#294: Behind the Scenes of Drive 2025 with Anna Vermillion and Allison Saxon

#294 Event Strategy | First time podcast guest alert! I invited  and  from the Exit Five team on for a conversation post Drive 2025 - to talk about lessons learned and behind the scenes from our annual marketing conference in Vermont. Snag your tickets for next year now exitfive.com/drive

Timestamps

• (00:00) - – Intro
  
• (02:08) - – Why events are making a comeback in B2B marketing
  
• (06:08) - – What Drive is and how it started
  
• (11:08) - – Why every event should start with the landing page
  
• (14:08) - – Lessons from year one and how feedback shaped Drive 2025
  
• (19:08) - – Treating events like products, not projects
  
• (21:08) - – Building connection through “third spaces” and excursions
  
• (26:08) - – Why community is the real ROI of in-person events
  
• (32:43) - – The biggest Drive mishap (and what it taught us)
  
• (37:43) - – Post-event strategy: why the event isn’t over when it ends
  
• (47:43) - – Favorite moments, lessons, and shoutouts from Drive 2025

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***

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Dave [0:00:00]: You're listening to B2B marketing with me, Dave Gerhardt.

Dave [0:00:03]: Hey, on this episode, we did something different.

Dave [0:00:18]: I sat down with Allison and Anna on the Exit Five team to talk about our event strategy.

Dave [0:00:24]: Why events are so hot right now, and we went behind the scenes to talk about drive twenty twenty five.

Dave [0:00:29]: Recap our smash hit, year two of our event drive.

Dave [0:00:34]: We talk about what we're gonna do in twenty twenty six.

Dave [0:00:36]: We talk about highlights feedback, some behind the scenes, lessons learnings.

Dave [0:00:40]: If you want to get smarter about events for your company, if you just wanna hang out and listen to a fun episode talking about, something a little different, not interviewing with Cmo, just hanging out talking about our strategy at Exit Five a little bit more behind the scenes and hear from Allison and Anna and myself on why we do events and lessons and learnings from Drive twenty twenty five.

Dave [0:00:59]: You're gonna like this episode.

Dave [0:01:00]: Come hang out with me and the crew on the couch will, it was remote.

Dave [0:01:03]: And enjoy this episode behind the scenes of drive twenty twenty five.

Dave [0:01:07]: Okay.

Dave [0:01:08]: We're doing this is the first time that is this first time either of you have been on a podcast ever?

Anna [0:01:14]: Yes.

Anna [0:01:14]: Wow.

Dave [0:01:17]: But podcasting, do do you even listen to podcast?

Dave [0:01:19]: Like, is podcast a Gen z thing?

Dave [0:01:21]: Like, I don't...

Dave [0:01:22]: I feel like no.

Dave [0:01:22]: It's not...

Dave [0:01:23]: You know of podcast do you.

Allison [0:01:25]: I do every now.

Allison [0:01:25]: And then.

Allison [0:01:26]: I don't have any, like, specific ones that I always go back to, but sometimes yeah.

Dave [0:01:29]: Sometimes...

Dave [0:01:29]: And I feel like you do.

Dave [0:01:31]: Yeah.

Anna [0:01:32]: Yeah.

Anna [0:01:32]: I really, like, diary of a Ceo.

Anna [0:01:33]: You know that.

Dave [0:01:35]: I do.

Dave [0:01:35]: Yeah.

Anna [0:01:36]: For reasons to...

Anna [0:01:36]: But I have this one that I really like where this guy sits down with a bunch of really famous people and just talks about nothing.

Anna [0:01:42]: So I wouldn't say they're all educational.

Dave [0:01:46]: Yeah.

Dave [0:01:46]: I saw something about dia of a Ceo, actually, and somebody was writing about how.

Dave [0:01:50]: And this is one of the challenges with, like, creating content at all, but all of his stuff has now completely gone to what the Youtube, like, algorithm wants.

Dave [0:02:00]: And so now it's it's all about, you know, health and wellness or, like, the Covid scene.

Dave [0:02:05]: I don't know It's it's, like, all of that.

Dave [0:02:07]: The the whole feed is just like, okay.

Dave [0:02:09]: That...

Dave [0:02:09]: I it's interesting to see a creator take off.

Dave [0:02:12]: Like, I used to listen his show two years ago and he would have more author.

Dave [0:02:14]: Now.

Dave [0:02:15]: It's like, it's everything about, you know, health science kinda all of the you know what I'm trying to articulate, like...

Anna [0:02:22]: It's all about health.

Anna [0:02:23]: I used still to do it a lot more a year ago, and I love the one that he did with the body language expert.

Anna [0:02:28]: Do you know who I'm talking about her name Vanessa something.

Anna [0:02:30]: She's actually based

Dave [0:02:32]: Yes.

Dave [0:02:32]: I hadn't I've seen her.

Anna [0:02:33]: Yeah.

Anna [0:02:33]: But she's she's not the show a couple times and she's amazing.

Dave [0:02:37]: Yeah.

Dave [0:02:37]: Anyway, Okay.

Dave [0:02:38]: So so Allison and Anna here.

Dave [0:02:39]: We're gonna talk about...

Dave [0:02:40]: So I'll introduce you both for everybody else.

Dave [0:02:44]: So we have Allison over here, and we have Anna over here.

Dave [0:02:48]: And they are two of our awesome teammates at Exit Five.

Dave [0:02:52]: You know, I I don't like everybody, but you both are awesome.

Dave [0:02:55]: And I'm so lucky to work with you.

Anna [0:02:57]: Well thank.

Dave [0:02:58]: And we've had a lot of fun working together already, and I I I hope that continues.

Dave [0:03:02]: And we wanted to do a podcast about, doing events because events have become a super hot topic in business and in marketing, in general.

Dave [0:03:11]: I think there's a couple of trends that have led to, the rise of events.

Dave [0:03:17]: One of them, even though we're going on, you know, this being five point seven five almost six years ago now with Covid in, you know, March of twenty twenty, I think in our industry, like, my...

Dave [0:03:29]: Previous two jobs prior to starting x Exit Five.

Dave [0:03:32]: I was a Cmo and I was Vp marketing.

Dave [0:03:34]: I was traveling all the time at least.

Dave [0:03:36]: Oftentimes once a month at least once a quarter traveling to big events, and then eventually got so burnt out on doing events, It was kinda awesome when everything shut down because I didn't have to go anywhere.

Dave [0:03:47]: And I think a lot of people felt that.

Dave [0:03:49]: And then four or five years later, you have so many people who now couldn't wait to get out their house and needed an excuse to go travel and get out there for work.

Dave [0:03:56]: And so I think that was...

Dave [0:03:56]: That's one big trend And then I think the other one is everything that's happening with Ai.

Dave [0:04:02]: I think we are all having this kinda existential crisis about life and, you know, I spent...

Dave [0:04:08]: Gosh.

Dave [0:04:08]: I spent so much time talking to my stupid phone talking to my Ai assistant on my phone and we're we're wherever wherever I'm at.

Dave [0:04:16]: And so I think we're we're putting a lot of emphasis in our personal lives on, like, getting out there and connecting with humans and connecting with real people.

Dave [0:04:24]: And so we've net...

Dave [0:04:25]: We're going on now I would say you this is year three of, kinda taking x Exit Five seriously as a business.

Dave [0:04:31]: And this year, we're doing three significant in person events.

Dave [0:04:36]: We have a ton of virtual events.

Dave [0:04:37]: We're doing smaller ones.

Dave [0:04:38]: Like, we're the...

Dave [0:04:39]: We're all going to New York next week to do a meet up there.

Dave [0:04:41]: And so events have become a huge part of our business.

Dave [0:04:44]: And this is the mastermind.

Dave [0:04:45]: These are this is the crew behind our events at x Exit Five.

Dave [0:04:49]: And so we wanna talk about everything we did and learned at drive, which is our our big annual event.

Dave [0:04:54]: And then we'll just talk about events in general.

Dave [0:04:57]: So gonna kick it to Anna first.

Dave [0:05:00]: So talk about...

Dave [0:05:01]: Can you explain to people what drive is?

Dave [0:05:03]: We did it last year?

Dave [0:05:04]: We did it this year.

Dave [0:05:05]: Maybe just try to try to fill everybody and pretend like they might not know some of the details about the event.

Anna [0:05:11]: Yeah.

Anna [0:05:11]: So for context, I came in last year in June of twenty twenty four.

Anna [0:05:16]: We had an idea.

Anna [0:05:17]: We had a venue, and we had no idea really what the event was gonna be.

Anna [0:05:20]: I think I think Dan was, like, we should make it a meet up.

Anna [0:05:23]: At least that's what I've heard from your end.

Anna [0:05:24]: No idea what this event was gonna be, but we found this beautiful venue.

Anna [0:05:28]: Had a c working space in vermont.

Anna [0:05:29]: Two hundred tickets were sold before I even got to Exit Five by think.

Anna [0:05:34]: So all the all that hard work was already done.

Anna [0:05:36]: Basically, we were just trying to play this

Dave [0:05:38]: event.

Dave [0:05:38]: Yep.

Anna [0:05:39]: And kinda of what it became is this annual event for the Exit Five community.

Anna [0:05:42]: And it's not your typical, you know, B2B conference.

Anna [0:05:45]: It's not very buttoned up.

Anna [0:05:46]: People are aren't using corporate jargon and trying to impress each other and wearing buttoned up I'm sure it's.

Anna [0:05:50]: It's really just a place where people to come connect, meet each other offline.

Anna [0:05:54]: I think so many people are stuck in these, like, little corners of the Internet, Like, Linkedin and in the community, maybe even trading emails between each other.

Anna [0:06:02]: That never met each other in person.

Anna [0:06:03]: Never sat across the table from each.

Anna [0:06:06]: Drink a beer together, share a laugh together.

Anna [0:06:08]: And drive has kinda become this, like, learning environment, but it's also become this, like, third space where people get to be human together and talk about, this world that we're all in we all speak the same language, come together and kinda meet his friends and get to spend a week together in a beautiful place in Vermont.

Dave [0:06:25]: It's pretty good, Allison.

Dave [0:06:25]: How would you how would you...

Dave [0:06:27]: Now that you've done year two, How would you add to...

Dave [0:06:29]: Let's explain what drive is?

Allison [0:06:31]: It's also a good place for you to come and just learn different things about Beauty marketing.

Allison [0:06:35]: So while it is a place for everyone to come hang out and everything and have a good time and make friends with their Internet friends in real life, it's still a place where you can learn like, tactical things and go take back to your work team, like, on the next Monday when you get back from drive.

