The Power of Live Music in Events with Key Signature Entertainment’s Brandon Crumpton

Get ready for an episode packed with stories and advice from the world of corporate events! On this episode of The Event Pro Show, host Seth Macchi sits down with Brandon Crumpton, owner of Key Signature Entertainment—a company responsible for booking and producing live music for more than 750 events each year. Brandon shares his journey from an awe-struck kid at an MC Hammer concert to becoming a top resource for live entertainment at corporate events.
Whether you’re an event planner, a producer, or someone curious about integrating live music into your next event, you’ll hear firsthand how Brandon and his team bridge the gap between musicians and event professionals. Plus, you’ll get invaluable tips on networking, common misunderstandings about booking live entertainment, and why live music can create unforgettable guest experiences. Stay tuned as Brandon pulls back the curtain on the art and science of creating memorable moments through music in the fast-moving world of corporate events!
Resources:
https://keysignatureonline.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandoncrumpton/
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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Well, welcome to the Event Pro Show. This is a great episode we have
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for you today because I have one of my good production friends here with
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us today. And before I get
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into that, I think that an element
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that we all could use some more education on is
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when, where, how to apply great live entertainment
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to corporate events. And you know, sometimes you're in a
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planning meeting and someone mentions something and maybe it's not
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attainable, but it'd be nice to have another option. Or maybe they're
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underthinking what you can do and maybe you could do something a lot bigger, but
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they're thinking maybe that just blows the budget, but we just don't know. And who
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can we talk to about it? Well, good news, my friend
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today will be able to talk about it. So I'll get into the intro
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here. Brandon Crumpton is my guest
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today. He is the owner of Key Signature Entertainment, where he leads a
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team that books and produces live music for over
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750 events each year. 750 events? Yeah, we just figured that out.
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Yeah, I know. It surprised me. You guys need to chill out a little bit.
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His company specializes in creating memorable experiences by bridging the
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gap between musicians and event professionals, making sure everything runs
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smoothly from start to finish. Key Signature has become known for its exceptional
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service in the event industry. So please welcome to the show, my
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friend, Brandon Crumpton. Oh, man. Thanks for being here. It's pretty good introduction. Thanks for
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having me. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I've been
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excited about this one. Brandon and I have known each other
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almost as long as I've lived in
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Charlotte, which is coming up on seven years now, maybe. Sounds about right.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you're the one that got me involved with MPI and the
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Carolinas. It's pretty much your fault, is what I'm saying. I'm about to say thank
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you. I don't know. Tvd.
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Let's get back to me. Well,
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the first question I like to ask everybody is,
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what is your first memory of attending an
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event? And it's probably in your childhood somewhere, but just like the first time you
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can remember going to a live event.
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Huh? All right. Without thinking too much
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about it, like the first thing that popped in my head when you Said that
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my mom took me to an MC Hammer concert. That's exactly what I'm talking about.
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And you remember the parachute pants? You know, you can't touch this.
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That guy. But yeah, no, like, he was at the time. I mean, this is
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the 90s, so he was like one of the top. Rappers in
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the world. In the world. And I think even during that time, there was, like,
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dispute between him and Michael Jackson. Right. And so it was like,
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whichever one could dance better got the glove. So way different than
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what we're dealing now with. Kendrick and Drake. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But, yeah, I just
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remember, like, my mom took me to my first concert and that's what it was.
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And I just remember I didn't sit down the entire time.
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I'm pretty sure that I know it. I'm pretty sure I know it. Everyone around
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me, I. I was too young to realize that I was like, in the way.
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Right. But I just stood there and danced and whatnot
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for what, about three hours? That's the way it should be. Yeah, that's the
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way it should be. Yeah, yeah. You should go to a live show and just
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kind of like forget yourself and have a great time. Lost it. I mean, to
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see him live, that was my first time seeing a famous person that
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was in the same building as me. And I was. Do you remember where that
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was? In Columbia. They've torn it down. That's now
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Colonial, I think, Life Arena. But it was something else then. But in that
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space. Yeah. USC's campus. And follow up question.
