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Welcome.
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Welcome to another great episode of the Beyond Normal Podcast.
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I am your host, Kenny Groom.
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I cannot believe we're at this point now.
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Season eight is upon us.
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We're in this new year, new opportunities.
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I'm excited to bring, today's guest to the stage.
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He has, presented me, with an incredible opportunity that I just had to make sure that our audience is aware of.
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Our guest today is Ty Smith.
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he is, um.
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Pretty seasoned.
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I, would say you're definitely seasoned in terms of the sales space, Ty, but you've got this new endeavor in terms of big stage energy, really, bringing, conferences to the masses, like conferences, just navigating this space over the last year or so.
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For myself, it can be rather complex figuring out where to go.
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Who to connect with.
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And Ty and his co-founding team, which we will dig into, have put together a package that I myself partake in.
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so I want to, I, want to put that out there as well.
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but so far, so good for me in terms of the connections I'm making and then just, you know, helping me acclimate myself, to the conference world.
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So, without further ado, let's bring Ty to the stage to have this incredible conversation.
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How's it going, Ty?
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Thank you.
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Yes, yes.
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Thank you for coming on the platform today.
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to talk a little bit about big stage energy.
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I definitely want to, dig into your background as well, but let, let's set the stage.
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Tell our listeners like, what were you doing before putting this big stage energy together?
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What, what was taking up all your time?
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Because I, definitely, want to set the stage for why big stage energy came to, to be, through the work that you're doing now.
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So, so set the stage for us.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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No, I appreciate you sharing.
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So, yeah, I mean my whole background is really just being kind of a traditional just tech person, more so on the sales side.
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I've done plenty of tech sales roles throughout like Comcast or Cox Business Rapid Scale.
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I've ventured into the IT consulting side of it during the later stage of my career where.
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was, helping out resellers and really starting to like, go to events to kind of meet, partners and folks that can, sell the products that I was offering through the corporate, company that I was at.
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And then from there, this was right around about like 2020 while I was still, you know, at my, role as a channel manager.
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I started to, um.
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Get involved with some of the different conferences that were going on.
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Now, keep in mind, like these were a lot of the like identity based conferences, so some of'em were like culture based conferences, or there were gender based conferences, and really what I was helping with was really just.
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Providing just some content related to tech sales or, it consulting because a lot of the tech conferences around that time were more so focused on software development and, you know, really they needed just help with like bringing in speakers or bringing in topics and ideas.
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So it kind of went from working with one conference to another conference, to another conference, really just independently, and then it just kind of spread over into.
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All sorts of conferences from, you know, the east coast of the West coast.
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It started to kind of spread internationally.
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And then over the course of basically five years, I essentially touched over a hundred plus conferences from the USA to Canada to West Africa, and then Europe as well.
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And really just grew into like a little side business of a conference consultancy where we're, we're doing rev shares and, you know, project fees and all sorts of stuff.
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my co-founder was largely doing the same thing, very similar background.
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So when we got together last year, we, we won, realized that.
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know, like this, this whole, market of, you know, chasing down rev shares and fees and all that wasn't really sustainable.
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So that's where we, we decided to kind of like throw away our old model and just rebuild everything and just build the big city energy community that essentially allows people to attend conferences for free and in exchange for conference tickets that we get from these events.
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I think that's dope.
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Ty, I actually met you at a conference.
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I think we met at.
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Was it Black Tech Week in Cincinnati?
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I think so.
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and, and so just to see you like that's your element, like being in conferences, like, like I appreciate you for explaining it, but I don't think people truly like, have, like they can't, they don't un truly understand.
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Like there's certain people that fit perfectly no matter the conference.
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Like it's just like you live and breathe that stuff.
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Just seeing you on this, on display, the networking, just the connecting that you were doing from that first conference.
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And we've been in contact ever since.
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And so when I saw that you were doing big stage energy, I was like, d like this makes sense.
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So, so much sense for somebody like Ty to put together.
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And then you're leveraging your network that you've built over the last while we're in.
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At this point, six, seven years.
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Right.
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conferences is a business in and of itself, right?
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Just conference season.
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I know we talked a little bit about that and we'll dig into that, but it just makes so much sense for you to be doing this right now.
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Man, I just wanted to put that out there.
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Let, let,
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I appreciate it.
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let's talk a little bit about like what was missing, I guess, that.
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You know, prompted you to put this together in this sort of package.
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Like what, what was truly missing from the conference experience, for those folks who are now your, you're really, your audience.
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Yeah, so I, would say for us, we went through like a few different iterations as we were trying to like rebuild this company and coming together and working together.
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So myself and my co-founder, Jared Alberton,'cause we were two independent conference consultants, just working with these conferences and helping out on all sorts of stuff, from influencer partnerships to speakers, to keynotes to sponsors to all sorts of stuff.
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So we basically.
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Realize there's a few gaps in the ecosystem.
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one is that the sponsorship model is a little tricky because typically when you work with conferences, there's like a rev share that you're entitled to when you bring a sponsor to a conference, whether it's 15% to 20%.
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so the only challenge with that is that like if the conference has an internal team, it's tough for'em to work with an external team.
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And sometimes there's people on the outside that.
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Have tons and tons of connections and you know, with our organization, we partner with over 300 plus, companies that sponsor conferences and events.
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So, you know, we, you know, really had a cool way to bring folks to these conferences that might be interested in sponsoring, but there wasn't really, a way to kind of work with their business development teams unless we did it where we didn't collect any type of like.
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commissions on that, which, which definitely worked, you know, but then the trade off was now on the other side, you have of people that wanna go to conferences.
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You know, our inbox is always flooded with folks.
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They're just like, Hey, like, lemme know if you have an extra ticket.
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Hey, do you have an extra plus one?
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Or, Hey, I know you're close to this conference founder, or are they giving away any free tickets or whichever.
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And, and my, myself and, and Jared, we've.
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Largely given away a ton of free tickets.
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Most people in our circle and that know us have probably gotten a free ticket to something at some point in time.
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whether it's a mixer or an event or whichever.
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You know, were very generous on like just helping people get to events, but then we kind of realized like, you know, maybe we can kind of put those two things together because.
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Es need sponsors.
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And they need sponsors by more than one source, not just their internal teams.
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They need other people on the outside to bring companies to them.
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And then people wanna attend conferences and can't spend$500,$300, you know,$200 a thousand dollars per conference and event because you're already paying for travel and hotel.
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So this was really a cool way of just like, you know what?
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Let's work with these conferences.
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Let's get some tickets, and let's give these tickets to our community.
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people will just basically just pay just annually to have access to all these tickets.
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And it really just seemed a way to kind of fix both problems at the same time.
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And it also helped our, companies that we work with.
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You know, we work with all these telecom companies and cloud companies that want us sponsor the right events.
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So it really allows us to kind of help those three groups simultaneously.
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That's dope, man.
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That's a whole kind of like marketplace ecosystem like that you, you and Jared have put together.
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Talk a little bit about, like going at this with a co-founder.
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a lot of, our guests that we have on, they're doing it solo dolo.
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So talk a little bit about, you know, what are, what are some of the, the benefits to going at this, as a collective, as a team?
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because some people don't necessarily even, they don't necessarily even look that route when they're creating something new, something fresh that hasn't really been put together before.
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Talk a little bit about that.
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Yeah, so I think like you, it's, it's definitely good to kind of know, like what percentage of like your market share that you have and who the other competitors are and to kind of like, see like, does it make sense to just.
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Work together because, you know, with with our ecosystem, I mean, things are a little off the radar, right?
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Like, you know, if Coke and Pepsi joined together, there would be a lot of, you know, uproar, regulatory issues for, for that to happen, but in a market that people really aren't checking for when it comes to like, culture conferences, like Jared and I largely had, kind of a, a duopoly on relationships with conference founders.
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You know, we've worked with just about every single, I guess you can say, like.
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Culture and tech like that genre, which encompasses about like 70 different conference founders just in the USA alone.
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We've worked with just about all of them.
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They've worked with either myself or Jared at some point in time.
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You know, Jared did, the, the Afro tech, virtual events, you know, back in like the early 2020s, you know.
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Then he was doing Black tech week media.
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Then I was doing things with diverse tech, and then I was also helping out like baddies and tech with some stuff and systems in sales, and he was helping out.
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Render and there was there, like we've, we've touched almost all of them, so was really just one of those things of just like, you know what, we can go against each other and build business and, really just drive each other's prices down all the way to zero, and then it just kind of confused the market and have them choose between you or me, we can just work together.
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interim technically monopolized the market a bit.
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because we, we have these relationships that, that we've, we've built, it took us five years to get all lot of these like strong relationships and then just really just run this up to a point where there's a big enough moat where, you know, a lot of folks wouldn't be able to kind of catch up to where we're at.
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And I think that was really kind of the, the whole mindset behind it.
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Yeah, I think that's dope, man.
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like you said, having it realizing the state of the market and then how you both can come together, like you said, some people are, are definitely pro competition to your point, but I'm more so pro monopoly.
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So if you can have a monopoly, why not?
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And in this space it just.
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Like you said, there's always someone trying to do it on their own, you know, when it comes to conferences and things like that.
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And so now we're at a point now where even like you said, the, you're having conversations with the people who are putting on the conferences and now they need resources.
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They need a supply chain, they consistent supply chain.
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You guys can really be that partner for them when it comes to visibility and, and access and all those good things.
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I'm curious.
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'cause you just touched on something.
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I'm a big proponent of B2B businesses, at this point, just seeing more folks kind of, you know, create businesses where that is the focus.
