Sometimes we can stick to safe formulas while the rest of the world forges ahead with innovative ways for our events. Event producer Nathan Cassar believes this is what's happened to Sydney's Vivid Festival and other events that have not yielded the desired results for attendance, scoring wins for creativity or building community. But all is not lost, with plenty of inspiration around to correct our course, including lessons we can learn from Pokemon Go.
Based in Sydney, Australia, Nathan's rich experience has included being a Cruise Director for Princess Cruises, emceeing wedding receptions and leading major awards evening galas. His own awards have included Best Wedding MC by the Wedding Industry Awards (Western Sydney) 2023 & 2022 and Most Entertaining MC (NSW) - Lux-Life Global Excellence Awards 2022.
Quotes from this episode:
"(I would love to see) the ability to be more bold rather than this wide, wide funnel to try to bring as many people in as possible to take away as much money as you can (through things like) a $22 chips on a stick."
"Ask us what we're really capable of because we're already masters of being able to manipulate language and people."
Nathan's website:
www.nathancassar.com.au
Connect with Nathan:
Email: mc@nathancassar.com.au
LinkedIn: nathan-cassar-master-of-ceremonies-sydney
FB: @nathancassar.mc
IG: @nathancassar_mc
Nathan's image credit: Puzzleman Productions
Connect with Adelaine:
Email: uponarrivalpodcast@gmail.com
Record interviews remotely with Riverside:
bit.ly/RecordWithRiverside
Get 15% off your subscription with code: Adelaine
Host your podcast on Buzzsprout:
bit.ly/BuzzsproutGet20Amazon
Get $20 Amazon gift card.
Edit interviews like a word document with Descript:
bit.ly/EditWithDescript
Adelaine's game-changing podcast production AI tool
Note: Some links on this page may be affiliate links, meaning I may earn a commission that supports this podcast if you make a purchase through them. All recommendations are based on my personal experience and made in good faith to provide helpful resources.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Adelaine Ng (00:00):
Last time on this podcast.
Nathan Cassar (00:02):
The days of old.
Emcees and hosts literallywould shake people's hands from
the moment that they walked intothe door.
You would work the room, you'dremember names, and this is
stuff that we do on cruise shipsdaily.
I know that there is a muchmore vibrant way to perform to
people.
Adelaine Ng (00:20):
Welcome to Upon Arrival, a show that uncovers
stories and strategies that makeup all the moving parts of
business events tourism.
I'm Adelaine Ng, and this ispart two of my interview with
former cruise ship director andMC extraordinaire, Nathan Cassar
, who is now also putting hishand to event production.
If you missed the last episode,Nathan basically took us on a
(00:43):
journey through some of hismajor live milestones, which has
given him the career he hastoday in the event industry, and
he challenged us to expect moreof our MCs or Masters of
Ceremony, because there is somuch more that they can do to
make our events more memorableand even improve ticket sales.
(01:03):
In this second part of our chat,Nathan takes off his MCing hat
for the most part and insteadputs on his event production cap
to rant a little about thestate of events in his beloved
city of Sydney.
I'll say you don't have toagree with him on his position,
but hey, this world would bereally boring if we agreed with
(01:23):
everyone and if we didn't allowour feathers to be ruffled
sometimes to think about thingsfrom other points of view.
We also talk about the blendingof art and technology, funding
going to the wrong places and,of course, how our events can
learn a thing or two fromPokemon Go.
So are you ready?
Here's part two, and I begin byasking Nathan why he's become
(01:47):
more passionate about the eventproduction space in recent years
.
Nathan Cassar (01:51):
Well, in a nutshell, I think the too long
didn't read is that in Sydney?
I think I'm just getting tiredof how relatively boring and
uncreative some of the eventshere are.
And that doesn't mean thatthere's nothing going on in
Sydney.
That's of anything.
No, because I'm sure somepeople listening they just say
Vivid, vivid's amazing.
Adelaine Ng (02:10):
And they go well, yeah, but then we really really
look at it and to explain to ourinternational friends who might
not have heard of Vivid butthey'll know the sales over the
Sydney.
Nathan Cassar (02:24):
Sydney Opera House.
Adelaine Ng (02:25):
Yes, crazy, I can't believe that.
Just as crazy.
The Sydney Opera House.
Yes, the sales over the SydneyOpera House and it's that light
show that is projected on thehouse.
And I've done the bridge climbduring Vivid and that was pretty
amazing because you'recombining two experiences in one
.
For me it was quite a highlightbecause I wasn't local to
(02:46):
Sydney, so that was somethingnew.
But you think that Sydney cando a whole lot better.
Nathan Cassar (02:51):
I certainly can.
I mean, look, I went with myvery good friend and
international event producer,world-renowned Darren Brown,
who's the co-owner of theMandala Social, who actually
created an incredible festivalthat I encourage you listeners
to check out the Norm RiyadhFestival in Saudi Arabia it was,
If you put these two eventstogether.
(03:11):
And that's a light festival,correct, Correct yes, now, it is
a beautiful curation oftouchpoints throughout the city
that were truly interactable.
I think the one thing that theyreally wanted to focus on was
to really expand people'smindsets and immerse them to the
point where they had thingslike there was this massive
plinth about oh geez, about 20meters away from this big screen
(03:34):
and if you were to be in frontof like a Kinect style camera
and if you moved, it would thentake that vision and then push
it out to this big screen andthen do all sorts of things with
it.
So it was augmenting yourrelatively normal vision in real
life and then putting it up tothe screen in light in real time
.
Fascinating stuff, wow,absolutely fascinating.
(03:54):
This thing won six GuinnessWorld Records and just one
festival.
Now I challenge anyone todetermine the amount of.
Okay, I'm not saying this isthe only metric, but I challenge
anyone to determine the lasttime that Vivid won a Guinness
World Record or at least focusedon doing something of an epic
scale to that point.
I'm not saying that the VividLight Festival is bad.
(04:18):
It's definitely held its waterfor a number of years, for good
reason.
But here's an example I went toit this year and it's been a
number of years since I've hadno opportunity to go, and so I
went with Darren and it wasinteresting.
We were at the I can't rememberthe name of the building the one
that's at Circular Key.
(04:38):
If any of you have been here inSydney, it's the immediately
the building that's right behindCircular Key Station, and they
always put it up in vision onthe 3D projections on the walls
of the building.
Now, okay, it was fine, it wasa good show.
There's definitely betterfestivals, like the IMAP
Festival in Bucharest.
That's basically designedaround mapping 3D presentations
(05:00):
immersed upon the sidescapes ofdifferent buildings, and I know
there's something major focus ofthe festival.
But it'd be great if Australiacould bring a lot more of those
people who could break somerecords and showcase that.
But right next to it was thishuge, big I don't know what the
resolution is 8 or 16K LED wall.
They had this little containerthing where they were doing this
(05:22):
experience.
We had to get into a line andit was all very corporate and
they give you this little safetything and then you go in and
you play around some colors ontheir new Fandango light fridge
or something.
And then you go in and you playthis little mini game where you
go from one side of the room tothe other and then you get out
and you get bombarded with spamemails after that, with the
recording and everything else,and I was just so confused by it
(05:46):
all because I knew I wasn'tconfused, since I didn't know
what was going on.
But two things I was confused byOne.
This experience was really blahin of itself.
It was clearly just a salespitch and it just wasn't really
well executed.
But two you've got this massiveheritage building being
projected light screen and theprojection is never going to be
as bright the technology we haveat the moment.
(06:08):
But then you have this bigmoth-like light, the zapper
light thing kind of brightness,right next to it that's catching
people's attention away fromthe immersion of this other
building being lit up and justthat.
For me it's like, yeah, okay,that was for foot traffic, I get
that, but obviously they're acorporate sponsor and that's
(06:29):
where the money comes from.
But that really, in my mind,takes it away from what we're
really trying to do here.
You walk through the streets ofDark Mofo in Hobart in Tasmania
, or you walk through RisingFestival that's across the
entire month in Melbourne, forinstance, that focus on being
able to really immerse familiesand art enthusiasts and
(06:51):
enjoyment enthusiasts alikeanybody really who wants to go
and discover the best ofAustralia has to offer without
that sort of he feeling thatcorporates out to kind of get
their tendrils over you.
Adelaine Ng (07:02):
Yeah, it sounds like the beef that you have is
really with Sydney, not with therest of Australia.
Is that right?
Nathan Cassar (07:09):
And I want to make that clear.
Don't get me wrong.
