THE FUN OF STORYTELLING FOR THE EVENTS BUSINESS

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. I have three amazing guests today. I have Steve Simmons, who's the president of Corporate Optics. I have Miriam, she's the chief production officer at Opus, and I have Matt Flachsenhaar. He's the senior creative director of INVNT. Everyone, welcome to the show. Thank you. Well, today we're super excited. It's our 50th podcast. So on our 50th, when we decided we wanted to do a fun subject, and today our subject is the fun of telling stories. And as our clients for events want us to tell stories, when we go out and people go into ballrooms and convention centers, everything revolves around the story. So I really want to know what your thoughts are. And so I'm going to start off with Miriam today. How much fun is it to be in the corporate event business, getting to tell your client stories. And I want to predicate this by we worked together for years and I've personally seen you tell thousands and thousands of stories. So I just wanted to say that thank you. Yes, we have had the pleasure of telling a bunch of really great stories together. To me, it's actually one of the two reasons that I am in the business. One is to tell stories, and the other is to get to play with all the cool toys and the technology in service to that, to that storytelling. So that's really that's honestly why I do it. It's why I'm still doing it. That is awesome. Okay, Steve, same question. Tell me, what's the fun about telling stories for your clients and putting on those shows? Well, I would say maybe this is getting a little too deep for the first question, but what I do is I say if I was the customer, Mr. and Mrs. Customer, close your eyes and imagine what's the what the polling would be when your people leave the ballroom. What do you want them to say? While I really learned a lot. Boy, I feel appreciated. I know what the 2022 forecast is for a financial situation. And what I do, particularly with customers, is I say, hey, how can we take those core mission objectives, what those answers would be, and put them into a moment of impact. So how can you actually test what your result would be if you could have a demonstrable result or some type of measurable to say that this is what I'm going to try to accomplish. So when you say, hey, I'm going in here, I'm going to have a leadership conference. What do you want them to say? Okay, you actually have that all done before hand before you start making your story. Okay, I got it. So it sounds like it sounds like you want the end result and then you work backwards. Right? Got it. Okay, Matt, tell me, how much fun is it to be in the corporate event business telling stories? I mean, it's pretty incredible that this is even a job. I think what I think, yeah, I mean, I just, you know, knowing what my friends do and working on the proposal phase and stuff, it's really it's really wild to kind of have the thought of, you know, what might be cool. And then it actually happens and there's money to make it happen. And the client works with you to, to bring the idea that you brought to the table off the ground. And, you know, we can get mired in the day to day. But if you really take a step back and look at this, it's it's just, you know, really I feel lucky to be able to be in an industry like this where you get to not only tell your stories, but work with so many other great people and vendors that want to help you tell those stories. It's it's really just a great industry. I will share your and echo your thoughts. This is my 37.5 year, and it's one of those things I just seem to be attracted to. It's almost my life's work and it is so much fun. And when you have a really great show and all those things line up and you knock it out of the park, oh my goodness, that's just the that's the bomb. It's euphoria. Yeah, it's euphoria. That's right. For the production team. And not only that maybe the audience okay. This question is to Miriam. Miriam, one of the greatest rewards when you produce a show and the audience reactions to that, you know, that audience reaction. I mean, what is the greatest reward for you personally? For me personally, I actually think about a project we did together with with your team, les, and it's one of the highlights of my career. It was a big opening and it used multimedia and fog screens and, you know, intimate video on a phone and big video projected on fog screens. And the the visceral gasp of the audience when they experienced that combination is really the biggest reward for me personally. I was there at that show and I had the same gasp. And so I totally get it. I absolutely get it. And and so when we get to keep doing those things, 20,000 people all inhaling in kind of surprise and delight at the same moment, that was pretty awesome. Okay, okay, Steve, take me into the biggest reward you get. You're doing some. We're doing a cool show. And how do you feel and what is your greatest reward? Well, personally, it's because I do this for a vacation. It's actually for my customers, not for myself. Okay, sure. So we just had a capital markets day when I talked about the core mission objectives and linking the audible visual and the experience and interpretation