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In this case, the, the business here is the business of conferences, where there's a lot of money spent, whether it be the sponsors like you mentioned, or just the amount of money people spend to go to conferences now.
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I don't have to tell our listeners, but if they've, if they've, ever in the last few years searched for pricing, to, to attend one of the big, you know, one of the big name conferences, the tickets alone are crazy.
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You touched on the room and board and the travel and everything else.
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you gotta have some deep pockets to go to all these conferences, so why not tap in, with big stage energy?
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But I'm curious along those lines when it comes to.
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Servicing your, your customers who are ultimately those, conference, the people putting on the conference, the conference founders.
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Are there any areas where you're seeing that, you know, they'd like to see more businesses or more services be created for them, for the folks?
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I mean, I, think, yeah, I think that, that there's like some, some definitely there's, there's some, some gaps right now.
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I, think that.
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know, so speaking about, just if we just talk about like the, the culture in tech vertical, for example, and what I mean by culture in tech is just any type of like cultural group that a tech conference, whether we're talking about Latinas in tech or Afro tech or black women talk tech or et cetera, et cetera, you know, out in tech is another one, all of those different groups.
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So if we think about kind of like the, the wave of those organizations, many of them, in the beginning it was.
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that like they were pretty much bringing top talent and this is like we're talking pre 2020.
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It was just bringing top talent from all these different, sources, whether it's, you know, from top universities or you know, people that worked at, you know, really high in tech companies, you know, big tech companies that really just, um.
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really have a lot of like options or opportunities to kind of like meet folks in the ecosystem that can help them move up or help them, you know, get hired and they didn't really have a, like a safe space to kind of like come together and network and really collaborate with each other.
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So like the first wave of those conferences, it was really just like.
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You, they're going to these talent acquisition companies, these big tech organizations.
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And then those tech organizations are basically like, Hey, you know, we wanna get more talent.
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You know, we like, we're having a, this is post, recession.
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We're having a tech boom.
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We got a lot of investment.
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Was a lot of folks to hire.
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You all have a unique.
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Lock on some talent that we don't have access to.
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We want to pay to be here, to hire some folks.
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Mm.
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then it kind of switched a little bit after 2020 and after 2020, you know, we did have some incidents such as, you know, George Floyd, but there was also, some other things that were going on, you know, around the time, just the pandemic.
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And there was whole, this whole concept of like right sizing, you know, like.
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Hey, we have a non-diverse employee base.
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We want to right size it and we wanna make sure that like we have diverse people across our leadership and across our frontline roles and our mid-career roles.
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So a lot of the money that was coming in, it was different sources.
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It's still HR talent acquisitions, but it also had.
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Some chief diversity officers, which became a new thing, you know, post 2020 and some ERG leaders as well.
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And that really became the focus.
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And that's where you saw a second wave of conferences that were largely very blatant about like what they were about.
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You know, whether it's like a black men in tech, or baddies in tech, or assistant in sales, or et cetera.
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You know, it was pretty much capturing that market of funding that was available.
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And now we're moving into a space where, where we're talking about 20, 25 and beyond, where it's largely not really about.
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Diverse talent anymore, or it's not about the, the fact that we're trying to like right size or do anything like that, it's really just about business development and making sales.
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So, you know, the opportunity right now is the fact that like a lot of these companies, they just wanna make some sales and a lot of these conferences have folks in there that can make decisions on technology.
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And other products and services.
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A lot of these conferences have these great keynote speakers that are CIOs and CTOs or or C-level leaders.
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You know, they have VPs in the room.
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And these companies are just like, we are spending so much money on our business development to try to get to these people.
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Your conference has an entire speaker room of these people.
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If you let us know who's gonna be in there, and it's on our list of people that we wanna target, we will come down and sponsor.
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And I think right now the gap is really just the fact that.
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when conferences, this is like, this is a, a really big gap.
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If someone wants to, you know, run with this, this is the, the whole thing.
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So I kinda gave the backstory.
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This is the, the idea, right?
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If conferences did a good job on finding out who is the actual person buying the ticket, not just name, email and here's Apple Pay and buy the ticket.
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I'm talking about really finding out.
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Who is that person?
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Like what company is that person at?
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What role are they at?
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How long have they been there?
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Do they have decision making power?
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If so, at what dollar amount?
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What products and services has have they bought for their company in the past six months?
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These aren't like wild questions.
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informa, who's like the largest conference company, in the world or one of the largest.
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is what they do on anytime you wanna buy a ticket to any former conference, it's literally three pages of information that you have to fill out in order to get a ticket.
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And I feel like if conferences did that, or if there was a company that basically just.
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that ticketing model for conferences, then that data, they could easily now run that to these new wave of sponsors that just wanna make sales.
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And the sponsors that they can get will flow a lot easier in comparison to the the model right now.
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And that goes also for networking events and anything where you're gonna have people there.
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Yeah, that's dope, man.
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I can't, and, and to your point.
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Most of the conferences I've attended over the last two to three years, there isn't especially the, specifically the cultural ones, I feel like there isn't necessarily that focus on like buyer persona or like, like you said, like really drilling down.
00:19:54.636 --> 00:19:58.846
but you, I mean I've been in to even some of the cultural conferences, right?
00:19:58.846 --> 00:20:00.707
Like there's still CTOs there.
00:20:00.707 --> 00:20:02.596
They're still still CIOs.
00:20:02.596 --> 00:20:04.606
These are people who are decision makers.
00:20:05.461 --> 00:20:15.932
And most of the conversations have been leaning towards like candidates, job candidates, kind of like asking them, Hey, like in person, like, Hey, can, how do I get a job?
00:20:15.932 --> 00:20:17.192
How do I get in the funnel?
00:20:17.642 --> 00:20:23.281
Versus to your point, like if you got a service, you got a solution that you're selling as well.
00:20:23.642 --> 00:20:31.981
There probably needs to be, some, some specific cutout of time at some of these conferences specifically for that.
00:20:32.071 --> 00:20:34.682
And the data tracking alone that you mentioned, I know that's.
00:20:35.237 --> 00:20:36.467
That's worth a pretty penny.
00:20:37.067 --> 00:20:40.737
So listeners out there, he's getting Ty's, giving us ideas.
00:20:43.086 --> 00:20:45.386
this conference space is, is definitely here to stay.
00:20:46.136 --> 00:20:46.866
conference money.
00:20:46.866 --> 00:20:53.757
It's probably ebbed and flow, like you said, in since, the, the 20, early 2020, right.
00:20:54.106 --> 00:21:01.817
there was a little bit more focus on, you know, like what you, what you said, diversity of your workforce, things like that.
00:21:01.821 --> 00:21:02.092
And now.
00:21:03.301 --> 00:21:07.372
Companies gotta make sure like the revenue is coming in, the sales are coming in.
00:21:08.432 --> 00:21:18.632
and so we're still in an exciting time, but then the, some of the conversations have probably changed a bit, in terms of what people are looking to get out of these conferences.
00:21:19.231 --> 00:21:29.102
I'm curious, as you're having conversations and some of our listeners, they're probably, you know, gearing up to, to go on their conference season this year.
00:21:30.241 --> 00:21:35.172
What are some, what are some tips you give folks in terms of like, working these rooms?
00:21:36.352 --> 00:21:42.662
not the secret sauce, right, but, but in terms of like, some of the things you, you gotta do.
00:21:42.662 --> 00:21:46.951
Like here's some of the things you gotta do to make sure you're maximizing your time in these spaces.
00:21:48.430 --> 00:21:59.920
Yeah, so, so I, think, you know, when it comes to work in a room, I mean, the, the way that I see it is, I, take it back to kind of Pokemon cards in a way, know that this kind.
00:22:00.509 --> 00:22:10.049
It's gonna sound a little crazy, but I think that just whatever contact that you have, it's not about if it's a contact for you, it's about if it's a contact for someone else.
00:22:10.799 --> 00:22:18.000
So if you meet people out and about at these events, your first five people that you meet probably won't be relevant for you.
00:22:18.059 --> 00:22:20.309
You know, if you are a.
00:22:20.700 --> 00:22:36.404
Let's say graphic designer and you're looking to meet with companies to maybe get hired on as a full-time graphic designer, and you meet like a tech sales person, or you meet someone that a, like let's say an investor of a company or you meet a.
00:22:37.319 --> 00:22:48.569
Someone that maybe they throw conferences and maybe someone else that you meet as a podcaster and maybe the next person that you meet is a student that is looking for an internship.
00:22:49.049 --> 00:22:52.170
None of those people are completely relevant for.
00:22:52.740 --> 00:22:56.579
This graphic designer that just wants, you know, a full-time role.
00:22:57.029 --> 00:23:04.740
But what a lot of people are quick to do is basically take those contacts and throw them away and completely just, you know, forget that they exist.
00:23:04.740 --> 00:23:06.450
Maybe exchange a LinkedIn, but that's it.
00:23:06.450 --> 00:23:09.210
Like, it's like they weren't relevant, you know, they're gone.
00:23:09.599 --> 00:23:15.210
The key is to actually hold onto those contacts because are gonna meet other people.
00:23:15.704 --> 00:23:29.055
That might need some of those contacts you might now meet your sixth person might be someone that, Hey, I have a program at my company where I'm looking for interns, and now it's like, Hey, I have an intern for you.
00:23:29.384 --> 00:23:36.194
But now I wonder what contact that person has now it's like, Hey, I'll trade you this intern that I met in exchange.
