The Business of Meetings

We have the great pleasure of speaking to an amazing person today! Bruce Turkel, the Guru of Branding, is joining us as our guest! Bruce Turkel is entertaining and educational! He plays the harmonica, and he is a Hall of Fame Speaker from the National Speakers Association. And today, he shares several different points that you can apply in your business to ensure that you connect with your audience on an emotional level before you connect with them intellectually. He tells us about three things that need to happen when you’re speaking publicly, he explains how to make your scar your star, and he also tells us about the latest book he is writing. Bruce Turkel’s bio Bruce Turkel has helped create some of the world’s most compelling brands, including Hasbro, Nike, American Express, Charles Schwab, Citicorp, Discovery Networks, Bacardi, Sol Melia Hotels, Partnership for a Drug-Free America, HBO Latin America, Canyon Ranch, and many more. You might have seen Bruce on TV. Bruce has worked with valuable brands for more than 25 years and is a frequent guest expert on the national news. He appears regularly on CNN International, MSNBC, and NPR. You may have read about Bruce. Bruce has been featured in The New York Times, Fast Company, Communication Arts, AdWeek, and Speaker Magazines. You might have heard Bruce speak. Bruce has spoken at MIT, Harvard, TEDx, and hundreds of corporate and industry conferences. In 2017 the National Speakers Association inducted Bruce into their Speaker Hall of Fame. You may have read one or more of Bruce’s five books. Bruce’s most recent book, All About Them, was chosen by Forbes Magazine as one of their best business books. Perhaps you heard Bruce playing his harmonica. Bruce fronts the popular Miami R&B band Blackstar. You’re about to meet Bruce Turkel, he’s sharing some of his simple yet powerful brand-building techniques. Great brands make people feel good about themselves In Bruce Turkel’s most recent book, All About Them, he explains that good brands make people feel good, but great brands make people feel good about themselves. Good marketers are talking about their consumers In the days before the internet, you had to tell people everything they needed to know about you. Today, however, people have access to all the information they want, and anyone you’re dealing with can find out anything they want to know about you. So, today’s best marketers are no longer talking about themselves. They are talking about their consumers. Three options Bruce explains that if you want to become a professional speaker, you have three options. The first is to land a plane on the Hudson River and save 150 people. The second is to be the President of the United States. If you can’t do either of those, you will need to put in ten years of hard work. Chosen for who they are People don’t choose speakers, meeting professionals, and event managers for what they do. They are chosen for who they are. The point of any talk The point of a talk is to do three things: To be entertaining, to be educational, and to be enlightening. Ultimately, the audience should leave the room transformed and aware of how that happened. Making your customers feel valued Everything you do should be to make your customers, clients, and employers feel valuable. The more valued you make them feel, the more they will want to work with you. The one question event planners need to ask the host If you, as an event organizer, want your job to be easy, just ask your client, “When this event is over, how do you want your attendees to feel? And how should they be thinking?” Making an emotional connection with your audience As a speaker, Bruce advises you to connect emotionally with your audience before making an intellectual connection with them. Bruce gets inside information from people in the audience about their businesses so that he can connect with them emotionally. He does that by taking the time to get to know them, chatting with them, and asking them why they are at the event, what they think of it, and if there is anything about the event that they don’t like. This feedback is strategically gathered for the sole purpose of connecting emotionally with the audience. Talk to people about them, not about you Bruce points out that in those conversations, he talks to the people about them, and not about himself. He takes people on emotional highs and lows throughout the conversation so that they feel something because when that happens, they pay attention. Make your scar your star Your liabilities can become your assets. In learning how to turn a negative into a positive, what you consider to be your biggest liability could turn out to be your most endearing quality. Bruce Turkel’s next book The title of Bruce’s next book is Is That All There Is? The concept of it is that people who have reached a relative level of success and hit a hurdle in their lives need to make a change. In writing the book, Bruce interviewed people who have made a shift in their lives and could tell the story of what happened and why they did what they did, so that the readers can learn what to do when they want to make a change in their lives. Bruce Turkel has a gift for you! Send Bruce a message, and he will send you the audio version of his previous book, Building Brand Value. Just hit the contact button on his website to get your free copy. Links and resources: Bruce’s Website Bruce on LinkedIn Bruce on Twitter Bruce on Instagram Bruce on YouTube All About Them by Bruce Turkel

