October 10, 2024 • 60 mins
When it comes to event marketing... it's in the details. James brings on Gayle Hellemn of the Farm Bureau Expo Center. Gayle is a consummate professional and lends us her expertise in event planning. This episode is a deep dive into the many nuances of event planning from numerous perspectives. Even though James and Gayle go "off the rails" a bit, it's a humorous and educational episode surely not to miss!
- If you have marketing questions for James, contact him at: jamesd@mediavisionadvertising.com
- If you would like to learn more about James, click here: https://mediavisionadvertising.com/james-danella-strategist/
- If you would like to be considered as a guest on the show… or if you would like James to speak at your event, reach out to ashleym@mediavisionadvertising.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Unknown (00:04):
James, welcome back to the marketing perspective. I'm
James donnella, and I'm the hostof your show.
I'm excited about season two.
We are already off and running,and we have been recording for a
bit. We've got four or five inthe can, and I cannot wait to
share them with you.
This is a whole new season.
We've added video to it. As youcan tell, we're also have some
very special guests on thisyear. Everybody has been hand
(00:25):
picked by their category.They're all experts and
professionals in theirindustries. The purpose of this
is we're a topic driven show, asyou know, and the idea is that
we're sharing information withyou, the business owner, so that
you can use it for your ownpurposes. Remember that
everything I say is always froma marketing perspective.
Sometimes I go off task, butdon't listen. I know marketing
(00:47):
everything else. That's why I'mbringing on the experts today.
I'm really excited about this,because you hear me talk about
experiential marketing a lot.What the heck is that, James,
some people don't understandexperiential marketing belongs
in every single strategy. Idon't care if you're B to B or B
to C. It doesn't matter some ofyou are doing on a regular basis
(01:09):
and don't realize it. They usedto call aspects of it guerrilla
marketing, right? In a sense,it's a it's a portion of it. But
this could be such a huge topic.But today we're talking about
one specific area. We're talkingabout event planning and event
marketing, and we're going totake and then execution of those
events. And I have a veryspecial guest on today. It's
(01:31):
Gail hellm from the Farm BureauExpo Center. She is going to
knock her socks off. I'm prettypositive, because she's a
consummate professional in whatshe does. She's going to lend a
lot of insights. So I hope thatyou're really listening, because
at some point you will doevents. At some point in some
way, shape or form, an eventwill happen in your life. I want
you to know that experientialmarketing, while it's not a part
(01:53):
of traditional advertising,which is TV, radio, Billboard,
all that kind of stuff, it's notpart of digital advertising.
It's in its own lane. Events isonly one portion of it by
definition. Experientialmarketing is a brand needing to
connect with consumers throughexperience. That's the concept,
(02:14):
pop up, stores, virtual events,trade shows, which is a part of
what we're talking about today,innovative and creative
experiences that you createwhere a consumer can interact
directly with a given brand.That's the concept. Two quick
examples. My favorites, coke,Coca Cola did a friend's
campaign years ago. I don't knowif you remember it. It's why the
(02:38):
cans have people's names on it.Now you may still see that out
and about, because they mademillions of them, right? Well,
years ago, they actually did acampaign about it. And the
friends campaign was like this,you know, the the big coke
machines that are randomlyvendor machines all over the
place. Well, they made machinesthat are twice as tall. Why
would they do that? Because theymade the slot to put the money
(02:59):
in, just out of reach, whichmade you have to have a friend
the Con and you they did videoof it, and they used people on
piggybacking on each other'sshoulders. It was hysterical.
The The goal was to launch thefriends campaign. That was the
idea. But they vendor machine bymachine all around the country,
(03:20):
they exceeded each machineexceeded 800% higher in sales.
It was such a good idea. Itwasn't about selling soda. It
really wasn't. It was amarketing concept, just to
launch a campaign. So that'sone, what's considered an
experiential idea. If you everlook it up on YouTube, it's out
there, you'll find it. The otherone is something that we came up
(03:43):
with for a large HVAC company,and they were doing trade shows
or they weren't getting results.So we started chiming in and
putting our nose in it, and likewe always do, and we came up
with an idea that we six footwide, six foot high,
complicated, intricate pipes,but not just one type of pipe,
(04:04):
like there was PVC, there wascopper, there was flex, there
was it was, it was a DIYproject, right? If you were at
home, you're going to put ducttape on you're going to shove
rags in spots. And the idea was,it was a maze of almost a cube
of six by six by six. And theidea was, find the entrance and
the exit. I can't tell you howmany people that attracted. Oh,
(04:27):
by the way, if you found it, youwon, like a free consultation.
And there was something elsethat I think they gave away,
like a generator or somethinglike that, which is really cool.
And it wasn't easy to find, buta lot it was almost like the
Jelly Bean. Like, how many jellybeans are in the jar? Same kind
of concept, but this thing wassix foot high, so you can see it
from across the room. Sohopefully you get where I'm
(04:48):
going, that your own creativity,your own ingenuity, your own
ideas, and for your company,specifically, you come up
something that's unique to you.It's considered experiential
marketing. Marketing, and it canbe very powerful, and it costs
hardly, nothing. So I'm notgoing to go on and on and we I
could. That's my favorite topic.So let's I want to bring out my
(05:13):
guest today so that we talkabout fan plan. Yeah, so much
for being on the show with ustoday, on the marketing
perspective. Good
morning.
Good morning. How are you?
I'm doing well. Thank you andyourself, Mark,
it's been a long week, and it'sonly Wednesday, so yeah. Okay,
(05:35):
so you probably heard the intro.You know, we're talking about,
we're talking we're talkingwe're going to start with
planning and marketing and workour way to execution, and you're
going to educate us on on how toget there. But I'd like to kick
off, I'm going to ask you arandom question, which my only
curveball of the day, by theway.
Okay, only one. All right,
(05:55):
if, if you wrote a book, whatwould the topic be? Oh,
wow, that's a tough question. IfI was to write a book, the topic
would probably be making adifference. That's that seems to
be the overarching theme of thethings that fly through my head.
(06:16):
Knowing, you know, So fulldisclosure, Gail and I do know
each other professionally. Wework together here and there. We
help market this expo center,which is incredible, by the way,
it's the hidden gem in WilsonCounty. It that more people
don't know about it. I don't getit, and that's part of our
charge this coming year, is tolet more people be aware that
(06:39):
it's right here and it's so muchless expensive than you think. I
don't want, I don't want to giveit all away, but we'll get
there. We're going to talk aboutthat in detail. So knowing Gail,
I think that's very good. And II know somebody that can help
you market that book, because Ithink it's a great idea
(07:01):
you do, yeah,
there's a need for it in theworld.
I think, I think it's importantto
take the experiences that youhave and try to apply them. You
know, it's kind of the conceptof paying it forward. But what I
love to see is thecollaboration. When you get a
(07:24):
group of people that bring theircollective experience together,
and they come up with an idea,and then they break it down, and
they kind of chew it up, spit itout, break it down, come up with
a plan, move it forward. Youknow, that's that's kind of
where my strength has alwaysbeen in the big idea, chop it
up, break it out, give everybodytasks, move it forward, and then
(07:49):
then let the people that do whatthey do best do exactly that and
and move it forward. That that'swhat I love to do, is to create
and move it forward and pay itforward. Ultimately, that's the
goal, is to try to help otherpeople in some capacity.
Kind of wish our politicians hadthat mindset, all of them left,
(08:11):
right and don't, I'm not beingpolitical. Don't get crazy with
yourselves, people. Iwholeheartedly believe that. And
what you just so, in my eyes,what you just said is almost
answering the next question I'mgoing to ask you to kick this
off officially, and I want youto share you and your process
(08:32):
and what's a day in the life ofbeing the director of marketing
and sales at the Farm BureauExpo Center?
No two days are the same,
but components of pretty muchevery day involve obviously
fielding calls we probably book,I'd say maybe one out of every
(08:54):
seven calls for looking forspace to rent. That tells me
that there's a much greater needout there than what I have the
capacity to fill and fieldingcalls. And you know, I've got a
good team, so the billing andthose more office oriented tasks
are pretty much handled outsideof my office, but the bigger
(09:18):
portion of what I do is aboutbuilding relationships. It's
really important that I buildthese relationships. So where
some might say, well, you know,your your job is an eight to
five job, and you should, youshould be in your office, you
know, answering your telephoneand answering your emails. Well,
(09:39):
that that is all important,there's no question about that.
But the beauty is, with thetechnology today, I could be
sitting in the dentist officeanswering my emails, or I could
be at a client appointmentwaiting to for my opportunity,
for my appointment to meet withthem and answering emails or
doing things like that. So I tryto wedge that. In that the more
(10:01):
task oriented things wedged themin where I can and focus on the
people, because the answer tothe success of our business is
in the people. That's great.
As you're talking I'm thinkingthe same thing. I'm so much more
productive with clients.Sometimes, talking just like
(10:24):
this, we're still face to facein a sense, I mean it, there is
something to be said aboutliterally being in the same
room. At times. I have had, Ihave clients in other parts of
the country, and I I have, I'velost one. I It broke my heart.
We were killing it for this onecompany, 60% growth each year. I
(10:44):
was like, come on. And theperson said, I just want you
physically in front of me. Isaid, if you want to pay for me
to travel 1000 miles back andforth, I'm happy to do that. But
why do we want to put that inthe budget and take away from,
you know, those dollars goingtowards you growing your
business? It just didn't makesense to me. I said, this is so
much more effective. So I dounderstand that. I feel the same
(11:04):
way. I know in my near futureI'm going to wind up being on a
boat and doing some of this workprobably the next five years.
That's That's my plan. So I'mwith you. I think it's possible,
and technology today does allowus the freedom to be able to do
that. It makes us moreproductive. Knowing how many
things you do in a day,
(11:28):
I think without technology, Idon't know how you do it. Well,
thanks. Thank you. I agree it'sif I didn't have it, it wouldn't
work. I mean, there's just noway it would be a different
world what I find mostinteresting is when you take
(11:48):
generational perspective and mixit in, and then you take the
need, or the desire, like yourclient that you just referenced
wants you in the room, and thenyou take, where is your niche,
you know, where are you the mosteffective? And you add all that
(12:10):
together, where you can end upwith some conflicts. Because
it's very interesting to me,some younger generation that are
doing event planning, they theydon't want to spend more than
five minutes on the phone withyou, and they want everything by
email. And so much gets lost inthat translation. And I know
(12:31):
that sounds really cliche,cliche, but it does. It gets
lost. And you know, it's justfor them. It's just a check,
check, check, check, check,check, check, boom, we're done.
You contrast that to an eventplanner that was just in the
expo who values the interactionand the personal relationship
(12:53):
that we have working with them,it's night and day, and I wish
more could see that it's abalance between the technology
and the relationship. It reallyis. It takes both to be
effective,
and unfortunately, not everybodydoes.
(13:15):
I think part of the reason werelated way back in the day, we
both have extensive experienceto different points, to such a
degree that we can do bothsides. We see both aspects of
it, and we can do both jobs, youknow, and that's that's a
rarity, and maybe we're a dyingbreed, I'm not sure yet, but
(13:36):
we'll see what happens. I
would like to think that thosethat don't understand the
balance. May come to understandthe balance, I
would hope, Oh, I see that theydon't, for the most part, they
don't have the desire correct,like this is what I do now, and
I just don't have to. And I sayit openly. And again, if you're
(13:56):
listening today, it's becauseGail and I know each other.
