Episode 71: LIVE from techsytalk GLOBAL: Blended Events Lets Get Serious About What Works & What Doesn't with Dahlia El Gazzar, Dahlia+

So, so glad to see all of you here. Thank you to Jennifer for all the work that you've been doing behind the scenes and maybe even scaring you a few times with all these little technical things that change. So we are going to dive in now to our first session with Dahlia Alcazar. She is renowned in the industry, so I almost feel like she does not need any kind of introduction.

Hi. Hi. How are you? I'm good.

My background is real. I am. I'm checked in, but I travel tonight. So today is kind of a crazy day.

So I'm not going to get into details, but I am super, super happy to be with you because I missed you yesterday on our Cut the Shit, Cue the Genius show so I'm glad I'm here right now it was it was very emotional it was very emotional so I loved that you had your coach from Supernatural on there so yes coach you were talking about just you know keeping it real when the shit hits the fan which is I mean every day yeah today yesterday the day before tomorrow I'd love to hear it from everybody that's listening in today whether this was a good week or if you had like the shitty times that happens to everybody and how did you stay positive because that is what it's all about for all of us right now we lean hard on each other so um like i my my timing for taxi talk was not that i would have this background around me or this new studio that you guys are all part of right now so i am yes in the car because i am a mover a mom uber um and this is part of the blended world it's like what kind of setting do you bring to a summit like taxi global summit there you love it you are a mover for sure but i love the mover you're like the queen of blending words together i don't know if queen is right corona coaster blended not the h word all right let's talk about that let's start with all right Let's do that.

Why blended? I know you hate the H word. Will you even say it once? Yes, I say blended.

I will not say the H word. I refused actually during the Corona Coaster to say the P word because everybody was using it. The reason why I don't think the H word actually works is because it psychologically associates meeting professionals to think that they have to do double the work when it comes to creating. And the key action word here is creating experiences and events.

And so this whole idea of, oh, let's do H events automatically in someone's head. They think, oh, my God, I'm going to do two events and lay them on top of each other. And then it's all mayhem, mental mayhem. I mean, you've been there, right, where it's like, what does the AV look like?

My budget, blah, blah, blah. all of that when you use the word blended it means that there's in and out flow of the three key things it's the content it's the connections that people make and it is the conversations and so they don't necessarily have to be on top of each other they don't necessarily have to be the same start and end dates anymore you are really blending it and I think us as event profs have graduated to a holistic thinking and a bigger strategy of that events is truly a blended continuum of like content of when do we get together like in the texie talk community to talk about crazy Dahlia being in the car and not saying the H word, for example, as a different moment from this session that we're having right now.

So that's why I try to stay away from terms and words that actually have scarred us quite a bit in the last couple of years. The P word is definitely one of those. Oh, the P word, like, I mean, oh yeah, we P, you know, whatever. I'm going to say we P.

I use the word shivit because, you know, it is a mix of pivot and shifting because you have to, it shows action. It shows that you've shifted from one side of how you were doing things or events and how you're doing it. How are you shifting? How are you elevating?

I think that's the new words. And yes, you're right. I like to make up my own words. You like them.

I like it. I want to see if it sticks. So if anybody likes those two words or Corona coaster or mover, you know, ping me on social media and tell me which one we should use going forward. I like shivet, but I never think you mean shift when you're talking about that part of the.

You mean shit, right? That feels like shit also. Shiveting. I mean, there's, there's, so, so here's, here's the, the other thing is that I also think, if we're talking about blended experiences, what works, what doesn't, whatever you were doing in the past is not going to work.

You're, you're, you know, and putting on an event right now or experiences is not easy. It's actually getting even harder. And, and I know, you know that, right because it um just like kucker shiv it yeah um but so so the whole idea is the the first thing that will make any blended experiences work is that you have to think and flip the script where it is not experiences that are created for your sake or for your business but for your attendees and the audience that you want to bring in.

Like, I think it's gone are the days where, you know, keynote speakers for multi-million dollar type of budgets, et cetera, or like the big productions or, you know, you have to think of what does your audience want? Like if they want an intimate setting where we can like, you know, say, drop the bomb, say the S word, say the F word, do that where they are having conversations, so be it. But if you also have audiences that are introverts or that really want to dive into certain topics that you have on the program, then that's when you open the lounges afterwards or have them curate their own sessions together and conversations, and that becomes part of the program.