Allison [0:06:50]: So along with, like, having a good place for people to hang out and just creating a community for people to get together.

Allison [0:06:54]: It's still a place that you can come and learn in grab great lessons to, like, use later on and stuff like that.

Dave [0:07:01]: I think that's gotta be the hook, and I think Sylvia, who's one of our Cmo members said this, you have to come for the...

Dave [0:07:08]: In our case, it's market.

Dave [0:07:10]: Which is the the thing we're helping educate people on.

Dave [0:07:12]: You have to come for, like, the work thing.

Dave [0:07:14]: And then the reason you stay and enjoy it and wanna come back is because of the the people connections and the personal thing...

Dave [0:07:20]: I've seen there was a trend thing in the last probably two to four years in in events in the b B2B b space.

Dave [0:07:27]: Everyone wanted to position their event.

Dave [0:07:29]: It's like a festival.

Dave [0:07:30]: It's like a party, and it's like, okay.

Dave [0:07:32]: That's cool.

Dave [0:07:32]: I understand what you're trying to do because you want people to be like, this is not like your traditional event adam, you know, yeah at at the, you know, Hilton Union square or whatever.

Dave [0:07:41]: But I think if you...

Dave [0:07:43]: If you're pitching this in a work contact, people often have to justify that expense, the company has to pay for it, they have to pay for it out of their pocket.

Dave [0:07:50]: So you do need to lead you need to lead with with education.

Dave [0:07:54]: So my perspective on on drive is, one of the things that makes it special.

Dave [0:07:59]: And then this is why I think I think it's hard to just kinda cold start and do an event.

Dave [0:08:02]: But one of the things that makes this event or that made this event special is that we had this online community.

Dave [0:08:09]: So people now like, how did you...

Dave [0:08:10]: What how did you do drive?

Dave [0:08:11]: How did it become so successful and Anna kinda hit on some this.

Dave [0:08:14]: But the reason we we didn't just start this event because we wanted, like, do an event and make a bunch of money on on an event because that that...

Dave [0:08:20]: That's not how this works.

Dave [0:08:21]: Right?

Dave [0:08:22]: We did this because we had this online community now dating back three, four, or five years if you go all the way back to me starting this thing on Patreon.

Dave [0:08:29]: And so literally, at least once a year, there'd be someone in our community who say, like, hey, Can we do a meetup up?

Dave [0:08:34]: When when is going to hang out?

Dave [0:08:36]: Can we do an event?

Dave [0:08:36]: And so finally, last year, now with a real company a real team.

Dave [0:08:41]: We said, okay.

Dave [0:08:42]: Let's do an event.

Dave [0:08:43]: I was willing to do...

Dave [0:08:44]: I was willing to do it, but I said, I don't wanna go anywhere.

Dave [0:08:47]: I wanna travel for this event.

Dave [0:08:48]: Let's prove that at works.

Dave [0:08:49]: And so let's do the event here in Vermont where I live.

Dave [0:08:52]: It can be a home game.

Dave [0:08:53]: Drove I drove ten minutes down the road to this c working space called Hula.

Dave [0:08:57]: I think I put a fifteen hundred dollar pop...

Dave [0:09:01]: Maybe twenty five hundred dollar deposit down on my credit card, and we made it real.

Dave [0:09:04]: I think one of the lessons in that was, Dates and deadlines are amazing forcing functions.

Dave [0:09:10]: And so, like, this going from, we talked about this event and wanting to do it to, like, actually going there and putting a deposit down even if it was a dollar or two thousand dollars or whatever.

Dave [0:09:19]: That made it real.

Dave [0:09:21]: That was in March of twenty twenty four.

Dave [0:09:23]: We had to pick a date, and now we said, okay.

Dave [0:09:25]: This is happening September tenth.

Dave [0:09:26]: I mean, you too see it in your work.

Dave [0:09:28]: Right?

Dave [0:09:28]: Like, when we have specific deadlines, things can happen.

Dave [0:09:31]: And so we did this event, and then it turned out, it wasn't just me being lazy and that wanted to travel, but there's a whole story behind starting Exit Five in the connection to Vermont.

Dave [0:09:40]: And I think what we learned is that the Vermont piece of this actually became became an interesting part of the brand, and it became part of the product.

Dave [0:09:47]: And so having the event in Vermont was not just about me not wanting to travel, but it has become such a part of this thing, and now we've made the decision to continue to continue doing it in Vermont.

Dave [0:09:59]: So let's talk about this year, if you could rewind back into this year, Like, where does the process start?

Dave [0:10:05]: So we we have the venue, but then, like, how do we go from if we on back from September back into the spring Like, Allison, when do you feel like we we started working on this, what are what are kind of the first steps to to start to plan an event.

Allison [0:10:20]: Building the landing page so we can sell tickets to the event.

Allison [0:10:23]: I think that's the first thing that I hopped on whenever I started.

Allison [0:10:26]: It was like, a month after I started, I had just on the Boston event, and then I think the first thing I started on was building out the landing page.

Allison [0:10:33]: We could get tickets going.

Allison [0:10:34]: And then after that, I think we moved on to catering and then coordinating with Hulu.

Allison [0:10:39]: So first step is definitely just build the landing page so you can get tickets out so you can start planning the other stuff.

Dave [0:10:44]: So the...

Dave [0:10:44]: Starting with the landing page.

Dave [0:10:45]: That does kinda seem counterintuitive to people.

Dave [0:10:47]: I think it it varies...

Dave [0:10:48]: Very easy to, like, when you're gonna go do an event, you wanna just jump into the weeds of catering and badges and banners and everything.

Dave [0:10:55]: But is there a lesson almost in, like, starting with the landing page?

Allison [0:11:00]: I feel like, yeah.

Allison [0:11:00]: Because you kinda have to think about what you want the event to be, how you want to go?

Allison [0:11:04]: And the landing page is gonna tell the whole story of the event.

Allison [0:11:07]: So it kinda gives you a way to kinda map out everything before you really get into the weeds of banners.

Allison [0:11:12]: And things like that, we didn't even get to banners until, like, a month before the event.

Allison [0:11:16]: I feel like, so it's not something that is, like...

Allison [0:11:18]: Super important, you just need to figure out the baseline from the story, and I feel like that's where the lesson is is building out the landing page makes it more clear what you're looking for when you need to get into the weeds of planning for catering and things like that.

Dave [0:11:30]: It's an amazing forcing function when you start with the marketing piece of this, and we see this that comes up...

Dave [0:11:35]: It comes up all the time in our community.

Dave [0:11:37]: How do...

Dave [0:11:38]: How do...

Dave [0:11:38]: I'm doing webinars, but I can't get people to go to them.

Dave [0:11:40]: I'm I'm doing events, but nobody's showing up.

Dave [0:11:42]: I think one thing we've learned is, like, it's it's the...

Dave [0:11:45]: Business lesson of, like, begin with the end in mind?

Dave [0:11:48]: It's like, who's...

Dave [0:11:49]: Like, why go to this event?

Dave [0:11:51]: Who's speaking at this event?

Dave [0:11:52]: What's the hook?

Dave [0:11:53]: What's the pitch?

Dave [0:11:54]: What's the offer?

Dave [0:11:54]: What's the content all that stuff matters?

Dave [0:11:56]: I think, when we think about events, it's very...

Dave [0:11:59]: You you jump almost too far into the logistics of it When it's like, we're doing this with our event that we're doing in March.

Dave [0:12:05]: It's like, we need to start start with the offer?

Dave [0:12:07]: Start with the landing page?

Dave [0:12:08]: Where is the event?

Dave [0:12:09]: When is it happening?

Dave [0:12:10]: Why should someone go?

Dave [0:12:11]: Who's going?

Dave [0:12:12]: What are you gonna learn that is the thing that...

Dave [0:12:15]: And then when you announce it, you don't have to have all of the logistics figured out yet.

Dave [0:12:19]: So we announced it, you start selling tickets.

Dave [0:12:21]: Now it's like, okay.

Dave [0:12:22]: We've made a nice little bump in selling tickets here.

Dave [0:12:24]: Now it's time to actually go in, like, make sure we can deliver on this by by working on the logistics.

Dave [0:12:30]: I think you always have to start with the marketing piece of this first.

Allison [0:12:33]: I agree.

Allison [0:12:33]: One hundred percent.

Dave [0:12:34]: Okay.

Dave [0:12:34]: What else, are you have anything to add to that?

Anna [0:12:37]: I mean, I feel like this year was different too because we already...

Anna [0:12:40]: Kinda knew what we wanted.

Anna [0:12:42]: Like, especially last year, we got an Mps score of eighty eight.

Anna [0:12:45]: And there was a lot a ton of really great feedback.

Anna [0:12:48]: But I think the biggest piece of feedback that was that people were, like, don't change anything.

Anna [0:12:52]: This was perfect.

Anna [0:12:53]: And so we were, like, okay.

Anna [0:12:55]: How do we make this better without changing too much.

Anna [0:12:58]: Yeah.

Anna [0:12:59]: So we already had a really good baseline.

Anna [0:13:00]: And I think, like, a lot of the little details and the stuff that we added came later.

Anna [0:13:05]: And so it was a lot easier at least this year to start with the landing pages.

Anna [0:13:10]: Like, we already knew what we kinda wanted there.

Anna [0:13:12]: We already had pictures.

Anna [0:13:13]: We already knew what the five wanted to feel like.

Dave [0:13:16]: Yep.

Anna [0:13:16]: And so I don't know.

Anna [0:13:17]: And we gave ourselves lot more time too.

Anna [0:13:18]: Like, last year I?

Anna [0:13:19]: I...

Anna [0:13:20]: Like I said, before, I joined in June.

Dave [0:13:22]: Yeah.

Dave [0:13:22]: Started was like,

Anna [0:13:23]: three months before the event, and we had to do every so that also gave me a lot of good perspective, because I was like, okay.

Anna [0:13:28]: I don't need to be sweating about these details until later.

Dave [0:13:32]: There's a couple lessons in there.

Dave [0:13:33]: And I've learned this the hard way a bunch.

Dave [0:13:34]: Basically, anytime in my career that I have tried to hire someone before having done the job first.

Dave [0:13:40]: It doesn't work.

Dave [0:13:40]: And so I think what what we did perfectly this time around was, like, you started in June, your full time job became...

Dave [0:13:48]: That's...

Dave [0:13:48]: There's a bunch of lessons.