I don't normally talk like this.As you know, on the show,
I've had personal experienceswhere so I do not. I'm not an
event planner. I'm not but I'm amarketing professional for a
really long time, longer than Ireally feel like admitting yet
again on air, so I won't, butpart of my chair is putting the
(14:21):
plans together for the clientsthat I serve. And we always have
some kind of events. There'salways experiential marketing
included, but that's not what Ido for a living. So I always
would give it to I don't know.This is what you do. You're an
event planner. Help me when I'mat Gail. Gail's chair is not to
be the event planner, you know,and I'll just brag on you for a
(14:43):
second if you allow me. Gail'sGail's chairs to drive the
train. Gail has to be at 1000feet. She is the connector.
She's helping with the hervendor relationships that are
associated with the Expo Center.She's making sure that they have
the facility they need. She'slending her in. Sites, but I
know that from personalexperience, because I'm planning
(15:04):
an event there in spring of 25that without her, I will not be
able to do that event. She'salready asked me five, six
questions. Made my head spin. Iwent, That's a good point. Yeah,
we really need, what do youmean? I need pipe and drape, you
know, like she lends insights,and you're laughing, because you
(15:27):
know what I'm talking about, shelends the insights from both
sides, and that's invaluable, inmy opinion. So why I was so
excited to have you on today,Gales, because I know that these
these questions that I'm aboutto hit you with, you people, if
you're listening, now's the timeto start taking out your pen,
because we're going to go indeep. We're going to get on the
(15:48):
hood. So with that said, I wantbefore we do that, can you
please describe, at a highlevel, describe the Farm Bureau
expert center, the facility, sothat people get a picture of
what we're talking
about. Sure. So the Farm BureauExpo Center, formerly known as
the Wilson County Expo Centerwhen it was first built. It is a
79,000 square foot Multi Purposespace that can be rented and
(16:13):
utilized for events of allkinds, because we definitely
produce events of all kinds.It's municipally owned, and it
sits on the James E Ward AgCenter grounds, which is over 60
acres. So we are right there thepinnacle front of the grounds.
(16:34):
You drive right into us, andthen the rest of the Ag grounds
is behind us, which offers alsomeeting space, but it's
different. It's just different.It's a different, look, feel.
The Ag Center behind us is moreI would classify as community
oriented, and the Expo Center ismore business oriented.
(16:55):
That helps tremendously. What'sparking? Like
parking is free, so let'scapitalize on the word free.
Okay, because everybody likesthat word, and it's my biggest
selling point. When I'mcomparing to when I'm being
compared to Nashville, it'slike, Yes, but how much is it
going to park? Cost of park, butparking is ample, and we have
(17:16):
flex, and I don't know, we'veeasily handled, over 2000 people
parking, but they that extendsout. It just kind of goes out
and around and just depends onwhat's happening. But parking is
ample, and parking can beadjusted if needed. With
that said, can, and I don't knowthis answer, can an event that's
(17:38):
utilizing the facility decide tocharge for parking if they
wanted to make money in thatregard.
No, no, that is that that was avote by the Ag Committee that
that would never be allowed.
Okay, so it's just a choice anda decision, correct? Okay, got
it. That's good to know, becausethat's another thing, if you're
(18:00):
listening today. Part of thereason you may have the event
there is you're trying togenerate a profit. You
definitely don't want to take aloss. You know, maybe it's an
investment, a marketinginvestment, or you're doing it
for exposure, or, you know,brand awareness and stuff like
that. But you don't, it's got tobe an investment. You don't want
to just do an event and losemoney, that's for sure. I'll
(18:22):
just chime in there. Okay, well,that helps us. I think that
paints the picture, I believe.And as I alluded to earlier on,
there's much more to eventplanning than meets the eye,
isn't there? Gail, there
is a plethora of questions to beasked, considered and planned
for and around. Not all aspectsapply to every event, so that's
(18:46):
important to remember, but thebasics do. And you know,
something as simple as what'swhere should my admissions table
be? Seems like a simplequestion, but it's not because I
have to understand where yourattendees are coming from. I
have to know where they're youknow what? What's the flow the
(19:09):
traffic for the event? How manywill there be? Do I need to
anticipate that we're going tohave a queue line that's going
to develop? If that's the case,I want it further down the
hallway. So it's a lot of thosethings, and again, keep in mind
my my thoughts, my comments.They could do whatever they
want. I'm simply trying to helpthem avoid problems that they
(19:35):
can't anticipate, because eitherthey have never had the event
before or they're new to ourspace, and that that can make a
huge difference. So, you know,the ones that I see being the
most successful are the onesthat will at least entertain the
(19:57):
ideas and the suggestions thatwe offer, because I think it
helps. Helps them plan better,whether we are correct for their
event or not.
Well, even, even at a highlevel, let's go through that
process. So you got us throughadmissions, you know? And I
would even bet before we evenget there, there's so much else
that happens before you getwhere the table goes through,
(20:18):
yeah, the majority it's beforethey get there,
all right, so, so go throughthat, because I think that's the
part that people don'tunderstand. They all, I'm going
to do an event, and then all ofa sudden they're inundated with,
this is time consuming. There'sa lot more to it. Well,
you're right, because a lot ofpeople, they, they will call and
they will say, you know, I'mlooking to have, I don't know,
(20:39):
um, I'm looking to have a smalltrade show. Okay, okay, well,
can you give me an idea of howmany vendors do you think you
might have? Well, I don't know.Okay, so it tells me that they
have not talked to anybody. Theydon't know what their interest
level is. Is this an event thatyou're charging for, for
(21:01):
attendance, I don't know. So Istart getting a lot of I don't
knows. So I need to know, howmany vendors are they charging?
Are they doing pipe and drape?Is this a multi day show? Do
they need a setup day? Do theyneed two setup days? Because you
know, you can have the setup forthe actual event to framework
(21:23):
what they need to do. And thenthen you have the vendors that
need to come in. And sometimesthey'll go, Oh no, the vendors
will just set up before we open.No, no, they won't. That won't
work. And so, you know, that'sthat back and forth. And to your
point, yes, I do inundate themwith questions, but that also
tells me how much homeworkthey've done in coming into the
(21:46):
conversation. And then we haveto go through the tables of
chair setup, and what does yoursound and AV look like, and do
you have any other specifics?And they go, Yeah, you know, I
really want those smoke boxesthat have the fireworks that
come out of them, like, Yeah,well, that we can't do that, you
know. Or I want to, you know, Iwant a wide open bar and, you
(22:09):
know. And, no, what do you mean?I have to pay for security. And
it's just a lot of things. Butthat, again, it goes back to
that personal relationship andbeing able to have that dialog
and show a genuine interest in Iwant you to be successful.
That's what we're here for. Ineed to understand what you want
(22:30):
to do and then, and then, whendo you want to have it
right? It should be theirvision, not your vision. You're
executing the vision, correct?
It's not my event. When theyrent the expo, I'm very clear to
them when you know they're like,Well, can I have a banner in the
hallway if you're renting thewhole building, it's your it's
(22:52):
your building. You know, we'rejust here to help navigate you,
not, not to control you. Thereare some rules you have to
follow, but, but the point is,is that we're here to support
your success, not it's not myevent,
right? Well, yeah, I mean, Iwould imagine they have to be
respectful of the space. Youknow, there are some type of
events that may trample andcause insurance issues and all
(23:16):
kinds of stuff. But I can tellyou that when, when I went to
Gail for this event that I'mtalking about. I think I
answered about half of thosequestions.
I was I was about,
I mean, I knew I knew the numberof vendors, I knew the number, I
knew that I had done some of myhomework. But then there were a
couple of questions I went I'msorry, what? That's okay. I
(23:41):
did ask Laura. Was there? We'rethere.
So so what Gail is saying, and Ithrow myself, you know, on the
AX, on the sword, on purpose,because that will happen like
chances are, unless you are anevent planner and do that for a
living, if you're a just abusiness professional, and
(24:02):
trying to have an event in afacility, you will stumble a
little bit. But having someonelike Gail is invaluable. I mean,
if you can walk in with an eventplanner, great. Hopefully you
find one that has a clue, andGail doesn't have to shred to
mince meat when they don't knowif they're talking. I'll say it.
You don't have to, okay, so thatthat was good at 1000 feet, that
(24:27):
kind of helps us understand theprelude to what happens in an
event. So now this is an oddquestion. I'm not sure already,
no, I'm going, we're going forit. How do you know when an
event will be successful or not?
(24:49):
It's in the planning. Whatfactors go into that? Do they
have a do they have a solid planwhen they come to me? Okay, um.
Have they allowed themselvesenough time to build an event
and execute the event as well asadvertise and do all the things
(25:10):
that need to be done before theyactually arrive for the event?
Because if you, if you tell me,if you came to me today and
said, I want to have a vendorshow, and I I want 6000 people
there to make it successful. Andthis is what July 3, and I want
(25:34):
to have it in October. I wouldsay it's not going to happen
because you haven't allowedyourself the amount of time that
you need to be able to fullyexecute that event with the
proper preparation. You just,you just, it's not there, and,
um, unless you're willing tolose money to get, you know,
(25:56):
establish a footprint. Now some,there's a couple events that
we've done that, they knew goinginto it they were going to lose
money because they just wanted afootprint. They wanted a
president set and that's if theyknow that going in. I'm a little
bit more comfortable with that.But then you got to remember,
there's the other side of it, inthat an event, the success of an
(26:20):
event is also my success. Well,the expo success, I should
rephrase that the expo success,because the money that they make
and the relatable money that theexpo is going to make are tied
right? There's there's rent,yes, I'm going to get paid rent.
(26:42):
Yes, I'm going to get paid for,you know, certain things,
certain attributes, that arewithin an event. But then
there's, there's, you know,vendor fees, or there's
ancillary fees, or there'sticket fees, or there's those
kinds of things, those are alltied to that as well. So if I'm
looking at, if I'm looking at awedding or an event of any kind,
(27:04):
a wedding would probably beprobably the most simple. Do I
want to have a weddings there?Sure I do. But if you do an
apples to apples comparison, andyou're looking at a trade show
and you're looking at a wedding,the trade show is far more
lucrative to me, than thewedding, because the wedding is
simply the rent. That's allthat's all that's ever going to
(27:26):
be and the trade show was somuch more. But the success of
the expo comes in the balance ofthe different types of events. I
want to be supportive of thecommunity, but also need to have
a nice, healthy balance of theseother kinds of shows. So, you
(27:47):
know, people need to have a gameplan when they come in, and I
don't expect them to, I don'texpect them to know everything,
but, and I don't knoweverything. I mean, I learned
stuff from event planners. EventPlanners learn stuff from me.
It's a, you know, Kumbaya typeenvironment. We we try to work
forward, but not all venues dothat. So, you know, that's
(28:12):
important too, to know goinginto it.
Well, that's what I in thebeginning of the show. And I
said, it's a hidden gem. Itwasn't just the building that I
was talking about. It's there's,um, it's impressive how it's
done. I've been, I've been to alot of events over the years,
professionally speaking. And Imean, there's different scale
(28:35):
and scope of events, right? AndI have been inside this
building, the Expo Center. Now,for five years, multiple events.