Like you know, I will be thefirst person to say that Sydney
Harbour itself is still, in myopinion, the my favorite harbour
.
I've been to a number ofharbours across the world, you
know been to Melbourne, I'vebeen to Brisbane, I've been to
well glad they called Sydneyhome.
I just Look there is some goodnews in the horizon.
It was good to know that themost recent announcement for the
(07:33):
redistribution of funds fromthe festival in Noel Sydney two
events one I've actually workedon, I've done a lot I did it
first year, I'm not this year'sone, last year's one and Noel
Sydney I had no idea it evenexisted until that same employer
I mentioned it and I was like,oh, okay, but those two things
alone was something to the tuneof twenty million dollars being
(07:55):
used for things that Our currentarts minister said no one knows
about him and I think it's timeto redistribute that and I
think that is the first stepthat goes a long way to proving,
to giving people out there theopportunity to build more
immersive environments and moreimmersive experiences that don't
highlight the corporate aspectsof the world we live in, but
(08:16):
instead bring the beauty back,bring some thematic, immersive
experiences, like you see, adark mofo where the website, if
you like.
What am I talking about?
Is that like a like a newwebsite?
I'm not supposed to be on thetype in dark mofo and look at
the website.
Even if you look at, that issuch a beautiful touch point of
the theme, of the secularism, ofthe uniqueness of this
(08:40):
particular type of festival thatdraws people in from all over
the world to enjoy somethingthat you know it's.
It's a package.
It says this is who we are andif you like us, come.
If you don't like us, okay,that's great, that's fine.
Plenty of other things going on.
If you prefer a wine and cheesefestival instead, well, there's
plenty on offer for you, and Ithink that ability to be more
(09:01):
bold, rather than this sort ofwide, wide, wide funnel to try
to bring as many, many, manypeople in this, possible to To
take away as much money as youcan from twenty two dollar chips
on a stick, I will praise Vividfor one The one thing, though,
I really did enjoy the use of Ican never remember the name of
(09:24):
it is an Berangaroo inberangaroo.
Forgive me for not knowing thename of it.
I'm sure some of this is willremember.
It looks just out to wherecrown is and you can.
This is Big, big, big underlike it's like an under cave
kind of thing, and that.
Adelaine Ng (09:39):
That just goes to show where I do for a visit back
I agree, actually yes or atleast a map.
Nathan Cassar (09:45):
What they did was right was that they put this
really cool grungy, mental arts,rustic, fired themed meat
restaurant sort of space.
I thought that was brilliant.
I was for the first time.
I was like Throughout the wholenight I was like this is
actually pretty cool.
You had open fires, you hadthematic building structures for
(10:08):
the restaurants and so forth.
You had some presentations andsome live demonstrations of the
food being roasted and differentthings like that and I thought,
of course, why is fire notbeing introduced into vivid mid
march until now?
But I thought at the same time,brilliant, absolutely brilliant
.
I thought it was a beautiful useof the space, respected the
fact that it was in the middleof the, the cold of parts of the
(10:30):
year, start on purpose,obviously for the light, and I
thought this kind of thing needsto continue more and be sort of
exported across the city a bitmore than just let's see if we
can get another weird like lightstructure that is really
obscure and you have to read thething that has little plinth
and it's in a really badresolution she can't even read
(10:51):
the name of the artist itselfand see if to go on the website
without point.
You're going on to the next oneanyway, because the whole vivid
wall takes about you know, anhour or two to go around and
You're a cost of expensive foodin the meantime.
So I hope that a lot of theevent reduces out there
listening can take some notesfrom and I'm sure they are from
(11:12):
other much better immersive,curated experiences in
australian abroad and just sayyou know what Sydney's hungry
for the money's beingredistributed in yourself was.
Government is finally on sidewith this.
Let's make it happen.
Adelaine Ng (11:26):
Why do you think it hasn't quite happened as
quickly as you'd like?
Nathan Cassar (11:33):
Money.
Money in the sense of money wasgoing to places where perhaps
so it's money and it's notvision.
Well, yeah, because if youconsider this, the budgets for
Vivid obviously increased eversince.
My friend, Darren Brown, waspart of the first bunch of
people at the Opera House wholiterally helped part of the
(11:55):
initial conception of Vivid,which was just the sales of the
opera house being lit up, andthat was the birthplace of Vivid
itself as it stands today andit's funny because people
wouldn't even remember that tothese days because Vivid has now
taken over everything else andit kind of has nothing really to
do with the opera house anymore, apart from the sales being lit
up.
It's kind of ironic in a way,but anyway, the point is is that
(12:16):
if corporate interests areseeing the most money can be
made from putting so muchemphasis into one particular
type of festival, well then allthe money is going to get
funneled into one, whereas I'minspired and excited by the fact
that another good chunk ofmoney, which was admittedly
misdirected to things that werenot well known and not well
(12:39):
executed, is now being earmarkedfor some serious review and by
the end of this year they'rehoping to be able to release the
first stage of policiesregarding it, and from there I
really hope that somevisionaries will take up the
mantle and bring someinteresting proposals to the New
South Wales government to say,look, let's put Sydney back on
(13:00):
the map because it's about time.
You want Sydney to become a 24hour city again after you
smashed it and that's anotherbig factor too, to be honest,
the fact that we had our lockoutlaws for so long you want
Sydney to be renowned for morethan just vivid.
You want it to be the people ofSydney.
You want to bring them back forsomething more than just lights
and over expensive food anddrinks.
(13:22):
Then we can make this possible.
And so there are so many othergreat ideas out there, and I
think it's just now that there'sbeen a change of government,
there's a change of mindset,there's been a redistribution of
funds, there's an effort to saythat arts and culture is here
to stay and here to grow andthrive.
I think we're now finally goingto get the momentum swinging
(13:44):
back in our direction.
Adelaine Ng (13:45):
Okay, so it sounds like, while you had your
grievances with the event sectorin Sydney in particular, there
is enough that you've seenchanging to give you confidence
that we're moving in the rightdirection.
Oh yeah.
Nathan Cassar (13:59):
And look, Australians, we're adaptable,
you know.
I mean like we, we love to dothings better.
We just take a little bit ofextra time compared to other
people.
We enjoy the status quo alittle bit too much,
unfortunately.
Adelaine Ng (14:13):
We do have a name for being the laid back people.
Nathan Cassar (14:16):
We do, but unfortunately we do it too much
Like, but it's interestingbecause the perspective overseas
still today pervadesparticularly in the States.
They perceive us still as likereal laid back, larrikin,
anything goes, Paul Hogan stylekind of vision, when in fact
we're really nothing like thatanymore.
(14:37):
We still run things at a prettyslow pace.
I mean, geez, we're probably asslow as our internet on the
international scale.
I think that really is anallegory for the fact that as
fast as and slow as our internetis compared to other places.
I think it's also importantthat we continue to increase the
speed of access to publicevents that make people feel
(14:59):
alive and that they're publiclyaccessible, that they like the.
You know, I know it's likehanging fruit, but the
controversy that came up overduring vivid this year about
$130, $30, $40 entry fee to getinto the Sydney Botanical
Gardens for something that usedto be actually free Wow, that is
a pure example of just thecorporate entities taking over
(15:21):
an event that should be for thepeople the city is.
You could easily do somethinglike a Melbourne Laneways style
thing up here to exemplify thelesser known parts of the city.
Yes, we all know Darling Harbor.
Yes, we all know the city operahouse and so forth.
Why not celebrate the lessertrafficked places of the city,
mainly, for instance, theNorthern Beaches?
(15:42):
Their council is doing someamazing work.
I'm proud to be working withthem on a number of different
projects because they've atleast got this, this mindset
that says we need to bringpeople to this base to immerse
with one another, you know,shape their hands, eat the food
right next to one another, enjoy, be around and socialize and
enjoy the cultural immersion.
(16:03):
I was so blown away, in a goodway, by how many people were
from different countries when Iwould be hosting the concerts
and one particular event knownas play manly, which was just
done after covered the mainrestrictions and lockdowns were
done, was mainly done to drawpeople back to the manly course,
so to invigorate spendingwithin the local businesses, but
(16:24):
also just to show people that alike the course, so manly, is
back for business.
And it was vastly successful.
The amount of expenditure wasup by almost, I think about nine
, ten percent of the course ofthe two, three weeks it was on.
You had multiple thousands ofpeople come join in the
festivities.
