****Please forgive any and all transcription errors as this was transcribed by Otter.ai.****

Alecia May 0:00

Hi, I'm Alicia May and you're listening to A Shark's Perspective.

(Music - shark theme)

Kenneth Kinney 0:19

Welcome back and thank you for joining A Shark's Perspective. I am Kenneth Kinney, but friends call me Shark. I'm a keynote speaker, a strategist, a shark diver, host of this show, and your Chief Shark Officer.

Kenneth Kinney 0:31

So in person events are bac. We're post pandemic for the most part. But what has changed with conferences and events and shows. Is the goal to just recreate what we had in the good old days of 2019 or our audiences wanting something different, something more? If you're involved in putting on an event, then ask yourself what does it take to create an event people will remember?

Kenneth Kinney 0:54

Alicia May is a certified digital event strategist, a certified meeting planner, a certified hybrid and virtual event director and a certified coach consultant with over 17 years of experience in the event and entrepreneur industry, working with some of the biggest brands in the world.

Kenneth Kinney 1:09

And on this episode, we will discuss events, conferences, shows grading a great experience trends, budgets, virtual platforms, events, and hotels, especially those Airport Marriott, Canadian actors and comedians on Australian divers study by Alicia son in school, and a lot, lot more.

Kenneth Kinney 1:26

So let's tune into an eventistry artist with a Shark who would love to keynote your next event on this episode of A Shark's Perspective.

[music]

Kenneth Kinney 1:38

Alecia, welcome to A Shark's Perspective. Tell us a little bit if you will, about your eventistry background.

Alecia May 1:45

Absolutely. So thanks for having me. I'm the founder and CEO of Eventistry by Alicia and I'm a certified digital event strategist, meeting planner and hybrid and virtual event coach, I also help a lot of coaches and speakers and consultants with sponsorships. So my my goal is to create six figure sponsorships, and events. And you know, definitely love the new post COVID era, if you will with virtual,

Kenneth Kinney 2:12

What are the types of events you work with today, whether it's brands or associations, what types of conferences because events, if you will, is such a nebulous word today, when you consider all the virtual stuff that we do?

Alecia May 2:24

Absolutely. So primarily, we focus on two different industries, we, we focus on conferences and corporate events with clients like NASA and Pepsi and Alzheimer society. But we also do focus as well on the coaching industry. So anyone that is looking to create six speakers at their events, fulfillment events, creating those experiences for brand awareness and marketing purposes, that's client, those are our two main pockets of what we focus on at the agency.

Kenneth Kinney 2:55

So what are some of the key indicators you see affecting events moving forward? As we go into 2023? There's been so many changes, and who knows what's gonna come next. But what are you sort of seeing is the indicators of where we are today moving forward?

Alecia May 3:09

It's a great question. The way that we're moving forward is is ever changing, this whole past year has been up and down and around the corner and down the bend. And what I mean by that is, people are doing events differently. And it's, there's not one trend that we're following. So there's people that are still I'm all on board just for virtual events, because it makes sense for our business. There are other companies that are, I still want to do a hybrid model where we do have one person in person event annually, and then the rest are virtual. And then we have companies that are no, I don't want to focus on digital, it didn't work for us, you know, it was good when we had it. However, we just want to create live experiences. So not one company is doing something the same, everyone's doing a very different model based on their specific needs and wants of their company. So that's the trend, you know, is people are like, Oh, live is back live is back for sure. But it doesn't necessarily mean people are ready to be back in person. And I'm seeing that with a lot of event attendance. And a lot of you know, what used to be 1000 person in person event is now a 150 person in person event, while the rest are hybrid. So I'm seeing a lot of that, oh, live is back, but I not seeing the attendance in specific industries. That is some some people are, you know, technology events are back to where they used to be or at least 70% capacity. However, I'm seeing a little bit of a decline in in the life and you know, you can tell them, you can maybe argue with me and some Oh, well, there was you know, 10 more people or you know, 10 times more people that from pre COVID And that's great. That may be worked in your industry, but for where I'm seeing things, it's a little bit of a you know, all over the place right now.