00:23:36.194 --> 00:23:39.194
Maybe you can trade me someone that is hiring for a graphic designer.
00:23:40.049 --> 00:23:46.019
Or you have a founder that is looking for an investor, Hey, I, just met an investor.
00:23:46.349 --> 00:23:48.509
I'm, I don't, you know, need this contact.
00:23:48.539 --> 00:23:51.359
I'll give you this contact of this investor, but founder.
00:23:51.359 --> 00:23:54.930
Maybe you know, another startup founder that's trying to hire a graph designer.
00:23:55.410 --> 00:23:56.940
Maybe we can trade contacts.
00:23:57.734 --> 00:23:59.085
That's the whole method.
00:23:59.085 --> 00:24:06.884
Like it's all about trading context in the same way that we used to do when we used to trade Pokemon cards or trade basketball cards and all of that.
00:24:07.154 --> 00:24:09.434
It's just doing that in real life with real people.
00:24:10.277 --> 00:24:11.086
Hmm.
00:24:11.146 --> 00:24:12.497
That's a bar there, Ty.
00:24:12.497 --> 00:24:13.537
I like that.
00:24:13.567 --> 00:24:17.307
I definitely like that Pokemon analogy and.
00:24:17.356 --> 00:24:23.356
You know, this, idea of, I, mean I'm stuck on this word just like the supply chain, right?
00:24:23.356 --> 00:24:34.057
Like you said, like there may be somebody who's of very little value right to your core business, but something that they do could be of value for somebody else in your network and really plug in those two.
00:24:35.166 --> 00:24:42.826
it still opens up opportunities for you and you don't quite get that transaction or that sale in that moment, but that's like paying it forward.
00:24:43.426 --> 00:24:50.477
Is the way that I, I like to, position it, but that's definitely, that's definitely a g there tie.
00:24:50.567 --> 00:24:53.237
so let's, let's, let's pivot a little bit,
00:24:53.569 --> 00:24:53.859
Okay.
00:24:54.106 --> 00:25:11.356
because I've been fascinated with, the decision that you and Jared made around picking, the, you pick the school, the platform, and I've been seeing some people, specifically building communities there.
00:25:11.356 --> 00:25:12.076
Like what.
00:25:13.096 --> 00:25:30.257
What so far, are there any like big, you know, any key takeaways, any big wins with building specifically a community in that format, that you all have kind of taken and kind of run with and say, Hey, look like this is validation that these things are working.
00:25:31.799 --> 00:25:33.180
Yeah, I would say, um.
00:25:33.299 --> 00:25:34.470
For, for us.
00:25:34.470 --> 00:25:45.539
So going with with school and really just looking at the community model, I think was really just figuring out a way where we can kind of put everyone in the same space we can.
00:25:46.349 --> 00:25:53.579
Provide like notifications and updates for people, but we can also provide like different threads for the different tickets and events that we drop.
00:25:53.579 --> 00:25:58.859
Because we didn't want it to just be like, Hey, here's like a board of different tickets.
00:25:59.039 --> 00:26:04.769
We want to kind of make it social so I can like post like, Hey, here's tickets to Blurred Con, for example.
00:26:04.769 --> 00:26:08.819
And then have people post under like, Hey, I'm going, oh, I'm going, oh, I'm going.
00:26:08.819 --> 00:26:10.440
So now people can kind of squat up.
00:26:10.859 --> 00:26:12.720
'cause that's really the whole goal is to like.
00:26:12.954 --> 00:26:21.775
Build us out, you know, large enough so that every time we post a ticket, there's like 20 people in the comments like, Hey, I'm going, like, who, who's, who's linking up with me?
00:26:21.775 --> 00:26:26.664
Like, I'm flying in on Tuesday and are we going and getting breakfast and et cetera, et cetera.
00:26:26.664 --> 00:26:29.125
It's really to kind of create that experience.
00:26:29.125 --> 00:26:36.984
So that's one of the reasons why we, we kind of went route that we went with community platforms and we were looking for a platform specifically that.
00:26:37.194 --> 00:26:38.934
Kinda like allowed us to do that.
00:26:39.424 --> 00:26:41.865
the second feature was actually the map as well.
00:26:42.355 --> 00:26:45.325
you know, just having the map there, we can kind of see where people are at.
00:26:45.595 --> 00:26:49.404
Is also a cool thing too, because we're talking about conferences and traveling.
00:26:49.404 --> 00:26:52.944
So now people can reach out like, Hey, I'm in, I'm in Philly.
00:26:52.944 --> 00:26:54.444
Like, I saw you're in that area.
00:26:54.474 --> 00:26:55.319
Like, let's go catch up.
00:26:56.987 --> 00:26:59.237
Yeah, that that platform.
00:27:00.616 --> 00:27:03.977
Or just something about the new wave of platforms that are out now.
00:27:03.977 --> 00:27:10.217
I don't know, like they figured out how to, you know, like reignite, like gamification and things like that.
00:27:10.217 --> 00:27:21.527
And like, it just is fun being like, when I log in and I'm logging into big stage energy, like, I'm like, all right, let, let me look and see who's like, like you said, who's commenting on the things.
00:27:21.527 --> 00:27:28.787
Obviously you and Jerry are keeping the tickets flowing, so I obviously go to that as well and say like, okay, what, what should I be plugging in?
00:27:29.491 --> 00:27:33.932
In addition to that, but then really connecting with the others in the community.
00:27:33.932 --> 00:27:44.842
I appreciate even like the first, I think it was like the first day or two you really specifying, like after I did my little intro, my little elevator, you were like, Hey, can you, here's who you need to be meet with.
00:27:44.842 --> 00:27:44.932
Boom.
00:27:44.932 --> 00:27:46.142
And you laid out those individuals.
00:27:46.531 --> 00:27:54.902
Now I've been slowly but surely checking off that, that list, like these are just, these are simple things, but that's really what makes a community grow.
00:27:55.291 --> 00:27:57.481
What makes it seem like it's organically?
00:27:58.277 --> 00:28:00.767
Folks are finding their way organically on it.
00:28:00.767 --> 00:28:05.136
So I appreciate you and Jared and I that that platform specifically.
00:28:06.567 --> 00:28:16.517
the handful of times I have interacted with it for whatever reason, the communities, the, the communities, they're a little bit more sticky, if I can, if I can say it that way,
00:28:16.940 --> 00:28:17.569
Yeah, I agree.
00:28:18.646 --> 00:28:19.426
man, I, yeah.
00:28:19.586 --> 00:28:20.517
I'm, I'm so excited.
00:28:20.517 --> 00:28:24.916
tell folks a little bit about, I guess, how, if they were to.
00:28:25.557 --> 00:28:28.307
Want to, connect with big stage energy?
00:28:28.606 --> 00:28:41.086
Like how do they go about, you know, tapping in with you or Jared, like, what's the, what's the preferred route for them to, to start learning more about how they can maximize their conference experience this year and moving forward.
00:28:42.109 --> 00:28:46.339
Yeah, so we're, we're basically, big stage energy on all platforms.
00:28:46.339 --> 00:28:52.910
Our website is big stage energy, so if you're looking for us on ig, that's really how you find us big stage energy.
00:28:53.390 --> 00:28:57.200
we do webinars, so each month we do a series of webinars.
00:28:57.630 --> 00:29:08.079
you know, it kind of depends on the week, but definitely like keep in touch with our socials and our webinars are cool because we just talk about all of our just fun hacks when it comes to like, travel hacks, conference hacks.
00:29:08.079 --> 00:29:09.700
Like how do I get from one place to another?
00:29:09.700 --> 00:29:21.130
How do I fly from this location to that location without spending a lot, like how do I, you know, go to a conference and just make sure I talk to the right people within a short amount of time and just like all the little things.
00:29:21.130 --> 00:29:22.809
So that is basically.
00:29:23.099 --> 00:29:32.630
Inside of, our, our webinars is just a bunch of free information that we give and then we let people know, you know, how to join Big stage Energy, but to find out about our community.
00:29:32.930 --> 00:29:41.759
big stage.energy is, is the, there's the signup page, but also, we have an informational page as well that some people like, which is big stage access.com.
00:29:42.089 --> 00:29:50.309
And that just kind of gives you just some like background info about big state energy and what we do and how the community works and et cetera, et cetera.
00:29:50.700 --> 00:29:52.079
And also on LinkedIn, you know.
00:29:53.130 --> 00:29:54.269
If you can find me there, Ty Smith.
00:29:54.557 --> 00:29:55.277
Yeah, y'all both.
00:29:55.277 --> 00:29:57.666
I was gonna say y'all are pretty active on, LinkedIn.
00:29:58.817 --> 00:29:59.326
for sure.
00:29:59.326 --> 00:30:02.396
So you won't, you, you will not miss Ty or Jared.
00:30:03.477 --> 00:30:06.616
if you look for them on LinkedIn, you'll definitely find their content.
00:30:07.396 --> 00:30:07.686
yeah.
00:30:07.686 --> 00:30:11.176
I appreciate you, Ty, for just for hopping on with me.
00:30:11.237 --> 00:30:14.507
I am excited about leveraging the platform this year.
00:30:14.507 --> 00:30:17.896
I'm already leveraging it in terms of the conferences we're going to.
00:30:18.287 --> 00:30:27.166
For this year, even the media pass front, you all are helping me have some direction there, so I definitely appreciate, you all putting this together.
00:30:27.586 --> 00:30:32.356
I say it's affordable, but I want folks to make sure that they check it out themselves and really tap in.