But it was the most likehumanizing of it was the fact
that when I was hosting thenight and I love to always get
(16:47):
to know people where they comefrom.
For me it's a big fascinationbecause of having been immersed
in so many cultures and I wasjust so heart warmed by when I
was there.
Right, everybody, where youfrom, and I would just see this
coffin in this orchestra, thisbeautiful tapestry of like I'm
from Brazil, I'm from Mexico,I'm from India, I'm I've just
arrived from the UK like it wasamazing those conversations
(17:10):
aren't happening enough in themiddle of the city.
And even something simple likeback in my hometown in MacArthur
in New South Wales, MacArthurMulticultural Festival some
could see this is a simplecommunity event.
Was most beautiful about it wasyou had so much community
support.
They did a parade in the middleof the day is just a one day
event and I'm very good friendsof the organizers and they did
(17:32):
this every single year.
And what was beautiful to seewas that they did this parade of
all the nationalities thatdecided to join, all the little
community groups and the otherlocal leaders and so forth.
This thing, this parade we'rejust a little humble town in
Campbell town in MacArthur thisparade, friend, for like 10
minutes.
It was awesome to see the worlddressed up in their cultural
(17:53):
garb.
They've got different signs andeverything else and the whole
festival was surrounded tryingto teach people about different
cultures and respect and Openingpeople's eyes and different
foods and other differentcultural tidbits about.
You know where people come from, that you know.
If you were to go shopping mall, you wouldn't anticipate or
have this conversations, andit's obviously so much on the
(18:14):
lower spectrum compared to whatI'm talking about things like
vivid and all that but itdoesn't take multi millions of
dollars to be able to bringthese kind of things to the
forefront and to make thesebeautiful human connections
Possible in public live events.
You just got to have the rightattitude for it.
You've got to have the rightbuy in from the correct people,
have a focus and a vision forwhat you wish the outcomes to be
(18:37):
, how you want people to feelafter the event, not just during
.
Yeah, and we can really reallybring back some beautiful life
here in Sydney and hopefullyinspire other places around the
world to start copying us.
Adelaine Ng (18:49):
So Great points.
Are there any specific trendsor emerging technologies in
events that you've seen latelythat you know could really
revolutionize the way events areconducted?
I mean, you mentioned somecomparison with, you know, the
re-ad festival, for example.
But you know what are youseeing that you think Australia
has an appetite for?
That will be the next level upand will sort of harken to some
(19:15):
of the things that you've beentalking about.
Nathan Cassar (19:17):
Who's great question.
Look, I'd be a miss if I saidthat people don't like a drone
show.
They really do.
They do, and I know that that's.
That's a strange thing to say,given that it seems like
commonplace.
But, to be honest, this droneshows that we're doing in
Australia and nowhere near asgood as what they're doing in
the UK or in the Middle East.
So I would say, like Iencourage the companies out
(19:39):
there with vision to continue to, and they usually the most well
attended as well.
So when I was doing elevate acouple years back, you know it
was cast of thousands watchingthese things that we did every
single night.
I will admit from a stagemanagement point of view was a
real pain in the butt because wehad a very specific window and
we're having major Australianartists having to stop their set
(19:59):
at a particular time and theweather and everything.
It was a nightmare, I can tellyou, but people love it.
So I'm not going to deny thatthere's definitely a trend that
needs to continue to happen andI think also be nice to see if
it was a bit more accessible,not just in those major places
within the major hubs.
I hope and inspire thateventually these kind of shows
(20:21):
become a little bit easier, moreeconomical, so that you can get
them out in other regionalareas or other different
festivals, that it's not justsomething that's in as a big,
expensive novelty, but beyondthat, I think what's really
going to come down to sort ofmore speaking, more small scale
but more immersive is speakingto something that I'm currently
working on.
I would love to see more about.
(20:42):
It's funny everybody has one ofthese right mobile phones
that's a smart phone you'reholding up, yeah, yeah.
And in some way they canobviously be the devil.
You know they.
They take everyone's attentionaway.
People will more focus onfilming something as opposed to
whatever, but I like to thinkthat it's really important to
discover a way that this couldactually be something to connect
(21:05):
your fellow person to.
Obviously, I'm not talkinginvading people's privacy is in
hijacking their devices anddoing things that they're not
told to do.
But I love things like digitalpassports, and I don't mean like
the political guy, and I meanlike you go to an event.
It says sign up here, go tothese different experiences,
these different touch points.
Scan this code everyone knowsit is a QR code and then it
(21:27):
connects with like say, oh, youknow, if you opt into a
particular app or something,there is an opportunity I've
seen some of this already occurwhere you know you then get told
about the history of somethinggoing on or the particular
artist, or you know there's agame you can play that you can
connect with a fellow devicethat's standing right next to
you and all of a sudden, you'renow playing with a random person
.
(21:47):
There's a reason why Pokemon gowas not anymore but was so
popular.
People still play it, of course, but at its height it really
was.
The first iteration was crazyoh my god it was.
People were jumping out oftaxis in order to catch one
particular thing.
It was absolutely insane.
It was a mania, but it wasn't amanufactured mania.
The reason why it was sosuccessful?
(22:08):
Because it did two things verywell.
One it socialized theexperience of someone sitting on
their phone playing a game forthe first time.
That took it away from justsomeone else's reaction on the
screen and then you're impactingwithout any kind of
understanding that there's areal wide world aspect to it.
But to it created a touch pointand a talking point because
(22:31):
there was a socializationingrained into it.
You had to get out into theworld and experience it.
In order to get a play the game,you had to actually meet
somebody else, because otherwise, if you were the the technical
here but if you were like, saythat, the Pokemon that was
currently winning the gym, forinstance, you know if there's no
players, the games boringbecause there's no challenge.
(22:53):
And so that's why, when you hadso many people wanting to
invest themselves in thatchallenge, that's why it was so
successful so for so long andcreated so much mania.
And I think events can do thattoo.
In fact, I'm not gonna think Iknow that they can.
They can tap into that byaugmenting what people
experience, by showing that, yes, people bring along their phone
(23:13):
, they bring along technology.
Let's get them off theinstagram and now threads, and
maybe not twitter, because it'skind of dying.
Adelaine Ng (23:21):
But you know, like whatever platform they're on.
Nathan Cassar (23:24):
Let's get them away from that for a second.
You know, because you don'thave facebook, god forbid.
You know, doesn't tell youwho's nearby.
Used to god.
I'm so glad that that's not athing anymore.
You know, it doesn't tell youwho's nearby.
So if people are willing, in anevent where they feel safe, to
be able to opt into a sharedexperience where they know
they're for a period of time,they're in a space where they
(23:46):
could be notified as someoneelse, I know people might be
thinking oh, hang on privacy.
Of course, this is just a novelconcept to begin, but there's a
way that these things can bedone, from the smallest guy to
the large scale that can reallymake people go oh, I didn't know
this person today.
But because this is our onemeans of technology and
communication avenue in ourevery day, why can't we also do
(24:10):
that when it comes to an eventwhere you don't know other
people and where if you were tojust turn to the person next to
you and say, hi, how you'redoing, chances are they're gonna
think you're kind of weird.
But if you've interacted on sortof a shared platform where
you've all opted into.
All of a sudden that whole wallcomes crashing down and you go
oh yeah, we have a sharedexperience on this particular
(24:30):
event or this particular day.
Oh yeah, cool, what's going on.
Adelaine Ng (24:34):
And then you can take that offline and I think
that's beautiful and that'sreally what makes events great I
agree, I would look forward toan app whenever I go to an event
, if anything, just for thewayfinder, just to find out.
I mean, I would have alreadyidentified the things that I
really want to experience, Iwant to go see or want to go buy
from, and then I go there and Iget lost completely, you know,
(24:56):
and oh, I get distracted, andthen I end up going home with
things that I didn't intend toexperience, which are great, but
you know, I missed out on onsome of the things that I really
did want.
So it would have been so usefuljust to have something on my
phone that said, oh here, it isor you're like two minutes
around the corner from that, sothat would have been amazing for
me, and I know that it'ssometimes a little bit
(25:17):
overwhelming for people,especially who are not on the
attack all the time andnavigating through these things.
But usually all it takes it isan intro video that just shows
you how to get around inside theapp and what's actually
available to you and which onesyou want to opt in for, and that
usually takes care of it andthat just enriches the
(25:38):
experience so much more.
So I completely agree with youthere.
