Jay Menashe: Most events are forgettable, not because the people running them don't care, but because they're optimizing for logistics instead of memory. I'm Jay Menashe Senior Director of Strategy and Growth at Exhibitus, and this is Event Experience Experts. Every episode, I sit down with the creatives, strategists, and senior leaders who are raising the bar on what live brand experiences can actually do. If you're done accepting forgettable, you're in the right place. Andrew Roby's LinkedIn feed regularly stops me my tracks. Beautiful decor, strong opinions about hotels and events, and quite possibly the best dressed man in events. You could even tell I even wore a collared shirt today just knowing I was speaking with him. And now it all makes sense. He's not just an event expert with an amazing fashion sense. He actually started in events by producing fashion shows. Most people know him now know the headline. He turns complex events into seamless ones. Hotels hire him for it, brands hire him for it. It's true, and it's also not the interesting part. The interesting part is what Seamless is quietly covering up. A guy who cut his teeth on fashion shows learned early that the parts an audience never sees are the parts that make or break the room. And that instinct doesn't go away just because the stage got bigger. Most people chasing Seamless are optimizing away the exact thing that makes an event worth remembering. So here's what I want to know. When everyone else in the room is trying to make the event disappear into perfection, what does Andrew refuse to smooth over? Andrew Roby is the founder and CEO of Andrew Roby Events and the founder of National Events Council. Andrew, welcome to the show, my friend.
Andrew Roby: Well thank you so much for having me, Jay. I actually like that intro. Honestly, I normally hate when people do intros, but that was actually really it made me think about some things. So thank you for thank you for the intro.
Jay Menashe: Yeah, my pleasure. I mean, I think one of the first times I reached out to you, you like showed this like beautiful decor you set up on like, you know, the dining room table. You think you may have been getting ready for like Thanksgiving. I'm like, Man, I gotta talk to this guy. I love these 'cause it's always about the details in our world. So when I see these things, even like the you know, looking at your background now right now, it's like I know it's curated. You thought this through. That's not just artwork thrown on the wall. This means something to you.
Andrew Roby: Yeah. Yeah. And yeah I think that everything in life is intentional or at least it should be intentional. Because I do know some people do things for the sake of pleasing other people, I guess. But me I like to make sure that it's intentional overall and it's not just something like to just to check the box or just to do it to impress somebody. so yeah, it is meaningful to me and I'm expecting it to also spark curiosity and be meaningful to other people once they learn why it is that I do certain things that I do.
Jay Menashe: I mean, that makes a lot of sense. Yeah, I know for it's like I'm just sometimes moving so quick I don't think before I act. And it's like I've learned as I've gotten older, and I think that's just life. It's like as you mature and you slow down, it's like, wait, let's let's pause. Like, what is this decision going to affect after this decision? You know, that second principle thinking really has actually, I would say in the past like five, six years has really impacted whether I'm on site an event or I'm doing something in my real world. It's like, let's just stop for a second and actually think about what's happening right now. Yeah.
Andrew Roby: agreed, agreed. It's being in the moment, being present, really important and I'm learning to do that even more in just everyday life. So I completely agree with you on that. Yes.
Jay Menashe: Well, so let's hop into the questions. I mean, you've obviously been in the event world a long time. I learn more about you every day. That's why I love when people are so active on LinkedIn. But you know, you've been doing this a while. What's a belief you hold about live experiences or events in particular that most people of this industry would push back on?
Andrew Roby: Such a controversial question, but I have so many answers for it. I strongly believe too many people in the event industry heavily rely on the needs of their clients and not nearly enough on the needs of the people who are keeping their clients in business or keeping the event itself in business every single year, and that's our attendees. So often I have to push back on my clients and share with them that yes, I understand you're the ones that are hosting this event. You want to make it great because of your C suite. You want to make it great because of your sponsors. But at the end of the day, we cannot be selfish about how we're executing an event or who the event is for and really make sure that we're planning events and planning experiences for the attendees because they're the people that matter the most. And I think too often as I look at you know A V sheets and I look at banquet orders and I look at execution memos for events, it's just constantly about what the client is in need of, what the do-outs are, what the KPIs are, and then I say, well, who's attending this and what value are they walking away from this with? Because oftentimes the value is well people can come and they can network. that's great. They can network outside of your event. They don't have to come to your event for food and beverage, they don't have to come to your event to experience a sponsor. they are coming there because they have something very critical that they're trying to get beyond. And they're counting on your event to do exactly that. So if everything that you're doing to execute this event is not going to answer what they're coming to your event for, then that tells me the event is all about you and it is not about the actual person attending it. So that's the thing that I feel like most in our industry should really pay close attention to.
Jay Menashe: I think something coming back to something you said earlier, you know, it's about you, it's about your C-suite, but it's like people are so on our side and probably everywhere, we're people pleasers. We don't want to necessarily push back or ask why or why you're you know, what's the reason behind this? It's like, okay, cool, let's go. And versus like, again, taking that step back. It's like, well, let's think about this. Are you making the decision with the audience in mind? Because that's really, yes, of course, we want to drive pipeline, we want to have that impact on the company's bottom line, but it's like if you're not first appeasing the attendee, None of that other stuff is happening.
Andrew Roby: None, none, and that really should be how the event strategic plan is built. Because if you are creating experiences, if you're creating the value, if you're creating the return on investment for the guests, ultimately, if you do it well, everything that you want to receive from the end goal of this event is going to happen. But oftentimes events are planned Very short notice, events are planned without the guest experience in mind, and thus it limits the ability to actually have a strategic plan that ensures both sides are taken care of. And so that's the issue at hand that we really need to delve into to try to fix.
Jay Menashe: And you had a post the other day, of course, as I was scrolling through your feed, and you were talking about it's like, you know, you hire new employees, you would never give them the reins within three to four months of running the most important event of your year. You shouldn't do that to your partners either. You should give them that runway to like, hey, let's all figure this out together and and get it. And it's like, yeah, no, it's like that's how you get the best out of things. It's like, let yes, can you put two years into like bringing in a partner? Probably not. Hopefully you've been working with them for that long. But the reality is it also should be three to four months. It's like, can we find that happy medium?
Andrew Roby: Yeah, I think that there yeah, there are some internal constraints that our clients have that prevent them from bringing someone on a year in advance or two years in advance. I totally get that. But if you've already ideated that you need to have an event and you've already said this is the date, that's when we need to start bringing on people that are going to curate what this event is. Not after you've book the venue, not after you finalize what the menu is and now it's, you know, two months away. No, this needs to happen the moment you agree that an event needs to happen.
Jay Menashe: Yeah. It also in a sense if you're doing that, you're looking for an order taker, you're not looking for someone to actually be a partner in this process.
Andrew Roby: you nailed it, Jay. You nailed it. Because so often when I am looking at like the RFPs that come in and it's like, Yeah, we want this magical moment. And I'm like, Well, you're putting me in a position of response. I'm reacting at this point. I'm not being a strategic partner. I can't create something because these things take time and it also requires us to on board to understand who you are, to understand your needs, to understand your guests, and then to understand how your requirements are going to integrate themselves within the needs of the guest itself. If my event the lead time is very short, I can't do any of those things. The only thing I can do is react and focus heavily on logistics just to make sure that the things that you need to get done get done. And then at the end, we're disappointed because It wasn't this magical moment that you expected. That's the crazy part.
