Aug. 11, 2025
Navigating Event Industry Ebb and Flow with Bluefox’s Michael Collins
The Event Pro Show is a production of LEMG is a leading event production company known for delivering exceptional experiences. From site planning and event design to technical production, staging, lighting, sound, and more—we do it all. As a...
Get ready for another edition of The Event Pro Show, your go-to podcast exploring the world of corporate gatherings. This time, host Seth Macchi chats with Michael Collins, a Kansas City native and co-founder of Bluefox Production. Michael's roots in music, theater, and audio have shaped a thriving AV company known for innovation and impact.
Michael shares how early gigs sparked a lifelong passion, what it takes to grow a production business in a constantly shifting industry, and why mentoring the next generation of talent matters more than ever. He also reflects on the REM concert that first lit the spark. And later in the conversation, breaks down how planners and AV teams can build better, more collaborative relationships.
So, if you're new to the field or just looking to refine your approach, this conversation delivers inspiration, creative ideas, and practical advice from one of the Midwest’s most trusted AV professionals. It’s a lively, honest, and energizing chat that celebrates creativity, resilience, and making work feel like play.
Resources:
The Event Pro Show is a production of LEMG.
LEMG is a leading event production company known for delivering exceptional experiences. From site planning and event design to technical production, staging, lighting, sound, and more—we do it all. As a second-generation company, we’re proud of our rich history and commitment to innovation. Whether it’s a corporate meeting, conference, convention, or live event, we’re the team our clients trust to execute their vision flawlessly.
https://lemg.live/
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Welcome to the Event Pro show, your ultimate guide to the world of corporate
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events. Whether you're a corporate event planner, experiential marketing
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pro, producer, technician, or anyone involved in creating exceptional
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events, this podcast is your go to resource for valuable insights,
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expert tips, and inspiring stories from the industry's leading professionals.
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Welcome to the Event Pro Show. I am your host, Seth Macchi. I'm really
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excited about this conversation in particular because I think
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in events, the industry as a whole is full of
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entrepreneurs. And my guest today is a great
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example of a both highly creative person
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and highly entrepreneurial person that has put
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everything into a startup and it's growing
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and thriving. No longer a startup, Fully full fledged
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running event production company. I'll read it as
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Michael. I'm going to read your bio really quick before we get going. Go for
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it. I'm excited. All right. Michael is a Kansas city
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native with 20 years of experience in the AV field. Beginning with a
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background in music and audio, he developed an innate sense of event
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flow and ambiance working in studio production, broadcast
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and live events. With a passion for collaborating with clients and
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events teams, he takes pride in producing creative and cohesive
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events that brilliantly showcase a client's expertise.
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His dedication to bringing visions to life is matched only by his belief
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that work, though hard, should be fun. Please welcome to the
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show, Michael Collins. Michael, welcome. Thanks, man. It's good to
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see you. Good to be here. I love the bio. I did. Yeah. You know,
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well, I'm. I'm sure. I'm sure Claude would appreciate that. No, I'm just
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kidding. I think it's funny. Like, you write a bio like,
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Danielle at the office sent that over to me and I'm like, oh, wow, we've
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had this one for a while. I should update it, right?
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It's awesome. So how's Blue Fox doing? We're doing good, doing good. It's,
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you know, an interesting year, I think, just with the. The ebb and flow of
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the industry and whatnot. But I feel
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it's kind of exciting, slash, you know,
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I don't know, intimidating, I guess, as you know, we get, you
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know, when we went into Covid, it was. We were a relatively small company and
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then. Not that we're not still relatively small in the scheme of things, but we're
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finally to the point where I feel like we've got like a couple
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years of, like, this is what normal looks like for us now
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and, you know, and being able to kind of step back and plan
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as best you can. Best you can. Best you can
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nowadays, you know, but. But no doing well. You know, we. I feel
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like we're really kind of locking in and getting a nice team together that.
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And they'll be like processes and all those sorts of things that really help us
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kind of get past the day to day minutia into actually looking at
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shows. Yeah. So we're, we're just, for
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you, the listener, we're recording this right at the beginning of April
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2025. So there's a lot of uncertainty in the economy.
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And the truth is that Michael's right there with
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me. But being in production for decades there, there is a
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natural ebb and flow. And this is normal.
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And one thing that events professionals should know that
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first of all, it's going to be okay. Yeah. I don't believe we'll have another
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event like Covid. Knock on wood
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Generation. I think that was a generational event. But normal ebb and
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flow of business is part of it. And it's learning to
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operate in all economic environments I think
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is a skill that, you know, is. Is necessary to develop if you're going to
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have a career in corporate events. That's just part of the game.
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And I, as Michael said, you know, starting right in Covid,
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kind of on your back foot, kind of. But you thrived through
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it. So that actually can become an advantage in environments like that. But
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before I. The business side of things and stuff like that, I do
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have a question for you. Yeah. What is the first event that you can remember
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attending? I'm thinking like as far back in your mind as
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possible. The answers have been varied from different guests so
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far. All right. Well,
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it's. It just seems like it would be something else, but this is what
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sticks out in my head. I think I was eight,
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maybe something like that. And
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it was me, my sister and my mom
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and we drove to St. Louis for an REM show and then drove
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back that same night. That's a cool show. That was a cool show.
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Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's just. And it was interesting because it's like, I don't
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know what it was. You know, I'm trying to think of what it was and
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I think it's the overall. It's everything about that kind of this, you know, we,
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you know, drove out there and then saw the show, drove back. Like it's all
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kind of this massive kind of chunk of a memory now.
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But I just, I just vaguely remember. Hey, it's mean. REM is just kind of
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a unique. Yeah. Group anyway. But I just
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remember just kind of like These bold, bold scenic
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pieces. I can, you know, I couldn't even tell you what any of the set
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was. Well, I guess I was 8, so I gotta. It's been a few years.
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Oh, yes. Okay. Random side note on that one. So my, my mom and I.
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I think she means this in a nice way and maybe I think she said
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it in a different way than this, but she, I'm paraphrasing, but I
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think she mentioned that. Well, you know, when you're in elementary school
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maybe, you know, you do those, you fill out those sheets. So like in third
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grade you're like, my favorite color is. Yeah, I like pizza. Or I, you know,
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this other. She said she knew that I was going to be a little bit
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of a weird kid when my favorite song in third grade was Losing My Religion.
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She's like, oh, that's good. Oh my gosh. Like.
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Yeah, so I guess this is going to be an interesting, interesting kid. I don't
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know. Yeah, you were just exposed to art and so I was.
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Yeah, you had more input than other 8 year olds at that.
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Exactly. Yeah. So it's a great song. I don't know.
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It is. Yeah. I mean that's still. It holds true today. It's great.
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That's so funny, man. That was like the song that I'd listened
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to as a 16 year old coming home from school and feeling like, like
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a grown up, you know, it's so emotional. I don't really know why it's emotional.
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But man, I don't know why this connects to my soul, but,
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but I got it, you know, detention today. Right
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now I'm losing my religion. Singing along.
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I love it. Oh, man. So was that the first show?
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Was that when you thought like, I want to be in events or was there
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another instance where an event you went to and.
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Or a time in your life where you're like, this is what I want to
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do. I want to get into events. Or did it. Was it more
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like me where. It kind of came to me sideways, you know, I came at
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it from a different direction. Then all of a sudden it was a career that
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I was in. I feel, I think it's more the latter. And I think especially
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for any of us who are in corporate, we tend to find it from the
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side. We're like, this is actually a. This is a job. I'll be, I'll
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be darn early. I mean, grew up with music,
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obviously. I mean, if I'm listening to REM at 8, you know, I'm, you know,
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listening to Some music. And I played music early on, you know,
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and band and that sort of thing, but, you know, got into music and rock
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shows and. Actually, I think part of it was my. My
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dad taught at a community college out here and they. When I was in high
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school, they had just kind of started getting this audio program off the ground.
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And. And since he went to. Or since he taught there, like, I could go
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to classes for free. And this had the other. So it was. It was, you
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know, somewhat serendipitous, kind of getting me deeper into that because
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I wasn't super into high school. Go figure. I mean, you know, because some people
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are. But it wasn't really my jam. And so I started taking some college classes
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when I was 15 and just really digging deep that. And so I started
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playing in bands and I was a guy who collected the gear and whatnot.
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And there was never any intention in that,
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I guess, outside of doing that. I mean, unless you can include, I guess, being
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some sort of, you know, rock guy. Rock and roll and go. And, you know.
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But actually, I mean, I was on a. I was on a military
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flight path for a while. Like I was going to go into
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Navy or Air Force, but then little, you know, found
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rock and roll and drugs. So, you know, they're a little bit. Not as big
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on that in the military. So I. I took a little bit of a right
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turn there. But. Say you found your path
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at that moment. I found my path, yeah. So, yeah, and I just, you
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know, it was so fun, actually. It's interesting like, you know, then
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because I'm still in high school doing whatever, and so I go to do some.
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Some tech at the theater and we're in a pretty small school, so
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it's not, you know, not mega tech or anything like that, but was funny because
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I go in and it was. I'm just going to talk to him about being
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like the sound guy or the lighting guy or, you know, whatever tech is involved
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in the show. And the director's like, why don't you try out?
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So I'm like. So I was like, I'm always just like somewhere between the
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backstage and on stage and. And that sort of thing. So
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did you get a role? I did. I was Charlie Brown. And you're a
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good man, Charlie Brown. Oh, okay. Yeah. It wasn't just any role.
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It was. It ended up being the role. So it was. Which
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was fun. That's my first and only soiree into a theater world.
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But yeah, that was it. I'm like, okay, so it's all downhill from here. Yeah,
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I peaked. Yeah. It's like that's as many lines as I can possibly learn in
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my life. So. But I mean, I don't know, it's. Some of that. I mean,
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you do actually theater is a great example, I think, of
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kind of that camaraderie or that,
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that almost fellowship you get in a. On a team. Like when
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I was freelancing, for example, it's a very similar thing. Like even though I was
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freelanc with different companies moving around, somehow
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the, the, the pool for different companies sort of align.
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So there'll be like two or three companies and all three of those maybe, you
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know, use the same crew. So I would find that I'd be, you
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know, like every other week. It was like a reunion with these, these guys and
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gals who I'd be out on a show with. And it's a very similar
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sort of mentality and camaraderie that you get with it. It's just. It's
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true. Yeah. So the thing about theater that I noticed is you have
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that all the nerves going into a show. Yeah. And then
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you do the show. There's an execution part of it where you're, it's like you're
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super focused. There's nothing, everything has to go away. And then there's
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the post show adrenaline. Yeah. You know, and the letdown kind of thing.
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It's very much like the theater world and you wouldn't know it,
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but it has all the elements and it gets kind of like you get a
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little addicted to that, that, that thing, you know, so. And I did the
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same, you know, being a freelancer and you have the camaraderie of the same people.
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You're in different. It. What other world do you just like randomly
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run into the same people in different cities across the country every
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few weeks, you know? Yeah. It's like so it is that,
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but you get that like there is an adrenaline to it and like it
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is fun, you know, like for a time. It's fun.
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Yeah, exactly. Yeah. It's like, it's like everything else in balance. If you're, if you're
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out every week non stop, then it gets a little older. It can wear you.
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It's where you. Like I could, I can't imagine doing like a, like a music
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touring sort of thing. Like that's brutal. Like that'll eat you up. But,
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but the corporate side is, you know. Well, and I think, I think there's a
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lot more to. Well, I. Well, this may be just how I see it too,
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but like, there's a corporate aspect that is theatrical.
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You know, the. Oh, that's an interesting take on
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that. Yeah, yeah. Well, because, I mean, every meeting's got
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some aspect of theatrics to it, and that's just a function of how big
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is the, the venue, you know, because every, you're not going to produce, you
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know, a meeting for 50, the same thing you're going to do a meeting for
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5,000. It's always going to be different, you know, it's going to be a different
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level of, of, you know, production or produced
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value. But, you know, that understanding of how things flow,
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how it needs to flow to basically just not distract. You know, if,
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when you're going into theater, you know, they call what's a suspension of disbelief? Yeah,
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there's, you know, I think of it slightly different when I'm going into a corporate
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setting, but I ultimately want to design an atmosphere where people
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can disconnect and more so engage either
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with whoever's on stage or whatever's, you know, happening around them and,
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and be able to kind of, I think of it as just kind of setting
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your baggage at the door so that you can be present in, in what's happening.
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And I mean, how better to do that? Obviously, I mean, it's very much what
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you do in theater. You're very actively changing that, that environment.
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But it's also, I mean, I think it's still something you do in the corporate
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world quite a bit. So you touched on creativity
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and design. So as a AV services
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professional, when you're working with
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a client, that,
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that's new versus old. So this kind of paradigm
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is the goal, to kind of get to the point where you're finally just in
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the ideation phase with them and kind of move beyond the rfp.
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Like, in my mind, that's a preferred position.
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So they're like, hey, I'm thinking of this next year,
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and then you can get set up, sit at the table with them and help
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them design. That's really where we're trying to go, right, with relationships.
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Oh, absolutely. Yeah. And I mean, and honestly, I, I, I'm
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not generally just super fond of RFPs. You know, it sits one,
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you know, one level away from bidding, which I think is probably the best way
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to get the worst product right. You know, it's like, you know, because, I mean,
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ultimately what are you doing if, especially if it's literally just numbers on a page,
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like, okay, well, the only qualifier there is that it's the lowest number and like,
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okay, well you know, there's not, you know, a whole lot of thought then around
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the value proposition of that. But, but yes, to answer your
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question, the goal, and I think I talk about it too,
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like the, the times when we have the best experience
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with an event and I think the best outcomes and the happiest clients is when
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we're, we're effectively functioning as an extension of their team. You know, whether or
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not that's an event agency and we, the AV partner coming into
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that or whether we're working directly with a client and you know, they maybe
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either you know, have an on staff event planner or you know, or
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just as likely some poor executive assistants getting saddled with an event
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and Yep. On top of their. That's right. Day to day thing. You know. So
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I mean part of it for us, especially if we are brought in early is
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to, to, well, to your, to your point, just like the ideation, the
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thinking about what is, you know, I like, I mean some of the things I
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asked you, whether it's a client I know or don'ts, like where's your
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branding guide? What's, you know, do you have a thought on your theme already? This,
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that, the other. Because integrating
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all of those aspects into the design allow it to
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be that, that cohesive nature that we're looking for. You know, because
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ideally as you're coming and looking at this, you're not
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just looking at the general session or not just looking at breakouts, you know, these
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very AV heavy areas. You're thinking about the atmosphere coming into the
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space. So you know, for us, whether that's digital signage or whether it's saying hey,
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something that's not AV related at all, it's like, well, some, you know, some
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sweet window clings here would be cool or you know, where do you need signage
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and what are those, you know, need to be print versus
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need to be digital because they're going to change a lot. How, how does your
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branding affect what we decide to put on the stage? Can we do something
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creative with, with your logo, with your, you know, your main
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theme, you know, being able to get in on that and, and help them
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think about all the aspects. And I just find it interesting too to hear about
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the things I have nothing to do with. I mean it's, you know, being,
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having that just kind of broad overarching understanding of the event
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then allows us to most effectively
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weed into that, you know, or weave you know, the technology
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in and out of that so that it makes sense. And yeah, I mean, I
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mean I Think. Well, like I said, I mean, we've got some
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events like there. We're looking at 2026. You know, the site visit is this
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month. You know, those are great relationships and it's a lot of fun. And
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like I say, we're an extension of that team. It's very much like a reunion
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family situation again. And you're, you're also talking about
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like the idea of curiosity as a core
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component of creativity. You have to have time to be curious. Yeah. First
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of all, you have to have the capacity to be curious, you know, and then
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have time and, and like, so if you have, if you're looking at event next
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year, you. That curiosity can go full force for a
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while and really dig into like, you know what I'm asking you things that really
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don't have anything to do with av. We just want to know about you, like,
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about your team as a per. As people like, what, what is
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the company culture like? And that actually can play into design.