of the core mission objectives that I just talked about, linking them with moments of impact. How do you increase shareholder value? Because as you know, I'm mostly all corporate. So we are relied upon of trying to say, how does your team and my investment in your team increase my value? So we had a couple of markets Day last month that you were a part of that we were able to increase shareholder value in one hour for $135 million. Well, and so does that bring you like some personal sense of accomplishment? Absolutely. That you bring that, you know, that that's where I'm going with it. I mean, I'm sure the company was thrilled, but but you personally, you helped create $135 million in an hour, right? So to bad, we're not charging 135. You know what I mean? You know, can we just get paid in? The percentage of value increase in that particular CEO is a mentor of mine. And you said you got to figure out how you're able to, you know, profit off of, you know, the increase of shareholder value on that. I still have not figured that out yet. Okay. That's good. Nor has, nor is he. As for the next the next topic for your podcast less. Yes, that is the next topic. Matt, your thought on the, you know, the greatest rewards you get in producing a show and and the feeling, you know, what is the what's the reward for you? Yeah. Well I you know, I would take it almost a smaller scale. And, you know, we've done some a lot of big things at invent too. But I remember I've worked with one executive as a speechwriter for a few years, and a couple years into it, we built a rapport. And he told this story about his, his mother and how much she meant to him and how she, you know, inspired him to get where he was. And she she passed away early due to cancer. And he had this whole story about her that he had only told his wife and me before. And then for him to have the trust in our whole team, that he could get on stage and say that to an audience of 3000 people. And he was scared to do it, but really humanized him. And to just know that I think that story illustrates, like, how much trust and faith our clients have in us to to make them look good. And that's that's really a tremendous responsibility. But when a client opens up to you and is vulnerable and works with you to help them, that's that's the real reward, that to really touch them that way. You know, I'm curious if Miriam and Steve, do you agree? I think that's something super cool, that idea of of trust in the leadership and executives are your clients. How does that make you feel? It's fantastic. I totally agree. I mean, I think when you the most exciting creative endeavors happen kind of at the edge, right. You need to put you need to, you need to we need to push each other. And that only can happen with with clients, with our partners, when there's an incredible degree of trust. And I think you're absolutely right, Matt can be a big, gigantic 20,000 person moment and can be in, you know, going back to storytelling can be in those really intimate moments of of crafting a story if you don't have trust. We're a little bit all just phoning it in. And you mentioned partnership to which is which is a word people use a lot. But you know, when you have two partnership and you're both working together on the same thing and that that can be really beautiful too. And to, to that, you know, the human equity portion of this, everything that has a serial number is replaceable. That's a tweet for the day. That'll be my tweet today. I have my serial number. So what is not replaceable is the human equity. The people that have the relationships from the stage management to the A to to the green room manager to the makeup artist. These people that get to see the executives on a hourly, daily basis when just before we go live, when they're in their most vulnerable positions, when they could make or break their career. Those are the people that are hiring us to make sure that we have the foundation, to make sure that they can continue their career. So that should not be underestimated for all the people in our industry. Do you know, I think the crew doesn't always get the accolades that that are deserving to pull off the amazing work that we do. I totally agree. Let me continue. My next question. This is to Miriam. What do you find to be the biggest challenge and determining to tell the right story, to tell? You know, what is the challenge when you you have to figure out what's the right story to tell? Yeah, it's a great question. And I was thinking about it this morning. I think really the challenge again goes back on some level to to this question of trust and partnership, because a good story is like, oh, I was doing this thing and here it happened, you know, there were 20,000 people. Hooray! A better story is, is going to tell us about where that happened. And the really great stories are going to understand the content, the context. Excuse me, that that the people who are listening come from a better the great stories are going to understand the the context of the world that the business sits in, that the client sits in, that the people sit in the biggest possible picture, as well as the small specifics about the human who's telling the story and about the business