Jay Menashe: Yeah. Yeah, 'cause you're only focused on the logistics part of it. And then that's kinda like the premise for this entire podcast. It's like, hey, we stop focusing on just the logistics and like how do we create memories? And that's with time and planning and thoughtfulness.
Andrew Roby: Yes. Yes. Agreed.
Jay Menashe: So one area I also I wanted to dig in with you, 'cause you talk a lot about hotels and venues in general, and you know, I it's funny because I had to rework this because you're like, I don't do these things. if a venue doesn't look right on paper, they're just out. So I want you to tell me about a venue that did check every box on paper, but there was still something in your gut that's like, nah, I can't do this. What did you catch that, you know, you didn't see in the brochure all the information kind of was thrown at you, so it said.
Andrew Roby: Yeah, one of the biggest things that and I remember this vividly because I was just talking about this hotel to a colleague of mine last week. And so the client said, Hey, we need a big hotel. We're doing a multi-day conference, and we want to make sure that we have this, this, this, and that done. And I'm like, Okay, cool, no big deal. So I reach out to the hotel. of course they give us, you know, their one sheet, if you will, their brochure of all the things that come with it, what their capacity is, their availability, and things like that. And so I said, Okay, great. so let's schedule, you know, a walkthrough. And many times hotels do not show particular photos. and that when I see that, that gives me a yellow flag. Not necessarily a red flag, but it gives me a yellow flag because I'm curious as to why Something very important wasn't shown to me or isn't as prominently shown on your website. So we go and we go for a walkthrough, and I always take my clients for a walkthrough, and I'm very candid, I'm very Andrew. So I'm not sugarcoating, I'm not trying to be nice to any side. I am focused solely on if this venue is giving me exactly what I need and what you said that you need. So we go to the venue and Some things I always ask the venue is one, will there ever be any renovations between now and the time of my event? I also ask, will there be any other major events that are happening right before, during, or right after, right after meaning the day my event ends? Because I need to know that. And both of those questions were yes. And I said, this is not the venue for us. Because you're doing renovations, I have no idea what this venue is going to look like because you refuse to even give me and I understand, but you refuse to give me a color palette, you refuse to give me even a render of what the space is going to look like. I'm not saying you gotta email it to me, just pull it up in your phone, let me see it real quick, you know? Yeah. and so I don't know what this space is going to look like. Also with construction. I don't know if this construction is going to be completed on time. It's a difference between, hey, this construction is being completed a couple of months before your event. But when you're talking about weeks before my event, that's a that's a deal breaker for me. And then second, when you have a major event that is starting on the day that I end, that means that they are going to be loading in the same time my general session is operating. And that is a huge distraction. It is far more bodies in a building that I now have to worry about because I am focusing on however many people I have that are attending it, plus navigating them through all the people that you have for setup. And that is a a guest experience issue, plus it becomes a vendor experience issue when all of the team that I've built are now trying to strike, you know, that particular location and it's just It's horrible. So those two reasons are reasons why I said, you know, we just can't do it. Because it is just too much of a hassle for everybody, not just for Andrew, but for everybody.
Jay Menashe: Yeah. I'm playing with that right now. You know, we have this event installing on Sunday and they've been doing construction. we knew about it. In this case we knew. but we what we didn't know, and it thankfully it doesn't affect us, like they have two freight elevators to get up to where we need to bring our equipment and it's like, well, one is considerably smaller than the other. And so when we did our first site, it's like, yeah, you should be able to use the other one and just like we have to put all this stuff down for protect Well now it's like, well, no, you can't actually use that other elevator. It's like, that changes. Thankfully, we did a site visit a few weeks ago. so we got our plan figured out. But yeah, that that pre and post it's like that does. That definitely makes a big impact on the the install, especially, I think. I mean on the back end, yeah, the distraction is definitely important. what you said about the other point I wanted to touch on was like the brochure and the marketing. I feel for hotels because it's like they're just not thinking about it, which is crazy to me, 'cause you sell experiences, don't you want to Have pictures of these spaces in use. You know, it's like in the trade show side, like, cool, look at this beautiful rendering of this empty booth. It's like, hey, hey guys, we sell experiences. We don't sell architecture. Yes, we physically, that is actually what we sell as the architecture. But we're selling them on the idea of like what this architecture will do. So to not actively capture pieces of marketing or for your brochure or for your website. Yeah, I feel for them because it's usually not. in their control. They have a marketing department. It's like that's just not their priority. But it's like, hey, this is where that sales and marketing alignment conversation comes back to. And it's like, guys, get it together.
Andrew Roby: Yes, you're right. And and it's the handoff or the exchange of information because marketing is only going to focus on one particular thing. Their mind is set on one objective and sales is completely different. And so they have to be talking to each other to understand the dynamics of what is about to come and what what it is that they're doing because with the hotel that I'm thinking about, the sales rep just refused to get back to us on the render and say, Hey, this is what's happening and never responded. Just mind you, sent us a contract and everything we were about to move forward with the contract after we did the walkthrough and after we got these answers. these questions answered and just never responded. So I was like, This is a telltale sign that this is not where we need to be at.
Jay Menashe: That doesn't make any sense to me whatsoever. It's like, why wouldn't you the whole point of doing the renovation is to get people excited for the completion of the renovation. Don't you wanna share the renderings of what the space is gonna look like?
Andrew Roby: Our arena, our stadium here that's in DC is getting a huge renovation. it's a two-year renovation. And they have laid out the plan for this renovation over like months of sharing. They did this huge DC public event. about it. They've shown the renders. They've shown the stages of, you know, this construction for the arena and the Washington Wizards and all this and it's like that's how you do it. That's how you to your point. That's how you get people excited about wanting to come and see. We love new things. We love seeing new things. So why not show it?
Jay Menashe: Yeah, well, not to mention the Washington sports scene is not exactly the most exciting thing right now. So let's let's get people excited about something.
Andrew Roby: We got a brand new an awesome starter for our our center. So we're we're excited to see what's gonna happen with basketball season.
Jay Menashe: All right. Yeah, well listen, I'm because of last season I'm the the biggest basketball fan in the world as a New York Knicks fan over here. So yeah, I can't I'm I can't wait for the season to start. Listen, the Rangers are my team, hockey is my sport, but it's like they're probably not going anywhere anytime soon. So yeah, I gotta latch onto somebody. It gives it's so sad how sports affect my emotions. It shouldn't be, but it it is. This is
Andrew Roby: You guys are pretty much still on cloud nine after the Knicks won. So that's and it's not just how they won. It's just how you all journeyed with them through the finals and then the celebrations in all of the boroughs and It's right. It was just crazy how you all and I've never seen something like that. Even when talking about hockey, when we won what like Ten years ago, the Chinatown, the streets were just full for the Capitals when they won. But it was not like you all when you all won for the Knicks. It's like the whole state just went on full display of celebration and everybody
Jay Menashe: Tri-State. It wasn't even just the state. It was the whole tri-state. It's the only team in this area that can literally bring us all together. Because any other sport, you know, you got Giants and Jets, you got Yankees and Mets. Well, it when in reality it's like, you know, you the Yankees and then, you the Mets are way over here. Yeah. but yeah, no, it was the greatest feeling in the world. Yeah. It's like I was talking about it the other day. I'm like, I can't imagine how I'm gonna feel when the Rangers, if the Rangers ever win the Stanley Cup again, that is my team. I will cry like a baby, Andrew. Let me just tell you. So and yeah, I got my Knicks hat up right over there. my championship hat, I got all my shirts. I got asked the other day, it's like, how many days a week would you say you're wearing a Knicks t shirt right now? I'm like, I don't know, probably about four days a week.