Dave [0:13:49]: Your full time...

Dave [0:13:50]: You started in June.

Dave [0:13:51]: Your full time job became working on this event that was happening in September.

Dave [0:13:54]: Right?

Anna [0:13:55]: Yeah.

Dave [0:13:55]: So number one, I could get on my high horse and talk about this all the time.

Dave [0:13:59]: I think that that ended up being, like, an amazing way to to effectively onboard you into the team because it forced you to, like, do work right away.

Dave [0:14:09]: I think so often you join a company and you have a new employee.

Dave [0:14:12]: And Allison, like, same thing with you.

Dave [0:14:13]: You joined in February and it was like, okay.

Dave [0:14:15]: Great.

Dave [0:14:15]: Go do the March event, and I'm just a huge believer now, and I think you too would agree with this.

Dave [0:14:21]: Not to, like, gas let you into just saying my my answer.

Dave [0:14:24]: But, like, I think there's something to, like, I think the whole, like, team bonding and building team chemistry.

Dave [0:14:30]: I think it's overrated to be like, Allison super fun.

Dave [0:14:33]: She's great to hang out.

Dave [0:14:33]: She's so funny.

Dave [0:14:34]: It's like, no.

Dave [0:14:35]: Fuck that.

Dave [0:14:35]: We build a team chemistry by, like, doing the work, and you learn how to work.

Dave [0:14:40]: You learn all of us shit our systems.

Dave [0:14:42]: Oh, we use Hubspot for this.

Dave [0:14:43]: We use Z for this.

Dave [0:14:44]: Okay.

Dave [0:14:44]: Here's our designer.

Dave [0:14:45]: Here's how we do it in Slack.

Dave [0:14:46]: Here's how you send invoices like, that was you being each of you had to basically be forced on the job to, like, learn how to use all the tools instead of, like, no.

Dave [0:14:55]: No one sat down with you and it was like, here's how to do this.

Dave [0:14:57]: And here's how to do that.

Dave [0:14:58]: It's like, you gotta go figure this the stuff out.

Dave [0:15:01]: Do you think that that had an impact in, like, your ability to, like, get up to speed on, on, you know, working on this company?

Anna [0:15:08]: A hundred percent.

Anna [0:15:09]: Like, I feel like you have to you have to just figure it out and especially going into an event.

Anna [0:15:13]: I never even really thought about all the, like, moving parts.

Anna [0:15:16]: That would be a part of it.

Anna [0:15:17]: Like, honestly, one of the hardest parts about planning an event is, like, w all the external things, like, the vendors, A of catering.

Anna [0:15:24]: All the managers of the different venues.

Anna [0:15:26]: And so you're basically depending on a dozen different people.

Anna [0:15:29]: To move things forward for this event.

Anna [0:15:31]: And so, like, the second, that one person does respond, or you don't really know what you're doing.

Anna [0:15:35]: Like, everything kind of stalls and you're sitting there, like, waiting on one of these external vendors to answer you, and nothing else can really move forward, but I think, like, getting kind of thrown into that where it's like, not only am I learning how to work with this team, but I'm also learning to work with people outside of this team, like, these vendors also, like, the sponsors that we had at the event.

Anna [0:15:53]: It was, like, the perfect immersion into Exit Five.

Dave [0:15:57]: Yeah.

Dave [0:15:57]: Also, what about you?

Dave [0:15:58]: Do feel like you you kinda like, got your got your stripes.

Dave [0:16:01]: You got your muscles kinda post post drive.

Allison [0:16:04]: Yeah.

Allison [0:16:04]: I think so.

Allison [0:16:05]: I think also whenever I first joined, I went straight into Boston planning, and I remember Anna had a place locked in, and then they just completely ghost her.

Allison [0:16:12]: So we were both, like, on my first week scrambling to find a backup venue for it.

Allison [0:16:16]: And then, Nike, having to do that with her, really immersed me in to working with you guys and everything, so I definitely agree that.

Allison [0:16:23]: Being thrown into it and kinda of being forced into doing all of that has made one inmate drive planning easier for me because I kind of already knew how to work with other people, like, outside vendors like, Anna was talking about, and then also just the logistics of everything.

Allison [0:16:37]: So, yeah, I definitely agree.

Dave [0:16:39]: Yeah.

Dave [0:16:39]: I I took it...

Dave [0:16:40]: I got a job once when I was maybe twenty seven, and it was a big company, and no joke, like, I didn't do shit for the first ninety thirty...

Dave [0:16:50]: Like, three months, ninety days at the company.

Dave [0:16:52]: And and I'm such like, a type a Like, I gotta be doing something you know how I'm like, I gotta do some...

Dave [0:16:58]: It was, like, week one, You go to the all these onboarding classes and then, like, you get a tour the building and then you...

Dave [0:17:04]: Like, you literally...

Dave [0:17:04]: I'd be messaging my boss.

Dave [0:17:05]: Like, what can I do?

Dave [0:17:06]: What kind of music in time in time.

Dave [0:17:08]: And it's like, I just...

Dave [0:17:09]: I think that's what school about having this small small team and small company And man, even if I was at a bigger company, I'd wanna know how you can create that because I think there's just something so valuable about getting valuable about getting in there and being able to do the work together.

Dave [0:17:22]: And figure that stuff out.

Dave [0:17:24]: And so...

Dave [0:17:24]: Then the other lesson was because Anna joined last year and did the event, you know, from June to September.

Dave [0:17:31]: Now we'd basically proven that out.

Dave [0:17:34]: Okay.

Dave [0:17:35]: This is this is definitely needs to be somebody's full time job.

Dave [0:17:38]: Then when we hire Allison, we can feel more confident about, like, what does this job looks like?

Dave [0:17:43]: And Anna can now kinda run in parallel with you and you both kinda tackle this event together because we have knowledge, I've made a mistake before and being like, we need an Seo person, hire an Seo person, then we hire an Seo person and we fail.

Dave [0:17:55]: Was like, well, why do we fail?

Dave [0:17:56]: Because we should've have just found a way to do that in house first for three months, then we can find somebody to do that full time and then scale up.

Dave [0:18:05]: The other thing about the a couple of other details on the event that I think are are worth mentioning.

Dave [0:18:09]: I think that we now live in a world where like, the venue, the whole...

Dave [0:18:13]: The whole vibe, the venue, the y for going really matters.

Dave [0:18:17]: And if I were you listening to this thinking about planning an event.

Dave [0:18:20]: Like, I would over index on that because it happened literally, unintentionally.

Dave [0:18:24]: I was like, I wanna...

Dave [0:18:25]: I don't wanna travel?

Dave [0:18:25]: I don't wanna do an event far away.

Dave [0:18:27]: I think we could sell two hundred tickets.

Dave [0:18:28]: I think people would come up and go.

Dave [0:18:30]: And now, can you believe, like, we were actually having a conversation this summer.

Dave [0:18:33]: We were like, we...

Dave [0:18:34]: We are probably gonna move the event Boston because we need more space.

Dave [0:18:36]: Can you imagine what a mistake that would have been, by the way.

Dave [0:18:39]: If we if we had done that?

Dave [0:18:40]: Because don't you feel like this event being in Vermont is such a part of the brand of drive now.

Dave [0:18:45]: Right?

Anna [0:18:46]: Yes.

Anna [0:18:46]: Yeah.

Dave [0:18:47]: The more you can build that in?

Dave [0:18:48]: Like I know.

Dave [0:18:49]: Yet.

Dave [0:18:49]: We're gonna do a A sales retreat in Tel loom.

Dave [0:18:52]: I don't...

Dave [0:18:52]: Like, you you have to find ways...

Dave [0:18:54]: I think that the packaging that you have to really think of this thing as a product.

Dave [0:18:58]: And I think that is one thing we've learned from these last two years.

Dave [0:19:01]: And now We're making an incredible investment in this.

Dave [0:19:04]: We're we're gonna spend more on this event in twenty twenty six, than we spent on the entire company, payroll in everybody's stuff included in the prior year just to do this event this year.

Dave [0:19:14]: But that's because we feel really good about, like, doubling down on this place in Vermont, try to make it really special.

Dave [0:19:20]: I think that's a that's a huge learning.

Dave [0:19:22]: Another learning was people don't wanna have really long sessions where they're sitting in their seats for a long time.

Dave [0:19:30]: And so we wanna have education, but one unintentional thing that we learned was, like, these kinda...

Dave [0:19:36]: We had this idea of doing breakout groups where we paired everybody Basically, everyone that bought a ticket, you then fill out a form.

Dave [0:19:42]: You fill out some questions and we match you with people.

Dave [0:19:44]: And those breakout groups become amazing because we don't need speakers for that, we don't need stage space for that.

Dave [0:19:49]: We do...

Dave [0:19:50]: You know, we block off an hour and we say, okay, group one, if you have this, you know, red sticker, you're all gonna go over here and you're gonna hang out.

Dave [0:19:56]: And it's an amazing way to, like, mix and ming and get people to to hang out.

Dave [0:20:00]: And I learned I to think that so much of the event, you know, from the hours of nine to five needs to be programming, programming programming.

Dave [0:20:06]: But we learned that these breakouts became such a part of the event.

Dave [0:20:12]: And this year, we decided to double down.

Dave [0:20:14]: We read the feedback, we decided to double down on that and and do more.

Dave [0:20:16]: Else when we talk about, like, the decision to do excursions into the event this year.

Dave [0:20:22]: And let's talk a little bit, like, just how light how light the programming was there wasn't so many speakers, but so much of the event was these breakouts and excursions.

Allison [0:20:31]: Yeah.

Allison [0:20:31]: I feel like I wasn't...

Allison [0:20:32]: I kinda came on you guys plot had the idea already of doing excursions, and then we were kinda, like, what excursions would we do.

Allison [0:20:39]: I think the excursions were a great addition.

Allison [0:20:42]: I didn't go to drive last year.

Allison [0:20:43]: So I'm not sure.

Dave [0:20:44]: And, do you remember how that came up?

Dave [0:20:45]: Did we just have that how did

Anna [0:20:47]: kinda go.

Anna [0:20:47]: Like I feel like, one, we did an Mps survey then to drive last year Never everyone was, like, we wanna get out of the conference room, and even though it's beautiful.

Anna [0:20:54]: But, like, the biggest piece of feedback was it sounds dumb, but, like, the vibe.

Anna [0:20:58]: Like, people loved it because of the vibe.