00:30:33.376 --> 00:30:36.136
last thought, I want to pass it to you.
00:30:36.866 --> 00:30:43.517
what do you want our, you know, listeners, folks listening to this, like, what should, what's, what's that one thing they should change?
00:30:45.227 --> 00:30:48.646
As they go about conferences specifically, let's let, let's stick there.
00:30:48.646 --> 00:30:54.586
Like what In, in terms of mindset, like what do they need to change in order to get the most out of these experiences?
00:30:55.625 --> 00:30:57.815
Yeah, I think it's really just.
00:30:58.500 --> 00:31:03.660
You know, sometimes people go to the conferences where everyone's trying to do the same thing.
00:31:03.660 --> 00:31:09.299
So for example, like I could speak to this, well at the time of recording as a single, as a single guy, right?
00:31:09.299 --> 00:31:23.930
So if I am now going out there and let's say at the time of recording this Valentine's Day is around the corner, but if I'm going out and I'm trying to find a Valentine's, if I go to an event and a mixer and it's just a bunch of.
00:31:24.660 --> 00:31:40.275
just like if, if the ratio's not there, if let's say I'm looking for a lady and I'm going to an event and it's like 95%, you know, males and I'm trying to find female to date, then I'm probably not gonna be as successful.
00:31:40.575 --> 00:31:45.105
And that's kind of what people do at conferences, you know, that's like, Hey, I'm looking for a job.
00:31:45.105 --> 00:31:46.755
Let me go to a conference.
00:31:47.105 --> 00:31:55.884
Where there's thousands and thousands and thousands of other people that are looking for a job and that isn't really the right strategy to like utilize, there's another way to kind of pivot it.
00:31:56.194 --> 00:32:02.884
So for example, with conferences, there's a lot of conferences you could go to that are straight business to business based conferences.
00:32:02.884 --> 00:32:07.625
So these are conferences where you have executives, VPs, you have directors, you have all these folks.
00:32:07.894 --> 00:32:13.295
But the thing about those conferences with those directors and VPs and everything is that if you go to those.
00:32:13.494 --> 00:32:29.904
You'll probably be one of the few job seekers that's there because most people are just there to kind of do some transaction or do some sales, but the people that you encounter, these executives, these are the folks that actually have the budgets and the power to open up a role.
00:32:30.095 --> 00:32:39.244
They're the folks that tell the recruiter, Hey, move this person to the next round so I can interview them like they are the ones that can meet someone and say, you know what?
00:32:39.244 --> 00:32:40.744
Like you would be be great.
00:32:40.744 --> 00:32:42.184
We need another marketing person.
00:32:42.454 --> 00:32:48.845
Let me actually put that in for the next quarter to add a marketing person and I want you to interview for this.
00:32:49.265 --> 00:32:53.585
And that's what happens when you go to these conferences that are kind of like off ratio.
00:32:53.765 --> 00:32:55.865
You know, for, for example, for me, right?
00:32:55.865 --> 00:33:20.174
Like if I, going back to that scenario about Valentine's Day, if I really wanna find a Valentine's and potentially maybe I should volunteer at an event that is largely going to have more, more women, maybe, you know, something that deals with, you know, whichever I'm not, you know, I don't have that, that magic answer, but, you know, whether it was a conference about, you know, it could be about flowers or whichever like.
00:33:21.065 --> 00:33:22.674
That's where I, would wanna go.
00:33:22.755 --> 00:33:29.359
And I think that's the way that people need to, to think about it when it comes to, your conference experience.
00:33:29.430 --> 00:33:30.660
Like go to the events.
00:33:30.660 --> 00:33:39.539
You'll be one of the only people there trying to do what you're trying to do and that have people there that have the power to enable you to do what you're trying to do.
00:33:40.019 --> 00:33:41.730
And that's my main advice.
00:33:42.061 --> 00:33:43.487
I love that time, man.
00:33:43.596 --> 00:33:46.892
Like you know, you like you hit the nail on the head.
00:33:46.892 --> 00:33:50.582
People go to some of these conferences and it's just gonna like work out and then.
00:33:51.287 --> 00:34:00.767
Specifically on that job front, like there's conferences where thousands, if not tens of thousands of people are going for a job and it's like there aren't that many jobs.
00:34:00.797 --> 00:34:02.416
Like you gotta play the numbers as well.
00:34:02.416 --> 00:34:04.277
So I appreciate you dropping that gym.
00:34:04.606 --> 00:34:06.646
Closing us out for our listeners.
00:34:08.056 --> 00:34:10.097
Make sure you tap in with big stage energy.
00:34:10.097 --> 00:34:11.461
I can't say that enough.
00:34:12.192 --> 00:34:14.956
and I'll be looking forward to seeing how the platform grows.
00:34:15.257 --> 00:34:22.336
For our listeners, thank you for tuning in to another incredible episode with myself and today's guest.
00:34:22.606 --> 00:34:24.737
Ty Smith appreciated peace.
00:34:25.375 --> 00:34:25.855
All right.
00:00:50.042 --> 00:00:50.462
Welcome.
00:00:50.462 --> 00:00:54.661
Welcome to another great episode of the Beyond Normal Podcast.
00:00:54.661 --> 00:00:56.851
I am your host, Kenny Groom.
00:00:57.212 --> 00:00:59.341
I cannot believe we're at this point now.
00:00:59.341 --> 00:01:01.472
Season eight is upon us.
00:01:02.192 --> 00:01:04.861
We're in this new year, new opportunities.
00:01:04.921 --> 00:01:09.391
I'm excited to bring, today's guest to the stage.
00:01:09.391 --> 00:01:17.941
He has, presented me, with an incredible opportunity that I just had to make sure that our audience is aware of.
00:01:17.941 --> 00:01:19.561
Our guest today is Ty Smith.
00:01:20.632 --> 00:01:22.462
he is, um.
00:01:23.951 --> 00:01:25.152
Pretty seasoned.
00:01:25.191 --> 00:01:43.352
I, would say you're definitely seasoned in terms of the sales space, Ty, but you've got this new endeavor in terms of big stage energy, really, bringing, conferences to the masses, like conferences, just navigating this space over the last year or so.
00:01:43.352 --> 00:01:46.766
For myself, it can be rather complex figuring out where to go.
00:01:47.462 --> 00:01:48.481
Who to connect with.
00:01:49.081 --> 00:01:56.712
And Ty and his co-founding team, which we will dig into, have put together a package that I myself partake in.
00:01:57.152 --> 00:01:59.852
so I want to, I, want to put that out there as well.
00:02:00.492 --> 00:02:09.162
but so far, so good for me in terms of the connections I'm making and then just, you know, helping me acclimate myself, to the conference world.
00:02:09.181 --> 00:02:13.711
So, without further ado, let's bring Ty to the stage to have this incredible conversation.
00:02:14.401 --> 00:02:15.062
How's it going, Ty?
00:02:17.086 --> 00:02:17.326
Thank you.
00:02:18.826 --> 00:02:19.516
Yes, yes.
00:02:19.516 --> 00:02:21.687
Thank you for coming on the platform today.
00:02:22.507 --> 00:02:25.097
to talk a little bit about big stage energy.
00:02:25.456 --> 00:02:31.157
I definitely want to, dig into your background as well, but let, let's set the stage.
00:02:31.157 --> 00:02:39.796
Tell our listeners like, what were you doing before putting this big stage energy together?
00:02:40.111 --> 00:02:42.632
What, what was taking up all your time?
00:02:42.632 --> 00:02:51.512
Because I, definitely, want to set the stage for why big stage energy came to, to be, through the work that you're doing now.
00:02:51.512 --> 00:02:53.252
So, so set the stage for us.
00:02:54.224 --> 00:02:54.435
Yeah.
00:02:54.435 --> 00:02:54.645
Yeah.
00:02:54.645 --> 00:02:55.685
No, I appreciate you sharing.
00:02:55.685 --> 00:03:03.344
So, yeah, I mean my whole background is really just being kind of a traditional just tech person, more so on the sales side.
00:03:03.344 --> 00:03:09.435
I've done plenty of tech sales roles throughout like Comcast or Cox Business Rapid Scale.
00:03:09.685 --> 00:03:14.224
I've ventured into the IT consulting side of it during the later stage of my career where.
00:03:14.594 --> 00:03:27.699
was, helping out resellers and really starting to like, go to events to kind of meet, partners and folks that can, sell the products that I was offering through the corporate, company that I was at.
00:03:28.159 --> 00:03:35.500
And then from there, this was right around about like 2020 while I was still, you know, at my, role as a channel manager.
00:03:35.889 --> 00:03:36.944
I started to, um.
00:03:37.569 --> 00:03:41.469
Get involved with some of the different conferences that were going on.
00:03:41.469 --> 00:03:51.384
Now, keep in mind, like these were a lot of the like identity based conferences, so some of'em were like culture based conferences, or there were gender based conferences, and really what I was helping with was really just.
00:03:52.245 --> 00:04:07.514
Providing just some content related to tech sales or, it consulting because a lot of the tech conferences around that time were more so focused on software development and, you know, really they needed just help with like bringing in speakers or bringing in topics and ideas.
00:04:07.514 --> 00:04:14.474
So it kind of went from working with one conference to another conference, to another conference, really just independently, and then it just kind of spread over into.
00:04:14.830 --> 00:04:17.949
All sorts of conferences from, you know, the east coast of the West coast.
00:04:17.949 --> 00:04:19.660
It started to kind of spread internationally.