Andrew Roby: That's okay. And that's okay.
Jay Menashe: Listen, it's been fifty-three years, you gotta you gotta live it up. Back
Andrew Roby: Yes, indeed.
Jay Menashe: on track. Back on track. so here's what always one of my favorite questions. I'm a big fan of the book, Unreasonable Hospitality. So I always like to ask, you know, for you, what does unreasonable hospitality look like? And the second part of that, why don't you think like more brands are are doing these 'cause for me and I'll stop myself before I keep going, but it's not an expensive thing to do unreasonable hospitality. But why aren't brands like thinking through like that guest experience and how we're treating people?
Andrew Roby: So I just did a keynote on hospitality and I stated to the audiences that hospitality is what we want to anticipate. And many people could not understand that very thing because as service providers we are always reacting. We're reacting to the Wi Fi that has gone down, we're reacting to The registration line that is now downstairs, down the escalator, and at the front desk. We're reacting to catering, not providing the signs for dietary restrictions that should be on the buffet. We're reacting to why room service does not have the rooms ready for guests to check in at four o'clock when check in was at four o'clock. Most of us thrive on being proud of reacting to service. And yes. The response should be fast, but good hospitality is anticipating the experience gap. And the experience gap identifies who is responsible for what and closing that gap in order to make sure that guests are not having to handle situations that should have been addressed prior to them experiencing the things that they're experiencing. And so hospitality Has to be really good at anticipating. We realize that breakfast is starting at 7 o'clock, but the keynote starts at 8 o'clock. So what is going to happen between the 7 and the 8 o'clock? Because guests aren't gonna have a total hour of having breakfast. They still have to go through registration, they still have to travel down to wherever the ballroom is, they still have to sit down in enough time so that way the keynote can start at 8 o'clock. So hospitality has to understand the dynamics. Of not necessarily being responsive to something that has happened, but anticipating when something will happen and mitigating that so that way it does not interfere with the experience that the guest is having. That is the one thing that I want more people in our industry to focus deeper on and having a plan in place to identify the issues because events are full of data. Every event that we have is full of data. And the data that I want us to focus on more is what are the questions that are being asked consistently during an event? Where's the bathroom? What times does this start? What is happening with food? Who is the keynote? Like we have questions. Why can't I find the ballroom? Where's the breakout? Like so much data is in the questions that are consistently being asked. Take those questions and fix what is being asked in those questions for the next event. So that is what I think is good hospitality.
Jay Menashe: Yeah. Well you now you're touching on a whole other book that I loved reading called, you know, They Ask You Answer. It's like my my entire content and marketing philosophy is just let's just answer those questions. And also there was a term in unreasonable hospitality. It's basically systematizing the hospitality. It's like you've had these same things happen over and over again. It's like, let's anticipate it to your point and take care of it before it becomes a thing. Or, you know, it's like that there was the very the example they gave is like, hey, we just asked people how they got to the restaurant. when they got there. It's like whether you took, you know, and if they park their car and they have a meter, it's like we anticipate we'll just go fill the meter for them, like little things like that. It's like and it's that's where I'd it's like unreasonable hospitality doesn't need to be expensive It just needs to be thoughtful. And that's the most important thing.
Andrew Roby: So cheap to do. So cheap to do. If you just step outside of who you are and the things that you as event pros, we know too much. We spend whoa, I have 10 years doing this, 20 years doing that. Great. But your guests, the moment they walk into your space, they don't know anything. They haven't been there at 5 a.m. When A V has started to set up and now have a lay of the land, they're definitely not the sales manager who knows everything about that event space or that hotel. They're not catering who knows where all the ballrooms are, and they're certainly not the event planner who knows how to get from the registration desk to the ballroom. They don't know any of these things. And the more we put ourselves in that mindset for them, the better we are at achieving. better hospitality standards for them because they just are absent of that and they should be. It's not their responsibility to know this. It's not their responsibility to carry this and it's definitely not their responsibility to fix the things that they're now experiencing that they should have not experienced to begin with.
Jay Menashe: Yeah. People operate under a lot of assumptions, you know, it's the curse of knowledge. It's like, well, I know it, so obviously you know it too, you know? Yeah.
Andrew Roby: yeah, for sure.
Jay Menashe: All right, so in in speaking more to like the events you're producing and what you're putting out there, obviously you're doing some really great and memorable things. What do you think, you know, a client or stakeholder has to believe in you before they give you that latitude to do something like genuinely memorable, the cool stuff that you're putting out there?
Andrew Roby: they really have to have trust. a client should believe that I can carry out what it is that they want to do, but I think it has to do with making sure that they believe that I'm part of the organization, that I'm a partner, that I am not here solely just to execute an event, get great photos and videos, and then share that on social media. I think The more that they can believe we're in relationship and we're in tandem with each other, the better that they are to give me the authority, the power, the ability to actually carry out what's in my head and what I feel like my experience brings to the table. And sometimes that experience and that knowledge is counter to what they thought that they wanted to see. And I am really giving them what they deserve. And so I think that. As long as we have that trust and we have the ability to take that trust and run with it, I think that more events will be more beneficial not only to the client, but also to the people that are attending it. So I love not when we have our onboarding, it's our onboarding is a little bit weird because we don't necessarily delve straight into the logistics and the KPIs and all that. I delve into who you are. I want to know who who am I about to work with for the next however many months, what your personality is like, how we can, you know, work together and our rhythm and structure. And then we get into the logistics and all that kind of stuff. Because I feel like when someone like you and I, when we had our first conversation, it wasn't just jumping straight into, hey Andrew, what clients do you have? And can we, you know, work with those clients? We got to know each other. You know what I mean? And I think that those types of conversations and the ability to build those types of relationships really foster a great amount of trust, allowing people to do what it is that you actually need them to do.
Jay Menashe: Yeah, no, I'm definitely in alignment there. It's actually, you know, when we receive an RFP or someone's like, Hey, we wanna we wanna see if you're worth working with and it's like, okay, cool. I wanna see if you're worth working with as well. And and I never obviously put it like that, but that that chemistry and culture is everything. I mean, I've learned as again, as I've gotten older, it's like if I can't align with you On the chemistry and culture, well, there's no point in doing anything else. We spend so much time on the phone, so much time in meetings, at at dinners, of traveling together, on site together. It's like, hey, I gotta know that we're gonna be able to ride together because things are gonna go wrong. you know, we I would love to say we anticipate every single possible problem, but we don't. And I gotta know that you're gonna just A, I we have to earn that trust. You don't just get that trust. And it happens through conversation and time. And yeah, no, I think you know, when you earn that trust, that is, you're right, that's when you get to go do cool things 'cause it's like, I know. Andrew's got this.
Andrew Roby: Yep. I agree. I agree. A hundred percent. it's a good feeling because you walk away from an event knowing you did your absolute best and knowing that your client knows that you've done your absolute best. And so that's what I love. That's like to me, that's the biggest compliment I can leave you with an event or from an event with.