So I have a feeling that we're going to slowly see there's going to be more success in blended events that are curated by your audience and by your community members. It has to be that co-creation is so important because I mean, I feel like, and I feel like we ask a lot of time, like all the time, what do you guys want? What do you want? What do you want?

But I, whatever I used to know, I now feel like I don't know what people want, you know, because people are changing so quickly and things are crazy. And, and so only way really to design, I think is to design for the audience when they tell you what they want, you know, like how absolutely do they want to see each other when you and I and Michelle were talking last week about communities and you asked the question, how many communities are you a part of? And there was a very clear distinction from everyone who answered that question between communities that they active in and communities they a part of I in a hundred communities I active in four And that a I mean that I know we not talking about community We talking about blended events but essentially blended events become this year round some are virtual some are in some are both, you know, I would imagine that's more of the strategy you're thinking of, right?

Right. There is a whole, the strategy of you creating blended events, ultimately, what is the goal that you want for the audience? Do you want them to be part of a community that the conversations keep going, even if there is no event, even if there is no global summit? that's what you want you want them to continue to have conversations exchange of information help each other out um you know in the sense of yeah that's a community so it's interesting because and I'll drop a bomb here and Ed can catch me or you know Peggy or Phil I don't know Phil but Phil I know you now or even Liz need to know each other yeah but the thing is what if we take away the word event what happens then because honestly you can create an event around content you can create an event around conversation or you know or or around a word like ed's obsession with you know shiv it or cut the shiv it we can actually create a really solid session around that or conversation we'll probably find sponsors that would want to play around with us, you know, on that or like, okay, tell me more.

And then you can sell that as insights or however you want to make money on it. But what I'm saying is, what if the word events goes away today? So, so think of it where it's not you're presenting events, for example, or an event portfolio or a series of events. What if it's around conversations?

And what if it you actually have ambassadors like Ed or Phil where they're like, okay, let's discuss ABC. Let's discuss something. That in itself, if you have audience and if you have people that want to discuss it, that becomes an event. That becomes the experience.

And then you layer it with the engagement, the cheerleaders. Peggy is the best cheerleader in any chat room, hands down. Like this is where you get to be creative. You and I, we can like probably sell air and bottles after, you know, and that's where the sponsorship comes in or you monetize the content or it's ad hoc.

So I know I'm saying a couple of different things, but what I'm, what I'm trying to get out with everybody is, you know, when it comes to blended, look at, look at what your strategy was or like how you designed your events and see if you can like tip the point where it's totally different, where it is you and me in cars being movers and we're having conversations and people are beaming in because they want to hear and they want to be part of that. The whole idea creation, I think in itself is an experience maker.

Yeah, I think you mentioned earlier that people often think the h word means double the work and we've heard a lot of people who are talking about communities and stuff they're like i don't have the resources i don't have enough content i don't have and i think that whole mentality is what's wrong is thinking that we have to have all the ideas we have to plan all the events we have to figure it all out as compared to creating the right space that our attendees and our members and our community whatever audience whatever word you want to use at this point?

Yeah, that they want to be part of? How do we exactly that? You know, so so let's, let's do a litmus test right now, right? So with the people that are tuning in, and scratching their head and saying, Oh, my God, what do you mean, we're gonna get rid of the word events?

What's my title gonna have? You know, director, I can help you with a new title, That's no problem. But so so if we if we play around with this and we lean hard on those that are tuning in, let's see if we are able to come up with what is not working in events at the moment on a face to face side, as well as on a virtual side or a digital side, digital meaning as a different venue altogether. So you share with us what is working.

And then the next thing share is what do you think will work in 2023? We're all fatigued, content fatigued, we're event fatigued, you know, like what, and you and I were like, are you going to this? No, you go to this and I'll go to this, but then it becomes an amazing experience. And then you're like dragging and saying, come attend with me that event that is happening right now.