We are thrilled to welcome Phil Jones as our guest for today’s podcast! Phil is brilliant! He is a true Master of Words, and it is fascinating to find out how the specific words he chooses, and the context in which he uses them, really work!  Phil has written several books, including Exactly What To Say, Exactly How To Sell and Exactly Where To Start. He is joining us today to talk about his entrepreneurial journey, discuss his books, share some of his invaluable knowledge, and offer some golden nuggets of advice. We know you’re going to love today’s conversation! Phil’s bio Phil is exactly like… nobody else! He entered the world of business at the tender age of 14, armed with nothing more than a bucket and sponge, and since then, he hasn’t looked back! Phil’s early career went from strength to strength. After starting as the Sales Manager for a fashion retailer, he moved on to assisting several Premier League Football Clubs, after which he became a key part of growing a £240m property business.  Then, in 2008, Phil decided it was time to dedicate his future to helping others to succeed. So, using all his knowledge about leadership, sales, and business growth, he created a one-day workshop, where he trained over 2,500 people in his founding year, before licensing his training to the UK, Switzerland, Australia, and New Zealand. As he dived deeper and deeper into the world of training businesses, however, Phil became increasingly uncomfortable with the selling style that the marketplace was glorifying. Since then, he has made it his life’s work to demystify the sales process and bring simplicity and integrity to a world that is often full of egos and lies.  He has gone on to deliver over 2,500 presentations in 57 countries across five continents, training more than two million people, including sales and non-sales professionals, leaders, and experts, to have more influence, confidence, and control when steering their conversations. Phil’s unique philosophy of using specific word choices to teach his audiences “Exactly What To Say” to influence, persuade and drive outcomes has made him one of the most practical and in-demand business speakers in the world today. An accidental start to entrepreneurship When Phil hired his first employee, it was neither planned nor was it a strategic move. He hired someone because he had to play football at the same time as he had arranged to do a job for someone else. Phil got a friend to do the job in his place, and he paid his friend a difference to what he was getting paid. In doing that, he learned about margins, and he kept on doing more of the same thing, from then on. A lesson learned about value The best lesson that Phil learned very early on in his entrepreneurial journey was that the ability to acquire customers is the value, rather than the ability to do the work. Phil explains that you will always find people to work for you if you can afford to pay them and if you have customers. A prestigious offer When he was eighteen, Phil got an offer from a very prestigious university in the UK. He didn’t want to go, even though he felt obliged to further his education.  A suitable compromise He thought that a suitable compromise would be to land a big job with career development attached to it. In that way, he could get his education in the workplace while being paid for it, and he wouldn’t have to bury himself in debt.  Phil’s career path  At the age of eighteen, Phil became the youngest Sales Manager for one of the biggest department stores in the UK. From there, he built sales teams, became a Sales Training Manager for one of the largest independent furniture retail groups, became the Head of Retail and the Commercial Director to a few Premier League soccer clubs, and then, together with a business partner, he went on to build a very successful, independent property business.   The 2008 recession In 2008, the recession kicked in, and there was no longer a market for Phil and his partner’s product offering. Re-invention Due to the recession, Phil was continuously being asked by chambers of commerce and small business networking groups to speak to their groups of people, train entrepreneurs to trade out of a recession and share some ideas about what to do to take things back into their own hands. He continued doing it, thinking that it was a just time-filler while he was figuring out what his next entrepreneurial venture would be.  The personal development industry Although he had always had aspirations to do that kind of work in the future, Phil thought that he was still too young to be a professional speaker. Yet, he found himself being sucked into the personal development industry and running his own business. From there, things built out very organically for him and he viewed it very much as a business every step of the way. A better approach to selling The typical approach to selling anything is the features and benefits approach. The only way you can be successful with that approach is if you are pushy. Rather than being pushy, Phil recommends thinking about how you can be pulling, instead, and putting yourself in a position where people want to run towards you. The right words to say When selling something, you should never, ever, invite anybody to do anything unless you can first say the words: “Because of the fact that you said…” This means you have to be curious enough to understand two things: Firstly, the current situation, and secondly, what the vision of success looks like to the person you’re selling to. Getting better at getting clients The issue when getting clients is not messing things up when you find someone to speak to by bombarding them with information. Instead, you should catch your breath and remember that content without context is noise. In other words, you need to do the work to understand the context before you start to insert your content. Getting the client Phil breaks things down to a simple method: Find the truth  Be curious enough to see if there’s a genuine alignment towards where you are  Ask three more questions to reach a position of certainty  Present yourself as the only solution  Precise verbiage Phil has been training people with sales skills for the last twelve or thirteen years, and he has always added pieces in his training about precise verbiage or specific word choices.  