November 6, 2025 • 47 mins
In this episode of It’s In The Details, host Gayle Hellemn welcomes Sue Vanatta — longtime Wilson County Commissioner and former President of the Lebanon Wilson County Chamber of Commerce — for an inspiring conversation about leadership, service, and the power of connection. Sue takes us behind the scenes of what it took to bring the Farm Bureau Expo Center to life, from community collaboration and leadership challenges to the excitement of seeing the first events fill the space.
Whether you’re an event professional, community leader, or simply love hearing real stories about people who make things happen, this episode reminds us that every great event — and every great community — begins with someone willing to put in the work, pay attention to the details, and believe in what’s possible.
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Episode Transcript
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Unknown (00:00):
Kinsey, welcome to it's in the details, a podcast where
we take a sneak peek behind thecurtains, where we dive into
what it takes to truly create aremarkable event. So whether you
are an event professional, acommunity leader, or just simply
curious what goes on behind thescenes, this is your all access
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pass to the details that makethe magic happen.
Today, we have Sue Vinata withus, and she has a wealth of
experience and different kindsof events and how and why they
came together. She has been acounty commissioner. She has
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also been the president of theLebanon Wilson County Chamber,
and we are excited to exploreher experiences with
you. Welcome Sue. Good morning.
Thank you for having me.
Absolutely my pleasure.
Absolutely my pleasure. Will youtell us a little bit about your
background and kind of how youkind of came into doing events
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or participating in events forthe purpose that they served,
for whatever role you wereplaying at the time.
Sure. Well, I moved here in 1973and my husband and I at that
time started an insuranceagency, and I went to the
chamber because I had done somehomework on the chamber, and I
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knew I needed to get involved inthe Chamber of Commerce for our
business to grow. And I did. Andafter serving and in the chamber
for several years, I was invitedto serve on the board of
directors. I did that for a fewyears, and then I was hired to
be the president CEO. I did thatfor 23 years, and it was
wonderful. I met so manywonderful people, and I saw a
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lot of changes in Lebanon, MountJuliet, Watertown, Wilson
County. I saw a lot of thingsthat we can make happen as a
county that we did not havewe're so centrally located in a
miles drive about 60% of thepopulation in the United States.
So working with the chamber, Ihad the opportunity to get to
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know a lot of business people, alot of individuals, a lot of
elected officials. And it wasreally an eye opening to see
what all we had here in WilsonCounty, and also the opportunity
to bring other things intoWilson County.
So what was that period of timebetween being on the board and
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being the chamber president thatgave you that insight?
I served on the board forapproximately two and a half
years, there was a person thatwas serving as president CEO,
and he decided to leave, and oneof the board members in that
chair of the board contacted meand said, Would you fill in
until we can find someone? Inever was hired. I just started
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and became the president CEO. Itwas, it was, and it really was a
wonderful part of my life, likeI said, meeting so many people,
from elected officials to racecar drivers to individuals
working that own their ownbusiness, and I was able to work
with a lot of people to make alot of things happen here in
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Wilson County.
That is very cool. So you youactually produced events, but
you probably participated indifferent events as
well. I did one of the majorevents that happened while I was
president, CEO of the chamberthe first few years, was a
gentleman that was the staterepresentative here in Lebanon,
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Wilson County, came to me oneday and he said, Sue at our
agricultural center, we have theopportunity to bring a lot of
camping groups here. Okay, Ididn't know anything about
camping. I didn't like camping,but I listened to him, and he
and I and another lady, we wentto Illinois to the tractor
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Association, and we recruitedthat association to come to
Wilson County. And then the nextyear we went to forgot exactly
where we went to, but it wasanother state. And we recruited
the family campers and hikers,and they all came to the Ag
Center, and I wish, well,there's still pictures floating
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around. There were peoplecamping in tents, in trailers,
in the back of a pickup truckand a big RV, and that really
started the knowledge of whatcan happen here in Wilson County
on these grounds. Sowhen you talk about these
grounds, you're talking aboutthe James E Ward, egg, ground
sea. Ward, AG, yes, which is,you know, that's, it has a
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plethora of buildings behind theexpo, which we are actually at
the expo, recording the podcast,so, which is at the front of the
grounds? So, so that kind ofthat was before the expo,
that was before the. Expo.
I retired from the chamber after23 years, and I ran for county
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commission, and I was successfulin becoming a county
commissioner. Well during thatperiod of time, the transition
from me being with the chamberto being a county commissioner
and going out and talking topeople when I was running for
that office, I had people say,you know, we need a larger
building at the Ag Center tohost different events. There was
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ladies that wanted to do a bigquilt show. There was just
different opportunities. So Iasked the mayor to appoint a
committee, and he did, and I waschair of that committee, and we
started meeting and talkingabout, how can we put together a
business plan for an expocenter? And we did, and we are
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so blessed to have this thenight that it was voted in. We
had have it passed by the countycommission. There was some
people that were skeptical aboutthe expo and I understand that
there was a lot of moneyinvolved in the process,
exactly. And I spoke that night,and I just told them about how
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we had arrived to this positionof getting this expo center, and
why we needed this expo center.
And thankfully, it passed. Thevote was in favor of building
the Expo Center, and I hadseveral people come up to me
afterward and said, if youhadn't spoke, this would not
have passed. And I'm so proud ofthat, because what it has done
for this county, and it is acounty Expo Center, and it's
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owned by the citizens of WilsonCounty, the taxpayers of Wilson
County, and the job that you dowith your team here is just
unbelievable.
Well, thank you for that. We arevery proud of what we do here.
We proud of it, and we see alldifferent kinds of events, and
there are for all differentreasons. I mean, all different
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reasons, but our major goal isalways and always will be. As
long as Sendhil and I are here,will always be. You know, we
will do everything we can withinour power to make sure that an
event has every opportunity tobe successful. We don't, we
don't control everything, butwhat's within our power, we'll
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make sure that you at least havethat advantage as you're going
into your event to host it. Sowe are very proud of that, and
I'm very, I personally am verygrateful that that it all came
together, because what a greatopportunity. But I will be
honest, I mean, it took, itprobably took me, I've been in
the job for five years, and ittook me, oh, I don't know,
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probably at least a good yearand a half to totally understand
the capacity of what we coulddo. I know, when I walked in for
an interview, I just thought,oh, there's so much potential
here. This is amazing. And Ididn't know exactly where that
was going to go yet, but it was,it was exciting to see the
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potential and then to try tocapitalize on that and build on
that. Has been a wonderfuljourney to go through. It has
this ups and it has us down. Sothere's no question. But I mean,
it's been a wonderful journey.
So I'll always remember the daythat we did the grand opening.
It was so exciting to see thefaces of people like what. Some
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were very doubtful. Why are youdoing this? It's going to cost
the county money. Others werevery excited. Several people
were saying, Oh, we can bringthis group here. You have the
opportunity to do this, do this,and it is just come such a long
way. And when it first opened asa commissioner, I felt one of my
opportunities to was to go outand talk to the people when they
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came here. Maybe notopportunity, but my mission, I
guess, and I would go and talkto some of the people that came
to the first conventions hereand ask them, Are you pleased
with our facility? And no onesaid no. And that is so truthful
to this day, to this day. I hopeyou know I know. I know, because
you probably don't know. I comeout here sometimes and I talk to
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the people just see how it'sgoing on, and I never have
anyone say, oh, it's horrible.
We don't we didn't have a goodtime. They are so complimentary.
And the only thing that theyever tell me that it's negative,
it's you need it larger. And Iagree with them.
I get that too. I get that too.
And, you know, it's kind ofinteresting, because yesterday,
I I did not sit at my desk until3pm okay, I can believe that.
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And that may sound like, Well,gee, you know, what was she
doing? How come she wasn't doingher job? Well, I was doing my
job because the event planner,the two key people, asked to sit
down with me to talk. And I satand I visited with them, not
about contracts, not about do'sand don'ts of having alcohol
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service, not about any. Anythingrelated specifically to what was
happening on the grounds and inthe expo right now, but just to
visit with them and just tounderstand them, which led to
being introduced to multiplepeople that are attending their
event. And this is a very highprofile event, so, you know, I
mean, this is people are here.
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Have paid a lot of money, youknow. So they are, they're
looking for an experience. Andso, like I said, you know, I say
all the time, actually is that,you know, it's in the details.
It's about everything you do,you know. And I spent time with
them, and those people, onecouple in particular, said,
Thank you for taking the time tojust sit and have a
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conversation. And it wasn'tabout the expo, it was just
about them. They just wanted tobe seen and heard and have their
experience mean something, andthat's the best part of my job,
is getting to explore thoseopportunities with people that
are here, you know, and theywere like, it just, it's,
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everybody is friendly, and youguys really work hard, and the
food is great. I can't takecredit for the food, but, but
still, you know, and that that Ireally enjoy that aspect of it.
So I'm glad that you do that,because I want everybody to do
that. I tell people all thetime, This building belongs to
the county, right? You know, Idon't care whether you're in
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Watertown or you're in MountJuliet or you're in Lebanon,
this building is yours, and Iwant you to come and enjoy it,
and that's why we try to have avariety of events.
