#84: LIVE From NACE Experience: Conversations Shaping the Future of Events

Artwork for podcast Mind Your Wedding Business Podcast

Episode 85 • 6th August 2026 • Mind Your Wedding Business Podcast • Kevin Dennis

Kevin Dennis (: 00:38

All right. Day two. Day two. I was gonna say the same thing. I'm like, wait, yeah, day two. I'm super excited about this. We do finish each other's sentences. We really do. Yes, we do. Yes, we do. Well, welcome back to day two of NACE Experience 2026 in Nola. Yeah. And then we're on the Mind Your Wedding Business podcast, the NACE edition, and we're ready to go. Yeah, we have our first guest. Yeah, well let's just get right into it. And we can talk about other stuff when

When we have time. Yeah. Okay, perfect. We got time. So we're gonna bring Chip over. Chip is the lead creative photographer at Chip is it Dizard? Design Studios. And he's gonna be speaking here in just a few moments. So that's why we get get him out of here. But intention is the new RSVP winning clients with short form video in less than an hour. Okay, so tell us about that. Well, it's we all know that short form video we used to tell people.

That they need to do video. Now they know they need to do video. Okay. And now they need to get attention. Okay. Three seconds you have. And even three? Three. Wow. Just three. Sometimes I'll say Yeah. How many times do you how often do you stay on a TikTok? Never. Okay. Just keep Unless something captures your attention. Right. You just keep going. I'm showing people how to get attention without gimmicks. Okay. And get not to be viral, but to be visible. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Wow.

So if wedding pros say, I'm not comfortable on camera, where should they start to do that? Because I know a lot of a I mean, I wasn't comfortable on camera for a very long time. So how do you start? Yeah. You just start with what you have in your camera roll already. I'm gonna show three ways that what you have on your camera roll, it could be something called B-roll, it could be just footage of you working, it could be you prepping the room. Okay. If you don't want to be in camera, faceless videos are a thing now. So you can definitely do a faceless video with a voiceover. And that works for a lot of people.

Okay, I like that actually. Are there really are those hard to produce? Like simple, easy, it's really medium. Yeah, medium. You just have to actually put some thought and intention into it. I think that's the main thing. People don't have a lot of intention. They just want to put a camera up and start yapping with with no clear direction. huh. And I want to show them how to get direction and how to change from lookers to bookers. That's why I I love that. I love that. I do. Yeah. All right.

If every wedding pro had time to make only one video this week, what should it be? I would say their experience with their last event. okay. So keep it current. Keep it current. My last event. This is what I learned. Here are three things I like I learned from my last either wedding, my last corporate event, my last catering job, those three things. I think lists work work very well because you all we all have lessons learned, right? Correct. So we want to make sure that we keep that

Into. Yeah. love it. All right. And so if we only have three seconds, right? How long should the final video like is it is there a magic number in the in the length of the video? No, there's no magic number. I would say I like to keep things under sixty seconds if I can. Okay. And then if it's longer, you can do a part two. Okay. Okay. You can keep on linking it. And it's not here's the thing the algorithm algorithm is gonna favor people who really stay on and share your content. Okay.

Okay. You know what I mean? Yeah, stay on, look on your content, stay it, share it, and keep it. So, like a two-minute video, it is hard. It works. It can work, but you have to have an audience. If you're starting from ground zero, I want you to really focus on those short, build trust videos. Okay. And then get people to know like and trust you. So pretty much what will fit in your Instagram story. That's it. Okay. Yeah. That makes sense. All right. Did we miss anything? No. Okay. I think we're right. All right. All right.

We're gonna send you off to go speak. I'm really bummed that we're gonna miss your I am too. I tell you I don't like wait, no I'm I'm like excited to go watch you speak. So I'm excited for people I keep their attention with video and see my video all around. So yeah. That's why I do I'm a video guy and photo guy and we gotta keep attention in this busy tech world.

Right. I love it. All right, Chip. Well, thank you, Chip. It was nice seeing you. Thanks for coming by. Can we just cut out at ten forty five and go over? Yeah, I know we should we should try really hard to do. Thanks, Chip. Thank you, Chip. All right. Okay, so you can't leave me though to just go to his. I'm gonna go. I think you can you can wrap the thing up for Nah, we're good. We're gonna I'm gonna just keep you there. That was good. I like him. I'm excited for him too. Hopefully we have him back to another one so that we can see that again. Yeah.