Magic words Phil wrote a speech called Magic Words that he would often use in an environment where he got a short window to deliver some content with the purpose of being able to win credibility and leads. Communications training around word choices Phil was asked to deliver sales training for a group of admin assistants in the telecommunications industry, and he didn’t want to call it sales training, so he made it a communications training around word choices. He produced a PDF for the training that included seventeen sequences of words to influence, persuade and encourage people to take action. Creating the book, Magic Words Later, at a mastermind event in 2011 or 2012, Phil told some colleagues that he could publish a book in seven days and get it to bestseller status. He took the PDF that he had written for the training and turned it into the book, Magic Words, and he ended up selling tens of thousands of copies of it! It was not done properly, however, because he did it mainly to prove a point. Doing it right When Phil moved from the UK to the US, he wanted to create a new credibility platform for speaker bureaus and agencies, so he decided to rewrite the book as he should have done it. He did so, and he called the book Exactly What To Say. Links and resources: Phil’s website Connect with Eric: On LinkedIn On Facebook On Instagram On Website

We are delighted to have the opportunity to talk to an amazing serial entrepreneur today, Robert (Bob) Glazer. Bob has a passion for helping individuals and organizations build their capacity to outperform. Bob is the founder and CEO of the global partner marketing agency, Acceleration Partners, where the mission is to drive the digital marketing industry to be performance-based and to change the work-life paradigm. Bob is a serial entrepreneur with a passion for helping individuals and organizations build their capacity and elevate their performance. He started his company remotely, and grew it from 7 to 170 employees in just ten years, in eight different countries! He is with us today to talk about his upcoming book Friday Forward, which launches September 1, 2020 and is about how he made the decision to run his company remotely, and how he uses his unique methods of helping and motivating others. Be sure to join us to hear our fascinating and inspiring discussion! Bob’s bio Bob Glazer is the founder and CEO of Acceleration Partners, and the co-founder and Chairman of BrandCycle.  Under his leadership, Acceleration Partners has been recognized as a global leader in the affiliate and partner marketing industry and has received numerous industry and company culture awards, including Glassdoor’s Employees’ Choice Awards for two years, consecutively, Ad Age’s Best Place to Work, Entrepreneur’s Top Company Culture for two years in a row, Inc. Magazine’s Best Place to Work, Great Place to Work & Fortune’s Best Small & Medium Workplaces for three consecutive years, Digiday’s Most Committed to Work-Life Balance, and Boston Globe’s Top Workplaces for three years in a row. Bob was also named to Glassdoor’s list of Top CEO’s of Small and Medium Companies in the US for the past two years.  Bob writes for The Wall Street Journal and USA Today. He is the author of four bestselling books, Elevate, Friday Forward, Performance Partnerships, and How to Make Virtual Teams Work. He hosts the popular Elevate Podcast, and shares his ideas and insights via the newsletter, Friday Forward, which reaches over 200,000 individuals. Additionally, Bob is a regular columnist for Forbes, Inc., Entrepreneur Magazine, and he speaks globally to companies and organizations on themes related to business growth, culture, building capacity, and performance. Bob is a past recipient of the Boston Business Journal’s “40 under 40” award and he is an advisor/board member to several high-growth companies. He serves on the Board of Directors for BUILD Boston, and he has served as a global leader in the Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO) and founded The Fifth Night charitable event. Outside of work, Bob enjoys skiing, cycling, reading, traveling, spending quality time with his family, or overseeing a home renovation project.  An underachiever Bob was an underachiever during his first seven years at school, and most of his report cards said that although he seemed smart and creative, he did not focus or apply himself.  Bob Glazer’s journey When he found his way into business and marketing, however, he came to realize that he loved to learn! He became interested in fast-growing companies and entrepreneurship, and he started focusing on marketing and high-growth businesses. He was very entrepreneurial but also very risk-averse. So, although he had some strong opinions, he was not initially willing to put his money where his mouth was. Leaning into non-conformity Bob learned to lean into non-conformity. And he found that many of the things that make him successful today are the things he was told he had to fix or change, early on. He later came to understand that he only needed to change the way those things were applied.  