It's always different. It'salways a unique experience in
some way. Unless the two eventsare very similar to one another,
then it's a similar setup andstuff. But I've seen it. I've
(28:57):
seen a funeral there, I've seena trade show there. I've seen
the State Fair have part oftheir chops in that building
I've seen, because State Fair ison the Ag rounds, if you don't
know and you're listening, yes,we're in Nashville, and it's in
Tennessee, in case you'remissing that it transforms so
(29:19):
many different ways. It's agreat flex space to be able to
use. So we're only limited byour own imagination. We're only
limited about what, what ourvision is for, what we want this
event to be, and when it comesto the success of it, I would
imagine it's got to be asymbiotic, partnered
relationship that working withyou, not against you or not, you
(29:42):
know, hey, we'll tell you whatwe want and just go execute
this. And I guess you work likethat once in a while, but I
would imagine it would be muchmore powerful if the
collaboration was there, and itwould lend to a more successful
event. In my opinion,
I would agree with you, becausethe. Events that I see that
enjoy the success that they'rehoping for, are the ones that
(30:06):
are very willing to have thatworking relationship and that
ongoing dialog that you know.They know that we're there,
we've got their back. They knowthat we'll do our part in our
setup and that type of stuff.You know, people really value
that, that event planners thatyou're like, Okay, so if you do
(30:29):
your layout, you draw yourlayout. I don't care if it's in
crayon, it doesn't matter, but Ineed to know what you want it to
look like. What you want thatfootprint to look like. Will
have your tables and chairswhere you want them. So you just
come in and you just do whateveryour event requires, and then
you're good to go. And they'relike, wait, what you're gonna,
(30:51):
you're gonna, you're gonna dothat for us. And they're
shocked, but so that's acherished, cherished service
that we offer that I'm kind ofsurprised that some venues don't
offer, because it does make ahuge difference. It makes a huge
difference. So
(31:11):
side note, when you said that,you put the chairs where they
want, and part of me went to Ihave a lot of friends that are
firemen, so there's, I'm surethere's codes, and there's
certain things that there haveto be in and out, and all the
excavs have to have clear pathsto it, because we're talking
about putting hundreds of peoplein the room at the same time in
(31:34):
an emergency. So when you saywherever you want, with the
guidelines that you can't putthe table right by the door, or
you there's a capacity that wehave to maintain, right? Okay,
yeah,
absolutely, absolutely, and it'snot so much. I mean, it's
probably lesser of a concern ifit's just a couple 100 people.
(31:56):
But if you look at, for example,next week, we've got over 5000
people going to be there forfour days. Okay, our our safety
protocols and are very, very,very important to us. And some
event planners appreciate that,and some don't, you know they
want, what they want, where theywant. That, just to say that if
(32:19):
and so thank you for that,because, yes, where you want, as
long as it fits within theguidelines that we are required
to maintain
events like that, and this is, Ihalf know the answer, and I have
don't so something of that sizethat you're talking about, I
would imagine you're partneringwith local police, sheriffs and
(32:41):
whoever, whoever needs to beinvolved based on the magnitude
of the size of the event,because there's traffic flow and
all kinds of things. So, and I'msaying this openly, because as a
person doing an event, youthink, well, it's just inside
the walls. I don't have to worryabout anything else, but there's
a lot more to it. Can you speakinto that a little bit? Oh,
yeah,
for sure. So like I mentioned afew minutes ago, you come in the
(33:05):
main gate at the x or on the Aggrounds, and we're the first
thing you see. So that meansthat our traffic comes in that
main gate, our traffic leavesout of that main gate, and
there's a constant ebb and flowof traffic coming from around
the back of the Ag grounds,going in and out of those gates.
So it's, it's a main port ofentry exit for a lot. And you
(33:31):
know, if I have an event that'sgot 100 people, that's a drop in
the bucket, you know, they'renot, they're going to add some
traffic to that flow. But not,not this, not that's not going
to be cumbersome. Let's put thatway. Now, 5000 people, that's a
different story. Because if, ifI have 5000 people in the expo,
(33:56):
that's one piece of the pie that60 some acres behind me is also
having events. So let's just sayI don't know they're having a
rodeo, or they're having aconcert, or they're having
training sessions. I mean, therecould be probably easily 20 some
(34:16):
events behind me feeding intothat traffic flow. So, yeah,
it's very important that, andthis part of my job, is very
important, to understand whatthe scope of volume is and how
does that impact the trafficflow. There are other entry
exits to the grounds, butthey're not as highly utilized.
(34:38):
Everybody knows the main gate,so that tends to be the default.
So we have to coordinate withthe Lebanon Police Department
for any kind of traffic supportoutside the gate, and then the
Wilson County Sheriff Departmentoffers support for any kind of
service that we need from themon the. Grounds. So you know, if
(35:02):
I've got I'm going to call andmandates my call as to whether
or not an event has to havesecurity at the event and and
then I coordinate with theLebanon Police Department as to
whether or not they need trafficsupport. I try not to dictate
that, because it just kind offeels like, you know, Lebanon
(35:24):
police department, they know howto manage the traffic. They know
they know their world better, sokind of default to let them
drive that. But on the inside,if they're going to serve
alcohol in the expo, they'regoing to have to have security
if they're going to have adultsand a large portion of children,
(35:46):
I'm going to require thatsecurity be there or there's
just a high number of people. Sofor example, next week is the
Pentecostal worship convention.They will be in there twice a
day for four days for extendedperiod of time, having worship
services, and then from 1130 tofour o'clock be out in the
(36:10):
community, having lunch,shopping, doing all that
economical input into oreconomic input into the
community. And you know, that'sthe other factor of a of an
event, but there's a largesegment of kids, so security
(36:31):
comes into play there. Just liketwo weeks later, I'm having an
MMA fight, and there will besecurity there for a different
reason. So, you know, it all, itall fits together, but it's so
important because I tell eventplanners, your number one
(36:52):
responsibility is communication.I have to communicate you. You
have to communicate with me, andwe have to work together.
I'm sorry,
nothing says Worship in the Lordlike, like a pistol, you know?
Wow,
(37:12):
that's the adaptability of thespace. I mean, that's, I never
know what you know I could walkin. I it's amazing to me.
Mistletoe merchants is probablythe most fascinating thing to
me, because I walk into the mainexhibit hall and it's empty.
Like, okay, it's empty, right?Two hours later, it looks like a
(37:33):
marketplace like, you're justlike, Wait, what happened, you
know? And then for the next fourhours, vendors are moving in,
and you're like, Okay, this usedto look like the main exhibit
hall, but now it's a completelydifferent thing. And they can be
done, and we can clean overnightor clean the next morning, and
the next day I got somethingelse, you know, a reptile Show,
(37:56):
an MMA fight,
just, you just never know
it's amazing.
So you alluded to something awhile ago, and we didn't really
go into Gail's background oranything in the beginning, but
Gail has a pretty strongmarketing background, which is
one of the reasons we understandeach other's language. So you
(38:18):
and I both know like, it's notlike fields or dreams, if you
build it, they don't necessarilycome a little bit from your
perspective, mine will be awhole show, like driving traffic
to an event. What does it take?Well,
I mean, there's alwaysmarketing. Obviously, marketing
is part of that. You know, if anevent planner doesn't have a
(38:40):
marketing budget, we need totalk because it'd be a very
fruitless effort that you'regoing to put forward. But you do
need to drive the traffic to theevent. And how you drive that
traffic is going to largelydepend on who's your market. And
have you considered all of theaspects of your market, you know
(39:01):
it's, it's usually not just onethat it will drive different
people, different things. A goodexample of that is the BMW event
that will be coming in. 2025super excited to be bringing
them on board. It's, it's a semiprivate event because it's their
membership coming together, but,but let's look at it from a
(39:25):
marketing perspective. Well, howdo you drive? Okay, so you're,
you're there, you're you'regetting your bikes, you know,
modified, and having good timewith that, and going on great
drives and having great concertsand going on trips, and then
your membership activities. Butthen the question becomes, how
do you how do you keep yourmembership increasing? How do
(39:46):
you keep that membership numberstrong? Well, you let the public
come to your event so that theycan be immersed in this culture
that you've created, and thenthey want to become a member.
And then they want. To come toyour next event. And so that's a
real simple example, but thatwas a conversation I just had
(40:06):
yesterday with them, you know,how private Do you want your
event to be? And they were like,well, you know, they want the
public. I said, Well, I wouldthink that the public would
drive membership numbers. And itwas like, yeah, yeah, you're
right. So real simpleconversation, real simple
example. But you do have to knowthat and the hows and the whys,
you know, I I really neverthought that there would be a
(40:30):
day that I would say thatFacebook had value. But it does.
I have to. I just as, like, suckit up. Yep, it does. I hate it,
but, you know, but it is, itworks. It does work. And I, I
never would have thought that Iwould have ever said that out
loud to anybody in any capacity,but it does work.
(40:54):
I might play it back a fewtimes.
It does work. I do see value init. I do appreciate it for what
it is. I see more value for itas a marketing engine than I do
a social connection aspect. Butthat's that's just my personal
(41:14):
feeling. But that's not the onlyanswer. Anybody who says, Well,
you know, I don't have to have amarketing budget. I can just use
Facebook. But but that's notreally the case. Again, you have
to understand, as you know, youhave to understand your market.
You have to understand yourvendors. What do your vendors
(41:35):
need? What do you what do? Whatdo your attendees need? Do you
need billboard? Do you need, youknow, any kind of other digital
marketing. And probably theanswer therein is you probably
need smidgens of all of that,and some more than others. And
it's that combination, again,that I call it the kumbaya
(41:56):
effect. You know, it's like thethe pieces have to come together
to serve the greater need tomake the event successful, and
what that looks like isdependent on your event, your
market and who your attendeesare.
Well, if you've listened to theshow before, if you're listening
today, you've probably heard mespeak about what disc profiles
(42:21):
and using Disk and communicationmodels. And I'm not going to
park here, but there's, ifthere's four major types of
communication go with me onthis, that there are. That means
no one marketing tool canactually capture 100% of market
share. It's impossible. The onlything that what comes the
closest as a website, because itcould, it could give you high
(42:44):
level for the DS, it could giveyou fun for the odds, and, you
know, a little bit of detail andcomfort for the S's and the C's.
Need the real drill down. And itcan do most of that. But it kind
of falls short because it's ofthe depending on how it's
designed and structured. So ingeneral, what Gail just said
about multiple touches is reallyimportant. You can't just use
(43:06):
Facebook, even marketing anevent. If you have a local
event, if you're doing if youwant 50 people, you could
probably get away with somethinglike that. But some of these
bigger events, part of themarket you're going to pull from
is within an hour drive of thisfacility. So there's a certain
geographic, and that's localmarketing in its backyard for
(43:26):
the BMW W thing. I'm just goingto go off on my tangent for a
second. BMW like I know twopeople in New York that, with
100% certainty, will show up atthis member event. I'm positive
that they'll go so but are they?Do they have to do any
traditional advertising to reachpeople that are 1000 miles away.
