

, why did you decide to come here tonight ? You were

28:04

wearing that dress . Wow , look at him , he's

28:06

looking fly . Yeah , let's get everyone over to the red

28:08

. And you're interviewing them and you're

28:11

asking them pointed , deliberate

28:13

questions too . So it's not just the charisma

28:16

and greeting them with this exuberant personality , it's

28:18

also hey , why are you here ? How long have you

28:20

been supporting our corporate event or our

28:22

nonprofit or oh my gosh , I

28:24

just had an idea .

28:25

Sorry to interrupt you as we're talking about this like

28:28

what a beautiful full circle moment If you

28:30

had . It can be a very simple step back and repeat

28:32

at the front whether you have a carpet or

28:34

not , totally fine . But like ask everyone

28:36

, the first thing they do is they get their photo taken

28:39

for the event . Snap the

28:41

photo . It makes you feel excited

28:43

, you're a part of something , it's like you're a little star for

28:46

a minute . Then maybe you go over , you get interviewed

28:48

about why you're there and

28:55

then and then that photo gets printed out and mailed to you as a thank

28:57

you after the event for you to

28:59

like put it on your fridge or whatever . Love that

29:01

. That I have never received after

29:04

event . That would be amazing

29:06

, especially for anybody who's in the nonprofit

29:08

charity world as a . Do you remember

29:10

the evening that you had ?

29:13

That goes hand in hand with the letter writing . You know it's

29:15

something that doesn't just

29:17

disappear , because events are transient

29:19

, fleeting moments in time , Kind of like life

29:22

. If we want to get philosophical , it comes and

29:24

then it goes right . How do you make- ?

29:25

Life takes over the next day .

29:27

Yeah , how do you ensure that

29:29

they're going to remember that moment , that experience , for

29:31

the rest of their lives ? That's one way to do it . The

29:33

letter writing , like we talked about earlier with Hannah

29:35

, that's another way to do it . The red carpet Think

29:38

, think about sharing those red carpet shares back

29:40

to the families you know . A month later , hey

29:42

, remember when you had this really

29:44

profound share with us on the red carpet

29:46

, you said this particular thing that just really resonated

29:48

with us . We wanted to tell you we love you .

29:50

Yeah , there was a cool thing . I just went to the make it happen

29:52

conference that Jess Campbell put on for nonprofit

29:55

consultants , and something

29:57

special that she did was at the end she

29:59

had us all write a letter to ourselves in

30:02

like 90 days from now what do we

30:04

want to have accomplished in

30:06

our businesses ? And

30:08

we self-address them . She

30:11

put the stamp on them and so 90 days from

30:13

the day of the event , we're going to get to open

30:15

our letters to ourselves and see , like , are

30:18

we doing the things that we set out to do ?

30:20

That's freaking awesome . I love it .

30:22

There's so many little like . Moments

30:24

like that can make it feel very personalized

30:26

and remind you of the experience

30:29

that you had before . So I do want

30:31

to ask you one more question Biggest

30:34

learning with events

30:36

, whether it's something that has happened

30:39

that was like , oh man , like I wish we could

30:41

go back on that , or , on the positive

30:43

side , something that just completely

30:45

blew you mind and was like , oh yeah , we're going to do that , moving

30:48

on all the time .

