HOW TECHNOLOGY SHAPES MODERN STORYTELLING

Hello, this is Les Goldberg, and welcome to The Road Ahead. The Road Ahead podcast is dedicated to the future of the live events business, bringing together industry experts. Hello, production world. This is Les Goldberg and The Road Ahead. Today I have three amazing guests. I have Rick Borja, who is the Chief Innovation Officer for Go West Creative. I have Chris Drury, who is the Chief Creative Officer and President for Drury. And I have Stephen Dahlem, who is the Senior Creative Director for Corporate Magic. Guys, welcome to the show. Thank you for joining. Today, today's show is dedicated to storytelling. And I have three amazing storytellers on this podcast. So I'm very excited. You know, every show you go to is essentially the story for the client and what they're trying to tell that audience. And as that story unfolds, we put on a show. And so today's topic of the podcast is how important is technology to storytelling. And obviously, we're a technology company, and we work with all these great storytellers. And so I'm going to throw the first question to Chris Drury. And Chris, what are the components for a great story when you're producing a live event? And we have worked together for forever, I would say, forever. We have worked together forever, Les. Actually, when we started, I think people were sitting around a fire telling stories. So it's been a while. I think the the components of telling a great storytelling, I don't think have really changed much. You have a really a central theme, or you have a central idea, and a great storyteller. And then you use tools to tell that story, whether it's your imagination, or your hands, or music, or visuals, or, you know, taking a stick and drawing something in the sand. But in the sand, I think, Les, to be more serious, when it comes to what we're doing, we typically are dealing with fairly large audiences. So what I've found is that you have to have that central idea or theme, it's got to be simple, it's got to be bold, it's got to be visual. And I think we have to try to engage the audience emotionally, as quickly as we can, and create an immediate connection to that audience. So I think that at least what we try to do is, you know, make sure that the technology we're using reinforces the core idea, it doesn't replace it, it should be amplifying what it is we're trying to do. And I know we're going to talk more about that later on. But again, I think with storytelling, you know, it's what is it you're trying to communicate, and is the essence of it, and then the technology can support it. That's the how. Got it. That is very logical answer. Rick Borja, your thoughts on the same question, the components for a great story when producing an event? Well, I think it goes without saying, you start with a great storyteller. I mean, you have someone that you've positioned, whether it's the client or someone that you've helped train on behalf of the client, to put in front of the audience to convey that story, they need to know the content, to be able to speak to it extemporaneously with very minimal notes. And I think that's really key, because that's how you're going to make the connection with the audience. When you think about it, I mean, all the technology is wonderful, because that really enhances the experience. But the key to a great storyteller is the story and how they tell the story. If you think about someone like Vince Scully, who captured the hearts and minds of thousands of people every day, and they only heard his voice, they didn't have the advantage of incredible technology, which came later. But he had such a gift of storytelling, that he could rattle off hundreds of stories at the drop of a dime just by the inspiration of a single action on the field, or the background of a player, and he could pull it from his mental Rolodex right away and elaborate it and speak to it without pauses or ums or uhs, it just flowed naturally. So starting point there, and just to reinforce everything that Chris said, the technology, yes, it enhances the experience at the hands of true professionals. But I think it starts also with that storyteller and their ability to connect with the audience. And as event professionals, it's our job to back them up and to give them the tools to be able to do that. Got it. Okay, Mr. Dahlem, what are your thoughts on storytelling and putting on a great show? Well, both of those responses are spot on. And I agree with them wholeheartedly. I think one of the things that I would add is knowing what the intention is for your audience, because we want to make sure that, you know, you only bring audiences together really for two reasons to celebrate behavior or to change behavior. And what we want to do is know what we want the audience to feel, or what we want the audience to do when they're leaving the room. And so I think that that's one of the things as far as the story is concerned, what we want, you know, to two components of the story have got to be so clear and have got to be, you know, so laid out and story told very, very well, that we are going to, people are going to walk out of the room, energized and and celebrated