But I'm amazed sometimes at howmany people that live here in
Wilson County have never beenhere. I will tell you that, and
you and Zindel and your teamhere, you all do a wonderful job
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of showcasing it and getting theword out. But I think one reason
is because it is here and peopletake it for granted. It's just,
oh well, we have an expo center.
Big deal, you know, until theywalk in, that's what I was going
to say, until they walk in andthey go, Wow. My gosh, we have
an expo center. And it's just ithas done so much for Wilson
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County. It's changed so manyavenues. It's changed. We now
have a venue that people areproud of, and I just cannot
believe how far it's come fromthe day we opened it, I thought,
well, this is going to be great.
We're going to lease it every,every now and then, you know,
trying to lease it as often aswe can, but now it's leased all
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the time, and you and your teamdo a fantastic job. Thank
you. Thank you for that.
So you came intoevents, you participated in
events. You produced events.
What's one detail that you thinkmakes the biggest impact anytime
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you're planning an event? Is itthe money? Is it the volunteers?
I mean, what? What is it thatyou think is the most important
thing every time you kind ofapproached, okay, we've got to
do this, whether it was theparade at the chamber or
whatever else you did.
Well, a lot of that depends on,I think, the event, because what
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I see almost every event,there's something different. You
think they're all alike, butthey're not. There's something
different and different. Peoplesee different things. But I see
a building that is neededdesperately. We got it. We use
it. We make people happy. Peopleenjoy it coming only mistake we
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make. We didn't make it largeenough. So I like to see it made
larger. There's not anyone thatthat I've ever heard say, Oh,
we've got that expert center,and it doesn't do anything for
this county. I've never heardand I see a lot of people as we
do, talk to a lot of people, andI'm surprised sometimes that
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some of the citizens that livein this county have never been
out here. Yeah, tell them youdon't know what you're missing.
Go out there and just walkthrough it and see. Because in
your mind, you may be thinking,Oh, I'd like to have this event,
or I'd like to have this bigparty, or I'd like to have an
anniversary party. We have theSouth Hall, which is smaller, we
have the large size side that'slarge. So we have the capability
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of having events for severaldifferent numbers, from 100 on
up to several 1000.
True. I mean, technically wecould have six events at one
time. Technically, we've neverdone that. We've never done that
yet, but technically we could.
Zenville and I were talkingabout that the other day, and it
was like, I think, I think four.
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He thinks three is the most thatwe've had. But I'd have to go
back and look at the calendarand try to figure that out, but,
but intentionally, we tried todiversify the events. And so I'm
telling I'm excited about nextyear, because next year boring.
Things, a whole list of eventsthat we've never had before that
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is exciting. That is excitingbecause that's just kind of a
renewable energy, if you will,that people will have different
opportunities. And you know,just a quick tidbit that the
Expo Center does about 10% oflocal events. If you look at all
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of our events, about 10% islocal, and about 45 is across
the state, and another 45 isacross the nation. I don't ever
see those numbers reallychanging a whole lot because the
local events are usually themuch smaller events so frequent
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they can generate there may be abigger number of events, but
they generate less incomeoverall, because the bigger
events may be less frequent interms of how often they come
back, but there's more of them,so they tend to generate more
revenue. It doesn't make onemore important than the other,
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by any means, but, but that'sit's as interesting mix, and
there's always a reason, whetherit's a local based event or
something that comes from out ofthe area, is always important in
how we do that to make sure thatpeople do have a reason to come
out here besides the fair. Imean, we all know the fair takes
part of the building, or takesthe building during the month of
August, but you do have, youknow, 11 months out of the year
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that you can come out here forsomething else so
well, I think one plus that wehave for this facility is free
parking. Yeah, free parking is agreat thing. Think that's been
the plus for a lot of peoplecoming out of Nashville, having
hosting their events here,because it is free parking.
Well, we don't have enoughparking. Sometimes,
sometimes that's true. I willtell you, though, from talking
to event planners that I talkedto, if they're ham hawing about,
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you know, well, you know, it'snot, it's outside of Nashville
or, you know, so the geographiclocation they, they'll try to
play that card, or, you knowthat? Well, yeah, okay, we're
outside of Nashville. Let meshow you the pluses of that. But
you throw in their free parking,and I said, and if you're gonna,
if you want to compare apples toapples, you know, you can have
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an event in downtown Nashville.
No question, there's a lot ofwonderful things to do, and I
would highly suggest going tovisit downtown Nashville, but
your parking is going to costyou somewhere between $25 a day
and $35 a day or more. That'strue depending on where you are,
and I'm like, so take all ofyour attendees and add that as a
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perk, it makes a difference thatgets their attention. So free
parking is a thing. Andwell, also I think having the
Expo Center here has brought alot of other businesses to the
downtown Lebanon area, the MountJuliet area, even Watertown
area. I look. In fact, I drovethrough downtown as I was coming
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out here this morning, and Ilooked, there's two new
restaurants. I didn't know. Andit seemed like every day. And
when I first started with thechamber, everything on the
Square was antique story, and wewere known as the antique City
of theSouth. I did not know that.
That's interesting. And peoplecame from everywhere, I mean
everywhere, to the antiques. Andwe'd have limos pull up, and
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country music stars would getout and go into the antique
shops and to see it, go from theantique City of the South to no
antiques. And now there'sboutiques, there's restaurants,
there's so many new things todo, more people. Exactly,
exactly brings more people.
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People that were living heredidn't think about the antiques,
because they had antiques. Butnow, with all the restaurants
and everything, all the newpeople stay home. They, you
know, they come and eat here inLebanon, people east of us,
especially they come to Lebanon,Tennessee, and not have to go
all the way into Nashville orsouth of us, or south of us.
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That's true. I guess Northtoo. Yeah. I mean, and I could
say that, like with mistletoemerchants, if you look at their
demographic breakdown of theirattendees, they're pulling,
believe it or not, all the wayfrom New York, Kimberly area,
okay, Southern New York area tothe coastline to Alabama, and
all the way from Texas. We havevendors alone that come in for
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different shows that come infrom there's a huge segment that
come from Texas to come here.
And when you think about that,and you talk about events, and
you look at revenue potential,right? It isn't just about the
money that they rent thebuilding for. It's about other
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things, things that areimportant, which I'm sure from
the chamber perspective, youcapitalize. Time, oh, yeah, used
in your dialog and talking topeople
exactly, well, it helps oursales tax. Helps our hotel,
motel tax. It's food tax. Imean, it's so beneficial for
almost every business here.
We've had people camping herethat would their camper tire
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went up. Where did they go? Bythe tire here in Lebanon, Wilson
County. So we have pretty mucheverything to offer here, and I
think people are realizing thatnow. So even locals are staying
local instead of going out ofthe county. Because of the Expo
Center, the new businessescoming in, it's opened the eyes
of a lot of people that livehere in the county. And as it
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should, as it should,for sure, because that revenue
so from from your perspective,when you served as the president
of the chamber, and your look,I'm looking for your view, not
my view. So your view as a as aPresident of the Chamber, when
you served in that capacity. Yousaw these events. You saw events
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come in. How did you how did youvalue those events in terms of
what it did for our area?
Well, we started a programthrough the chamber without at
that time, we had a lot ofcamping groups that came out to
the agricultural center, so westarted a program, and we asked
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two or three of the camping,large camping groups if they
would go to the bank and get $2bills and use the $2 bills to
pay for everything they bought.
That's brilliant. And we talkedabout and we tracked it. We did
week, and we had a barrel or boxat the different businesses so
they would drop their $2 billsin there. And the businesses
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allowed us to count those $2bills, so group of us sat
upstairs in the chamberboardroom and counted those. And
it was amazing to see how muchwas spent here in Wilson County
from two or three differentcamping groups. And though it
got to be a contest, whatbusiness takes in the most
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$2 bills? It was Walmart. Gofigure.
Kinsey has everything that younever needed. One of the
local grocery stores was second.
Well, there you go. Ohyeah, that was a great way for
us to track. Are we doing theright thing? Then we had the
rodeo that came in. We did acontest with a lot of the
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businesses. We bought theboards. We bought the equipment
for them to make it's gonnasound funny to make a cow. To
make a cow, wooden cow. Theydecorated it. They painted it to
promote their business. But theidea was, then we brought them
all out here, and we displayedthem on the ground so people
could see how the businesseshere in Wilson County and
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Lebanon were involved inbringing the rodeo
here. Where are there picturesof that? Because I've never
heard of that. I havesome. I will show you. That is
fascinating. It was fascinating.
It was really fascinating.
Probably, I'm going to say therewas 30 wooden cows here in the
Lebanon area, all decorated,different, decorated, different
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to promote. They promoted theirbusiness by the cow, and then we
gave a prize. We let the peoplevote that were involved in the
rodeo, and we gave a prize. Ican't remember now what it was,
but we gave a prize for thewinning cow, just little things
like that back then.
Oh, I mean, so you guys boughtthe wood, you bought the wood
and you gave away, basically,these kits, I guess, yes,
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except they had to make the cowexactly,
huh? Well, you know, the expo isgoing to be 10 years old next
year.