Jay Menashe: Love it. All right, I got some easy ones for you now. Okay. Now that now that we have the the quote unquote controversial ones. what are you watching, reading, or experiencing outside of this industry that's changing how you think about it inside the industry?
Andrew Roby: You know what? Honestly, I don't watch I don't watch TV. I don't do anything event related outside of working. I spend a great deal of time watching HG TV. I just I know I just said I don't watch T I don't watch TV like live TV in that sense, but I love watching HG TV because it like right now I'm watching this a apartment rental disaster show I forgot is with Lisa Leslie and she's coming to rate people's you know rentals and it shows not just how the design aspect affects you know people but it's their experience the reviews that are on there and how people are trying their best the clients are trying their best but they don't have the ability to do their best and so having somebody come in and it really has changed how I look at events in that essence because it allows me to say sometimes you need to have a little bit more grace. And again, removing me because I think I know everything, you know, and trying to have a little bit more grace and to guide people along the way. So that series is really fun to watch. I am not reading any books right now that are I guess educational if you will. I am reading a fictional college magician book right now. And I absolutely I love fantasy because it allows my mind to just get away from being so analytical and just just have fun just being inside of a fantasy world. So yeah, that's that's that's what I'm doing now.
Jay Menashe: I love that. No, listen, I'm reading Percy Jackson for a couple of reasons. One, my son loves the books. I'm trying to like you know connect with him in different ways because he's not as crazy about sports as I am. So it's like, all right, let me come to where you are. but I love I actually think I get more ideas, and it's not directly from like a book like Percy Jackson I'm reading, but it's like it just triggers new firing of neurons. It's like, let me connect these two dots and put this thing together. And I think just honestly getting off my phone, getting off the screen, the constant scroll of whatever social media you're on, it's like It gives you that time to like just think and breathe. So it's like I love that you're reading a book about magicians and maybe, maybe next time I have you on you'll you know, so us show us some tricks. Maybe you'll that'll be the next path you go down.
Andrew Roby: Right. Absolutely. We'll see. Well I'll try to make that happen.
Jay Menashe: I love it. I love it. Yeah, listen, I can't do magic, but I am fascinated by it.
Andrew Roby: Mm-hmm. For sure. Yeah.
Jay Menashe: All right. Last one to close it out. Yeah, I think I don't actually think this is an easy question, as much as I was gonna say it is. What's an event you're jealous you didn't plan?
Andrew Roby: Whoa, that is a really good but I there's two events that I would have always wanted to plan. one is Keynes. Like I think that being at a film festival or a a content type environment where you have so many things happening and content and creators are unfolding within this atmosphere. I think that that is absolutely fascinating to me to be able to see both sides, the celebrity side, the film side, but also the brand side and all the brands that are creating contents and creating these moments. you know, they had a panel with Oprah on it and I was like, I can only imagine me being backstage and me, you know, doing run up show and Oprah's right here. And she's at my event that I'm managing and she's sitting on this panel. That was great. And then the other one is I've always wanted to do something at Coachella. I feel like it is the most wildest festival ever, and so many people are now creating conferences around a music festival framework. And so I feel like that would be such an epic opportunity to be part of. and just to learn and soak in and create experiences and take that with me to other parts of of my career. So yeah.
Jay Menashe: I'm with you. I maybe we can go to both of these together. I I would love to go to Cannes. I think Can is super cool because of the dichotomy of like these super rich, wealthy, famous people versus like all these B2B marketers because it's becoming a spectacle, not just obviously on the film festival side, but like the B2B brands that are showing up and doing these things. It's like, you know, Can Beach and all that. It's yeah. It and I think I say this now because I haven't dealt with hundred and five degree heat where I'm wearing a suit or anything similar to that. I'm like 'Cause I always tell people I'm like, I love the heat. I it could be a hundred and five degrees all year, maybe not all year round, that's probably a little bit much, but it's like as long as I'm wearing like a T shirt and shorts, I'm very happy. If I'm like, you know, running to the subway in my suit and I start sweating and I can feel it in my back, not not for me.
Andrew Roby: No, not for me either. And I've been in hotter environments before and it's it's not nice whatsoever.
Jay Menashe: Fair. Yeah, well I was pretty we were just in Fort Lauderdale and on a cruise, you know, went to the Bahamas back and forth and it was like ninety to a hundred the whole time there and everyone's like, it's so hot. I'm like, I'm so in paradise. This is my last week of summer. It's gonna be cool. Starting I already feel the fall weather in the mornings here. It's like sixties, which is kind of nice, but it's still like eighty eighty five by the time we hit like two o'clock gear. So I'm like, All right, I'm gonna hold on to summer.
Andrew Roby: I get it. I'm ready for fall.
Jay Menashe: Have you ha are you a pumpkin spice person?
Andrew Roby: not. I don't tend to drink a lot of coffee. I'm a tea person, but I just love I just I think the mindset of people is shifting in fall. It's slower, it's more kind, it's gentler. I love the colors of the season. I love that I can wear a sweater if I wanted to or just wear a regular shirt if I wanted to. So I feel like it's just the happy medium of winter and summer and I absolutely love it.
Jay Menashe: I accept this answer. I my favorite shirt is my like long sleeve hoodie T shirts that it's like all I'm like I'm in between. Yeah. So yeah, I hear that. Yeah. Yeah. I saw I asked about this pumpkin spice latte 'cause somebody posted I think this is like August twenty second or whatever it was and he's like, All right, well Starbucks has come out with it is are you a before September first? I'm like, I don't want I need to know if you're before September first if we're gonna be friends anymore because I'm an I'm a late August birthday and I love summer, so no, nothing before September first. That is just illegal in my world.
Andrew Roby: Well, they've already started with in the stores for Halloween and for Thanksgiving and it wasn't it was still August and I was like, This is crazy. But
Jay Menashe: listen, if I find Christmas stuff now I'm just gonna take it down myself.
Andrew Roby: It's coming. It's it's it's coming.
Jay Menashe: yeah, listen, give it a couple more weeks. Once once we hit like mid September, it's like, Christmas season. That's
Andrew Roby: Right, Scott.
Jay Menashe: right. So Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year 'cause there's none of the you know we need more marketing on Thanksgiving, I think. We should make that a bigger holiday.
Andrew Roby: And not Black Friday stuff, like actual being thankful and gathering with the family and enjoying those moments. Yes.
Jay Menashe: I feel like Black Friday has gotten pushed back over the last few years. Like it's not the thing a everything is digital. You don't need to walk to a store. It's like why are why am I even wasting my time trying that? But it's like yeah, it's like 'cause people like, Hey, we're allowed to slow down for a minute. I understand you need to like appease your shareholders and you profits gotta come up and your end of year push, blah, blah, blah. That's like, Yeah, let's just calm down. Like and that's why you know, listen, Thanksgiving for me is family, food and football. I that's the three things, that's all I do.
Andrew Roby: Love it, love it, love it. I mean that's game day. That's that's what if it's not the Super Bowl, then it's it's game day on Thanksgiving.
Jay Menashe: Now it's game day on Wednesday before Thanksgiving on Thanksgiving and the day after Thanksgiving. They're just the NFL is like we are here and it is all ours.
Andrew Roby: Doing a lot.