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Did you at any time wear parachute
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pants? Yes.
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I had to pause. Do I really want to answer this question? But you know
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what? Let's just be honest. So I want to admit, yes, I did. I mean,
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the lower the. The crotch area, the better. Right? Like if they
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almost touched your shoes. You got it, right. Yeah,
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yeah. I'm just trying to think of you. Doing that, you know, and, you know,
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in a good gust of wind just made them look even better. Yeah, this blew
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up.
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Okay, so when was the first time that you can remember wanting to be involved
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with events as a career? And maybe you came in from a different
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direction because I know you approach it more from musicians
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direction. Yeah.
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Not necessarily as a career, but this was a very unique experience I had when
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I was younger, too. I was in the fifth grade, 10 years
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old. And the art teacher and
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the music teacher at my elementary school had this idea,
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and they said, we're going to get a group of kids and
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we're going to have them write,
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direct, and produce Their own musical. Oh, that's
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cool. And so that's what we did. It took us a year to do it.
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So we wrote the script, we wrote the music for it, we designed the
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sets, we built the sets and we performed in it. And
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I had never ever had an experience and haven't actually really
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had an experience like that since. Yeah. And I
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think that's where the bug hit me. But I don't think I knew what it
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was. Yeah. And as I got older, I knew I wanted to be in music,
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but I didn't know I wanted to be in events. I genuinely went to school
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thinking I was going to be a sound engineer. And I did that
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for a little bit. It wasn't until I got to college that I
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got involved with a program was called apb, the Activities Programming
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Board. And that's when I saw the behind the scenes of
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how events were happening when how entertainment got
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booked. You know, getting the writers and you know, producing what's there in
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the technical stuff and hospitality. And I think that's when I started going,
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you know, this is actually pretty cool. But I didn't know jobs like mine existed.
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So it was kind of hard to think of that as a career when you
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didn't know that could be a career. Yeah. So it's kind of found my way
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there. It's fun. Well, you. I found my way there is kind of what
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half the people we've talked to so far in some way, shape or form
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when they started, they didn't know they were starting. Yeah. Yeah. There's no book for
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this. Yeah. And so that's not something they taught me or really
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anyone in school that this was an option for you. So I didn't
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know this is where I was going to end up. I think young people have
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a lot more visibility now. Jobs have more visibility. They can do a
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lot more research than when I, especially when I was
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looking. I just had no idea. I had no idea.
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So in some small way maybe we're exposing some people to
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some ideas. There you go. This is helping. Yeah, we're helping. Ask more
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questions. Okay. Okay. No, not you. I'm telling people to ask
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more questions. I was about to ask. What day is today? What? What
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day is today? Today is Tuesday is
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March 4, but it is also. Yeah. National Pancake Day.
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National Pancake Day. If, if you don't know, we, you know, this is a pre
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recorded show and I just want to keep everybody up to date on what
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day we actually recorded it. And I want you to know, want to go on
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record that I did not know that, and I regret it deeply. I did. I
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didn't get to take advantage of it. Yeah, I did, though.
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Okay, well, that's good. That's good. That's why we're friends.
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So from your understanding, you know, like, you did
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this really cool thing as a, as a young person where you kind of
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developed an entire musical in a year. That's
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amazing. And then you, you grew up and you got your degree.
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What led you then into, like, booking talent, you know,
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because, like, what was the leap there? Yeah.
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So I took two opportunities my senior year of college.
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One was working in a recording studio or interning at a recording studio, and the
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other was interning at an agency. So I did them both at the same time.
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Okay. And lo and behold, I actually
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fell in love with the agency part over the, the, the sound
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engineering part. And for our listeners. When you say agency,
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describe that. Like, what, what is it? What do you mean when you say agency?