I know. I know. So we're goingto have to do something big.
I was like, Oh, yes, I don'tknow that. I want to do cows.
But, you know, we couldbecome some big and it's hard
for me to believe that this expois 10 years old. It just seems
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like yesterday we werediscussing, well, can we do
this? Can we do that? How largeshould we make it? Should we
make different status rooms?
And, you know, there was just somany decisions
Well, you know, and, and I cansay, from being in it day to
day, there's things I would havedone different, yes, but that's
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not a criticism that is that isjust the opportunity to be part
of it day to day, where you'reyou're actually using it, you're
actually setting things up. Youbegin to see, and it's like,
when you buy a house, you growthe house is perfect, and then
you live in it, and then you'relike, Well, I really need this
cabinet to be six inches furtherthis way. And I really need a
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closet over here. And I, youknow, so you, once you
experience it, you live in themoment, you begin to see things
that you might have donedifferent. So there are things
that are that I would love tosee different, but if you never
anytime, i. Ever say that it'snever a criticism because
somebody did something wrong?
Oh no. Well, it was, it was anew idea for Wilson, and we did
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travel to some other sites. Wewent mother states and looked at
their facility, and in fact, Ithink we visited four states.
And one day we were fortunate tohave one of our local companies
that had a private plane, andthey took about eight or 10 of
us, so we got some ideas fromvisiting, and I think that's one
of the best thing that you cando. And you know, have you
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learned something where I go? Iknow you do, and I applaud you
for that. You learn somethingnew every time you go out of the
county or out of state and visita facility similar to yours. You
come back and say, oh, and wecan do that, yeah, and we can
have that event here.
So, yeah, I do that all thetime.
I'm very known for a record,okay, who's in charge
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here? Yes, exactly, that's whatI did when I was with the
chamber. Exactly, you've got toget to know the people, what
they do, and if they would beinterested in coming here. And
if so, what, what do you need usto do to help you bring your
business? Soon that note, let me ask you
this question. Um, so you didtravel. You went to Pleasant
Yes, and that was all in supportof trying to learn and
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understand and and gainknowledge exactly in terms of a
venue and what works and whatdoesn't work. So in my role, I
spend time going to conferencesto talk to event planners,
corporate, religious,Smurf, whatever.
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But there, there arethose. If you're not in the
business, I can understand why.
Some people might say, Well,isn't that a waste of money? I
mean, if you don't come homewith like, 20 bookings, I mean,
what have you actually done?
What would you say to that? Iwould say, we opened the doors
for Wilson County. We met withpeople, we talked to people.
They now know what we have tooffer. They may not come this
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year or the next year, but intheir mind, they still have that
information that you gave them.
They have the paperwork, thepamphlets that you presented to
them. So who knows? You know twoyears from now, one of those
companies that you meet thisweek may come, they may not come
this year ornext year. But so it's kind of
like scattering seeds andplanting a garden exactly. Okay,
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great example. Okay, so, andthen I, I saw this play out in
person. It was so cool. I loveseeing things come together. I
do too, and, and that's probablywhy, why you've, you've helped
me so much in what I've done andwhat I've been able to
accomplish. But so I go to thisconference, and I've been to
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this conference for five years.
The whole time I've been here,okay, and met people,
established relationships withthe planners of the event. It's
an event planning conference.
They rotate it around and go todifferent different cities. And
I've these friendships and theserelationships, you always
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wonder, kind of wonder, howstrong that friendship really
is. I mean, is it a friendship,or is it, you know, is it just
business? So I'm I'm there, andI'm doing my thing like I
normally do, and one of theevent planner or one of the
other venues comes from walkingover to me and brings this event
planner with her. Now you wouldthink that normally they
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wouldn't do that because, like,they want the business, right?
Well, she comes over. Now thisis what five years of investment
paid off. She comes over andsays, Gail, a she knew my name.
That was shocking to me. Okay,Gail, she is trying to plan a
rodeo. I don't have, I don'thave a venue that would
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accommodate that, but I'm in thesame geographic sphere that you
are. You are a perfect fit forher. Made the introduction. We
made time. We didn't have ascheduled appointment with her.
We made time for her. After wewere done, at the end of the
day, we sat and we visited withher, and I made a phone call
back here and talked to the Aggrounds, put them in contact.
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And by the time I got home, theyhad a rodeo scheduled. It's
called networking. I was like,That was beautiful. I mean, I
could not have choreographedthat better.
And that's what a lot of peopledo not understand. They think,
okay, Gail works at the ExpoCenter, and she just sits there
and she answers the phone andshe takes care of people. They
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come there. If you did not dothat, we would not have all
these companies coming here.
You've got to spread the word.
You've got to plant the seed,just like you said, and you and
your team do a fantastic job ofplanting the seed. I've been
with you on some of thoseconferences you have, and it's
really an eye opener to seepeople come up and sit at your
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booth and. And I'll never forgetthe lady to share this story. I
know what she's going to say oneof Gail's displays, says, meet
in the middle. Well, a lot ofpeople don't really understand
that. And this lady comes up andshe said, Where is the middle?
And Gail and I look at eachother like, what? And she said,
(30:20):
What? We have a city namedmiddle and we both kind of
laughed. I said, No, let meexplain. Tennessee is made up of
East Tennessee, Middle Tennesseeand West Tennessee. So she's
promoting meat in the middle ofTennessee. And the ladies, Oh, I
get it, but little things likethat that people do not
(30:40):
understand. And not only do youpromote the city and the county,
you promote the history ofTennessee. And that brings a lot
of people to this area too,people from north, people from
the California area, they don'tknow anything about Tennessee.
And when they come here, theysay, you know, I may just move
here. I love Tennessee. I lovethe people here. We're good old
(31:01):
southern people.
Yeah, they learn to, like sweettea, they do. They do, yeah,
that's, and that's, that was afun story, because I will tell
on myself. I was like, Wow, I'venever heard it explained like
that. I was just promotingbecause geographically, east to
west, we're the middle right,but geographically, north to
(31:23):
south Murfreesboro is the middleright, but we're close, but
we're very close to that. We'revery close to that. So that, but
that, that is a good thing, andthat actually kind of defines
how I determine our marketingarea, right? You know, how far
will people travel? So I thinkthat that's really well
(31:44):
and our proximity to Nashvilleis a plus too. They can stay
here. They can have their tradeshows here. But if they want to
go to the Grand Ole Opry, ifthey want to go downtown Second
Avenue, it's not that far. Twohour drive up, depending on
traffic most time 45 minutes toan hour? Yeah, it depends on the
day and the traffic for sure.
(32:04):
And that's what we tell themwhen they ask us, where are you?
Because they will ask us, oh,yes, where are you in proximity
to Nashville? And I was like,Well, okay, come out from the
airport. You're at theinterstate. You can go left, or
you can go right. If you goleft, you're going to go into
Nashville, depending on the timeof day. It'll probably take you
longer to get into Nashvillethan it will to get to us. And
they're like, wait what you knowand but they don't, if they've
(32:26):
ever traveled to Nashville, theywould understand that. They
would, you know, I mean,Nashville has just grown beyond
my wildest imagination. Iremember moving to Tennessee in
1997 and I felt like I was inthe biggest city in the whole
(32:47):
wide world at that point. Andthat's coming. That's coming
from somebody who traveled allover the countries. I mean, I've
been to multiple countries. I'dbeen lived in multiple
countries, but I was just like,I'm in a metropolitan city. I
was so excited. Man. It waslike, it was my New York. And
then I look at it now and I'mlike, well, maybe it wasn't
(33:07):
really New York, but, but thatis one of the advantages when
you talk about trying to sell aconcept to an event planner, is
you've got the best of bothworlds. Yes, you know you can be
in Wilson County, and you canexperience and explore Wilson
(33:27):
County. And if you really wantto go to downtown Nashville,
it's a different world. But youcan go, you can go, and then you
know what, you get to come back.
And there's a lot ofopportunity. There a lot of
opportunity, and so I've reallyappreciated trying to develop
and expand that awareness ofwhat people have the opportunity
(33:48):
to do here. Well,I appreciate you
saying that and doing that,because a lot of people don't
really understand that part ofhaving the events here, they
think, Oh, this company justcomes down, or this event comes
out there. They stay here at theExpo Center for two or three
(34:08):
days, and they leave assuming,and that isn't true, no.
And because, you know, I mean,obviously, if you want to look
at, if you want to look at thepragmatic side of having an
event, and yes, there's revenuethat is important to us. We have
to pay the bills. We have to paythe bills. That's right. So
there's revenue that's importantto us, but at the same time, you
(34:31):
know, it's kind of like when,when we did the Preferred
Provider Program, and I wantedto expand that, and some people
told me, Oh, you need to staywith only Wilson County vendors.