They don't but that's wheresocial will come in, or the
(43:48):
newsletter or other othertouches that they're doing to
capture the audience. My pointis that it requires multiple
touches, understanding whoyou're trying to walk in the
door, where they're located, andwhat outcome are you seeking
from this event? And if you cananswer those three questions,
that kind of lays out the thingsyou'll need to satisfy each
(44:10):
component of it, that's a fromjust from my chair. That's a
great way to market the eventoutside looking in. But that was
very insightful. Thank you forthat. Gail, yeah,
well, to add to that, I thinkthat it's important that you
have those multiple touches, butyou also have the ability to
delve into that data, tounderstand where they come from
(44:33):
on the back end, so that you canuse that to tweak or pivot if
you Need to for your next event,I have the ability to work with
a CVB, who has placer AI. And,you know, one of the things I
told BMW was an added value toto working with them, was like,
(44:54):
I could tell you exactly whereeverybody comes from. I could
tell you what hour they werethere. I could tell you how
long. They stay and they'relike, really, and I'm like, it
will help you in your planning.And they they'd never had that
before,
coming from being in thisindustry for so many years. You
know, back in our day, theydidn't have a lot of this
(45:16):
technology. We couldn't get someof that data. But as much as I
don't like big brother watchingas they're watching anyway.
They've been watching always,and we just don't realize it.
Now, it's a little moretransparent and data, it can be
invaluable there. You've heardme talk about it before. If you
listen to the show, there isgood data and bad data, but what
Gail's talking about is spot on,man, as a marketer, the drool
(45:39):
comes down my face when you tellthem you tell me, you hand me
that information after an event.Oh
my gosh.
It can work both ways. You know,it could,
wow. It was abysmal. We reallydidn't drive the traffic we
thought we were going to drive.So then you got to go back and
look at, well, how to market it,what worked, what didn't work,
you know, we have, we have tolearn from to your point, learn
(45:59):
from the experience and do itbetter the next time, because
you will do another event, youknow. So that's really
invaluable information. Thankyou. So we did talk about the
Expo Center a bit, but before Iclose out, I have one big
question, we planned, wemarketed. Let's talk about
(46:21):
execution, just a little bitlike so now, what does that look
like? That is
100% communication, 100%communication. And I can. I mean
I can. I have done more eventsthan I care to admit myself and
(46:42):
some I've had support from thevenue, and some, not so much. So
I guess I appreciate the factthat, and love the fact that our
venue is very, very responsiveand very in tune with the
communication need, something assimple as handing the event
(47:03):
planner a cell phone number andsaying, text this number if you
need anything. And we know wehave a dedicated team that will
respond to that. You don't haveto come find us. Just text us
and let us know, and we willrespond. Tell us where you are,
and we will respond to the needthat's huge, because they don't
(47:26):
feel like they're on an island.They're in it, they're in a new
place. It's kind of like goingand being a house guest
someplace. Yeah, you know, theyhave a kitchen, and they
probably have certain things inthe kitchen, but do you don't
know where they are, that typeof thing. So we try to be
responsive to that. Thatcommunication is is critical
being, and then our response,our responsibility is to be
(47:48):
responsive when that happens,when they have a need and and
guide them and help them in thatsupport. And this is where the
failure to plan and attention todetail begins to manifest, and
(48:08):
it's usually simple things like,have a laptop, oh, I need an
HDMI cable to hook up to thatport. They didn't think about
that, or they didn't think aboutan extension cord, or they
didn't, oh, wait a minute, I Itotally forgot the table class,
you know. Or things happen,things happen. And trying to be
(48:32):
responsive and trying to helpthem support that. So, you know,
we're very clear with them. Theyhave a choice and setup days.
They can have a 12 hour day.They can have an eight hour day.
We want them to have ample time.We can walk through that on the
front end so they're able tocome in, they're able to set up
the framework of their event,and then they're come in the day
(48:55):
of the event and have ample timeand make sure that they have
what they need. And it's our jobto be supportive in that
process,
because event planning, in myeyes, is portion of marketing.
When you said, fail to plan it.There's an old adage about, if
you fail to plan you plan tofail, you know. And that is a
(49:19):
very common problem. And Icannot tell you how many
businesses I come across thatdon't have real, working
marketing plans in place.There's no they're throwing
darts at best. It's, it's,sometimes it works. Sometimes
for today's dollars, sometimesthey're they're generating
money. So they think they'resuccessful, but it's not
(49:39):
success. It's they're notplanning for tomorrow. They're
not building something, andwe're just talking about event
by event here. But we're reallynot when you talk about
companies like BMW or theydefinitely will have more than
one event if they have asuccessful event. Why would they
not have another one there? Youknow? And then once they get the
formula down, this is kind ofbrainless, like, I know the
event. I'm talking about doingwith you. I want to do it every
(50:02):
year. It has to be successfulthe first time, though, you
know. And it takes a lot to beable to do that really well. And
I see people do things halfway,and I don't Why do it
well to that point,
I think it's sad that companieslook at events and marketing and
(50:29):
travel to conferences orconventions that can help you,
you know, really strengthen yourskill sets and awareness as
fluff, it is perceived as fluff.It is perceived by so many as
(50:49):
you know, do we really needthat? You know, it's so
optional.
And to that, I would say,
I'll give you six months beforeyou start to feel the effects,
and within a year, you are goingto come back and you are going
(51:12):
to put it back in place, becauseyou, you will definitely feel
the effects of that. And I sawthat working in the healthcare
industry in so many differentways, but the events were
considered fluff. My job was toconnect to the community. Those
events were critical, absolutelycritical. And the healthcare
(51:36):
industry would typically go, No,we don't really need to do this.
And then they would start tofeel the effects that, oh, well,
let's put it back. And it wasthis cycle that just kept
repeating itself. And at whatpoint do we realize that this is
this is important, this isreally important. And the Expo
Center is no different, and it'sreally no business. It's no
(51:58):
different. For any business youhave to have this arm of your
business in place, and you haveto support it, because it is
critical,
very insightful. Thank you verymuch. Gail, we've covered a lot
today, and it went so fast Ifeel like we're already we're
(52:19):
beyond time. So we're going towrap it up. But I want to make,
please, I'm going to give youthe opportunity. Is there
anything that we didn't coverthat you feel you'd like to
touch on?
Don't, don't plan to fail. Makea plan. I mean, it's so, so very
important. And you know, ifyou've got somebody that's
(52:40):
willing to help you and supportyou and work with you and really
be there to cheer you on to makeyour event successful. Embrace
that don't don't take that as achallenge, just embrace it,
because not all events venueshave that option for you.
That's great, and my biggesttakeaway personally was about
(53:01):
communication of how critical itis. And, yeah, you know, you
can't assume that the otherperson knows what you're
thinking.
Some people think, seem to thinkyou can. I don't have that
ability. Sorry, I haven't,haven't accomplished that. But
no, you're right. I mean, I lookat it from my end, you know, I
(53:23):
want them to plan, but you'reabsolutely correct, and the
communication is just socritical. It just, you know, I
tell people constantly, if youhave a question, call or email
or something, but ask thequestion. Just ask the question.
We will answer the question.
(53:43):
So I want to, let's be shamelessfor a second, because we're both
marketers. Gail, if you'd like,please tell us if people have
questions for you, or if theywould like to have an event at
the facility. Please share howthey can do that. How do they
contact you?
They can contact us at theoffice at 615-450-3049, and I
(54:06):
also suggest that they check outthe website. We have all of the
information about includingpricing, so we're incredibly
transparent, including pricingon the website, which is Farm
Bureau, Expo, com or Facebook,we're there too,
okay, and I appreciate you notdigging into the pricing part,
but I just have to say I havenever seen like almost 80,000
(54:30):
square feet of usage of afacility with over 2000
potential parking spots. It is agreat facility. I want you as
the listener for a second. Guesshow much it would cost just for
one day. Just think about it fora second. Now we're so here we
are, Nashville, Wilson, county,if you don't know, is half hour
(54:53):
on a really good day, ordepending on the car you drive,
or an hour in a little bit oftraffic. Uh, to get downtown,
and there's a lot of greatvenues around. There's venues in
other areas too. I don't believeanyone is more cost effective
than the Expo Center, becauseGail, can you just without, you
(55:16):
know, just very high level. If Ijust want the facility for one
day and I'm going to use thewhole thing. What would it cost?
$5,500 a day. Yeah.
So now, if you're listening, I'mgoing to bet that you thought
double that number easily. Thatis the common number. And more.
(55:37):
There's some that are, could be$20,000 for the day. So Good
Lord, if you're listening andyou have not utilized this
space, and you have opportunityto do so, and it's you can walk
and go a half hour further anddo it there and save a boatload
of money, please consider it.I'll be the shameless one in the
room, because what? Why arepeople not using the facility? I
(55:59):
mean, you're booked on weekends,you're booked all year long.
It's not easy to get your thisplace is booked out because
Gail's good at her job. So youhave to plan ahead what she
said. You have to communicate,she said. And if you could do
that, you can save a lot ofmoney on a future event. Am I
wrong in my assessment, Gail,no,
(56:21):
you are spot on. And so I wouldthrow out the teaser. If you
want to know the value, theother value added to all of
that, you have to call,
yep, oh, there's more. I
know. I know we're being veryyou know, because you don't want
to hand the weight to thecompetition, you really have to
contact Gail. And there's somuch more to this. And so
(56:41):
hopefully Gail this, this makesyou even busier, and I'm really
sorry in advance. No,
it's all good. It's all goodthere. So
I want to thank you so much forbeing on today. Let's, let's,
let's leave our audience with alittle teaser. Gail is, we won't
(57:01):
say the name yet. Gail's aboutto launch her own podcast, and
can you just share quickly? Whatis that show going to be about?
We're very excited about thisconcept, because it's going to,
you go back to thecommunication, and it is an
(57:23):
opportunity to sit and visitwith event planners, community
leaders, local businesses, eventourism related business, that's
for our state or other states.And really we want to talk about
the value of you look at anevent and you asked your
(57:45):
question, you asked thequestion, okay, it's an event,
but there's so much more behindthe scenes and so much more
value. And that's what we kindof want to unpack and help
people understand not only whowe are, but what we do and the
impact that it it delivers toour community, or any community
(58:06):
that's all great and good, but Ididn't hear on that list of
potential guests, anything aboutmarketers
plan to see that
built into that whole thing. Yousaid high level. So I just stuck
with
here's me campaigning to be onyour show. Now she's kind of
funny,
(58:27):
so I think it's gonna be a greatshow to be on yours. Thank you
very much for having me.
Oh, it's my pleasure to haveyou. You're a joy. You're and
you're a part of the hidden gemof right here in Wilson County.
Hopefully we can change thatthis coming year. So if you're
listening today, thank you somuch for being on. You know how
we feel about you. We love beingable to educate and give advice
(58:50):
and take it, use it for yourselfif you can. If you need help,
professionals that we bring onare all people that I would
highly recommend. You can reachout to some of my guests, you
know that you can reach out tothem anywhere in the country,
wherever you are, remote is soeasy now, some of these people,
like we just had a businesscoach on last week, and we'll
(59:12):
have a fractional CFO on soon,and an HR professional, and
people that can work remotelythat can give you advice,
because if you're Anentrepreneur or you own your
business, we're good at what wedo for a living. We're not good
at all the other things. So thereal successful businesses learn
that and know how to find thoseprofessionals around them and
(59:33):
have them as consultants. And ifyou're right in our backyard,
man, use Gail as a an advisor toyou. If you're thinking about
doing an event, just kick yourtires. Ask a question. I know.
I'll I'll say Gail's veryapproachable and she's easy to
talk to, and she will give youvery sound advice. And if you
know me, you know I'm the sameway. I'm heck, I'm Italian. Take
(59:54):
me for food. I'll give you amarketing plan in an hour and a
half conversation, and I'm.Happy to do it. Why? Because I'm
passionate about what I do,because I believe it can lend to
success. And if you're nottaking advantage of this kind of
stuff, I don't get it, but ifyou are, I'm really glad you're
a part of us. Please sharemarketing perspective with other
(01:00:15):
people so our show continues togrow as it is, we're very
thankful for the ones that havedone that, and we're looking
forward to seeing you again nexttime. Thank you and have a great
day. Thank you for being onmarketing perspective.