Kenneth Kinney 4:56

Yeah, I couldn't agree more. I mean, I know in 2022 I spoke in an event that in 2019, from understanding had about 100 people in person, they paused in the fall with COVID, and did a virtual 2021. They did a virtual, they had it in 2022, along with three other conferences that this media company had put together, all nested in this one big massive group of ballrooms. And instead of having 800, again, they had about 100 225. And the other three conferences, didn't even amount to all of 800 people total. And it's, as people get more comfortable, he's still got budgets to deal with, because CFOs got happy not having to send any everybody's, you know, travel everywhere. And it's frustrating. I know, one, another event that typically was in the three to 5000 range, one of the bigger marketing conferences, they had maybe 1500 people there this year, and I think last year, or in 2022, they had 1500. And in 2021, they had about 800. So they've come a long way. Still a long way to go. Still a long way to go. So what are you seeing though, I think that's a great point about everybody doing something a little bit differently. What do you see that they could do differently to make their events better?

Alecia May 6:17

Oh, so where do I start? I mean, at the end of the day, it's all about sir budget, right? Because you can you can either have an event at the Holiday Inn, or you can have an event at the Ritz like there's, there's, you know, there's so much in between as well, to make your event better as you know, logistics side or as a management side, obviously hire somebody because I keep hearing the same thing. Oh, we did it ourselves last year. Oh, we did it ourselves. And it didn't turn out and there were so many errors, okay, well then hire somebody that makes sense for you to hire, right? Whether you're on site help day of or leading up to it. marketing wise, I mean, where do I start? marketing events is kind of this new new bomb of okay, let's just put up our event, hope people sign up, or like sign up for my event register now. And that's doesn't work anymore. You're going to need cutting edge, clear marketing, video marketing, you're going to need influencer marketing, you're going to need all those wonderful things that help. You know, customers see it over and over again until they purchase a ticket and it has to be innovated it has to be brand new people have spent the last three years glued to their screen. Nothing is interesting anymore. Absolutely. Nothing is interesting. You know, you we have I think I read this the attention span of four seconds, which is less than, than that goldfish of seven seconds, right? So now we're at this level there where we're always on our phone, swipe, swipe, swipe, swipe, swipe. What's going on let's get this hey, you know, make you stop in your tracks and say, Oh, wow, that's interesting. Maybe somebody else that you know Famous speaking about it. Oh, if she likes it, then I'll probably like it. You know, influencer marketing has come a long way. In the last three years since you know, the era of tick tock has evolved these ads on on Facebook and Instagram and LinkedIn. I mean, do you swipe through? Probably right. Like, do you even look at these ads? Not anymore. So I've seen Instagram and Facebook ads plummet? Have you seen those plummet? I mean, those that pay per click is down the drain. So write innovative marketing that again, works for your company and works for you. Some companies are not able to do that, especially big corporate ones. But and then you know, you talk about sponsorships, right. So I'm kind of trying three different industries here, logistics, your your marketing, and then your sponsorships and partnerships and sponsorships are much different. Much different than they were three years ago. Right? marketing budgets are slashed. Let's just put it that way.

Kenneth Kinney 8:45

Yeah, well, so if someone is putting on their own event, and they are used to working with sponsors, it can be you know, 3040 sponsors, and that's where a lot of the, the base funding comes in to put together an in person event, a lot of those could get a very good lead gen experience for their bizdev people they sinned. In the virtual world, it's much different. It's one, you're probably only going to be able to talk about one sponsor, there's not going to be even even a virtual booth doesn't hold the same presence as walking by somebody handing out tchotchkes. But at best, they're going to be able to give out the list a lot of times with the email addresses and titles of whoever signed up. What do you think events can do differently to help maximize the sponsorship value for people who are now looking at this event world a lot differently.