And I looked at them, and I was,I was genuinely perplexed. And
why would I? Why would I want todo that? And they were like,
(34:52):
well, because you have topromote local only. And I'm
like, But you see, it's not justlocal people that are coming
here. And if you want otherbusinesses to want to come here,
then why not give them a chanceto explore and experience us,
right? You know, in thatcapacity, and I'm so proud of
(35:15):
the fact that our preferredprovider program now embraces
these companies that are want tocome out, they're coming from
Nashville to come out here towork events. That's awesome. And
what does that do? It's just,I've seen the looks, the looks
(35:35):
on their faces when they go youjust had 6000 people come
through this building, you know,and I tried to tell you that,
you know, that's 6000impressions while making money
at an event, right? That'spretty good marketing dollars.
That's great marketing dollars,you know, whatever it cost you
and gas to come out here. It waswell worth
(35:57):
it. You didn't have to pay thepark to come out here if you
want to spend want to spend thenight. We have several hotels
here, so we really have a goodpackage
and activities. And then, don'tforget, Fiddler's Grove,
historic village. Oh yes. So Imean
that vision, and I'm glad thatit worked out the way it did,
(36:19):
because sharing what we have isone of many avenues, but is one
of the ways that we can growvery true. And I think that
that's can be said for any anyvenue I agree, and any event
planner and so forth that youknow. And I love going to the
(36:42):
different cities and exploringand learning. I think you were,
you were with me when we went toPanama City, oh yes, and that
wonderful venue that we saw,yes, and we both looked at each
other and said,We need to have that right. I
mean,those those ideas and those
things that spark, and that'sreally, I think you would agree
(37:02):
with me, that's the energy andthe and the literal sparks of
ideas that happen that helpdevelop an area be what people
would enjoy. Sotrue when you were saying that
my thought going through, I hadthe opportunity. I'd been with
(37:23):
the Chamber maybe 1012, years,had the opportunity to serve as
president of the Tennesseechamber. Oh, and my goal was to
travel to as many chambers inthe state of Tennessee that I
could to share ideas. And it wasperfect. I came back to our
chamber with different some newideas to start new programs,
(37:44):
like the Tennessee ScholarsProgram, the teacher grant
program, just things like thatthat other counties were doing.
And then I was able to sharesome ideas with them on some
things that we were doing thatwere not so it's the same thing
with what you're doing. You'regoing to other cities, and
you're sharing ideas, you'relearning from them, and they're
learning from you. You can sithere in this expo center all
(38:06):
day, every day, and what doesthat do? It doesn't promote the
center. It doesn't promote youor your team. But you've got to
get out and tell the people whoyou are, what you are, what
you're doing, why? My dad alwaystold me, remember this if you've
done, who, what, when, where andwhy, and then you go back to how
(38:29):
you've completed your project.
And I think about that alot. That's very good
advice. I passed that along tomy children. I don't know if
they listen all the time, but Ido tell them, right?
I would almost say that the Whywould be the most important.
(38:51):
I agree. I agree with that,yeah,
because, you know, I could sithere and go, you know, the why
for us is that, you know, wehave to pay for the we have to
make sure that we cover the costfor the building. We have to
make sure that we cover thecosts for for our salaries. We
have to make sure that we coverthe cost for our maintenance,
your insurance and all of that.
That's all part of our expenses,you know. And we have a little
(39:15):
bit of a benefit in the factthat we're a municipally owned
building in that, you know, Imean, it's not like the bottom
is going to fall out if, if onemonth, 123, months, it doesn't
work out quite that way, but thelaw of averages, it will usually
come out in the positive. Atleast it's come out in the
(39:38):
positive every year so far.
Thanks and hard work for you andyour team well, and it takes
hard work to do that, right? Butit's, it's always, it always
goes back to the why. It isn'tabout, oh, you know, I don't, I
don't lie awake at night going,oh yeah, we, we've got to. Make
(40:00):
sure that we have this amount ofmoney, because we, we, we've got
to pay for the bills. And, youknow, well, I don't function out
of a place of fear in general.
But it's that's not the why.
That is a why. It is a why, butit is not the why. Agree, the
why is we want to be a bountifulresource for the county that we
(40:21):
live in and and that's reallyimportant.
And you do a great job oftelling who you are, what you
do, where you're located nowthat I know where I'm at, yes,
the why is the most importantone?
Why do you do this?
Why does one event choose tocome here over another event to
(40:45):
come here? And that that opensdoors like, Okay, this one
decided to come but this, thisone maybe didn't. I've got to
find out why that did not so.
So to that point, let me ask youthis question,
when you're choosing an event,would you?
Would you say that there istrial and error involved in
(41:09):
planning events, everything andeverything? Okay, no event is
perfect. I learned that the hardway through the chamber. But you
know, you still learn from it.
And if you have another eventlike that, you know, if it
didn't work, then I'm going totry something out. If it did
work, yay, I've got this down.
So, yeah, yeah.
(41:31):
I think it's important forpeople to also understand, you
know, that's true on every levelof everything, and in life, I
can sit and I can visit with anevent planner, and we can come
up with I can go through themechanics of what it is they're
thinking and what they'redreaming, and I would be the
last person to squelchsomebody's dreams just because I
(41:55):
just feel Like that's ethicallywrong. Sometimes you're like and
from my perspective, and I'msure that you probably felt this
way too, as you guys wereplanning events with the
chamber, either chamber would beokay. They're on a little bit of
shaky ground. Okay, you know,but so I do a little more hold,
(42:17):
handing, a hand holding in thosesituations,
because I know they're on shakyground, but to see them manifest
something that even comes closeto their dreams is so rewarding.
It is, and they're so excited,and they're like, I want to do
this again next year, of course.
(42:40):
Then I go, Well, yeah, we needto look at the calendar. But
that is so important. It's veryimportant because really, I
mean, it's in the details.
Really kind of just encompasseseverything about everything
about event planning, becauseit's about the people. It's
about the people. I mean, it'sabout the people, it's for the
(43:05):
people. It's produced by thepeople. There are dreams to be
achieved and accomplished.
Whether you're doing afundraising thing or you're
doing something that, you know,I've just always wanted to I
just, love dogs, and I just wantan AKC dog show, and that's what
I want to do. And, okay, well,I, I don't personally, but you
(43:28):
do, and you want to make it'sabout them. It's about them.
Yes, they go back to us, doingwhatever we can do to make sure
that they they reach that dream,right? Get really close so that
they want enough, so that theywant to, okay, I didn't hit my
goal, but I'm going to do itagain next year, and they just
(43:48):
keep working at it until theyget that. And I will say, we
have one. We so we have an AKCdog show. Not my cup of tea.
That's okay. Doesn't matter.
Doesn't have to be but theycame. They've been here since
the beginning of the building.
You probably remember them. Howthey have just morphed into this
(44:13):
almost perfectly executed eventis amazing. But I honestly would
attribute that success not tous, we're there to support them,
but to them for do they havehiccups? Yes, they have hiccups,
but it's how they approach them.
Recognize them and approachthem. They hit them head on.
(44:34):
Yes, they don't try to sweep itunder the rug. They don't try
to, you know well that you know,well, that doesn't normally
happen. They don't try to excuseit. They just like, Okay, that's
a problem. Let's fix that. Andthey fix that, and they move
forward so much so that they'vebecome a gold standard you can't
you call and want to have a dogshow. Let me tell you the
(44:54):
benchmarks that you need to hitto be able to do that. And it
usually scares most people away.
And that's not the intent. It'sreal. They don't realize it now,
but they will that, that thatbenchmark, they could print that
email and go wherever theywanted to go and have that and
they'll find that to be a usefultool. So I've really given them
(45:18):
an asset to be able to workwith. You've worked with them
exactly well. And you mentionedwhile ago the 10th anniversary
of this building. But still,when I think about it, I think,
10 years, my gosh, I believe it.
There's just so I'm sitting herethinking, Okay, now, what can we
do for the 10th Anniversarythis? We can do this, and we can
do this, and we can showcasethis. And how do we get all the
(45:38):
people here in Wilson County, inLebanon and Mount Juliet and
Watertown. How do we get themhere for an event to see their
building? And I think that's onething that we really need to
focus on. It's their building.
We need to have one heck of abirthday party. Yes, we do. I
thinkpretty awesome. The county's
turned 200 years old last year.
(45:58):
We had a big celebration we gotto have a big birthday party
that, yeah, I totally agree.
That works for me.
All right, that's awesome. Iappreciate that. Well, from on a
personal note, let me thank youfor all the support that you
have given the expo and all thesupport you've given me. You've
been a wealth of advice and awealth of history for me,
(46:20):
educating me from everythingfrom the redefined or defined
sections of the state that Ididn't know were actually
defined sections, which Ithought was hysterical,
everywhere I go with you, Ilearned something new, which I
love, good, which I love so Ijust it is. I've appreciated and
(46:41):
valued that entire that, and Ilook forward to that continuing.
And thank you for being with meon this journey with the
podcast. We're very excitedabout it and and just remember
always that it goes back to therelationships and those
experiences and the details thatthey involve.
Well, thank you for asking me todo this. Congratulations on
(47:04):
doing this, and good luck. Ithink it's a wonderful idea, and
I'll be listening and more. Iappreciate that. Thanks. All
right. Bye.
Kinsey, welcome to it's in the details, a podcast where
we take a sneak peek behind thecurtains, where we dive into
what it takes to truly create aremarkable event. So whether you
are an event professional, acommunity leader, or just simply
curious what goes on behind thescenes, this is your all access
(00:21):
pass to the details that makethe magic happen.