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Booking agency. So I mean a place that kind of, what, what Key signature is
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now where live bands, live music for your events. And that's kind of where I
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learned that a job like that existed. I only knew that in the terms of
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large, big agencies that represent famous people, like a, you know, a
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WME or a caa. I didn't know that existed on a local
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or regional level. So to find that out, I thought that was, that was actually
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really cool. And, and honestly, that's not something I sought
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out. So luckily, when my old
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boss was looking for help, he reached out to Wingate University when I went
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to college, and he got in contact with my
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professor, Dr. Murray, and luckily, he said my name.
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He could have said anybody else, but he said my name. And
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that put me in that space that I didn't know that
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a job like that existed and ended up falling in love with him.
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And here we are. It's funny where you're, like, doing the work.
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It seems like luck sometimes, but a lot of times when you're doing the work
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and you're in the right place, things just kind of fall into place. You know,
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you have to take that step forward and try to figure things out. If you,
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even if you don't understand. Yeah. At the time, kind of go with it, you
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know? Yeah. I would say don't try to ice skate uphill. Just kind of go
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with it. I like that. Okay,
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so I have a question for you. I, I, you know,
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we've hung out different times, and a lot of times we find ourselves in the
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same place at a networking event. So
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you're a pretty amazing networker. And just
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real quick, this is like a side quest question for you.
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Actually, your whole team, they're great at networking, but what's your
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approach to networking? You know, I think networking is.
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Is such an important component in the events industry, and the reason
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is that people still like to buy from people. They know that they
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can look in their eyes and get to know them a little bit.
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So in that backdrop, like, what's your approach to networking?
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Yeah, I think definitely recognizing kind of where you are. You know, we do business
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in the south, so Southern hospitality is a real thing. And I have to tell
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people that when they move from up north down here, you know,
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I. I tell my team, don't be that person in the room trying to hand
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out the most business cards. Yeah. Just make a friend, you know, just
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go out there and get to know one person, and that's really it. And even
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if you're an introvert, and even that seems hard,
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I feel like 90% of the battle is just showing up. Yeah, for sure. Like,
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if you're just there. Yeah. You're already doing better
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than most everyone else. And if
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you show up once and you show up again, you show up again, people will
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start to notice you. Yeah. So even if you aren't, you know, don't have
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that, you know, that. That gumption inside of you that it makes you just walk
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up to people you don't know, just show up. That's it. That's all
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you really need to do. And it'll get you so far. I agree. Yeah, I
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agree. And you don't have to be an extrovert, you know? Not at all.
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It's actually kind of the secret sauce there, too, that just show up, get in
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the room, be there for a minute. Yeah. You don't know
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who's paying attention, but people are paying attention, and that's all you need to know.
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Yeah, I. I've always told myself because I.
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I'm like in this middle of, like, introvert, extrovert.
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I don't know, I'm kind of in this. I'm like a. I'm like an extroverted
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introvert or something. And I. A lot of
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times you pull up to a place and you're like, I don't want to go
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in. And I just am like, one meaningful connection. I'm gonna get in
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there, get one meaningful connection. That's it. I'm gonna allow myself to leave after
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that. But usually by that point, things kind of warm up. And like, you've.
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Maybe you meet someone, you end up talking or whatever. Yeah. So. But it is
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all about just get in the space. Yeah. And don't psych yourself out. There are
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plenty of times even to this day, where I'm socially fatigued
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out. You know, sometimes we have multiple networking opportunities in the same
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week. Right. I'm still showing up. And you know what? Sometimes I walk and I
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go, you know what? I really just want a beer. And then whatever happens,
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happens. Yeah. And. And I'll end up still having a great night. That's right.
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I have no. No intentions, no preconceived notion of how I think
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this day is supposed to go. I'm just here to have a beer, maybe see
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somebody I know. Yeah. And just enjoy myself. And in that
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environment, you end up talking to all sorts of event
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people. And, you know, as I've gotten to know you, everybody
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knows, you know, your name is on the short list of, like, if people want
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live talent. But when you're talking to people and they do
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end up talking business with you. So there's planners. What. What are typical
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questions that maybe you're surprised that they have that you thought
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people knew about live events, especially for,
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like, corporate events, like, for live talent. The questions
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they have for me. Yeah. Like, they ask what are things that
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surprise you? Wish planners knew a bit more about so that
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they could appreciate live music in their corporate events.