You.
James, welcome back to the marketing perspective. I'm
James donnella, and I'm the hostof your show.
I'm excited about season two.
We are already off and running,and we have been recording for a
bit. We've got four or five inthe can, and I cannot wait to
share them with you.
This is a whole new season.
We've added video to it. As youcan tell, we're also have some
very special guests on thisyear. Everybody has been hand
(00:25):
picked by their category.They're all experts and
professionals in theirindustries. The purpose of this
is we're a topic driven show, asyou know, and the idea is that
we're sharing information withyou, the business owner, so that
you can use it for your ownpurposes. Remember that
everything I say is always froma marketing perspective.
Sometimes I go off task, butdon't listen. I know marketing
(00:47):
everything else. That's why I'mbringing on the experts today.
I'm really excited about this,because you hear me talk about
experiential marketing a lot.What the heck is that, James,
some people don't understandexperiential marketing belongs
in every single strategy. Idon't care if you're B to B or B
to C. It doesn't matter some ofyou are doing on a regular basis
(01:09):
and don't realize it. They usedto call aspects of it guerrilla
marketing, right? In a sense,it's a it's a portion of it. But
this could be such a huge topic.But today we're talking about
one specific area. We're talkingabout event planning and event
marketing, and we're going totake and then execution of those
events. And I have a veryspecial guest on today. It's
(01:31):
Gail hellm from the Farm BureauExpo Center. She is going to
knock her socks off. I'm prettypositive, because she's a
consummate professional in whatshe does. She's going to lend a
lot of insights. So I hope thatyou're really listening, because
at some point you will doevents. At some point in some
way, shape or form, an eventwill happen in your life. I want
you to know that experientialmarketing, while it's not a part
(01:53):
of traditional advertising,which is TV, radio, Billboard,
all that kind of stuff, it's notpart of digital advertising.
It's in its own lane. Events isonly one portion of it by
definition. Experientialmarketing is a brand needing to
connect with consumers throughexperience. That's the concept,
(02:14):
pop up, stores, virtual events,trade shows, which is a part of
what we're talking about today,innovative and creative
experiences that you createwhere a consumer can interact
directly with a given brand.That's the concept. Two quick
examples. My favorites, coke,Coca Cola did a friend's
campaign years ago. I don't knowif you remember it. It's why the
(02:38):
cans have people's names on it.Now you may still see that out
and about, because they mademillions of them, right? Well,
years ago, they actually did acampaign about it. And the
friends campaign was like this,you know, the the big coke
machines that are randomlyvendor machines all over the
place. Well, they made machinesthat are twice as tall. Why
would they do that? Because theymade the slot to put the money
(02:59):
in, just out of reach, whichmade you have to have a friend
the Con and you they did videoof it, and they used people on
piggybacking on each other'sshoulders. It was hysterical.
The The goal was to launch thefriends campaign. That was the
idea. But they vendor machine bymachine all around the country,
(03:20):
they exceeded each machineexceeded 800% higher in sales.
It was such a good idea. Itwasn't about selling soda. It
really wasn't. It was amarketing concept, just to
launch a campaign. So that'sone, what's considered an
experiential idea. If you everlook it up on YouTube, it's out
there, you'll find it. The otherone is something that we came up
(03:43):
with for a large HVAC company,and they were doing trade shows
or they weren't getting results.So we started chiming in and
putting our nose in it, and likewe always do, and we came up
with an idea that we six footwide, six foot high,
complicated, intricate pipes,but not just one type of pipe,
(04:04):
like there was PVC, there wascopper, there was flex, there
was it was, it was a DIYproject, right? If you were at
home, you're going to put ducttape on you're going to shove
rags in spots. And the idea was,it was a maze of almost a cube
of six by six by six. And theidea was, find the entrance and
the exit. I can't tell you howmany people that attracted. Oh,
(04:27):
by the way, if you found it, youwon, like a free consultation.
And there was something elsethat I think they gave away,
like a generator or somethinglike that, which is really cool.
And it wasn't easy to find, buta lot it was almost like the
Jelly Bean. Like, how many jellybeans are in the jar? Same kind
of concept, but this thing wassix foot high, so you can see it
from across the room. Sohopefully you get where I'm
(04:48):
going, that your own creativity,your own ingenuity, your own
ideas, and for your company,specifically, you come up
something that's unique to you.It's considered experiential
marketing. Marketing, and it canbe very powerful, and it costs
hardly, nothing. So I'm notgoing to go on and on and we I
could. That's my favorite topic.So let's I want to bring out my
(05:13):
guest today so that we talkabout fan plan. Yeah, so much
for being on the show with ustoday, on the marketing
perspective. Good
morning.
Good morning. How are you?
I'm doing well. Thank you andyourself, Mark,
it's been a long week, and it'sonly Wednesday, so yeah. Okay,
(05:35):
so you probably heard the intro.You know, we're talking about,
we're talking we're talkingwe're going to start with
planning and marketing and workour way to execution, and you're
going to educate us on on how toget there. But I'd like to kick
off, I'm going to ask you arandom question, which my only
curveball of the day, by theway.
Okay, only one. All right,
(05:55):
if, if you wrote a book, whatwould the topic be? Oh,
wow, that's a tough question. IfI was to write a book, the topic
would probably be making adifference. That's that seems to
be the overarching theme of thethings that fly through my head.
(06:16):
Knowing, you know, So fulldisclosure, Gail and I do know
each other professionally. Wework together here and there. We
help market this expo center,which is incredible, by the way,
it's the hidden gem in WilsonCounty. It that more people
don't know about it. I don't getit, and that's part of our
charge this coming year, is tolet more people be aware that
(06:39):
it's right here and it's so muchless expensive than you think. I
don't want, I don't want to giveit all away, but we'll get
there. We're going to talk aboutthat in detail. So knowing Gail,
I think that's very good. And II know somebody that can help
you market that book, because Ithink it's a great idea
(07:01):
you do, yeah,
there's a need for it in theworld.
I think, I think it's importantto
take the experiences that youhave and try to apply them. You
know, it's kind of the conceptof paying it forward. But what I
love to see is thecollaboration. When you get a
(07:24):
group of people that bring theircollective experience together,
and they come up with an idea,and then they break it down, and
they kind of chew it up, spit itout, break it down, come up with
a plan, move it forward. Youknow, that's that's kind of
where my strength has alwaysbeen in the big idea, chop it
up, break it out, give everybodytasks, move it forward, and then
(07:49):
then let the people that do whatthey do best do exactly that and
and move it forward. That that'swhat I love to do, is to create
and move it forward and pay itforward. Ultimately, that's the
goal, is to try to help otherpeople in some capacity.
Kind of wish our politicians hadthat mindset, all of them left,
(08:11):
right and don't, I'm not beingpolitical. Don't get crazy with
yourselves, people. Iwholeheartedly believe that. And
what you just so, in my eyes,what you just said is almost
answering the next question I'mgoing to ask you to kick this
off officially, and I want youto share you and your process
(08:32):
and what's a day in the life ofbeing the director of marketing
and sales at the Farm BureauExpo Center?
No two days are the same,
but components of pretty muchevery day involve obviously
fielding calls we probably book,I'd say maybe one out of every
(08:54):
seven calls for looking forspace to rent. That tells me
that there's a much greater needout there than what I have the
capacity to fill and fieldingcalls. And you know, I've got a
good team, so the billing andthose more office oriented tasks
are pretty much handled outsideof my office, but the bigger
(09:18):
portion of what I do is aboutbuilding relationships. It's
really important that I buildthese relationships. So where
some might say, well, you know,your your job is an eight to
five job, and you should, youshould be in your office, you
know, answering your telephoneand answering your emails. Well,
(09:39):
that that is all important,there's no question about that.
But the beauty is, with thetechnology today, I could be
sitting in the dentist officeanswering my emails, or I could
be at a client appointmentwaiting to for my opportunity,
for my appointment to meet withthem and answering emails or
doing things like that. So I tryto wedge that. In that the more
(10:01):
task oriented things wedged themin where I can and focus on the
people, because the answer tothe success of our business is
in the people. That's great.
As you're talking I'm thinkingthe same thing. I'm so much more
productive with clients.Sometimes, talking just like
(10:24):
this, we're still face to facein a sense, I mean it, there is
something to be said aboutliterally being in the same
room. At times. I have had, Ihave clients in other parts of
the country, and I I have, I'velost one. I It broke my heart.
We were killing it for this onecompany, 60% growth each year. I
(10:44):
was like, come on. And theperson said, I just want you
physically in front of me. Isaid, if you want to pay for me
to travel 1000 miles back andforth, I'm happy to do that. But
why do we want to put that inthe budget and take away from,
you know, those dollars goingtowards you growing your
business? It just didn't makesense to me. I said, this is so
much more effective. So I dounderstand that. I feel the same
(11:04):
way. I know in my near futureI'm going to wind up being on a
boat and doing some of this workprobably the next five years.
That's That's my plan. So I'mwith you. I think it's possible,
and technology today does allowus the freedom to be able to do
that. It makes us moreproductive. Knowing how many
things you do in a day,
(11:28):
I think without technology, Idon't know how you do it. Well,
thanks. Thank you. I agree it'sif I didn't have it, it wouldn't
work. I mean, there's just noway it would be a different
world what I find mostinteresting is when you take
(11:48):
generational perspective and mixit in, and then you take the
need, or the desire, like yourclient that you just referenced
wants you in the room, and thenyou take, where is your niche,
you know, where are you the mosteffective? And you add all that
(12:10):
together, where you can end upwith some conflicts. Because
it's very interesting to me,some younger generation that are
doing event planning, they theydon't want to spend more than
five minutes on the phone withyou, and they want everything by
email. And so much gets lost inthat translation. And I know
(12:31):
that sounds really cliche,cliche, but it does. It gets
lost. And you know, it's justfor them. It's just a check,
check, check, check, check,check, check, boom, we're done.
You contrast that to an eventplanner that was just in the
expo who values the interactionand the personal relationship
(12:53):
that we have working with them,it's night and day, and I wish
more could see that it's abalance between the technology
and the relationship. It reallyis. It takes both to be
effective,
and unfortunately, not everybodydoes.
(13:15):
I think part of the reason werelated way back in the day, we
both have extensive experienceto different points, to such a
degree that we can do bothsides. We see both aspects of
it, and we can do both jobs, youknow, and that's that's a
rarity, and maybe we're a dyingbreed, I'm not sure yet, but
(13:36):
we'll see what happens. I
would like to think that thosethat don't understand the
balance. May come to understandthe balance, I
would hope, Oh, I see that theydon't, for the most part, they
don't have the desire correct,like this is what I do now, and
I just don't have to. And I sayit openly. And again, if you're
(13:56):
listening today, it's becauseGail and I know each other.