Anna [0:21:00]: And I think the vibe was because we were in this beautiful venue, and we were giving people these spaces to connect as humans and, like, give them a space where they actually feel like they belonged.

Anna [0:21:10]: And a lot of those moments happen outside of the conference room.

Anna [0:21:14]: And so that's why we wanted to continue to interest this idea of, like, the third space, And that's kinda what these excursions are.

Anna [0:21:21]: Like these spaces that are not the conference room where, like, you're learning and not work.

Anna [0:21:25]: But these spaces where you can connect with these people in your world outside of that.

Anna [0:21:28]: And that's why we got...

Dave [0:21:30]: The third space.

Dave [0:21:30]: Did you come up with that?

Dave [0:21:31]: Is that the third space?

Anna [0:21:33]: I did not come up with it.

Anna [0:21:34]: I've seen it online because I feel like a lot of people talk about wanting more of that.

Anna [0:21:38]: Like I see it all the time online, especially, like, with Gen z, people wanna space that's at work or school or home.

Anna [0:21:43]: Want somewhere where they can go and connect with people and just vibe.

Dave [0:21:47]: This might, like, run club.

Anna [0:21:49]: Yeah.

Anna [0:21:49]: It is.

Anna [0:21:50]: Kinda like it's exactly like that.

Anna [0:21:51]: And that's what people wanted more of, and so that's what led us to like, go play pickle together.

Anna [0:21:56]: Is it's what led us to go on and boat together at sunset.

Dave [0:21:59]: List out the excursions that we did.

Anna [0:22:01]: Yeah.

Anna [0:22:01]: We did pickle ball, a hike, which actually we just a a casual walk along

Dave [0:22:07]: the water.

Dave [0:22:07]: There's a walk.

Dave [0:22:08]: So I think

Anna [0:22:09]: were a little disappointment though that was hike.

Anna [0:22:10]: But It's a guy.

Dave [0:22:11]: Were they...

Dave [0:22:11]: Was that...

Dave [0:22:12]: There was that in the feedback?

Anna [0:22:13]: There there were a couple people that were, like, I brought my hiking shoes.

Anna [0:22:15]: Like I thought we were gonna go the mountain.

Dave [0:22:18]: So I...

Dave [0:22:18]: I...

Dave [0:22:19]: That was that was my excursion.

Dave [0:22:20]: I led the...

Dave [0:22:21]: I led that group, and we were standing in the in the hotel lobby.

Dave [0:22:25]: And you should have seen some of the gear and the way people were dressed in the layers and everything that they had, and I was like, man.

Dave [0:22:32]: I gotta tell these people, like, go back.

Dave [0:22:34]: So it's like, alright, everybody Listen up.

Dave [0:22:35]: This is not a hike.

Dave [0:22:36]: It's a nice walk, All that gear you had, like, this one lady had, like, a full camel back.

Dave [0:22:41]: I'm like, you don't need any of that.

Dave [0:22:43]: Go put it back in your room and then come back.

Dave [0:22:46]: They did pickle ball, this nice walk.

Dave [0:22:49]: There was a bike ride.

Dave [0:22:51]: Right?

Allison [0:22:53]: And you

Dave [0:22:54]: Yoga?

Dave [0:22:54]: Mh.

Dave [0:22:55]: Did you do yoga?

Allison [0:22:57]: I did yoga?

Allison [0:22:57]: Yeah.

Allison [0:22:57]: We did it on the Water.

Allison [0:22:59]: It was beautiful.

Dave [0:23:01]: That's lovely.

Dave [0:23:01]: I also found that that was a great way to start start the day.

Dave [0:23:05]: Like, on the day that we did the excursions and we did them in the morning, and we started the event at at noon.

Dave [0:23:09]: So everybody had time to hang out.

Dave [0:23:12]: And I think one of the most unexpected and awesome parts was that morning, not just the excursions, but just all these people were around Burlington where we were doing this event in Vermont and, like, I did this walk with people, and then I'm walking back to my car, and I see a group of four guys, and I'm like, where are you guys going?

Dave [0:23:31]: You're like, we're going to breakfast.

Dave [0:23:32]: I'm like, come on.

Dave [0:23:33]: Get in.

Dave [0:23:34]: I'll took them in my car.

Dave [0:23:35]: You know, complete strangers.

Dave [0:23:36]: So, obviously, we need them through x Exit Five.

Dave [0:23:38]: I'm like, I got a spot for you.

Dave [0:23:39]: I live here.

Dave [0:23:39]: I'll take you.

Dave [0:23:40]: We...

Dave [0:23:40]: I took them down to this place called August first.

Dave [0:23:42]: We I we...

Dave [0:23:43]: We had breakfast there.

Dave [0:23:43]: And that turned into, like, this amazing little bond, then I'm I'm driving back on the way back and I saw Tasks in Saw, and I think what I'm excited about next year's is we're doing this event at this resort in S vermont.

Dave [0:23:54]: And everyone's gonna be staying on sight.

Dave [0:23:56]: And I think that's gonna do it...

Dave [0:23:58]: That's gonna have a huge boost and just, like, the ability to connect people at all that...

Dave [0:24:02]: It doesn't have to just be, like, in a breakout group.

Dave [0:24:04]: You know, people can be hanging out by the pool in the lobby getting a coffee having time for this these these spontaneous connections because Anna mentioned this third space, and I think there's something really important here from a business standpoint, if you can think about it, which is our identities as humans are tied so much into what we do for work.

Dave [0:24:24]: Right?

Dave [0:24:24]: You meet somebody, you go to a party, the very first thing.

Dave [0:24:26]: Oh, hey, A I'm allison and very first thing they ask you is, like, oh what do you do for work.

Dave [0:24:30]: And I think what we've learned with Exit Five is like, people who work in marketing, that is a huge part of their identity.

Dave [0:24:36]: And so all of our programming doesn't always have to be about making you a smarter marketer.

Dave [0:24:41]: That's maybe what gets you in the room.

Dave [0:24:44]: But then after that, you connect, and I see someone.

Dave [0:24:46]: And it's like, oh, yeah.

Dave [0:24:47]: You know, we saw somebody posted this, this this woman Lindsay, She posted, like, I met so and so through Exit Five, turns out we live in the same town in Pennsylvania.

Dave [0:24:56]: Our kids are the same age and we now go to soccer together and they went for a walk in their hometown.

Dave [0:25:01]: That's the power of community, and that's what makes.

Dave [0:25:04]: Events really cool.

Dave [0:25:05]: And I'm saying this because, yes, our world is marketing, but you...

Dave [0:25:08]: Why why couldn't you do this in Hr and finance in cybersecurity in plumbing.

Dave [0:25:14]: I don't know.

Dave [0:25:15]: There's...

Dave [0:25:15]: I think you could apply this model to every single industry?

Dave [0:25:18]: I think that's That's what made this really cool.

Anna [0:25:21]: I agree.

Anna [0:25:21]: Yeah.

Anna [0:25:22]: For week, like, I feel like that's huge too because I don't really have any friends outside of Work really understand what I do and whenever I try to explain.

Anna [0:25:31]: It's, like...

Anna [0:25:31]: There's just so much to explain.

Anna [0:25:33]: Like, I'll say, what a Crm is, like, what Hubspot is.

Anna [0:25:36]: And it just like, goes completely over their heads.

Anna [0:25:38]: Yeah.

Anna [0:25:39]: But in this room, I feel, like, in this room at drive.

Anna [0:25:41]: You don't really have to explain all that.

Anna [0:25:43]: Everyone like, really gets it and whether you're, like, a Cmo or you're someone like me who's very early on in your career, it does really matter because you belong because everyone speaks the same language.

Anna [0:25:54]: Yeah.

Anna [0:25:55]: And that's why people keep coming back,

Allison [0:25:58]: going off of, like, what a Crm is and stuff like that.

Allison [0:26:00]: It's just nice to be able to have a conversation without having to take five minutes explain with Crm and

Anna [0:26:05]: explain the backstory story.

Anna [0:26:05]: Yeah.

Allison [0:26:06]: No.

Allison [0:26:06]: With even...

Dave [0:26:07]: Why is that the thing?

Dave [0:26:08]: Why is that the thing?

Dave [0:26:09]: Like...

Dave [0:26:09]: We're we're all bonded because we're, like, cool people and we know what a Crm is.

Dave [0:26:14]: Like I'm not gonna ask you what a Crm.

Dave [0:26:16]: But I'm not gonna ask you what Crm is.

Dave [0:26:18]: No.

Dave [0:26:19]: And and then my favorite thing was, like, people that didn't come.

Dave [0:26:22]: Last year because obviously, v one, like, not everyone's gonna take the V one.

Dave [0:26:27]: Right?

Dave [0:26:27]: So people that didn't come last year, but that had fo from all the pictures and everything being posted online, who came this year and then had an amazing time, like, that filled my bucket in the best way.

Dave [0:26:39]: I can think of I can think of a bunch of people, but I'll I'll think of Eddie because he's a kind person and, Eddie, this guy, Eddie, he's, like, gave me a big hog on the voice music.

Dave [0:26:49]: This is so amazing.

Dave [0:26:50]: Just I had so much like, I'm gonna come back next year.

Dave [0:26:53]: I didn't come last year because of whatever reason like, that's the stuff that, you know, it's just like, I think I think we were sitting on at at dinner on the boat that night, and I I said this all to, and That was just on an unbelievable why.

Dave [0:27:03]: Well, But I was like, it just...

Dave [0:27:06]: The event was a reminder that, like, for all the marketing citrix tricks and tactics and things you can do in the world.

Dave [0:27:11]: Like, do you wanna know what actually the best marketing thing is it's like I have a damn good product.

Dave [0:27:14]: Because if you ob obsessed over the product, you've even awesome...

Dave [0:27:17]: Experience whether you sell, you know, seltzer or you go to an event.

Dave [0:27:20]: Like, that is the best thing.

Dave [0:27:22]: People are gonna take.

Dave [0:27:23]: They're gonna tell your friends.

Dave [0:27:24]: We're gonna have an easier time selling tickets in year three because people that went in year two and we sold tickets in year two because the people that went in year one.

Dave [0:27:31]: And so it makes that stuff worth ob over and I think something that Youtube are great at is sweating that stuff?

Dave [0:27:41]: Like, what's on the cocktail napkins?

Dave [0:27:42]: Like, I was talking to Dan.

Dave [0:27:44]: I was like, man, some guy came up to me and told me that, like, He was pumped because we had iced coffee and, like most conferences didn't have iced coffee, and then I it turned like, that was a specific thing that we asked for because we knew that.