So that's the second screen kind of thing. So what we need to also figure out is you are asking everybody here that's tuning in, why are you here? What's in it for you? And if you're part of the conversation, there's more skin in the game.

not everybody as speakers, you and I, I think we, we, we have the edge on this, can actually, as a speaker, carry on that engagement or carry on that interaction. Some speakers, they have to stick to the PowerPoint, the clip art is what drives them, you know? And, and so this is where you also have to say those kinds of speakers that are not agile, that are not like crazy, that don't have the energy, that can't, you know, take a detour from the 300 slide, you know, presentation deck that they have, they can't be part of the program anymore.

And it's not based on evaluation. It's based on interaction. How are you getting those that are listening in to put away their email? Oh my God, she's asking me for my ideas.

Are you crazy like i thought she would be prepared to come with her own stuff no so it's like so this is where i say you also have to depend on and what's not going to work is speakers that are vanilla which makes me want to ask what is everybody's favorite ice cream flavor right now so um because a peanut what is it chocolate peanut butter chocolate chocolate peanut butter Is that like a Ben and Jerry's thing? Haagen-Dazs. You can't have Ben and Jerry's. Ben and Jerry's is too sweet.

I think I can. Let me see. I think Ed's would be something like. Oh, man.

I've known him for so many years. Oh, he says pistachio. What? I would have never called that.

Never guessed. That's embarrassing. Oh, my God. Ed and Phil.

Pistachio. Craig, too. My husband loves pistachio. Now they have something.

French silk. look this gets the most interaction out of all the questions we've asked is it does this show something yes i think it does heather loves superman i like the superman drink in the caribbean like can we put all these ice cream flavors in like some cool little infographic this is what everybody wants right now we should re-skin the storycraft labs experience profiles with ice cream flavors. No, I don't know. But Liz, so do you know what we just did right here?

And this is part of the blended, you know, experience and the virtual experience. You right now know something very personal about every single attendee that's here at the moment. And, you know, if you want them to come to a face to face Tuxi Talk Global Summit, guess what you're going to have to serve? Pistachio ice cream, apparently.

But not only that imagine if you like actually labeling the ice creams by the name of the attendee that loves it yeah so you can call it the ed wagaba ice cream there you go but so so what actually does work more so is the personalization is the asking is the whole we are co-creating this presentation right here um while you're sipping coffee and I the same and you know and then the other part is it's not only the inclusion part it's not only the personalization but it's also like we there's there's emotion that has to be like weaved into any type of experience that you uh that you are designing uh going forward i honestly honestly think nobody will attend a meeting or an event whether it's digital whether it's face-to-face unless there's a no emotional attachment to it yeah if i'm if i'm going to a show if i if i don't know that my that my friends and my peeps and even those that i've cyber stocked for years because i've cyber stalked you for ages.

And like when I saw you for the first time, I felt like I was, it was celebrity for me. Like, but if that hug factor, which is your new KPI is not high for a face-to-face or even for a virtual event, you're going to have to rethink of what you're doing. And if your, if your session and if your context doesn't hit an emotional, like, you know, I don't know what the word is, like, emotionally hit the the event participants or whoever is listening in, I think you're going to be missing quite a bit.

And for them to come back to you, that hug factor has to be real. Yeah, you know, I'm a big believer that there's a lot of people going back to events this year, because they've missed seeing people. And then there's going to be a very sharp downturn as people start to think like, well, I went back and I got to do all those hugs, but the actual event wasn't worth the cost or the time. Absolutely.

We are going to have a huge challenge as event professionals to get people back. And we have to rethink everything to your point, quantity, like how many people have to be there? Does it have to be the same? You know, I'm hearing that number of 40% that people are seeing 40% of the audience that they saw last, you know, pre COVID.

Is that a bad thing? No, maybe they're 40% becomes your 100%. Yeah. How do you keep that 100% is the question going to go down?

Yeah, exactly. And the whole idea is, is, is, yes, the I see Phil says, like, the economy is causing a ton of re evaluation of the event value. You are absolutely right. I think it's not even only the economy.

And this is where you need to know your audience best. It is also personal economy, meaning the personal aspects like time, attention, family, you know, and I don't mean to be touchy feely or like to get into each, you know, into people's business, but you need to check in on them. Like you need to, you need to truly ask, are you going to be present? What if you have out of your 40%, which is your a hundred percent, only 2% that are truly mindfully like present because the others are remote parenting on FaceTime, or they are trying to like diffuse bombs because something happened back home or better yet, if you have a bunch of moms that just showed up in your, in your, uh, in your meetings, what if it's their time to get away from the mayhem that's back home?