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And it's not just a technology question. You know, it's not always
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a high tech question. Sometimes it can be low tech.
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But you're trying to really get at the core of what they're doing and you
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need time to do that. And it also speaks to one thing that comes up,
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you know, in house. AV is a question. I think in house, AV has a
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place definitely in our ecosystem. It is a
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quick turnkey solution, typically for
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overtaxed planners. You know, they're just like, I want to book the venue
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and I want to get the hotel taken care of, whatever. But when your
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client is ready, they're like, we have this set budget, we
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know we're going to spend this much on it, then I would highly suggest
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your comment about, you know, the worst way to go
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about it is to get the lowest bid. That's, that's a terrible way to do
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events. You really want a partner that can bring a lot of creativity to
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the table and they're not gonna like, try to extract every dollar
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out of you. They, they, what they might do is extract every bit about
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knowing about you so they can create a great product for you. And it's just
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such a great. It's a different way of looking at events. Once you start doing
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that, it no longer becomes about the lowest dollar
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amount you can spend. Yeah, I mean, I think, and what I try to tell
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people too is like, if, if you can get away from looking at the,
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the price or maybe change your metric a little bit, it's like, what is the
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value you're getting for that price. Right. Because.
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And also, like, part of just knowing the budget ahead of time is like, I
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can design, you know, a show for $50,000,
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probably could design that same show for 15 if that's necessary. I can also
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probably design that same show for half a million dollars. Like, what is, you know,
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and that. I think it goes back to your, your point. Well, and another question
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was like, as you're working with people and you know more about their events, like,
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also like, who's attending this? Is this a very chill
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internal meeting where, where it's all your own people coming in? Is this an external
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thing where you have to put your best foot forward and really give them some
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flash or give them, you know, just knowing those basic
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things changes the, the equation and, you know, what's your tolerance for,
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you know, equipment failure and, you know, like, things like that? Because
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if it has to be perfect, which I
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always say perfect with a grain of salt, because I don't think that
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exists. But to know that you need to plan for a lot of contingencies,
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you know. Yeah, if we need to plan for a lot of contingencies, then, you
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know, that's a, that's a different model as well. So just
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risk profile and with it becomes the appropriate
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budget. But just spending the time to figure out what that is
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instead of like this. Everything isn't a turnkey solution. You
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know, it has its place. But when you're ready to take it to the next
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level, I think is where companies that, the type of companies that we run,
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that's where we thrive. Yeah, absolutely. If you're looking for the
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lowest dollar, it's not really. Yeah. A, it's probably not going
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to be us, and B, it's not going to, at the end of the day,
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be what you're looking for, most likely. Right. We're not really excelling in that, that
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world. But with, before
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starting bluefox with Drake,
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your, your partner, you had a, your business partner, you had a history of
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managing both paid and volunteer teams.
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How do you, how do you approach training and mentorship? Because
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so you've got your, your creativity going on, your business is growing and thriving,
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and now you're developing people, you're in this phase of like, development that
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could last for the next 20, 25 years, you know, but you have this unique
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history of managing volunteer
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teams and your previous life. So what is your approach
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to training people in mentorship?
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That's a great question. Well, I think
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maybe the universal aspect of it, because it does shift as you move from
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volunteer and paid groups and the size of that. And what works is
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doing just for context, my past life was in mega
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church land. I was an audio director doing that sort of thing. So.
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I think it's like a mega. Wasn't it like the biggest church in,
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in Kansas City? For sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was really large. You
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go south and they're, you know, 30,000 member churches are dime a dozen.
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But you know, this far north, it's a little bit of a. You had a,
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you had a big team though of people, you know, wanting. Exactly, yeah. And at
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that time and I was running audio and obviously that we did full on
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production and broadcast. So we, you know, I forget what year it was. Maybe
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2010 maybe. We're
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building our first kind of web broadcast studio. When it was doing
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it was doing the remote sites and recordings and we didn't necessarily beam things
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out so much as far as, you know, do the record and edit and send
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it off. But anyway. But yes, I mean there's, you
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know, the overall scheme I think was like 10 or 15
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folks per event, like volunteers per.
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I say event per service and there were, yeah, five or more
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events or services. So. But
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ultimately, as you're nurturing those folks or as you're
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developing them, I guess also I had a separate service that I ran
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midweek too. So that was a whole variety of tech and musicians
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and speaking and such. But
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I mean, ultimately it comes down to, well, similar to working with
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clients, there's an awareness of
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where are you, what are you interested in, what kind of natural skills do you
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maybe have already? And then
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the aspect that's a little more universal and I try to maintain now because,
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you know, whether I'm working with a new freelancer and getting to know them or
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you know, a younger staff member coming on, that's kind of newer to the business,
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whatever that is, or even, you know, people who are a little more seasoned. It's
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the idea of having the training that's
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necessary and opportunities to learn that, but then also
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opportunities with a pretty robust safety net,
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you know, where you have to have the ability to
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fail. But I don't want it to destroy things. And especially, you know, obviously running
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a business like we all have a vested interest in things not sucking.
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Yeah, yeah. So it gets more complex. Obviously,
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as you know, there's theoretically a little less
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grace when you're in the, when you're actually in a paid position doing
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things. But I think the biggest aspect of it is, is
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kind of knowing people and, and as they Experience
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and experiment, especially on a volunteer side. Like you see where
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people are good and what they're interested in and then you try to give them
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opportunities to move into that and to gain experience and try
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different things. It's not that much different in,
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in our corporate setting, like for, for a
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while, you know, I, I likened
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our model to kind of a, a teaching hospital, you
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know, like, yeah, I like that. A surgeon is, that's a pretty high
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stress, serious job. Like you're cutting into somebody and nobody wants to be the
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first person that a person is cutting into. Like, right, oh great, this is
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your first time. Give me the gas, you know. Yeah, it's not,
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not a super exciting thing. No, everyone's like, who's the best surgeon
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in my town? That's what I want. Exactly. And so, I mean, I try
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to think of it that way too because much the same way, like as far
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as audio is concerned, as far as video concerned, you know, like everybody
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wants a seasoned, you know, you know, person
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to be doing that. And so it's, it's having to some
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level of risk tolerance but just being attentive and intentional about.
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Here's the level of training. Like I want you to go through and do all
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these things. Like we've got shop time. There's a reason that we don't pack our
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calendars. It's a, so we've got
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opportunities to work with the clients and the shows that make best
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sense for us as a company. But it also gives us time in the shop.
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Like we test build things. Like, you know, sometimes we'll do designs. Like I'm not
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entirely sure how that's going to go together. Yeah, we build it ahead of time
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and so even those. Yeah, exactly. So you have the opportunity to,
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to get that training and get the, get those reps in before you're on site
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and then as you're on site, I mean that's where everybody learns that, you know,
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one way or another. So I think it's just, it's trying to
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be intentional about. It's making space
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for people and just having that relationship and that feedback of, you know,
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some people want to move down this direction and like, you know, ultimately they're going
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to be a super tech and they want to, you know, know so much about
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the gear and just be, you know, that geek that never talks to anybody. Some
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people want to be, you know, have this, you know, bug for the kind of
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production management, the details and this, that the other and, and there's all sorts of
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things here and there and in between. And well, actually here's a great example
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and I'll brag on him for a minute. Like Brian, at our office
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when we first hired him in, I want to say it was 19,
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you know, he came on as like our logistics guy, like warehouse manager type,
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that sort of deal. And he's had some history in town of
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like he worked at one of the big coffee roaster companies. So he was like
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the first full time employee there. And so he was with them through all their
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growth up till, you know, up till he left.
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And when he came over, you know, he's. He's coming in to basically do logistics
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and get our, get our poop in a groove for us and.
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But he's got a, you know, an affinity and an interest in technology and you
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know, engineering, that sort of thing. And especially, you know, fast
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forward, you know, only like six or eight months and we go into Covid and
425
00:25:45,790 --> 00:25:47,870
it's like, well, we got a lot of time on our hands and gear to
426
00:25:47,870 --> 00:25:51,310
learn and all this sort of stuff. And he just went deep into it and
427
00:25:51,310 --> 00:25:53,910
now, I mean, I put him against anybody in Kansas City as far as like
428
00:25:53,910 --> 00:25:57,730
your V1 video engineer, like toss him on an E2, whatever
429
00:25:57,730 --> 00:26:01,290
you want to do. And part of it, it's just like, well, and
430
00:26:01,530 --> 00:26:05,130
that's the thing. It's like it's providing opportunity. But pretty quickly after you do that,
431
00:26:05,210 --> 00:26:09,050
you find the people who have the initiative to go and take advantage
432
00:26:09,050 --> 00:26:11,730
of that. That's what I want. Like, I want people to take advantage of the
433
00:26:11,730 --> 00:26:15,130
opportunities I provide them. Because at this point, I mean, I'm not the smartest guy
434
00:26:15,130 --> 00:26:18,810
in the room by any means. I mean, arguably I would never was. But
435
00:26:19,770 --> 00:26:23,410
the. I certainly don't know more about this gear than anybody, but what
436
00:26:23,410 --> 00:26:27,210
I can afford people now is the opportunity to come and, and show what
437
00:26:27,210 --> 00:26:30,990
they got and to do this and join us in this, you
438
00:26:30,990 --> 00:26:34,630
know, path, in this journey of fun events and doing this weird industry
439
00:26:34,630 --> 00:26:38,190
that we get to do. So being able to make those opportunities
440
00:26:38,190 --> 00:26:41,950
exist and then the joy of seeing people take advantage
441
00:26:41,950 --> 00:26:44,510
of that and how they flourish in it. I mean that's, that's where it all
442
00:26:44,510 --> 00:26:48,310
kind of comes together. Makes it. Makes it fun. Yes. You know, I think it's
443
00:26:48,310 --> 00:26:51,830
such an indicator of a healthy. I look at a lot of service
444
00:26:51,830 --> 00:26:55,550
businesses, probably the case for any business, but that there is a good,
445
00:26:55,550 --> 00:26:59,350
healthy group of young people learning and growing and thriving
446
00:26:59,430 --> 00:27:03,170
in your company and you have to make room
447
00:27:03,170 --> 00:27:06,930
for it and it is a risk. Quote unquote risk but
448
00:27:06,930 --> 00:27:10,210
I think it's also an investment. So I think as
449
00:27:10,530 --> 00:27:14,370
you know, people are evaluating who their partners are going to be. Look around
450
00:27:14,850 --> 00:27:18,370
when they're delivering their service. Is there a little group of
451
00:27:18,530 --> 00:27:22,250
younger people just like in this where it's a working hospital, you
452
00:27:22,250 --> 00:27:25,930
know, are they following the surgeon around, you know, who's, who's really good
453
00:27:25,930 --> 00:27:28,595
on site and do they have people around them learning? And I think that's a
454
00:27:28,595 --> 00:27:32,330
great, great investment for any company to make and important.
455
00:27:32,410 --> 00:27:35,930
It's kind of like in finance, cash, cash flow is the
456
00:27:35,930 --> 00:27:39,690
lifeblood of the business. But in on the operations side, young people
457
00:27:39,690 --> 00:27:43,290
and learning people are kind of the lifeblood of like
458
00:27:43,290 --> 00:27:47,090
what's going on in a growing and thriving company. So I always thought that was
459
00:27:47,090 --> 00:27:50,490
like an advantage that you have just unique to you
460
00:27:51,050 --> 00:27:54,690
because you spent years with people that you had to get to do
461
00:27:54,690 --> 00:27:58,490
things that weren't getting paid. Yeah, well that's the end. That's a
462
00:27:58,490 --> 00:28:01,870
choice. I mean that's what I really appreciate. When do see that initiative now because
463
00:28:01,870 --> 00:28:05,470
like I, like I say these people, not only are they not getting paid most
464
00:28:05,470 --> 00:28:08,430
of the time they've got full time jobs. Right. Like they don't. It's not like
465
00:28:08,430 --> 00:28:12,110
they have a lack of things to do. Right. Like, and yet they're giving
466
00:28:12,110 --> 00:28:15,710
their time and they're coming to serve. In many cases on paper it's the.
467
00:28:15,710 --> 00:28:19,550
Worst side hustle in the world. But there's, there's a passion
468
00:28:19,550 --> 00:28:23,310
component to people. Absolutely. That I think if you can find those people, they
469
00:28:23,310 --> 00:28:27,110
would be doing it for free. But they're actually part of our team and they,
470
00:28:27,110 --> 00:28:30,880
they're making a living and thriving in that environment. That's really who you're looking for,
471
00:28:30,880 --> 00:28:34,480
you know that I would be, I'd be volunteering, doing this. I love this. Yeah,
472
00:28:34,480 --> 00:28:36,840
well, you know, that's a really good point. Well, I always tell people like whenever
473
00:28:36,840 --> 00:28:39,320
I retire I'm just going to go back to doing audio. Like I'm just gonna
474
00:28:39,320 --> 00:28:41,240
go back, I'm not going to be in charge of anything. It's going to be,
475
00:28:41,240 --> 00:28:44,560
just gonna be great. I'm gonna be so relaxing. Yeah.
476
00:28:44,800 --> 00:28:48,560
Okay. Lightning round question. Will you be mixing
477
00:28:48,560 --> 00:28:51,680
albums or, or songs or. We'll be mixing live music.