Overcoming risk aversion Once he finally overcame his risk aversion, Bob started to feel more comfortable depending on himself. So, he began to lean into his ideas, embraced diversity, and things started accelerating for him. Starting two companies About fourteen years ago, Bob left his last job and started two companies. He found that way more exciting than helping someone else grow their high-growth business. And he realized that although he enjoyed working in high-growth companies, he loved growing his own company more. About Acceleration Partners Acceleration Partners represents brands in the performance and partner affiliate marketing industry. It helps companies build affiliate programs, which are programs where brands partner with people in a similar way to digital business development instead of paying for a click or impression, they pay for an outcome. About BrandCycle BrandCycle has a smarter, more consolidated, user-friendly platform that removes the pain points from affiliate partnerships. While building Acceleration Partners, Bob saw an opportunity to represent brand partners. So, he started another separate company called BrandCycle, with the idea of gaining some traction with partners.  Some overlap It was a successful venture, and even though there is a slight overlap between Acceleration Partners and BrandCycle, BrandCycle works with hundreds of brands that Acceleration Partner does not have as clients. Brand Cycle continues to grow as the demand in the industry increases.     Work/Life Balance?   Bob doesn’t believe in work/life balance. He says if you are looking for a work/life balance, you will always be disappointed. Bob uses an integrated approach to do many things simultaneously. Bob references Mark Zuckerberg’s sister, Randi Zuckerberg, who says she can’t focus and balance all things each day. Don’t do things half in and half out. Bob tells employees to focus 100% while at work and when home give your all there.  Bob’s New Book, Friday Forward Bob’s latest book provides the inspiration needed to make meaningful, lasting changes in your life, and help others do the same. Featuring 52 inspiring stories, Friday Forward is a year’s worth of inspiration in one book. It can be bought anyplace books are sold and will come out on September 1, 2020. Links and resources: Bob’s website Buy Bob’s books

We’re delighted to welcome a successful rock star entrepreneur as our guest for today’s podcast! Erik Huberman is the founder and CEO of Hawke Media. He is joining us today to talk about how he managed to achieve the fantastic success that he has had in his business, and to tell us how his business keeps on growing, even during the global pandemic. He will also be offering some advice for all of us in the meetings and events industry. About Hawke Media Erik started Hawke Media in 2014, and over the last six years, the company has been experiencing phenomenal growth. Hawke media currently has around 165 employees, and it continues to grow at an exponential rate.  Erik’s bio Erik Huberman is a serial entrepreneur and a sought-after thought leader in the world of digital marketing, entrepreneurship, sales, and business. Before starting Hawke Media, Erik founded, grew, and sold Swag of the Month, and he grew the sales of Ellie.com to a million dollars in just four months.  Erik has received many honors and awards, including Forbes “30 Under 30”, Inc Magazine’s “Top 25 Marketing Influencers”, and Influencive’s “Top Influencive Influencers of 2017”. Erik is a regular contributor to major media publications like Forbes, Entrepreneur, and Business Insider. Erik comes from an entrepreneurial family Erik has an entrepreneurial dad and an entrepreneurial grandfather, so the idea of running a business came very naturally to him, and he took it for granted that he would build his own business at some point. He was always eager to learn new things, so he made sure he took on jobs and roles in companies so that he could learn everything from top to bottom.  Erik’s journey Erik graduated in 2008, and he started working in the real estate industry one week before the entire banking industry collapsed. That year, he earned a total of $350. Although it was frustrating for him, he learned a lot from the experience, and he began looking for some other options, and working on some different projects.  Launching online companies Erik started an online music company that took him two years to build. After that, he hired a CEO to take it over. At the same time, he created and sold two different e-commerce companies. Advising and consulting  At the time, he was one of the only people to create and sell successful businesses in the online space. Erik always enjoyed the process of talking to customers and peers, so after selling his last e-commerce company, he began advising and consulting for several businesses, both large and small.  Difficulties with marketing While working for several different companies, Erik noticed that they were all having the same problem when it was time to execute on marketing. The tough ecosystem left companies with only two choices. They could hire an in-house team, or they could hire an agency. Neither option was always ideal. A solution Hating the whole marketing ecosystem, Erik decided to hire a small SWAT team, just to solve the immediate problem for his clients. The team he hired consisted of people that he knew through his network, and they all had specific expertise.  The birth and growth of Erik’s company Erik’s solution was both cost-effective and flexible. This team formed the core of what is now known as Hawke Media. Hawke Media has offices in LA, New York, and Boston, and they are currently working on expanding and opening offices in Chicago, Miami, and Atlanta. Adapting to the current ecosystem Although we are living in a very challenging time right now, entrepreneurs will always have to deal with challenges. If you already have a business, adapting to the current ecosystem is generally easier than waiting on the whole ecosystem to change for the better. Erik’s advice If you are struggling with your business in these difficult times, Erik advises you to look at this as just another business challenge, rather than seeing it as a failure. Erik also points out that your ability to deal with the current problems in your business is an indicator of future business success. Links and resources: Hawke Media Connect with Eric: On LinkedIn On Facebook On Instagram On Website