Dave [0:27:55]: There was one lady who was upset about the oat milk, which is a...

Dave [0:27:57]: That's a whole other situation.

Dave [0:27:59]: We'll save that for the the after hours.

Dave [0:28:01]: Think hours podcast.

Dave [0:28:02]: But all those things matter and how the sandwiches matters.

Dave [0:28:07]: Like, all those details add up to to have an awesome time.

Dave [0:28:10]: It to help that the weather was amazing.

Dave [0:28:11]: But if you're listening this, like, I would push you to try to step outside of the box of doing a traditional conference.

Dave [0:28:18]: I think you need some hook to get people there to learn because a lot of the people in our audience.

Dave [0:28:24]: And in your audience are going to justify this ticket.

Dave [0:28:26]: They're gonna need to ask their boss to pay for this ticket.

Dave [0:28:29]: The average person is not gonna spend a thousand dollars or whatever the cost is just, you know, on on their own to go to this event.

Dave [0:28:35]: They're gonna have to pitch it to their boss and say, hey, I'm gonna learn.

Dave [0:28:37]: I'm gonna make all these connections.

Dave [0:28:38]: So how can you work backwards from that?

Dave [0:28:40]: And then I think just we all have this this lens.

Dave [0:28:43]: I don't know if this is for me being, like, scarred from just traveling for work and and being so miserable ball all the time.

Dave [0:28:48]: But I think just really making it...

Dave [0:28:51]: Being conscious of, like, it it's not It's a big ask for me in my mind to ask somebody to buy a ticket to our event and then spend two and a half, three or even four days, they're leaving their home and traveling and leaving their family and getting out of their routine.

Dave [0:29:05]: And so damn.

Dave [0:29:06]: If someone's gonna give you that level of commitment, like, you gotta deliver for them.

Dave [0:29:09]: And I think it's it's good to have those expectations for for yourself, and I think one of the number one marketing things I've learned is, like, I try to never do things that I wouldn't want to come I'm teaching my kids like, what was the golden rule?

Dave [0:29:22]: Like, treat others how you wanna be treated?

Dave [0:29:24]: It's like, what would Would I go to this webinar?

Dave [0:29:26]: Would I listen in this podcast?

Dave [0:29:28]: Would if I got this email from allison and, like, would I open it or would I instantly delete it?

Dave [0:29:32]: And how do we put that in your brain for, like, this event experience?

Dave [0:29:36]: Like, if I...

Dave [0:29:37]: If this is my first time here.

Dave [0:29:38]: Would this be awesome?

Dave [0:29:40]: I think that's for all of the growth hacks in the world, that's such an important.

Dave [0:29:44]: Okay.

Dave [0:29:44]: Have...

Dave [0:29:44]: I want...

Dave [0:29:45]: I would, like, rapid fire questions on this and and and then we'll wrap up.

Dave [0:29:48]: Let's go Allison.

Dave [0:29:49]: We'll we'll just go...

Dave [0:29:51]: We'll start out...

Dave [0:29:51]: We'll start with Allison.

Dave [0:29:52]: We'll we'll go to Anna we'll alternate couple sentence answers on each of those things each of these things.

Dave [0:29:57]: You don't have to spend a lot of time on it.

Dave [0:29:58]: What was your biggest learning from drive twenty twenty five.

Allison [0:30:02]: Document everything.

Dave [0:30:03]: What does that mean?

Allison [0:30:05]: In writing.

Dave [0:30:07]: Say more.

Dave [0:30:07]: You can say it, you can you can share this the safe space.

Dave [0:30:10]: Only a couple thousand people are gonna listen this since like?

Allison [0:30:14]: Talking with vendors and things just if you ever have phone calls them, make sure that you have it in writing after you talk with them and document everything in writing is basically the the main learning that I have.

Dave [0:30:23]: Because what happened, you can tell a story.

Allison [0:30:25]: Okay.

Allison [0:30:25]: The boat.

Allison [0:30:26]: We had the contract set for the day that the wrong day and over the phone.

Dave [0:30:35]: Set the stage, like, explain this for someone who doesn't know that we had this plan.

Dave [0:30:38]: We we wanted to do a boat cruise.

Dave [0:30:40]: Like, one of the nights there was an after party and it was a boat cruise.

Dave [0:30:42]: Right?

Allison [0:30:43]: Yes.

Allison [0:30:43]: So we had an party set, and it was gonna be on Wednesday, which...

Allison [0:30:47]: Technically, that's the first day.

Allison [0:30:48]: So it wasn't, like an party it was like, a mid party.

Allison [0:30:50]: Yes, You could say.

Allison [0:30:51]: And we're gonna go on this boat on Blake Champ and have drinks, music, food, all of that good stuff.

Allison [0:30:56]: After And when we originally booked, we had it set for Thursday, because we thought we were gonna do it that day, and then we decided to move it back one day, so we could have more people join us because a lot of people might be leaving on Thursday.

Allison [0:31:06]: At some point, during the planning process, So we told them that we wanted to change it to Wednesday and it got lost in translation, and they...

Allison [0:31:16]: It never got switched over, and we had the contract set for Thursday still.

Allison [0:31:21]: And we're on the phone with the people and charge of boat.

Allison [0:31:25]: Two hours before we're supposed to be on the boat, and they're talking to Anna, and they said that they are, like, ready to see us tomorrow or something like that.

Allison [0:31:33]: And Anna was like, it's supposed to be tonight.

Allison [0:31:35]: And then that's how we figured out that.

Allison [0:31:37]: We had the wrong date, and we had to do a full one eighty and do, basically, as Anna said, like, six months of planning and, like, less than an hour, basically.

Allison [0:31:47]: So we had to scramble, and was on the phone.

Allison [0:31:49]: I was on the phone and everything.

Dave [0:31:51]: In the small city with, like, not not the most options in the world.

Allison [0:31:54]: Yeah.

Allison [0:31:54]: It worked out great though.

Allison [0:31:55]: I think Literally really.

Allison [0:31:56]: Yeah.

Allison [0:31:56]: We ended up at a brewery instead, and then we just did the boat cruise the next day, and everything turned out completely fine.

Allison [0:32:02]: People really enjoyed the brewery.

Allison [0:32:03]: I think too was still Yeah.

Allison [0:32:05]: Just as Anna said before, it was the third space for people to go and hang out and have a good time after they've been and set all day.

Dave [0:32:11]: So this was the big kind of fuck up, right?

Dave [0:32:13]: And I I wouldn't even say it's like, we fucked something up.

Dave [0:32:15]: I just think it's...

Dave [0:32:16]: I think what we've learned now and something will go wrong.

Dave [0:32:20]: Mh.

Dave [0:32:21]: It's a fact.

Dave [0:32:21]: It's just...

Dave [0:32:22]: You don't know what it's gonna be.

Dave [0:32:24]: And I remember...

Dave [0:32:25]: I remember saying this, like, when when Lee and I were getting married someone told us, like, you do all this planning.

Dave [0:32:30]: Like, something's gonna go wrong.

Dave [0:32:31]: It could be a small thing.

Dave [0:32:32]: It could be a big thing, and it was, like, our, did Dj totaled his car on the way up and so we had no Cj dj.

Dave [0:32:38]: And he called her while she was getting her hair done.

Dave [0:32:40]: Luckily, luckily, her husband is just a phenomenal or phenomenal music noah, and, you know, I'm the guy you want.

Dave [0:32:49]: Know, And so so I I just...

Dave [0:32:51]: Okay.

Dave [0:32:51]: I taken that.

Dave [0:32:52]: Now this is essentially planning a wedding the same thing.

Dave [0:32:54]: So there is going to some be something that goes wrong.

Dave [0:32:57]: What contingencies do you have, How are your team handle?

Dave [0:33:00]: I think that was an awesome.

Dave [0:33:01]: I'm I'm so glad that happened because I think we learned a lot about each other, or the way you all handled that was amazing.

Dave [0:33:06]: So that was the big the big fuck up, but your lesson from that is, like, everything needs to be in writing and everything needs to be double triple confirmed.

Allison [0:33:16]: Yes.

Dave [0:33:16]: Good one.

Dave [0:33:16]: Anna, you got a lesson?

Anna [0:33:19]: Yeah.

Anna [0:33:19]: I think for me it's the event isn't over whenever it ends.

Anna [0:33:24]: Like, I think one thing that we maybe dick like, sometimes is like, oh, wait.

Anna [0:33:30]: Even though it's over on Thursday, we actually have so much left to do, like, just the post event distribution, like, we able this content.

Anna [0:33:36]: People are waiting on the slides.

Anna [0:33:37]: People are waiting on notes.

Anna [0:33:38]: The recordings, sponsors are waiting on recap from the event.

Dave [0:33:41]: Yeah.

Anna [0:33:42]: And I think, like, especially last year.

Anna [0:33:43]: We were like oh my gosh This is so, like, did this event, yay.

Anna [0:33:46]: Like, we're done now.

Anna [0:33:47]: In this year, we didn't post really totally think all of that through.

Anna [0:33:51]: And so I think for me that's a big learning, like, going into it is...

Anna [0:33:54]: That's a whole another thing in itself is just the strategy following via of event.

Dave [0:33:58]: Or, like, when we got off the bow.

Dave [0:33:59]: I was so ready to go home and you guys were like, we have to go sit deals clean up right now.

Dave [0:34:03]: It's like you're kidding me.

Dave [0:34:04]: So so that's a really good one.

Dave [0:34:07]: And and I'm I'm sharing this because the audience for this is all people who work in marketing and so you'll you'll appreciate this.

Dave [0:34:12]: But, like, that's a huge lesson is that the follow up, whether it's your own webinar or you're doing something sponsors or you're doing an event.

Dave [0:34:20]: That matters so much.

Dave [0:34:22]: I I just talked to last week, and I shared these see these notes.

Dave [0:34:26]: I I chuck...

Dave [0:34:26]: Did a podcast with Sydney Sloan.

Dave [0:34:28]: Who's a Cmo g two, and she has a background in event.

Dave [0:34:30]: And she's like, oh, yeah.

Dave [0:34:31]: I looked...

Dave [0:34:32]: She's a gangster.

Dave [0:34:32]: She's like, No.

Dave [0:34:33]: I learned the hardware.

Dave [0:34:34]: She's like, the...

Dave [0:34:35]: We need the list...

Dave [0:34:35]: Like, if we sponsor an event, like I need to list that night.

Dave [0:34:38]: And the emails are going out that night.