Jay Menashe: they are doing a lot. Well, Andrew, thank you very much for joining me. I want people to walk away with a few things. One, hey, hoteliers, if you're going through construction, let everybody know what we gotta deal with. We all know there are gonna be delays. Tell us what we're getting back to and what it's gonna look like. Two Anticipating the experience. I really like that. That anticipating the experience gap. I very much like that. And I would say the last part, like, yeah, be transparent. Ask the questions, give the answers. Don't just like think about what your stakeholders internally want. Think about the attendees. And Andrew, again, thank you so much. I'm glad we had this opportunity to chat and you will be on again. I'm gonna bring everybody back at least a second time in the future. But I really appreciate you joining me. Yes.
Andrew Roby: Thank you for having me, Jay.
Jay Menashe: If you walked away with one thing you'll use, we did our job today. Event Experience Experts drops every week. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and check us out on YouTube if you want to watch. I'm Jay Menashe See you next time.
Andrew Roby: Well thank you so much for having me, Jay. I actually like that intro. Honestly, I normally hate when people do intros, but that was actually really it made me think about some things. So thank you for thank you for the intro.
Jay Menashe: Yeah, my pleasure. I mean, I think one of the first times I reached out to you, you like showed this like beautiful decor you set up on like, you know, the dining room table. You think you may have been getting ready for like Thanksgiving. I'm like, Man, I gotta talk to this guy. I love these 'cause it's always about the details in our world. So when I see these things, even like the you know, looking at your background now right now, it's like I know it's curated. You thought this through. That's not just artwork thrown on the wall. This means something to you.
Andrew Roby: Yeah. Yeah. And yeah I think that everything in life is intentional or at least it should be intentional. Because I do know some people do things for the sake of pleasing other people, I guess. But me I like to make sure that it's intentional overall and it's not just something like to just to check the box or just to do it to impress somebody. so yeah, it is meaningful to me and I'm expecting it to also spark curiosity and be meaningful to other people once they learn why it is that I do certain things that I do.
Jay Menashe: I mean, that makes a lot of sense. Yeah, I know for it's like I'm just sometimes moving so quick I don't think before I act. And it's like I've learned as I've gotten older, and I think that's just life. It's like as you mature and you slow down, it's like, wait, let's let's pause. Like, what is this decision going to affect after this decision? You know, that second principle thinking really has actually, I would say in the past like five, six years has really impacted whether I'm on site an event or I'm doing something in my real world. It's like, let's just stop for a second and actually think about what's happening right now. Yeah.
Andrew Roby: agreed, agreed. It's being in the moment, being present, really important and I'm learning to do that even more in just everyday life. So I completely agree with you on that. Yes.
Jay Menashe: Well, so let's hop into the questions. I mean, you've obviously been in the event world a long time. I learn more about you every day. That's why I love when people are so active on LinkedIn. But you know, you've been doing this a while. What's a belief you hold about live experiences or events in particular that most people of this industry would push back on?
Andrew Roby: Such a controversial question, but I have so many answers for it. I strongly believe too many people in the event industry heavily rely on the needs of their clients and not nearly enough on the needs of the people who are keeping their clients in business or keeping the event itself in business every single year, and that's our attendees. So often I have to push back on my clients and share with them that yes, I understand you're the ones that are hosting this event. You want to make it great because of your C suite. You want to make it great because of your sponsors. But at the end of the day, we cannot be selfish about how we're executing an event or who the event is for and really make sure that we're planning events and planning experiences for the attendees because they're the people that matter the most. And I think too often as I look at you know A V sheets and I look at banquet orders and I look at execution memos for events, it's just constantly about what the client is in need of, what the do-outs are, what the KPIs are, and then I say, well, who's attending this and what value are they walking away from this with? Because oftentimes the value is well people can come and they can network. that's great. They can network outside of your event. They don't have to come to your event for food and beverage, they don't have to come to your event to experience a sponsor. they are coming there because they have something very critical that they're trying to get beyond. And they're counting on your event to do exactly that. So if everything that you're doing to execute this event is not going to answer what they're coming to your event for, then that tells me the event is all about you and it is not about the actual person attending it. So that's the thing that I feel like most in our industry should really pay close attention to.
Jay Menashe: I think something coming back to something you said earlier, you know, it's about you, it's about your C-suite, but it's like people are so on our side and probably everywhere, we're people pleasers. We don't want to necessarily push back or ask why or why you're you know, what's the reason behind this? It's like, okay, cool, let's go. And versus like, again, taking that step back. It's like, well, let's think about this. Are you making the decision with the audience in mind? Because that's really, yes, of course, we want to drive pipeline, we want to have that impact on the company's bottom line, but it's like if you're not first appeasing the attendee, None of that other stuff is happening.
Andrew Roby: None, none, and that really should be how the event strategic plan is built. Because if you are creating experiences, if you're creating the value, if you're creating the return on investment for the guests, ultimately, if you do it well, everything that you want to receive from the end goal of this event is going to happen. But oftentimes events are planned Very short notice, events are planned without the guest experience in mind, and thus it limits the ability to actually have a strategic plan that ensures both sides are taken care of. And so that's the issue at hand that we really need to delve into to try to fix.
Jay Menashe: And you had a post the other day, of course, as I was scrolling through your feed, and you were talking about it's like, you know, you hire new employees, you would never give them the reins within three to four months of running the most important event of your year. You shouldn't do that to your partners either. You should give them that runway to like, hey, let's all figure this out together and and get it. And it's like, yeah, no, it's like that's how you get the best out of things. It's like, let yes, can you put two years into like bringing in a partner? Probably not. Hopefully you've been working with them for that long. But the reality is it also should be three to four months. It's like, can we find that happy medium?
Andrew Roby: Yeah, I think that there yeah, there are some internal constraints that our clients have that prevent them from bringing someone on a year in advance or two years in advance. I totally get that. But if you've already ideated that you need to have an event and you've already said this is the date, that's when we need to start bringing on people that are going to curate what this event is. Not after you've book the venue, not after you finalize what the menu is and now it's, you know, two months away. No, this needs to happen the moment you agree that an event needs to happen.
Jay Menashe: Yeah. It also in a sense if you're doing that, you're looking for an order taker, you're not looking for someone to actually be a partner in this process.
Andrew Roby: you nailed it, Jay. You nailed it. Because so often when I am looking at like the RFPs that come in and it's like, Yeah, we want this magical moment. And I'm like, Well, you're putting me in a position of response. I'm reacting at this point. I'm not being a strategic partner. I can't create something because these things take time and it also requires us to on board to understand who you are, to understand your needs, to understand your guests, and then to understand how your requirements are going to integrate themselves within the needs of the guest itself. If my event the lead time is very short, I can't do any of those things. The only thing I can do is react and focus heavily on logistics just to make sure that the things that you need to get done get done. And then at the end, we're disappointed because It wasn't this magical moment that you expected. That's the crazy part.
Jay Menashe: Yeah. Yeah, 'cause you're only focused on the logistics part of it. And then that's kinda like the premise for this entire podcast. It's like, hey, we stop focusing on just the logistics and like how do we create memories? And that's with time and planning and thoughtfulness.
Andrew Roby: Yes. Yes. Agreed.
Jay Menashe: So one area I also I wanted to dig in with you, 'cause you talk a lot about hotels and venues in general, and you know, I it's funny because I had to rework this because you're like, I don't do these things. if a venue doesn't look right on paper, they're just out. So I want you to tell me about a venue that did check every box on paper, but there was still something in your gut that's like, nah, I can't do this. What did you catch that, you know, you didn't see in the brochure all the information kind of was thrown at you, so it said.