As we wind up, I'm justwondering, you know, are there
any tips you can give on howevents can get the most out of
working with an mc?
show obviously you've justpainted a possibility that I had
not heard of, which was hey,have the mc be at the door and
greet people who are coming in,and I love that personal touch.
(26:00):
What else do you think mostcorporate events aren't thinking
about?
Nathan Cassar (26:05):
for one.
They just don't leverage usenough and you may go, oh, but
this is going to cost a lot andwell, well, hang on how fees are
already quite high.
So I mean, like, for goodreason, of course, you know if
you've really got a mindset thatsays we're an important part of
the picture.
Firstly, thank you.
Secondly, um, you're alreadylike two steps above other
companies and other eventcoordinators who just want to do
in-house and that's going toput their whole event in another
(26:27):
scale below.
So to the scene you've got me.
We come with a pressure troveof vast event experience, from
things we've seen that workreally well to the things that
don't.
And I don't get often askedenough what I can actually do.
That goes beyond sort of justsimply showing up on the day and
saying the script and so forth.
But if someone else were to say, no, I'm good, like that's not
(26:49):
on my contract, okay, well, youdecide next time.
If you want to engage with thatperson, that's totally up to
you.
But for the many of us who arereally hungry because this is
something we love doing, themore that we feel that we're
actually a part of it, so weactually understand what we're
actually saying.
It's always a great feelingwhen I get my notes, even if one
two weeks before, where I canactually read about the
(27:11):
different artistic things andI'm pushing people towards, or
if I'm at a festival and I cansay, oh yeah, you know, folks go
over in this direction at 30minutes and all that and this is
happening.
I want to know that I'm notjust reading those words because
it's a corporate message orit's a council message, whatever
.
I want to have had enough timeto really immerse it and I also,
in fact, what I also want to dois feel like I'm part of the
success of the program, becauseI'm going to be the face of the
(27:33):
day.
Have us do like videos, eitherat home and or perhaps go on
site and have some videos withsome of your media team and
activate our audience, activateyours by getting a professional
voice, because we should be goodon camera and say, hey, you
know, come on down to so and soI would love these kind of
opportunities more and I wouldsign up for them in an instant.
(27:55):
I just recently was talkingabout an october fest that I
should be doing in october inthe hunt valley, coming up, uh,
at the beginning of october.
So what's really cool is, notonly are they taking a chance,
the, the venco ordinated theirgabby.
She saw the games andactivities that I was doing in
my weddings, which were veryunique, and they don't see games
at weddings very often and it'sa big part of my package.
She was like, oh, we couldtotally do an october fest
(28:17):
festival with music and yourgames and activities and really
immerse people.
So, such as food and music andgame over, that's really cool.
And so it's like ask us whatwe're really capable of, because
we're already masters, havebeen able to manipulate language
and people and move places, andwhat we say will dictate the
energy and vibe.
So leverage us, you know, findout what we know works and what
(28:39):
doesn't.
We do want to meet people, youknow, and you'll find the ones
you really like working with,who have a bit of extra pizzazz
and fascination about them andcan really grab a crowd.
And if you're just looking forsomeone that can just make the
announcements, well okay, getthem instead.
But for those of you who have abit of vision, allow us to be
the celebrity of it.
This is not an ego thing, it'sjust purely we're already going
(29:00):
to be up there representing.
You know, my scripts alwayswrite our this and we this want
to.
Let us also exemplify thatbefore and maybe even after.
I don't know if you've got somesort of an announcement for the
charity night, where you know,hey, we're in the studios, back
here now after a week.
Thank you so much for donatingeverybody and coming to the
(29:20):
charity event night.
I'm with CEO so, and so we'rejust about to bring out the big
check, all right, how much moneywe make.
That kind of through threadfrom before beginning and end
really ever happens, and yetit's some of the most powerful
ways to get that kind of messageacross and also to expand your
audience and the people you'rebroadcasting to.
(29:42):
And it also connects peopledirectly back to the night,
because they remember when I washosting, I'm the one that says
the most audible, hearable wordsand phrases and I'm the most
visual person on the night.
So then, why not also leverageus for the before aspect to get
your ticket sales going andeverything else in between?
And then also, if there's apost thing like a charity or
(30:04):
even just a public eventfestival, and you say, hey, we
had 20,000 people come in and wesold this many tacos or
whatever Like people like tohear that stuff.
But so you know, use us more, Ithink is the best way and
there's so many different ways.
Adelaine Ng (30:20):
Great message, Nathan.
How do you keep yourselfinspired in the entrepreneurship
journey in the events tourismspace?
Are there books or resourcesthat you would readily recommend
?
Nathan Cassar (30:30):
Books or resources.
Well, I would say I can'trecommend any books at the
moment, just because I can'trecall any of my brain.
I do have James Clear's AtomicHabits, which I should read
because it's a probably goodbook and it's just got a cover
of dust on my bedside table atthe moment.
But I recommend people read itanyway because I've heard it's
good.
Adelaine Ng (30:51):
But yeah, true confession.
I've got mine on the shelf aswell and I've not gone through
it.
Nathan Cassar (30:55):
So bad, although I'm a big I'm a much more of a
big fan of audiobooks anyways,and audible keys to remind me
hey, you can get three monthsfree.
I'm like, oh, she did thatsometime.
But beyond that, I would say,actually the best resources for
people is a lot of thenetworking stuff.
Look, we're event people.
When you're in the tourism game, the event game, you have to
meet people in order to be ableto get ideas and be inspired.
(31:17):
My journey involved me literallycoming into contact with the
kind of person I wanted tobecome one day, and so I immerse
myself constantly.
There's a number of differentbusiness networking groups.
I'm actually getting myselfready to go once.
Once that's an industry one forthe Professional Speakers
Association and so I would saythe best thing is just saying
who around me do I want tobecome, who are they associated
(31:39):
themselves with, and then go anddo it, because I find that when
I get to have get togetherswith my wedding industry
compatriots or, you know, get tomeet other people or business
networking groups at chambers ofcommerce and so forth, those
are when you feel reallyvalidated and really sort of
confident that you're on theright path because you're going
to get a human response.
(32:00):
We're not statisticians, we'renot accountants and I'm not
putting these people down, justto clarify.
We're just not those kind ofpeople who don't.
Adelaine Ng (32:08):
That's your tribe, yeah.
Nathan Cassar (32:09):
Yeah, but we need people, you know.
Otherwise our events areliterally just us going.
No one came to the event, soyou know.
So treated as like that's whatI do anyway, as I treat it as if
I want people to come andlisten to me, I need to go out
and listen to other people firstand get to hear their stories
and shake their hands.
Adelaine Ng (32:29):
True, true, Nathan.
It's been so much fun chattingwith you and just getting an
insight into the world of cruiseshipping, to everything I
didn't know about MCing and alsothat vision that you have for
the event industry in Australiaand especially in Sydney, so I
really appreciate your time.
How can people follow your workand get in touch if they wanted
(32:49):
to?
Nathan Cassar (32:49):
Yeah, absolutely.
Thank you so much.
It's been an absolutely greatpleasure to be here.
I love talking about this stuff.
It's actually weird, though,because I don't normally talk
about my like on stage.
It's the big cardinal sin notto talk about yourself as an MC,
and I don't, but it is an honorto be able to share these
insights, so thank you forgiving me that platform.
How do people get in contactwith me?
Well, I spend a lot of timeupdating my website, so I would
(33:11):
love to catch up with you there.
www.
nathancassar.
com.
au.
I'm also on more social mediathan I'd prefer to have, just
because it's a beast and a halfof the algorithm, but you can
find me on Facebook, Instagram,Linkedin, of course, oh, Youtube
.
I've got a lot of my videosthere and I'm constantly
updating there.
I've just recently joined theThreads Train, although I'm
(33:32):
still I don't know early days,and I've even just begun a
Pinterest, but don't go on thereyet because I've only put one
thing up so far, so don't dothat.
But yeah, I would love to dropme a line.
My email address and my phonenumber is on my website as well,
so would love to meet people inSydney or, if I happen to be at
the chance to go other cities,I'd love to catch up as well.
Adelaine Ng (33:53):
And it's Nathan Cassar.
I was spoke with a double S.
Nathan Cassar (33:56):
Yes.
Adelaine Ng (33:56):
In case you're Googling or looking him up in
one of those social mediachannels, I'll be putting those
links into the show notes aswell.
Nathan, thank you so much.
It's been a real pleasure and Iwish you all the very best and
I hope your voice just getsheard louder and for all the
things that we've been talkingabout today in this podcast,
thank you.