Dave [0:34:39]: And I'm like, whoa, that's that's next level.

Dave [0:34:42]: And so there are all these things that, like, the the long tail of an event is, like, there's probably a couple days after that where there's there's lots of deliverables, but it's not even just a lesson in in the deliverables.

Dave [0:34:53]: I think it's, like, back to, like, begin with the ended mind.

Dave [0:34:56]: Right?

Dave [0:34:56]: Especially if you have sponsors you have follow ups.

Dave [0:34:59]: Like, those are all key steps in into into doing this thing.

Dave [0:35:02]: You gotta have that have that stuff planned out.

Dave [0:35:04]: And, you know, we learned every year.

Dave [0:35:06]: Like, last year, we had the emails and everything scheduled, that's great and and we're just learning.

Dave [0:35:10]: There's more.

Dave [0:35:10]: One of the good things that we do, though that we learned immediately is it's just send out the...

Dave [0:35:15]: We ask...

Dave [0:35:15]: We measure N mps, and we sent out the feedback.

Dave [0:35:17]: We send out a feedback survey.

Dave [0:35:19]: Immediately after every event.

Dave [0:35:21]: And I think that that feedback is amazing.

Dave [0:35:24]: It gives you some way to quantify the event.

Dave [0:35:26]: I learned this from Mike Vol who is a Cmo Hubspot And he's like, yeah, we measure events not just on tickets sold, but on N mps, like the quality of the product, the same way you'd measure your employee N mps your products, N mps like, how was the product and we have a really amazing product based on the two N mps scores from this year, but just...

Dave [0:35:43]: It gives us some benchmark.

Dave [0:35:44]: We do it on our smaller events too because we wanna know.

Dave [0:35:46]: The feedback thing is kinda tough because what's so funny is we compared all the feedback from last year this year.

Dave [0:35:53]: And, like humans, we just contradict ourselves all the time.

Dave [0:35:56]: Like, we made changes that people ask for last year in this year.

Dave [0:36:00]: And then people...

Dave [0:36:01]: Some people left feedback that they wanted, like, the opposite of what they said the year before.

Dave [0:36:05]: And so I think we're just that's how humans are.

Dave [0:36:08]: And I think it's on you as the creators of the of a product or event to just kinda find.

Dave [0:36:12]: Find what you wanna do and have a strong opinion on that and not take everybody's feedback as, like, inputs, but just be able to use it as as data to help you guide and adjust things.

Dave [0:36:22]: It's like, yeah.

Dave [0:36:23]: And I think, you know, one of the things that I appreciate.

Dave [0:36:25]: You about you both is like.

Dave [0:36:26]: You have a strong opinion you're like, no.

Dave [0:36:28]: That's how it is.

Dave [0:36:28]: Sorry.

Dave [0:36:29]: You know, that...

Dave [0:36:29]: That...

Dave [0:36:30]: That's how we're doing it.

Dave [0:36:30]: Somebody has to...

Dave [0:36:31]: Somebody has to decide.

Dave [0:36:32]: Okay.

Dave [0:36:34]: How would you...

Dave [0:36:35]: You can only pick one or I'll give...

Dave [0:36:37]: Give you one or two, but someone out here who is doing events, audience and marketing, doing events give me one or two unexpected lessons or something you if you feel like you know now other than, you know, double check all the contracts or whatever.

Dave [0:36:50]: What what's a lesson you'd share with someone that wants to go and and do an event if you could provide any wisdom.

Dave [0:36:55]: You got two?

Anna [0:36:58]: I do.

Anna [0:36:58]: K.

Anna [0:36:58]: One steroid ridiculously gill organized, like, going back to what else and instead, like, literally write everything down.

Anna [0:37:03]: Have a master spreadsheet with everything.

Anna [0:37:05]: Yeah.

Anna [0:37:06]: One big thing that we did is we had a weekly meetings.

Anna [0:37:08]: Was actually actually ended up being two meetings a week.

Anna [0:37:11]: We had one meeting about drive in one about events.

Anna [0:37:13]: And we just needed that checkpoint every week, and I think that really helped us level up this year because we were able to literally just get go through each line item up and see what needed to get done and delegate those tasks.

Anna [0:37:23]: So staying ridiculously organized, and on I'll top of that del super important.

Anna [0:37:27]: And then I think the second learning is, like, whenever you go into an event, don't be afraid to be ridiculously annoying as well.

Anna [0:37:37]: Because you're working with so many vendors and you're kinda depending on so many people to get this that right for you.

Anna [0:37:43]: We're also paying them.

Anna [0:37:45]: So I think you have every right to follow.

Dave [0:37:48]: You need to be bright...

Dave [0:37:49]: You need to be Bride noah.

Dave [0:37:50]: Yeah.

Dave [0:37:50]: Like, it's, like Bride zillow.

Dave [0:37:51]: Like, not being a jerk, but, like, this is part of the game.

Dave [0:37:54]: You need to be, like, super...

Dave [0:37:55]: You need like, super alpha energy during those two days.

Dave [0:38:00]: Yeah.

Dave [0:38:00]: Yep.

Dave [0:38:01]: Allison what do you got?

Allison [0:38:03]: This is kind of small one, but No matter how many emails you send and how many times you communicate the people, people are still gonna ask questions all the time.

Allison [0:38:10]: So...

Dave [0:38:11]: Oh, oh, really?

Dave [0:38:12]: What what a surprise?

Dave [0:38:13]: What I surprise?

Dave [0:38:15]: I all of the people out there.

Dave [0:38:16]: Man, we get so much...

Dave [0:38:18]: Criticism and feedback sometimes Like, you all don't read the damn even email.

Dave [0:38:21]: You don't read it.

Allison [0:38:23]: So We'll have a good plan for your emails.

Allison [0:38:25]: I think that...

Allison [0:38:26]: Like You said, this is kind of a niche one.

Allison [0:38:27]: But whenever I was in the beginning parts of planning for drive.

Allison [0:38:31]: I sat down and I thought about every email that we needed had send and I started from the back and then I worked to the front.

Allison [0:38:36]: So what was the very last email that we send and what was the very first email and everything in between.

Allison [0:38:40]: And I think about it from an attendee perspective.

Allison [0:38:44]: So, like, if your...

Allison [0:38:45]: I going to this event.

Allison [0:38:47]: What are the questions that you were gonna ask?

Allison [0:38:49]: And I'm, like, an I'm an anxious traveler?

Allison [0:38:50]: I'm an anxious person.

Allison [0:38:51]: So thinking about all of the things that would make me anxious and, like, what I would wanna know where things that I would put into the email.

Allison [0:38:57]: So then so much have to think about...

Allison [0:38:59]: Oh, what time do I need to be at this place?

Allison [0:39:01]: They already had it.

Allison [0:39:02]: So that was a really good thing too.

Allison [0:39:03]: I think that you should think about is just one no matter how many times you communicate People so Gonna ask questions, but just try to have it all ready to go for them.

Allison [0:39:11]: And then another thing that I did that you...

Allison [0:39:13]: Dave you actually suggested was just making a big.

Allison [0:39:15]: Doc that we were able to give to everyone that had every bit of information that we had for, like, shuttle times in the agenda and everything.

Allison [0:39:22]: So that way people do ask questions.

Allison [0:39:24]: You can say, hey, everything is in this doc just go read through it really quick.

Dave [0:39:27]: Yeah.

Dave [0:39:27]: Yeah.

Dave [0:39:28]: Heck yeah.

Dave [0:39:29]: Man, that's one of the hardest things about doing these events.

Dave [0:39:32]: It's just like, there's no way everyone's gonna know.

Dave [0:39:34]: And then you have...

Dave [0:39:36]: This is no joke.

Dave [0:39:37]: I was I was Seeing the event hosting the event.

Dave [0:39:39]: Right?

Dave [0:39:40]: And I would get off the stage and I'm like, sneak...

Dave [0:39:43]: I go in the bathroom.

Dave [0:39:43]: Like, I pee real quick.

Dave [0:39:44]: I sneak in the bathroom and, like, I'm washing my hand and some guys like, hey, do you know...

Dave [0:39:48]: Do you know where the forks are?

Dave [0:39:49]: I'm, like, I don't know, dude.

Dave [0:39:53]: Yeah.

Dave [0:39:53]: I the guy you gotta ask for this?

Dave [0:39:54]: Like, you know, or, like, what's the Wifi F password or just...

Dave [0:39:58]: There's just so many things.

Dave [0:39:59]: And and I don't know how to solve that other than, like, I'd love we just build a custom app, and it's just a Ai and it just answers all the questions.

Dave [0:40:06]: But...

Dave [0:40:06]: Yeah.

Dave [0:40:06]: But it that...

Dave [0:40:07]: That's a great marketing skill.

Dave [0:40:09]: Honestly, is to just think about the questions people are gonna have?

Dave [0:40:13]: And I think is that empathy?

Dave [0:40:14]: Is that the right way to use is that word empathy?

Dave [0:40:16]: Like, you You is it no, like, you you think about the things you would want and or the things that make you anxious, you know, like.

Dave [0:40:24]: Even just the date, like, yeah, It's gonna be forty degrees in the morning, like, you should bring a jacket.

Allison [0:40:28]: Mh.

Allison [0:40:28]: Just little things like that.

Allison [0:40:30]: But also this thing gonna I said too because I mean was the first were good too.

Dave [0:40:35]: Very good.

Dave [0:40:35]: Yeah.

Dave [0:40:35]: The favorite moment, You ship you a favorite moment.

Allison [0:40:39]: Going to the dumpsters.

Allison [0:40:39]: At the end.

Dave [0:40:41]: Yeah.

Dave [0:40:41]: That was it at the end.

Dave [0:40:42]: Yeah.

Dave [0:40:43]: You just hawk all that shit in the trash.

Dave [0:40:45]: Yeah.

Dave [0:40:46]: I Does feel like a moment, Like, we should have all, like, smoke a cigarette or something.

Allison [0:40:51]: Like kinda And then when we were trying to throw things into the dumpster and everything which was flying back on us.

Allison [0:40:56]: And walk the ground and stuff stuff

Anna [0:40:59]: so on.

Dave [0:41:00]: I got home.

Dave [0:41:00]: I got home that night.

Dave [0:41:02]: You you all, like, I lived here right?

Dave [0:41:04]: You got you guys are in your hotel rooms in the, I got home that night.

Dave [0:41:07]: It's like, ten thirty at night.

Dave [0:41:08]: And the dog comes running downstairs and leah is like, hello?