00:04:19.930 --> 00:04:29.500
And then over the course of basically five years, I essentially touched over a hundred plus conferences from the USA to Canada to West Africa, and then Europe as well.
00:04:29.800 --> 00:04:38.069
And really just grew into like a little side business of a conference consultancy where we're, we're doing rev shares and, you know, project fees and all sorts of stuff.
00:04:38.790 --> 00:04:41.970
my co-founder was largely doing the same thing, very similar background.
00:04:41.970 --> 00:04:45.990
So when we got together last year, we, we won, realized that.
00:04:46.769 --> 00:04:53.819
know, like this, this whole, market of, you know, chasing down rev shares and fees and all that wasn't really sustainable.
00:04:53.819 --> 00:05:09.000
So that's where we, we decided to kind of like throw away our old model and just rebuild everything and just build the big city energy community that essentially allows people to attend conferences for free and in exchange for conference tickets that we get from these events.
00:05:10.081 --> 00:05:10.982
I think that's dope.
00:05:11.822 --> 00:05:14.182
Ty, I actually met you at a conference.
00:05:14.492 --> 00:05:15.992
I think we met at.
00:05:16.711 --> 00:05:21.291
Was it Black Tech Week in Cincinnati?
00:05:22.692 --> 00:05:23.451
I think so.
00:05:24.822 --> 00:05:38.791
and, and so just to see you like that's your element, like being in conferences, like, like I appreciate you for explaining it, but I don't think people truly like, have, like they can't, they don't un truly understand.
00:05:38.791 --> 00:05:43.052
Like there's certain people that fit perfectly no matter the conference.
00:05:43.052 --> 00:05:45.451
Like it's just like you live and breathe that stuff.
00:05:45.872 --> 00:05:53.521
Just seeing you on this, on display, the networking, just the connecting that you were doing from that first conference.
00:05:53.732 --> 00:05:55.502
And we've been in contact ever since.
00:05:55.502 --> 00:06:00.482
And so when I saw that you were doing big stage energy, I was like, d like this makes sense.
00:06:00.482 --> 00:06:04.021
So, so much sense for somebody like Ty to put together.
00:06:04.711 --> 00:06:09.362
And then you're leveraging your network that you've built over the last while we're in.
00:06:10.216 --> 00:06:11.807
At this point, six, seven years.
00:06:11.807 --> 00:06:12.197
Right.
00:06:13.047 --> 00:06:16.156
conferences is a business in and of itself, right?
00:06:16.156 --> 00:06:17.507
Just conference season.
00:06:17.776 --> 00:06:23.987
I know we talked a little bit about that and we'll dig into that, but it just makes so much sense for you to be doing this right now.
00:06:23.987 --> 00:06:26.187
Man, I just wanted to put that out there.
00:06:26.877 --> 00:06:27.607
Let, let,
00:06:27.834 --> 00:06:28.375
I appreciate it.
00:06:28.961 --> 00:06:36.076
let's talk a little bit about like what was missing, I guess, that.
00:06:37.516 --> 00:06:42.286
You know, prompted you to put this together in this sort of package.
00:06:42.286 --> 00:06:49.041
Like what, what was truly missing from the conference experience, for those folks who are now your, you're really, your audience.
00:06:50.415 --> 00:06:59.675
Yeah, so I, would say for us, we went through like a few different iterations as we were trying to like rebuild this company and coming together and working together.
00:06:59.675 --> 00:07:12.935
So myself and my co-founder, Jared Alberton,'cause we were two independent conference consultants, just working with these conferences and helping out on all sorts of stuff, from influencer partnerships to speakers, to keynotes to sponsors to all sorts of stuff.
00:07:13.295 --> 00:07:14.944
So we basically.
00:07:15.644 --> 00:07:18.745
Realize there's a few gaps in the ecosystem.
00:07:19.375 --> 00:07:34.345
one is that the sponsorship model is a little tricky because typically when you work with conferences, there's like a rev share that you're entitled to when you bring a sponsor to a conference, whether it's 15% to 20%.
00:07:34.545 --> 00:07:40.875
so the only challenge with that is that like if the conference has an internal team, it's tough for'em to work with an external team.
00:07:40.935 --> 00:07:43.365
And sometimes there's people on the outside that.
00:07:43.589 --> 00:07:52.230
Have tons and tons of connections and you know, with our organization, we partner with over 300 plus, companies that sponsor conferences and events.
00:07:52.500 --> 00:08:09.720
So, you know, we, you know, really had a cool way to bring folks to these conferences that might be interested in sponsoring, but there wasn't really, a way to kind of work with their business development teams unless we did it where we didn't collect any type of like.
00:08:10.720 --> 00:08:19.154
commissions on that, which, which definitely worked, you know, but then the trade off was now on the other side, you have of people that wanna go to conferences.
00:08:19.154 --> 00:08:21.285
You know, our inbox is always flooded with folks.
00:08:21.285 --> 00:08:23.714
They're just like, Hey, like, lemme know if you have an extra ticket.
00:08:23.714 --> 00:08:24.855
Hey, do you have an extra plus one?
00:08:24.855 --> 00:08:28.245
Or, Hey, I know you're close to this conference founder, or are they giving away any free tickets or whichever.
00:08:28.245 --> 00:08:30.764
And, and my, myself and, and Jared, we've.
00:08:31.110 --> 00:08:32.759
Largely given away a ton of free tickets.
00:08:32.759 --> 00:08:38.259
Most people in our circle and that know us have probably gotten a free ticket to something at some point in time.
00:08:38.960 --> 00:08:41.679
whether it's a mixer or an event or whichever.
00:08:41.850 --> 00:08:50.355
You know, were very generous on like just helping people get to events, but then we kind of realized like, you know, maybe we can kind of put those two things together because.
00:08:51.620 --> 00:08:52.549
Es need sponsors.
00:08:52.549 --> 00:08:55.730
And they need sponsors by more than one source, not just their internal teams.
00:08:55.730 --> 00:08:58.879
They need other people on the outside to bring companies to them.
00:08:59.210 --> 00:09:09.649
And then people wanna attend conferences and can't spend$500,$300, you know,$200 a thousand dollars per conference and event because you're already paying for travel and hotel.
00:09:09.889 --> 00:09:13.190
So this was really a cool way of just like, you know what?
00:09:13.190 --> 00:09:14.659
Let's work with these conferences.
00:09:15.049 --> 00:09:18.110
Let's get some tickets, and let's give these tickets to our community.
00:09:19.004 --> 00:09:23.384
people will just basically just pay just annually to have access to all these tickets.
00:09:23.684 --> 00:09:28.424
And it really just seemed a way to kind of fix both problems at the same time.
00:09:28.725 --> 00:09:31.965
And it also helped our, companies that we work with.
00:09:31.965 --> 00:09:35.774
You know, we work with all these telecom companies and cloud companies that want us sponsor the right events.
00:09:36.014 --> 00:09:39.465
So it really allows us to kind of help those three groups simultaneously.
00:09:39.981 --> 00:09:41.032
That's dope, man.
00:09:41.032 --> 00:09:47.272
That's a whole kind of like marketplace ecosystem like that you, you and Jared have put together.
00:09:48.501 --> 00:09:55.461
Talk a little bit about, like going at this with a co-founder.
00:09:57.381 --> 00:10:01.726
a lot of, our guests that we have on, they're doing it solo dolo.
00:10:01.726 --> 00:10:11.397
So talk a little bit about, you know, what are, what are some of the, the benefits to going at this, as a collective, as a team?
00:10:12.136 --> 00:10:22.922
because some people don't necessarily even, they don't necessarily even look that route when they're creating something new, something fresh that hasn't really been put together before.
00:10:23.057 --> 00:10:23.787
Talk a little bit about that.
00:10:24.860 --> 00:10:39.769
Yeah, so I think like you, it's, it's definitely good to kind of know, like what percentage of like your market share that you have and who the other competitors are and to kind of like, see like, does it make sense to just.
00:10:40.075 --> 00:10:45.865
Work together because, you know, with with our ecosystem, I mean, things are a little off the radar, right?
00:10:45.865 --> 00:11:04.164
Like, you know, if Coke and Pepsi joined together, there would be a lot of, you know, uproar, regulatory issues for, for that to happen, but in a market that people really aren't checking for when it comes to like, culture conferences, like Jared and I largely had, kind of a, a duopoly on relationships with conference founders.
00:11:04.164 --> 00:11:08.365
You know, we've worked with just about every single, I guess you can say, like.
00:11:09.054 --> 00:11:15.865
Culture and tech like that genre, which encompasses about like 70 different conference founders just in the USA alone.
00:11:16.164 --> 00:11:18.054
We've worked with just about all of them.
00:11:18.054 --> 00:11:21.235
They've worked with either myself or Jared at some point in time.
00:11:21.264 --> 00:11:28.825
You know, Jared did, the, the Afro tech, virtual events, you know, back in like the early 2020s, you know.
00:11:28.825 --> 00:11:30.504
Then he was doing Black tech week media.
00:11:30.504 --> 00:11:38.184
Then I was doing things with diverse tech, and then I was also helping out like baddies and tech with some stuff and systems in sales, and he was helping out.
00:11:38.384 --> 00:12:03.134
Render and there was there, like we've, we've touched almost all of them, so was really just one of those things of just like, you know what, we can go against each other and build business and, really just drive each other's prices down all the way to zero, and then it just kind of confused the market and have them choose between you or me, we can just work together.
00:12:03.914 --> 00:12:06.695
interim technically monopolized the market a bit.