We have the great pleasure of interviewing another amazing guest on today’s podcast! We’re having a conversation with Mike Michalowicz, and he is very well-known everywhere! Mike started three different million-dollar businesses before he turned thirty-five, and he has written several books, including Profit First, Clockwork, The Pumpkin Plan, and his most recent book, Fix This Next: Make the Vital Change That Will Level Up Your Business. He is joining us today talk about his journey, and to discuss what he has learned along the way, including his successes and his failures, the principles of Profit First, his Business Hierarchy of Needs, what it takes to be an entrepreneur and the one thing that all business owners need to bear in mind when testing out a new idea.  How Mike became an entrepreneur At first, Mike never really wanted to be an entrepreneur. He graduated from college with the idea of landing his one dream job, but unfortunately, that didn’t work out. After failing the interview, he returned home and started working at a computer store. It was while working there that he decided that he wanted to be the guy sitting in the back of the business, counting all the money and smoking cigars. And that motivated him to start a business of his own. The reality of business He started a business, only to discover that business owners are mostly stressed and panicked with everything that is going on. He had committed himself to entrepreneurship, however, and even though it all seemed terrifying in the beginning, he persevered. Leveraging and amplifying his successes  Due to his commitment to becoming an entrepreneur, Mike started appreciating the journey, and he began leveraging all his business successes. Selling his business  As a result of all his success, he was able to build his company and sell it. He started another company soon after that, which he later sold to a Fortune 500 company. His darkest journey In his early thirties, Mike was arrogant and ignorant and thought he knew everything. And he spent lots of money on beautiful houses and expensive cars.  The darkest part of his journey occurred when he became an angel investor, and when he realized that he was no good at it. He was advised by his accountant to declare bankruptcy, but he did not do that because he felt that it was his responsibility, and not that of his creditors, to dig himself out of all the mistakes he had made. As a result, he ended up losing everything. The turning point Mike went home to tell his family that he had lost everything, including their house. Upon hearing what had happened, his nine-year-old daughter stood up, ran to her bedroom, and returned with her piggy-bank in her hands. She told Mike that since he was no longer able to provide for the family, she would become the provider.  Mike will never forget that moment because it was the turning point for him. It took him about a year-and-a-half to two years after that to get back into the swing of things.  Why people become entrepreneurs That experience was a wake-up call for Mike, and it humbled him. It also made him realize that he had shirked the most important responsibilities of entrepreneurship, which are to gain financial and personal freedom and to be a provider. Re-learning entrepreneurship Mike committed to becoming a provider for his family. To do that, he realized that he needed to figure out a viable solution, and he also had to re-learn entrepreneurship.  Mike initially started writing for himself Mike got advised to keep a journal to vent the painful emotions he was feeling. That brought him clarity, so he continued doing it for some time. Then he started writing books.  Writing books to simplify entrepreneurship It was through his experiences of the highs and the lows of running a business that Mike came to understand that he needed to simplify entrepreneurship. He initially wrote books for himself because he needed the kind of information that he was writing about. He also wanted to take the opportunity to help others by simplifying the entrepreneurial journey and supporting people in their business endeavors.   Links and resources: You can get free chapter downloads for all of Mike’s books. You can also find Mike’s books and resources at www.mikemotorbike.com    Connect with Eric: On LinkedIn On Facebook On Instagram On Website

I’m delighted to be speaking to another amazing entrepreneur today! Chris Krimitsos is the creator of the Podfest Multimedia Expo. And he is joining me today to share some funny and inspiring stories, and to talk about podcasting, his take on entrepreneurship, and his new book, Start Ugly: A Timeless Tale About Innovation and Change. Chris’s bio Chris Krimitsos is a speaker, a business leader, and a source for growth. He uses his unique skill set to bring the perspective of success from both sides of an event and to empower his audiences towards greater opportunities for succeeding in business. He is a passionate professional who is driven to make a difference, and he has been described as a changemaker, a motivator, and an inspiration.  Chris truly understands the kinds of challenges that event organizers face, having facilitated more than 2000 events himself, under the umbrella of Tampa Bay Business Owners, which he founded in 2008. The success of that organization, regionally, helped Chris with the launching of a national event, the Podfest Multimedia Expo, which he managed to grow to over 975 attendees in just five years, due to his skillful way of communicating key messaging to the podcast community.  