Andrew Roby: Yeah, one of the biggest things that and I remember this vividly because I was just talking about this hotel to a colleague of mine last week. And so the client said, Hey, we need a big hotel. We're doing a multi-day conference, and we want to make sure that we have this, this, this, and that done. And I'm like, Okay, cool, no big deal. So I reach out to the hotel. of course they give us, you know, their one sheet, if you will, their brochure of all the things that come with it, what their capacity is, their availability, and things like that. And so I said, Okay, great. so let's schedule, you know, a walkthrough. And many times hotels do not show particular photos. and that when I see that, that gives me a yellow flag. Not necessarily a red flag, but it gives me a yellow flag because I'm curious as to why Something very important wasn't shown to me or isn't as prominently shown on your website. So we go and we go for a walkthrough, and I always take my clients for a walkthrough, and I'm very candid, I'm very Andrew. So I'm not sugarcoating, I'm not trying to be nice to any side. I am focused solely on if this venue is giving me exactly what I need and what you said that you need. So we go to the venue and Some things I always ask the venue is one, will there ever be any renovations between now and the time of my event? I also ask, will there be any other major events that are happening right before, during, or right after, right after meaning the day my event ends? Because I need to know that. And both of those questions were yes. And I said, this is not the venue for us. Because you're doing renovations, I have no idea what this venue is going to look like because you refuse to even give me and I understand, but you refuse to give me a color palette, you refuse to give me even a render of what the space is going to look like. I'm not saying you gotta email it to me, just pull it up in your phone, let me see it real quick, you know? Yeah. and so I don't know what this space is going to look like. Also with construction. I don't know if this construction is going to be completed on time. It's a difference between, hey, this construction is being completed a couple of months before your event. But when you're talking about weeks before my event, that's a that's a deal breaker for me. And then second, when you have a major event that is starting on the day that I end, that means that they are going to be loading in the same time my general session is operating. And that is a huge distraction. It is far more bodies in a building that I now have to worry about because I am focusing on however many people I have that are attending it, plus navigating them through all the people that you have for setup. And that is a a guest experience issue, plus it becomes a vendor experience issue when all of the team that I've built are now trying to strike, you know, that particular location and it's just It's horrible. So those two reasons are reasons why I said, you know, we just can't do it. Because it is just too much of a hassle for everybody, not just for Andrew, but for everybody.
Jay Menashe: Yeah. I'm playing with that right now. You know, we have this event installing on Sunday and they've been doing construction. we knew about it. In this case we knew. but we what we didn't know, and it thankfully it doesn't affect us, like they have two freight elevators to get up to where we need to bring our equipment and it's like, well, one is considerably smaller than the other. And so when we did our first site, it's like, yeah, you should be able to use the other one and just like we have to put all this stuff down for protect Well now it's like, well, no, you can't actually use that other elevator. It's like, that changes. Thankfully, we did a site visit a few weeks ago. so we got our plan figured out. But yeah, that that pre and post it's like that does. That definitely makes a big impact on the the install, especially, I think. I mean on the back end, yeah, the distraction is definitely important. what you said about the other point I wanted to touch on was like the brochure and the marketing. I feel for hotels because it's like they're just not thinking about it, which is crazy to me, 'cause you sell experiences, don't you want to Have pictures of these spaces in use. You know, it's like in the trade show side, like, cool, look at this beautiful rendering of this empty booth. It's like, hey, hey guys, we sell experiences. We don't sell architecture. Yes, we physically, that is actually what we sell as the architecture. But we're selling them on the idea of like what this architecture will do. So to not actively capture pieces of marketing or for your brochure or for your website. Yeah, I feel for them because it's usually not. in their control. They have a marketing department. It's like that's just not their priority. But it's like, hey, this is where that sales and marketing alignment conversation comes back to. And it's like, guys, get it together.
Andrew Roby: Yes, you're right. And and it's the handoff or the exchange of information because marketing is only going to focus on one particular thing. Their mind is set on one objective and sales is completely different. And so they have to be talking to each other to understand the dynamics of what is about to come and what what it is that they're doing because with the hotel that I'm thinking about, the sales rep just refused to get back to us on the render and say, Hey, this is what's happening and never responded. Just mind you, sent us a contract and everything we were about to move forward with the contract after we did the walkthrough and after we got these answers. these questions answered and just never responded. So I was like, This is a telltale sign that this is not where we need to be at.
Jay Menashe: That doesn't make any sense to me whatsoever. It's like, why wouldn't you the whole point of doing the renovation is to get people excited for the completion of the renovation. Don't you wanna share the renderings of what the space is gonna look like?
Andrew Roby: Our arena, our stadium here that's in DC is getting a huge renovation. it's a two-year renovation. And they have laid out the plan for this renovation over like months of sharing. They did this huge DC public event. about it. They've shown the renders. They've shown the stages of, you know, this construction for the arena and the Washington Wizards and all this and it's like that's how you do it. That's how you to your point. That's how you get people excited about wanting to come and see. We love new things. We love seeing new things. So why not show it?
Jay Menashe: Yeah, well, not to mention the Washington sports scene is not exactly the most exciting thing right now. So let's let's get people excited about something.
Andrew Roby: We got a brand new an awesome starter for our our center. So we're we're excited to see what's gonna happen with basketball season.
Jay Menashe: All right. Yeah, well listen, I'm because of last season I'm the the biggest basketball fan in the world as a New York Knicks fan over here. So yeah, I can't I'm I can't wait for the season to start. Listen, the Rangers are my team, hockey is my sport, but it's like they're probably not going anywhere anytime soon. So yeah, I gotta latch onto somebody. It gives it's so sad how sports affect my emotions. It shouldn't be, but it it is. This is
Andrew Roby: You guys are pretty much still on cloud nine after the Knicks won. So that's and it's not just how they won. It's just how you all journeyed with them through the finals and then the celebrations in all of the boroughs and It's right. It was just crazy how you all and I've never seen something like that. Even when talking about hockey, when we won what like Ten years ago, the Chinatown, the streets were just full for the Capitals when they won. But it was not like you all when you all won for the Knicks. It's like the whole state just went on full display of celebration and everybody
Jay Menashe: Tri-State. It wasn't even just the state. It was the whole tri-state. It's the only team in this area that can literally bring us all together. Because any other sport, you know, you got Giants and Jets, you got Yankees and Mets. Well, it when in reality it's like, you know, you the Yankees and then, you the Mets are way over here. Yeah. but yeah, no, it was the greatest feeling in the world. Yeah. It's like I was talking about it the other day. I'm like, I can't imagine how I'm gonna feel when the Rangers, if the Rangers ever win the Stanley Cup again, that is my team. I will cry like a baby, Andrew. Let me just tell you. So and yeah, I got my Knicks hat up right over there. my championship hat, I got all my shirts. I got asked the other day, it's like, how many days a week would you say you're wearing a Knicks t shirt right now? I'm like, I don't know, probably about four days a week.
Andrew Roby: That's okay. And that's okay.
Jay Menashe: Listen, it's been fifty-three years, you gotta you gotta live it up. Back
Andrew Roby: Yes, indeed.