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This isn't everybody. But understand the venue
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and what you're asking for. Sometimes people want
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something big, but they have a small venue. And. And
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having to navigate trying to tell them, hey, you really don't want that, even though
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you think you do in a nice way, without kind of shutting
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down their dreams and offering an alternative. Yeah. I'm trying to think of
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what else. That's what someone asked me. This wasn't on the
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list, so just. It was like a question. That's.
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I know. That's a really good question. I'm trying to think of. I will say
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I have learned people's not
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necessarily lack of understanding. Well, I guess. Yeah. Lack of
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understanding of what certain music is.
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We get a lot of inquiries or
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questions asking for certain things. And then when we drill down to it, that's
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not at all what they actually want. And so, you know,
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country. You know, we want to. We want a country
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singer, actually. You really just wanted an acoustic guitar player. Right. Didn't
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even matter if he plays country or not. But for some strange reason, you associate
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a guitar player with country. That's something I've Never thought about
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that happens. What do you mean that? Yeah, that happens all the
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time. And so with as much as me and my team know about music,
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we understand the difference between woodwind instruments and brass. Most people don't.
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So I'm like, I want a brass. I want, I want somebody who plays a
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brass instrument. But you're asking for a saxophonist. And I'm just like, that's not.
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I know it's shiny and looks like. But it's not actually. So I have to
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like, kind of get out of my own head and my own knowledge and go,
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you know what, let me look at this in just broad terms
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and drill down more into the atmosphere they're trying to create. And then
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we figure out, okay, this is actually what you're looking for. Because I used to
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make the mistake of giving people what they actually were asking for.
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Yeah. And then getting it wrong. Yeah. And then they're not happy. And then looking
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back at the email trail or thinking about the phone calls and going, but
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this literally is what you asked for. Like, you gave them a straight ahead country
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band and they're like, what is this? What is this? I want an acoustic.
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Exactly. It used to happen a lot earlier in my career and finally I
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realized, ask more questions. Yeah. So when you,
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you can book talent, like any musical style
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right at this point. So pretty much anything. Yeah. So now it is that it's
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asking, what do you mean by exactly? Okay. Even the word
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DJ is like, oh, a DJ could play anything
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because they're literally playing recorded music pretty much anything. So what do
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you mean by. But there are differences. Yeah. In DJs as well. I mean,
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it's just kind of really figuring out kind of, you know, what truly is the
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nuances and things that are important to you. Yeah. You know, even, you
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know, people ask for a saxophone player. I can give you three different guys that
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play three different ways. And I'm like, I need, I need. We need to
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figure out which one of these fits more of what you're looking for versus just
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saying, I want a saxophone player. Yeah. Yeah. What do you
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wish planners knew about live
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music that you wish they, they knew more of?
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So, for example, an obvious thing that I can even
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think of just, it's not recorded music. You can't just expect people
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to just show up five minutes before and just go, yeah, it's
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not the same. So what, what are some differences that people should be aware of
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when they're booking live music, when they're used to just having recorded
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like walk in music. Or Something have an appreciation for the
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dedication that these guys are not even saying, you know,
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people have put into their craft.
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Some folks will treat the musicians or the bands like
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the help. Yeah. And. And not artists. And not like
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artists. And not saying that they need to be, you know, put up on a
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pedestal. And. And I don't like it when, you know, people show up and act
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like divas, but, you know, at least have an appreciation
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for the years, maybe even decades that they put in to learning
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how to do this thing that is helping make your event,
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you know, that much better. Right. I think that is important.
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I'm trying to think, what else do I wish? I feel like this is a
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great opportunity. What I wish.