Alecia May 9:39

I mean, I talk to sponsors every day. I talked to a sponsor yesterday. I'm talking to a sponsor this afternoon. And it really depends on the goal of that company. Right? So you have to first of all, listen, listen to what they're telling you. If they're saying we want brand awareness, we want this we want to you know have those lists in our hands. then you can create that package, right, you can create that package customize bespoke package for them. I do like your, your tiered option to give them a guide as to here's the price indicators. And here's what we want to have per tier, however, those are easily customizable. So at the end of the day, you have to listen to the goals, you have to listen to them. And you have to understand how to put them in alignment with your event, through and through, right from the very beginning to the very end, before and after the event, and maybe a year from now. And that's the goal in sponsorship today is to, you know, simply listen, listen to your sponsor. And that's that's the key, you know, a lot of sponsors now are really focusing on what makes sense for them as their dollars, like I said, have been a little bit slashed since since you know, you've seen all the tech layoffs, I'm sure. And understanding how they can best utilize their money. And that's nothing new but but it's it's kind of coming to a very, that's, that's the key idea. They don't want to spend money where they don't have to. And so meet them in the middle be compromising enough that if you if they want to spend $10,000, instead of that 30 that they did three COVID Then meet them in the middle and say, here's a package that I can create for you. And more often than not, I've been, you know, 90% successful in that. So you just have to listen, understand your event and understand where where they want to go with their brand.

Kenneth Kinney 11:33

I'm looking forward to the day when you can really even sort of personalize the experience inside a lot of the virtual platforms. So that you may see something a lot differently than I do. You know, depending on whatever, you know, contextual advertising, if you will, to make you know, deliver something a little bit differently, that's gonna be pretty cool. But you've used a gazillion tech platforms, right? So

Alecia May 11:56

many,

Kenneth Kinney 11:57

how many of you demoed and kind of tested through,

Alecia May 12:00

so we're at about 91 that we have used, like, actually use not even demo, like we've used a lot of those platforms, before COVID. To this, I'm counting before COVID You know, not one of them is perfect, I'm sure you've heard of that, you know, not one of them is going to have everything you need and the budget you want. Some of those platforms are at $200,000. Right, and they're still not going to

Kenneth Kinney 12:30

be perfect. The salespeople say it's perfect for your event,

Alecia May 12:33

oh, there, they can sell you into anything they can sell you into like wearing socks for their company, it's just a matter of what your budget is. What you're, you know, it's like your wish list, right? Here's my wish list, here's my need and want list, like break it down. And and if you don't get everything in your wish list, then you know, you can't you're not gonna you're not gonna be able to even even with a high budget.

Kenneth Kinney 12:57

What's your advice to event planners is everyone runs back to live events from the virtual world, you know, we, we looked at live events and then tried to recreate that in the virtual world. A lot of big failures there became very, yes, massive, like tsunami failures. And then it got pretty stale and boring. And you had a lot of speakers who had their certified presenter, virtual presenter and the if they were still boring and events, people were still coming up not paying attention. But now we're running back to live events. And I don't think that just recreating 2019 all over again, is going to mean even those we're getting sort of stale for a lot of people. What do you think we need to learn from our past, if you will, as we move into the future with events?

Alecia May 13:46

Like that question. I think at the end of the day, it's like you mentioned there's a lot of boring speakers. Like I think I've sat through 10,000 presentations in the last 10 years or five years or and there's a lot of boring content, a lot of boring speakers and you know, I think at the end of the day, you have to make your agenda created with thought and purpose. Let's just say that because I've seen amazing speakers and amazing speaker and like they've stacked their agenda you know, those agendas where it's like you have celebrity and celebrity and this and that so like wow, amazing and then you go and see them and nothing is aligned properly. Right. You go from one presentation to the next and it doesn't there's no intersection there's no you know, meshing of the goods and so that's that's a big pet peeve of mine so let's do better than you know producers planners and even for myself I'm not perfect and you know, we want those celebrity names to draw that traffic but at the end of the day, we definitely need to make that agenda mesh. Another thing too is my one of my biggest things when I attend an event is I see the experience through and through From the moment I stepped my foot into the building, I want smiling faces, I want somebody to welcome me I want you know, I don't want to see people in a corner hushed and like, you know, with their clipboards all panicked, that to me is like, hey, something's going wrong and no vendor is perfect. Something's always going wrong. Don't get it, you know, it's it's just the nature of the business. But I don't want to see that I want to be able to feel welcomed, feel relaxed, I want to understand where I'm going. Because, as you know, attendees in a building, nobody knows where they're going, where am I going? What's going on? How's this? You know, we have a lot of there's a lot of things happening at the same time. I mean, the list can go on. Right? Those are my two, my two top right, your agenda has to be great and fantastic. And, you know, for post post COVID world and era has to be top notch, even if they're not well known speakers.