Today, we have Sue Vinata withus, and she has a wealth of
experience and different kindsof events and how and why they
came together. She has been acounty commissioner. She has
(00:44):
also been the president of theLebanon Wilson County Chamber,
and we are excited to exploreher experiences with
you. Welcome Sue. Good morning.
Thank you for having me.
Absolutely my pleasure.
Absolutely my pleasure. Will youtell us a little bit about your
background and kind of how youkind of came into doing events
(01:05):
or participating in events forthe purpose that they served,
for whatever role you wereplaying at the time.
Sure. Well, I moved here in 1973and my husband and I at that
time started an insuranceagency, and I went to the
chamber because I had done somehomework on the chamber, and I
(01:27):
knew I needed to get involved inthe Chamber of Commerce for our
business to grow. And I did. Andafter serving and in the chamber
for several years, I was invitedto serve on the board of
directors. I did that for a fewyears, and then I was hired to
be the president CEO. I did thatfor 23 years, and it was
wonderful. I met so manywonderful people, and I saw a
(01:51):
lot of changes in Lebanon, MountJuliet, Watertown, Wilson
County. I saw a lot of thingsthat we can make happen as a
county that we did not havewe're so centrally located in a
miles drive about 60% of thepopulation in the United States.
So working with the chamber, Ihad the opportunity to get to
(02:13):
know a lot of business people, alot of individuals, a lot of
elected officials. And it wasreally an eye opening to see
what all we had here in WilsonCounty, and also the opportunity
to bring other things intoWilson County.
So what was that period of timebetween being on the board and
(02:33):
being the chamber president thatgave you that insight?
I served on the board forapproximately two and a half
years, there was a person thatwas serving as president CEO,
and he decided to leave, and oneof the board members in that
chair of the board contacted meand said, Would you fill in
until we can find someone? Inever was hired. I just started
(02:55):
and became the president CEO. Itwas, it was, and it really was a
wonderful part of my life, likeI said, meeting so many people,
from elected officials to racecar drivers to individuals
working that own their ownbusiness, and I was able to work
with a lot of people to make alot of things happen here in
(03:17):
Wilson County.
That is very cool. So you youactually produced events, but
you probably participated indifferent events as
well. I did one of the majorevents that happened while I was
president, CEO of the chamberthe first few years, was a
gentleman that was the staterepresentative here in Lebanon,
(03:40):
Wilson County, came to me oneday and he said, Sue at our
agricultural center, we have theopportunity to bring a lot of
camping groups here. Okay, Ididn't know anything about
camping. I didn't like camping,but I listened to him, and he
and I and another lady, we wentto Illinois to the tractor
(04:01):
Association, and we recruitedthat association to come to
Wilson County. And then the nextyear we went to forgot exactly
where we went to, but it wasanother state. And we recruited
the family campers and hikers,and they all came to the Ag
Center, and I wish, well,there's still pictures floating
(04:24):
around. There were peoplecamping in tents, in trailers,
in the back of a pickup truckand a big RV, and that really
started the knowledge of whatcan happen here in Wilson County
on these grounds. Sowhen you talk about these
grounds, you're talking aboutthe James E Ward, egg, ground
sea. Ward, AG, yes, which is,you know, that's, it has a
(04:44):
plethora of buildings behind theexpo, which we are actually at
the expo, recording the podcast,so, which is at the front of the
grounds? So, so that kind ofthat was before the expo,
that was before the. Expo.
I retired from the chamber after23 years, and I ran for county
(05:07):
commission, and I was successfulin becoming a county
commissioner. Well during thatperiod of time, the transition
from me being with the chamberto being a county commissioner
and going out and talking topeople when I was running for
that office, I had people say,you know, we need a larger
building at the Ag Center tohost different events. There was
(05:28):
ladies that wanted to do a bigquilt show. There was just
different opportunities. So Iasked the mayor to appoint a
committee, and he did, and I waschair of that committee, and we
started meeting and talkingabout, how can we put together a
business plan for an expocenter? And we did, and we are
(05:49):
so blessed to have this thenight that it was voted in. We
had have it passed by the countycommission. There was some
people that were skeptical aboutthe expo and I understand that
there was a lot of moneyinvolved in the process,
exactly. And I spoke that night,and I just told them about how
(06:10):
we had arrived to this positionof getting this expo center, and
why we needed this expo center.
And thankfully, it passed. Thevote was in favor of building
the Expo Center, and I hadseveral people come up to me
afterward and said, if youhadn't spoke, this would not
have passed. And I'm so proud ofthat, because what it has done
for this county, and it is acounty Expo Center, and it's
(06:34):
owned by the citizens of WilsonCounty, the taxpayers of Wilson
County, and the job that you dowith your team here is just
unbelievable.
Well, thank you for that. We arevery proud of what we do here.
We proud of it, and we see alldifferent kinds of events, and
there are for all differentreasons. I mean, all different
(06:55):
reasons, but our major goal isalways and always will be. As
long as Sendhil and I are here,will always be. You know, we
will do everything we can withinour power to make sure that an
event has every opportunity tobe successful. We don't, we
don't control everything, butwhat's within our power, we'll
(07:19):
make sure that you at least havethat advantage as you're going
into your event to host it. Sowe are very proud of that, and
I'm very, I personally am verygrateful that that it all came
together, because what a greatopportunity. But I will be
honest, I mean, it took, itprobably took me, I've been in
the job for five years, and ittook me, oh, I don't know,
(07:40):
probably at least a good yearand a half to totally understand
the capacity of what we coulddo. I know, when I walked in for
an interview, I just thought,oh, there's so much potential
here. This is amazing. And Ididn't know exactly where that
was going to go yet, but it was,it was exciting to see the
(08:02):
potential and then to try tocapitalize on that and build on
that. Has been a wonderfuljourney to go through. It has
this ups and it has us down. Sothere's no question. But I mean,
it's been a wonderful journey.
So I'll always remember the daythat we did the grand opening.
It was so exciting to see thefaces of people like what. Some
(08:24):
were very doubtful. Why are youdoing this? It's going to cost
the county money. Others werevery excited. Several people
were saying, Oh, we can bringthis group here. You have the
opportunity to do this, do this,and it is just come such a long
way. And when it first opened asa commissioner, I felt one of my
opportunities to was to go outand talk to the people when they
(08:46):
came here. Maybe notopportunity, but my mission, I
guess, and I would go and talkto some of the people that came
to the first conventions hereand ask them, Are you pleased
with our facility? And no onesaid no. And that is so truthful
to this day, to this day. I hopeyou know I know. I know, because
you probably don't know. I comeout here sometimes and I talk to
(09:08):
the people just see how it'sgoing on, and I never have
anyone say, oh, it's horrible.
We don't we didn't have a goodtime. They are so complimentary.
And the only thing that theyever tell me that it's negative,
it's you need it larger. And Iagree with them.
I get that too. I get that too.
And, you know, it's kind ofinteresting, because yesterday,
I I did not sit at my desk until3pm okay, I can believe that.
(09:35):
And that may sound like, Well,gee, you know, what was she
doing? How come she wasn't doingher job? Well, I was doing my
job because the event planner,the two key people, asked to sit
down with me to talk. And I satand I visited with them, not
about contracts, not about do'sand don'ts of having alcohol
(09:56):
service, not about any. Anythingrelated specifically to what was
happening on the grounds and inthe expo right now, but just to
visit with them and just tounderstand them, which led to
being introduced to multiplepeople that are attending their
event. And this is a very highprofile event, so, you know, I
mean, this is people are here.
(10:19):
Have paid a lot of money, youknow. So they are, they're
looking for an experience. Andso, like I said, you know, I say
all the time, actually is that,you know, it's in the details.
It's about everything you do,you know. And I spent time with
them, and those people, onecouple in particular, said,
Thank you for taking the time tojust sit and have a
(10:43):
conversation. And it wasn'tabout the expo, it was just
about them. They just wanted tobe seen and heard and have their
experience mean something, andthat's the best part of my job,
is getting to explore thoseopportunities with people that
are here, you know, and theywere like, it just, it's,
(11:05):
everybody is friendly, and youguys really work hard, and the
food is great. I can't takecredit for the food, but, but
still, you know, and that that Ireally enjoy that aspect of it.
So I'm glad that you do that,because I want everybody to do
that. I tell people all thetime, This building belongs to
the county, right? You know, Idon't care whether you're in
(11:26):
Watertown or you're in MountJuliet or you're in Lebanon,
this building is yours, and Iwant you to come and enjoy it,
and that's why we try to have avariety of events.
But I'm amazed sometimes at howmany people that live here in
Wilson County have never beenhere. I will tell you that, and
you and Zindel and your teamhere, you all do a wonderful job
(11:47):
of showcasing it and getting theword out. But I think one reason
is because it is here and peopletake it for granted. It's just,
oh well, we have an expo center.