Nathan Cassar (34:14):
Thank you, Adelaine, take care.
Adelaine Ng (34:15):
Thanks for listening.
I do appreciate it.
Do check out the show notes,where I've put links to Nathan
Cassar's work and his socialchannels if you wanted to reach
him directly.
If you found value in today'sshow, please click the follow
button if you'd like to benotified when a new episode
drops.
And, by the way, have you everconsidered launching a podcast
with a strategy to land itApple's top 200 charts in the
(34:38):
very first week?
If so, feel free to send me anemail at uponarrivalpodcast@
gmail.
com and we'll explore how we canmake that happen.
Catch you next week for anothergreat interview to uncover more
stories and strategies for asuccessful future.
Till then, cheers.
Last time on this podcast.
Nathan Cassar (00:02):
The days of old.
Emcees and hosts literallywould shake people's hands from
the moment that they walked intothe door.
You would work the room, you'dremember names, and this is
stuff that we do on cruise shipsdaily.
I know that there is a muchmore vibrant way to perform to
people.
Adelaine Ng (00:20):
Welcome to Upon Arrival, a show that uncovers
stories and strategies that makeup all the moving parts of
business events tourism.
I'm Adelaine Ng, and this ispart two of my interview with
former cruise ship director andMC extraordinaire, Nathan Cassar
, who is now also putting hishand to event production.
If you missed the last episode,Nathan basically took us on a
(00:43):
journey through some of hismajor live milestones, which has
given him the career he hastoday in the event industry, and
he challenged us to expect moreof our MCs or Masters of
Ceremony, because there is somuch more that they can do to
make our events more memorableand even improve ticket sales.
(01:03):
In this second part of our chat,Nathan takes off his MCing hat
for the most part and insteadputs on his event production cap
to rant a little about thestate of events in his beloved
city of Sydney.
I'll say you don't have toagree with him on his position,
but hey, this world would bereally boring if we agreed with
(01:23):
everyone and if we didn't allowour feathers to be ruffled
sometimes to think about thingsfrom other points of view.
We also talk about the blendingof art and technology, funding
going to the wrong places and,of course, how our events can
learn a thing or two fromPokemon Go.
So are you ready?
Here's part two, and I begin byasking Nathan why he's become
(01:47):
more passionate about the eventproduction space in recent years
.
Nathan Cassar (01:51):
Well, in a nutshell, I think the too long
didn't read is that in Sydney?
I think I'm just getting tiredof how relatively boring and
uncreative some of the eventshere are.
And that doesn't mean thatthere's nothing going on in
Sydney.
That's of anything.
No, because I'm sure somepeople listening they just say
Vivid, vivid's amazing.
Adelaine Ng (02:10):
And they go well, yeah, but then we really really
look at it and to explain to ourinternational friends who might
not have heard of Vivid butthey'll know the sales over the
Sydney.
Nathan Cassar (02:24):
Sydney Opera House.
Adelaine Ng (02:25):
Yes, crazy, I can't believe that.
Just as crazy.
The Sydney Opera House.
Yes, the sales over the SydneyOpera House and it's that light
show that is projected on thehouse.
And I've done the bridge climbduring Vivid and that was pretty
amazing because you'recombining two experiences in one
.
For me it was quite a highlightbecause I wasn't local to
(02:46):
Sydney, so that was somethingnew.
But you think that Sydney cando a whole lot better.
Nathan Cassar (02:51):
I certainly can.
I mean, look, I went with myvery good friend and
international event producer,world-renowned Darren Brown,
who's the co-owner of theMandala Social, who actually
created an incredible festivalthat I encourage you listeners
to check out the Norm RiyadhFestival in Saudi Arabia it was,
If you put these two eventstogether.
(03:11):
And that's a light festival,correct, Correct yes, now, it is
a beautiful curation oftouchpoints throughout the city
that were truly interactable.
I think the one thing that theyreally wanted to focus on was
to really expand people'smindsets and immerse them to the
point where they had thingslike there was this massive
plinth about oh geez, about 20meters away from this big screen
(03:34):
and if you were to be in frontof like a Kinect style camera
and if you moved, it would thentake that vision and then push
it out to this big screen andthen do all sorts of things with
it.
So it was augmenting yourrelatively normal vision in real
life and then putting it up tothe screen in light in real time
.
Fascinating stuff, wow,absolutely fascinating.
(03:54):
This thing won six GuinnessWorld Records and just one
festival.
Now I challenge anyone todetermine the amount of.
Okay, I'm not saying this isthe only metric, but I challenge
anyone to determine the lasttime that Vivid won a Guinness
World Record or at least focusedon doing something of an epic
scale to that point.
I'm not saying that the VividLight Festival is bad.
(04:18):
It's definitely held its waterfor a number of years, for good
reason.
But here's an example I went toit this year and it's been a
number of years since I've hadno opportunity to go, and so I
went with Darren and it wasinteresting.
We were at the I can't rememberthe name of the building the one
that's at Circular Key.
(04:38):
If any of you have been here inSydney, it's the immediately
the building that's right behindCircular Key Station, and they
always put it up in vision onthe 3D projections on the walls
of the building.
Now, okay, it was fine, it wasa good show.
There's definitely betterfestivals, like the IMAP
Festival in Bucharest.
That's basically designedaround mapping 3D presentations
(05:00):
immersed upon the sidescapes ofdifferent buildings, and I know
there's something major focus ofthe festival.
But it'd be great if Australiacould bring a lot more of those
people who could break somerecords and showcase that.
But right next to it was thishuge, big I don't know what the
resolution is 8 or 16K LED wall.
They had this little containerthing where they were doing this
(05:22):
experience.
We had to get into a line andit was all very corporate and
they give you this little safetything and then you go in and
you play around some colors ontheir new Fandango light fridge
or something.
And then you go in and you playthis little mini game where you
go from one side of the room tothe other and then you get out
and you get bombarded with spamemails after that, with the
recording and everything else,and I was just so confused by it
(05:46):
all because I knew I wasn'tconfused, since I didn't know
what was going on.
But two things I was confused byOne.
This experience was really blahin of itself.
It was clearly just a salespitch and it just wasn't really
well executed.
But two you've got this massiveheritage building being
projected light screen and theprojection is never going to be
as bright the technology we haveat the moment.
(06:08):
But then you have this bigmoth-like light, the zapper
light thing kind of brightness,right next to it that's catching
people's attention away fromthe immersion of this other
building being lit up and justthat.
For me it's like, yeah, okay,that was for foot traffic, I get
that, but obviously they're acorporate sponsor and that's
(06:29):
where the money comes from.
But that really, in my mind,takes it away from what we're
really trying to do here.
You walk through the streets ofDark Mofo in Hobart in Tasmania
, or you walk through RisingFestival that's across the
entire month in Melbourne, forinstance, that focus on being
able to really immerse familiesand art enthusiasts and
(06:51):
enjoyment enthusiasts alikeanybody really who wants to go
and discover the best ofAustralia has to offer without
that sort of he feeling thatcorporates out to kind of get
their tendrils over you.
Adelaine Ng (07:02):
Yeah, it sounds like the beef that you have is
really with Sydney, not with therest of Australia.
Is that right?
Nathan Cassar (07:09):
And I want to make that clear.
Don't get me wrong.
Like you know, I will be thefirst person to say that Sydney
Harbour itself is still, in myopinion, the my favorite harbour
.
I've been to a number ofharbours across the world, you
know been to Melbourne, I'vebeen to Brisbane, I've been to
well glad they called Sydneyhome.
I just Look there is some goodnews in the horizon.
It was good to know that themost recent announcement for the
(07:33):
redistribution of funds fromthe festival in Noel Sydney two
events one I've actually workedon, I've done a lot I did it
first year, I'm not this year'sone, last year's one and Noel
Sydney I had no idea it evenexisted until that same employer
I mentioned it and I was like,oh, okay, but those two things
alone was something to the tuneof twenty million dollars being
(07:55):
used for things that Our currentarts minister said no one knows
about him and I think it's timeto redistribute that and I
think that is the first stepthat goes a long way to proving,
to giving people out there theopportunity to build more
immersive environments and moreimmersive experiences that don't
highlight the corporate aspectsof the world we live in, but
(08:16):
instead bring the beauty back,bring some thematic, immersive
experiences, like you see, adark mofo where the website, if
you like.
What am I talking about?
Is that like a like a newwebsite?
I'm not supposed to be on thetype in dark mofo and look at
the website.