Kenneth Kinney 15:52

Okay. You've heard in a lot of speakers, right? You've I have liked a lot of them. What is it that you see that makes them more interesting, it's not somebody juggling compared to somebody sitting necessarily.

Alecia May 16:07

It's, I mean, at the end of the day, it's all personally, I think it's also personal selection. But I do listen to my client, or you know, if I'm putting on my own event, by the way, and so when I'm, you know, trying to find the best speaker possible for my event, I want to understand who they are, what they tick, what you know, what kinds of things they don't agree with, because that also helps dialogue. And that also helps their presentation. And I understand if people are asking them questions when it's open mic. And they say something that I don't necessarily agree with, as the event host or organizer, it really, you know, kind of puts it all in place. So what I look for specifically, I mean, there's, there's a whole bunch of things, but their presentation, or if they've spoken at that topic before, so give me something that I can compare it to. And then also give me a great video, right? I don't want to see like that I got a video the other day where some she was doing a cell phone in the back of the room, and I could barely hear her and was very shaky and very low res. I can't get anything from that. So it was an automatic trash Delete. Sorry, sounds really bad. But I don't have time to sit through hundreds of applications and hoping for another thing is if it's easy and simple, right? And I mean, your your title, who you are your bio, I want to see I want to click a video that actually works. Not a broken link, right. And then I want to go to the web site, a minute or two video. Give me the full presentation as well, just in case, but I want to show real like, Oh, that's amazing. Perfect. And have a conversation right? And then be prepared to ask them questions. Sure, Washington, and sharks, right?

Kenneth Kinney 17:50

There's my demo reel has to be the only one that I've seen. I love

Alecia May 17:53

your demo reel. I did see it and it was like Thank you. Interesting. See that? I

Kenneth Kinney 17:58

don't know any others that have a warning label in there?

Alecia May 18:01

I do not either. I've never seen that on I've seen 1000s Yeah. So what

Kenneth Kinney 18:05

are the buzzwords that you're hearing about the events, one of the things everybody's talking about a lot more with events is the experience. I'm hearing sustainability come in all the time, where, you know, we use paper straws after we've flown on jets, and used a lot of put a lot of carbon into the air so that we can go to a sustainable event with but there's, there's so many things that are sort of trend worthy people do have to seriously pay attention to to get people in the door. But what are some of the ones that you really pay attention to, at least for in person events.