and that they want to go and do those things that you are trying to get them to do that behave to change, like the call to action. Exactly. Got it. I was gonna tell you, just as a comment, Rick, what happens if your client is not a great storyteller, and they have to be on stage? How do you deal with that? I think that would be something we all have happens every show. I totally agree. And we've all faced that unfortunate scenario. And I think that really draws upon the strength of a really great producer or show director that's there to prep them work with them ahead of time, and then walk them through the show format so that anything and everything that could give them pause, or anxiety, you've you've reassured them, okay, we're taking that away. You know, your notes are going to be visible right on the floor, and they're there for you. Okay, the audience, instead of looking at an audience of 2000 people look at it as an audience of one person, and be conversational that way you're just talking to one person and you're telling the story. Don't worry about the lights, the sound, the video, we've got that covered. Focus on on your content, focus on your team, your audience, your organization. And as I said, know the content. It's it's all about the rehearsing, but not over rehearsing, you get them to that level where they're at ease. And then, you know, the magic happens. It sounds like you're instilling calm for that presenter. Yeah, I think I like what Rick is saying. I think it's authenticity. And we want the speaker to be authentic. What we've all seen is overcoached, manipulated executives, which is far worse than than an executive that's getting on the stage. And even if he's not the best presenter, if he if he's authentic, and he's passionate, and he's committed, it's going to come come off way better. I really hate when people are so overcoached that you're looking at plastic on stage. And you know what I think with some with some execs, and I'm sure the guys have reinforced this, find out what they're good at, right? Are they better in a conversation than do it as a conversation? Are they better with interacting with a couple of people and using bullets, then let them do that. Don't force them to be who they're not. Because as soon as you do that, they're not going to come off authentic, they're not going to come off real. And that's when you're going to start to see an executive who's not in their comfort zone, and it just doesn't work. Creatively crafting their moment so that it's authentically theirs based on their strengths is, I think, super key. Don't try to force them into something that they're not. Yeah, I think Stephen, you can use that's where you can kind of use some technology to support that. It might absolutely might be video roles to support. It could be, you know, polling something interactive with the audience or use the technology to support a person who's who's maybe not as strong as they could be. And we find it a lot in the tech world. It's like these engineers, you know, kind of make their way up to the top of the food chain. And they're just not great at presenting. They're great at inventing things. So what can we do to really help them? I don't know. Keep it real. Keep it real. Okay, I'm moving on on that quote. Okay, this question is to Steven. When you're in a room during the show, can you feel if the audience is engaged with the presenter? Is that something as a producer, a creative person, you can actually sit there and you could feel it if it's working, or it's not working? What are your thoughts? Oh, absolutely. You can feel that I think instantly when you're in a room and you kind of live for those moments of audience connection when everything is, you know, firing on all cylinders. So in conversely, you know, when you are feeling that in rehearsal that it's not that it's not going to be that you've got to be able to pivot quickly and change directions. But as producers and creatives, you know, you live for those moments of that connection. The connection, Rick, your thoughts on the audience connection with the presenter? Can you feel it? Can you see it when you're whether it's rehearsals or in a live show? During the show, there's two tells that I noticed when they're really connecting with the presenter. One, you can hear a pin drop because they're so engaged. And two, nobody's looking at their smartphones. I mean, that's the biggest distraction, you know, you know, you're losing people when you see screens in the audience, because people are, are, you know, detached. But if you can see just all the heads forward, you can hear a pin drop. And that that moment is there. And you hear the audible responses to salient points that the presenters making, you know, the presenters got them. Chris, your thoughts? Yeah, I agree with both of those things. Are the audience leaning in? Are they listening? Are they following the story? You know, not looking at their phones? Are they reacting in real time? Right? You can tell when someone's engaged, like Rick said before, is it a conversation, it should be the audience kind of responding directly to the presenter on stage. And if it is, then you're doing well. And