30:49

Yeah , wow , there was an aha moment

30:52

for me when we produced an event last April

30:54

and it was like this is it ? This

30:57

is what we've been missing , and it was

30:59

all the things that we've talked about and

31:02

strategically bringing

31:04

them to life at an event . So

31:06

the Van Gogh Museum , about a year and

31:08

a half ago , two years ago , became this super

31:10

widely popularized thing

31:13

, right . So we took that concept

31:15

and , with a champagne

31:17

vision and a beer budget , we

31:20

brought something like that to life , where

31:22

we broke people up in groups

31:25

of 20 to 30 . So

31:28

small , intimate groups of attendees

31:30

and we took them through this

31:32

guided vignette exhibit

31:34

storytelling experience in

31:36

a venue and they had different

31:38

stops along the way , and at each of these stops

31:41

we had our LED walls that

31:43

had 90-second pre-recorded

31:45

videos highlighting the

31:47

families whose lives were being enhanced

31:49

by the donor contributions . Cool

31:51

. So , donors were

31:54

stopping at these LED walls hearing

31:56

a story , then continuing on to the next . There were

31:58

photo ops in between , there was opportunity

32:00

for connection , there was purposeful music and

32:07

then at the end of the experience they had some time to connect at the bar and get their cocktails

32:09

and really just sort of relate with one another

32:11

on what they just went through . People were laughing

32:13

, they were bawling their eyes

32:15

out , they were hugging , they

32:17

were making dinner plans and so

32:19

these people that were strangers 15

32:21

minutes ago went through this 15 minute

32:24

, incredibly like this experience

32:26

that they were just able to connect with each other

32:28

on . Then we brought all the families

32:30

out and made

32:32

that cocktail hour that much more interesting

32:34

, because now you can network and connect with all the families

32:37

you've just learned from on video . Then , and

32:39

only then , did we ask the families to take their seats

32:41

for the main program , but we brought that really

32:43

beautiful connection experience

32:45

into the space prior to going into the main program

32:47

.

32:48

That is so cool . Does your work

32:50

start at that type of

32:52

planning , or did somebody on their team come to

32:54

you with this concept ?

32:55

No , actually I give a shout out to my dad , neil

32:58

, who is my business partner , and he and my mom

33:00

founded this company in 2002 . Neil

33:02

, who is my business partner , and he and my mom

33:04

founded this company in 2002

33:07

. And he's been along for the journey ever since . It was his

33:09

idea . Cool , you

33:12

know . Our creative team ran with it alongside Neil . That's not to say that the team

33:14

wasn't involved , right Like we were all co-creating this as a group . Sure

33:16

, sure , and I do have to give the shameless plug to Neil .

33:23

Get it . Get it , dad . Amazing Joey , thank you so much for everything that you're doing and

33:25

bringing these event experiences to life . I would like to enter the

33:27

section called ask and receive . What

33:29

is one thing that you would like to ask for help

33:31

or support on from listeners ?

33:33

So we have this ebook that

33:36

our marketing team has spent hundreds

33:39

of hours on , and the ebook is

33:41

all about how to storytell and produce

33:43

the best event you've ever had Cool

33:46

. I want to give that away to everyone

33:48

, and the only ask is

33:50

please send us feedback on

33:53

what else you would like to see on this ebook

33:55

, because we're trying to make it the

33:57

only document that you ever need when

33:59

it comes to planning an event . We

34:01

need you to help us co-create the

34:04

future of this ebook .

34:06

Okay cool . Where can people access it ?

34:08

Can we link it in the show notes , because the link is

34:10

kind of it's a little bit longer .

34:13

Yeah , for sure , okay , we will link to it in the show

34:15

notes Cool , amazing , thank

34:17

you . And then , lastly , of course , where can people

34:19

connect with you ?

34:21

You can find me on all the socials . Linkedin

34:24

, you can look up Joey Goon . I

34:26

might be one of the only goons , metaphorically

34:29

speaking , I mean literally might be one

34:31

of the only goons , but perhaps figuratively as well

34:34

. But yeah , not many goons on

34:36

LinkedIn . Go find me there . If you want to go check

34:38

out our company , it's utopiaexperiencecom

34:40

.

34:48

You can also find us on all the socials . Beautiful , awesome , joey . Thank you so much . Thank you

34:50

, dana . Can you tell I love talking all things digital To make this show better ? I'd be so grateful

34:52

for your feedback . Leave a review , take

34:54

a screenshot of this episode , share it

34:57

on Instagram stories and tag Positive

34:59

Equation with one E so

35:01

I can reshare and connect with you .