Even if you look at, that issuch a beautiful touch point of
the theme, of the secularism, ofthe uniqueness of this
(08:40):
particular type of festival thatdraws people in from all over
the world to enjoy somethingthat you know it's.
It's a package.
It says this is who we are andif you like us, come.
If you don't like us, okay,that's great, that's fine.
Plenty of other things going on.
If you prefer a wine and cheesefestival instead, well, there's
plenty on offer for you, and Ithink that ability to be more
(09:01):
bold, rather than this sort ofwide, wide, wide funnel to try
to bring as many, many, manypeople in this, possible to To
take away as much money as youcan from twenty two dollar chips
on a stick, I will praise Vividfor one The one thing, though,
I really did enjoy the use of Ican never remember the name of
(09:24):
it is an Berangaroo inberangaroo.
Forgive me for not knowing thename of it.
I'm sure some of this is willremember.
It looks just out to wherecrown is and you can.
This is Big, big, big underlike it's like an under cave
kind of thing, and that.
Adelaine Ng (09:39):
That just goes to show where I do for a visit back
I agree, actually yes or atleast a map.
Nathan Cassar (09:45):
What they did was right was that they put this
really cool grungy, mental arts,rustic, fired themed meat
restaurant sort of space.
I thought that was brilliant.
I was for the first time.
I was like Throughout the wholenight I was like this is
actually pretty cool.
You had open fires, you hadthematic building structures for
(10:08):
the restaurants and so forth.
You had some presentations andsome live demonstrations of the
food being roasted and differentthings like that and I thought,
of course, why is fire notbeing introduced into vivid mid
march until now?
But I thought at the same time,brilliant, absolutely brilliant
.
I thought it was a beautiful useof the space, respected the
fact that it was in the middleof the, the cold of parts of the
(10:30):
year, start on purpose,obviously for the light, and I
thought this kind of thing needsto continue more and be sort of
exported across the city a bitmore than just let's see if we
can get another weird like lightstructure that is really
obscure and you have to read thething that has little plinth
and it's in a really badresolution she can't even read
(10:51):
the name of the artist itselfand see if to go on the website
without point.
You're going on to the next oneanyway, because the whole vivid
wall takes about you know, anhour or two to go around and
You're a cost of expensive foodin the meantime.
So I hope that a lot of theevent reduces out there
listening can take some notesfrom and I'm sure they are from
(11:12):
other much better immersive,curated experiences in
australian abroad and just sayyou know what Sydney's hungry
for the money's beingredistributed in yourself was.
Government is finally on sidewith this.
Let's make it happen.
Adelaine Ng (11:26):
Why do you think it hasn't quite happened as
quickly as you'd like?
Nathan Cassar (11:33):
Money.
Money in the sense of money wasgoing to places where perhaps
so it's money and it's notvision.
Well, yeah, because if youconsider this, the budgets for
Vivid obviously increased eversince.
My friend, Darren Brown, waspart of the first bunch of
people at the Opera House wholiterally helped part of the
(11:55):
initial conception of Vivid,which was just the sales of the
opera house being lit up, andthat was the birthplace of Vivid
itself as it stands today andit's funny because people
wouldn't even remember that tothese days because Vivid has now
taken over everything else andit kind of has nothing really to
do with the opera house anymore, apart from the sales being lit
up.
It's kind of ironic in a way,but anyway, the point is is that
(12:16):
if corporate interests areseeing the most money can be
made from putting so muchemphasis into one particular
type of festival, well then allthe money is going to get
funneled into one, whereas I'minspired and excited by the fact
that another good chunk ofmoney, which was admittedly
misdirected to things that werenot well known and not well
(12:39):
executed, is now being earmarkedfor some serious review and by
the end of this year they'rehoping to be able to release the
first stage of policiesregarding it, and from there I
really hope that somevisionaries will take up the
mantle and bring someinteresting proposals to the New
South Wales government to say,look, let's put Sydney back on
(13:00):
the map because it's about time.
You want Sydney to become a 24hour city again after you
smashed it and that's anotherbig factor too, to be honest,
the fact that we had our lockoutlaws for so long you want
Sydney to be renowned for morethan just vivid.
You want it to be the people ofSydney.
You want to bring them back forsomething more than just lights
and over expensive food anddrinks.
(13:22):
Then we can make this possible.
And so there are so many othergreat ideas out there, and I
think it's just now that there'sbeen a change of government,
there's a change of mindset,there's been a redistribution of
funds, there's an effort to saythat arts and culture is here
to stay and here to grow andthrive.
I think we're now finally goingto get the momentum swinging
(13:44):
back in our direction.
Adelaine Ng (13:45):
Okay, so it sounds like, while you had your
grievances with the event sectorin Sydney in particular, there
is enough that you've seenchanging to give you confidence
that we're moving in the rightdirection.
Oh yeah.
Nathan Cassar (13:59):
And look, Australians, we're adaptable,
you know.
I mean like we, we love to dothings better.
We just take a little bit ofextra time compared to other
people.
We enjoy the status quo alittle bit too much,
unfortunately.
Adelaine Ng (14:13):
We do have a name for being the laid back people.
Nathan Cassar (14:16):
We do, but unfortunately we do it too much
Like, but it's interestingbecause the perspective overseas
still today pervadesparticularly in the States.
They perceive us still as likereal laid back, larrikin,
anything goes, Paul Hogan stylekind of vision, when in fact
we're really nothing like thatanymore.
(14:37):
We still run things at a prettyslow pace.
I mean, geez, we're probably asslow as our internet on the
international scale.
I think that really is anallegory for the fact that as
fast as and slow as our internetis compared to other places.
I think it's also importantthat we continue to increase the
speed of access to publicevents that make people feel
(14:59):
alive and that they're publiclyaccessible, that they like the.
You know, I know it's likehanging fruit, but the
controversy that came up overduring vivid this year about
$130, $30, $40 entry fee to getinto the Sydney Botanical
Gardens for something that usedto be actually free Wow, that is
a pure example of just thecorporate entities taking over
(15:21):
an event that should be for thepeople the city is.
You could easily do somethinglike a Melbourne Laneways style
thing up here to exemplify thelesser known parts of the city.
Yes, we all know Darling Harbor.
Yes, we all know the city operahouse and so forth.
Why not celebrate the lessertrafficked places of the city,
mainly, for instance, theNorthern Beaches?
(15:42):
Their council is doing someamazing work.
I'm proud to be working withthem on a number of different
projects because they've atleast got this, this mindset
that says we need to bringpeople to this base to immerse
with one another, you know,shape their hands, eat the food
right next to one another, enjoy, be around and socialize and
enjoy the cultural immersion.
(16:03):
I was so blown away, in a goodway, by how many people were
from different countries when Iwould be hosting the concerts
and one particular event knownas play manly, which was just
done after covered the mainrestrictions and lockdowns were
done, was mainly done to drawpeople back to the manly course,
so to invigorate spendingwithin the local businesses, but
(16:24):
also just to show people that alike the course, so manly, is
back for business.
And it was vastly successful.
The amount of expenditure wasup by almost, I think about nine
, ten percent of the course ofthe two, three weeks it was on.
You had multiple thousands ofpeople come join in the
festivities.
But it was the most likehumanizing of it was the fact
that when I was hosting thenight and I love to always get
(16:47):
to know people where they comefrom.
For me it's a big fascinationbecause of having been immersed
in so many cultures and I wasjust so heart warmed by when I
was there.
Right, everybody, where youfrom, and I would just see this
coffin in this orchestra, thisbeautiful tapestry of like I'm
from Brazil, I'm from Mexico,I'm from India, I'm I've just
arrived from the UK like it wasamazing those conversations
(17:10):
aren't happening enough in themiddle of the city.
And even something simple likeback in my hometown in MacArthur
in New South Wales, MacArthurMulticultural Festival some
could see this is a simplecommunity event.
Was most beautiful about it wasyou had so much community
support.
They did a parade in the middleof the day is just a one day
event and I'm very good friendsof the organizers and they did
(17:32):
this every single year.
And what was beautiful to seewas that they did this parade of
all the nationalities thatdecided to join, all the little
community groups and the otherlocal leaders and so forth.
This thing, this parade we'rejust a little humble town in
Campbell town in MacArthur thisparade, friend, for like 10
minutes.
It was awesome to see the worlddressed up in their cultural
(17:53):
garb.