if you're not like Stephen saying, Oh, you better pivot quickly. All right. Okay. All right. So so my next questions, back to Rick. Where does audio video lighting LED or will refer to all that technology being used for a show connect with the message? How do you know how much technology to use for a show versus none at all? So where is the line in the sand? And obviously, I'm a technology provider. So always with me more is better for less. But, but how do you when you're creating the amount of technology and you're designing the show? How do you approach that? Well, I think we'll all agree the first thing that helps determine the amount of technology we use is the budget. I mean, that's that's the reality of it. But you know, given a decent budget, a healthy budget, then you're going to design according to the presenter skill set, as Chris said, but also the content that supports it. You know, you might have a keynote speaker that comes to stage and maybe they only have a deck of 12 slides, and they're all big, bold, visual visuals with with keywords, which to me is the best case scenario, because it's not, you know, death by bullet points, and so on. It's just these big, beautiful visuals that reinforce a specific topic. Okay, well, if they're going to do that, then you're going to have big dynamic screens to reinforce that at the appropriate time. If they if they don't come with a lot of content, but you have the opportunity to work with the client to reinforce it, they if they open the door for you and say, we've got this, you know, really wonderful keynote from our CEO, he's got some amazing things he wants to roll out, but our content team isn't the greatest. Can you help us? Oh my gosh, that's that's the magic ticket. Now we can open the our creative team up to it and design to that and and again, give them the bold visuals that reinforce the theme, but not take away from the presenters message because we still want them to be the focal point. I think I think I'm hearing you say big, large LED screens. I don't know. Maybe it's because of who I am. I don't know. Epic in scale. It could be less. We've got plenty of LMG screens on our shows. Yes. Okay. All right. Steven, do you agree with Rick? I mean, yeah, absolutely. Tech is there to connect the message with an emotion. It's it's there to amplify like Chris said. So if it I don't know who told me this one time, but sometimes, again, conversely, is that sometimes tissue paper and a flashlight's enough. We just did the National Medal of Honor Museum grand opening and one of the most poignant moments where we were talking about sacrifice. And it was an epic show with fireworks and you know, 2800 drones and custom music and projected content and all of this and one of the most poignant moments of the entire night was when everything just stopped. And you heard and everything was just a blackout and all you heard was just the person's voice in the ether talking about the moment the soldier came to her mother's door. She knew what that meant when that soldier came to that door. And you know, that is one of those examples of sometimes nothing, except you know, the storyteller is enough. Interesting, interesting. Chris, your thoughts? Yeah, I mean, what Stephen is saying is absolutely true. Oftentimes, the technology is a single spotlight and a microphone. But there are other times. And this is more I think what you're what you want to hear less is sometimes the technology and the tools can really help the story. It can make it feel bigger, more immersive, more emotional. And but by that, I mean, you can take the messages and make them larger than life, right? We can put them on screens that are hundreds of feet. So Rick is saying might be a powerful visual, you make it big, you can really drive it home. With sound, you can immerse the audience in sound three dimensionally and really make it make it emotional when you put someone inside the sound. And then lighting also can make things three dimensional. So I think with technology today is again, as long as you're amplifying the story, as long as you're using it judiciously with intention. I think that technology, there's definitely a place where it can definitely, especially with large audience and large spaces, you can use it to really take that message and amplify it and expand it. The opposite also can be the case, Les. I know that's something that you want to talk about, which is, you know, technology for technology sake is a waste of time and a waste of money. So we've all seen that with, you know, animations that don't mean anything, flashing lights for the sake of flashing lights, LED coming on and going places. I just saw a show recently people projecting on walls that provided no value. It just was kind of silly. It's like it has to be used with good intention or all you're doing is distracting from the message, not amplifying the message. So use it smartly, use it with intention, start with the message and work your way out. So that brings me to my next question, and actually you kind of talked about a little bit and I'll throw this to Rick. Rick, can technology distract from the main message? Have you ever experienced a show or