00:12:07.355 --> 00:12:22.875
because we, we have these relationships that, that we've, we've built, it took us five years to get all lot of these like strong relationships and then just really just run this up to a point where there's a big enough moat where, you know, a lot of folks wouldn't be able to kind of catch up to where we're at.
00:12:23.294 --> 00:12:25.934
And I think that was really kind of the, the whole mindset behind it.
00:12:26.687 --> 00:12:28.336
Yeah, I think that's dope, man.
00:12:30.356 --> 00:12:46.697
like you said, having it realizing the state of the market and then how you both can come together, like you said, some people are, are definitely pro competition to your point, but I'm more so pro monopoly.
00:12:46.697 --> 00:12:49.817
So if you can have a monopoly, why not?
00:12:50.626 --> 00:12:52.456
And in this space it just.
00:12:52.756 --> 00:12:59.417
Like you said, there's always someone trying to do it on their own, you know, when it comes to conferences and things like that.
00:12:59.417 --> 00:13:07.937
And so now we're at a point now where even like you said, the, you're having conversations with the people who are putting on the conferences and now they need resources.
00:13:07.937 --> 00:13:10.756
They need a supply chain, they consistent supply chain.
00:13:11.267 --> 00:13:17.356
You guys can really be that partner for them when it comes to visibility and, and access and all those good things.
00:13:17.807 --> 00:13:18.616
I'm curious.
00:13:19.736 --> 00:13:21.267
'cause you just touched on something.
00:13:21.437 --> 00:13:30.226
I'm a big proponent of B2B businesses, at this point, just seeing more folks kind of, you know, create businesses where that is the focus.
00:13:30.586 --> 00:13:42.091
In this case, the, the business here is the business of conferences, where there's a lot of money spent, whether it be the sponsors like you mentioned, or just the amount of money people spend to go to conferences now.
00:13:43.231 --> 00:13:56.192
I don't have to tell our listeners, but if they've, if they've, ever in the last few years searched for pricing, to, to attend one of the big, you know, one of the big name conferences, the tickets alone are crazy.
00:13:56.642 --> 00:14:00.152
You touched on the room and board and the travel and everything else.
00:14:01.261 --> 00:14:07.422
you gotta have some deep pockets to go to all these conferences, so why not tap in, with big stage energy?
00:14:07.501 --> 00:14:11.432
But I'm curious along those lines when it comes to.
00:14:12.376 --> 00:14:20.567
Servicing your, your customers who are ultimately those, conference, the people putting on the conference, the conference founders.
00:14:20.956 --> 00:14:30.856
Are there any areas where you're seeing that, you know, they'd like to see more businesses or more services be created for them, for the folks?
00:14:31.085 --> 00:14:39.144
I mean, I, think, yeah, I think that, that there's like some, some definitely there's, there's some, some gaps right now.
00:14:39.195 --> 00:14:40.174
I, think that.
00:14:40.764 --> 00:15:03.149
know, so speaking about, just if we just talk about like the, the culture in tech vertical, for example, and what I mean by culture in tech is just any type of like cultural group that a tech conference, whether we're talking about Latinas in tech or Afro tech or black women talk tech or et cetera, et cetera, you know, out in tech is another one, all of those different groups.
00:15:03.149 --> 00:15:09.509
So if we think about kind of like the, the wave of those organizations, many of them, in the beginning it was.
00:15:10.440 --> 00:15:16.470
that like they were pretty much bringing top talent and this is like we're talking pre 2020.
00:15:16.470 --> 00:15:31.080
It was just bringing top talent from all these different, sources, whether it's, you know, from top universities or you know, people that worked at, you know, really high in tech companies, you know, big tech companies that really just, um.
00:15:31.995 --> 00:15:48.705
really have a lot of like options or opportunities to kind of like meet folks in the ecosystem that can help them move up or help them, you know, get hired and they didn't really have a, like a safe space to kind of like come together and network and really collaborate with each other.
00:15:48.705 --> 00:15:51.495
So like the first wave of those conferences, it was really just like.
00:15:52.004 --> 00:15:55.845
You, they're going to these talent acquisition companies, these big tech organizations.
00:15:55.845 --> 00:16:02.565
And then those tech organizations are basically like, Hey, you know, we wanna get more talent.
00:16:02.865 --> 00:16:06.504
You know, we like, we're having a, this is post, recession.
00:16:06.504 --> 00:16:07.544
We're having a tech boom.
00:16:07.544 --> 00:16:08.414
We got a lot of investment.
00:16:08.414 --> 00:16:09.495
Was a lot of folks to hire.
00:16:09.705 --> 00:16:10.664
You all have a unique.
00:16:11.375 --> 00:16:13.475
Lock on some talent that we don't have access to.
00:16:13.475 --> 00:16:15.754
We want to pay to be here, to hire some folks.
00:16:16.336 --> 00:16:16.557
Mm.
00:16:16.625 --> 00:16:27.725
then it kind of switched a little bit after 2020 and after 2020, you know, we did have some incidents such as, you know, George Floyd, but there was also, some other things that were going on, you know, around the time, just the pandemic.
00:16:27.725 --> 00:16:31.250
And there was whole, this whole concept of like right sizing, you know, like.
00:16:31.825 --> 00:16:35.934
Hey, we have a non-diverse employee base.
00:16:35.934 --> 00:16:45.355
We want to right size it and we wanna make sure that like we have diverse people across our leadership and across our frontline roles and our mid-career roles.
00:16:45.745 --> 00:16:49.434
So a lot of the money that was coming in, it was different sources.
00:16:49.465 --> 00:16:53.715
It's still HR talent acquisitions, but it also had.
00:16:53.815 --> 00:16:59.495
Some chief diversity officers, which became a new thing, you know, post 2020 and some ERG leaders as well.
00:16:59.764 --> 00:17:01.205
And that really became the focus.
00:17:01.205 --> 00:17:07.115
And that's where you saw a second wave of conferences that were largely very blatant about like what they were about.
00:17:07.115 --> 00:17:11.855
You know, whether it's like a black men in tech, or baddies in tech, or assistant in sales, or et cetera.
00:17:11.855 --> 00:17:16.025
You know, it was pretty much capturing that market of funding that was available.
00:17:16.345 --> 00:17:23.335
And now we're moving into a space where, where we're talking about 20, 25 and beyond, where it's largely not really about.
00:17:24.045 --> 00:17:33.884
Diverse talent anymore, or it's not about the, the fact that we're trying to like right size or do anything like that, it's really just about business development and making sales.
00:17:34.154 --> 00:17:46.394
So, you know, the opportunity right now is the fact that like a lot of these companies, they just wanna make some sales and a lot of these conferences have folks in there that can make decisions on technology.
00:17:46.720 --> 00:17:48.039
And other products and services.
00:17:48.099 --> 00:17:53.619
A lot of these conferences have these great keynote speakers that are CIOs and CTOs or or C-level leaders.
00:17:53.859 --> 00:17:55.539
You know, they have VPs in the room.
00:17:55.750 --> 00:18:00.880
And these companies are just like, we are spending so much money on our business development to try to get to these people.
00:18:01.089 --> 00:18:04.420
Your conference has an entire speaker room of these people.
00:18:04.539 --> 00:18:10.809
If you let us know who's gonna be in there, and it's on our list of people that we wanna target, we will come down and sponsor.
00:18:11.079 --> 00:18:14.420
And I think right now the gap is really just the fact that.
00:18:15.490 --> 00:18:19.184
when conferences, this is like, this is a, a really big gap.
00:18:19.184 --> 00:18:22.305
If someone wants to, you know, run with this, this is the, the whole thing.
00:18:22.335 --> 00:18:23.625
So I kinda gave the backstory.
00:18:23.625 --> 00:18:25.454
This is the, the idea, right?
00:18:25.815 --> 00:18:36.065
If conferences did a good job on finding out who is the actual person buying the ticket, not just name, email and here's Apple Pay and buy the ticket.
00:18:36.484 --> 00:18:38.625
I'm talking about really finding out.
00:18:39.105 --> 00:18:40.575
Who is that person?
00:18:40.664 --> 00:18:42.315
Like what company is that person at?
00:18:42.315 --> 00:18:43.214
What role are they at?
00:18:43.214 --> 00:18:44.265
How long have they been there?
00:18:44.444 --> 00:18:46.275
Do they have decision making power?
00:18:46.515 --> 00:18:48.434
If so, at what dollar amount?
00:18:48.765 --> 00:18:52.424
What products and services has have they bought for their company in the past six months?
00:18:52.785 --> 00:18:54.404
These aren't like wild questions.
00:18:54.434 --> 00:18:58.694
informa, who's like the largest conference company, in the world or one of the largest.
00:18:59.565 --> 00:19:08.025
is what they do on anytime you wanna buy a ticket to any former conference, it's literally three pages of information that you have to fill out in order to get a ticket.
00:19:08.355 --> 00:19:13.005
And I feel like if conferences did that, or if there was a company that basically just.
00:19:14.130 --> 00:19:22.470
that ticketing model for conferences, then that data, they could easily now run that to these new wave of sponsors that just wanna make sales.
00:19:22.829 --> 00:19:28.500
And the sponsors that they can get will flow a lot easier in comparison to the the model right now.
00:19:28.500 --> 00:19:32.009
And that goes also for networking events and anything where you're gonna have people there.
00:19:32.632 --> 00:19:33.886
Yeah, that's dope, man.
00:19:33.886 --> 00:19:35.442
I can't, and, and to your point.