Jay Menashe: on track. Back on track. so here's what always one of my favorite questions. I'm a big fan of the book, Unreasonable Hospitality. So I always like to ask, you know, for you, what does unreasonable hospitality look like? And the second part of that, why don't you think like more brands are are doing these 'cause for me and I'll stop myself before I keep going, but it's not an expensive thing to do unreasonable hospitality. But why aren't brands like thinking through like that guest experience and how we're treating people?
Andrew Roby: So I just did a keynote on hospitality and I stated to the audiences that hospitality is what we want to anticipate. And many people could not understand that very thing because as service providers we are always reacting. We're reacting to the Wi Fi that has gone down, we're reacting to The registration line that is now downstairs, down the escalator, and at the front desk. We're reacting to catering, not providing the signs for dietary restrictions that should be on the buffet. We're reacting to why room service does not have the rooms ready for guests to check in at four o'clock when check in was at four o'clock. Most of us thrive on being proud of reacting to service. And yes. The response should be fast, but good hospitality is anticipating the experience gap. And the experience gap identifies who is responsible for what and closing that gap in order to make sure that guests are not having to handle situations that should have been addressed prior to them experiencing the things that they're experiencing. And so hospitality Has to be really good at anticipating. We realize that breakfast is starting at 7 o'clock, but the keynote starts at 8 o'clock. So what is going to happen between the 7 and the 8 o'clock? Because guests aren't gonna have a total hour of having breakfast. They still have to go through registration, they still have to travel down to wherever the ballroom is, they still have to sit down in enough time so that way the keynote can start at 8 o'clock. So hospitality has to understand the dynamics. Of not necessarily being responsive to something that has happened, but anticipating when something will happen and mitigating that so that way it does not interfere with the experience that the guest is having. That is the one thing that I want more people in our industry to focus deeper on and having a plan in place to identify the issues because events are full of data. Every event that we have is full of data. And the data that I want us to focus on more is what are the questions that are being asked consistently during an event? Where's the bathroom? What times does this start? What is happening with food? Who is the keynote? Like we have questions. Why can't I find the ballroom? Where's the breakout? Like so much data is in the questions that are consistently being asked. Take those questions and fix what is being asked in those questions for the next event. So that is what I think is good hospitality.
Jay Menashe: Yeah. Well you now you're touching on a whole other book that I loved reading called, you know, They Ask You Answer. It's like my my entire content and marketing philosophy is just let's just answer those questions. And also there was a term in unreasonable hospitality. It's basically systematizing the hospitality. It's like you've had these same things happen over and over again. It's like, let's anticipate it to your point and take care of it before it becomes a thing. Or, you know, it's like that there was the very the example they gave is like, hey, we just asked people how they got to the restaurant. when they got there. It's like whether you took, you know, and if they park their car and they have a meter, it's like we anticipate we'll just go fill the meter for them, like little things like that. It's like and it's that's where I'd it's like unreasonable hospitality doesn't need to be expensive It just needs to be thoughtful. And that's the most important thing.
Andrew Roby: So cheap to do. So cheap to do. If you just step outside of who you are and the things that you as event pros, we know too much. We spend whoa, I have 10 years doing this, 20 years doing that. Great. But your guests, the moment they walk into your space, they don't know anything. They haven't been there at 5 a.m. When A V has started to set up and now have a lay of the land, they're definitely not the sales manager who knows everything about that event space or that hotel. They're not catering who knows where all the ballrooms are, and they're certainly not the event planner who knows how to get from the registration desk to the ballroom. They don't know any of these things. And the more we put ourselves in that mindset for them, the better we are at achieving. better hospitality standards for them because they just are absent of that and they should be. It's not their responsibility to know this. It's not their responsibility to carry this and it's definitely not their responsibility to fix the things that they're now experiencing that they should have not experienced to begin with.
Jay Menashe: Yeah. People operate under a lot of assumptions, you know, it's the curse of knowledge. It's like, well, I know it, so obviously you know it too, you know? Yeah.
Andrew Roby: yeah, for sure.
Jay Menashe: All right, so in in speaking more to like the events you're producing and what you're putting out there, obviously you're doing some really great and memorable things. What do you think, you know, a client or stakeholder has to believe in you before they give you that latitude to do something like genuinely memorable, the cool stuff that you're putting out there?
Andrew Roby: they really have to have trust. a client should believe that I can carry out what it is that they want to do, but I think it has to do with making sure that they believe that I'm part of the organization, that I'm a partner, that I am not here solely just to execute an event, get great photos and videos, and then share that on social media. I think The more that they can believe we're in relationship and we're in tandem with each other, the better that they are to give me the authority, the power, the ability to actually carry out what's in my head and what I feel like my experience brings to the table. And sometimes that experience and that knowledge is counter to what they thought that they wanted to see. And I am really giving them what they deserve. And so I think that. As long as we have that trust and we have the ability to take that trust and run with it, I think that more events will be more beneficial not only to the client, but also to the people that are attending it. So I love not when we have our onboarding, it's our onboarding is a little bit weird because we don't necessarily delve straight into the logistics and the KPIs and all that. I delve into who you are. I want to know who who am I about to work with for the next however many months, what your personality is like, how we can, you know, work together and our rhythm and structure. And then we get into the logistics and all that kind of stuff. Because I feel like when someone like you and I, when we had our first conversation, it wasn't just jumping straight into, hey Andrew, what clients do you have? And can we, you know, work with those clients? We got to know each other. You know what I mean? And I think that those types of conversations and the ability to build those types of relationships really foster a great amount of trust, allowing people to do what it is that you actually need them to do.
Jay Menashe: Yeah, no, I'm definitely in alignment there. It's actually, you know, when we receive an RFP or someone's like, Hey, we wanna we wanna see if you're worth working with and it's like, okay, cool. I wanna see if you're worth working with as well. And and I never obviously put it like that, but that that chemistry and culture is everything. I mean, I've learned as again, as I've gotten older, it's like if I can't align with you On the chemistry and culture, well, there's no point in doing anything else. We spend so much time on the phone, so much time in meetings, at at dinners, of traveling together, on site together. It's like, hey, I gotta know that we're gonna be able to ride together because things are gonna go wrong. you know, we I would love to say we anticipate every single possible problem, but we don't. And I gotta know that you're gonna just A, I we have to earn that trust. You don't just get that trust. And it happens through conversation and time. And yeah, no, I think you know, when you earn that trust, that is, you're right, that's when you get to go do cool things 'cause it's like, I know. Andrew's got this.
Andrew Roby: Yep. I agree. I agree. A hundred percent. it's a good feeling because you walk away from an event knowing you did your absolute best and knowing that your client knows that you've done your absolute best. And so that's what I love. That's like to me, that's the biggest compliment I can leave you with an event or from an event with.
Jay Menashe: Love it. All right, I got some easy ones for you now. Okay. Now that now that we have the the quote unquote controversial ones. what are you watching, reading, or experiencing outside of this industry that's changing how you think about it inside the industry?
Andrew Roby: You know what? Honestly, I don't watch I don't watch TV. I don't do anything event related outside of working. I spend a great deal of time watching HG TV. I just I know I just said I don't watch T I don't watch TV like live TV in that sense, but I love watching HG TV because it like right now I'm watching this a apartment rental disaster show I forgot is with Lisa Leslie and she's coming to rate people's you know rentals and it shows not just how the design aspect affects you know people but it's their experience the reviews that are on there and how people are trying their best the clients are trying their best but they don't have the ability to do their best and so having somebody come in and it really has changed how I look at events in that essence because it allows me to say sometimes you need to have a little bit more grace. And again, removing me because I think I know everything, you know, and trying to have a little bit more grace and to guide people along the way. So that series is really fun to watch. I am not reading any books right now that are I guess educational if you will. I am reading a fictional college magician book right now. And I absolutely I love fantasy because it allows my mind to just get away from being so analytical and just just have fun just being inside of a fantasy world. So yeah, that's that's that's what I'm doing now.