478
00:28:52,800 --> 00:28:56,470
That's the real question. Oh gosh. Oh, I'll have to find some.
479
00:28:56,630 --> 00:28:57,030
So
480
00:29:00,150 --> 00:29:03,830
probably. Oh gosh, that's a really good question. If I had the
481
00:29:03,830 --> 00:29:07,590
opportunity, gosh, I'd almost be embarrassed to go and do it at
482
00:29:07,590 --> 00:29:10,550
this point in life. Like I haven't mixed music. And so like, so ages ago,
483
00:29:10,550 --> 00:29:14,190
like my first kind of real gig, I said, I guess I would
484
00:29:14,190 --> 00:29:17,590
say I was the house engineer for the Grand Emporium downtown. Oh, yeah?
485
00:29:17,910 --> 00:29:21,350
Yeah. So you probably know they. It doesn't exist more the Beaumont or the
486
00:29:21,350 --> 00:29:24,770
Garnastian in Florence. I guess I should say it's
487
00:29:24,770 --> 00:29:28,410
Granada is technically. When at the time, I think neither here nor
488
00:29:28,410 --> 00:29:32,130
there. But. So, I mean, but I was doing, you
489
00:29:32,130 --> 00:29:35,730
know, five, six nights a week. We'd be mixing bands, we'd be
490
00:29:35,730 --> 00:29:39,490
mixing, you know, those horrible battle of the band nights and things
491
00:29:39,490 --> 00:29:43,170
like that, you know, never ending. Oh, my God, it was horrible. But. But
492
00:29:43,170 --> 00:29:46,850
man, that was me. And my ear was the best. My, you know, my technique
493
00:29:46,850 --> 00:29:49,050
was probably the best at that point.
494
00:29:50,810 --> 00:29:54,410
But I mean, I, I enjoy doing. I enjoy the live side and I think
495
00:29:54,410 --> 00:29:57,890
it's probably what it ends up being. Yeah, I did some studio work for a
496
00:29:57,890 --> 00:30:00,970
while and it's. And it's good. I. Maybe it's right now just because I got
497
00:30:00,970 --> 00:30:04,410
young kids. I can't imagine the time and the energy in a studio
498
00:30:04,890 --> 00:30:08,570
making us making a song. It's like I've done that before and, and it's great.
499
00:30:08,570 --> 00:30:12,330
But you know, ultimately you can never be done.
500
00:30:12,490 --> 00:30:15,970
You know, it's hard to have that cut off. That's right. Especially a perfectionist. And.
501
00:30:15,970 --> 00:30:19,070
And you could be like, I'm going to start mixing this song and then you
502
00:30:19,070 --> 00:30:22,630
look out the window and you're like, when did it turn night? Yeah, exactly. It
503
00:30:22,630 --> 00:30:26,110
was morning when I started mixing this. I don't know what happened. Yeah, you used
504
00:30:26,110 --> 00:30:29,670
to lose whole days. Yeah. I feel like I'd have. I'd have a
505
00:30:29,670 --> 00:30:33,190
better musical sense now, but less musical
506
00:30:33,350 --> 00:30:36,950
and technical talent. Yeah, yeah, I
507
00:30:36,950 --> 00:30:40,630
agree. I agree. There's this point in time, I think for me too,
508
00:30:40,630 --> 00:30:44,310
as a technician, when I was just doing it all the time. Definitely that
509
00:30:44,310 --> 00:30:47,950
was a while ago now, you know, like, because I. I moved to other things
510
00:30:47,950 --> 00:30:51,710
in the business. But yeah, people. People are definitely passing
511
00:30:51,710 --> 00:30:55,150
me. Passing me on the skill level right now. But yeah, maybe that's what I'm
512
00:30:55,150 --> 00:30:58,430
going to do though, in retirement. I'll go back to mixing audio too. Do it.
513
00:30:58,430 --> 00:31:01,789
Do it. Yeah, I made the. Well, my wife and I moved
514
00:31:02,430 --> 00:31:05,470
a little while ago, but I had a studio in my old house and like
515
00:31:05,470 --> 00:31:09,150
went. Went nutso on it. Like the double walls. Yeah,
516
00:31:09,550 --> 00:31:13,340
you did that. Yeah, it was, it was legit. Spoiler
517
00:31:13,340 --> 00:31:16,900
alert. It doesn't add to the resale value of your home. Just so. No One's
518
00:31:16,900 --> 00:31:19,580
impressed at best, you break even on it.
519
00:31:20,940 --> 00:31:24,100
But I do, I miss that quite a bit. And, but it's also like, you
520
00:31:24,100 --> 00:31:26,780
know, you gotta, you gotta move on, you gotta, you gotta grieve some of the
521
00:31:26,780 --> 00:31:29,220
things you don't get to do anymore to enjoy the things you get now, so.
522
00:31:29,220 --> 00:31:32,620
That's right. That's right. Life changes. Exactly.
523
00:31:32,940 --> 00:31:36,540
All right, I've got a transition question for you. So
524
00:31:38,310 --> 00:31:42,110
there's event planners listening to the show. So how can
525
00:31:42,110 --> 00:31:45,550
event planners set up their AV partners for success? Just a
526
00:31:45,550 --> 00:31:49,270
straightforward question, like, what are things that stand out to you
527
00:31:49,590 --> 00:31:53,190
that maybe when they've been done, or things that you wish planners would do
528
00:31:53,270 --> 00:31:55,910
more often that make our job
529
00:31:56,630 --> 00:32:00,390
easier and the setup, you know, so that we can actually execute
530
00:32:00,390 --> 00:32:03,670
a better, a better service. Yeah, I mean,
531
00:32:04,630 --> 00:32:08,470
I find, I mean, there's just a certain level of transparency that, that is helpful,
532
00:32:08,470 --> 00:32:11,710
you know, you know, some, I mean, the easiest place to look at that is
533
00:32:11,710 --> 00:32:14,790
budget. Like what are we looking at? What is, you know, what's our,
534
00:32:15,830 --> 00:32:19,590
what is our, I don't
535
00:32:19,590 --> 00:32:23,350
know, bandwidth for shifting and creativity and, you know,
536
00:32:23,830 --> 00:32:27,550
and awareness. I mean, the best case scenario is getting on, on calls with the
537
00:32:27,550 --> 00:32:31,110
end client and being able to part, you know, having that overall
538
00:32:31,110 --> 00:32:34,630
conversation, like I say, being extension of the team. Right. That's where
539
00:32:35,910 --> 00:32:39,710
I think that's where you find a lot of
540
00:32:39,710 --> 00:32:43,350
roadblocks disappear because there's a translation, you
541
00:32:43,350 --> 00:32:47,150
know, that doesn't happen super well. As
542
00:32:47,150 --> 00:32:50,630
you add in points of communication. It's like playing the whisper game, you know,
543
00:32:51,110 --> 00:32:54,710
so your expectation or your thought around what the client
544
00:32:54,710 --> 00:32:58,470
wants and then you bring it like, oh, well, you know, a
545
00:32:58,470 --> 00:33:02,190
follow up question then bounces back and forth and, and it creates
546
00:33:02,190 --> 00:33:05,990
just almost a, a frustration I think, for really everyone
547
00:33:05,990 --> 00:33:09,750
involved, including, you know, the end client. So I think me and a
548
00:33:09,750 --> 00:33:12,990
level of transparency there is, is great and just the ability to have open
549
00:33:13,070 --> 00:33:13,790
conversations.
550
00:33:16,750 --> 00:33:20,510
For me, it's, I, I love having a
551
00:33:20,510 --> 00:33:24,120
brainstorming, you know, with the client, you know, whether or not
552
00:33:24,120 --> 00:33:27,880
they're into, you know, creativity or this or that and the other, just
553
00:33:27,880 --> 00:33:31,240
having someone there to, to kind of
554
00:33:31,240 --> 00:33:34,960
solidify that team mentality of it,
555
00:33:35,040 --> 00:33:38,719
you know. And I think, I mean, I think partner is maybe a
556
00:33:38,719 --> 00:33:41,760
word that we toss around a lot, you know, and there's a difference between a
557
00:33:41,760 --> 00:33:45,440
vendor and a partner. And so to really lean in and be a
558
00:33:45,440 --> 00:33:48,640
partner with someone and, and just means that you're also,
559
00:33:49,210 --> 00:33:52,570
you know, engaged and committed to this in a way that you're not. If you're
560
00:33:52,570 --> 00:33:56,410
a vendor, you know, like, yes, if you're signing a, you know, a PO or
561
00:33:56,410 --> 00:34:00,170
something, or it's like, here's three lines that you're sending out. You know,
562
00:34:00,250 --> 00:34:04,010
it's a different. It's a different mentality and it's a different vibe than if you're,
563
00:34:04,570 --> 00:34:08,250
you know, I'd say maybe
564
00:34:08,250 --> 00:34:11,530
commitment. Yeah. You know, knowing ahead of time, it's like, okay, so is this something.
565
00:34:11,770 --> 00:34:14,730
Are we farming this out? Are you looking at multiple things? Are we committed to
566
00:34:14,730 --> 00:34:17,290
this? I think of it almost like if you're building things, like, this is a
567
00:34:17,290 --> 00:34:20,990
design build process. Like, like, yes, we're working together because it's going to be so
568
00:34:20,990 --> 00:34:24,790
different from now to when it actually happens. Which is also why I, like,
569
00:34:24,790 --> 00:34:27,830
I'm always hit or miss with an rfp. It's like, okay, well, you won, great.
570
00:34:27,910 --> 00:34:31,430
Let's scrap that and see what we're actually going to do now. And so, you
571
00:34:31,430 --> 00:34:35,110
know, obviously, if you're working with a new client, that's difficult
572
00:34:35,110 --> 00:34:38,830
to do, but if you're, you know, if it's your. Maybe your
573
00:34:38,830 --> 00:34:41,950
second time coming back or you're another show and you can be like, okay, you
574
00:34:41,950 --> 00:34:44,230
don't have to work with us on every show, but if we're doing this show
575
00:34:44,230 --> 00:34:47,820
together, all right, let's. Let's commit to that. And
576
00:34:48,860 --> 00:34:52,700
honestly, further on down the road, you'll know after you
577
00:34:52,700 --> 00:34:56,380
work with us, if that's how you want to do it again in the
578
00:34:56,380 --> 00:35:00,220
future. And I find as you work that way, you
579
00:35:00,220 --> 00:35:02,940
get to feel actually better about that process because you realize
580
00:35:04,140 --> 00:35:07,820
that a lot of those things, like the RFPs and the details and all the
581
00:35:07,820 --> 00:35:11,620
things that gum up the process are put in there as kind of insurance to
582
00:35:11,620 --> 00:35:15,430
just try and get rid of, you know, fluff for, you know,
583
00:35:17,030 --> 00:35:20,630
some of the challenges. But really what it does is it. It programs in challenges
584
00:35:20,630 --> 00:35:24,310
to the process that makes it inefficient and not so functional and ultimately
585
00:35:24,310 --> 00:35:28,150
more of a frustration. So as trying to be a control,
586
00:35:28,310 --> 00:35:31,590
it actually ends up causing other problems.
587
00:35:31,830 --> 00:35:35,590
Yeah, but it's. Sometimes it's a necessary. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I do
588
00:35:35,590 --> 00:35:39,390
love your concept of, you know, I think in
589
00:35:39,390 --> 00:35:43,030
the. When you're in an RFP relationship, you're a vendor,
590
00:35:43,910 --> 00:35:47,150
and then when you move beyond it, you're a partner. You know, that's. That's kind
591
00:35:47,150 --> 00:35:49,990
of how I'm hearing that. And there's nothing wrong with either face because I think,
592
00:35:50,150 --> 00:35:53,750
you know, some clients have PTSD from, like, other past previous
593
00:35:53,830 --> 00:35:57,550
relationships, and they do that As a control, you know, like, this
594
00:35:57,550 --> 00:36:00,470
is what I need. Don't do this, do this. You know, this is how I
595
00:36:00,470 --> 00:36:03,830
want you to bid all that. And usually there's that intro show
596
00:36:03,990 --> 00:36:07,710
or intro project and that. It's very formal, but I
597
00:36:07,710 --> 00:36:10,950
love it when it moves beyond that and you're like, okay, everybody kind of lets
598
00:36:10,950 --> 00:36:14,270
their guard down. And you've. I know you've experienced that before, too. Like, we're like,
599
00:36:14,270 --> 00:36:18,120
okay, everybody. Actually, we. You could just text now, you know, like, you
600
00:36:18,120 --> 00:36:21,840
could just. You get to a relationship part of it, and that's really where it
601
00:36:21,840 --> 00:36:25,520
starts becoming fun. And. And it's all part of it. There's like this natural
602
00:36:25,520 --> 00:36:29,200
cycle to it. But I love winning trust. I
603
00:36:29,200 --> 00:36:33,000
love when people. I realize in the RFP phase when they. When you win,
604
00:36:33,000 --> 00:36:36,720
someone took a risk on you, someone put their job on the line potentially for
605
00:36:36,720 --> 00:36:40,400
you. That's a super big point. Yeah. You move past it, though, and then it
606
00:36:40,400 --> 00:36:44,240
becomes a relationship. And that's cool. That's cool thing, you know? Yeah. Because, I mean,
607
00:36:44,240 --> 00:36:47,800
as you do that, it's. It's a reciprocal sort of situation. Like, they put a
608
00:36:47,800 --> 00:36:51,400
risk out for you, and then you'll. Honestly, as you develop and get further
609
00:36:51,400 --> 00:36:53,040
along, like, I find that's where
610
00:36:55,200 --> 00:36:58,400
everyone is less guarded too. Like. Yeah, you know, we're a little guarded when we
611
00:36:58,400 --> 00:37:01,360
go into an rfp. It's like, all right, what is. Right. What is this going
612
00:37:01,360 --> 00:37:03,440
to be like? Just at the same way that they are. And then as we
613
00:37:03,440 --> 00:37:06,720
go in, it's like, you know, we would love to do this, and. But. And
614
00:37:06,720 --> 00:37:09,440
you get that level of trust of like, there really just isn't any more money.