imperatives of that moment that Steve was talking about, and that that triangulation of story is really where the great stories are found. And and pushing till you have all of that information is, is, I think, one of the big challenges. I'm just inspired hearing you say that. I'm absolutely inspired. That was such a great answer. Okay, Matt, your thoughts, what's the biggest challenge to determine the right story? And it's going to be hard to beat Miriam's because really it was really, really good. I have my answer. And as she was talking I was thinking, oh, I hope I don't get called on next for this. So thank you, Les. So I think it's you know, I think the challenge to is taking what you think might be a good story and making sure it's the right story for your client. Because. Because when we work with clients, we all come in as outsiders to a degree. You know, we're not we're not part of their organization as much as we might know them. And I think to to get something that you think is cool and will resonate, you know, will work, but that also matches exactly what who they are as, as a company and what their culture reflects and what their audience will intake, you know, people or people or people, but still there's different messages and nuances. So so I'm always impressed when anyone can come from an outside point of view and sort of nail it and get a story that speaks to the culture and speaks to their values, and that's super important. That is very interesting. And obviously, if you don't know them, it's really hard to have that level of trust and know what their demographic is. My question to Steve is, has COVID changed the way you tell stories? You know, I think the storytelling, if you talk about what I would like to say, is take your core mission objectives and appropriate a audible visual and experiential interpretation of their core mission objectives. That has not changed. What I think has changed is the barrier of entry. Anybody that can fog a mirror can now be a virtual attendee. So what we have found is that sometimes when we have a 2500 person meeting in New York or Miami, it might now be 5000 people, because the barrier of entry has then decreased. Everybody has been trained where they liked it or not over the last, what, 19 months now to be able to be a virtual expert. So I think that the attendance will increase on programs. The messaging will still, I believe, stay consistent. Core mission objectives are still core mission objectives. But I believe that the increase in ten days or the people receiving the messages, in my opinion, will break the barrier of entry and we will always be hybrid forevermore. Got it. Okay, Matt, your thought, has COVID changed the way you tell the story? Yeah, yeah for sure. And to build on to to Steve's point, once you know any event can be global now right. And who wants to what company would say no we don't want our event to be global anymore. We just want it to be for this small group of people. So not only do you have to deal with a larger audience, but you have to understand the cultural implications behind an international event. Maybe one that one that used to be national. And I think just with with production value, I shot through the roof and that's, you know, you guys have been great partners for us with that because to just put up a one camera shot of someone talking for 30 minutes, it's just not going to cut it anymore. So and I think even when we go back to the ballroom, that's going to change as well. It's just audiences are used to better production quality, faster pace and all that stuff. Miriam, your thought on has COVID changed the way the story is told or the way you have to tell it? Yeah, I mean, you know, we were already in a world of of distraction. So I think the, the distractability of our audience has gone up tenfold. It's a little bit hard to get up from that middle seat and walk out of the room. Super easy to mouse over to the leave meeting button. And so it's really the onus is on us to as storytellers, as creatives, as producers that, you know, enhance the story to make it fast, make it hit, you know, remember that we're talking to the TikTok generation out there in the back row, and you better say it fast, which is great because it's really challenged us to be to to hone our craft in all kinds of new ways. The TikTok generation. That's, that's that's it. That's my next tweet for the day. We're talking to the TikTok generation. Okay. Next question. Steve, what is the best way you have found to measure audience engagement? And when I say this question I'm speaking toward, you may have a live audience, you may have a remote audience or some version of both. So what is your technique that you found and you're deploying now or you're working on? Well, two ways to think about this. One of them is kind of disposable. Semi disposable. One of them is that we have fantastic analytics, okay. For everybody that has ever signed on to the last 19 months, okay. Of saying that this is. How long you looked at your screen. But we also know that you are also doing email at the same time. Okay. For sure. Right. Okay. I thought it was feeding the dog, you know, the mail and going to the bathroom and maybe cooking lunch. Yeah. So they have