Dave [0:41:12]: I, like, I just need a minute, and I just laid on my living room floor for just an hour.

Dave [0:41:20]: I didn't go to sleep.

Dave [0:41:21]: I just laid there in complete silence.

Dave [0:41:23]: And my dog just cuddle up next me.

Dave [0:41:27]: And then I wash my hands for like, thirty minutes.

Allison [0:41:29]: Yeah.

Dave [0:41:31]: Anna do you have a favorite moment?

Anna [0:41:34]: Honestly, I liked going to the brewery.

Anna [0:41:35]: Even though it was a curve ball, I think we felt, like, so good about it because we had that, like, hour where the three of us were all huddled up in the corner and we're like, okay.

Anna [0:41:44]: What are we gonna do?

Anna [0:41:45]: Yeah.

Anna [0:41:45]: We figured it out.

Anna [0:41:46]: We all walked over to the brewery.

Anna [0:41:47]: It was, like a perfect sunset.

Anna [0:41:48]: Yeah.

Dave [0:41:49]: Yeah.

Anna [0:41:50]: Everyone was there getting food getting drinks.

Anna [0:41:51]: He just ended up being, like, a perfect night.

Anna [0:41:54]: And everyone came up and complimented us.

Anna [0:41:56]: Like, you handled that so well.

Anna [0:41:58]: Or, like, Hey god.

Dave [0:42:00]: I know.

Dave [0:42:00]: So great.

Anna [0:42:01]: Been that might have been the Tequila shop that we took whenever we got there.

Dave [0:42:05]: Great brand play actually to that was great.

Dave [0:42:08]: I was team bonding to see you all take a tequila shot.

Dave [0:42:11]: Together.

Dave [0:42:12]: Do you have a funniest moment.

Dave [0:42:14]: Like, that's a favorite moment.

Dave [0:42:15]: Can you think tell me, like, generally made you laugh about how ridiculous or or silly something was?

Allison [0:42:22]: Yes.

Allison [0:42:22]: What?

Anna [0:42:23]: Well, one thing, I don't even know if I told you guys about this whenever we were at the brewery that vector was doing a dinner.

Anna [0:42:30]: And so I was wandering around the brewery, like, a crazy person trying to find these people.

Dave [0:42:35]: Right.

Anna [0:42:36]: And I was looking down at my phone, while I was walking, and there was, like, a class, store, but I was supposed to be walking out of, and it was halfway close and I completely ran And, like, everyone looked at and started laughing, but I think it was only, like ten people, but it was really embarrassing.

Dave [0:42:51]: Amazing.

Dave [0:42:51]: Funny

Anna [0:42:52]: very very good representation of the day.

Dave [0:42:55]: You know what?

Dave [0:42:55]: Things like that, like, the the brewery, the brewery and breakfast and launch.

Dave [0:43:00]: There's something about everybody kind ming together, like...

Dave [0:43:04]: Just sitting with random people and, like, you know, having a burger or having lunch and just being being there together I think was an amazing amazing part of that.

Dave [0:43:12]: And I, you know, that's the hard part One of the nice things about doing this event Vermont.

Dave [0:43:17]: Like, we we have this whole bar.

Dave [0:43:18]: We we maybe spent, like, forty six hundred bucks.

Dave [0:43:22]: I got the...

Dave [0:43:22]: You know, like, on the credit card to, like, host that and this is like oh, that was kind of a that was a win.

Dave [0:43:27]: Yeah.

Dave [0:43:28]: I'm trying to think funny any funny moments.

Anna [0:43:32]: Mh.

Anna [0:43:32]: And we were when

Allison [0:43:33]: he went back.

Allison [0:43:33]: On the last day to go stack all of the chairs on the line.

Allison [0:43:36]: I was laughing really hard at how we were all competing to see how many people could actually could carry as many chairs as possible.

Dave [0:43:41]: Yeah.

Dave [0:43:41]: Just as bunch of super type a people ready to damn out there.

Dave [0:43:45]: If I could have carried a hundred chairs at once.

Dave [0:43:47]: I I would have done it that night.

Anna [0:43:49]: Yeah.

Anna [0:43:49]: So delusional at that point.

Dave [0:43:52]: Delusional.

Dave [0:43:52]: Yeah.

Dave [0:43:52]: Yeah.

Dave [0:43:53]: I like the little improv moments too.

Dave [0:43:55]: Like, I think not being so damn serious.

Dave [0:43:57]: Maybe that's part of our brand.

Dave [0:43:59]: I don't know how other companies in this in this world are, but I think it's just a very a part of our brand is to be very real and authentic about things.

Dave [0:44:08]: And so I think, like, that started organically, like, in year one.

Dave [0:44:12]: Like I wasn't supposed to have the mic and, like, make jokes, but I just just did and then we have the crowd interaction and, like, I think that plays out.

Dave [0:44:19]: And then, like, when something goes wrong, everyone's not like boom because it doesn't feel like this, like super highly polished scripted thing.

Dave [0:44:25]: It's like, I want our...

Dave [0:44:26]: I I think I like our brand.

Dave [0:44:28]: It's like, this balance between, like, we have our shit together and things are really professional.

Dave [0:44:33]: But there's also this level of, like, approach ability and on authenticity.

Dave [0:44:37]: So, like, if something goes wrong, you know, we're like, we're gonna...

Dave [0:44:39]: We're working on it.

Dave [0:44:40]: We're gonna go over here and and everything's gonna gonna work out just fine.

Allison [0:44:44]: Mh.

Anna [0:44:44]: Yeah.

Anna [0:44:44]: I think a big part of that, like, just stick on tangent it.

Anna [0:44:47]: Comes from, like, you're welcome.

Anna [0:44:48]: You get on stage instead this, like, stiff buttoned up welcome.

Anna [0:44:51]: You've get a fair.

Anna [0:44:52]: You tell some for vermont facts.

Anna [0:44:53]: Yeah.

Anna [0:44:54]: You show a couple pictures of the team and your family and, like, share the story Exit Five, and I think it immediately sets this, like, very real genuine tone and people, like, See as people and not just the brand.

Anna [0:45:04]: Yeah.

Anna [0:45:05]: Which I like?

Anna [0:45:06]: Yeah.

Allison [0:45:06]: I agree.

Dave [0:45:07]: I was debating on giving a talk on the state of b marketing, but I decided to not do it.

Dave [0:45:11]: Okay.

Dave [0:45:12]: Random random shout out time.

Dave [0:45:13]: Do you wanna give a shout out to One, two, three, seven people that you randomly met for the first time and, like, enjoyed hanging out with that drive.

Dave [0:45:21]: I feel like that's always a part for me.

Dave [0:45:22]: I have people in my head that I that I can remember.

Dave [0:45:25]: But do you...

Dave [0:45:26]: I'll kick us off.

Dave [0:45:27]: I think, a couple of them for me were number one is Diane Ware do.

Dave [0:45:32]: She came in from Barcelona.

Dave [0:45:33]: Amazing energy.

Dave [0:45:35]: She was, like, a big energy part of our event from, like, the first night at dinner.

Dave [0:45:39]: Harry Dry being there getting to hang out with him.

Dave [0:45:43]: We had no idea if Harry was gonna show up I messaged him on Twitter over the summer.

Dave [0:45:47]: Asked him to speak.

Dave [0:45:48]: He messaged us, like, he ghost us for, like, six months Saturday morning before the event, like, dm to me to tell me that he sent Allison his slides bought his ticket.

Dave [0:45:58]: That was that was amazing.

Dave [0:45:59]: And then my shot was to all you.

Dave [0:46:01]: I think we all get to hang out in a more, like, intimate and authentic way, like, behind the scenes in the room.

Dave [0:46:06]: You know, it's it's really fun to sometimes, you know, we're humans do we gossip.

Dave [0:46:10]: And we...

Dave [0:46:11]: Just like the same way people Gossip been talk shit about us.

Dave [0:46:13]: We gossip and we talk shit about you and we do it We do it backstage at the events.

Dave [0:46:17]: Do you have you have a couple people you want you wanna shout out.

Allison [0:46:20]: First, I wanna shout out Anna, because I wouldn't have been able to do any of the stuff that I did without my behaving freely from your one.

Dave [0:46:26]: That's not.

Allison [0:46:27]: And then, obviously, e five team love you guys.

Allison [0:46:28]: And then...

Allison [0:46:29]: We just, like, random people that I met.

Allison [0:46:31]: Rachel weeks.

Allison [0:46:32]: I'm at her.

Allison [0:46:32]: She was super sweet.

Allison [0:46:33]: I'm not her the...

Dave [0:46:34]: She's super nice.

Allison [0:46:35]: Yeah.

Dave [0:46:36]: She's so funny.

Dave [0:46:36]: She came up to me.

Dave [0:46:37]: She's like, do know Sarah.

Dave [0:46:38]: And I'm like, no, Sarah.

Dave [0:46:39]: She's like, I met her last year.

Dave [0:46:40]: We bonded, but I haven't seen her yet.

Dave [0:46:42]: Can you find her for me and, like, I...

Dave [0:46:44]: All the rest items Did you find it her she's amazing.

Dave [0:46:45]: She's really nice.

Allison [0:46:47]: Yeah.

Allison [0:46:47]: And then, Shelby from Hawaii.

Allison [0:46:49]: I can't remember her last name, but she was awesome the top too.

Allison [0:46:52]: The fact that she can all way from Hawaii insane.

Allison [0:46:54]: Hawaii.

Allison [0:46:54]: Well what I mean.

Allison [0:46:55]: Harry Dry was super nice.

Allison [0:46:56]: Jen Allen News was super nice all of our speakers I loved.

Allison [0:46:59]: They were all great.

Dave [0:47:01]: That's a big thing for me.

Dave [0:47:02]: Like, when speakers are actually nice people.

Dave [0:47:06]: Like, I I don't like when people.

Dave [0:47:08]: Like, big time you for for some reason.

Dave [0:47:11]: Like, I think it's really cool and when they become part of the event.

Allison [0:47:15]: Yeah.

Allison [0:47:15]: And then I think my last person was, Jess Cook from Vector.

Allison [0:47:19]: I talked to her for a while on...

Dave [0:47:21]: Yeah.

Dave [0:47:21]: She's super sweet.

Allison [0:47:22]: Went out for a little bit, and she's super sweet.

Allison [0:47:24]: Yeah.

Dave [0:47:25]: Yeah.

Dave [0:47:25]: I'll I show out Chelsea too.