I don't normally talk like this.As you know, on the show,
I've had personal experienceswhere so I do not. I'm not an
event planner. I'm not but I'm amarketing professional for a
really long time, longer than Ireally feel like admitting yet
again on air, so I won't, butpart of my chair is putting the
(14:21):
plans together for the clientsthat I serve. And we always have
some kind of events. There'salways experiential marketing
included, but that's not what Ido for a living. So I always
would give it to I don't know.This is what you do. You're an
event planner. Help me when I'mat Gail. Gail's chair is not to
be the event planner, you know,and I'll just brag on you for a
(14:43):
second if you allow me. Gail'sGail's chairs to drive the
train. Gail has to be at 1000feet. She is the connector.
She's helping with the hervendor relationships that are
associated with the Expo Center.She's making sure that they have
the facility they need. She'slending her in. Sites, but I
know that from personalexperience, because I'm planning
(15:04):
an event there in spring of 25that without her, I will not be
able to do that event. She'salready asked me five, six
questions. Made my head spin. Iwent, That's a good point. Yeah,
we really need, what do youmean? I need pipe and drape, you
know, like she lends insights,and you're laughing, because you
(15:27):
know what I'm talking about, shelends the insights from both
sides, and that's invaluable, inmy opinion. So why I was so
excited to have you on today,Gales, because I know that these
these questions that I'm aboutto hit you with, you people, if
you're listening, now's the timeto start taking out your pen,
because we're going to go indeep. We're going to get on the
(15:48):
hood. So with that said, I wantbefore we do that, can you
please describe, at a highlevel, describe the Farm Bureau
expert center, the facility, sothat people get a picture of
what we're talking
about. Sure. So the Farm BureauExpo Center, formerly known as
the Wilson County Expo Centerwhen it was first built. It is a
79,000 square foot Multi Purposespace that can be rented and
(16:13):
utilized for events of allkinds, because we definitely
produce events of all kinds.It's municipally owned, and it
sits on the James E Ward AgCenter grounds, which is over 60
acres. So we are right there thepinnacle front of the grounds.
(16:34):
You drive right into us, andthen the rest of the Ag grounds
is behind us, which offers alsomeeting space, but it's
different. It's just different.It's a different, look, feel.
The Ag Center behind us is moreI would classify as community
oriented, and the Expo Center ismore business oriented.
(16:55):
That helps tremendously. What'sparking? Like
parking is free, so let'scapitalize on the word free.
Okay, because everybody likesthat word, and it's my biggest
selling point. When I'mcomparing to when I'm being
compared to Nashville, it'slike, Yes, but how much is it
going to park? Cost of park, butparking is ample, and we have
(17:16):
flex, and I don't know, we'veeasily handled, over 2000 people
parking, but they that extendsout. It just kind of goes out
and around and just depends onwhat's happening. But parking is
ample, and parking can beadjusted if needed. With
that said, can, and I don't knowthis answer, can an event that's
(17:38):
utilizing the facility decide tocharge for parking if they
wanted to make money in thatregard.
No, no, that is that that was avote by the Ag Committee that
that would never be allowed.
Okay, so it's just a choice anda decision, correct? Okay, got
it. That's good to know, becausethat's another thing, if you're
(18:00):
listening today. Part of thereason you may have the event
there is you're trying togenerate a profit. You
definitely don't want to take aloss. You know, maybe it's an
investment, a marketinginvestment, or you're doing it
for exposure, or, you know,brand awareness and stuff like
that. But you don't, it's got tobe an investment. You don't want
to just do an event and losemoney, that's for sure. I'll
(18:22):
just chime in there. Okay, well,that helps us. I think that
paints the picture, I believe.And as I alluded to earlier on,
there's much more to eventplanning than meets the eye,
isn't there? Gail, there
is a plethora of questions to beasked, considered and planned
for and around. Not all aspectsapply to every event, so that's
(18:46):
important to remember, but thebasics do. And you know,
something as simple as what'swhere should my admissions table
be? Seems like a simplequestion, but it's not because I
have to understand where yourattendees are coming from. I
have to know where they're youknow what? What's the flow the
(19:09):
traffic for the event? How manywill there be? Do I need to
anticipate that we're going tohave a queue line that's going
to develop? If that's the case,I want it further down the
hallway. So it's a lot of thosethings, and again, keep in mind
my my thoughts, my comments.They could do whatever they
want. I'm simply trying to helpthem avoid problems that they
(19:35):
can't anticipate, because eitherthey have never had the event
before or they're new to ourspace, and that that can make a
huge difference. So, you know,the ones that I see being the
most successful are the onesthat will at least entertain the
(19:57):
ideas and the suggestions thatwe offer, because I think it
helps. Helps them plan better,whether we are correct for their
event or not.
Well, even, even at a highlevel, let's go through that
process. So you got us throughadmissions, you know? And I
would even bet before we evenget there, there's so much else
that happens before you getwhere the table goes through,
(20:18):
yeah, the majority it's beforethey get there,
all right, so, so go throughthat, because I think that's the
part that people don'tunderstand. They all, I'm going
to do an event, and then all ofa sudden they're inundated with,
this is time consuming. There'sa lot more to it. Well,
you're right, because a lot ofpeople, they, they will call and
they will say, you know, I'mlooking to have, I don't know,
(20:39):
um, I'm looking to have a smalltrade show. Okay, okay, well,
can you give me an idea of howmany vendors do you think you
might have? Well, I don't know.Okay, so it tells me that they
have not talked to anybody. Theydon't know what their interest
level is. Is this an event thatyou're charging for, for
(21:01):
attendance, I don't know. So Istart getting a lot of I don't
knows. So I need to know, howmany vendors are they charging?
Are they doing pipe and drape?Is this a multi day show? Do
they need a setup day? Do theyneed two setup days? Because you
know, you can have the setup forthe actual event to framework
(21:23):
what they need to do. And thenthen you have the vendors that
need to come in. And sometimesthey'll go, Oh no, the vendors
will just set up before we open.No, no, they won't. That won't
work. And so, you know, that'sthat back and forth. And to your
point, yes, I do inundate themwith questions, but that also
tells me how much homeworkthey've done in coming into the
(21:46):
conversation. And then we haveto go through the tables of
chair setup, and what does yoursound and AV look like, and do
you have any other specifics?And they go, Yeah, you know, I
really want those smoke boxesthat have the fireworks that
come out of them, like, Yeah,well, that we can't do that, you
know. Or I want to, you know, Iwant a wide open bar and, you
(22:09):
know. And, no, what do you mean?I have to pay for security. And
it's just a lot of things. Butthat, again, it goes back to
that personal relationship andbeing able to have that dialog
and show a genuine interest in Iwant you to be successful.
That's what we're here for. Ineed to understand what you want
(22:30):
to do and then, and then, whendo you want to have it
right? It should be theirvision, not your vision. You're
executing the vision, correct?
It's not my event. When theyrent the expo, I'm very clear to
them when you know they're like,Well, can I have a banner in the
hallway if you're renting thewhole building, it's your it's
(22:52):
your building. You know, we'rejust here to help navigate you,
not, not to control you. Thereare some rules you have to
follow, but, but the point is,is that we're here to support
your success, not it's not myevent,
right? Well, yeah, I mean, Iwould imagine they have to be
respectful of the space. Youknow, there are some type of
events that may trample andcause insurance issues and all
(23:16):
kinds of stuff. But I can tellyou that when, when I went to
Gail for this event that I'mtalking about. I think I
answered about half of thosequestions.
I was I was about,
I mean, I knew I knew the numberof vendors, I knew the number, I
knew that I had done some of myhomework. But then there were a
couple of questions I went I'msorry, what? That's okay. I
(23:41):
did ask Laura. Was there? We'rethere.
So so what Gail is saying, and Ithrow myself, you know, on the
AX, on the sword, on purpose,because that will happen like
chances are, unless you are anevent planner and do that for a
living, if you're a just abusiness professional, and
(24:02):
trying to have an event in afacility, you will stumble a
little bit. But having someonelike Gail is invaluable. I mean,
if you can walk in with an eventplanner, great. Hopefully you
find one that has a clue, andGail doesn't have to shred to
mince meat when they don't knowif they're talking. I'll say it.
You don't have to, okay, so thatthat was good at 1000 feet, that
(24:27):
kind of helps us understand theprelude to what happens in an
event. So now this is an oddquestion. I'm not sure already,
no, I'm going, we're going forit. How do you know when an
event will be successful or not?
(24:49):
It's in the planning. Whatfactors go into that? Do they
have a do they have a solid planwhen they come to me? Okay, um.
Have they allowed themselvesenough time to build an event
and execute the event as well asadvertise and do all the things
(25:10):
that need to be done before theyactually arrive for the event?
Because if you, if you tell me,if you came to me today and
said, I want to have a vendorshow, and I I want 6000 people
there to make it successful. Andthis is what July 3, and I want
(25:34):
to have it in October. I wouldsay it's not going to happen
because you haven't allowedyourself the amount of time that
you need to be able to fullyexecute that event with the
proper preparation. You just,you just, it's not there, and,
um, unless you're willing tolose money to get, you know,
(25:56):
establish a footprint. Now some,there's a couple events that
we've done that, they knew goinginto it they were going to lose
money because they just wanted afootprint. They wanted a
president set and that's if theyknow that going in. I'm a little
bit more comfortable with that.But then you got to remember,
there's the other side of it, inthat an event, the success of an
(26:20):
event is also my success. Well,the expo success, I should
rephrase that the expo success,because the money that they make
and the relatable money that theexpo is going to make are tied
right? There's there's rent,yes, I'm going to get paid rent.
(26:42):
Yes, I'm going to get paid for,you know, certain things,
certain attributes, that arewithin an event. But then
there's, there's, you know,vendor fees, or there's
ancillary fees, or there'sticket fees, or there's those
kinds of things, those are alltied to that as well. So if I'm
looking at, if I'm looking at awedding or an event of any kind,
(27:04):
a wedding would probably beprobably the most simple. Do I
want to have a weddings there?Sure I do. But if you do an
apples to apples comparison, andyou're looking at a trade show
and you're looking at a wedding,the trade show is far more
lucrative to me, than thewedding, because the wedding is
simply the rent. That's allthat's all that's ever going to
(27:26):
be and the trade show was somuch more. But the success of
the expo comes in the balance ofthe different types of events. I
want to be supportive of thecommunity, but also need to have
a nice, healthy balance of theseother kinds of shows. So, you
(27:47):
know, people need to have a gameplan when they come in, and I
don't expect them to, I don'texpect them to know everything,
but, and I don't knoweverything. I mean, I learned
stuff from event planners. EventPlanners learn stuff from me.
It's a, you know, Kumbaya typeenvironment. We we try to work
forward, but not all venues dothat. So, you know, that's
(28:12):
important too, to know goinginto it.
Well, that's what I in thebeginning of the show. And I
said, it's a hidden gem. Itwasn't just the building that I
was talking about. It's there's,um, it's impressive how it's
done. I've been, I've been to alot of events over the years,
professionally speaking. And Imean, there's different scale
(28:35):
and scope of events, right? AndI have been inside this
building, the Expo Center. Now,for five years, multiple events.
