How To Create Powerful & PROFITABLE Virtual & LIVE Events - Shay Wheat

SPEAKER_01 0:04

This is the Beyond the Story Podcast, a show that goes way beyond the story. And now, Sebastian Frust. Everything's incredible. It's well, when I'm recording this, it's Monday. So happy Monday, everybody. It's great to see you again, Shay.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

Absolutely. So good to see you too.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

Yeah, we met in Miami, what, like eight years ago? It seems it had to be, maybe, maybe, maybe less than that. Um, and then we had the opportunity to reconnect thanks to LinkedIn. So LinkedIn always uh always coming through for the new connections and reconnections on here. So um we've been in touch uh over the past couple months, and you've been helping me understand what's going on with this whole world of events. You're a certified event producer, planner, D, all of the above, extraordinaire. And uh then 2020 comes along and throws us a little bit of a curveball in the world of events here. So it's been not just, yeah, tiny bit, not just live events, but now we've got hybrid events, we've got virtual events, and we've got live events and whatever other category is going to come after that. I don't know what else there would be on here. But um I always like to tell people's stories on the show. And I always like to back up to the beginning of the story when when when this all began to to what brought you to present day. So before we get started in the conversation, if we can back up for a little bit and add some context uh for our listeners to understand exactly how you got started doing what you're doing right now.

SPEAKER_00 1:47

Yeah, yeah. Well, um, let's see how far back we want to go, probably in the world of like getting to what it is I'm doing in this business, right? So I was actually um speaking. I I had a speaking gig for New Year, New You. And um, I was messing with the guy, it had like multiple speakers, right? And there was probably, I don't know, six or seven, eight of us. And the they would rotate the microphones. So whoever's on stage, then the next person was on deck, you know, and they'd switch the microphones back and forth. So the guy that has my microphone, I'm like, hey dude, don't go spit on my mic, all right? Like, I need that clean. He's like, who are you? You're hilarious, right? And uh turns out he was the head of education for Dr. Oz's nonprofit, which was in the Sacramento area, which is where I lived at the time. And I was like, oh, that's awesome. Um, I met Dr. Oz's sister when I was um volunteering for Maria Shriver's women's conference that had, you know, 14,000 tickets sold in 14 minutes. You know, kind of massive event. And so I couldn't get a ticket, so I volunteered so I could go to the event. So, anyways, in that I ended up meeting Saval and um she needed help to her table. And like, long story short, she's like, Do you want to hang out with us? And I said, sure. And uh come to find out she's like best friends with the CEO of the nonprofit of the guy that's speaking, right? Full circle. He's like, Oh, that's really cool. They're best friends, and I think we're doing a women's conference, you should help us. And I said, Okay. Like, I wasn't planning events, I wasn't doing any volunteer outreach, I wasn't doing any speaker concierge work, I wasn't doing anything, but I just always said yes. So I said yes to this, and that's kind of how I started on the career development of running and producing events for six and seven figure speakers, coaches, and experts. Um, from there, I ended up going to what is called a sales and enrollment event. Somebody was teaching about how to get speaking gigs in your own backyard, help you figure out your niche, help you figure out your business. I said, I need help with that because I'm not doing anything. Um, you know, living in a 600 square foot apartment, dark, not knowing what direction to go next in life. So why not? Um, and from there they ended up going, okay, so you're a Reiki master and you run events for Dr. Oz and you have network marketing background. Um, I think you should do events with an like an energetic twist, you know, ground out the crazy energy that goes on around events. So I did that and come to find out, the people I was working with was like, you're really good. Um, you should help us do our events. And from there, I became completely referral-based, working with people all over the world now.

SPEAKER_01 5:00

Wow. So your initial desire to share a message turned into what would be your career path and your life's work of being able to help people make their events a reality. And and what in what time frame, like in what time span? What when how long did it take for all that to unfold?

SPEAKER_00 5:19

Uh let's see, probably 18 months from the time that I interacted with Dr. Oz. Two years, if you include the women's conference. So Maria Shriver's Women's Conference into Dr. Oz, into starting my own business in 2014. So about 18 months to two years for that all to transpire and actually get up and running and have extra referrals coming in.