Alecia May 18:39

It really depends on the company I work with. I'm consulting with a company right now tech company, and they're all about sustainability. 100% It's all about no paper at the boots, no paper at events, understanding their carbon footprint and, you know, choosing local caterers that are farmed, you know, there's a whole bunch of, you know, ways on on the trends of different companies that I work with. Another one is definitely the experience but I feel like experiences do get thrown around a lot as a very cliche word. It's a very misunderstood word. I think it's very much a will have an amazing experience but they're not willing to put in the budget for the experience and then it just happens just to be you know, same old event on stage with people and lights and show and I mean, it's the same thing. So how are you actually going to create an experience are you going to create a pocket of experience because that's a different way to to think about it is maybe there's a pocket of experience, not the whole thing, because you cannot do a whole thing without the budget right? You cannot have a greeter at the door and you can't have this entertainment. But even if you do, it's not going to resonate with some people right? I've seen amazing events thought that were like top notch amazing celebrities and craziness and lights and show and huge LED screens and and that doesn't work for some people. So the experience and the trends and all this, you know, it's just a trend, I think we've always been aware in Keene of how to create experiences, it's just a matter of what you're going to do about it. And also the person, right, there's so many different people on going to your event, and it's, you're not going to make everybody happy at the end of the day, right? Like, yeah, it's just, it's just impossible. It's just impossible. I don't think I've ever produced an event. And I've produced 1000s, that everyone was so crazy, you know, 99.9% amazed at this event, it just, it doesn't happen. And if you are one of those people, I mean, come and argue with me. I'm happy to have that conversation. But at the end of the day, trends come and go, right, I think that now, there's a lot of experiences that are intimate events. That's what I'm hearing intimate events, which I love. I love those intimate events. Sure, do it. 100%, right, and have your live stream, but do it correctly. And if you don't know how, then you know, go out and find find out the things like I have a running list on my phone, of all the things that I love about events that I've attended in the past and that go back and I remind me Okay, that's great. That's what I love to see. I don't like so create your own trend. It's my little pocket.

Kenneth Kinney 21:21

That's great advice. So wave your magic one, what one thing would you do, if you could wave your magic wand over to make events amazing, or at least a lot better going forward? What's the one thing that you see over and over again, you just could give him a little twinkle in the eye. And I'm

Alecia May 21:41

gonna say something like super controversial, maybe, um, I. I don't like events in hotels. So that's my take is I wish I can wave a magic wand and find the perfect venue that isn't in a hotel. Because hotels almost dampen the experience. And there's that silly word again, because you have other people you have the elevators you have squirrel, you have this, you know, there's so many things that are going on the hotel, you have people that leave the event. So you know, pick a venue and pick, pick something that works for your event. That is going to be the best, you know, I drove and one example of promise I'll be quick. I drove to this event venue, which was beautiful. And the inside that it was like 35 minutes in industrial warehouse. And I'm like, Oh my gosh, do people want to, you know, go to this event, even if 35 minutes outside in this crazy, weird neighborhood. But once they were there, and there was like this kind of, you know, bubble. It was fantastic. Right? And so it was it was easy. We had food trucks and everything. So I don't like hotels. I mean, it's super convenient. But I feel like it just dampens the experience a little bit.

Kenneth Kinney 22:58

So yeah, I get that. You know, not that you can ever bring down that Airport Marriott experience. But I get air yachts. Yeah. Well, Alicia is this of all my guests. And I've got to ask, especially considering you're on the water. No, I love it. But what is your favorite kind of shark and why? You've got a child. See some shar....

Alecia May 23:19

like, oh, I mean, you know, the great wife is the right way. It is going to be the you know, he was obsessed. He took he took a class on sharks. So he Yeah, he did he he was on camera with this website during COVID. Who did our school my son My son, okay. And it was like this famous shark guy diver, whoever and you got bitten by had no in no leg. Right. It was like he was obsessed with sharks. So he's a big fan of the great white so I have to be as well. He was Australia and I believe I can look it up.

Kenneth Kinney 23:54

No, I gotta look it up because it's gonna drive me nuts. All together? Yes. I

Alecia May 24:00

think that was him. Yeah, Paul De

Kenneth Kinney 24:04

Paul de Gelder de space Gelder. He was a Navy Diver that got bit off of Sydney Harbor. I couldn't think of his name, but I knew I knew all the background, but he lost a couple of limbs. So

Alecia May 24:16

yeah, there it is. Short class. See Paul de Gelder. There it is yeah. Nice. Yeah, July 2020s. When he took it, he was obsessed with sharks. Love it zest, so he knows all of them.

Kenneth Kinney 24:28

Alright, well, Alicia, it's a special time in this show. We're going to maximize the experience with some sustainable questions and just getting Are you ready for the five most interesting important questions that you're going to be asked today. I'm ready. Let's do All right. Number one, for the best experience done right. in person events or virtual events.

Alecia May 24:51

In person. All right.

Kenneth Kinney 24:53

Number two, which Canadian over their body of work is funnier, Jim Carrey or Ryan Reynolds?