Earlier in his career, Chris hosted and produced two TV shows, and one of his projects has been archived in the Library of Congress. Currently, he is making a global impact as a filmmaker and producer under the CK Productions banner, after having successfully created the documentary The Messengers: A Podcast, which obtained worldwide distribution and theatrical screenings. Chris is currently President of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) Tampa. Becoming infamous Chris grew up in New York. He moved to Florida, looking for the freedom to express his ideas. He had always wanted to create a television show, and soon after he finally got the chance to do that, a physical fight broke out between two guests on his live television talk show. The footage got leaked to the press, and Chris landed up in trouble with the management of the TV station.  Although nothing like that ever happened again, that incident set Chris on a course where he eventually got thrown off the TV station.  Guerilla marketing Chris then created a business group. And in the early days, while trying to find speakers for his business group, Chris invested whatever money he had in paying speakers to come and speak. One of those speakers was Jay Conrad Levinson, the author of the book, Guerrilla Marketing. No money for marketing Chris loves marketing, so he assumed that everyone would know Jay Conrad Levinson, and at least 500 people would come and hear him speak. After paying him, however, Chris was left with no money for marketing, and very few people turned up to hear Jay Conrad Levinson speak. Filming a promo So Chris decided to film a promo for the book, Guerilla Marketing. And ironically, he ended up using the Guerilla Marketing technique to sell Jay Conrad Levinson’s books!  A life full of experiences and colorful characters A long time ago, Chris decided to fill his life with experiences and colorful characters. So he has lots of stories and colorful tales to share. Although he loves business, he’s good at it, and he's interviewed many big Titans of business over the years, he has seen many of them doing the same thing over and over, for the last forty years or so, and that does not hold much interest to him. Unique people Chris is intrigued by unique people. And he loves events.  Through his events, he has had the opportunity to create a lot of different experiences for himself and others, and he has also been able to meet lots of people and create lots of colorful stories. Lessons learned Chris has learned from all his experiences.  From his experience with Guerilla Marketing, he learned that although he was paying far too much for speakers, he had still created a lot of value. And that experience also changed his philosophy on big-name speakers. Getting Gary Vee to Speak  Chris was able to get Gary Vee to speak at his local event before Gary was a big deal, and he did it through a self-liquidating offer. Hear how he made it big even before he knew what the next big thing was. Functionalizing your art form Chris has also learned to functionalize his art form. He explains that functionalizing your art means getting to know how you work and then functionalizing it in a way that people can see it for your specific DNA, or blueprint. In that way, you can find the people who are the right fit for what you do, and you can grow from there. Community is Chris’s specialty Chris has created his community and tribe over the years. And through that, he has seen that community is his specialty.   Links and resources: Chris’s website Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) Tampa The Guerilla Marketing website Books mentioned:  Guerilla Marketing by Jay Conrad Levinson Start Ugly: A Timeless Tale About Innovation and Change by Chris Krimitsos Connect with Eric: On LinkedIn On Facebook On Instagram On Website

Today, we are delighted to have a conversation with Janet Sperstad, another icon in our industry. Janet has had a huge impact on the entire meetings and events industry. She is very knowledgeable about neuroscience, and she is currently involved in academia, teaching our future colleagues in the Meetings and Events Industry.   Janet is joining us today to talk about the way our brains work, risk and reward, optimizing the way you perform, and the importance of being authentic.  About Janet Janet is all about driving excellence in meeting and event management execution and education. She has dedicated her career to defining the competencies and career pathways that communicate meeting planning as a discipline that requires skills in the social and cognitive sciences, as well as in executive leadership. Janet is currently serving as Faculty Director at Madison College in Wisconsin, where she created the very first Associate Degree in Meeting and Event Management in the US. She was also instrumental in developing a graduate program in meeting management through the Copenhagen Business School. Janet has made several important contributions to the industry, and her voluntary service includes some high-profile leadership roles that have had an impact on the Meetings and Events Industry as a whole. She has served as Chair of the CMP Governance Commission, Member of IAEE Faculty and Education Committees, and as a member of the PCMA Convening Leaders Content Committee. And, in 2016, she was named Changemaker, and one of the 25 Most Influential People in the Meetings Industry. Gaining recognition and awards Janet has been in the industry for more than thirty years. Her dedication to the industry has resulted in numerous awards. And she has been recognized for the culmination of her life’s work.  