Big deal, you know, until theywalk in, that's what I was going
to say, until they walk in andthey go, Wow. My gosh, we have
an expo center. And it's just ithas done so much for Wilson
(12:08):
County. It's changed so manyavenues. It's changed. We now
have a venue that people areproud of, and I just cannot
believe how far it's come fromthe day we opened it, I thought,
well, this is going to be great.
We're going to lease it every,every now and then, you know,
trying to lease it as often aswe can, but now it's leased all
(12:30):
the time, and you and your teamdo a fantastic job. Thank
you. Thank you for that.
So you came intoevents, you participated in
events. You produced events.
What's one detail that you thinkmakes the biggest impact anytime
(12:51):
you're planning an event? Is itthe money? Is it the volunteers?
I mean, what? What is it thatyou think is the most important
thing every time you kind ofapproached, okay, we've got to
do this, whether it was theparade at the chamber or
whatever else you did.
Well, a lot of that depends on,I think, the event, because what
(13:13):
I see almost every event,there's something different. You
think they're all alike, butthey're not. There's something
different and different. Peoplesee different things. But I see
a building that is neededdesperately. We got it. We use
it. We make people happy. Peopleenjoy it coming only mistake we
(13:35):
make. We didn't make it largeenough. So I like to see it made
larger. There's not anyone thatthat I've ever heard say, Oh,
we've got that expert center,and it doesn't do anything for
this county. I've never heardand I see a lot of people as we
do, talk to a lot of people, andI'm surprised sometimes that
(13:55):
some of the citizens that livein this county have never been
out here. Yeah, tell them youdon't know what you're missing.
Go out there and just walkthrough it and see. Because in
your mind, you may be thinking,Oh, I'd like to have this event,
or I'd like to have this bigparty, or I'd like to have an
anniversary party. We have theSouth Hall, which is smaller, we
have the large size side that'slarge. So we have the capability
(14:18):
of having events for severaldifferent numbers, from 100 on
up to several 1000.
True. I mean, technically wecould have six events at one
time. Technically, we've neverdone that. We've never done that
yet, but technically we could.
Zenville and I were talkingabout that the other day, and it
was like, I think, I think four.
(14:42):
He thinks three is the most thatwe've had. But I'd have to go
back and look at the calendarand try to figure that out, but,
but intentionally, we tried todiversify the events. And so I'm
telling I'm excited about nextyear, because next year boring.
Things, a whole list of eventsthat we've never had before that
(15:06):
is exciting. That is excitingbecause that's just kind of a
renewable energy, if you will,that people will have different
opportunities. And you know,just a quick tidbit that the
Expo Center does about 10% oflocal events. If you look at all
(15:27):
of our events, about 10% islocal, and about 45 is across
the state, and another 45 isacross the nation. I don't ever
see those numbers reallychanging a whole lot because the
local events are usually themuch smaller events so frequent
(15:48):
they can generate there may be abigger number of events, but
they generate less incomeoverall, because the bigger
events may be less frequent interms of how often they come
back, but there's more of them,so they tend to generate more
revenue. It doesn't make onemore important than the other,
(16:08):
by any means, but, but that'sit's as interesting mix, and
there's always a reason, whetherit's a local based event or
something that comes from out ofthe area, is always important in
how we do that to make sure thatpeople do have a reason to come
out here besides the fair. Imean, we all know the fair takes
part of the building, or takesthe building during the month of
August, but you do have, youknow, 11 months out of the year
(16:32):
that you can come out here forsomething else so
well, I think one plus that wehave for this facility is free
parking. Yeah, free parking is agreat thing. Think that's been
the plus for a lot of peoplecoming out of Nashville, having
hosting their events here,because it is free parking.
Well, we don't have enoughparking. Sometimes,
sometimes that's true. I willtell you, though, from talking
to event planners that I talkedto, if they're ham hawing about,
(16:58):
you know, well, you know, it'snot, it's outside of Nashville
or, you know, so the geographiclocation they, they'll try to
play that card, or, you knowthat? Well, yeah, okay, we're
outside of Nashville. Let meshow you the pluses of that. But
you throw in their free parking,and I said, and if you're gonna,
if you want to compare apples toapples, you know, you can have
(17:19):
an event in downtown Nashville.
No question, there's a lot ofwonderful things to do, and I
would highly suggest going tovisit downtown Nashville, but
your parking is going to costyou somewhere between $25 a day
and $35 a day or more. That'strue depending on where you are,
and I'm like, so take all ofyour attendees and add that as a
(17:39):
perk, it makes a difference thatgets their attention. So free
parking is a thing. Andwell, also I think having the
Expo Center here has brought alot of other businesses to the
downtown Lebanon area, the MountJuliet area, even Watertown
area. I look. In fact, I drovethrough downtown as I was coming
(18:03):
out here this morning, and Ilooked, there's two new
restaurants. I didn't know. Andit seemed like every day. And
when I first started with thechamber, everything on the
Square was antique story, and wewere known as the antique City
of theSouth. I did not know that.
That's interesting. And peoplecame from everywhere, I mean
everywhere, to the antiques. Andwe'd have limos pull up, and
(18:25):
country music stars would getout and go into the antique
shops and to see it, go from theantique City of the South to no
antiques. And now there'sboutiques, there's restaurants,
there's so many new things todo, more people. Exactly,
exactly brings more people.
(18:47):
People that were living heredidn't think about the antiques,
because they had antiques. Butnow, with all the restaurants
and everything, all the newpeople stay home. They, you
know, they come and eat here inLebanon, people east of us,
especially they come to Lebanon,Tennessee, and not have to go
all the way into Nashville orsouth of us, or south of us.
(19:07):
That's true. I guess Northtoo. Yeah. I mean, and I could
say that, like with mistletoemerchants, if you look at their
demographic breakdown of theirattendees, they're pulling,
believe it or not, all the wayfrom New York, Kimberly area,
okay, Southern New York area tothe coastline to Alabama, and
all the way from Texas. We havevendors alone that come in for
(19:33):
different shows that come infrom there's a huge segment that
come from Texas to come here.
And when you think about that,and you talk about events, and
you look at revenue potential,right? It isn't just about the
money that they rent thebuilding for. It's about other
(19:54):
things, things that areimportant, which I'm sure from
the chamber perspective, youcapitalize. Time, oh, yeah, used
in your dialog and talking topeople
exactly, well, it helps oursales tax. Helps our hotel,
motel tax. It's food tax. Imean, it's so beneficial for
almost every business here.
We've had people camping herethat would their camper tire
(20:16):
went up. Where did they go? Bythe tire here in Lebanon, Wilson
County. So we have pretty mucheverything to offer here, and I
think people are realizing thatnow. So even locals are staying
local instead of going out ofthe county. Because of the Expo
Center, the new businessescoming in, it's opened the eyes
of a lot of people that livehere in the county. And as it
(20:39):
should, as it should,for sure, because that revenue
so from from your perspective,when you served as the president
of the chamber, and your look,I'm looking for your view, not
my view. So your view as a as aPresident of the Chamber, when
you served in that capacity. Yousaw these events. You saw events
(21:02):
come in. How did you how did youvalue those events in terms of
what it did for our area?
Well, we started a programthrough the chamber without at
that time, we had a lot ofcamping groups that came out to
the agricultural center, so westarted a program, and we asked
(21:25):
two or three of the camping,large camping groups if they
would go to the bank and get $2bills and use the $2 bills to
pay for everything they bought.
That's brilliant. And we talkedabout and we tracked it. We did
week, and we had a barrel or boxat the different businesses so
they would drop their $2 billsin there. And the businesses
(21:48):
allowed us to count those $2bills, so group of us sat
upstairs in the chamberboardroom and counted those. And
it was amazing to see how muchwas spent here in Wilson County
from two or three differentcamping groups. And though it
got to be a contest, whatbusiness takes in the most
(22:10):
$2 bills? It was Walmart. Gofigure.
Kinsey has everything that younever needed. One of the
local grocery stores was second.
Well, there you go. Ohyeah, that was a great way for
us to track. Are we doing theright thing? Then we had the
rodeo that came in. We did acontest with a lot of the
(22:32):
businesses. We bought theboards. We bought the equipment
for them to make it's gonnasound funny to make a cow. To
make a cow, wooden cow. Theydecorated it. They painted it to
promote their business. But theidea was, then we brought them
all out here, and we displayedthem on the ground so people
could see how the businesseshere in Wilson County and
(22:57):
Lebanon were involved inbringing the rodeo
here. Where are there picturesof that? Because I've never
heard of that. I havesome. I will show you. That is
fascinating. It was fascinating.
It was really fascinating.
Probably, I'm going to say therewas 30 wooden cows here in the
Lebanon area, all decorated,different, decorated, different
(23:18):
to promote. They promoted theirbusiness by the cow, and then we
gave a prize. We let the peoplevote that were involved in the
rodeo, and we gave a prize. Ican't remember now what it was,
but we gave a prize for thewinning cow, just little things
like that back then.
Oh, I mean, so you guys boughtthe wood, you bought the wood
and you gave away, basically,these kits, I guess, yes,
(23:40):
except they had to make the cowexactly,
huh? Well, you know, the expo isgoing to be 10 years old next
year.
I know. I know. So we're goingto have to do something big.