00:19:36.616 --> 00:19:53.557
Most of the conferences I've attended over the last two to three years, there isn't especially the, specifically the cultural ones, I feel like there isn't necessarily that focus on like buyer persona or like, like you said, like really drilling down.
00:19:54.636 --> 00:19:58.846
but you, I mean I've been in to even some of the cultural conferences, right?
00:19:58.846 --> 00:20:00.707
Like there's still CTOs there.
00:20:00.707 --> 00:20:02.596
They're still still CIOs.
00:20:02.596 --> 00:20:04.606
These are people who are decision makers.
00:20:05.461 --> 00:20:15.932
And most of the conversations have been leaning towards like candidates, job candidates, kind of like asking them, Hey, like in person, like, Hey, can, how do I get a job?
00:20:15.932 --> 00:20:17.192
How do I get in the funnel?
00:20:17.642 --> 00:20:23.281
Versus to your point, like if you got a service, you got a solution that you're selling as well.
00:20:23.642 --> 00:20:31.981
There probably needs to be, some, some specific cutout of time at some of these conferences specifically for that.
00:20:32.071 --> 00:20:34.682
And the data tracking alone that you mentioned, I know that's.
00:20:35.237 --> 00:20:36.467
That's worth a pretty penny.
00:20:37.067 --> 00:20:40.737
So listeners out there, he's getting Ty's, giving us ideas.
00:20:43.086 --> 00:20:45.386
this conference space is, is definitely here to stay.
00:20:46.136 --> 00:20:46.866
conference money.
00:20:46.866 --> 00:20:53.757
It's probably ebbed and flow, like you said, in since, the, the 20, early 2020, right.
00:20:54.106 --> 00:21:01.817
there was a little bit more focus on, you know, like what you, what you said, diversity of your workforce, things like that.
00:21:01.821 --> 00:21:02.092
And now.
00:21:03.301 --> 00:21:07.372
Companies gotta make sure like the revenue is coming in, the sales are coming in.
00:21:08.432 --> 00:21:18.632
and so we're still in an exciting time, but then the, some of the conversations have probably changed a bit, in terms of what people are looking to get out of these conferences.
00:21:19.231 --> 00:21:29.102
I'm curious, as you're having conversations and some of our listeners, they're probably, you know, gearing up to, to go on their conference season this year.
00:21:30.241 --> 00:21:35.172
What are some, what are some tips you give folks in terms of like, working these rooms?
00:21:36.352 --> 00:21:42.662
not the secret sauce, right, but, but in terms of like, some of the things you, you gotta do.
00:21:42.662 --> 00:21:46.951
Like here's some of the things you gotta do to make sure you're maximizing your time in these spaces.
00:21:48.430 --> 00:21:59.920
Yeah, so, so I, think, you know, when it comes to work in a room, I mean, the, the way that I see it is, I, take it back to kind of Pokemon cards in a way, know that this kind.
00:22:00.509 --> 00:22:10.049
It's gonna sound a little crazy, but I think that just whatever contact that you have, it's not about if it's a contact for you, it's about if it's a contact for someone else.
00:22:10.799 --> 00:22:18.000
So if you meet people out and about at these events, your first five people that you meet probably won't be relevant for you.
00:22:18.059 --> 00:22:20.309
You know, if you are a.
00:22:20.700 --> 00:22:36.404
Let's say graphic designer and you're looking to meet with companies to maybe get hired on as a full-time graphic designer, and you meet like a tech sales person, or you meet someone that a, like let's say an investor of a company or you meet a.
00:22:37.319 --> 00:22:48.569
Someone that maybe they throw conferences and maybe someone else that you meet as a podcaster and maybe the next person that you meet is a student that is looking for an internship.
00:22:49.049 --> 00:22:52.170
None of those people are completely relevant for.
00:22:52.740 --> 00:22:56.579
This graphic designer that just wants, you know, a full-time role.
00:22:57.029 --> 00:23:04.740
But what a lot of people are quick to do is basically take those contacts and throw them away and completely just, you know, forget that they exist.
00:23:04.740 --> 00:23:06.450
Maybe exchange a LinkedIn, but that's it.
00:23:06.450 --> 00:23:09.210
Like, it's like they weren't relevant, you know, they're gone.
00:23:09.599 --> 00:23:15.210
The key is to actually hold onto those contacts because are gonna meet other people.
00:23:15.704 --> 00:23:29.055
That might need some of those contacts you might now meet your sixth person might be someone that, Hey, I have a program at my company where I'm looking for interns, and now it's like, Hey, I have an intern for you.
00:23:29.384 --> 00:23:36.194
But now I wonder what contact that person has now it's like, Hey, I'll trade you this intern that I met in exchange.
00:23:36.194 --> 00:23:39.194
Maybe you can trade me someone that is hiring for a graphic designer.
00:23:40.049 --> 00:23:46.019
Or you have a founder that is looking for an investor, Hey, I, just met an investor.
00:23:46.349 --> 00:23:48.509
I'm, I don't, you know, need this contact.
00:23:48.539 --> 00:23:51.359
I'll give you this contact of this investor, but founder.
00:23:51.359 --> 00:23:54.930
Maybe you know, another startup founder that's trying to hire a graph designer.
00:23:55.410 --> 00:23:56.940
Maybe we can trade contacts.
00:23:57.734 --> 00:23:59.085
That's the whole method.
00:23:59.085 --> 00:24:06.884
Like it's all about trading context in the same way that we used to do when we used to trade Pokemon cards or trade basketball cards and all of that.
00:24:07.154 --> 00:24:09.434
It's just doing that in real life with real people.
00:24:10.277 --> 00:24:11.086
Hmm.
00:24:11.146 --> 00:24:12.497
That's a bar there, Ty.
00:24:12.497 --> 00:24:13.537
I like that.
00:24:13.567 --> 00:24:17.307
I definitely like that Pokemon analogy and.
00:24:17.356 --> 00:24:23.356
You know, this, idea of, I, mean I'm stuck on this word just like the supply chain, right?
00:24:23.356 --> 00:24:34.057
Like you said, like there may be somebody who's of very little value right to your core business, but something that they do could be of value for somebody else in your network and really plug in those two.
00:24:35.166 --> 00:24:42.826
it still opens up opportunities for you and you don't quite get that transaction or that sale in that moment, but that's like paying it forward.
00:24:43.426 --> 00:24:50.477
Is the way that I, I like to, position it, but that's definitely, that's definitely a g there tie.
00:24:50.567 --> 00:24:53.237
so let's, let's, let's pivot a little bit,
00:24:53.569 --> 00:24:53.859
Okay.
00:24:54.106 --> 00:25:11.356
because I've been fascinated with, the decision that you and Jared made around picking, the, you pick the school, the platform, and I've been seeing some people, specifically building communities there.
00:25:11.356 --> 00:25:12.076
Like what.
00:25:13.096 --> 00:25:30.257
What so far, are there any like big, you know, any key takeaways, any big wins with building specifically a community in that format, that you all have kind of taken and kind of run with and say, Hey, look like this is validation that these things are working.
00:25:31.799 --> 00:25:33.180
Yeah, I would say, um.
00:25:33.299 --> 00:25:34.470
For, for us.
00:25:34.470 --> 00:25:45.539
So going with with school and really just looking at the community model, I think was really just figuring out a way where we can kind of put everyone in the same space we can.
00:25:46.349 --> 00:25:53.579
Provide like notifications and updates for people, but we can also provide like different threads for the different tickets and events that we drop.
00:25:53.579 --> 00:25:58.859
Because we didn't want it to just be like, Hey, here's like a board of different tickets.
00:25:59.039 --> 00:26:04.769
We want to kind of make it social so I can like post like, Hey, here's tickets to Blurred Con, for example.
00:26:04.769 --> 00:26:08.819
And then have people post under like, Hey, I'm going, oh, I'm going, oh, I'm going.
00:26:08.819 --> 00:26:10.440
So now people can kind of squat up.
00:26:10.859 --> 00:26:12.720
'cause that's really the whole goal is to like.
00:26:12.954 --> 00:26:21.775
Build us out, you know, large enough so that every time we post a ticket, there's like 20 people in the comments like, Hey, I'm going, like, who, who's, who's linking up with me?
00:26:21.775 --> 00:26:26.664
Like, I'm flying in on Tuesday and are we going and getting breakfast and et cetera, et cetera.
00:26:26.664 --> 00:26:29.125
It's really to kind of create that experience.
00:26:29.125 --> 00:26:36.984
So that's one of the reasons why we, we kind of went route that we went with community platforms and we were looking for a platform specifically that.
00:26:37.194 --> 00:26:38.934
Kinda like allowed us to do that.
00:26:39.424 --> 00:26:41.865
the second feature was actually the map as well.
00:26:42.355 --> 00:26:45.325
you know, just having the map there, we can kind of see where people are at.
00:26:45.595 --> 00:26:49.404
Is also a cool thing too, because we're talking about conferences and traveling.
00:26:49.404 --> 00:26:52.944
So now people can reach out like, Hey, I'm in, I'm in Philly.
00:26:52.944 --> 00:26:54.444
Like, I saw you're in that area.
00:26:54.474 --> 00:26:55.319
Like, let's go catch up.
00:26:56.987 --> 00:26:59.237
Yeah, that that platform.
00:27:00.616 --> 00:27:03.977
Or just something about the new wave of platforms that are out now.
00:27:03.977 --> 00:27:10.217
I don't know, like they figured out how to, you know, like reignite, like gamification and things like that.