Dave [0:47:27]: Chelsea is my girl now.

Dave [0:47:28]: I appreciate that.

Anna [0:47:29]: I'm not.

Anna [0:47:29]: I was gonna say Chelsea.

Anna [0:47:30]: Yeah.

Dave [0:47:31]: I like all her photos on it.

Dave [0:47:32]: Just she's, I like all her stories and all her photos on instagram because I feel like she's a good person.

Dave [0:47:36]: I like that.

Allison [0:47:37]: Emilio have dinner with.

Allison [0:47:38]: I haven't seen here since drive, which is so funny because we live in the same place, like, ten minutes away from each other.

Dave [0:47:43]: Yeah.

Dave [0:47:43]: Go hang up.

Dave [0:47:44]: Andy, you got somebody.

Dave [0:47:45]: And shout him out?

Anna [0:47:47]: Yes.

Anna [0:47:47]: Obviously, Exit Five o everyone else and Mvp of all.

Anna [0:47:51]: Customer Team, as Molly and Naomi are both awesome, Molly lives near Austin, so it's always fun to see her again.

Anna [0:47:58]: Yeah.

Anna [0:47:58]: Naomi, and I played a really great and pickle together.

Anna [0:48:00]: So shout out.

Dave [0:48:02]: Yeah.

Dave [0:48:02]: Is Naomi, the...

Dave [0:48:03]: Is Naomi have Red hair?

Dave [0:48:04]: Yes.

Dave [0:48:04]: I stole her code for, So, too.

Dave [0:48:07]: Shout out to you Me.

Dave [0:48:08]: Thank you for that.

Dave [0:48:09]: That's cool.

Dave [0:48:09]: That's good.

Dave [0:48:10]: You need to outside of work interactions like that to, like, really feel like you get to know somebody.

Dave [0:48:14]: Okay.

Dave [0:48:15]: Who else?

Anna [0:48:16]: Okay.

Anna [0:48:16]: Lash shout, this corona.

Anna [0:48:17]: Cute can't remember what her company was called, but she works for this, like, church software.

Anna [0:48:22]: Her name was Emily.

Anna [0:48:23]: She was just super interested and she let me ramble out event for a long time, and I appreciate

Dave [0:48:29]: her for that.

Dave [0:48:29]: I like that.

Dave [0:48:31]: I like that.

Anna [0:48:32]: She was really good listener.

Dave [0:48:34]: Not like that.

Dave [0:48:34]: Okay.

Dave [0:48:35]: Shout.

Dave [0:48:35]: I I wanted to give people shout.

Dave [0:48:37]: Somebody that I also always enjoy seeing around is Natalie taylor, good energy, good vibes.

Dave [0:48:42]: She's a good person.

Dave [0:48:43]: Yeah.

Dave [0:48:44]: Sylvia Point energy.

Dave [0:48:46]: She was on our panel.

Dave [0:48:47]: I had a great conversation with her eating a burger, and she...

Dave [0:48:50]: I was like, I'm sorry.

Dave [0:48:52]: I this is...

Dave [0:48:52]: I'm so hungry right now.

Dave [0:48:53]: I literally have not eaten twelve hours.

Dave [0:48:55]: Like, I wanna talk to you, but I also, like, when you...

Dave [0:48:59]: I feel awkward.

Dave [0:49:00]: Like, I'm I'm the only person eating I'm just, like devour this burger, like, right in front of her list sauce, like, tripping them my face.

Dave [0:49:06]: She's great.

Dave [0:49:08]: Trinity.

Dave [0:49:09]: Everybody who is great man.

Dave [0:49:10]: Fuck.

Dave [0:49:10]: Ever shout to everybody.

Dave [0:49:12]: Great

Allison [0:49:14]: everyone yet.

Dave [0:49:16]: Shout shout out to everyone.

Dave [0:49:17]: Okay.

Dave [0:49:18]: Yeah.

Dave [0:49:18]: That's it.

Dave [0:49:18]: So, look, this was a Exit Five hangout.

Dave [0:49:20]: Hang with the Exit Five events team.

Dave [0:49:22]: I'm Dave.

Dave [0:49:22]: That's Anna.

Dave [0:49:23]: That's Allison.

Dave [0:49:24]: I wanted to just record a fun, like, no agenda, candid conversation with them behind the scenes because I want you to hear their voices more.

Dave [0:49:31]: And just a little bit behind the scenes on Drive.

Dave [0:49:34]: So if you listen to this episode, I want you to email us high at x Exit Five dot com.

Dave [0:49:38]: I would love to do are be happy to do more, like, behind the scenes type of stuff, not just doing interviews with people.

Dave [0:49:46]: I'm actually going to put this on...

Dave [0:49:48]: I need to make an effort.

Dave [0:49:50]: I need to make more of.

Dave [0:49:51]: I'm gonna put this video my my Youtube channel, and we're gonna start to, like, really invest and try to make something happen there, I don't know what's gonna happen, but I would love to do more behind the scenes stuff, we can talk more about what's upcoming with our events.

Dave [0:50:03]: If you listen this episode, we do need to shout out.

Dave [0:50:06]: You know, we've...

Dave [0:50:07]: We're also gonna run this on the Cmo cup podcast podcasts to get the audience over there it but Youtube.

Dave [0:50:11]: There's a lot of people who listen to our podcast podcasts.

Dave [0:50:14]: Like, it seems like we're just talking right now, but in a couple weeks.

Dave [0:50:17]: Hopefully not sooner than that.

Dave [0:50:18]: This my recently bias anytime I'm a recorded podcast like.

Dave [0:50:21]: We need to move the...

Dave [0:50:22]: We need to jump the queue.

Dave [0:50:23]: This one needs to go out now.

Dave [0:50:24]: A lot of people led listen this, maybe you didn't get a ticket already, but we are doing drive again.

Dave [0:50:29]: Can you...

Dave [0:50:30]: It's September ninth.

Dave [0:50:32]: Correct, September ninth through eleventh Stove vermont.

Dave [0:50:35]: Is that correct?

Allison [0:50:36]: Fourteenth through sixteenth Stove vermont.

Dave [0:50:38]: Totally.

Dave [0:50:38]: I was close.

Dave [0:50:39]: September fourteenth through sixteenth?

Dave [0:50:41]: Stove vermont.

Dave [0:50:42]: Can we sell tickets right now?

Anna [0:50:45]: I thought it was September eight through ten.

Allison [0:50:48]: We knew it back?

Anna [0:50:53]: Too.

Anna [0:50:53]: You

Dave [0:50:54]: got work to do.

Dave [0:50:55]: That's.

Dave [0:50:55]: We are...

Dave [0:50:56]: We're gonna run it back.

Dave [0:50:58]: So you don't know.

Dave [0:50:59]: You don't know when the date.

Dave [0:51:00]: We don't know when...

Dave [0:51:00]: We do know when the data is.

Dave [0:51:01]: We just don't have it right here, but we...

Dave [0:51:03]: We have put a deposit on the venue.

Dave [0:51:05]: We've already spent a of a bunch a bunch of money.

Dave [0:51:08]: I have the Am mx credit card bill to show it to you.

Dave [0:51:11]: We are bringing this event back to Vermont S Vermont at Spruce Peak, which is an amazing resort.

Dave [0:51:18]: No con.

Dave [0:51:19]: My guy No con just played there a couple weeks ago.

Dave [0:51:22]: They have a mountain there.

Dave [0:51:23]: The mountain is there.

Dave [0:51:24]: There's a golf course there.

Dave [0:51:25]: There's a spa.

Dave [0:51:26]: There's a pool.

Dave [0:51:27]: There's a weight room.

Dave [0:51:28]: We can go hiking.

Dave [0:51:29]: We're all doing it on sight.

Dave [0:51:31]: We'll have a a real hike.

Dave [0:51:33]: You actually can bring your camel back this year.

Dave [0:51:35]: We're gonna have four hundred people there.

Dave [0:51:37]: It's gonna be amazing.

Dave [0:51:39]: My blood pressure is going up already thinking about it.

Dave [0:51:41]: I haven't thought about it events in, like, a week or two, and we gotta get our shit together and start moving, But, I think it's good, and like I shared in a video a couple weeks ago pressure is a privilege.

Dave [0:51:50]: It's like, we've done this event twice in a row now.

Dave [0:51:53]: People expect it to be great, and I think it's great pressure to have to go out and and do it again.

Dave [0:51:58]: Maybe we'll film...

Dave [0:51:59]: We should film a bunch of content when...

Dave [0:52:01]: I think everybody's gonna come up here in the spring and we're gonna do a site visit and so we can we can do more stuff like that.

Dave [0:52:07]: But thanks for listening to this.

Dave [0:52:09]: Go go find Allison and Anna on Linkedin.

Dave [0:52:11]: Connect with them, send them a message.

Dave [0:52:14]: If you try to poach them, I will know.

Dave [0:52:17]: They will send me a screenshot, and I will know.

Dave [0:52:19]: So just be aware of that, but that's all good.

Dave [0:52:22]: It's a compliment to the work that they do and the type of people out there.

Dave [0:52:24]: So thanks for listening.

Dave [0:52:25]: Send us a note if you want us to do more of this, and we'll we'll we'll catch you on another episode.

Dave [0:52:29]: Hey.

Dave [0:52:33]: Thanks for listening to this podcast.

Dave [0:52:35]: If you like this episode.

Dave [0:52:36]: You know what?

Dave [0:52:37]: I'm not even gonna ask you to subscribe and leave a review because I don't really care about that.

Dave [0:52:42]: I have something better for you.

Dave [0:52:43]: So we've built the number one private community for B marketers at Exit Five, and you can go and check that out.

Dave [0:52:49]: Instead of leaving a rating a review.

Dave [0:52:51]: Go check it out right now on our website, Exit Five dot com.

Dave [0:52:54]: Our mission at Exit Five is to help you grow your career in Bb marketing, and there's no better place to do that than with us at Exit Five.

Dave [0:53:02]: There's nearly five thousand members now in our community, people are in their posting every day, asking questions about things like marketing planning, ideas, inspiration, asking questions and getting feedback from your peers, building your own network of marketers who are doing the same thing you are seeking to have a peer group, or maybe just venting about your boss when you need to get in there and get something off your chest.

Dave [0:53:23]: It's a hundred percent free to join for seven days so you can go and check it out risk free, and then there's a small annual fee to pay if you wanna become a member for the year.

Dave [0:53:31]: Go check it out, learn more, Exit Five dot com and I will see you over there in the community.

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