figured that out. That's fantastic. Okay, but leaders don't care about that. They care about their dogs, and they have to give them a scoop, a dog food, okay? They come back and they're grown people and they can continue with that. All right. So, the the elusive return on investment in the meetings industry, okay, is still out there, I would say, but it is definitely gotten tightened and a little bit more, I guess in my words. Okay. Equitable. That would say that, hey, here's your analytics. We know that this is what happened and how many people were signed on in. They received this message. Now then, if you're going to be able to realign them to achieve the core mission objectives, then that then again gets into something that is not so demonstrable, okay, or recognizable of a something that can be measurable. Got it. Miriam, your thought on how to measure audience engagement. And I promise I'm not going to feed my dog right now. Excellent. My dog is on a walk. I was thinking about this. I guess I'm really into triangulation these days, but I think I think the truth of audience engagement kind of sits again in this triangulation of sort of surveys, social and sales, where surveys are like Steve was talking about this idea of analytics or old school surveys or, you know, sentiment surveys. So that's one piece of the triangle. A second piece is social. What what comes out? What are people saying out there in the social world during and after our events? And then the third piece of sales, right. Or whatever the action is, we want our audience to take as, as a, as the effect of our conference. And when you look at those three of them together, then you can really measure the effectiveness of what you did. Matt. Your thoughts? Audience engagement. How do you measure it? Yeah, I mean, I thought man gave a great answer because I agree with you. She she wins. Really great. So it's all about triangulation. Just anytime you you do you you say there's three points. Yes, I would say triangulation as well. It's a 33 legged stool. Three legged stool. Oh yeah. But Matt, do you have any other thoughts on that? No. I think Miriam actually spoke to one of the questions that, that even Steve has alluded to, which is there's there was sort of been like an arms race of metrics now going virtual, like how much can we track and how many numbers can we get? But the the question of like, what is the value of a view is still sort of unanswered. 1000 people saw it. Does that matter. What does it what value did that bring and the triangulation that Miriam was speaking to? I think you have to still combine data and information from a bunch of places to, to get to great audience engagement. Got it. Okay, so this is another question. This is maybe the the toughest question of the of the of the day. And this first to Miriam. It's how do you feel when you create an moment. It's kind of like what you mentioned earlier the moment and the and the other question that's tied to it is where do you get inspiration to get to create that moment? So, so to tell a story, you got to have inspiration and then to create an moment, which doesn't happen at every show. It's the my God, look what just happened. So so where do you find that? Yeah, I was I was thinking about that a bunch this morning. And the answer is sort of everywhere and nowhere. Right. It's it's one of, I think, the greatest challenges as creators of the last 18 months. Right. We're all going so hard and so fast to, to reinvent the industry that it's very hard to to have space to think, to have space to read, to get to go back to a museum. So I really take a lot of inspiration from kind of the intersection of unconnected things. You know, I went on a walk and I was listening to a podcast and remembering the TV show I watched last night. So to me, it's it's that it's that open space for thinking and that open space for undirected learning and exploration. That is that is the fodder for that. And I was thinking about. Moments. There's a great book by Chip and Dan Heath called The Power of Moments. And they talk in that book about enabling people to trip over the truth as, as a key to creating a ha moments. And that, that, you know, that moment when you get to lead your audience to this insight, that it turns out that they already knew or already had inside of them, and they can connect to that. That's a great moment, and that's really exciting. When you take them on that journey, you say, look, here we are. And they're like, oh, I knew it. That that's a great that's a great feeling. I will tell you, I'm in this business to do that, to create those moments and to have to experience it. Steve Simmons moments and and inspiration. Where do you find it? This is particularly where I come in as a creative director. Okay. So this is easy for me. We take our core mission objectives. We try to line them up with moments of impact. Hey, do we want to be able to say if we pulled an executive while we really learned a lot? Boy, feel appreciated. I know what the 2000, you know, 23 forecast is. We take those moments of impact. We put them on a tent card, leave them in the middle of the table, and we say, hey, if we spend a dollar and it gets us closer to one of those moments of impact, then it's