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It's almost like you've been given an opportunity. Yeah. What I wish that they would
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know. And also, I mean, just understanding the difference
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in, you know, when you book an entertainer, you're booking
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the night or the day, you know, we get down into, well,
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how many hours is that for? You know, in some cases that
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is applicable, but a lot of cases is not, because whether they're playing an hour
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for you or three hours for you, they can't go play somewhere else.
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Right. So, you know, sometimes the. The rate is what it
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is, and that's because that's the rate to get the date off the
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calendar. Yeah. And so sometimes that we have
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to kind of navigate that conversation.
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So I. I think I would wish that some, you know, event planners would understand
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that as well. Why do you, if you were going to make a compelling
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argument. Yes. I'm sure you make this argument all the time. Why would someone
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choose live music over recorded music
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without budget if budget isn't a factor? You know, like, we know
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you have a budget. You're just making a choice here. Why should you choose
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live music? I think
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live musicians put their soul and energy into what they're
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doing, and I think that can't be duplicated.
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Yeah. You can put two musicians playing the exact same
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song, and for some strange reason, you can tell the difference. Or at least I
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can tell the difference, even for me personally.
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You know, like I told you before, I went to school thinking I was going
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to be, you know, working into in a recording studio and doing
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recorded music. Yeah. But I think the major difference for me
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was the being able to see
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people's reactions in real time. Yeah. You don't get that in the recording
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studio. You can record a great song or a great
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album and it goes out into the world, and later on you may see how
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it affects people. But you know, being in a live show and seeing
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the immediate reaction of how people are responding to what a
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musician or a band is doing, that's what led me down that
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path. Yeah. Yeah, that's a good answer,
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man. That was better than I would have done.
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So as far as. So you have a brand new client
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and hopefully you deal with this all the time too. You have a brand new
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client. What are the first
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questions that you ask if someone comes to you and says, hey, Brandon, I, I
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was networking the other day and I, you know, your name came up or I
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met you and we have this thing coming
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up. What, what are the typical questions, the onboarding questions you guys
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asked to, to learn more about this planner,
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this organization? Yeah. Other than the, you know, who, what, when, where, how.
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A question I asked personally, I don't know if everyone in my office does, but
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I try to figure out what's the most important thing about this event to
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you, and it could be
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logistics. I need everything to go right. Okay.
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And they may not at all care about the guest experience. I just
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need everything to be on a timeline and to go correctly. And then
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on the complete opposite end of the spectrum, solely focused on the
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guest experience. But everything doesn't have to be perfect.
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Right. Of course, our ultimate goal is to make both of those
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things happen. But I like to find out, where do you fall?
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Yeah. You know, because I have been in situations where we walked away from the
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event and it seemed like everyone was, it was amazing. Everyone had a great
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time. People were raving about how much fun they had, but the
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person that was planning the event was upset because all these little
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things didn't quite go the way they wanted it to. And so I realized,
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like, okay, I need to figure out what's, what are the key points that need
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to happen today to make sure that you're happy. And let's
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make sure we hit those and then everything else is just extra. There's a lot
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of psychology that goes into what you do a little bit. You're.
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You're selling. It seems like you're selling something
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that it's not this packaged up product. You're. You're selling
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this experience. And, and by the way, every time that unique
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artist does an experience, it's going to be unique. It's not even
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like when I order a, it's going to be a. Every time it's going to
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be something different. And then understanding
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that. And also, what's the end goal
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for the client? Like what, what are they going to deem a success?
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Yeah, that's a lot to, to juggle. Yeah, especially
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750 times a year. I don't know how we
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did that, but yeah, somehow we, we, we accomplished that. And we'll see
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what, what this year looks like. It makes me want to take a nap. And
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you guys are also, are you, are there any other offerings that you
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guys offer with your services? Yeah, I
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mean, so if you're familiar with Key Signature Entertainment, that is the
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original company, you know, live music resource for power parties and special event
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Much created that exact same thing for wedding planners.