been part of it where Chris kind of talked about it a little bit where maybe there will say some storyteller somewhere was a weak storyteller and said, well, we'll throw technology at it. We'll make it interesting instead of the actual story. Have you ever had an experience or been to a show like that? Well, first, let's put it out there and say the first time that technology will distract from the message is when the technology fails. So let's get that out of the way. You know, let's assume that we're working with, you know, incredible technology handled by incredible professionals. So all things being equal, the technology is doing what it's supposed to do and the right people are running it. Yes. You know, just to reinforce what Chris said, you know, using technology for the sake of doing it and it doesn't add to the experience. It doesn't immerse the audience. It doesn't create interaction. It doesn't send the message across. It's too much. And that's that's not you. You know, you're not being a good steward of your client's budget and resources, your resources and time to do that. You know, it goes back to the beginning when you're doing those brainstorming sessions or the planning with the client and you're really understanding the message that they're trying to get to their audience. It will come to light in that those initial planning sessions. OK, here's where we can design the event to really drive these points home. Are we going to wrap the room in screens or not? Are we going to do a single screen behind them? Is the lighting being used theatrically as we should be doing? You know, we call it corporate theater for a reason. Lighting is a very powerful tool. When you use the qualities of light, as we've learned into the theater background, intensity, you know, movement, color, you know, those things are used to create emotion or draw focus. So using, you know, lighting effectively that way. Absolutely. And then audio. It goes without saying, you know, when audio goes bad, that takes away. But when audio is finally tuned and it feels like the presenter is standing right in front of you or sitting right next to you and you're capturing every, you know, nuance of every word being said, that is bringing the story home and that is engaging the audience. Wow. I love your answer so far. Stephen, please share your thoughts on this distraction or technology. Can it distract from the main message for the audience? Absolutely, it can. I think the best technology disappears right into the message. It is seamless to the audience and they are swept away in the emotion of the moment and the story that you're telling. And I think that when the technology becomes so much that they're focusing more on the special effect than what they're feeling, then that's a waste of money. Hey, Les, it's called Flash and Trash for a reason. Flash and Trash. Oh, my goodness. It's like being at a bad concert where, you know, there's just way too much lighting and smoke and the PA is too loud and it distracts from this amazing performance, right? Obviously. Right. Yeah, exactly. OK, we're moving on from Flash and Trash. Chris, can you tell me a time where technology was used to enhance the experience and how it really worked? Some some example of something where by adding the technology, it helped deliver the message. Yeah. And actually you were you were there for one of this for this example. We were trying to tell a story just for Rick and Stephen's benefit around around data. And we were talking about the story was how can we gain insight out of data? And we were using a storyteller to do that, who was basically a computer science guy, wizard. And we put him inside the data. And by that, I meant we had front projection, scrims, rear projection screens projecting on the side. We had kind of a live orchestra that was also scrimmed. And what we did was we told the story of there's data, but then there's insight out of the data. So we immersed the storyteller inside 360 degree data so that he could tell the story of emerging insider, gaining insight out of the data. And it was really, really powerful because, you know, it brought to life this notion of insight, which is which is today really what it's about. It's not about data. It's about getting insight out of data. So that was a three dimensional version. And the technology less supported that because it was quite a bit of technology between large rear projection screen, front projection, scrims, live orchestra and lighting all choreographed to tell the story of three dimensional data. I love that story. We need more stories like that. Stephen Dahlem, can you share any experience you mentioned about the military event and the opening? I don't know if there's anything else that comes to mind about where technology helped tell the story. Yes, we have been doing a lot of new things that we're calling expanded on breakout sessions and making because that's where sort of the rubber meets the road. I know it sounds boring and that normally it sort of conjures up ideas of like a single screen and some speakers on sticks because that's all they really afford in those kind of situations. But what we're realizing is that's