SPEAKER_01 5:43

Sure. So wow, so it's been a minute then uh that you've been you've been consumed in this event world now. It's seeing I bet it feels just like yesterday, but when you look back, you go, wow, it's been seven years. Holy cow. Time flies, huh?

SPEAKER_00 5:57

Time flies. So and then I met you not too long after that, right? So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:03

Crazy how world of events, it it it totally is. But the world of events has evolved a lot. Before it was selling from the stage or a seminar that was still selling from the stage or another form of selling from the stage, and then people were like, wait a second, I'm not gonna go to this event. They're just gonna pitch me and they're gonna sell me something. So, as with anything that marketers ruin, there had to be a new way of being able to present all of that. And that's specifically what you help out with. We met uh through our mutual friend Michelle Villa Lobos, and I saw that transition take place drastically. She originally had monetized the Women's Success Summit through sponsors and ticket sales. And that was a lot of work to be able to go and do that. And she completely shifted the model where she still had sponsors supporting the event, but she also led with the idea that this entire three days is gonna lead up to one big bad offer to be able to work with me for an extended amount of time. And that just revolutionized everything. It actually revolutionized the end of the Women's Success Summit because her model had evolved so much where she was able to impact so many more people and not put so much effort and time into that. So, how do these events come together? What's the thought process behind putting something like this together and why does a brand want to do it? I know that's a loaded question, but I know you have the answer to all of those.

SPEAKER_00 7:21

Yes. Well, there's actually phases of business, right? Or phases of event leverage within the phases of your business. So you've got, you know, phase one where you're just figuring it out. You're doing your market research, you're figuring out who your niche is, you're, you know, who is it that you're going to be serving? What are you going to be serving them with? What's the program and packages? Then you move into starting to leverage and a little bit more. So you're getting out and you're doing the podcast, you're doing the speaking gigs, you're, you know, bringing in more leads so that you can have more strategy sessions, enrollment conversations to rinse and repeat, bring people into your programs, get them crazy awesome results, and do it again. Then the third phase is you're going to be starting to look at doing your own summits, your own retreats, your own workshops a little bit larger. So we're moving through to scale your business until you get to level four, which is the full-blown, you know, 100 plus people at a three-day event, um, really supporting people to the point where not only are you filling your program for the year, you're bringing in six and seven figures in three days, but you're also impacting hundreds and hundreds of people's lives, if not thousands of people's lives, um, like some of my clients do in three days. So the process that if you really want to look at it from like a 30,000-foot view, it's just a really long sales and enrollment conversation that's over three days. However, we craft it in a way that is going to take them on a journey and give them an experience. It's not just wham, bam, thank you, ma'am. Are you in? Are you out? You're actually giving tons and tons and tons of value. Whether they decide to do business with you or not, they're going to walk away and be able to take actionable steps. They're going to walk away going, okay, I understand what I have to do. Now we give them the option to either go faster and do it with us and do it with the client's support. And that's where the program comes in. Because the way that I see it is you're doing them a disservice if you don't give them a next step. Because every time you learn something new, every time something new comes into your space, you go, oh, fantastic, I get it. But it also presents a new opportunity for growth or a new problem that shows up. Because if, like, for instance, when I went to go and learn how to get speaking gigs in my own backyard, great, I can go to Google, I can search for it, I can put in, you know, uh, whatever my topic is and whatever the city is, but I don't necessarily know what to say when I'm reaching out to people that are booking these speaking gigs. Oh, look, the program would support me with a script on how to actually reach out. And then once I've reached out, then what do I do? Then what do I do? Then what do I do? Right. So the same thing goes for your programs and your packages, your six month year-long program is you're supporting them in their next steps. So anytime I end up running into somebody who's like, yeah, I'm doing an event. I've got ticket sales, I've got sponsors. Um, great, what what are you offering them, you know, during the event? And they hadn't even thought of it. One, you're leaving money on the table. Two, you're not supporting the people that are showing up. Because they go, Yes, I understand. Now what? Now how do I move forward? I now know what I'm supposed to do, but how do I actually take the action? And that's where your brilliance comes in in order to support them with that action steps.