an investment. Their program. If we spend a dollar like 6 pound shrimp and it doesn't get us closer to that moment of impact than it's in not an investment in our program. Okay, so now we take all of those. We make an audible visual and experience interpretation of those moments of impact. And then we invest in that deliverable of a result. Okay cool. So that is something that I don't share with a lot of our brothers in arms okay. As a creative director, right. But you're being your 50th podcast podcast. And this is the special sauce. Now, I got the secret sauce, right. So with that, yes, that we also appreciate you having us on. Okay. For your guest. Yes. Okay. Matt. Inspiration. Moments. What are your thoughts? Yeah I mean, I think again, Miriam really set the tone here with a great answer. And because in the what we're doing now, it is there's a lot more doing than thinking. And it's, it's harder to get there sometimes. I, you know, one of the things I try to think about is the audience. And will something be a memory for them because we've been to so many meetings. Right. And memories can come from anywhere. It can come from the location you go to, to your pre-show experience, to something that happens on stage is something that happens somewhere else. But like somewhere in there, there has to be something that people take as a lifelong memory. The what Miriam was talking about to start this podcast with the projection on the fog and that whole spectacle, the people that went to that still remember that. And that's something that they can take with them forever. So. So I look at a moment as a memory. And how do you at least create 1 or 2 touchpoints that are unique and stand out from all the other content that that we consume daily, weekly, monthly? That is incredibly awesome. The whole idea of what you just said of creating memories. Okay, this is my final question. I'm going to start with you, Steve. When the world returns to normal and in a post-COVID world, will storytelling have changed forever as a result of the last 18 months, or will we go back to selling telling stories the way we used to tell? Tell them before. I think the story will remain the same. The shareholder equity okay, will be predominant. We will find our core mission objectives. That will be something that has to be dispensed to leadership. I think that all of the messaging will stay the same, I think, and I believe confident with a high degree of confidence that are attendees are going to go up because I think that the barrier of entry has been demolished for people that would have to be virtual. So the same 2500 people you have in the audience will want to be able to shake hands and go to cocktail hour with each other. But I think that the other 5000 people will want to be able to be there to get the messaging. Got it. Okay, Matt, your thought, we'll we'll the story and the message change the way we do it because of the last 18 months. Or are we going back to the way we've always done it? Well, I mean, I think the storytelling has been around since we could communicate. So the things that are great about story, how they resonate, how they lead people, the truth, the values and the humanity that we share. They're there. They're they're still at the core. But I do think the line between event and content is now sort of blurred, right? If you watch a one hour event on your computer is advent or was that like a one hour movie that you just saw? And I think with with a more digital, forward, savvy audience, yes. I think the production values permanently up now. I think the way we build agendas is going to have to shift to be more rapid. I think there's probably a dozen other changes that we have even come to terms with yet, but I think the execution of storytelling is going to be changed. Okay, Miriam taking me home when the world returns to whatever we're going to call normal. I don't even know what that might even word could mean. And we're back in ballrooms and doing it like we've always done it. Will the story have changed? No, I'm with Matt and I think it's the great news for our industry. Storytelling has survived everything the world has thrown at humanity for, you know, since there were humans. So no, like cavemen, since cavemen, you know, whether it was a saber toothed tiger or an ice age or a plague. Right. Storytelling has outlived them all. And that really is the great news for our industry. And I also really am in an agreement that this, you know, the distributed audience is here to stay, the distracted audience is here to stay. And it's kind of a great challenge for us. And one of the things I'm really excited in, you know, the now normal to see how we, we take all the tools and the technology and apply that to, to storytelling in this moment. Well, I want to thank all three of you, Steve, Miriam and Matt for joining me today. What a great 50th podcast with some insightful thoughts. You all are simply amazing. I can't wait to see you in three dimensions in a ballroom convention center somewhere where we're having a big show and and you can have as many virtual audience members as you want. And this is Les Goldberg and The Road Ahead everybody. Great job. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you.