615
00:37:09,440 --> 00:37:12,710
It's like, okay, what can I squeeze? And actually. And it's kind of nice because
616
00:37:12,710 --> 00:37:16,470
then you move into these challenges as. As a team and
617
00:37:16,470 --> 00:37:19,670
you get this kind of collaborative. And then, you know, limitations. That's where all the
618
00:37:19,670 --> 00:37:22,470
really fun innovation comes out of. You know, that's where you get a fun idea
619
00:37:22,470 --> 00:37:26,190
on how can we do this and provide this cool thing or this effect. It's
620
00:37:26,190 --> 00:37:28,750
not how we maybe would do it if we had a million dollars, but we
621
00:37:28,750 --> 00:37:32,430
can. We can creatively, again, just create that value
622
00:37:32,430 --> 00:37:35,430
for. For the client and for the event and for me, just like, to make
623
00:37:35,430 --> 00:37:39,070
a cool experience in that is. Is. I mean, that's
624
00:37:39,070 --> 00:37:42,840
ultimately why we're doing it in the first place. Right, Right. And if you
625
00:37:42,840 --> 00:37:46,520
can make them look great. Yeah. I mean, that's just the way to do
626
00:37:46,520 --> 00:37:50,320
it, you know, so your. Your limitations Become our limitations. We're going to
627
00:37:50,320 --> 00:37:54,000
figure this out together. Yeah, absolutely. What do you think
628
00:37:55,920 --> 00:37:58,320
AV tech will look like in, like, 10 years?
629
00:37:59,680 --> 00:38:03,320
I mean, you got Bill Gates saying things like this whole sector
630
00:38:03,320 --> 00:38:06,760
is going to be irrelevant in 10 years or whatever because of AI and all
631
00:38:06,760 --> 00:38:10,490
that. I know all of that, but what do you genuinely think? Like, we
632
00:38:10,490 --> 00:38:13,890
were supposed to have flying cars by now, is all I'm saying. I was
633
00:38:13,890 --> 00:38:17,730
promised a flying car when I was a kid, and that was a long time
634
00:38:17,730 --> 00:38:21,490
ago. So. Yeah. What will AV really look like in 10 years? I
635
00:38:21,490 --> 00:38:24,970
don't know. I mean, I think there's. There's. It's.
636
00:38:24,970 --> 00:38:28,410
I. I'm less futurist, maybe than
637
00:38:28,730 --> 00:38:32,330
some people. You know, if we were to compare it, you know,
638
00:38:32,330 --> 00:38:36,170
now, you know, people still enjoy sitting around campfires. You know,
639
00:38:36,410 --> 00:38:39,690
100,000 years ago, that was pretty popular too, so. Right. You.
640
00:38:40,870 --> 00:38:43,670
I think there's a good point. Yeah. I mean, I think there's.
641
00:38:44,870 --> 00:38:47,590
There's a lot, man. I think technology is just going to keep going nuts. Oh,
642
00:38:47,590 --> 00:38:50,470
and it's going to be crazy. I think
643
00:38:51,110 --> 00:38:54,910
what AV will look like might be different,
644
00:38:54,910 --> 00:38:58,510
but I'm not like a. I'm not a person who's thinking like, okay, we're going
645
00:38:58,510 --> 00:39:01,910
to plug a, you know, chip into your head so we can beam something to
646
00:39:01,910 --> 00:39:05,710
your eyeball. So we don't need projection screens. I'm like. And maybe I'm old,
647
00:39:05,710 --> 00:39:09,390
whatever. But I think, I
648
00:39:09,390 --> 00:39:13,110
think a lot of the technology, especially like the AI and things like that, it
649
00:39:13,110 --> 00:39:16,910
does appear like it's going to streamline and make some things easier. Like,
650
00:39:16,910 --> 00:39:20,670
I think things in the creative process will
651
00:39:20,670 --> 00:39:24,310
get better. I. As of yet, I'm still,
652
00:39:24,310 --> 00:39:27,790
you know, a little sheepish on the idea that anything
653
00:39:27,790 --> 00:39:31,070
created entirely by AI is going to get there.
654
00:39:32,430 --> 00:39:36,250
Right. But I think events as we
655
00:39:36,490 --> 00:39:40,010
have now seen kind of coming out of COVID is that
656
00:39:41,050 --> 00:39:44,170
they are very important and that gathering together will be
657
00:39:44,650 --> 00:39:48,490
big. It's it that that's not going to change. So whether or not,
658
00:39:48,490 --> 00:39:51,850
you know, I think economic
659
00:39:53,370 --> 00:39:56,970
aspects of. Of life might drive more what events look like and,
660
00:39:57,130 --> 00:40:00,930
you know, are they smaller? Are they more boutique? Are they. You know,
661
00:40:01,480 --> 00:40:05,120
and that's the thing because, you know, I occasionally laugh a little bit when I
662
00:40:05,120 --> 00:40:08,760
see trends and, you know, this is what's hot and
663
00:40:08,760 --> 00:40:12,120
what's not. I'm just like, you know, I mean,
664
00:40:12,360 --> 00:40:16,200
all of those things still exist and, you know, we still have shows
665
00:40:16,200 --> 00:40:19,840
where I need two screens. Black pipe and drape and uplight. Like, that's
666
00:40:19,840 --> 00:40:23,600
right there's there's a lot of cool, cool stuff
667
00:40:23,600 --> 00:40:26,400
that can happen, you know, and honestly, most of the stuff that I see that's
668
00:40:26,400 --> 00:40:29,400
really cool and happening now also happened 10 years ago.
669
00:40:29,880 --> 00:40:33,640
Just less of it. So more so. I think what I'm excited about, whether
670
00:40:33,640 --> 00:40:37,040
it's, you know, what events look like in 10 years or, you know, kind of
671
00:40:37,040 --> 00:40:40,720
the direction of technology in general, is that not necessarily
672
00:40:40,720 --> 00:40:44,440
that that much will change. I think cool things
673
00:40:44,440 --> 00:40:48,080
will continue to come online, but it's
674
00:40:48,080 --> 00:40:50,760
more so the accessibility to that
675
00:40:52,280 --> 00:40:55,960
example. We just had a, we had a demo in the shop a
676
00:40:55,960 --> 00:40:59,140
couple days ago and it's basically just looking at a
677
00:41:00,820 --> 00:41:04,540
piece of gear that can just put in and out a whole
678
00:41:04,540 --> 00:41:08,340
bunch of pixels. I mean, it's just like gobs and gobs
679
00:41:08,340 --> 00:41:11,980
of 4k in to out and all that. And I haven't seen the price point
680
00:41:11,980 --> 00:41:14,980
on it yet, but I feel like it's a little bit of a disruptor type.
681
00:41:14,980 --> 00:41:18,740
So, I mean, which effectively means, you know, it may not do 100%
682
00:41:18,740 --> 00:41:22,140
of what I could do on a really fancy high end box, but it gives
683
00:41:22,140 --> 00:41:25,390
me the possibility of expanding into a,
684
00:41:26,030 --> 00:41:29,870
a market where maybe somebody didn't have, you know, Google money to go and
685
00:41:29,870 --> 00:41:33,470
do a crazy big show. Like we can democratize some of this cool gear
686
00:41:33,470 --> 00:41:37,230
and cool experience and, and so that aspect of it's
687
00:41:37,230 --> 00:41:40,150
good. But I think the bigger thing for me, outside of the trends and outside
688
00:41:40,150 --> 00:41:43,550
of what it can look like in 10 years, is more so
689
00:41:44,590 --> 00:41:47,550
like, I look at it like a musician, you know, so when you first start
690
00:41:48,600 --> 00:41:52,360
learning an instrument, you learn some scales and you go and you learn everybody else's
691
00:41:52,360 --> 00:41:55,920
songs, you don't write any of your own yet. And then as you go and
692
00:41:55,920 --> 00:41:59,760
you build a repertoire, then suddenly you have these things that you can
693
00:41:59,760 --> 00:42:03,440
pull from your own past, your experience, and then you play your own song. And
694
00:42:03,440 --> 00:42:07,280
that's kind of what I think of, you know, because we put stardrape on
695
00:42:07,280 --> 00:42:10,280
a thing like a week ago or a month ago or something. Like
696
00:42:10,600 --> 00:42:14,320
Stardrape's been around for like 20 years and was like, it was the coolest
697
00:42:14,320 --> 00:42:17,800
thing, you know, that was so cool. We just had that conversation like last week
698
00:42:17,800 --> 00:42:21,350
of like someone proposed that I'm like, star drape
699
00:42:21,590 --> 00:42:24,990
something. And I was like, wait, that would look really cool right here. I know.
700
00:42:24,990 --> 00:42:27,950
And then I'm looking at this old idea. But yeah, but so you got some
701
00:42:27,950 --> 00:42:30,630
Star Drape and then you have a couple LED pillars in front of it. So
702
00:42:30,630 --> 00:42:34,390
yeah. And again, it's like, you're pulling together these, these items out of
703
00:42:34,390 --> 00:42:38,150
your repertoire. Ones, you know, one's a throwback and one's relatively fresh. And
704
00:42:38,470 --> 00:42:41,350
so that, that's more so my thing. I don't, you know, I don't get into
705
00:42:41,350 --> 00:42:45,190
trends so much, but I think. No. And that's why it's so important to
706
00:42:45,190 --> 00:42:47,850
know your client, know the show, because
707
00:42:48,730 --> 00:42:52,330
that then inspires what should the set look like? What
708
00:42:52,330 --> 00:42:56,050
can I bring in? What can we bring in from our repertoire of all
709
00:42:56,050 --> 00:42:59,410
this AV to be like, this is you. It doesn't have to be on trend
710
00:42:59,410 --> 00:43:03,130
or not, you know, this, you know, cutting edge. It can be you and your
711
00:43:03,130 --> 00:43:06,810
show and how does your brand and your clientele fit into this?
712
00:43:06,970 --> 00:43:10,650
And that's, that's kind of part of it for me. Sorry. Yeah, there's a
713
00:43:10,650 --> 00:43:14,330
real great non answer for you. It's good. I, I think that the bottom line,
714
00:43:14,730 --> 00:43:18,350
people have been sitting around campfires long time.
715
00:43:18,350 --> 00:43:21,750
They're going to keep sitting around campfires. And it's up to people like
716
00:43:22,070 --> 00:43:25,870
you and me to use the tools at our disposal to make it
717
00:43:25,870 --> 00:43:29,590
happen. And there's going to be some really cool things that come.
718
00:43:29,750 --> 00:43:32,950
Just like probably our entire careers. It's been
719
00:43:33,350 --> 00:43:37,190
amazing watching the, the evolution of super
720
00:43:37,190 --> 00:43:40,710
expensive things becoming way more accessible
721
00:43:41,030 --> 00:43:44,760
to way more people. But at the end of the day,
722
00:43:44,760 --> 00:43:48,520
you're still kind of like making sure people can sit around that
723
00:43:48,520 --> 00:43:52,240
campfire and have a good discussion and all the things we need as
724
00:43:52,240 --> 00:43:55,880
humans, you know, and that's why we do this. You know, this is what
725
00:43:55,880 --> 00:43:59,280
corporate events are basically. So I really appreciate
726
00:43:59,600 --> 00:44:03,240
your conversation today. But if people want to
727
00:44:03,240 --> 00:44:07,040
learn more about you or Blue Fox production, where should they go? What should
728
00:44:07,040 --> 00:44:09,840
they do? You can always check us out to
729
00:44:09,840 --> 00:44:13,640
bluefoxproduction.com I'm on
730
00:44:13,640 --> 00:44:16,080
LinkedIn all over the place. Would love to connect with anybody, but
731
00:44:17,120 --> 00:44:20,720
yeah, man, those are the easiest spots. We're out of Kansas City. We love to
732
00:44:20,720 --> 00:44:23,600
travel and love to worry out. If you have something in Kansas City, give us
733
00:44:23,600 --> 00:44:26,920
a holler. We'd love to work with you too. So awesome. Thank you so much,
734
00:44:26,920 --> 00:44:30,720
Michael. And thank you for joining us on this installment of the
735
00:44:30,720 --> 00:44:34,280
Event Pro Show. Be sure to follow us on your preferred podcast
736
00:44:34,280 --> 00:44:37,440
platform or@the eventproshow.com
737
00:44:37,920 --> 00:44:41,320
and we will see you on the next one. Thanks so much. The Event Pro
738
00:44:41,320 --> 00:44:44,880
show is a production of LEMG video by Nick
739
00:44:44,880 --> 00:44:48,040
Barrett, audio and post production by Prince
740
00:44:48,040 --> 00:44:51,160
Thompson. You can learn more about us at LEMG
741
00:44:51,640 --> 00:44:52,040
Live.
00:00:00,560 --> 00:00:04,040
Welcome to the Event Pro show, your ultimate guide to the world of corporate
2
00:00:04,040 --> 00:00:07,640
events. Whether you're a corporate event planner, experiential marketing
3
00:00:07,640 --> 00:00:11,360
pro, producer, technician, or anyone involved in creating exceptional
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00:00:11,360 --> 00:00:14,880
events, this podcast is your go to resource for valuable insights,
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00:00:14,880 --> 00:00:18,560
expert tips, and inspiring stories from the industry's leading professionals.
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00:00:19,440 --> 00:00:23,240
Welcome to the Event Pro Show. I am your host, Seth Macchi. I'm really
7
00:00:23,240 --> 00:00:26,960
excited about this conversation in particular because I think
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00:00:26,960 --> 00:00:30,680
in events, the industry as a whole is full of
9
00:00:30,680 --> 00:00:34,320
entrepreneurs. And my guest today is a great
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00:00:34,480 --> 00:00:38,240
example of a both highly creative person
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00:00:38,880 --> 00:00:42,680
and highly entrepreneurial person that has put
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everything into a startup and it's growing
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00:00:46,400 --> 00:00:49,920
and thriving. No longer a startup, Fully full fledged
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running event production company. I'll read it as
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Michael. I'm going to read your bio really quick before we get going. Go for
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00:00:56,670 --> 00:01:00,510
it. I'm excited. All right. Michael is a Kansas city
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native with 20 years of experience in the AV field. Beginning with a
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background in music and audio, he developed an innate sense of event
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flow and ambiance working in studio production, broadcast
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and live events. With a passion for collaborating with clients and
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events teams, he takes pride in producing creative and cohesive
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events that brilliantly showcase a client's expertise.
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His dedication to bringing visions to life is matched only by his belief
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that work, though hard, should be fun. Please welcome to the
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show, Michael Collins. Michael, welcome. Thanks, man. It's good to
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see you. Good to be here. I love the bio. I did. Yeah. You know,
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well, I'm. I'm sure. I'm sure Claude would appreciate that. No, I'm just
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kidding. I think it's funny. Like, you write a bio like,
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Danielle at the office sent that over to me and I'm like, oh, wow, we've
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had this one for a while. I should update it, right?