Guess what? They're not going to be wanting to be part of a plenary, you know, with 5,000 people listening to a keynote, you might as well serve them. And I use this because hint, hint, smart food, white cheddar popcorn, and let them view the session from, you know, a stream like this, from the couch in their hotel room, and they will be happy as clams. They might invite me because if it's white cheddar popcorn, that's my favorite.

And you know, I would put my bunny slippers on and join you on that couch. Like, you don't even have to ask twice. I really love the concept of an in-person event that's happening in someone's hotel room or in like a similar environment that is totally non-conference-y. Phil was talking the other day about how they looked at their event and then they identified there was like one event happening and then like, let's say an evening event.

And they identified the three main reasons why people would leave and not come back for the evening event. And then they made sure that there was lots of things to address that, including toothbrushes for people to brush their teeth before the networking thing. And really like looking at that. And I think what you're talking about is a whole nother level of that too, is thinking about why they come in the first place and designing around what that might look like.

We are hearing a lot more that people are going to be attending business events with their whole families, using it as an opportunity for leisure travel. What does that mean for how we're built? What days we choose, what our room blocks look like, what the agenda looks like. I think all of these things are just a lot to think about, but in a good way.

Well, it is a lot to think about. It is all good because we as event professionals, we're never meant to be cookie cutter in what we do. Right. It was, it has, it, I think, you know, there's certain aspects that made us think that way.

Like, you know, oh, it worked last year, let me cut and paste like that email campaign. Oh my God, that conversion in 2019 kicked ass. Guess what? I'm going to cut and paste it and use it again.

No, you're not. You know, so like we push a Dahlia plus agency, you know, we push our clients to think differently in the sense of it might've worked for you, but your attendees, your database, your members, they don't live in that mental state anymore. So you have to try something different. We're totally like, you know, it's a totally different ballgame right now, to a point where the terms have to be changed.

Don't call on a digital event, an expo hall. That's bullshit. You know, don't say that it, don't put an agenda together for, from eight to five o'clock on screens. You know, even when you're like face-to-face, having your program be as it was before, it's not going to cut it.

The best sponsorship opportunity, in my opinion, are nap pods. Believe it or not, I bet you a million bucks. Those will be used the most going forward. Anything that's going to have this feel of I'm in the event, but I can either take time for myself to recharge my batteries or have corners or like, you know, gardens, if you will, within a show floor is going to be essential for you.

It's going to be essential for neurodiverse attendees. It's going to be essential for even extroverts like me. You know me. I love events.

But like, I got to tell you, the bigger they are, my social battery is dead. So that's one question you have to ask people. How do you recharge your social battery? Is it smart cheddar like white cheddar popcorn Then we have that for you I mean these are incentives This can this can work Yeah Phil says quiet zones How do we get sponsors to see the value of funding that?

I think it's similar to what he was talking about, keeping people in the event, giving them the space to rest a bit so they can, otherwise they're going to leave and do it themselves their own way. I mean, that's what I've always done as a total introvert. Yeah, I mean, but Phil, to your point, the quiet zones, you know, the way to get them sponsored, be kind of cool where you have decals on the tables, for example, or if you have like really nice loungy furniture, have a couple of iPads around, and then have a couple of questions on iPads that are going to be insights that the sponsor wants to collect.

And so like you can turn that into like put your feet up. Here's some white cheddar popcorn. Answer these five questions. Guess what?

I will answer them 15 times for you if you want. But like, you know, give me that space and give me that incentive. But there will always be a way where sponsors, this is the other part. When it comes to sponsors, throw away your prospectus.

Throw away that 14-page PDF that has images from shows from the past. Just throw all of that away and go to your sponsors and ask them, what do you want? What do you want to have happen? And I know event profs, especially the ones that are listening in, they do that.

But like one for one client, one huge medical client, we said your prospectus and your sponsorship opportunities are actually wrong on your website. You should be bucketing them within like goals. You want brand awareness? Here are the sponsorship opportunities for you.

