Why People Gather, introduction and what to expect

Is your turnover high? Want to see higher productivity and sales? Do you need to improve company culture? What if you could solve these problems without expensive consultants? The good news is you can. Every time your people gather is a chance to connect them to your company in fun, positive, memorable, and most importantly, meaningful ways. I'm your host, Daniel Shafer. I am an audience engagement specialist. And this is when people gather. I want to welcome you to my podcast, When People Gather. This is an in depth look at events. Here you will learn how to avoid common problems and how to engage your people at your events, examples of great events, poor events, and more. So the next time you get stuck on the planning team for your corporate or company event, make sure you stop here for advice that will make you look like a superstar. First things first. Let me introduce myself. My name is Daniel Shafer and I am an audience engagement specialist. Well, first off, what is that likely? You've never heard of one before? Because honestly, there are only about 35 of us in the entire world. I started as a magician. Yeah, you heard that right, A magician. When I was in college, I was studying all sorts of things. I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted to do. And one day I was broke. I didn't have any money, and so I grabbed a deck of cards and a rope and I went on the streets and started doing magic. I started magic when I was seven years old, but it wasn't until college when I went out on the streets and people started giving me money that I realized people would pay me to do magic. Well, that's how I got started. And after a while, they started asking if I did shows. So I put together a show and I started doing birthday parties. Kids parties at first, then adult birthday parties. And then I started doing corporate events. And I built my show up and I started going to all of these wonderful, different events. And after a while, I started seeing some things that could have gone better. I would go to one event and go, oh, I wish that catering line had two lines that would have kept them from getting delayed. Or I go to another event and the waitstaff is going all around, they're filling up all of the drinks and people are getting distracted and they're not listening to the message. Or little things where you've got that one person sitting at the table all by themselves. This is an event. We're supposed to be gathering, we're supposed to be mingling, and you've got one person all alone. No, all of these things are bad. But I was just the hired entertainment I wasn't there to tell them how to do the event. And then that's when I met David Hira. Now, David Hira was an executive at Sharp Electronics. He built that business from 300 million to a 4.4 billion dollar company. He knows how to engage people. And he was also a magician. And so working with him, I was able to learn how to use my skills as a magician to connect people at these events. Now, I don't just come in as an entertainer now I come in as a consultant. And I help them, not just with the show, which has been dialed in, to really connect your people to your company and organization, but I teach them everything. How to invite people to an event, how to structure the flow of your event, the lighting, the sound, the stage, everything that you need to have a superstar event. Because the little things don't matter a little. The little things mean everything. Everything. So why did I decide to start this podcast? Well, I actually attended an event recently where the organizer was putting on their first event. The event was successful, but it was an absolute mess all the way through. There was poor communication at the beginning. The event didn't run on time, the schedule went through changes last minute, and one month later, some of the vendors hadn't been paid. I found myself having to step in to coach the organizer several times on what is normal and appropriate when putting on your event, and how to make sure your vendors want to keep doing business with you in the future. Because some of these vendors out there are great, but if you're not easy to work with, then you'll only work with them once. And some of these, you want them to keep coming again and again and again. And it really all just comes down to that communication. So I'm going to teach you how to communicate with your vendors. I'm going to teach you what to expect in a contract, what the retainer fees look like, what to ask your vendors, what to ask the photographer, what to ask the videographer. Because you not only want them to come to your event, but you want them to capture very specific things that are going to help you in the future, to let everyone who missed the event know what they missed out on. You're going to all this work to make this event a superstar event. You want to let the people who didn't come know what they missed out on so that the next time they do come. And that's where the photographer and the videographer come in. And we will talk all about that in the future. Well, you see, it was this experience that Made me realize that there isn't a lot of good, detailed information on how to have successful events. In fact, I want you to do something for me. I want you to think about the last five events you went to. They can be work events like an awards banquet, sales meeting, or a Christmas party. Or if you don't have work meetings, you can think of a wedding, a birthday party, or even a zoom meeting. If you can't think of five, just think of the last one you went to. Now, I want you to pause this podcast, then restart it once you have them in mind. I'll wait. All right, welcome back. Now that you have them in your mind, I want you to think about how you felt at that event. Did you feel appreciated? Were you excited to be there? Did you stay until the end? Or did you sneak out as soon as you could? If there were awards, did they feel special? Did it feel like the Academy Awards? Or are the awards just going to end up in a drawer somewhere? Did you mingle with new people and make more friends? Or did you just stick to the people you already knew? Or worse yet, just sit alone and wait for it to be over? Now think about how you were invited. Did you get an invitation in the mail? Or was it just through an email or posted on a bulletin board? Those of you who felt appreciated, who felt special and connected to your companies, likely have a strong culture in your company. For those of you who didn't, you understand from experience how badly companies need this information. You see, companies aren't good at connecting with people. They specialize in their trade or product, not meetings, not events. And yet they rely on these events to connect their investors, their employees, customers, future customers, and community to their company. I want you to write this down. Employees are a company's biggest asset. If you put your employees first, they will put your customer first. If your employees feel appreciated, they will work harder than is expected of them. You have the opportunity to do this every time your people gather because they are so important. We will be focusing on employee events first, then expand to other events. You'll find that by simply changing a few things at your events, you'll improve organizational citizenship, decrease absenteeism and turnover. All of these things are possible. And if you follow this podcast, if you hit that subscribe button, and if you put these tools into action, you will see these results in your company. There is plenty of information out there, but not in one place, and I wanted to create a podcast where you could learn everything about events. I have spent most of my life learning how to connect an audience to a message, cause or organization. Now I look forward to sharing those secrets with you so you can work magic in your own organizations. As Zig Ziglar says, you can get everything you want in life if you just help enough other people get what they want in life. I look forward to helping you and if at any time you are planning an event and would like my help to make it spectacular, don't hesitate to Visit my website www.dsconnects.com. that's DS as in Daniel Shafer to set up a 15 minute free consultation. Now next week we'll discuss all the opportunities we have to connect and talk a little bit more about how to invite people to your event so you get the biggest turnout and set the tone for your events. So make sure you hit that subscribe button so you don't miss out. Until next time. This is Daniel Shafer and you listen to when people gather.