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It's awesome. So how's Blue Fox doing? We're doing good, doing good. It's,
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you know, an interesting year, I think, just with the. The ebb and flow of
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the industry and whatnot. But I feel
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00:02:02,750 --> 00:02:06,430
it's kind of exciting, slash, you know,
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I don't know, intimidating, I guess, as you know, we get, you
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00:02:10,750 --> 00:02:14,390
know, when we went into Covid, it was. We were a relatively small company and
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then. Not that we're not still relatively small in the scheme of things, but we're
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finally to the point where I feel like we've got like a couple
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years of, like, this is what normal looks like for us now
40
00:02:25,410 --> 00:02:28,970
and, you know, and being able to kind of step back and plan
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as best you can. Best you can. Best you can
42
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nowadays, you know, but. But no doing well. You know, we. I feel
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00:02:36,569 --> 00:02:39,850
like we're really kind of locking in and getting a nice team together that.
44
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And they'll be like processes and all those sorts of things that really help us
45
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kind of get past the day to day minutia into actually looking at
46
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shows. Yeah. So we're, we're just, for
47
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you, the listener, we're recording this right at the beginning of April
48
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2025. So there's a lot of uncertainty in the economy.
49
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And the truth is that Michael's right there with
50
00:03:02,420 --> 00:03:05,980
me. But being in production for decades there, there is a
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natural ebb and flow. And this is normal.
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And one thing that events professionals should know that
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first of all, it's going to be okay. Yeah. I don't believe we'll have another
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event like Covid. Knock on wood
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Generation. I think that was a generational event. But normal ebb and
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flow of business is part of it. And it's learning to
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operate in all economic environments I think
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is a skill that, you know, is. Is necessary to develop if you're going to
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have a career in corporate events. That's just part of the game.
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And I, as Michael said, you know, starting right in Covid,
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kind of on your back foot, kind of. But you thrived through
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it. So that actually can become an advantage in environments like that. But
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before I. The business side of things and stuff like that, I do
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have a question for you. Yeah. What is the first event that you can remember
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attending? I'm thinking like as far back in your mind as
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possible. The answers have been varied from different guests so
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far. All right. Well,
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it's. It just seems like it would be something else, but this is what
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sticks out in my head. I think I was eight,
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maybe something like that. And
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it was me, my sister and my mom
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and we drove to St. Louis for an REM show and then drove
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back that same night. That's a cool show. That was a cool show.
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Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's just. And it was interesting because it's like, I don't
75
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know what it was. You know, I'm trying to think of what it was and
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I think it's the overall. It's everything about that kind of this, you know, we,
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you know, drove out there and then saw the show, drove back. Like it's all
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kind of this massive kind of chunk of a memory now.
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But I just, I just vaguely remember. Hey, it's mean. REM is just kind of
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a unique. Yeah. Group anyway. But I just
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remember just kind of like These bold, bold scenic
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pieces. I can, you know, I couldn't even tell you what any of the set
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was. Well, I guess I was 8, so I gotta. It's been a few years.
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00:05:05,020 --> 00:05:08,580
Oh, yes. Okay. Random side note on that one. So my, my mom and I.
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00:05:08,580 --> 00:05:10,940
I think she means this in a nice way and maybe I think she said
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it in a different way than this, but she, I'm paraphrasing, but I
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think she mentioned that. Well, you know, when you're in elementary school
88
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maybe, you know, you do those, you fill out those sheets. So like in third
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00:05:20,660 --> 00:05:24,020
grade you're like, my favorite color is. Yeah, I like pizza. Or I, you know,
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00:05:24,020 --> 00:05:26,820
this other. She said she knew that I was going to be a little bit
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00:05:26,820 --> 00:05:30,100
of a weird kid when my favorite song in third grade was Losing My Religion.
92
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She's like, oh, that's good. Oh my gosh. Like.
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Yeah, so I guess this is going to be an interesting, interesting kid. I don't
94
00:05:37,300 --> 00:05:40,990
know. Yeah, you were just exposed to art and so I was.
95
00:05:40,990 --> 00:05:44,150
Yeah, you had more input than other 8 year olds at that.
96
00:05:44,150 --> 00:05:47,830
Exactly. Yeah. So it's a great song. I don't know.
97
00:05:47,830 --> 00:05:50,670
It is. Yeah. I mean that's still. It holds true today. It's great.
98
00:05:51,950 --> 00:05:55,750
That's so funny, man. That was like the song that I'd listened
99
00:05:55,750 --> 00:05:59,590
to as a 16 year old coming home from school and feeling like, like
100
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a grown up, you know, it's so emotional. I don't really know why it's emotional.
101
00:06:03,310 --> 00:06:07,150
But man, I don't know why this connects to my soul, but,
102
00:06:07,910 --> 00:06:11,270
but I got it, you know, detention today. Right
103
00:06:11,670 --> 00:06:14,550
now I'm losing my religion. Singing along.
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00:06:15,430 --> 00:06:18,550
I love it. Oh, man. So was that the first show?
105
00:06:19,270 --> 00:06:22,230
Was that when you thought like, I want to be in events or was there
106
00:06:22,230 --> 00:06:25,830
another instance where an event you went to and.
107
00:06:25,830 --> 00:06:28,550
Or a time in your life where you're like, this is what I want to
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do. I want to get into events. Or did it. Was it more
109
00:06:32,270 --> 00:06:35,730
like me where. It kind of came to me sideways, you know, I came at
110
00:06:35,730 --> 00:06:38,290
it from a different direction. Then all of a sudden it was a career that
111
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I was in. I feel, I think it's more the latter. And I think especially
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00:06:41,690 --> 00:06:45,250
for any of us who are in corporate, we tend to find it from the
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side. We're like, this is actually a. This is a job. I'll be, I'll
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be darn early. I mean, grew up with music,
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00:06:52,610 --> 00:06:55,370
obviously. I mean, if I'm listening to REM at 8, you know, I'm, you know,
116
00:06:55,690 --> 00:06:59,490
listening to Some music. And I played music early on, you know,
117
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and band and that sort of thing, but, you know, got into music and rock
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shows and. Actually, I think part of it was my. My
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dad taught at a community college out here and they. When I was in high
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school, they had just kind of started getting this audio program off the ground.
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And. And since he went to. Or since he taught there, like, I could go
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to classes for free. And this had the other. So it was. It was, you
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know, somewhat serendipitous, kind of getting me deeper into that because
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I wasn't super into high school. Go figure. I mean, you know, because some people
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are. But it wasn't really my jam. And so I started taking some college classes
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when I was 15 and just really digging deep that. And so I started
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playing in bands and I was a guy who collected the gear and whatnot.
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And there was never any intention in that,
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I guess, outside of doing that. I mean, unless you can include, I guess, being
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some sort of, you know, rock guy. Rock and roll and go. And, you know.
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But actually, I mean, I was on a. I was on a military
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flight path for a while. Like I was going to go into
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Navy or Air Force, but then little, you know, found
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rock and roll and drugs. So, you know, they're a little bit. Not as big
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on that in the military. So I. I took a little bit of a right
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turn there. But. Say you found your path
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at that moment. I found my path, yeah. So, yeah, and I just, you
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know, it was so fun, actually. It's interesting like, you know, then
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because I'm still in high school doing whatever, and so I go to do some.
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Some tech at the theater and we're in a pretty small school, so
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it's not, you know, not mega tech or anything like that, but was funny because
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I go in and it was. I'm just going to talk to him about being
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like the sound guy or the lighting guy or, you know, whatever tech is involved
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in the show. And the director's like, why don't you try out?
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So I'm like. So I was like, I'm always just like somewhere between the
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backstage and on stage and. And that sort of thing. So
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did you get a role? I did. I was Charlie Brown. And you're a
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good man, Charlie Brown. Oh, okay. Yeah. It wasn't just any role.
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It was. It ended up being the role. So it was. Which
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was fun. That's my first and only soiree into a theater world.
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But yeah, that was it. I'm like, okay, so it's all downhill from here. Yeah,
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I peaked. Yeah. It's like that's as many lines as I can possibly learn in
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my life. So. But I mean, I don't know, it's. Some of that. I mean,
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you do actually theater is a great example, I think, of
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kind of that camaraderie or that,
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that almost fellowship you get in a. On a team. Like when
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I was freelancing, for example, it's a very similar thing. Like even though I was
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freelanc with different companies moving around, somehow
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the, the, the pool for different companies sort of align.
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So there'll be like two or three companies and all three of those maybe, you
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know, use the same crew. So I would find that I'd be, you
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know, like every other week. It was like a reunion with these, these guys and
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gals who I'd be out on a show with. And it's a very similar
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sort of mentality and camaraderie that you get with it. It's just. It's
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true. Yeah. So the thing about theater that I noticed is you have
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that all the nerves going into a show. Yeah. And then
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you do the show. There's an execution part of it where you're, it's like you're
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super focused. There's nothing, everything has to go away. And then there's
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the post show adrenaline. Yeah. You know, and the letdown kind of thing.
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It's very much like the theater world and you wouldn't know it,
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but it has all the elements and it gets kind of like you get a
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little addicted to that, that, that thing, you know, so. And I did the
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same, you know, being a freelancer and you have the camaraderie of the same people.
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You're in different. It. What other world do you just like randomly
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run into the same people in different cities across the country every
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few weeks, you know? Yeah. It's like so it is that,
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but you get that like there is an adrenaline to it and like it
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is fun, you know, like for a time. It's fun.
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Yeah, exactly. Yeah. It's like, it's like everything else in balance. If you're, if you're
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out every week non stop, then it gets a little older. It can wear you.
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It's where you. Like I could, I can't imagine doing like a, like a music
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touring sort of thing. Like that's brutal. Like that'll eat you up. But,
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but the corporate side is, you know. Well, and I think, I think there's a
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lot more to. Well, I. Well, this may be just how I see it too,
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but like, there's a corporate aspect that is theatrical.
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You know, the. Oh, that's an interesting take on
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that. Yeah, yeah. Well, because, I mean, every meeting's got
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some aspect of theatrics to it, and that's just a function of how big
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is the, the venue, you know, because every, you're not going to produce, you
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know, a meeting for 50, the same thing you're going to do a meeting for
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5,000. It's always going to be different, you know, it's going to be a different
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level of, of, you know, production or produced
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value. But, you know, that understanding of how things flow,
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how it needs to flow to basically just not distract. You know, if,
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when you're going into theater, you know, they call what's a suspension of disbelief? Yeah,
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there's, you know, I think of it slightly different when I'm going into a corporate
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setting, but I ultimately want to design an atmosphere where people
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can disconnect and more so engage either
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with whoever's on stage or whatever's, you know, happening around them and,
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and be able to kind of, I think of it as just kind of setting
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your baggage at the door so that you can be present in, in what's happening.
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And I mean, how better to do that? Obviously, I mean, it's very much what
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you do in theater. You're very actively changing that, that environment.
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But it's also, I mean, I think it's still something you do in the corporate
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world quite a bit. So you touched on creativity
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and design. So as a AV services
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professional, when you're working with
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a client, that,
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that's new versus old. So this kind of paradigm
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is the goal, to kind of get to the point where you're finally just in
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the ideation phase with them and kind of move beyond the rfp.
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Like, in my mind, that's a preferred position.
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So they're like, hey, I'm thinking of this next year,
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and then you can get set up, sit at the table with them and help
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them design. That's really where we're trying to go, right, with relationships.
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Oh, absolutely. Yeah. And I mean, and honestly, I, I, I'm
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not generally just super fond of RFPs. You know, it sits one,
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you know, one level away from bidding, which I think is probably the best way
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to get the worst product right. You know, it's like, you know, because, I mean,
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ultimately what are you doing if, especially if it's literally just numbers on a page,
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like, okay, well, the only qualifier there is that it's the lowest number and like,
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okay, well you know, there's not, you know, a whole lot of thought then around
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the value proposition of that. But, but yes, to answer your
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question, the goal, and I think I talk about it too,
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like the, the times when we have the best experience
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with an event and I think the best outcomes and the happiest clients is when
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we're, we're effectively functioning as an extension of their team. You know, whether or
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not that's an event agency and we, the AV partner coming into
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that or whether we're working directly with a client and you know, they maybe
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either you know, have an on staff event planner or you know, or
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just as likely some poor executive assistants getting saddled with an event
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and Yep. On top of their. That's right. Day to day thing. You know. So
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I mean part of it for us, especially if we are brought in early is
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to, to, well, to your, to your point, just like the ideation, the
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thinking about what is, you know, I like, I mean some of the things I
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asked you, whether it's a client I know or don'ts, like where's your
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branding guide? What's, you know, do you have a thought on your theme already? This,
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that, the other. Because integrating
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all of those aspects into the design allow it to
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be that, that cohesive nature that we're looking for. You know, because
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ideally as you're coming and looking at this, you're not
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just looking at the general session or not just looking at breakouts, you know, these
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very AV heavy areas. You're thinking about the atmosphere coming into the
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space. So you know, for us, whether that's digital signage or whether it's saying hey,
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something that's not AV related at all, it's like, well, some, you know, some
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sweet window clings here would be cool or you know, where do you need signage
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and what are those, you know, need to be print versus
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need to be digital because they're going to change a lot. How, how does your
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branding affect what we decide to put on the stage? Can we do something
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creative with, with your logo, with your, you know, your main
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theme, you know, being able to get in on that and, and help them
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think about all the aspects. And I just find it interesting too to hear about
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the things I have nothing to do with. I mean it's, you know, being,
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having that just kind of broad overarching understanding of the event
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then allows us to most effectively
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weed into that, you know, or weave you know, the technology
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in and out of that so that it makes sense. And yeah, I mean, I
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mean I Think. Well, like I said, I mean, we've got some
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events like there. We're looking at 2026. You know, the site visit is this
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month. You know, those are great relationships and it's a lot of fun. And
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like I say, we're an extension of that team. It's very much like a reunion
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family situation again. And you're, you're also talking about
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like the idea of curiosity as a core
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component of creativity. You have to have time to be curious. Yeah. First
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of all, you have to have the capacity to be curious, you know, and then
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have time and, and like, so if you have, if you're looking at event next
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year, you. That curiosity can go full force for a
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while and really dig into like, you know what I'm asking you things that really
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don't have anything to do with av. We just want to know about you, like,
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about your team as a per. As people like, what, what is
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the company culture like? And that actually can play into design.
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And it's not just a technology question. You know, it's not always
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a high tech question. Sometimes it can be low tech.