Alecia May 25:04

Oh, that's a toughy Lou. I'm gonna say. I'm gonna say Ryan Reynolds. Sorry, Jim. He just has that dark, wonderful sarcastic humor that I love. Not the goofy humor. Okay.

Kenneth Kinney 25:20

Okay. All right, number three, Zoom because of its simplicity and ease or something else considering all the failures that people often run into?

Alecia May 25:33

I'm gonna stick to good old zoom. Boring, but it works. Boring, but it works.

Kenneth Kinney 25:40

All right, number four. Another Canadian question. We're picking on the Canadians today. Which Canadian is better at the craft of acting? Ryan Gosling or Rachel McAdams? Have you seen "The Notebook"?

Alecia May 25:56

I just watched it like a week ago. I don't like Ryan Gosling. Sorry, Rachel. Okay. She's amazing. In the notebook. She's like charismatic. So yes,

Kenneth Kinney 26:08

she's a cutie. Yeah. Alright, number five. And the most important question that you're going to be asked today is biscuits or cornbread?

Alecia May 26:17

Oh, that's a southern thing. I'm gonna say biscuits. Okay. Yeah,

Kenneth Kinney 26:23

it to be honest, you wouldn't. You wouldn't believe how many people say, Well, I'm a southerner. So it's got to be cornbread, or I'm a southerner. And it's got to be biscuits. And so it's anything half an hour. So Alicia, where can people find out more about you learn about what your company offers and what you're doing in the event space, keep up with you and more.

Alecia May 26:44

Absolutely. So you can go to eventistrybyalecia.com. I know it's a mouthful. Go on over to LinkedIn and connect with me there. I share industry articles. You can find me Alicia Mae, on on LinkedIn.

Kenneth Kinney 26:58

Awesome. Thank you very much, Alicia, for being with us today on A Shark's Perspective.

Alecia May 27:03

Thank you Shark!

[music]

Kenneth Kinney 27:10

So there was my conversation with Alecia May, a certified digital event strategist, a certified meeting planner, a certified hybrid and virtual event director and a certified coach consultant. With over 17 years of experience in the event and entrepreneur industry working with some of the biggest brands in the world. Let's take a look at three key takeaways from my conversation with her.

Kenneth Kinney 27:29

First, ask yourself, What are you doing with your event that creates a great and unique experience. We're all excited post pandemic to do in person events. But replicating 2019 events is not what everyone wants. And attendees want not necessarily more just not the same. And people got used to not traveling CFOs get used to not paying for the expense of sending people to conferences. You may even get a free pass on the first post pandemic conference you put on. But it's got to be more. As she said, Nothing is interesting anymore. So ask what makes people stop and pay attention to your event. There are a lot of choices for attendees with conferences and shows. Just don't forget that.

Kenneth Kinney 28:06

Second, I like what she said create your own agenda with thought and purpose. You've got to align your production well understand the ebb and flow of event and that can be crucial to creating a great event. Better than just throwing together a gaggle of speakers. Look at content and speakers if you can, as amounts of energy, and find where they fit the puzzle. Ask yourself, how would you like it to flow, and then try to find the piece that fits that puzzle when you need it. Conferences often align types of content too much together. But sometimes the energy speakers create can trump or shrink that effort. Think about that energy as much as you do the type of content. That's all I'm asking because I want to see some exciting speakers.

Kenneth Kinney 28:46

Third, buzzwords are great when thinking of trends, but consider more how the content truly resonates with attendees, trends come and go. But great shows check all the basic boxes of having great speakers and great content first, and I love it when she said create your own trim.

Kenneth Kinney 29:02

Got a question? Send me an email to Kenneth at a shark's perspective.com.

Kenneth Kinney 29:06

Thank you again for the privilege of your time, and I'm so thankful to everyone who listens.

Kenneth Kinney 29:10

Here's an event alert, lots of energy and great content, oh and it's going to be underwater where I'll be when you join us on the next episode of A Shark's Perspective.

(Music - shark theme)