Jay Menashe: I love that. No, listen, I'm reading Percy Jackson for a couple of reasons. One, my son loves the books. I'm trying to like you know connect with him in different ways because he's not as crazy about sports as I am. So it's like, all right, let me come to where you are. but I love I actually think I get more ideas, and it's not directly from like a book like Percy Jackson I'm reading, but it's like it just triggers new firing of neurons. It's like, let me connect these two dots and put this thing together. And I think just honestly getting off my phone, getting off the screen, the constant scroll of whatever social media you're on, it's like It gives you that time to like just think and breathe. So it's like I love that you're reading a book about magicians and maybe, maybe next time I have you on you'll you know, so us show us some tricks. Maybe you'll that'll be the next path you go down.
Andrew Roby: Right. Absolutely. We'll see. Well I'll try to make that happen.
Jay Menashe: I love it. I love it. Yeah, listen, I can't do magic, but I am fascinated by it.
Andrew Roby: Mm-hmm. For sure. Yeah.
Jay Menashe: All right. Last one to close it out. Yeah, I think I don't actually think this is an easy question, as much as I was gonna say it is. What's an event you're jealous you didn't plan?
Andrew Roby: Whoa, that is a really good but I there's two events that I would have always wanted to plan. one is Keynes. Like I think that being at a film festival or a a content type environment where you have so many things happening and content and creators are unfolding within this atmosphere. I think that that is absolutely fascinating to me to be able to see both sides, the celebrity side, the film side, but also the brand side and all the brands that are creating contents and creating these moments. you know, they had a panel with Oprah on it and I was like, I can only imagine me being backstage and me, you know, doing run up show and Oprah's right here. And she's at my event that I'm managing and she's sitting on this panel. That was great. And then the other one is I've always wanted to do something at Coachella. I feel like it is the most wildest festival ever, and so many people are now creating conferences around a music festival framework. And so I feel like that would be such an epic opportunity to be part of. and just to learn and soak in and create experiences and take that with me to other parts of of my career. So yeah.
Jay Menashe: I'm with you. I maybe we can go to both of these together. I I would love to go to Cannes. I think Can is super cool because of the dichotomy of like these super rich, wealthy, famous people versus like all these B2B marketers because it's becoming a spectacle, not just obviously on the film festival side, but like the B2B brands that are showing up and doing these things. It's like, you know, Can Beach and all that. It's yeah. It and I think I say this now because I haven't dealt with hundred and five degree heat where I'm wearing a suit or anything similar to that. I'm like 'Cause I always tell people I'm like, I love the heat. I it could be a hundred and five degrees all year, maybe not all year round, that's probably a little bit much, but it's like as long as I'm wearing like a T shirt and shorts, I'm very happy. If I'm like, you know, running to the subway in my suit and I start sweating and I can feel it in my back, not not for me.
Andrew Roby: No, not for me either. And I've been in hotter environments before and it's it's not nice whatsoever.
Jay Menashe: Fair. Yeah, well I was pretty we were just in Fort Lauderdale and on a cruise, you know, went to the Bahamas back and forth and it was like ninety to a hundred the whole time there and everyone's like, it's so hot. I'm like, I'm so in paradise. This is my last week of summer. It's gonna be cool. Starting I already feel the fall weather in the mornings here. It's like sixties, which is kind of nice, but it's still like eighty eighty five by the time we hit like two o'clock gear. So I'm like, All right, I'm gonna hold on to summer.
Andrew Roby: I get it. I'm ready for fall.
Jay Menashe: Have you ha are you a pumpkin spice person?
Andrew Roby: not. I don't tend to drink a lot of coffee. I'm a tea person, but I just love I just I think the mindset of people is shifting in fall. It's slower, it's more kind, it's gentler. I love the colors of the season. I love that I can wear a sweater if I wanted to or just wear a regular shirt if I wanted to. So I feel like it's just the happy medium of winter and summer and I absolutely love it.
Jay Menashe: I accept this answer. I my favorite shirt is my like long sleeve hoodie T shirts that it's like all I'm like I'm in between. Yeah. So yeah, I hear that. Yeah. Yeah. I saw I asked about this pumpkin spice latte 'cause somebody posted I think this is like August twenty second or whatever it was and he's like, All right, well Starbucks has come out with it is are you a before September first? I'm like, I don't want I need to know if you're before September first if we're gonna be friends anymore because I'm an I'm a late August birthday and I love summer, so no, nothing before September first. That is just illegal in my world.
Andrew Roby: Well, they've already started with in the stores for Halloween and for Thanksgiving and it wasn't it was still August and I was like, This is crazy. But
Jay Menashe: listen, if I find Christmas stuff now I'm just gonna take it down myself.
Andrew Roby: It's coming. It's it's it's coming.
Jay Menashe: yeah, listen, give it a couple more weeks. Once once we hit like mid September, it's like, Christmas season. That's
Andrew Roby: Right, Scott.
Jay Menashe: right. So Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year 'cause there's none of the you know we need more marketing on Thanksgiving, I think. We should make that a bigger holiday.
Andrew Roby: And not Black Friday stuff, like actual being thankful and gathering with the family and enjoying those moments. Yes.
Jay Menashe: I feel like Black Friday has gotten pushed back over the last few years. Like it's not the thing a everything is digital. You don't need to walk to a store. It's like why are why am I even wasting my time trying that? But it's like yeah, it's like 'cause people like, Hey, we're allowed to slow down for a minute. I understand you need to like appease your shareholders and you profits gotta come up and your end of year push, blah, blah, blah. That's like, Yeah, let's just calm down. Like and that's why you know, listen, Thanksgiving for me is family, food and football. I that's the three things, that's all I do.
Andrew Roby: Love it, love it, love it. I mean that's game day. That's that's what if it's not the Super Bowl, then it's it's game day on Thanksgiving.
Jay Menashe: Now it's game day on Wednesday before Thanksgiving on Thanksgiving and the day after Thanksgiving. They're just the NFL is like we are here and it is all ours.
Andrew Roby: Doing a lot.
Jay Menashe: they are doing a lot. Well, Andrew, thank you very much for joining me. I want people to walk away with a few things. One, hey, hoteliers, if you're going through construction, let everybody know what we gotta deal with. We all know there are gonna be delays. Tell us what we're getting back to and what it's gonna look like. Two Anticipating the experience. I really like that. That anticipating the experience gap. I very much like that. And I would say the last part, like, yeah, be transparent. Ask the questions, give the answers. Don't just like think about what your stakeholders internally want. Think about the attendees. And Andrew, again, thank you so much. I'm glad we had this opportunity to chat and you will be on again. I'm gonna bring everybody back at least a second time in the future. But I really appreciate you joining me. Yes.
Andrew Roby: Thank you for having me, Jay.
Jay Menashe: If you walked away with one thing you'll use, we did our job today. Event Experience Experts drops every week. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and check us out on YouTube if you want to watch. I'm Jay Menashe See you next time.