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But you're trying to really get at the core of what they're doing and you
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need time to do that. And it also speaks to one thing that comes up,
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you know, in house. AV is a question. I think in house, AV has a
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place definitely in our ecosystem. It is a
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quick turnkey solution, typically for
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overtaxed planners. You know, they're just like, I want to book the venue
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and I want to get the hotel taken care of, whatever. But when your
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client is ready, they're like, we have this set budget, we
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know we're going to spend this much on it, then I would highly suggest
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your comment about, you know, the worst way to go
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about it is to get the lowest bid. That's, that's a terrible way to do
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events. You really want a partner that can bring a lot of creativity to
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the table and they're not gonna like, try to extract every dollar
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out of you. They, they, what they might do is extract every bit about
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knowing about you so they can create a great product for you. And it's just
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such a great. It's a different way of looking at events. Once you start doing
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that, it no longer becomes about the lowest dollar
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amount you can spend. Yeah, I mean, I think, and what I try to tell
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people too is like, if, if you can get away from looking at the,
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the price or maybe change your metric a little bit, it's like, what is the
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value you're getting for that price. Right. Because.
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And also, like, part of just knowing the budget ahead of time is like, I
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can design, you know, a show for $50,000,
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probably could design that same show for 15 if that's necessary. I can also
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probably design that same show for half a million dollars. Like, what is, you know,
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and that. I think it goes back to your, your point. Well, and another question
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was like, as you're working with people and you know more about their events, like,
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also like, who's attending this? Is this a very chill
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internal meeting where, where it's all your own people coming in? Is this an external
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thing where you have to put your best foot forward and really give them some
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flash or give them, you know, just knowing those basic
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things changes the, the equation and, you know, what's your tolerance for,
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you know, equipment failure and, you know, like, things like that? Because
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if it has to be perfect, which I
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always say perfect with a grain of salt, because I don't think that
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exists. But to know that you need to plan for a lot of contingencies,
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you know. Yeah, if we need to plan for a lot of contingencies, then, you
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know, that's a, that's a different model as well. So just
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risk profile and with it becomes the appropriate
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budget. But just spending the time to figure out what that is
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instead of like this. Everything isn't a turnkey solution. You
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know, it has its place. But when you're ready to take it to the next
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level, I think is where companies that, the type of companies that we run,
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that's where we thrive. Yeah, absolutely. If you're looking for the
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lowest dollar, it's not really. Yeah. A, it's probably not going
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to be us, and B, it's not going to, at the end of the day,
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be what you're looking for, most likely. Right. We're not really excelling in that, that
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world. But with, before
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starting bluefox with Drake,
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your, your partner, you had a, your business partner, you had a history of
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managing both paid and volunteer teams.
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How do you, how do you approach training and mentorship? Because
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so you've got your, your creativity going on, your business is growing and thriving,
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and now you're developing people, you're in this phase of like, development that
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could last for the next 20, 25 years, you know, but you have this unique
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history of managing volunteer
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teams and your previous life. So what is your approach
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to training people in mentorship?
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That's a great question. Well, I think
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maybe the universal aspect of it, because it does shift as you move from
334
00:20:09,600 --> 00:20:13,440
volunteer and paid groups and the size of that. And what works is
335
00:20:13,440 --> 00:20:17,160
doing just for context, my past life was in mega
336
00:20:17,160 --> 00:20:20,400
church land. I was an audio director doing that sort of thing. So.
337
00:20:23,630 --> 00:20:26,990
I think it's like a mega. Wasn't it like the biggest church in,
338
00:20:28,030 --> 00:20:31,750
in Kansas City? For sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was really large. You
339
00:20:31,750 --> 00:20:35,550
go south and they're, you know, 30,000 member churches are dime a dozen.
340
00:20:35,550 --> 00:20:38,310
But you know, this far north, it's a little bit of a. You had a,
341
00:20:38,310 --> 00:20:41,590
you had a big team though of people, you know, wanting. Exactly, yeah. And at
342
00:20:41,590 --> 00:20:45,190
that time and I was running audio and obviously that we did full on
343
00:20:45,190 --> 00:20:48,270
production and broadcast. So we, you know, I forget what year it was. Maybe
344
00:20:48,270 --> 00:20:51,720
2010 maybe. We're
345
00:20:51,800 --> 00:20:55,160
building our first kind of web broadcast studio. When it was doing
346
00:20:56,040 --> 00:20:59,840
it was doing the remote sites and recordings and we didn't necessarily beam things
347
00:20:59,840 --> 00:21:02,680
out so much as far as, you know, do the record and edit and send
348
00:21:02,680 --> 00:21:06,320
it off. But anyway. But yes, I mean there's, you
349
00:21:06,320 --> 00:21:09,480
know, the overall scheme I think was like 10 or 15
350
00:21:10,280 --> 00:21:14,120
folks per event, like volunteers per.
351
00:21:14,200 --> 00:21:17,630
I say event per service and there were, yeah, five or more
352
00:21:17,950 --> 00:21:20,910
events or services. So. But
353
00:21:21,310 --> 00:21:25,150
ultimately, as you're nurturing those folks or as you're
354
00:21:25,150 --> 00:21:28,670
developing them, I guess also I had a separate service that I ran
355
00:21:28,830 --> 00:21:32,469
midweek too. So that was a whole variety of tech and musicians
356
00:21:32,469 --> 00:21:35,070
and speaking and such. But
357
00:21:36,350 --> 00:21:39,550
I mean, ultimately it comes down to, well, similar to working with
358
00:21:40,430 --> 00:21:43,630
clients, there's an awareness of
359
00:21:45,240 --> 00:21:48,960
where are you, what are you interested in, what kind of natural skills do you
360
00:21:48,960 --> 00:21:51,800
maybe have already? And then
361
00:21:52,920 --> 00:21:56,640
the aspect that's a little more universal and I try to maintain now because,
362
00:21:56,640 --> 00:22:00,359
you know, whether I'm working with a new freelancer and getting to know them or
363
00:22:00,520 --> 00:22:04,200
you know, a younger staff member coming on, that's kind of newer to the business,
364
00:22:04,200 --> 00:22:07,960
whatever that is, or even, you know, people who are a little more seasoned. It's
365
00:22:07,960 --> 00:22:11,490
the idea of having the training that's
366
00:22:11,490 --> 00:22:14,650
necessary and opportunities to learn that, but then also
367
00:22:16,250 --> 00:22:19,770
opportunities with a pretty robust safety net,
368
00:22:19,930 --> 00:22:23,530
you know, where you have to have the ability to
369
00:22:23,530 --> 00:22:27,290
fail. But I don't want it to destroy things. And especially, you know, obviously running
370
00:22:27,290 --> 00:22:31,050
a business like we all have a vested interest in things not sucking.
371
00:22:31,210 --> 00:22:35,010
Yeah, yeah. So it gets more complex. Obviously,
372
00:22:35,010 --> 00:22:38,540
as you know, there's theoretically a little less
373
00:22:38,540 --> 00:22:42,380
grace when you're in the, when you're actually in a paid position doing
374
00:22:42,380 --> 00:22:45,980
things. But I think the biggest aspect of it is, is
375
00:22:46,620 --> 00:22:49,900
kind of knowing people and, and as they Experience
376
00:22:50,620 --> 00:22:54,380
and experiment, especially on a volunteer side. Like you see where
377
00:22:54,380 --> 00:22:57,820
people are good and what they're interested in and then you try to give them
378
00:22:57,820 --> 00:23:01,500
opportunities to move into that and to gain experience and try
379
00:23:01,500 --> 00:23:04,980
different things. It's not that much different in,
380
00:23:05,060 --> 00:23:08,700
in our corporate setting, like for, for a
381
00:23:08,700 --> 00:23:11,540
while, you know, I, I likened
382
00:23:12,340 --> 00:23:15,980
our model to kind of a, a teaching hospital, you
383
00:23:15,980 --> 00:23:19,780
know, like, yeah, I like that. A surgeon is, that's a pretty high
384
00:23:19,780 --> 00:23:23,580
stress, serious job. Like you're cutting into somebody and nobody wants to be the
385
00:23:23,580 --> 00:23:27,340
first person that a person is cutting into. Like, right, oh great, this is
386
00:23:27,340 --> 00:23:30,510
your first time. Give me the gas, you know. Yeah, it's not,
387
00:23:30,990 --> 00:23:34,750
not a super exciting thing. No, everyone's like, who's the best surgeon
388
00:23:34,750 --> 00:23:38,550
in my town? That's what I want. Exactly. And so, I mean, I try
389
00:23:38,550 --> 00:23:41,310
to think of it that way too because much the same way, like as far
390
00:23:41,310 --> 00:23:44,870
as audio is concerned, as far as video concerned, you know, like everybody
391
00:23:44,870 --> 00:23:48,670
wants a seasoned, you know, you know, person
392
00:23:48,670 --> 00:23:52,110
to be doing that. And so it's, it's having to some
393
00:23:52,270 --> 00:23:55,870
level of risk tolerance but just being attentive and intentional about.
394
00:23:56,460 --> 00:23:58,860
Here's the level of training. Like I want you to go through and do all
395
00:23:58,860 --> 00:24:01,660
these things. Like we've got shop time. There's a reason that we don't pack our
396
00:24:01,660 --> 00:24:04,460
calendars. It's a, so we've got
397
00:24:04,780 --> 00:24:08,460
opportunities to work with the clients and the shows that make best
398
00:24:08,460 --> 00:24:11,540
sense for us as a company. But it also gives us time in the shop.
399
00:24:11,540 --> 00:24:15,380
Like we test build things. Like, you know, sometimes we'll do designs. Like I'm not
400
00:24:15,380 --> 00:24:18,500
entirely sure how that's going to go together. Yeah, we build it ahead of time
401
00:24:18,500 --> 00:24:22,140
and so even those. Yeah, exactly. So you have the opportunity to,
402
00:24:22,380 --> 00:24:25,820
to get that training and get the, get those reps in before you're on site
403
00:24:25,820 --> 00:24:29,250
and then as you're on site, I mean that's where everybody learns that, you know,
404
00:24:29,250 --> 00:24:33,050
one way or another. So I think it's just, it's trying to
405
00:24:33,050 --> 00:24:36,770
be intentional about. It's making space
406
00:24:36,930 --> 00:24:40,530
for people and just having that relationship and that feedback of, you know,
407
00:24:41,490 --> 00:24:44,450
some people want to move down this direction and like, you know, ultimately they're going
408
00:24:44,450 --> 00:24:47,050
to be a super tech and they want to, you know, know so much about
409
00:24:47,050 --> 00:24:50,650
the gear and just be, you know, that geek that never talks to anybody. Some
410
00:24:50,650 --> 00:24:53,570
people want to be, you know, have this, you know, bug for the kind of
411
00:24:53,570 --> 00:24:57,020
production management, the details and this, that the other and, and there's all sorts of
412
00:24:57,020 --> 00:25:00,820
things here and there and in between. And well, actually here's a great example
413
00:25:00,820 --> 00:25:04,540
and I'll brag on him for a minute. Like Brian, at our office
414
00:25:05,340 --> 00:25:09,020
when we first hired him in, I want to say it was 19,
415
00:25:09,980 --> 00:25:13,700
you know, he came on as like our logistics guy, like warehouse manager type,
416
00:25:13,700 --> 00:25:17,180
that sort of deal. And he's had some history in town of
417
00:25:18,220 --> 00:25:21,540
like he worked at one of the big coffee roaster companies. So he was like
418
00:25:21,540 --> 00:25:24,300
the first full time employee there. And so he was with them through all their
419
00:25:24,300 --> 00:25:27,180
growth up till, you know, up till he left.
420
00:25:28,270 --> 00:25:31,510
And when he came over, you know, he's. He's coming in to basically do logistics
421
00:25:31,510 --> 00:25:34,750
and get our, get our poop in a groove for us and.
422
00:25:35,710 --> 00:25:39,350
But he's got a, you know, an affinity and an interest in technology and you
423
00:25:39,350 --> 00:25:43,030
know, engineering, that sort of thing. And especially, you know, fast
424
00:25:43,030 --> 00:25:45,790
forward, you know, only like six or eight months and we go into Covid and
425
00:25:45,790 --> 00:25:47,870
it's like, well, we got a lot of time on our hands and gear to
426
00:25:47,870 --> 00:25:51,310
learn and all this sort of stuff. And he just went deep into it and
427
00:25:51,310 --> 00:25:53,910
now, I mean, I put him against anybody in Kansas City as far as like
428
00:25:53,910 --> 00:25:57,730
your V1 video engineer, like toss him on an E2, whatever
429
00:25:57,730 --> 00:26:01,290
you want to do. And part of it, it's just like, well, and
430
00:26:01,530 --> 00:26:05,130
that's the thing. It's like it's providing opportunity. But pretty quickly after you do that,
431
00:26:05,210 --> 00:26:09,050
you find the people who have the initiative to go and take advantage
432
00:26:09,050 --> 00:26:11,730
of that. That's what I want. Like, I want people to take advantage of the
433
00:26:11,730 --> 00:26:15,130
opportunities I provide them. Because at this point, I mean, I'm not the smartest guy
434
00:26:15,130 --> 00:26:18,810
in the room by any means. I mean, arguably I would never was. But
435
00:26:19,770 --> 00:26:23,410
the. I certainly don't know more about this gear than anybody, but what
436
00:26:23,410 --> 00:26:27,210
I can afford people now is the opportunity to come and, and show what
437
00:26:27,210 --> 00:26:30,990
they got and to do this and join us in this, you
438
00:26:30,990 --> 00:26:34,630
know, path, in this journey of fun events and doing this weird industry
439
00:26:34,630 --> 00:26:38,190
that we get to do. So being able to make those opportunities
440
00:26:38,190 --> 00:26:41,950
exist and then the joy of seeing people take advantage
441
00:26:41,950 --> 00:26:44,510
of that and how they flourish in it. I mean that's, that's where it all
442
00:26:44,510 --> 00:26:48,310
kind of comes together. Makes it. Makes it fun. Yes. You know, I think it's
443
00:26:48,310 --> 00:26:51,830
such an indicator of a healthy. I look at a lot of service
444
00:26:51,830 --> 00:26:55,550
businesses, probably the case for any business, but that there is a good,
445
00:26:55,550 --> 00:26:59,350
healthy group of young people learning and growing and thriving
446
00:26:59,430 --> 00:27:03,170
in your company and you have to make room
447
00:27:03,170 --> 00:27:06,930
for it and it is a risk. Quote unquote risk but
448
00:27:06,930 --> 00:27:10,210
I think it's also an investment. So I think as
449
00:27:10,530 --> 00:27:14,370
you know, people are evaluating who their partners are going to be. Look around
450
00:27:14,850 --> 00:27:18,370
when they're delivering their service. Is there a little group of
451
00:27:18,530 --> 00:27:22,250
younger people just like in this where it's a working hospital, you
452
00:27:22,250 --> 00:27:25,930
know, are they following the surgeon around, you know, who's, who's really good
453
00:27:25,930 --> 00:27:28,595
on site and do they have people around them learning? And I think that's a
454
00:27:28,595 --> 00:27:32,330
great, great investment for any company to make and important.