They've got different signs andeverything else and the whole
festival was surrounded tryingto teach people about different
cultures and respect and Openingpeople's eyes and different
foods and other differentcultural tidbits about.
You know where people come from, that you know.
If you were to go shopping mall, you wouldn't anticipate or
have this conversations, andit's obviously so much on the
(18:14):
lower spectrum compared to whatI'm talking about things like
vivid and all that but itdoesn't take multi millions of
dollars to be able to bringthese kind of things to the
forefront and to make thesebeautiful human connections
Possible in public live events.
You just got to have the rightattitude for it.
You've got to have the rightbuy in from the correct people,
have a focus and a vision forwhat you wish the outcomes to be
(18:37):
, how you want people to feelafter the event, not just during
.
Yeah, and we can really reallybring back some beautiful life
here in Sydney and hopefullyinspire other places around the
world to start copying us.
Adelaine Ng (18:49):
So Great points.
Are there any specific trendsor emerging technologies in
events that you've seen latelythat you know could really
revolutionize the way events areconducted?
I mean, you mentioned somecomparison with, you know, the
re-ad festival, for example.
But you know what are youseeing that you think Australia
has an appetite for?
That will be the next level upand will sort of harken to some
(19:15):
of the things that you've beentalking about.
Nathan Cassar (19:17):
Who's great question.
Look, I'd be a miss if I saidthat people don't like a drone
show.
They really do.
They do, and I know that that's.
That's a strange thing to say,given that it seems like
commonplace.
But, to be honest, this droneshows that we're doing in
Australia and nowhere near asgood as what they're doing in
the UK or in the Middle East.
So I would say, like Iencourage the companies out
(19:39):
there with vision to continue to, and they usually the most well
attended as well.
So when I was doing elevate acouple years back, you know it
was cast of thousands watchingthese things that we did every
single night.
I will admit from a stagemanagement point of view was a
real pain in the butt because wehad a very specific window and
we're having major Australianartists having to stop their set
(19:59):
at a particular time and theweather and everything.
It was a nightmare, I can tellyou, but people love it.
So I'm not going to deny thatthere's definitely a trend that
needs to continue to happen andI think also be nice to see if
it was a bit more accessible,not just in those major places
within the major hubs.
I hope and inspire thateventually these kind of shows
(20:21):
become a little bit easier, moreeconomical, so that you can get
them out in other regionalareas or other different
festivals, that it's not justsomething that's in as a big,
expensive novelty, but beyondthat, I think what's really
going to come down to sort ofmore speaking, more small scale
but more immersive is speakingto something that I'm currently
working on.
I would love to see more about.
(20:42):
It's funny everybody has one ofthese right mobile phones
that's a smart phone you'reholding up, yeah, yeah.
And in some way they canobviously be the devil.
You know they.
They take everyone's attentionaway.
People will more focus onfilming something as opposed to
whatever, but I like to thinkthat it's really important to
discover a way that this couldactually be something to connect
(21:05):
your fellow person to.
Obviously, I'm not talkinginvading people's privacy is in
hijacking their devices anddoing things that they're not
told to do.
But I love things like digitalpassports, and I don't mean like
the political guy, and I meanlike you go to an event.
It says sign up here, go tothese different experiences,
these different touch points.
Scan this code everyone knowsit is a QR code and then it
(21:27):
connects with like say, oh, youknow, if you opt into a
particular app or something,there is an opportunity I've
seen some of this already occurwhere you know you then get told
about the history of somethinggoing on or the particular
artist, or you know there's agame you can play that you can
connect with a fellow devicethat's standing right next to
you and all of a sudden, you'renow playing with a random person
.
(21:47):
There's a reason why Pokemon gowas not anymore but was so
popular.
People still play it, of course, but at its height it really
was.
The first iteration was crazyoh my god it was.
People were jumping out oftaxis in order to catch one
particular thing.
It was absolutely insane.
It was a mania, but it wasn't amanufactured mania.
The reason why it was sosuccessful?
(22:08):
Because it did two things verywell.
One it socialized theexperience of someone sitting on
their phone playing a game forthe first time.
That took it away from justsomeone else's reaction on the
screen and then you're impactingwithout any kind of
understanding that there's areal wide world aspect to it.
But to it created a touch pointand a talking point because
(22:31):
there was a socializationingrained into it.
You had to get out into theworld and experience it.
In order to get a play the game,you had to actually meet
somebody else, because otherwise, if you were the the technical
here but if you were like, saythat, the Pokemon that was
currently winning the gym, forinstance, you know if there's no
players, the games boringbecause there's no challenge.
(22:53):
And so that's why, when you hadso many people wanting to
invest themselves in thatchallenge, that's why it was so
successful so for so long andcreated so much mania.
And I think events can do thattoo.
In fact, I'm not gonna think Iknow that they can.
They can tap into that byaugmenting what people
experience, by showing that, yes, people bring along their phone
(23:13):
, they bring along technology.
Let's get them off theinstagram and now threads, and
maybe not twitter, because it'skind of dying.
Adelaine Ng (23:21):
But you know, like whatever platform they're on.
Nathan Cassar (23:24):
Let's get them away from that for a second.
You know, because you don'thave facebook, god forbid.
You know, doesn't tell youwho's nearby.
Used to god.
I'm so glad that that's not athing anymore.
You know, it doesn't tell youwho's nearby.
So if people are willing, in anevent where they feel safe, to
be able to opt into a sharedexperience where they know
they're for a period of time,they're in a space where they
(23:46):
could be notified as someoneelse, I know people might be
thinking oh, hang on privacy.
Of course, this is just a novelconcept to begin, but there's a
way that these things can bedone, from the smallest guy to
the large scale that can reallymake people go oh, I didn't know
this person today.
But because this is our onemeans of technology and
communication avenue in ourevery day, why can't we also do
(24:10):
that when it comes to an eventwhere you don't know other
people and where if you were tojust turn to the person next to
you and say, hi, how you'redoing, chances are they're gonna
think you're kind of weird.
But if you've interacted on sortof a shared platform where
you've all opted into.
All of a sudden that whole wallcomes crashing down and you go
oh yeah, we have a sharedexperience on this particular
(24:30):
event or this particular day.
Oh yeah, cool, what's going on.
Adelaine Ng (24:34):
And then you can take that offline and I think
that's beautiful and that'sreally what makes events great I
agree, I would look forward toan app whenever I go to an event
, if anything, just for thewayfinder, just to find out.
I mean, I would have alreadyidentified the things that I
really want to experience, Iwant to go see or want to go buy
from, and then I go there and Iget lost completely, you know,
(24:56):
and oh, I get distracted, andthen I end up going home with
things that I didn't intend toexperience, which are great, but
you know, I missed out on onsome of the things that I really
did want.
So it would have been so usefuljust to have something on my
phone that said, oh here, it isor you're like two minutes
around the corner from that, sothat would have been amazing for
me, and I know that it'ssometimes a little bit
(25:17):
overwhelming for people,especially who are not on the
attack all the time andnavigating through these things.
But usually all it takes it isan intro video that just shows
you how to get around inside theapp and what's actually
available to you and which onesyou want to opt in for, and that
usually takes care of it andthat just enriches the
(25:38):
experience so much more.
So I completely agree with youthere.
As we wind up, I'm justwondering, you know, are there
any tips you can give on howevents can get the most out of
working with an mc?
show obviously you've justpainted a possibility that I had
not heard of, which was hey,have the mc be at the door and
greet people who are coming in,and I love that personal touch.
(26:00):
What else do you think mostcorporate events aren't thinking
about?
Nathan Cassar (26:05):
for one.
They just don't leverage usenough and you may go, oh, but
this is going to cost a lot andwell, well, hang on how fees are
already quite high.
So I mean, like, for goodreason, of course, you know if
you've really got a mindset thatsays we're an important part of
the picture.
Firstly, thank you.
Secondly, um, you're alreadylike two steps above other
companies and other eventcoordinators who just want to do
in-house and that's going toput their whole event in another
(26:27):
scale below.
So to the scene you've got me.
We come with a pressure troveof vast event experience, from
things we've seen that workreally well to the things that
don't.
And I don't get often askedenough what I can actually do.
That goes beyond sort of justsimply showing up on the day and
saying the script and so forth.
But if someone else were to say, no, I'm good, like that's not
(26:49):
on my contract, okay, well, youdecide next time.
If you want to engage with thatperson, that's totally up to
you.
But for the many of us who arereally hungry because this is
something we love doing, themore that we feel that we're
actually a part of it, so weactually understand what we're
actually saying.