where some of the biggest messaging comes as far as boots on the ground. And we're creating now these immersive experiences where they're really almost like attractions. Similar to maybe some of the stuff you may have seen with the Punch Drunk group and what they've been creating with experimental theater. Where the audience is broken into groups and they go into these different experiences throughout a room. So instead of seating in a theatrical experience where we're all facing screens, it's actually you're immersed in the content. And it can either be surrounding you with that surround sound and projection on all of the walls. It can be live cast. It can be a presenter in these sort of ten minute little modules that the audience moves through. And each one has a different technological hook to it. And they're all done with binaural headsets. So the technology does not or the audio does not bleed from room to room to room. And so really a great new experience in sort of the corporate theater world where we can make those breakouts come to life. And instead of like just handing out tablets and pencils and watch this PowerPoint. I got it. You know, the official name is Silent Disco for those headsets. So we're all dancing. We can switch the channels to a different frequency. Interesting. Rick, your thoughts on this? And doing something memorable. So you may not recall, but, you know, we were one of the early adopters of LMG's facial analysis. Oh, no. For no. And we had several opportunities to roll that out. And the ROI for the client and for us as event professionals was amazing to use. You know, relatively simple technology when you think about it. It's cameras trained on the audience, but the power of the software that can do the facial analysis and be able to break down real-time data. Emotional response, you know, bisected by gender and by age and to let you know which points of the presentation got the most feedback. That was an incredible breakthrough of technology at the time. And now there's, you know, numerous facial analysis products out there. But that was a standout for me when we were able to do that because it was the first time away from doing surveys on your phone that you can get real-time results. We continue to develop that product, and it is all real-time now, and it's super cool. I'm moving on to my next question. This one is to Chris. Do you remember a time we did shows with little or no technology and had amazing results? So go back in the way back clock, and, you know, when we used slides or when we used flip charts, what are your thoughts on that? Do you remember a time where there wasn't a lot of technology, but somehow we were able to create some amazing results? Yeah, again, Les, we go back a long way. I think one example, Les, that we did together that I thought was really interesting, it's not as far back as the 90s, but as early 2000s, we did a show with the Death Jam poets. And at the time, it was literally just a person on stage with a microphone creating poetry with meaning. And the stories that were told were incredible examples of kind of innovation, skill, bravery, expression. And all they had was a microphone. That was it. And we brought a bunch of them onto stage. Back then it was a J&J show. And the audience was just mesmerized by the skill that these diverse people could bring onto the stage, telling the story of their lives, which were incredibly emotional, with literally just a microphone. And it just was really, really moving. And that's it. It was a light and a mic. And that was it. So there wasn't a whole lot of tech behind that, Les. It sounds like what Stephen was talking about with that moment where you had the microphone and the person's voice, where they were talking about the flag showing up. Stephen, do you have any other moments similar to that? Because that feels like a moving moment with very little technology required. That's how it felt just when you told it to me. Yeah, I think that as a musician, those moments where you can infuse beautiful music into a situation where, you know, it just elevates the moment and sometimes just the vocalist on stage is enough. Sometimes the shadow of the cast member on the wall is enough. Those are the kind of moments that really resonate to me as far as the ones that don't take a lot of tech. Got it. Rick, your thoughts? There was an instance that came to mind, and it wasn't intentional. We were doing a conference up in the D.C. area, and an HR director was standing at the lectern giving a rollout on some new policies. And we had an unfortunate scenario where one of the banquet staff in the back room had killed a breaker, thinking he was for another ballroom, and it killed the lighting rig and the video package. Thankfully, only the audio remains. So the audience could no longer see the IMAG. They could no longer see the presenter, but they could still hear his voice, and they could still hear it, you know, distinctly. So we never lost any momentum. You know, some people might have even thought it was intentional because it drew focus, but it reinforces the point I made earlier. A really great sound system with a person that's delivering very, you