SPEAKER_01 11:04

I love that. And not a lot of people, it's so simple, but you don't even think about it. Let's spend two to three days together, fire hose people with information and value and a game plan that they can go and take and put into action, knowing that most people won't and they want their hand held. So why not give them an opportunity to hold their hand and have them pay you to do so while building your business, keeping them as a customer for a minimum of six to 12 months as well? So, how did this all and a lot changed? Obviously, with the with the pandemic, there's been a tremendous amount of change in the event world. Did the same concepts and strategies transfer over to the virtual world?

SPEAKER_00 11:43

Most did. So those of us that really went, okay, how can we continue to serve our clients? Because their entire book of business is based on, you know, one large event a year or two events a year. And then, you know, they have smaller, what we call fulfillment events, where it's like a little bit more retreat for the people that are actually in their program, but they're largely event-based. And all of the sudden, live events go away. So we've been utilizing, you know, virtual platforms just for communication purposes, a lot of it heavy in Zoom. And so um our industry got together and was like, how can we support our clients? Because if we don't, they're all of their um employees, all of their 1099s, all would be without a job, they would be out of business, we would be out of business. So how can we? And we really looked at the live event model as a way to go, this is what works really well live. How does that relate into the virtual space? And then there were things that worked live that were okay, but actually work better virtually. So we were able to then expand upon the virtual side of it. How can we really support people? How can we get them into groups? How can we gamify it? How do we keep them engaged? How do we bring them back into the room when they're supposed to be online for eight hours and still deal with the dog is barking, the children want something, the you know, fiance needs whatever, right? Like life is happening. The leaf blower, the leaf blower, the everything. So, how do you also circumvent that and keep them with you so that you can take them through that arc? It's kind of like a movie, right? It's an experience. So, how can we, and this is the things that we think about is how do we create an experience that they feel like if they were to leave, they've missed something because they have. Everything builds on each other, right? And so it's this arc, and we bring them through the arc, um, just like a movie would bring you through an arc. And then at the end, you go, okay, great. I now can put a bow on it, I've closed the loop, and I know either I can choose to go this way or this way, and I'm in choice. So um, it's been fascinating to see it from that perspective. And now, as we go back, how do we move forward, right? How does hybrid come in? Uh, what is virtual look like? What does live look like? It's it's gonna be another interesting twist to what it is that we do.

SPEAKER_01 14:32

So, for those of you wondering, what in the heck is a hybrid event? I know what a virtual event, I know what M. What's a hybrid? A hybrid means that the speakers, the production team, and the event team are all in one location. The audience is virtual. Sometimes there's a small amount of tickets sold in that in that space, but it's considered a hybrid event. So welcome to the 21st century, uh, ladies, ladies and gentlemen. So I've got to think that that re-entering the live event space has to come with a tremendous amount of momentum. Because people are, I mean, if you've been in an airport lately, I mean, you need a helmet to get to your plane. So people are clearly out of their house again, wanting to go places. I'm headed to Nashville next week for podcast movement. I can't wait to hug and hi-fi people in person. I can't wait for an after party and reception and running into people in the hallways. So you I'd gotta have you have you been experiencing some some post-pandemic or, you know, for for the most part, uh remaining politically correct here, uh uh momentum with re-entering the live space?

SPEAKER_00 15:33

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So the question, you know, I'm getting a lot more is, you know, do we do virtual, do we do live, or do we consider hybrid? And honestly, um only a handful of clients can really do hybrid correctly.

SPEAKER_01 15:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:51

Because if you think about hybrid, you're you're interacting with two different audiences. You need two different teams in order to really serve the virtual and serve the in-person effectively. Otherwise, one of the audience becomes the ugly stepchild.

SPEAKER_01 16:09

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 16:10

And now you've just ostracized half your audience, if not more. And what I'm also seeing is, you know, our speakers are really good live. That's what they're used to, that's what they've been doing for years, they really love that engagement. They forget the virtual audience. The virtual audience tends to be the one that's the bigger audience. So, you know, if you're doing a sales and enrollment event, that now hurts your your sales because they're not engaged, they're not showing up, they don't stay with you. So it's really two teams that have to support the audience if you really want to make a huge impact on it. So I'm really suggesting that unless you are super seasoned, not looking at hybrid and doing one or the other. And if you're like, I really want to do both, fantastic. Do one live, do one hybrid. And then you're still supporting everybody around the world. You're supporting the ones that want to show up live and they want to hug and high five and be in the hallways. And then you're supporting the ones that can't show up and spend $2,000 and take five days off and, you know, fly across the world in order to be with you, but they still want to learn from you. So that's kind of the shift that I see right now is, you know, yes, people want to meet in person and they still want to also stay virtual. And there's money in both. You know, you're not going to not support people if you choose one or the other. It's still going to happen. Just might look a little bit different.