455
00:27:32,410 --> 00:27:35,930
It's kind of like in finance, cash, cash flow is the
456
00:27:35,930 --> 00:27:39,690
lifeblood of the business. But in on the operations side, young people
457
00:27:39,690 --> 00:27:43,290
and learning people are kind of the lifeblood of like
458
00:27:43,290 --> 00:27:47,090
what's going on in a growing and thriving company. So I always thought that was
459
00:27:47,090 --> 00:27:50,490
like an advantage that you have just unique to you
460
00:27:51,050 --> 00:27:54,690
because you spent years with people that you had to get to do
461
00:27:54,690 --> 00:27:58,490
things that weren't getting paid. Yeah, well that's the end. That's a
462
00:27:58,490 --> 00:28:01,870
choice. I mean that's what I really appreciate. When do see that initiative now because
463
00:28:01,870 --> 00:28:05,470
like I, like I say these people, not only are they not getting paid most
464
00:28:05,470 --> 00:28:08,430
of the time they've got full time jobs. Right. Like they don't. It's not like
465
00:28:08,430 --> 00:28:12,110
they have a lack of things to do. Right. Like, and yet they're giving
466
00:28:12,110 --> 00:28:15,710
their time and they're coming to serve. In many cases on paper it's the.
467
00:28:15,710 --> 00:28:19,550
Worst side hustle in the world. But there's, there's a passion
468
00:28:19,550 --> 00:28:23,310
component to people. Absolutely. That I think if you can find those people, they
469
00:28:23,310 --> 00:28:27,110
would be doing it for free. But they're actually part of our team and they,
470
00:28:27,110 --> 00:28:30,880
they're making a living and thriving in that environment. That's really who you're looking for,
471
00:28:30,880 --> 00:28:34,480
you know that I would be, I'd be volunteering, doing this. I love this. Yeah,
472
00:28:34,480 --> 00:28:36,840
well, you know, that's a really good point. Well, I always tell people like whenever
473
00:28:36,840 --> 00:28:39,320
I retire I'm just going to go back to doing audio. Like I'm just gonna
474
00:28:39,320 --> 00:28:41,240
go back, I'm not going to be in charge of anything. It's going to be,
475
00:28:41,240 --> 00:28:44,560
just gonna be great. I'm gonna be so relaxing. Yeah.
476
00:28:44,800 --> 00:28:48,560
Okay. Lightning round question. Will you be mixing
477
00:28:48,560 --> 00:28:51,680
albums or, or songs or. We'll be mixing live music.
478
00:28:52,800 --> 00:28:56,470
That's the real question. Oh gosh. Oh, I'll have to find some.
479
00:28:56,630 --> 00:28:57,030
So
480
00:29:00,150 --> 00:29:03,830
probably. Oh gosh, that's a really good question. If I had the
481
00:29:03,830 --> 00:29:07,590
opportunity, gosh, I'd almost be embarrassed to go and do it at
482
00:29:07,590 --> 00:29:10,550
this point in life. Like I haven't mixed music. And so like, so ages ago,
483
00:29:10,550 --> 00:29:14,190
like my first kind of real gig, I said, I guess I would
484
00:29:14,190 --> 00:29:17,590
say I was the house engineer for the Grand Emporium downtown. Oh, yeah?
485
00:29:17,910 --> 00:29:21,350
Yeah. So you probably know they. It doesn't exist more the Beaumont or the
486
00:29:21,350 --> 00:29:24,770
Garnastian in Florence. I guess I should say it's
487
00:29:24,770 --> 00:29:28,410
Granada is technically. When at the time, I think neither here nor
488
00:29:28,410 --> 00:29:32,130
there. But. So, I mean, but I was doing, you
489
00:29:32,130 --> 00:29:35,730
know, five, six nights a week. We'd be mixing bands, we'd be
490
00:29:35,730 --> 00:29:39,490
mixing, you know, those horrible battle of the band nights and things
491
00:29:39,490 --> 00:29:43,170
like that, you know, never ending. Oh, my God, it was horrible. But. But
492
00:29:43,170 --> 00:29:46,850
man, that was me. And my ear was the best. My, you know, my technique
493
00:29:46,850 --> 00:29:49,050
was probably the best at that point.
494
00:29:50,810 --> 00:29:54,410
But I mean, I, I enjoy doing. I enjoy the live side and I think
495
00:29:54,410 --> 00:29:57,890
it's probably what it ends up being. Yeah, I did some studio work for a
496
00:29:57,890 --> 00:30:00,970
while and it's. And it's good. I. Maybe it's right now just because I got
497
00:30:00,970 --> 00:30:04,410
young kids. I can't imagine the time and the energy in a studio
498
00:30:04,890 --> 00:30:08,570
making us making a song. It's like I've done that before and, and it's great.
499
00:30:08,570 --> 00:30:12,330
But you know, ultimately you can never be done.
500
00:30:12,490 --> 00:30:15,970
You know, it's hard to have that cut off. That's right. Especially a perfectionist. And.
501
00:30:15,970 --> 00:30:19,070
And you could be like, I'm going to start mixing this song and then you
502
00:30:19,070 --> 00:30:22,630
look out the window and you're like, when did it turn night? Yeah, exactly. It
503
00:30:22,630 --> 00:30:26,110
was morning when I started mixing this. I don't know what happened. Yeah, you used
504
00:30:26,110 --> 00:30:29,670
to lose whole days. Yeah. I feel like I'd have. I'd have a
505
00:30:29,670 --> 00:30:33,190
better musical sense now, but less musical
506
00:30:33,350 --> 00:30:36,950
and technical talent. Yeah, yeah, I
507
00:30:36,950 --> 00:30:40,630
agree. I agree. There's this point in time, I think for me too,
508
00:30:40,630 --> 00:30:44,310
as a technician, when I was just doing it all the time. Definitely that
509
00:30:44,310 --> 00:30:47,950
was a while ago now, you know, like, because I. I moved to other things
510
00:30:47,950 --> 00:30:51,710
in the business. But yeah, people. People are definitely passing
511
00:30:51,710 --> 00:30:55,150
me. Passing me on the skill level right now. But yeah, maybe that's what I'm
512
00:30:55,150 --> 00:30:58,430
going to do though, in retirement. I'll go back to mixing audio too. Do it.
513
00:30:58,430 --> 00:31:01,789
Do it. Yeah, I made the. Well, my wife and I moved
514
00:31:02,430 --> 00:31:05,470
a little while ago, but I had a studio in my old house and like
515
00:31:05,470 --> 00:31:09,150
went. Went nutso on it. Like the double walls. Yeah,
516
00:31:09,550 --> 00:31:13,340
you did that. Yeah, it was, it was legit. Spoiler
517
00:31:13,340 --> 00:31:16,900
alert. It doesn't add to the resale value of your home. Just so. No One's
518
00:31:16,900 --> 00:31:19,580
impressed at best, you break even on it.
519
00:31:20,940 --> 00:31:24,100
But I do, I miss that quite a bit. And, but it's also like, you
520
00:31:24,100 --> 00:31:26,780
know, you gotta, you gotta move on, you gotta, you gotta grieve some of the
521
00:31:26,780 --> 00:31:29,220
things you don't get to do anymore to enjoy the things you get now, so.
522
00:31:29,220 --> 00:31:32,620
That's right. That's right. Life changes. Exactly.
523
00:31:32,940 --> 00:31:36,540
All right, I've got a transition question for you. So
524
00:31:38,310 --> 00:31:42,110
there's event planners listening to the show. So how can
525
00:31:42,110 --> 00:31:45,550
event planners set up their AV partners for success? Just a
526
00:31:45,550 --> 00:31:49,270
straightforward question, like, what are things that stand out to you
527
00:31:49,590 --> 00:31:53,190
that maybe when they've been done, or things that you wish planners would do
528
00:31:53,270 --> 00:31:55,910
more often that make our job
529
00:31:56,630 --> 00:32:00,390
easier and the setup, you know, so that we can actually execute
530
00:32:00,390 --> 00:32:03,670
a better, a better service. Yeah, I mean,
531
00:32:04,630 --> 00:32:08,470
I find, I mean, there's just a certain level of transparency that, that is helpful,
532
00:32:08,470 --> 00:32:11,710
you know, you know, some, I mean, the easiest place to look at that is
533
00:32:11,710 --> 00:32:14,790
budget. Like what are we looking at? What is, you know, what's our,
534
00:32:15,830 --> 00:32:19,590
what is our, I don't
535
00:32:19,590 --> 00:32:23,350
know, bandwidth for shifting and creativity and, you know,
536
00:32:23,830 --> 00:32:27,550
and awareness. I mean, the best case scenario is getting on, on calls with the
537
00:32:27,550 --> 00:32:31,110
end client and being able to part, you know, having that overall
538
00:32:31,110 --> 00:32:34,630
conversation, like I say, being extension of the team. Right. That's where
539
00:32:35,910 --> 00:32:39,710
I think that's where you find a lot of
540
00:32:39,710 --> 00:32:43,350
roadblocks disappear because there's a translation, you
541
00:32:43,350 --> 00:32:47,150
know, that doesn't happen super well. As
542
00:32:47,150 --> 00:32:50,630
you add in points of communication. It's like playing the whisper game, you know,
543
00:32:51,110 --> 00:32:54,710
so your expectation or your thought around what the client
544
00:32:54,710 --> 00:32:58,470
wants and then you bring it like, oh, well, you know, a
545
00:32:58,470 --> 00:33:02,190
follow up question then bounces back and forth and, and it creates
546
00:33:02,190 --> 00:33:05,990
just almost a, a frustration I think, for really everyone
547
00:33:05,990 --> 00:33:09,750
involved, including, you know, the end client. So I think me and a
548
00:33:09,750 --> 00:33:12,990
level of transparency there is, is great and just the ability to have open
549
00:33:13,070 --> 00:33:13,790
conversations.
550
00:33:16,750 --> 00:33:20,510
For me, it's, I, I love having a
551
00:33:20,510 --> 00:33:24,120
brainstorming, you know, with the client, you know, whether or not
552
00:33:24,120 --> 00:33:27,880
they're into, you know, creativity or this or that and the other, just
553
00:33:27,880 --> 00:33:31,240
having someone there to, to kind of
554
00:33:31,240 --> 00:33:34,960
solidify that team mentality of it,
555
00:33:35,040 --> 00:33:38,719
you know. And I think, I mean, I think partner is maybe a
556
00:33:38,719 --> 00:33:41,760
word that we toss around a lot, you know, and there's a difference between a
557
00:33:41,760 --> 00:33:45,440
vendor and a partner. And so to really lean in and be a
558
00:33:45,440 --> 00:33:48,640
partner with someone and, and just means that you're also,
559
00:33:49,210 --> 00:33:52,570
you know, engaged and committed to this in a way that you're not. If you're
560
00:33:52,570 --> 00:33:56,410
a vendor, you know, like, yes, if you're signing a, you know, a PO or
561
00:33:56,410 --> 00:34:00,170
something, or it's like, here's three lines that you're sending out. You know,
562
00:34:00,250 --> 00:34:04,010
it's a different. It's a different mentality and it's a different vibe than if you're,
563
00:34:04,570 --> 00:34:08,250
you know, I'd say maybe
564
00:34:08,250 --> 00:34:11,530
commitment. Yeah. You know, knowing ahead of time, it's like, okay, so is this something.
565
00:34:11,770 --> 00:34:14,730
Are we farming this out? Are you looking at multiple things? Are we committed to
566
00:34:14,730 --> 00:34:17,290
this? I think of it almost like if you're building things, like, this is a
567
00:34:17,290 --> 00:34:20,990
design build process. Like, like, yes, we're working together because it's going to be so
568
00:34:20,990 --> 00:34:24,790
different from now to when it actually happens. Which is also why I, like,
569
00:34:24,790 --> 00:34:27,830
I'm always hit or miss with an rfp. It's like, okay, well, you won, great.
570
00:34:27,910 --> 00:34:31,430
Let's scrap that and see what we're actually going to do now. And so, you
571
00:34:31,430 --> 00:34:35,110
know, obviously, if you're working with a new client, that's difficult
572
00:34:35,110 --> 00:34:38,830
to do, but if you're, you know, if it's your. Maybe your
573
00:34:38,830 --> 00:34:41,950
second time coming back or you're another show and you can be like, okay, you
574
00:34:41,950 --> 00:34:44,230
don't have to work with us on every show, but if we're doing this show
575
00:34:44,230 --> 00:34:47,820
together, all right, let's. Let's commit to that. And
576
00:34:48,860 --> 00:34:52,700
honestly, further on down the road, you'll know after you
577
00:34:52,700 --> 00:34:56,380
work with us, if that's how you want to do it again in the
578
00:34:56,380 --> 00:35:00,220
future. And I find as you work that way, you
579
00:35:00,220 --> 00:35:02,940
get to feel actually better about that process because you realize
580
00:35:04,140 --> 00:35:07,820
that a lot of those things, like the RFPs and the details and all the
581
00:35:07,820 --> 00:35:11,620
things that gum up the process are put in there as kind of insurance to
582
00:35:11,620 --> 00:35:15,430
just try and get rid of, you know, fluff for, you know,
583
00:35:17,030 --> 00:35:20,630
some of the challenges. But really what it does is it. It programs in challenges
584
00:35:20,630 --> 00:35:24,310
to the process that makes it inefficient and not so functional and ultimately
585
00:35:24,310 --> 00:35:28,150
more of a frustration. So as trying to be a control,
586
00:35:28,310 --> 00:35:31,590
it actually ends up causing other problems.