A quiet and successful influencer Janet is a quiet and steady influencer who prefers to look at the long game. She attributes a lot of her success to having been ready when the right opportunities came up.  A recovered event planner Janet worked as an event planner for a long time, but she eventually became bored with it. She describes herself as a recovered event planner because she found that the boredom was making her lazy, so she was not doing the same quality of work that she had always done before.  Working in academia Working in academia, Janet constantly sees people pushing themselves beyond their comfort zones to learn something new. In seeing that, she knew that it was time for her to return to school. So she became inspired to get a Master’s Degree in the discipline of neuroscience because it has relevance to what gets done in the industry beyond logistics and strategic meetings management.  Event professionals are in the business of people Because event professionals are in the business of people first, Janet thinks that they need to look at the disciplines of cognitive science, physical science, and psychology before looking at the data and financials, to help the industry move forward. Looking at the industry through the lens of neuroscience Looking at the industry through the lens of neuroscience, some things stood out for Janet. The first thing she noticed was that we’re all the same, in terms of our brains, so we all tend to act similarly, across the globe. Also, we’re all driven by threats, and our brains are hard-wired to keep us safe.  Uncertainty Currently, with COVID, the uncertainty is driving people’s behavior more than anything. So people are willing to do things outside of the norm that will make them feel safe.  Data predicts Data helps us minimize risk and maximize reward. Humans love data because it predicts, and our brains cannot do that. A profound discovery Ten years ago, Janet discovered that the two things that drive our brains are minimized risk and maximized reward. She also noticed that the threat of loss drives her students’ behavior more than the opportunity for reward does.   This profound discovery has influenced how she thinks and what she does. Some tips for meeting planners and event organizers To cope with the current situation, Janet suggests that you center yourself and focus your attention. And remind yourself of all the qualities and skills that you have today, that you had three months ago, and that you will have in three months.  Learn to work smarter, not harder, and when you’re exhausted, stop or take a break. Prioritize Our human brains cannot multi-task. So it also helps if you make a list of all the things you need to get done and then prioritize the most important things for the day.    Links and resources: About Janet Sperstad   Recommended books: Two Awesome Hours by Dr. Josh Davis                                  The Medici Effect by Frans Johansson                                  When by Daniel H. Pink   Connect with Eric: On LinkedIn On Facebook On Instagram On Website If you’d rather watch the video of this interview, subscribe on YouTube

Have you ever been to Toronto? If so, you must be familiar with Baro Restaurant.  We’re talking to an amazing entrepreneur today. Michel Falcon is the co-owner of Baro, and he is very focused on company culture and people first. He and his business partners, with a team of about two hundred people, grew the restaurant from zero to fifteen million dollars in revenue, in two different locations, in just two years. Michel is with us today to talk about three important things. He will explain how to define your values and then base everything else on those values, how to recruit people, and how to onboard your people in such a way that you ultimately have them to thank for your success.  Links and resources: Michel’s email – michel@michelfalcon.com  Michel’s website Baro  Connect with Eric: On LinkedIn On Facebook On Instagram On Website If you’d rather watch the video of this interview, subscribe on YouTube  

We have an amazing guest today! We’re excited to welcome Christy Haussler, from Team Podcast. Christy is the queen of podcasts, and she has a fascinating story to share. She has helped more than two hundred and fifty people create their podcasts over the last five years. She is exceptionally knowledgeable about how and why you should do a podcast, and about the results that you can expect from doing one.  In today’s show, Christy shares her story. She talks about how she pivoted from corporate America to having a business of her own, how she became an entrepreneur, the value of podcasting, and about moving from South Carolina to the Florida Keys with her wife to pursue her dream and start a brand new life. How it all started Christy has a teaching degree but she soon realized that she did not have the right temperament for teaching. And she also realized that she could make a lot more money in business than she would as a teacher. So she started working in call center management, where she was managing both in and outbound sales teams for several Fortune 500 companies. After about sixteen years, and various changes, the call center was closed down and Christy found herself without a job and having to start all over again. Lessons learned One of the lessons that Christy learned is that there’s no security in corporate jobs. And often, people simply settle for whatever the corporations want them to do, out of necessity, even if it’s not in their best interest or the best interest of their families.  