So we're with royalty now. We are with royalty now. Jill Vidal-Raines, CPCE. I don't know if you realized she picked my side to sit with. She did. She is picking favorites. Jill Vidal-Raines. Miss Jill is the current NACE national president. Hello, Miss President. Hello. Hello, how are you doing? Great. Welcome to the podcast. How are you two doing? We're good. Yeah, we're having fun. I love it. Yeah. I love it. I was just

Trying to convince Chip, how do we convert him to a member? I know. you out on podcast. Easily swayed. Easily swayed. I love that. Jill, aside from being the national president can you tell us what you do in your other life. As far as, you know, work. Okay. Like, what do you do? What do you do? Volunteer that doesn't count? Well, that is that's your other yeah, that's one life. That's what I typically say.

I own an event rental and linen company, specialty linen, chairs, tables, pipe and drape. We have just an incredible selection. And we don't typically ship, but we will if people want to. But there's so much business in the Houston and Texas area that we stay we stay pretty busy. Stay pretty busy. That's all that matters. Yes. All right. So how are you feeling? We're kind of towards the end of the conference.

Does it fit do you feel relief? Do you you know Yeah. I know how she's I I actually know exactly how she's feeling right now. Yes. a lot of relief. especially getting through yesterday and just you know, a lot of energy and emotion in the room and you know, NACE has been a big part of my life and my career. Yeah. it it kick started my career, to be honest with you. I mean, you all know the story. Yeah. I was told that if I wanted to work with a certain hotel, I needed to be a NACE member. Yeah.

And so that's how I did my first meeting and I ended up with a Super Bowl contract. oh my gosh. So yeah, it all it all worked out. Pretty good. Here I am giving back. Absolutely. So I'm feeling good. I mean, I what do y'all think about the energy? The energy is great. The energy. This has been fun. Everyone's had a great time. I feel like a lot of people have been hanging out at the hotel and networking and and just enjoying our our our family time, which we don't get very often. So yeah, this has been a great conference. I'm really

Excited about first for multiple people. People think of NACE experience is like a big family reunion. Everyone like the family comes together once a year, you know, we all get back together. It's all fun to see each other. And I was like, that's a really good analogy for Yes. It is. Yeah. It's a very good analogy. We should just rename it. The NACE family reunion. And starting off with a legacy dinner. I mean, how is that getting people that we haven't seen in a really long time? Really long time. And and have

know, they've their memberships have dropped off. They didn't realize that there was a legacy membership or a retired so I it was really nice to see that. Yeah, it was nice to see some of the the faces that were there when I first became a member. I was like, oh my gosh, I haven't seen them in so long. And then there were people that I had no clue. Like there was a bunch of foundation, old foundation trustees that I had never seen before and didn't know their names. I'm like, this is it's really nice to kind of bring that history back together.

Yeah. Absolutely. So great way to start it off. And well I think it's going continue from what it sounds like. So I sure hope so. Yeah. I don't know if it's every year because I think it might lose its its I don't sparkle. I don't know. People were really excited. I can see it going next. I mean, it all depends on I mean it was yeah. We'll see. We always like to disagree. We'll see what happens. And we'll see what we'll disagree on a lot of. We'll we'll see what happens on where it ends up being once it's announced today. Because of course you have no clue where it is. I have no clue.

It's the joke yesterday because I was like, I almost let the cat out of the bag where the conference is next year. Okay, we can't do that. No, you cannot do that. You know what? You know, Anne and Lawrence keeps saying, There's no secrets in NACE. And I went, Can we have surprises? Yeah. Even if we can't call it a secret. Yeah. It's just having surprises. I agree. I really liked the the days when we had the surprise. Like we always kind of knew where it was going, but it was really fun. So all right. For someone who's never attended NACE experience before, what do you hope they walk away with?

They walk away with a lot of phone numbers and a way to get a way to get involved. I mean, some of the the attendees that don't have a chapter necessarily. Okay. There's a lot of non-members here that are going, okay, I'm joining. We found one gentleman yesterday. a gal from Atlanta brought him over and she goes, Do you realize that he's just now moved to Houston? Apparently, everybody, Gary, everybody knew.

The previous boss, he's at the Marriott Marquee in Houston. wow, is yes, and so we're we just embraced him last night. I've seen a lot of that. Yeah, that's wonderful. So I think that just a community, and however small it starts, it's gonna end up being a lot bigger. Yeah, we're a very accepting and loving group of people. We really are. We'll even accept strangers, you know, fraternity boys, whatever. Robin, Robin and her fraternity boys. I mean, we I don't know if we want to go with that.

Well, or go see Allie from the Palm Springs chapter too. She she had some. She did love it. Yeah. All right. So what do you think makes the NACE community different from other like from all your other industry associations? I don't know if I belong to any other industry associations because I love NACE much. I'm just kidding. No, they're there are great ones. I guess I just our it's it's an intimate group. It's a large group, but it's intimate.