587
00:35:31,830 --> 00:35:35,590
Yeah, but it's. Sometimes it's a necessary. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I do
588
00:35:35,590 --> 00:35:39,390
love your concept of, you know, I think in
589
00:35:39,390 --> 00:35:43,030
the. When you're in an RFP relationship, you're a vendor,
590
00:35:43,910 --> 00:35:47,150
and then when you move beyond it, you're a partner. You know, that's. That's kind
591
00:35:47,150 --> 00:35:49,990
of how I'm hearing that. And there's nothing wrong with either face because I think,
592
00:35:50,150 --> 00:35:53,750
you know, some clients have PTSD from, like, other past previous
593
00:35:53,830 --> 00:35:57,550
relationships, and they do that As a control, you know, like, this
594
00:35:57,550 --> 00:36:00,470
is what I need. Don't do this, do this. You know, this is how I
595
00:36:00,470 --> 00:36:03,830
want you to bid all that. And usually there's that intro show
596
00:36:03,990 --> 00:36:07,710
or intro project and that. It's very formal, but I
597
00:36:07,710 --> 00:36:10,950
love it when it moves beyond that and you're like, okay, everybody kind of lets
598
00:36:10,950 --> 00:36:14,270
their guard down. And you've. I know you've experienced that before, too. Like, we're like,
599
00:36:14,270 --> 00:36:18,120
okay, everybody. Actually, we. You could just text now, you know, like, you
600
00:36:18,120 --> 00:36:21,840
could just. You get to a relationship part of it, and that's really where it
601
00:36:21,840 --> 00:36:25,520
starts becoming fun. And. And it's all part of it. There's like this natural
602
00:36:25,520 --> 00:36:29,200
cycle to it. But I love winning trust. I
603
00:36:29,200 --> 00:36:33,000
love when people. I realize in the RFP phase when they. When you win,
604
00:36:33,000 --> 00:36:36,720
someone took a risk on you, someone put their job on the line potentially for
605
00:36:36,720 --> 00:36:40,400
you. That's a super big point. Yeah. You move past it, though, and then it
606
00:36:40,400 --> 00:36:44,240
becomes a relationship. And that's cool. That's cool thing, you know? Yeah. Because, I mean,
607
00:36:44,240 --> 00:36:47,800
as you do that, it's. It's a reciprocal sort of situation. Like, they put a
608
00:36:47,800 --> 00:36:51,400
risk out for you, and then you'll. Honestly, as you develop and get further
609
00:36:51,400 --> 00:36:53,040
along, like, I find that's where
610
00:36:55,200 --> 00:36:58,400
everyone is less guarded too. Like. Yeah, you know, we're a little guarded when we
611
00:36:58,400 --> 00:37:01,360
go into an rfp. It's like, all right, what is. Right. What is this going
612
00:37:01,360 --> 00:37:03,440
to be like? Just at the same way that they are. And then as we
613
00:37:03,440 --> 00:37:06,720
go in, it's like, you know, we would love to do this, and. But. And
614
00:37:06,720 --> 00:37:09,440
you get that level of trust of like, there really just isn't any more money.
615
00:37:09,440 --> 00:37:12,710
It's like, okay, what can I squeeze? And actually. And it's kind of nice because
616
00:37:12,710 --> 00:37:16,470
then you move into these challenges as. As a team and
617
00:37:16,470 --> 00:37:19,670
you get this kind of collaborative. And then, you know, limitations. That's where all the
618
00:37:19,670 --> 00:37:22,470
really fun innovation comes out of. You know, that's where you get a fun idea
619
00:37:22,470 --> 00:37:26,190
on how can we do this and provide this cool thing or this effect. It's
620
00:37:26,190 --> 00:37:28,750
not how we maybe would do it if we had a million dollars, but we
621
00:37:28,750 --> 00:37:32,430
can. We can creatively, again, just create that value
622
00:37:32,430 --> 00:37:35,430
for. For the client and for the event and for me, just like, to make
623
00:37:35,430 --> 00:37:39,070
a cool experience in that is. Is. I mean, that's
624
00:37:39,070 --> 00:37:42,840
ultimately why we're doing it in the first place. Right, Right. And if you
625
00:37:42,840 --> 00:37:46,520
can make them look great. Yeah. I mean, that's just the way to do
626
00:37:46,520 --> 00:37:50,320
it, you know, so your. Your limitations Become our limitations. We're going to
627
00:37:50,320 --> 00:37:54,000
figure this out together. Yeah, absolutely. What do you think
628
00:37:55,920 --> 00:37:58,320
AV tech will look like in, like, 10 years?
629
00:37:59,680 --> 00:38:03,320
I mean, you got Bill Gates saying things like this whole sector
630
00:38:03,320 --> 00:38:06,760
is going to be irrelevant in 10 years or whatever because of AI and all
631
00:38:06,760 --> 00:38:10,490
that. I know all of that, but what do you genuinely think? Like, we
632
00:38:10,490 --> 00:38:13,890
were supposed to have flying cars by now, is all I'm saying. I was
633
00:38:13,890 --> 00:38:17,730
promised a flying car when I was a kid, and that was a long time
634
00:38:17,730 --> 00:38:21,490
ago. So. Yeah. What will AV really look like in 10 years? I
635
00:38:21,490 --> 00:38:24,970
don't know. I mean, I think there's. There's. It's.
636
00:38:24,970 --> 00:38:28,410
I. I'm less futurist, maybe than
637
00:38:28,730 --> 00:38:32,330
some people. You know, if we were to compare it, you know,
638
00:38:32,330 --> 00:38:36,170
now, you know, people still enjoy sitting around campfires. You know,
639
00:38:36,410 --> 00:38:39,690
100,000 years ago, that was pretty popular too, so. Right. You.
640
00:38:40,870 --> 00:38:43,670
I think there's a good point. Yeah. I mean, I think there's.
641
00:38:44,870 --> 00:38:47,590
There's a lot, man. I think technology is just going to keep going nuts. Oh,
642
00:38:47,590 --> 00:38:50,470
and it's going to be crazy. I think
643
00:38:51,110 --> 00:38:54,910
what AV will look like might be different,
644
00:38:54,910 --> 00:38:58,510
but I'm not like a. I'm not a person who's thinking like, okay, we're going
645
00:38:58,510 --> 00:39:01,910
to plug a, you know, chip into your head so we can beam something to
646
00:39:01,910 --> 00:39:05,710
your eyeball. So we don't need projection screens. I'm like. And maybe I'm old,
647
00:39:05,710 --> 00:39:09,390
whatever. But I think, I
648
00:39:09,390 --> 00:39:13,110
think a lot of the technology, especially like the AI and things like that, it
649
00:39:13,110 --> 00:39:16,910
does appear like it's going to streamline and make some things easier. Like,
650
00:39:16,910 --> 00:39:20,670
I think things in the creative process will
651
00:39:20,670 --> 00:39:24,310
get better. I. As of yet, I'm still,
652
00:39:24,310 --> 00:39:27,790
you know, a little sheepish on the idea that anything
653
00:39:27,790 --> 00:39:31,070
created entirely by AI is going to get there.
654
00:39:32,430 --> 00:39:36,250
Right. But I think events as we
655
00:39:36,490 --> 00:39:40,010
have now seen kind of coming out of COVID is that
656
00:39:41,050 --> 00:39:44,170
they are very important and that gathering together will be
657
00:39:44,650 --> 00:39:48,490
big. It's it that that's not going to change. So whether or not,
658
00:39:48,490 --> 00:39:51,850
you know, I think economic
659
00:39:53,370 --> 00:39:56,970
aspects of. Of life might drive more what events look like and,
660
00:39:57,130 --> 00:40:00,930
you know, are they smaller? Are they more boutique? Are they. You know,
661
00:40:01,480 --> 00:40:05,120
and that's the thing because, you know, I occasionally laugh a little bit when I
662
00:40:05,120 --> 00:40:08,760
see trends and, you know, this is what's hot and
663
00:40:08,760 --> 00:40:12,120
what's not. I'm just like, you know, I mean,
664
00:40:12,360 --> 00:40:16,200
all of those things still exist and, you know, we still have shows
665
00:40:16,200 --> 00:40:19,840
where I need two screens. Black pipe and drape and uplight. Like, that's
666
00:40:19,840 --> 00:40:23,600
right there's there's a lot of cool, cool stuff
667
00:40:23,600 --> 00:40:26,400
that can happen, you know, and honestly, most of the stuff that I see that's
668
00:40:26,400 --> 00:40:29,400
really cool and happening now also happened 10 years ago.
669
00:40:29,880 --> 00:40:33,640
Just less of it. So more so. I think what I'm excited about, whether
670
00:40:33,640 --> 00:40:37,040
it's, you know, what events look like in 10 years or, you know, kind of
671
00:40:37,040 --> 00:40:40,720
the direction of technology in general, is that not necessarily
672
00:40:40,720 --> 00:40:44,440
that that much will change. I think cool things
673
00:40:44,440 --> 00:40:48,080
will continue to come online, but it's
674
00:40:48,080 --> 00:40:50,760
more so the accessibility to that
675
00:40:52,280 --> 00:40:55,960
example. We just had a, we had a demo in the shop a
676
00:40:55,960 --> 00:40:59,140
couple days ago and it's basically just looking at a
677
00:41:00,820 --> 00:41:04,540
piece of gear that can just put in and out a whole
678
00:41:04,540 --> 00:41:08,340
bunch of pixels. I mean, it's just like gobs and gobs
679
00:41:08,340 --> 00:41:11,980
of 4k in to out and all that. And I haven't seen the price point
680
00:41:11,980 --> 00:41:14,980
on it yet, but I feel like it's a little bit of a disruptor type.
681
00:41:14,980 --> 00:41:18,740
So, I mean, which effectively means, you know, it may not do 100%
682
00:41:18,740 --> 00:41:22,140
of what I could do on a really fancy high end box, but it gives
683
00:41:22,140 --> 00:41:25,390
me the possibility of expanding into a,
684
00:41:26,030 --> 00:41:29,870
a market where maybe somebody didn't have, you know, Google money to go and
685
00:41:29,870 --> 00:41:33,470
do a crazy big show. Like we can democratize some of this cool gear
686
00:41:33,470 --> 00:41:37,230
and cool experience and, and so that aspect of it's
687
00:41:37,230 --> 00:41:40,150
good. But I think the bigger thing for me, outside of the trends and outside
688
00:41:40,150 --> 00:41:43,550
of what it can look like in 10 years, is more so
689
00:41:44,590 --> 00:41:47,550
like, I look at it like a musician, you know, so when you first start
690
00:41:48,600 --> 00:41:52,360
learning an instrument, you learn some scales and you go and you learn everybody else's
691
00:41:52,360 --> 00:41:55,920
songs, you don't write any of your own yet. And then as you go and
692
00:41:55,920 --> 00:41:59,760
you build a repertoire, then suddenly you have these things that you can
693
00:41:59,760 --> 00:42:03,440
pull from your own past, your experience, and then you play your own song. And
694
00:42:03,440 --> 00:42:07,280
that's kind of what I think of, you know, because we put stardrape on
695
00:42:07,280 --> 00:42:10,280
a thing like a week ago or a month ago or something. Like
696
00:42:10,600 --> 00:42:14,320
Stardrape's been around for like 20 years and was like, it was the coolest
697
00:42:14,320 --> 00:42:17,800
thing, you know, that was so cool. We just had that conversation like last week
698
00:42:17,800 --> 00:42:21,350
of like someone proposed that I'm like, star drape
699
00:42:21,590 --> 00:42:24,990
something. And I was like, wait, that would look really cool right here. I know.
700
00:42:24,990 --> 00:42:27,950
And then I'm looking at this old idea. But yeah, but so you got some
701
00:42:27,950 --> 00:42:30,630
Star Drape and then you have a couple LED pillars in front of it. So
702
00:42:30,630 --> 00:42:34,390
yeah. And again, it's like, you're pulling together these, these items out of
703
00:42:34,390 --> 00:42:38,150
your repertoire. Ones, you know, one's a throwback and one's relatively fresh. And
704
00:42:38,470 --> 00:42:41,350
so that, that's more so my thing. I don't, you know, I don't get into
705
00:42:41,350 --> 00:42:45,190
trends so much, but I think. No. And that's why it's so important to
706
00:42:45,190 --> 00:42:47,850
know your client, know the show, because
707
00:42:48,730 --> 00:42:52,330
that then inspires what should the set look like? What
708
00:42:52,330 --> 00:42:56,050
can I bring in? What can we bring in from our repertoire of all
709
00:42:56,050 --> 00:42:59,410
this AV to be like, this is you. It doesn't have to be on trend
710
00:42:59,410 --> 00:43:03,130
or not, you know, this, you know, cutting edge. It can be you and your
711
00:43:03,130 --> 00:43:06,810
show and how does your brand and your clientele fit into this?
712
00:43:06,970 --> 00:43:10,650
And that's, that's kind of part of it for me. Sorry. Yeah, there's a
713
00:43:10,650 --> 00:43:14,330
real great non answer for you. It's good. I, I think that the bottom line,
714
00:43:14,730 --> 00:43:18,350
people have been sitting around campfires long time.
715
00:43:18,350 --> 00:43:21,750
They're going to keep sitting around campfires. And it's up to people like
716
00:43:22,070 --> 00:43:25,870
you and me to use the tools at our disposal to make it
717
00:43:25,870 --> 00:43:29,590
happen. And there's going to be some really cool things that come.
718
00:43:29,750 --> 00:43:32,950
Just like probably our entire careers. It's been
719
00:43:33,350 --> 00:43:37,190
amazing watching the, the evolution of super
720
00:43:37,190 --> 00:43:40,710
expensive things becoming way more accessible
721
00:43:41,030 --> 00:43:44,760
to way more people. But at the end of the day,
722
00:43:44,760 --> 00:43:48,520
you're still kind of like making sure people can sit around that
723
00:43:48,520 --> 00:43:52,240
campfire and have a good discussion and all the things we need as
724
00:43:52,240 --> 00:43:55,880
humans, you know, and that's why we do this. You know, this is what
725
00:43:55,880 --> 00:43:59,280
corporate events are basically. So I really appreciate
726
00:43:59,600 --> 00:44:03,240
your conversation today. But if people want to
727
00:44:03,240 --> 00:44:07,040
learn more about you or Blue Fox production, where should they go? What should
728
00:44:07,040 --> 00:44:09,840
they do? You can always check us out to
729
00:44:09,840 --> 00:44:13,640
bluefoxproduction.com I'm on
730
00:44:13,640 --> 00:44:16,080
LinkedIn all over the place. Would love to connect with anybody, but
731
00:44:17,120 --> 00:44:20,720
yeah, man, those are the easiest spots. We're out of Kansas City. We love to
732
00:44:20,720 --> 00:44:23,600
travel and love to worry out. If you have something in Kansas City, give us
733
00:44:23,600 --> 00:44:26,920
a holler. We'd love to work with you too. So awesome. Thank you so much,
734
00:44:26,920 --> 00:44:30,720
Michael. And thank you for joining us on this installment of the
735
00:44:30,720 --> 00:44:34,280
Event Pro Show. Be sure to follow us on your preferred podcast
736
00:44:34,280 --> 00:44:37,440
platform or@the eventproshow.com
737
00:44:37,920 --> 00:44:41,320
and we will see you on the next one. Thanks so much. The Event Pro
738
00:44:41,320 --> 00:44:44,880
show is a production of LEMG video by Nick
739
00:44:44,880 --> 00:44:48,040
Barrett, audio and post production by Prince
740
00:44:48,040 --> 00:44:51,160
Thompson. You can learn more about us at LEMG
741
00:44:51,640 --> 00:44:52,040
Live.