Some beauty in the madness Christy eventually found another job managing a call center, but it was a two-hour drive from where she lived. So she had to drive for four hours each day, just to get to work and back.  There was good in that, however, in that it allowed Christy to listen to every single audiobook in the library. And when the audiobooks ran out, she started listening to podcasts. That was back in 2010-2011 when podcasts were starting to come out. Podcasts presented a whole new world When Christy realized that she could download podcasts using WiFi, and then listen to them later, she felt as if a whole new world had opened up for her.  Automobile university While driving in her car, Christy started learning about business and marketing, and that brought something out of her that she never knew existed before. Starting a podcast Eventually, she started doing a podcast of her own, about local businesses all over the country. It was at a time when local businesses were not yet familiar with podcasts, so Christy modeled her podcast on what the “gurus” were doing at the time.   Pursuing a dream After doing both her podcast and working at her full-time job for some time, Christy and her wife decided to start over again and relocate from South Carolina to a location where most people spend their vacation.  They decided to move to the Florida Keys and start their new life there. Christy left her corporate job and scared herself to death by cutting her income in half and almost tripling her living expenses in pursuit of her dream.  Getting out of your comfort zone If you bravely go ahead with a plan and put yourself out there, you will see how the universe conspires for you, and things just fall into place. Some people call it luck but Christy sees it as a willingness to get out of her comfort zone. Relocating and reinventing themselves Christy and her wife relocated, and they started afresh. They have been working together in their business for the last three years now, and they’ve been able to achieve both lifestyle design and location independence. Taking just one step at a time Christy discovered that by taking one step at a time, without trying to look at the whole picture, things worked out. So she decided that if a door opened in front of her, she would commit to walking through it, and only then face the next step if it were to present itself. And doors kept opening, and she kept walking through them. New beginnings Christy had no idea when she decided to take only one step at a time, that everything would work out quite as quickly as it did, and that within a year, she and her wife would have settled into their new life in the Florida Keys.  A simple way to move forward Sometimes in business, everything that goes into a big project can be overwhelming. And you may feel that you’re not getting things done in the right way.  Christy explains that all you need to do is to look for the next thing that will move the needle for you and commit to doing just that. When it’s finished, check it off the list and go on to the next thing. And so on.  And before you know it, you will see that you’ve made considerable progress towards the project as a whole.  Golden handcuffs Often, the things we think that we want to show our achievements, like a big house or a nice car, end up becoming golden handcuffs or a ball-and-chain when an opportunity arises for us to make a move towards something that will truly fulfill us. Willingness is key If you’re willing to give up something good, to achieve something better, you may even find in the end that you have lost nothing at all because the universe conspires for you when you’re willing to follow your heart. Podcasts are a great marketing tool Organic traffic is any free traffic to your website. And podcasts have been proven to provide the most organic traffic for any business.  Podcasting can turn a typical marketing experience into an educational experience because the podcast allows you the opportunity to create content specifically for your target audience. Taking the first step Getting going with a new project is more important than perfecting it. You will naturally refine things in time, so get going as soon as you can. The best tool for marketing Podcasting is the best tool for marketing. And it allows you to reach out to people you want to have on your show, or to those you’d ultimately like to have as a client.    Links and resources Recommended book: Start Ugly by Chris Krimitsos Christy’s Podcast Monetization Secrets Podcast  Team Podcast Website Join Christy’s Facebook Group - Podcast Monetization Secrets   Connect with Eric: On LinkedIn On Facebook On Instagram On Website If you’d rather watch the video of this interview, subscribe on YouTube

We’re delighted to have Lara McCulloch joining us today! Lara is an experienced marketer, having consulted with some of the world’s largest companies, like Unilever, Kraft, Shell, and Johnson & Johnson. Lara also helps small business companies in her role as a Fractional CMO.  In today’s episode, she shares some gold nuggets of information about investment strategies, and she also takes a look at being disruptive and using micro-niche triggers, which is an interesting approach to marketing for small businesses.    Links and resources:                                              Lara’s website  Lara’s Twitter handle - #laramcculloch The Twitter handle for EventProfs - #eventprofs   Lara is offering you, the listener, the opportunity to become a member of her group coaching program at a special founding member’s price of $199 per month, with no commitments.   Recommended book: Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind by Al Ries and Jack Trout   Connect with Eric: On LinkedIn On Facebook On Instagram On Website If you’d rather watch the video of this interview, subscribe on YouTube