It's always a great feelingwhen I get my notes, even if one
two weeks before, where I canactually read about the
(27:11):
different artistic things andI'm pushing people towards, or
if I'm at a festival and I cansay, oh yeah, you know, folks go
over in this direction at 30minutes and all that and this is
happening.
I want to know that I'm notjust reading those words because
it's a corporate message orit's a council message, whatever
.
I want to have had enough timeto really immerse it and I also,
in fact, what I also want to dois feel like I'm part of the
success of the program, becauseI'm going to be the face of the
(27:33):
day.
Have us do like videos, eitherat home and or perhaps go on
site and have some videos withsome of your media team and
activate our audience, activateyours by getting a professional
voice, because we should be goodon camera and say, hey, you
know, come on down to so and soI would love these kind of
opportunities more and I wouldsign up for them in an instant.
(27:55):
I just recently was talkingabout an october fest that I
should be doing in october inthe hunt valley, coming up, uh,
at the beginning of october.
So what's really cool is, notonly are they taking a chance,
the, the venco ordinated theirgabby.
She saw the games andactivities that I was doing in
my weddings, which were veryunique, and they don't see games
at weddings very often and it'sa big part of my package.
She was like, oh, we couldtotally do an october fest
(28:17):
festival with music and yourgames and activities and really
immerse people.
So, such as food and music andgame over, that's really cool.
And so it's like ask us whatwe're really capable of, because
we're already masters, havebeen able to manipulate language
and people and move places, andwhat we say will dictate the
energy and vibe.
So leverage us, you know, findout what we know works and what
(28:39):
doesn't.
We do want to meet people, youknow, and you'll find the ones
you really like working with,who have a bit of extra pizzazz
and fascination about them andcan really grab a crowd.
And if you're just looking forsomeone that can just make the
announcements, well okay, getthem instead.
But for those of you who have abit of vision, allow us to be
the celebrity of it.
This is not an ego thing, it'sjust purely we're already going
(29:00):
to be up there representing.
You know, my scripts alwayswrite our this and we this want
to.
Let us also exemplify thatbefore and maybe even after.
I don't know if you've got somesort of an announcement for the
charity night, where you know,hey, we're in the studios, back
here now after a week.
Thank you so much for donatingeverybody and coming to the
(29:20):
charity event night.
I'm with CEO so, and so we'rejust about to bring out the big
check, all right, how much moneywe make.
That kind of through threadfrom before beginning and end
really ever happens, and yetit's some of the most powerful
ways to get that kind of messageacross and also to expand your
audience and the people you'rebroadcasting to.
(29:42):
And it also connects peopledirectly back to the night,
because they remember when I washosting, I'm the one that says
the most audible, hearable wordsand phrases and I'm the most
visual person on the night.
So then, why not also leverageus for the before aspect to get
your ticket sales going andeverything else in between?
And then also, if there's apost thing like a charity or
(30:04):
even just a public eventfestival, and you say, hey, we
had 20,000 people come in and wesold this many tacos or
whatever Like people like tohear that stuff.
But so you know, use us more, Ithink is the best way and
there's so many different ways.
Adelaine Ng (30:20):
Great message, Nathan.
How do you keep yourselfinspired in the entrepreneurship
journey in the events tourismspace?
Are there books or resourcesthat you would readily recommend
?
Nathan Cassar (30:30):
Books or resources.
Well, I would say I can'trecommend any books at the
moment, just because I can'trecall any of my brain.
I do have James Clear's AtomicHabits, which I should read
because it's a probably goodbook and it's just got a cover
of dust on my bedside table atthe moment.
But I recommend people read itanyway because I've heard it's
good.
Adelaine Ng (30:51):
But yeah, true confession.
I've got mine on the shelf aswell and I've not gone through
it.
Nathan Cassar (30:55):
So bad, although I'm a big I'm a much more of a
big fan of audiobooks anyways,and audible keys to remind me
hey, you can get three monthsfree.
I'm like, oh, she did thatsometime.
But beyond that, I would say,actually the best resources for
people is a lot of thenetworking stuff.
Look, we're event people.
When you're in the tourism game, the event game, you have to
meet people in order to be ableto get ideas and be inspired.
(31:17):
My journey involved me literallycoming into contact with the
kind of person I wanted tobecome one day, and so I immerse
myself constantly.
There's a number of differentbusiness networking groups.
I'm actually getting myselfready to go once.
Once that's an industry one forthe Professional Speakers
Association and so I would saythe best thing is just saying
who around me do I want tobecome, who are they associated
(31:39):
themselves with, and then go anddo it, because I find that when
I get to have get togetherswith my wedding industry
compatriots or, you know, get tomeet other people or business
networking groups at chambers ofcommerce and so forth, those
are when you feel reallyvalidated and really sort of
confident that you're on theright path because you're going
to get a human response.
(32:00):
We're not statisticians, we'renot accountants and I'm not
putting these people down, justto clarify.
We're just not those kind ofpeople who don't.
Adelaine Ng (32:08):
That's your tribe, yeah.
Nathan Cassar (32:09):
Yeah, but we need people, you know.
Otherwise our events areliterally just us going.
No one came to the event, soyou know.
So treated as like that's whatI do anyway, as I treat it as if
I want people to come andlisten to me, I need to go out
and listen to other people firstand get to hear their stories
and shake their hands.
Adelaine Ng (32:29):
True, true, Nathan.
It's been so much fun chattingwith you and just getting an
insight into the world of cruiseshipping, to everything I
didn't know about MCing and alsothat vision that you have for
the event industry in Australiaand especially in Sydney, so I
really appreciate your time.
How can people follow your workand get in touch if they wanted
(32:49):
to?
Nathan Cassar (32:49):
Yeah, absolutely.
Thank you so much.
It's been an absolutely greatpleasure to be here.
I love talking about this stuff.
It's actually weird, though,because I don't normally talk
about my like on stage.
It's the big cardinal sin notto talk about yourself as an MC,
and I don't, but it is an honorto be able to share these
insights, so thank you forgiving me that platform.
How do people get in contactwith me?
Well, I spend a lot of timeupdating my website, so I would
(33:11):
love to catch up with you there.
www.
nathancassar.
com.
au.
I'm also on more social mediathan I'd prefer to have, just
because it's a beast and a halfof the algorithm, but you can
find me on Facebook, Instagram,Linkedin, of course, oh, Youtube
.
I've got a lot of my videosthere and I'm constantly
updating there.
I've just recently joined theThreads Train, although I'm
(33:32):
still I don't know early days,and I've even just begun a
Pinterest, but don't go on thereyet because I've only put one
thing up so far, so don't dothat.
But yeah, I would love to dropme a line.
My email address and my phonenumber is on my website as well,
so would love to meet people inSydney or, if I happen to be at
the chance to go other cities,I'd love to catch up as well.
Adelaine Ng (33:53):
And it's Nathan Cassar.
I was spoke with a double S.
Nathan Cassar (33:56):
Yes.
Adelaine Ng (33:56):
In case you're Googling or looking him up in
one of those social mediachannels, I'll be putting those
links into the show notes aswell.
Nathan, thank you so much.
It's been a real pleasure and Iwish you all the very best and
I hope your voice just getsheard louder and for all the
things that we've been talkingabout today in this podcast,
thank you.
Nathan Cassar (34:14):
Thank you, Adelaine, take care.
Adelaine Ng (34:15):
Thanks for listening.
I do appreciate it.
Do check out the show notes,where I've put links to Nathan
Cassar's work and his socialchannels if you wanted to reach
him directly.
If you found value in today'sshow, please click the follow
button if you'd like to benotified when a new episode
drops.
And, by the way, have you everconsidered launching a podcast
with a strategy to land itApple's top 200 charts in the
(34:38):
very first week?
If so, feel free to send me anemail at uponarrivalpodcast@
gmail.
com and we'll explore how we canmake that happen.
Catch you next week for anothergreat interview to uncover more
stories and strategies for asuccessful future.
Till then, cheers.
Popular Podcasts
Fudd Around And Find Out
UConn basketball star Azzi Fudd brings her championship swag to iHeart Women’s Sports with Fudd Around and Find Out, a weekly podcast that takes fans along for the ride as Azzi spends her final year of college trying to reclaim the National Championship and prepare to be a first round WNBA draft pick. Ever wonder what it’s like to be a world-class athlete in the public spotlight while still managing schoolwork, friendships and family time? It’s time to Fudd Around and Find Out!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.