SPEAKER_01 17:42

Right. So if you're, if you, if, if you're if if the I'm swear I'm completing sentences this morning. I'm not overly caffeinated. I promise. I haven't drank Cuban coffee this morning. I swear my fingers are crossed. If you're a brand or you're an individual solopreneur and you've got you've got a great brand, you've built a great brand, and events have been in on the idea board, but you're not quite there yet. Is it a process to be able to build the brand to a specific place to go, okay, now it's time to start shifting into the event space? Because there's clearly an investment involved with putting events on. So it's not a fit for every single person. Just because you got a good brand that may be a six-figure brand doesn't mean that you've got five or six figures to dump into an event. So what is your suggestion for people that want to do events? I'll start, want to do events on here, but have been so consumed in the online space, in the normal way of being able to build and grow the business that going to events, speaking in events, sure, doing my own event hasn't even seemed like a reality for me until our conversation a couple of months back. So what can you say to that? Because I know a lot of people have a lot of questions. Go, yeah, yeah, it seems like a great idea, but um, what's what's usually your best response?

SPEAKER_00 18:55

Yeah, uh, first of all, figuring out which phase of business you're in, which phase of event leverage are you in currently. Um, you know, let's just say you're in in phase two. Okay, great. How do we move you to phase three as fast as possible? It doesn't have to take that long. You know, it's part of moving through the phases is actually getting more and more clients and having the goals that go, okay, great. Now I've got to bring on team because you got to have team in order to do an event. Right. Um, you've got to have money coming in. You've got to have proof of concept that your programs and your packages actually work. You've got to have testimonials from those people. So there's a couple of different phases that you move through in order to get to the point where you're doing a three-day live event or virtual live event. So that would be my first piece is what phase of uh event leverage are you in? And I'm happy to share, you know, my guide on how to do that. Um, and then once you know your phase, then you work the phase to get to the next one. So, you know, you're in phase two, you're starting to do your own summits, you're doing challenges, your, I'm sorry, phase three is doing your own summits and doing your own challenges and really kind of understanding how to fill a room. You want to practice filling a room on a smaller scale before doing it on a large scale, like a three-day enrollment event. Because all things go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 20:24

Sorry, when you I didn't mean to interrupt you, but I don't want to forget here. Look, squirrel, uh, you when you mean filling a room, that could be a webinar room, that could be a group chat room, that could be a fill-in-the-blank face lives.

SPEAKER_00 20:38

It can be anything is getting people to show up. There's a science to that, there's a system to that. There's things that we put in place when you're in a certain um phase that you have to master in order to get to the next piece. Because what I don't want is somebody be like, yeah, I want to do an event. Great. How are you planning on selling the room? Who's your audience? How are you marketing to them? What does your team look like? How much money do you have to support leading into this? If it's a live event, we have to take a look at, you know, uh renting a hotel room or an Airbnb or something along those lines. If it's a virtual live event, are we doing this in studio? Are you doing it this in your house? What does the equipment look like? Right. So there's there's a lot of questions that I would be throwing at you in order for you to consider. And if you're not in phase three or phase four, it's gonna be very, very overwhelming. That's why we want to strategically build you up to the point where you're like, okay, yeah, I've done that. Check um onto the next piece, check on to the next piece. I've mastered this part now.

SPEAKER_01 21:47

Of the process. How can people learn about these phases? Do you said, did you have a you have a guide or something that we can share in the show notes? Okay, cool. That that'll that'll be available in the show notes, by the way. That's the description of this podcast episode. If you're listening, you're like, I want to get my hand. On that. I know I want to see it too. So I can assure you that it will be provided in the show notes on there to better understand. You're not going to just go from I'm doing, I'm running my business, growing my business to okay, well, I've got enough cash to support an event. I want to do an event. There are phases as Shay just shared here, there it is a process to be able to get to. Not impossible, but not you, you can't avoid them and then expect to have a successful event.