00:27:10.217 --> 00:27:21.527
And like, it just is fun being like, when I log in and I'm logging into big stage energy, like, I'm like, all right, let, let me look and see who's like, like you said, who's commenting on the things.
00:27:21.527 --> 00:27:28.787
Obviously you and Jerry are keeping the tickets flowing, so I obviously go to that as well and say like, okay, what, what should I be plugging in?
00:27:29.491 --> 00:27:33.932
In addition to that, but then really connecting with the others in the community.
00:27:33.932 --> 00:27:44.842
I appreciate even like the first, I think it was like the first day or two you really specifying, like after I did my little intro, my little elevator, you were like, Hey, can you, here's who you need to be meet with.
00:27:44.842 --> 00:27:44.932
Boom.
00:27:44.932 --> 00:27:46.142
And you laid out those individuals.
00:27:46.531 --> 00:27:54.902
Now I've been slowly but surely checking off that, that list, like these are just, these are simple things, but that's really what makes a community grow.
00:27:55.291 --> 00:27:57.481
What makes it seem like it's organically?
00:27:58.277 --> 00:28:00.767
Folks are finding their way organically on it.
00:28:00.767 --> 00:28:05.136
So I appreciate you and Jared and I that that platform specifically.
00:28:06.567 --> 00:28:16.517
the handful of times I have interacted with it for whatever reason, the communities, the, the communities, they're a little bit more sticky, if I can, if I can say it that way,
00:28:16.940 --> 00:28:17.569
Yeah, I agree.
00:28:18.646 --> 00:28:19.426
man, I, yeah.
00:28:19.586 --> 00:28:20.517
I'm, I'm so excited.
00:28:20.517 --> 00:28:24.916
tell folks a little bit about, I guess, how, if they were to.
00:28:25.557 --> 00:28:28.307
Want to, connect with big stage energy?
00:28:28.606 --> 00:28:41.086
Like how do they go about, you know, tapping in with you or Jared, like, what's the, what's the preferred route for them to, to start learning more about how they can maximize their conference experience this year and moving forward.
00:28:42.109 --> 00:28:46.339
Yeah, so we're, we're basically, big stage energy on all platforms.
00:28:46.339 --> 00:28:52.910
Our website is big stage energy, so if you're looking for us on ig, that's really how you find us big stage energy.
00:28:53.390 --> 00:28:57.200
we do webinars, so each month we do a series of webinars.
00:28:57.630 --> 00:29:08.079
you know, it kind of depends on the week, but definitely like keep in touch with our socials and our webinars are cool because we just talk about all of our just fun hacks when it comes to like, travel hacks, conference hacks.
00:29:08.079 --> 00:29:09.700
Like how do I get from one place to another?
00:29:09.700 --> 00:29:21.130
How do I fly from this location to that location without spending a lot, like how do I, you know, go to a conference and just make sure I talk to the right people within a short amount of time and just like all the little things.
00:29:21.130 --> 00:29:22.809
So that is basically.
00:29:23.099 --> 00:29:32.630
Inside of, our, our webinars is just a bunch of free information that we give and then we let people know, you know, how to join Big stage Energy, but to find out about our community.
00:29:32.930 --> 00:29:41.759
big stage.energy is, is the, there's the signup page, but also, we have an informational page as well that some people like, which is big stage access.com.
00:29:42.089 --> 00:29:50.309
And that just kind of gives you just some like background info about big state energy and what we do and how the community works and et cetera, et cetera.
00:29:50.700 --> 00:29:52.079
And also on LinkedIn, you know.
00:29:53.130 --> 00:29:54.269
If you can find me there, Ty Smith.
00:29:54.557 --> 00:29:55.277
Yeah, y'all both.
00:29:55.277 --> 00:29:57.666
I was gonna say y'all are pretty active on, LinkedIn.
00:29:58.817 --> 00:29:59.326
for sure.
00:29:59.326 --> 00:30:02.396
So you won't, you, you will not miss Ty or Jared.
00:30:03.477 --> 00:30:06.616
if you look for them on LinkedIn, you'll definitely find their content.
00:30:07.396 --> 00:30:07.686
yeah.
00:30:07.686 --> 00:30:11.176
I appreciate you, Ty, for just for hopping on with me.
00:30:11.237 --> 00:30:14.507
I am excited about leveraging the platform this year.
00:30:14.507 --> 00:30:17.896
I'm already leveraging it in terms of the conferences we're going to.
00:30:18.287 --> 00:30:27.166
For this year, even the media pass front, you all are helping me have some direction there, so I definitely appreciate, you all putting this together.
00:30:27.586 --> 00:30:32.356
I say it's affordable, but I want folks to make sure that they check it out themselves and really tap in.
00:30:33.376 --> 00:30:36.136
last thought, I want to pass it to you.
00:30:36.866 --> 00:30:43.517
what do you want our, you know, listeners, folks listening to this, like, what should, what's, what's that one thing they should change?
00:30:45.227 --> 00:30:48.646
As they go about conferences specifically, let's let, let's stick there.
00:30:48.646 --> 00:30:54.586
Like what In, in terms of mindset, like what do they need to change in order to get the most out of these experiences?
00:30:55.625 --> 00:30:57.815
Yeah, I think it's really just.
00:30:58.500 --> 00:31:03.660
You know, sometimes people go to the conferences where everyone's trying to do the same thing.
00:31:03.660 --> 00:31:09.299
So for example, like I could speak to this, well at the time of recording as a single, as a single guy, right?
00:31:09.299 --> 00:31:23.930
So if I am now going out there and let's say at the time of recording this Valentine's Day is around the corner, but if I'm going out and I'm trying to find a Valentine's, if I go to an event and a mixer and it's just a bunch of.
00:31:24.660 --> 00:31:40.275
just like if, if the ratio's not there, if let's say I'm looking for a lady and I'm going to an event and it's like 95%, you know, males and I'm trying to find female to date, then I'm probably not gonna be as successful.
00:31:40.575 --> 00:31:45.105
And that's kind of what people do at conferences, you know, that's like, Hey, I'm looking for a job.
00:31:45.105 --> 00:31:46.755
Let me go to a conference.
00:31:47.105 --> 00:31:55.884
Where there's thousands and thousands and thousands of other people that are looking for a job and that isn't really the right strategy to like utilize, there's another way to kind of pivot it.
00:31:56.194 --> 00:32:02.884
So for example, with conferences, there's a lot of conferences you could go to that are straight business to business based conferences.
00:32:02.884 --> 00:32:07.625
So these are conferences where you have executives, VPs, you have directors, you have all these folks.
00:32:07.894 --> 00:32:13.295
But the thing about those conferences with those directors and VPs and everything is that if you go to those.
00:32:13.494 --> 00:32:29.904
You'll probably be one of the few job seekers that's there because most people are just there to kind of do some transaction or do some sales, but the people that you encounter, these executives, these are the folks that actually have the budgets and the power to open up a role.
00:32:30.095 --> 00:32:39.244
They're the folks that tell the recruiter, Hey, move this person to the next round so I can interview them like they are the ones that can meet someone and say, you know what?
00:32:39.244 --> 00:32:40.744
Like you would be be great.
00:32:40.744 --> 00:32:42.184
We need another marketing person.
00:32:42.454 --> 00:32:48.845
Let me actually put that in for the next quarter to add a marketing person and I want you to interview for this.
00:32:49.265 --> 00:32:53.585
And that's what happens when you go to these conferences that are kind of like off ratio.
00:32:53.765 --> 00:32:55.865
You know, for, for example, for me, right?
00:32:55.865 --> 00:33:20.174
Like if I, going back to that scenario about Valentine's Day, if I really wanna find a Valentine's and potentially maybe I should volunteer at an event that is largely going to have more, more women, maybe, you know, something that deals with, you know, whichever I'm not, you know, I don't have that, that magic answer, but, you know, whether it was a conference about, you know, it could be about flowers or whichever like.
00:33:21.065 --> 00:33:22.674
That's where I, would wanna go.
00:33:22.755 --> 00:33:29.359
And I think that's the way that people need to, to think about it when it comes to, your conference experience.
00:33:29.430 --> 00:33:30.660
Like go to the events.
00:33:30.660 --> 00:33:39.539
You'll be one of the only people there trying to do what you're trying to do and that have people there that have the power to enable you to do what you're trying to do.
00:33:40.019 --> 00:33:41.730
And that's my main advice.
00:33:42.061 --> 00:33:43.487
I love that time, man.
00:33:43.596 --> 00:33:46.892
Like you know, you like you hit the nail on the head.
00:33:46.892 --> 00:33:50.582
People go to some of these conferences and it's just gonna like work out and then.
00:33:51.287 --> 00:34:00.767
Specifically on that job front, like there's conferences where thousands, if not tens of thousands of people are going for a job and it's like there aren't that many jobs.
00:34:00.797 --> 00:34:02.416
Like you gotta play the numbers as well.
00:34:02.416 --> 00:34:04.277
So I appreciate you dropping that gym.
00:34:04.606 --> 00:34:06.646
Closing us out for our listeners.
00:34:08.056 --> 00:34:10.097
Make sure you tap in with big stage energy.
00:34:10.097 --> 00:34:11.461
I can't say that enough.
00:34:12.192 --> 00:34:14.956
and I'll be looking forward to seeing how the platform grows.
00:34:15.257 --> 00:34:22.336
For our listeners, thank you for tuning in to another incredible episode with myself and today's guest.
00:34:22.606 --> 00:34:24.737
Ty Smith appreciated peace.
00:34:25.375 --> 00:34:25.855
All right.