You want leads? These are the ones that you want for you. And nothing's set in stone. No prices there.

Oh, it's Joe. Joe follows us all over. I love Joe. I love Joe.

And branded eye masks. There you go. Um, and, uh, and, and so like, if you think of it, the sponsorships is all about conversations right now. Nothing should be baked in a prospectus or a PDF or a download of any kind.

It's all custom made. Then you can have the branded eye masks. I love that. Yeah.

Or branded fruit. Yeah, there you go. So as we wrap up, um, you, we're talking about blended. We talked so about so many good things.

My question to you is, as people look to 2023 and they're making their determinations about in-person, virtual, blended, one event, 10 events, and you're talking about co-creation, what's the best way to attack this? What are we doing before 2023 as we look at what we're doing over the course of the next year to really rethink and open ourselves up to knowing what the attendees want while still, you know, having to do all the budgeting and selling and all that kind of stuff that's happening this time of year?

Right. So one thing is, that's not going to work is in 2023, you have to build digital within your event continuum or your content continuum. For those people that say ditch it, you're absolutely wrong. You have to continue to like nurture that venue.

And in regards to how do you build it, you build it around different formats of content. And the content could be a program, it could be a webinar series, it could be a podcast series, but it's about different formats of content. All of that has its own marketing, has its own attendance, has its own on-demand community, and it has its own revenue opportunities. And so when you think of it, you also have to take a look at what's working with your members or with your audience.

Ask them what they want more of. They probably won't tell you, but you have to always be in the position of playing more with content than ever before. So we all, as event profs, are now content creators and content marketers. Because anything around content, you can turn that into an event.

Yeah. So powerful. One question before we go. Chloe asked this earlier, and I don't want to miss it.

How do you share the constraints of an event that attendees might not understand while co-creating with an audience? So constraints. Talk to me about that. What does that mean to you?

I actually, I would love for her to, I didn't put it up earlier just because I wanted to clarify, but I don't know if she's saying, and I'm just killing time while she tells us what she's saying. Okay. Budget, space, et cetera. So co-creating without making it where, you know, the sky's the limit, we can do anything that we possibly want within, you know, what makes sense, obviously.

Thank you. So I believe with the constraints and with explaining that to the attendees, it's also a way of resetting expectations. Because if you were lavish and, you know, just giving them the VIP treatment and all of a sudden you can't, it's the same as asking them to come to a program, but they're on their own for lunch, for example. Right.

You can actually do that. And it actually is a huge networking opportunity if you set that expectation right. I think the idea of being authentic and transparent with your attendees is the best way to go. When it comes to budget, when it comes to what the expectations are, where their feedback is actually helping you design better experiences for them.

And you can't please everybody. as an event prof, you gotta say no, and you have to stop pleasing everybody. You got that, Liz? You got that?

Don't talk to me, talk to everybody else. But I mean, Chloe, I hope that answers your question. And everybody, if you're not connected with me on LinkedIn, Dahlia Elgazar, or on Twitter, I don't know what's going to happen with Twitter, but we'll see. I'm on LinkedIn.

I'm just going to say right now, you know, so, But like continue asking the questions because this is not, this is not baked. There is no algorithm for experiences. This is, this is all about us, you know, doing things that are awesome. Like what Liz is doing and it's for the community.

And it's also for us to get together, make up new words, talk from like cars, you know, all of that is super mind stamping experiences in my opinion. So I love you for putting this together. And thank you for always being part of the conversation. Definitely do try to catch our podcast live webisodes that we do every Thursday at 930 a.

m. Eastern time called Cut the Shit, Cue the Genius. We basically have these kinds of conversations. We do have our circle community and our Facebook group where we try to have these kinds of conversations.

If you're trying something new, you have a question like Chloe had, ask it because the only way we're going to find the answers is by co-creating it together too. Dahlia, please tell me you have not been holding your phone this whole time. You have it on a stand, right? I have been holding.

My God. I'm in the car. Look at your daughter. Hello, hello.

Lily's like, oh no, don't do that. Lily's like, I do not exist right now. Well, thank you so much. I don't know how you were swinging this with everything you have going on, but thank you for joining us as always.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.