SPEAKER_00 22:22

And you can move through them fast. It doesn't take two years to get from phase two to phase four. You can move through it very, very fast. You just have to be strategic in how you're setting it up. So the way that I like to look at it is this is a part of your business plan. You know, so we will take a look at how are you setting up your business for the year? You know, do you want to move into doing um live events twice a year? Great. What are you doing now? You're doing podcasts, you've got a fantastic um group of people that follow you and listen to you consistently. Fantastic. You know, do we need to do a challenge for them? Do we need to do something intermittent to get them excited about what it is that you're doing? A webinar. You know, that can also be a way to fill the room. Right. So it's like how in the process of moving you through the phases, we're also giving you the education on how to sell from the stage, no matter what your stage looks like.

SPEAKER_01 23:20

And the best way to sell from the stage is to overload people with information that they that they're there for. Am I right?

SPEAKER_00 23:27

I mean, it's to give them value. Yeah. You know, so uh we do the market research in the beginning, right? Phase one, market research. What are their pain points? What are they wanting to learn? What are the things that are keeping them awake at night? You know, we've got 32 some odd questions that we ask when we're doing market research with our clients. Um, and so from there, you were literally using their same words in your marketing for them to show up to your webinar, to show up to your live stream, to show up to your clubhouse rooms. Where do they hang out? Right? Are they on LinkedIn or are they on Clubhouse? Know where your people are hanging out because we ask them, who do they follow? You know, it's all information that you can then utilize to go, okay, this is where my people hang out. Because the biggest question I get all the time is how do I fill a room? Where do your people hang out? I don't know. Okay, great. Then we get to do some market research. You know, it's like overall, what do we want to do? And then we just break it down, break it down, break it down, break it down, break it down. Same thing goes for an event. What is the vision? What is the goal? What are they walking away with? What does the event promise? And then how do we break it down so that's what they walk away with in the end? Everything we go 30,000 and we break it down to simple, edible pieces.

SPEAKER_01 24:46

Love it. So I know this probably seems like, wow, I didn't even think about this. Well, maybe now you're thinking about it because you're listening to this episode. And well, welcome to the 21st century, because this is the world of events, but it's also the world of scaling your business uh in a in a more timely fashion on here. So if you're listening to this, you're thinking, holy cow, this is my next step, or this is what I need to start putting in play. You definitely need to connect with Shay. I'm gonna put all of her uh links to connect with her further, in addition to the guide that she has about these three phases that she talks about, been able to uh uh get to the actual live event phase. There is a process uh that a lot of people like to skip over and wonder why their events sucked and they didn't make any money and it was a total loss. So uh well, we're here helping helping folks try to avoid that entire process on here. Well, Shay, it's always great to see, always great to chat with you. And I love, absolutely love what you're up to. And I'm stoked to see what uh what you and I can come up with. I'm visualizing my live events as we speak right now.

SPEAKER_00 25:39

So Yeah, I'm so excited for you too, because you're helping a ton of people, but they need a next step, right? So that's what we're gonna go ahead and support them with when we know that there's a percentage of people that are ready to move forward and are chomping at the bit, going, Where is it? I'm I need it now.

SPEAKER_01 25:58

Right, right. And it's bridging that gap. I love it. I'm excited, fired up. Always great to see you, Shay. Keep doing what you're doing. It clearly matters. It's taking people from, I don't know how to do an event, uh, I do events. My name's Sebastian Rusk. Are you gonna be at the next one?

SPEAKER_00 26:11

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 26:12

Yeah, exactly. All right, well, uh, you and I are definitely gonna chat again sometime soon. Thanks again for taking time out of your crazy event uh schedule world and uh and chatting with me. It's been great to better understand what you got going on, even though I kind of knew already. Uh, it's great to bring this to my audience and help people understand what's possible with the world of virtual hybrid and live events. So you have to come back sometime soon.

SPEAKER_00 26:33

Absolutely. I look forward to it. Thanks so much.

SPEAKER_01 26:36

Thanks again, Shay. Until next time, friends. Thanks so much for tuning into this episode of the Beyond the Story Podcast. Be sure to appreciate it. If you haven't done so already, make sure you're subscribed to the show. This way you'll get updates as new episodes become available. If you feel so inclined, please leave us a review. We're sure to appreciate it. Signing off from the podcast, launchlab.com studios. We'll talk to you next time.