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Has its own website, key signature weddings.com so that way you don't get
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lost in our large website with everything on it. This is
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specifically for your ceremony, cocktail hour and your reception, so
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you can use that as a resource. And then just recently, which was kind of
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a natural fit for us, we kind of moved over into offering
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production. I mean, bands already have PA and lights and all that stuff like that.
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So it was just kind of a natural fit. So you know, mid to low
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level events that need, you know, video screens
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or just sound or up lighting, we can do that as well. I think that's
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a brilliant fit for what you guys are doing for sure. Yeah.
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All right, a last question for you. Well,
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maybe, maybe I have a couple more. Keep talking, man. I'm here. What do you
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think corporate events will look like in 10 years from your perspective? You have a
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unique perspective. There's a lot of different planners and those types of people I've been
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talking with, but you're one of the few that represent a different
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niche, a different direction in this space. So what do
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you think it's going to look like? I mean, technology is moving so fast.
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I think the event presenter will appear in your living room
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and sit down with you and talk to you about how you could be better
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at your job. I'm joking. Event presenter
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in your living room. A unique experience for every right
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there. Talking directly to you about how you could be better.
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No, I love it. I just think, I mean, I think we're kind of already
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there, but I think it'll just get better. Especially for large meetings.
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I just think there just be a way for any and everybody to attend regardless
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of what may have kept them from being
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there in the past. You know, if you don't want to be there physically, I'm
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pretty sure there'll be a way to put on a VR headset and you'll feel
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like you're there. If you only want to do that,
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you know, continue to watch it on the screen and then for those of us
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that just need to be around people will be physically there. And I think you'll
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stop having limits on the amount of people who can
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attend. Yeah, you know, it'll just be endless.
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I thought that technology is just going to continue to get
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better, just limitless access pretty much. I mean I, I think
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that's going to happen. I think even with sporting events and even large events like
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yes, this arena has this capacity, but it won't matter anymore. So I
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think this goes to an important point here. If that's going to be the
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case, and I think you're right, I think that people will you just more
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access, more information, then what it's going to come down to is
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who can provide the best content. Which would be a compelling argument for things
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like adding live music to what you're doing. Custom
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curated events that people care about, care, care about
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attending. You know, this is going to become really important if that's the
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case. Because if you can do anything, there's
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no limit to anything. You could go to any of them. Why would you go?
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Yeah, they've got to create good content. I think that's a big message
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for events at all. If we're gonna all get up in the morning
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and we all put in all this effort, it better have something
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important to say. You know, in that event, it, you, you mu. You
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have to be doing something that's compelling that people want to come to. And I,
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for me, I mean I, I love music and I think that live music
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is a big part of that. You can put it in all facets of corporate
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events, you know, and get really creative with it. So I, I love what you
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guys are doing. Yeah. I think the thing, I mean, you're touching on it.
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People remember how they feel and they carry it with
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them. And so any experience that you
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have going to an event, the thing that you're going to remember the most is
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how you felt about how much fun you had. Yeah, yeah. Everything
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else about it may have been amazing, but those memories start
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to fade in terms of what things look like and that kind of thing. But
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your senses, those are the ones you're going to carry. And so that's kind
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of why I do what I do. Dancing for three hours, loving the
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hammer pants. There you go. That's all you remember. And it was fun. Event
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has to have a theme. So I'm putting this out here. If somebody
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wants to do a 90s themed
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event, you know, I might have to dig out the pants, break out the fans.
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Yeah, I doubt they fit, but okay, maybe. So if
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people want to find out more about Key Signature Entertainment, where should they go? You
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can go to keysignatureentertainment.com go to keysignature weddings.com you
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can follow us on Instagram, on Facebook, on
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LinkedIn, and or you just call our office at
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704-568-1968. Fantastic. And we'll have all
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that information when we post the podcast down below.
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So thanks for joining us. Be sure to follow us on your preferred
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podcast platform and we release a podcast
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about once a week and we'll see you on the next one. Thanks so much.
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The Event Pro show is a production of LEMG video
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by Nick Barrett, audio and post production by Prince
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Thompson. You can learn more about us at LEMG
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Live.