The Rise of Virtual Events: Natasha Miller, founder Entire Productions

People won’t be hanging out in large groups for a very, very long time. It’s a tough pill for me to swallow and that’s not even my sector of the industry. Event planners are going to need to get scrappy if they’re going to find any work in the coming year. One event planner I’m not worried about is Natasha Miller. She embodies the word resilience and has taken her events company digital. Today she unveils the bleeding edge of virtual events, marrying together work and play.

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SHOW NOTES

• Officially started Entire productions in 2001
• Transitioned to representing acts and producing events
• Fake it until you make it
• Would say yes to everything and then figure out how to do it
• It took  Warren Buffet 9 years to make his first million dollars
• Everyone wants to get rich quick
• Natasha didn’t care about being rich until recently
• Planning for retirement
• Educational path
• Went to college on violin scholarship
• Didn’t graduate
• Self-taught entrepreneurship
• No mentors
• Attended the Goldman Sachs 10k SD
• Already millions of dollars in revenue at that time
• Learned so much
• Terrified by the accounting education but it was crucial
• Every year after the course, grew 65% each year
• Entrepreneurs Organization
• 3-year course at MIT
• Entrepreneurial Master’s class at Havard
• Access to so many incredible entrepreneurs
• Implementing what you have learned
• Learning not to implement everything at once
• Goals pre-Covid
• Grow by 25%
• Splitting Entertainment production and Event Production
• Planning their biggest event of the year
• March 17th 2020
• Retail costs would be $500k
• City shutdown on March 16th 2020
• Initial reaction to Covid
• Panic, sorrow, and nervousness
• Canceling WeWork lease
• Making difficult choices regarding the team
• Feeling grateful for aspects of Covid
• A chance to step back
• Reflecting on the business
• Repairing broken parts of the business
• Having the space to improve the business
• Pivoting during Covid
• Everything has worked so far
• Created a variety show platform for virtual events
• Bite-sized shows with educational or entertaining speakers
• Internal marketing event
• Still of value to clients
• Goal is to keep Entire Productions top of mind with client base
• The growth of virtual events
• Expanding people’s businesses
• One client has a 200 client in-person event every year
• Expanded to 2000 virtual events
• Less prominent post-Covid but is here to stay
• 53% of all restaurants will permanently close
• Also possible in the events space
• Younger businesses are quick to pivot
• Older businesses have mostly been giving up faster
• Failure depends on overheads
• Cash is king
• The events industry isn’t well represented in government