know, important messaging, and you won't lose the audience. So that stood out to me as like, thank God the audio was still good, and it was still on, because he never lost any momentum with his audience. Don't touch the breaker with the audio. If you're going to do any breaker adjustments, stay away from it. You can touch the lighting and the video, but keep the audio. It might be dark and a hollow sound. Okay. Chris, my thoughts are your thoughts on this. What new technology will be introduced in the future that we can expect or that will get integrated into our worlds? And I'm just curious. It already has. It's called AI. And ultimately, I think what we're seeing now, and I know we've had a little bit of a discussion on this, with AI creating personal experiences. You know, we do meetings for thousands. How can you create a personal experience for thousands of people at an event? Well, you can using AI, pre-event building agendas, connecting you to people who you should meet, using AI to help develop. I mean, I did an event where we used AI to help, not replace, help create concepts, themes, speeches, walk-in music. Literally writing presentations, work on breakout content, design menus, work on check-ins. So you're already seeing it, Les. I think that, you know, making the audience interactive, right? Creating second screen experiences during sessions, immediately getting kind of the feedback after a session. What were the main points of that session? You're going to see, in my opinion, in the next couple of years, most large events being driven almost completely by AI from a tech point of view, but also completely human as far as how things are, you know, created and presented on stage. It's going to be a novel, interesting world the next couple of years with AI. You know what? It's coming. We're going to have jobs. We're still going to need creative geniuses. Don't worry, you all are good. Stephen Dahlem, your thoughts? Tag-teaming on exactly that. And I think that using AI in a mixed media situation in real time is what I'm super excited about. So think about what Rick was talking about with the facial recognition and getting that real-time audience feedback then coming back day two, and your entire day two has been created in real time based on the feedback that you got. We met the audience where they were. We heard them directly. We got all of that feedback and being able to shift and pivot and create something that is custom and crazy quality and emotionally connected, all the things that we've just been saying, but to be able to do it overnight so that that day two is just like, whoa, how did they do that? How did that come? Like, it really makes it way more exciting for the future. I think that that's one of the big things that I'm waiting for, real time. Wow, you go into day one, do your show without a fully baked day two, and until the night of day one, then we're going to make day two. Wow, that would be very interesting. Graphics, music, all the things that you need to put that together. Obviously, all the technology is all going to be there that's going to support all that, but the content that's being created to support what you need to do on day two, because you're not force feeding this audience something, you're meeting them where they are. I gotcha. Rick, your thoughts. Well, I'm grateful that my colleagues eloquently spoke on AI so that I don't have to, because that's pretty much a given. But I believe that the advancement in technology and battery and microprocessing and wireless transmission will continue to evolve so that things are faster, smaller, lighter, completely wireless. And this technology will continue to evolve to make the audience part of the story. I think immersive interaction is going to be a continuing thing that we're going to see. And with the advent of smart glasses, now you have technology that will do real time translation for you, that will do real time interpretation of things that are happening in front of you. The audience is going to be immersed in a way never seen before. And it's going to be through the simplest of technologies, of course, backed by AI. But I think that's going to be a key factor that we're going to want to keep our eye on is how do we continue to engage the audience? How do we continue to not only tell them story, but make them part of the story? Guys, I have to tell you, you three creative geniuses today have overwhelmed me with cool answers to what I can expect in the future. And luckily, no one said we're getting rid of lighting and sound and video screens. We all still need the core infrastructure. Even with the word AI, I don't know how many times we said AI in this podcast, but there's probably a bed in Las Vegas right now. And someone's trying to figure out the number of times we said it. But I want to thank all of you, Rick, Chris, and Stephen. You guys are amazing. I look forward to seeing you in ballrooms, convention centers, any space that requires a story be told. I appreciate all of you and to the amazing work that will happen in the future. Guys, again, this is Les Goldberg and The Road Ahead. And thank you all. Great job. And we will see you in the ballroom.