It's always different. It'salways a unique experience in
some way. Unless the two eventsare very similar to one another,
then it's a similar setup andstuff. But I've seen it. I've
(28:57):
seen a funeral there, I've seena trade show there. I've seen
the State Fair have part oftheir chops in that building
I've seen, because State Fair ison the Ag rounds, if you don't
know and you're listening, yes,we're in Nashville, and it's in
Tennessee, in case you'remissing that it transforms so
(29:19):
many different ways. It's agreat flex space to be able to
use. So we're only limited byour own imagination. We're only
limited about what, what ourvision is for, what we want this
event to be, and when it comesto the success of it, I would
imagine it's got to be asymbiotic, partnered
relationship that working withyou, not against you or not, you
(29:42):
know, hey, we'll tell you whatwe want and just go execute
this. And I guess you work likethat once in a while, but I
would imagine it would be muchmore powerful if the
collaboration was there, and itwould lend to a more successful
event. In my opinion,
I would agree with you, becausethe. Events that I see that
enjoy the success that they'rehoping for, are the ones that
(30:06):
are very willing to have thatworking relationship and that
ongoing dialog that you know.They know that we're there,
we've got their back. They knowthat we'll do our part in our
setup and that type of stuff.You know, people really value
that, that event planners thatyou're like, Okay, so if you do
(30:29):
your layout, you draw yourlayout. I don't care if it's in
crayon, it doesn't matter, but Ineed to know what you want it to
look like. What you want thatfootprint to look like. Will
have your tables and chairswhere you want them. So you just
come in and you just do whateveryour event requires, and then
you're good to go. And they'relike, wait, what you're gonna,
(30:51):
you're gonna, you're gonna dothat for us. And they're
shocked, but so that's acherished, cherished service
that we offer that I'm kind ofsurprised that some venues don't
offer, because it does make ahuge difference. It makes a huge
difference. So
(31:11):
side note, when you said that,you put the chairs where they
want, and part of me went to Ihave a lot of friends that are
firemen, so there's, I'm surethere's codes, and there's
certain things that there haveto be in and out, and all the
excavs have to have clear pathsto it, because we're talking
about putting hundreds of peoplein the room at the same time in
(31:34):
an emergency. So when you saywherever you want, with the
guidelines that you can't putthe table right by the door, or
you there's a capacity that wehave to maintain, right? Okay,
yeah,
absolutely, absolutely, and it'snot so much. I mean, it's
probably lesser of a concern ifit's just a couple 100 people.
(31:56):
But if you look at, for example,next week, we've got over 5000
people going to be there forfour days. Okay, our our safety
protocols and are very, very,very important to us. And some
event planners appreciate that,and some don't, you know they
want, what they want, where theywant. That, just to say that if
(32:19):
and so thank you for that,because, yes, where you want, as
long as it fits within theguidelines that we are required
to maintain
events like that, and this is, Ihalf know the answer, and I have
don't so something of that sizethat you're talking about, I
would imagine you're partneringwith local police, sheriffs and
(32:41):
whoever, whoever needs to beinvolved based on the magnitude
of the size of the event,because there's traffic flow and
all kinds of things. So, and I'msaying this openly, because as a
person doing an event, youthink, well, it's just inside
the walls. I don't have to worryabout anything else, but there's
a lot more to it. Can you speakinto that a little bit? Oh,
yeah,
for sure. So like I mentioned afew minutes ago, you come in the
(33:05):
main gate at the x or on the Aggrounds, and we're the first
thing you see. So that meansthat our traffic comes in that
main gate, our traffic leavesout of that main gate, and
there's a constant ebb and flowof traffic coming from around
the back of the Ag grounds,going in and out of those gates.
So it's, it's a main port ofentry exit for a lot. And you
(33:31):
know, if I have an event that'sgot 100 people, that's a drop in
the bucket, you know, they'renot, they're going to add some
traffic to that flow. But not,not this, not that's not going
to be cumbersome. Let's put thatway. Now, 5000 people, that's a
different story. Because if, ifI have 5000 people in the expo,
(33:56):
that's one piece of the pie that60 some acres behind me is also
having events. So let's just sayI don't know they're having a
rodeo, or they're having aconcert, or they're having
training sessions. I mean, therecould be probably easily 20 some
(34:16):
events behind me feeding intothat traffic flow. So, yeah,
it's very important that, andthis part of my job, is very
important, to understand whatthe scope of volume is and how
does that impact the trafficflow. There are other entry
exits to the grounds, butthey're not as highly utilized.
(34:38):
Everybody knows the main gate,so that tends to be the default.
So we have to coordinate withthe Lebanon Police Department
for any kind of traffic supportoutside the gate, and then the
Wilson County Sheriff Departmentoffers support for any kind of
service that we need from themon the. Grounds. So you know, if
(35:02):
I've got I'm going to call andmandates my call as to whether
or not an event has to havesecurity at the event and and
then I coordinate with theLebanon Police Department as to
whether or not they need trafficsupport. I try not to dictate
that, because it just kind offeels like, you know, Lebanon
(35:24):
police department, they know howto manage the traffic. They know
they know their world better, sokind of default to let them
drive that. But on the inside,if they're going to serve
alcohol in the expo, they'regoing to have to have security
if they're going to have adultsand a large portion of children,
(35:46):
I'm going to require thatsecurity be there or there's
just a high number of people. Sofor example, next week is the
Pentecostal worship convention.They will be in there twice a
day for four days for extendedperiod of time, having worship
services, and then from 1130 tofour o'clock be out in the
(36:10):
community, having lunch,shopping, doing all that
economical input into oreconomic input into the
community. And you know, that'sthe other factor of a of an
event, but there's a largesegment of kids, so security
(36:31):
comes into play there. Just liketwo weeks later, I'm having an
MMA fight, and there will besecurity there for a different
reason. So, you know, it all, itall fits together, but it's so
important because I tell eventplanners, your number one
(36:52):
responsibility is communication.I have to communicate you. You
have to communicate with me, andwe have to work together.
I'm sorry,
nothing says Worship in the Lordlike, like a pistol, you know?
Wow,
(37:12):
that's the adaptability of thespace. I mean, that's, I never
know what you know I could walkin. I it's amazing to me.
Mistletoe merchants is probablythe most fascinating thing to
me, because I walk into the mainexhibit hall and it's empty.
Like, okay, it's empty, right?Two hours later, it looks like a
(37:33):
marketplace like, you're justlike, Wait, what happened, you
know? And then for the next fourhours, vendors are moving in,
and you're like, Okay, this usedto look like the main exhibit
hall, but now it's a completelydifferent thing. And they can be
done, and we can clean overnightor clean the next morning, and
the next day I got somethingelse, you know, a reptile Show,
(37:56):
an MMA fight,
just, you just never know
it's amazing.
So you alluded to something awhile ago, and we didn't really
go into Gail's background oranything in the beginning, but
Gail has a pretty strongmarketing background, which is
one of the reasons we understandeach other's language. So you
(38:18):
and I both know like, it's notlike fields or dreams, if you
build it, they don't necessarilycome a little bit from your
perspective, mine will be awhole show, like driving traffic
to an event. What does it take?Well,
I mean, there's alwaysmarketing. Obviously, marketing
is part of that. You know, if anevent planner doesn't have a
(38:40):
marketing budget, we need totalk because it'd be a very
fruitless effort that you'regoing to put forward. But you do
need to drive the traffic to theevent. And how you drive that
traffic is going to largelydepend on who's your market. And
have you considered all of theaspects of your market, you know
(39:01):
it's, it's usually not just onethat it will drive different
people, different things. A goodexample of that is the BMW event
that will be coming in. 2025super excited to be bringing
them on board. It's, it's a semiprivate event because it's their
membership coming together, but,but let's look at it from a
(39:25):
marketing perspective. Well, howdo you drive? Okay, so you're,
you're there, you're you'regetting your bikes, you know,
modified, and having good timewith that, and going on great
drives and having great concertsand going on trips, and then
your membership activities. Butthen the question becomes, how
do you how do you keep yourmembership increasing? How do
(39:46):
you keep that membership numberstrong? Well, you let the public
come to your event so that theycan be immersed in this culture
that you've created, and thenthey want to become a member.
And then they want. To come toyour next event. And so that's a
real simple example, but thatwas a conversation I just had
(40:06):
yesterday with them, you know,how private Do you want your
event to be? And they were like,well, you know, they want the
public. I said, Well, I wouldthink that the public would
drive membership numbers. And itwas like, yeah, yeah, you're
right. So real simpleconversation, real simple
example. But you do have to knowthat and the hows and the whys,
you know, I I really neverthought that there would be a
(40:30):
day that I would say thatFacebook had value. But it does.
I have to. I just as, like, suckit up. Yep, it does. I hate it,
but, you know, but it is, itworks. It does work. And I, I
never would have thought that Iwould have ever said that out
loud to anybody in any capacity,but it does work.
(40:54):
I might play it back a fewtimes.
It does work. I do see value init. I do appreciate it for what
it is. I see more value for itas a marketing engine than I do
a social connection aspect. Butthat's that's just my personal
(41:14):
feeling. But that's not the onlyanswer. Anybody who says, Well,
you know, I don't have to have amarketing budget. I can just use
Facebook. But but that's notreally the case. Again, you have
to understand, as you know, youhave to understand your market.
You have to understand yourvendors. What do your vendors
(41:35):
need? What do you what do? Whatdo your attendees need? Do you
need billboard? Do you need, youknow, any kind of other digital
marketing. And probably theanswer therein is you probably
need smidgens of all of that,and some more than others. And
it's that combination, again,that I call it the kumbaya
(41:56):
effect. You know, it's like thethe pieces have to come together
to serve the greater need tomake the event successful, and
what that looks like isdependent on your event, your
market and who your attendeesare.
Well, if you've listened to theshow before, if you're listening
today, you've probably heard mespeak about what disc profiles
(42:21):
and using Disk and communicationmodels. And I'm not going to
park here, but there's, ifthere's four major types of
communication go with me onthis, that there are. That means
no one marketing tool canactually capture 100% of market
share. It's impossible. The onlything that what comes the
closest as a website, because itcould, it could give you high
(42:44):
level for the DS, it could giveyou fun for the odds, and, you
know, a little bit of detail andcomfort for the S's and the C's.
Need the real drill down. And itcan do most of that. But it kind
of falls short because it's ofthe depending on how it's
designed and structured. So ingeneral, what Gail just said
about multiple touches is reallyimportant. You can't just use
(43:06):
Facebook, even marketing anevent. If you have a local
event, if you're doing if youwant 50 people, you could
probably get away with somethinglike that. But some of these
bigger events, part of themarket you're going to pull from
is within an hour drive of thisfacility. So there's a certain
geographic, and that's localmarketing in its backyard for
(43:26):
the BMW W thing. I'm just goingto go off on my tangent for a
second. BMW like I know twopeople in New York that, with
100% certainty, will show up atthis member event. I'm positive
that they'll go so but are they?Do they have to do any
traditional advertising to reachpeople that are 1000 miles away.
They don't but that's wheresocial will come in, or the
(43:48):
newsletter or other othertouches that they're doing to
capture the audience. My pointis that it requires multiple
touches, understanding whoyou're trying to walk in the
door, where they're located, andwhat outcome are you seeking
from this event? And if you cananswer those three questions,
that kind of lays out the thingsyou'll need to satisfy each
(44:10):
component of it, that's a fromjust from my chair. That's a
great way to market the eventoutside looking in. But that was
very insightful. Thank you forthat. Gail, yeah,
well, to add to that, I thinkthat it's important that you
have those multiple touches, butyou also have the ability to
delve into that data, tounderstand where they come from
(44:33):
on the back end, so that you canuse that to tweak or pivot if
you Need to for your next event,I have the ability to work with
a CVB, who has placer AI. And,you know, one of the things I
told BMW was an added value toto working with them, was like,
(44:54):
I could tell you exactly whereeverybody comes from. I could
tell you what hour they werethere. I could tell you how
long. They stay and they'relike, really, and I'm like, it
will help you in your planning.And they they'd never had that
before,
coming from being in thisindustry for so many years. You
know, back in our day, theydidn't have a lot of this
(45:16):
technology. We couldn't get someof that data. But as much as I
don't like big brother watchingas they're watching anyway.