I was like, Oh, yes, I don'tknow that. I want to do cows.
But, you know, we couldbecome some big and it's hard
for me to believe that this expois 10 years old. It just seems
(24:01):
like yesterday we werediscussing, well, can we do
this? Can we do that? How largeshould we make it? Should we
make different status rooms?
And, you know, there was just somany decisions
Well, you know, and, and I cansay, from being in it day to
day, there's things I would havedone different, yes, but that's
(24:24):
not a criticism that is that isjust the opportunity to be part
of it day to day, where you'reyou're actually using it, you're
actually setting things up. Youbegin to see, and it's like,
when you buy a house, you growthe house is perfect, and then
you live in it, and then you'relike, Well, I really need this
cabinet to be six inches furtherthis way. And I really need a
(24:46):
closet over here. And I, youknow, so you, once you
experience it, you live in themoment, you begin to see things
that you might have donedifferent. So there are things
that are that I would love tosee different, but if you never
anytime, i. Ever say that it'snever a criticism because
somebody did something wrong?
Oh no. Well, it was, it was anew idea for Wilson, and we did
(25:10):
travel to some other sites. Wewent mother states and looked at
their facility, and in fact, Ithink we visited four states.
And one day we were fortunate tohave one of our local companies
that had a private plane, andthey took about eight or 10 of
us, so we got some ideas fromvisiting, and I think that's one
of the best thing that you cando. And you know, have you
(25:32):
learned something where I go? Iknow you do, and I applaud you
for that. You learn somethingnew every time you go out of the
county or out of state and visita facility similar to yours. You
come back and say, oh, and wecan do that, yeah, and we can
have that event here.
So, yeah, I do that all thetime.
I'm very known for a record,okay, who's in charge
(25:53):
here? Yes, exactly, that's whatI did when I was with the
chamber. Exactly, you've got toget to know the people, what
they do, and if they would beinterested in coming here. And
if so, what, what do you need usto do to help you bring your
business? Soon that note, let me ask you
this question. Um, so you didtravel. You went to Pleasant
Yes, and that was all in supportof trying to learn and
(26:16):
understand and and gainknowledge exactly in terms of a
venue and what works and whatdoesn't work. So in my role, I
spend time going to conferencesto talk to event planners,
corporate, religious,Smurf, whatever.
(26:41):
But there, there arethose. If you're not in the
business, I can understand why.
Some people might say, Well,isn't that a waste of money? I
mean, if you don't come homewith like, 20 bookings, I mean,
what have you actually done?
What would you say to that? Iwould say, we opened the doors
for Wilson County. We met withpeople, we talked to people.
They now know what we have tooffer. They may not come this
(27:02):
year or the next year, but intheir mind, they still have that
information that you gave them.
They have the paperwork, thepamphlets that you presented to
them. So who knows? You know twoyears from now, one of those
companies that you meet thisweek may come, they may not come
this year ornext year. But so it's kind of
like scattering seeds andplanting a garden exactly. Okay,
(27:23):
great example. Okay, so, andthen I, I saw this play out in
person. It was so cool. I loveseeing things come together. I
do too, and, and that's probablywhy, why you've, you've helped
me so much in what I've done andwhat I've been able to
accomplish. But so I go to thisconference, and I've been to
(27:46):
this conference for five years.
The whole time I've been here,okay, and met people,
established relationships withthe planners of the event. It's
an event planning conference.
They rotate it around and go todifferent different cities. And
I've these friendships and theserelationships, you always
(28:08):
wonder, kind of wonder, howstrong that friendship really
is. I mean, is it a friendship,or is it, you know, is it just
business? So I'm I'm there, andI'm doing my thing like I
normally do, and one of theevent planner or one of the
other venues comes from walkingover to me and brings this event
planner with her. Now you wouldthink that normally they
(28:30):
wouldn't do that because, like,they want the business, right?
Well, she comes over. Now thisis what five years of investment
paid off. She comes over andsays, Gail, a she knew my name.
That was shocking to me. Okay,Gail, she is trying to plan a
rodeo. I don't have, I don'thave a venue that would
(28:53):
accommodate that, but I'm in thesame geographic sphere that you
are. You are a perfect fit forher. Made the introduction. We
made time. We didn't have ascheduled appointment with her.
We made time for her. After wewere done, at the end of the
day, we sat and we visited withher, and I made a phone call
back here and talked to the Aggrounds, put them in contact.
(29:18):
And by the time I got home, theyhad a rodeo scheduled. It's
called networking. I was like,That was beautiful. I mean, I
could not have choreographedthat better.
And that's what a lot of peopledo not understand. They think,
okay, Gail works at the ExpoCenter, and she just sits there
and she answers the phone andshe takes care of people. They
(29:38):
come there. If you did not dothat, we would not have all
these companies coming here.
You've got to spread the word.
You've got to plant the seed,just like you said, and you and
your team do a fantastic job ofplanting the seed. I've been
with you on some of thoseconferences you have, and it's
really an eye opener to seepeople come up and sit at your
(29:59):
booth and. And I'll never forgetthe lady to share this story. I
know what she's going to say oneof Gail's displays, says, meet
in the middle. Well, a lot ofpeople don't really understand
that. And this lady comes up andshe said, Where is the middle?
And Gail and I look at eachother like, what? And she said,
(30:20):
What? We have a city namedmiddle and we both kind of
laughed. I said, No, let meexplain. Tennessee is made up of
East Tennessee, Middle Tennesseeand West Tennessee. So she's
promoting meat in the middle ofTennessee. And the ladies, Oh, I
get it, but little things likethat that people do not
(30:40):
understand. And not only do youpromote the city and the county,
you promote the history ofTennessee. And that brings a lot
of people to this area too,people from north, people from
the California area, they don'tknow anything about Tennessee.
And when they come here, theysay, you know, I may just move
here. I love Tennessee. I lovethe people here. We're good old
(31:01):
southern people.
Yeah, they learn to, like sweettea, they do. They do, yeah,
that's, and that's, that was afun story, because I will tell
on myself. I was like, Wow, I'venever heard it explained like
that. I was just promotingbecause geographically, east to
west, we're the middle right,but geographically, north to
(31:23):
south Murfreesboro is the middleright, but we're close, but
we're very close to that. We'revery close to that. So that, but
that, that is a good thing, andthat actually kind of defines
how I determine our marketingarea, right? You know, how far
will people travel? So I thinkthat that's really well
(31:44):
and our proximity to Nashvilleis a plus too. They can stay
here. They can have their tradeshows here. But if they want to
go to the Grand Ole Opry, ifthey want to go downtown Second
Avenue, it's not that far. Twohour drive up, depending on
traffic most time 45 minutes toan hour? Yeah, it depends on the
day and the traffic for sure.
(32:04):
And that's what we tell themwhen they ask us, where are you?
Because they will ask us, oh,yes, where are you in proximity
to Nashville? And I was like,Well, okay, come out from the
airport. You're at theinterstate. You can go left, or
you can go right. If you goleft, you're going to go into
Nashville, depending on the timeof day. It'll probably take you
longer to get into Nashvillethan it will to get to us. And
they're like, wait what you knowand but they don't, if they've
(32:26):
ever traveled to Nashville, theywould understand that. They
would, you know, I mean,Nashville has just grown beyond
my wildest imagination. Iremember moving to Tennessee in
1997 and I felt like I was inthe biggest city in the whole
(32:47):
wide world at that point. Andthat's coming. That's coming
from somebody who traveled allover the countries. I mean, I've
been to multiple countries. I'dbeen lived in multiple
countries, but I was just like,I'm in a metropolitan city. I
was so excited. Man. It waslike, it was my New York. And
then I look at it now and I'mlike, well, maybe it wasn't
(33:07):
really New York, but, but thatis one of the advantages when
you talk about trying to sell aconcept to an event planner, is
you've got the best of bothworlds. Yes, you know you can be
in Wilson County, and you canexperience and explore Wilson
(33:27):
County. And if you really wantto go to downtown Nashville,
it's a different world. But youcan go, you can go, and then you
know what, you get to come back.
And there's a lot ofopportunity. There a lot of
opportunity, and so I've reallyappreciated trying to develop
and expand that awareness ofwhat people have the opportunity
(33:48):
to do here. Well,I appreciate you
saying that and doing that,because a lot of people don't
really understand that part ofhaving the events here, they
think, Oh, this company justcomes down, or this event comes
out there. They stay here at theExpo Center for two or three
(34:08):
days, and they leave assuming,and that isn't true, no.
And because, you know, I mean,obviously, if you want to look
at, if you want to look at thepragmatic side of having an
event, and yes, there's revenuethat is important to us. We have
to pay the bills. We have to paythe bills. That's right. So
there's revenue that's importantto us, but at the same time, you
(34:31):
know, it's kind of like when,when we did the Preferred
Provider Program, and I wantedto expand that, and some people
told me, Oh, you need to staywith only Wilson County vendors.