They've been watching always,and we just don't realize it.
Now, it's a little moretransparent and data, it can be
invaluable there. You've heardme talk about it before. If you
listen to the show, there isgood data and bad data, but what
Gail's talking about is spot on,man, as a marketer, the drool
(45:39):
comes down my face when you tellthem you tell me, you hand me
that information after an event.Oh
my gosh.
It can work both ways. You know,it could,
wow. It was abysmal. We reallydidn't drive the traffic we
thought we were going to drive.So then you got to go back and
look at, well, how to market it,what worked, what didn't work,
you know, we have, we have tolearn from to your point, learn
(45:59):
from the experience and do itbetter the next time, because
you will do another event, youknow. So that's really
invaluable information. Thankyou. So we did talk about the
Expo Center a bit, but before Iclose out, I have one big
question, we planned, wemarketed. Let's talk about
(46:21):
execution, just a little bitlike so now, what does that look
like? That is
100% communication, 100%communication. And I can. I mean
I can. I have done more eventsthan I care to admit myself and
(46:42):
some I've had support from thevenue, and some, not so much. So
I guess I appreciate the factthat, and love the fact that our
venue is very, very responsiveand very in tune with the
communication need, something assimple as handing the event
(47:03):
planner a cell phone number andsaying, text this number if you
need anything. And we know wehave a dedicated team that will
respond to that. You don't haveto come find us. Just text us
and let us know, and we willrespond. Tell us where you are,
and we will respond to the needthat's huge, because they don't
(47:26):
feel like they're on an island.They're in it, they're in a new
place. It's kind of like goingand being a house guest
someplace. Yeah, you know, theyhave a kitchen, and they
probably have certain things inthe kitchen, but do you don't
know where they are, that typeof thing. So we try to be
responsive to that. Thatcommunication is is critical
being, and then our response,our responsibility is to be
(47:48):
responsive when that happens,when they have a need and and
guide them and help them in thatsupport. And this is where the
failure to plan and attention todetail begins to manifest, and
(48:08):
it's usually simple things like,have a laptop, oh, I need an
HDMI cable to hook up to thatport. They didn't think about
that, or they didn't think aboutan extension cord, or they
didn't, oh, wait a minute, I Itotally forgot the table class,
you know. Or things happen,things happen. And trying to be
(48:32):
responsive and trying to helpthem support that. So, you know,
we're very clear with them. Theyhave a choice and setup days.
They can have a 12 hour day.They can have an eight hour day.
We want them to have ample time.We can walk through that on the
front end so they're able tocome in, they're able to set up
the framework of their event,and then they're come in the day
(48:55):
of the event and have ample timeand make sure that they have
what they need. And it's our jobto be supportive in that
process,
because event planning, in myeyes, is portion of marketing.
When you said, fail to plan it.There's an old adage about, if
you fail to plan you plan tofail, you know. And that is a
(49:19):
very common problem. And Icannot tell you how many
businesses I come across thatdon't have real, working
marketing plans in place.There's no they're throwing
darts at best. It's, it's,sometimes it works. Sometimes
for today's dollars, sometimesthey're they're generating
money. So they think they'resuccessful, but it's not
(49:39):
success. It's they're notplanning for tomorrow. They're
not building something, andwe're just talking about event
by event here. But we're reallynot when you talk about
companies like BMW or theydefinitely will have more than
one event if they have asuccessful event. Why would they
not have another one there? Youknow? And then once they get the
formula down, this is kind ofbrainless, like, I know the
event. I'm talking about doingwith you. I want to do it every
(50:02):
year. It has to be successfulthe first time, though, you
know. And it takes a lot to beable to do that really well. And
I see people do things halfway,and I don't Why do it
well to that point,
I think it's sad that companieslook at events and marketing and
(50:29):
travel to conferences orconventions that can help you,
you know, really strengthen yourskill sets and awareness as
fluff, it is perceived as fluff.It is perceived by so many as
(50:49):
you know, do we really needthat? You know, it's so
optional.
And to that, I would say,
I'll give you six months beforeyou start to feel the effects,
and within a year, you are goingto come back and you are going
(51:12):
to put it back in place, becauseyou, you will definitely feel
the effects of that. And I sawthat working in the healthcare
industry in so many differentways, but the events were
considered fluff. My job was toconnect to the community. Those
events were critical, absolutelycritical. And the healthcare
(51:36):
industry would typically go, No,we don't really need to do this.
And then they would start tofeel the effects that, oh, well,
let's put it back. And it wasthis cycle that just kept
repeating itself. And at whatpoint do we realize that this is
this is important, this isreally important. And the Expo
Center is no different, and it'sreally no business. It's no
(51:58):
different. For any business youhave to have this arm of your
business in place, and you haveto support it, because it is
critical,
very insightful. Thank you verymuch. Gail, we've covered a lot
today, and it went so fast Ifeel like we're already we're
(52:19):
beyond time. So we're going towrap it up. But I want to make,
please, I'm going to give youthe opportunity. Is there
anything that we didn't coverthat you feel you'd like to
touch on?
Don't, don't plan to fail. Makea plan. I mean, it's so, so very
important. And you know, ifyou've got somebody that's
(52:40):
willing to help you and supportyou and work with you and really
be there to cheer you on to makeyour event successful. Embrace
that don't don't take that as achallenge, just embrace it,
because not all events venueshave that option for you.
That's great, and my biggesttakeaway personally was about
(53:01):
communication of how critical itis. And, yeah, you know, you
can't assume that the otherperson knows what you're
thinking.
Some people think, seem to thinkyou can. I don't have that
ability. Sorry, I haven't,haven't accomplished that. But
no, you're right. I mean, I lookat it from my end, you know, I
(53:23):
want them to plan, but you'reabsolutely correct, and the
communication is just socritical. It just, you know, I
tell people constantly, if youhave a question, call or email
or something, but ask thequestion. Just ask the question.
We will answer the question.
(53:43):
So I want to, let's be shamelessfor a second, because we're both
marketers. Gail, if you'd like,please tell us if people have
questions for you, or if theywould like to have an event at
the facility. Please share howthey can do that. How do they
contact you?
They can contact us at theoffice at 615-450-3049, and I
(54:06):
also suggest that they check outthe website. We have all of the
information about includingpricing, so we're incredibly
transparent, including pricingon the website, which is Farm
Bureau, Expo, com or Facebook,we're there too,
okay, and I appreciate you notdigging into the pricing part,
but I just have to say I havenever seen like almost 80,000
(54:30):
square feet of usage of afacility with over 2000
potential parking spots. It is agreat facility. I want you as
the listener for a second. Guesshow much it would cost just for
one day. Just think about it fora second. Now we're so here we
are, Nashville, Wilson, county,if you don't know, is half hour
(54:53):
on a really good day, ordepending on the car you drive,
or an hour in a little bit oftraffic. Uh, to get downtown,
and there's a lot of greatvenues around. There's venues in
other areas too. I don't believeanyone is more cost effective
than the Expo Center, becauseGail, can you just without, you
(55:16):
know, just very high level. If Ijust want the facility for one
day and I'm going to use thewhole thing. What would it cost?
$5,500 a day. Yeah.
So now, if you're listening, I'mgoing to bet that you thought
double that number easily. Thatis the common number. And more.
(55:37):
There's some that are, could be$20,000 for the day. So Good
Lord, if you're listening andyou have not utilized this
space, and you have opportunityto do so, and it's you can walk
and go a half hour further anddo it there and save a boatload
of money, please consider it.I'll be the shameless one in the
room, because what? Why arepeople not using the facility? I
(55:59):
mean, you're booked on weekends,you're booked all year long.
It's not easy to get your thisplace is booked out because
Gail's good at her job. So youhave to plan ahead what she
said. You have to communicate,she said. And if you could do
that, you can save a lot ofmoney on a future event. Am I
wrong in my assessment, Gail,no,
(56:21):
you are spot on. And so I wouldthrow out the teaser. If you
want to know the value, theother value added to all of
that, you have to call,
yep, oh, there's more. I
know. I know we're being veryyou know, because you don't want
to hand the weight to thecompetition, you really have to
contact Gail. And there's somuch more to this. And so
(56:41):
hopefully Gail this, this makesyou even busier, and I'm really
sorry in advance. No,
it's all good. It's all goodthere. So
I want to thank you so much forbeing on today. Let's, let's,
let's leave our audience with alittle teaser. Gail is, we won't
(57:01):
say the name yet. Gail's aboutto launch her own podcast, and
can you just share quickly? Whatis that show going to be about?
We're very excited about thisconcept, because it's going to,
you go back to thecommunication, and it is an
(57:23):
opportunity to sit and visitwith event planners, community
leaders, local businesses, eventourism related business, that's
for our state or other states.And really we want to talk about
the value of you look at anevent and you asked your
(57:45):
question, you asked thequestion, okay, it's an event,
but there's so much more behindthe scenes and so much more
value. And that's what we kindof want to unpack and help
people understand not only whowe are, but what we do and the
impact that it it delivers toour community, or any community
(58:06):
that's all great and good, but Ididn't hear on that list of
potential guests, anything aboutmarketers
plan to see that
built into that whole thing. Yousaid high level. So I just stuck
with
here's me campaigning to be onyour show. Now she's kind of
funny,
(58:27):
so I think it's gonna be a greatshow to be on yours. Thank you
very much for having me.
Oh, it's my pleasure to haveyou. You're a joy. You're and
you're a part of the hidden gemof right here in Wilson County.
Hopefully we can change thatthis coming year. So if you're
listening today, thank you somuch for being on. You know how
we feel about you. We love beingable to educate and give advice
(58:50):
and take it, use it for yourselfif you can. If you need help,
professionals that we bring onare all people that I would
highly recommend. You can reachout to some of my guests, you
know that you can reach out tothem anywhere in the country,
wherever you are, remote is soeasy now, some of these people,
like we just had a businesscoach on last week, and we'll
(59:12):
have a fractional CFO on soon,and an HR professional, and
people that can work remotelythat can give you advice,
because if you're Anentrepreneur or you own your
business, we're good at what wedo for a living. We're not good
at all the other things. So thereal successful businesses learn
that and know how to find thoseprofessionals around them and
(59:33):
have them as consultants. And ifyou're right in our backyard,
man, use Gail as a an advisor toyou. If you're thinking about
doing an event, just kick yourtires. Ask a question. I know.
I'll I'll say Gail's veryapproachable and she's easy to
talk to, and she will give youvery sound advice. And if you
know me, you know I'm the sameway. I'm heck, I'm Italian. Take
(59:54):
me for food. I'll give you amarketing plan in an hour and a
half conversation, and I'm.Happy to do it. Why? Because I'm
passionate about what I do,because I believe it can lend to
success. And if you're nottaking advantage of this kind of
stuff, I don't get it, but ifyou are, I'm really glad you're
a part of us. Please sharemarketing perspective with other
(01:00:15):
people so our show continues togrow as it is, we're very
thankful for the ones that havedone that, and we're looking
forward to seeing you again nexttime. Thank you and have a great
day. Thank you for being onmarketing perspective.
You.
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