And I looked at them, and I was,I was genuinely perplexed. And
why would I? Why would I want todo that? And they were like,
(34:52):
well, because you have topromote local only. And I'm
like, But you see, it's not justlocal people that are coming
here. And if you want otherbusinesses to want to come here,
then why not give them a chanceto explore and experience us,
right? You know, in thatcapacity, and I'm so proud of
(35:15):
the fact that our preferredprovider program now embraces
these companies that are want tocome out, they're coming from
Nashville to come out here towork events. That's awesome. And
what does that do? It's just,I've seen the looks, the looks
(35:35):
on their faces when they go youjust had 6000 people come
through this building, you know,and I tried to tell you that,
you know, that's 6000impressions while making money
at an event, right? That'spretty good marketing dollars.
That's great marketing dollars,you know, whatever it cost you
and gas to come out here. It waswell worth
(35:57):
it. You didn't have to pay thepark to come out here if you
want to spend want to spend thenight. We have several hotels
here, so we really have a goodpackage
and activities. And then, don'tforget, Fiddler's Grove,
historic village. Oh yes. So Imean
that vision, and I'm glad thatit worked out the way it did,
(36:19):
because sharing what we have isone of many avenues, but is one
of the ways that we can growvery true. And I think that
that's can be said for any anyvenue I agree, and any event
planner and so forth that youknow. And I love going to the
(36:42):
different cities and exploringand learning. I think you were,
you were with me when we went toPanama City, oh yes, and that
wonderful venue that we saw,yes, and we both looked at each
other and said,We need to have that right. I
mean,those those ideas and those
things that spark, and that'sreally, I think you would agree
(37:02):
with me, that's the energy andthe and the literal sparks of
ideas that happen that helpdevelop an area be what people
would enjoy. Sotrue when you were saying that
my thought going through, I hadthe opportunity. I'd been with
(37:23):
the Chamber maybe 1012, years,had the opportunity to serve as
president of the Tennesseechamber. Oh, and my goal was to
travel to as many chambers inthe state of Tennessee that I
could to share ideas. And it wasperfect. I came back to our
chamber with different some newideas to start new programs,
(37:44):
like the Tennessee ScholarsProgram, the teacher grant
program, just things like thatthat other counties were doing.
And then I was able to sharesome ideas with them on some
things that we were doing thatwere not so it's the same thing
with what you're doing. You'regoing to other cities, and
you're sharing ideas, you'relearning from them, and they're
learning from you. You can sithere in this expo center all
(38:06):
day, every day, and what doesthat do? It doesn't promote the
center. It doesn't promote youor your team. But you've got to
get out and tell the people whoyou are, what you are, what
you're doing, why? My dad alwaystold me, remember this if you've
done, who, what, when, where andwhy, and then you go back to how
(38:29):
you've completed your project.
And I think about that alot. That's very good
advice. I passed that along tomy children. I don't know if
they listen all the time, but Ido tell them, right?
I would almost say that the Whywould be the most important.
(38:51):
I agree. I agree with that,yeah,
because, you know, I could sithere and go, you know, the why
for us is that, you know, wehave to pay for the we have to
make sure that we cover the costfor the building. We have to
make sure that we cover thecosts for for our salaries. We
have to make sure that we coverthe cost for our maintenance,
your insurance and all of that.
That's all part of our expenses,you know. And we have a little
(39:15):
bit of a benefit in the factthat we're a municipally owned
building in that, you know, Imean, it's not like the bottom
is going to fall out if, if onemonth, 123, months, it doesn't
work out quite that way, but thelaw of averages, it will usually
come out in the positive. Atleast it's come out in the
(39:38):
positive every year so far.
Thanks and hard work for you andyour team well, and it takes
hard work to do that, right? Butit's, it's always, it always
goes back to the why. It isn'tabout, oh, you know, I don't, I
don't lie awake at night going,oh yeah, we, we've got to. Make
(40:00):
sure that we have this amount ofmoney, because we, we, we've got
to pay for the bills. And, youknow, well, I don't function out
of a place of fear in general.
But it's that's not the why.
That is a why. It is a why, butit is not the why. Agree, the
why is we want to be a bountifulresource for the county that we
(40:21):
live in and and that's reallyimportant.
And you do a great job oftelling who you are, what you
do, where you're located nowthat I know where I'm at, yes,
the why is the most importantone?
Why do you do this?
Why does one event choose tocome here over another event to
(40:45):
come here? And that that opensdoors like, Okay, this one
decided to come but this, thisone maybe didn't. I've got to
find out why that did not so.
So to that point, let me ask youthis question,
when you're choosing an event,would you?
Would you say that there istrial and error involved in
(41:09):
planning events, everything andeverything? Okay, no event is
perfect. I learned that the hardway through the chamber. But you
know, you still learn from it.
And if you have another eventlike that, you know, if it
didn't work, then I'm going totry something out. If it did
work, yay, I've got this down.
So, yeah, yeah.
(41:31):
I think it's important forpeople to also understand, you
know, that's true on every levelof everything, and in life, I
can sit and I can visit with anevent planner, and we can come
up with I can go through themechanics of what it is they're
thinking and what they'redreaming, and I would be the
last person to squelchsomebody's dreams just because I
(41:55):
just feel Like that's ethicallywrong. Sometimes you're like and
from my perspective, and I'msure that you probably felt this
way too, as you guys wereplanning events with the
chamber, either chamber would beokay. They're on a little bit of
shaky ground. Okay, you know,but so I do a little more hold,
(42:17):
handing, a hand holding in thosesituations,
because I know they're on shakyground, but to see them manifest
something that even comes closeto their dreams is so rewarding.
It is, and they're so excited,and they're like, I want to do
this again next year, of course.
(42:40):
Then I go, Well, yeah, we needto look at the calendar. But
that is so important. It's veryimportant because really, I
mean, it's in the details.
Really kind of just encompasseseverything about everything
about event planning, becauseit's about the people. It's
about the people. I mean, it'sabout the people, it's for the
(43:05):
people. It's produced by thepeople. There are dreams to be
achieved and accomplished.
Whether you're doing afundraising thing or you're
doing something that, you know,I've just always wanted to I
just, love dogs, and I just wantan AKC dog show, and that's what
I want to do. And, okay, well,I, I don't personally, but you
(43:28):
do, and you want to make it'sabout them. It's about them.
Yes, they go back to us, doingwhatever we can do to make sure
that they they reach that dream,right? Get really close so that
they want enough, so that theywant to, okay, I didn't hit my
goal, but I'm going to do itagain next year, and they just
(43:48):
keep working at it until theyget that. And I will say, we
have one. We so we have an AKCdog show. Not my cup of tea.
That's okay. Doesn't matter.
Doesn't have to be but theycame. They've been here since
the beginning of the building.
You probably remember them. Howthey have just morphed into this
(44:13):
almost perfectly executed eventis amazing. But I honestly would
attribute that success not tous, we're there to support them,
but to them for do they havehiccups? Yes, they have hiccups,
but it's how they approach them.
Recognize them and approachthem. They hit them head on.
(44:34):
Yes, they don't try to sweep itunder the rug. They don't try
to, you know well that you know,well, that doesn't normally
happen. They don't try to excuseit. They just like, Okay, that's
a problem. Let's fix that. Andthey fix that, and they move
forward so much so that they'vebecome a gold standard you can't
you call and want to have a dogshow. Let me tell you the
(44:54):
benchmarks that you need to hitto be able to do that. And it
usually scares most people away.
And that's not the intent. It'sreal. They don't realize it now,
but they will that, that thatbenchmark, they could print that
email and go wherever theywanted to go and have that and
they'll find that to be a usefultool. So I've really given them
(45:18):
an asset to be able to workwith. You've worked with them
exactly well. And you mentionedwhile ago the 10th anniversary
of this building. But still,when I think about it, I think,
10 years, my gosh, I believe it.
There's just so I'm sitting herethinking, Okay, now, what can we
do for the 10th Anniversarythis? We can do this, and we can
do this, and we can showcasethis. And how do we get all the
(45:38):
people here in Wilson County, inLebanon and Mount Juliet and
Watertown. How do we get themhere for an event to see their
building? And I think that's onething that we really need to
focus on. It's their building.
We need to have one heck of abirthday party. Yes, we do. I
thinkpretty awesome. The county's
turned 200 years old last year.
(45:58):
We had a big celebration we gotto have a big birthday party
that, yeah, I totally agree.
That works for me.
All right, that's awesome. Iappreciate that. Well, from on a
personal note, let me thank youfor all the support that you
have given the expo and all thesupport you've given me. You've
been a wealth of advice and awealth of history for me,
(46:20):
educating me from everythingfrom the redefined or defined
sections of the state that Ididn't know were actually
defined sections, which Ithought was hysterical,
everywhere I go with you, Ilearned something new, which I
love, good, which I love so Ijust it is. I've appreciated and
(46:41):
valued that entire that, and Ilook forward to that continuing.
And thank you for being with meon this journey with the
podcast. We're very excitedabout it and and just remember
always that it goes back to therelationships and those
experiences and the details thatthey involve.
Well, thank you for asking me todo this. Congratulations on
(47:04):
doing this, and good luck. Ithink it's a wonderful idea, and
I'll be listening and more. Iappreciate that. Thanks. All
right. Bye.
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