So it's not so big where you're at a cater source or a wedding MBA, but you're, you know, you're small enough, but you still get to know everybody. Right. So large but small. and I like that we are very education based. I like that not only can you go to the national conference and be educated or network, but you can also do this at the chapter level. I think the chapters do a really good job of they do bringing in speakers and ideas from conferences and leadership and taking it back to the chapter. I agree. I agree.

I totally agree. That's what sets us a hundred percent apart apart. Well, and then back to the whole family reunion thing. That sets and I when I when I asked the question in my head, I was like trying to answer it. And I I think it's the people. The people at the conference are the are the ones that make the difference. Like except for you. Except for me. Yeah, I I don't one of the things that I always like to to mention is that NACE's this is our opportunity to experiment. Okay. So we get to try new things out, to you know, right, is this gonna work whenever we take it back to our clients?

And I feel like we're our our test project. Yeah. I like the way you say that. We get to we're we're almost the the test subjects on the first round. Yeah, we're the beta. So this way that we can make sure that everything works. Yes. And then if it does, then great. If not, we get to fix it before we bring it to the class. Absolutely. Well the nice thing is is you develop relationships w from people all across the country. So therefore you can share ideas and you're not sharing them with your competitor and you're not, you know, like you're learning.

You're like, that's a great idea. You know, just and a lot of that happens just organically. It just in conversations. Absolutely. You know, yeah. There's so much. And that you know what, you just mentioned a really good point too. I feel like NACE is very different because our competitors are actually our our friends. Right. Exactly. Whenever we really need help. I mean, there's other linen companies that their press will go down. And I'm going, bring it on. Yeah. Right. Help you. Just- exactly -our equipment. And I feel like that's, you know, that's the NACE family. Yeah. We take care of each other. We really do.

Yeah. Yeah. I agree. So well, thank you. Were you excited to like we're to be almost to the end? Almost to the end. Yeah. Yeah. I'm excited. I'm excited. Are you ready to stand? My feet hurt. Are you ready to stand on I gonna say you're ready to stand on stage for an hour today? Did you bring low heels? come on. Did we not teach you well? huh. We didn't train you, did we? The dress that I originally ordered was long so I could wear tennis shoes underneath it. I'm in. yeah.

Exactly. So you have at least a decently low heel? okay. maybe center a couple blocks down. You know what there's true? I might have to go do that. Yeah. These shoes are really cute. I'm wondering if I can just do a little shoe switch like Steve might do some outfit changes. yeah. Do some shoe changes. Yeah, go for it. You know that little that little place that we just dressed Patrick up and they've got some good shoes over there. Okay. Yeah. All right. I might go check that out. All right. Thank guys for having me. You're welcome. Thanks for joining us. See you soon. Yeah. You can go ahead and put it just right on table.

The boss. There you go. I'm just helping out. I know. Mind your wedding business. Yeah. Yeah, I am gonna mind my own wedding business. Thank you. so moving right along. We're moving along. Moving along. Erin Dennis, come on down. I keep wanting to say the next line after that every time I say that. I know. I know. And you're like, stop saying that. Do what you want. All right. How are you, Erin?

All right. So Erin's gonna be speaking on different generations, one organization building teams that thrive later today at 2:45. And so we interviewed Ariana that you were doing it with yesterday. my gosh, I fell in love. Sorry, I fell in love with that woman. And then she came up to me at the Tasty Bites last night and we had a very long conversation about volunteerism. oh nice. So that woman she dropped on us when she was twenty. I was like, wow, yeah. I know, I know got it a lot together.

Clem had to check her into her hotel room. how funny. That's hilarious. We we were sitting here going, we just learned more from you in the five minutes that you were sitting here than we've learned in a long time. Absolutely. That's great. Yeah. So before we jump into your topic, tell us a little about yourself so everyone knows who you are. Absolutely. So I am I'm from Charlotte, North Carolina. Been a charter member of that chapter for 31 years now. Wow. Yeah, long time. and

I've been in the hotel industry catering events for years and years, opened a hotel most recently in South Park in 21, and then two years ago left that and launched my own business called Evergreen Hospitality Solutions. Beautiful. that's why I wear green. I was wondering you're wearing green today. I do. and I do consulting, coaching, training a lot with venues and hotel teams.

And do a lot of sales and marketing and things like that, but I'm also an educator. So I teach at Central Piedmont Community College as well as University of North Carolina, Charlotte, in both the hospitality areas. What? Yeah. You are a jackie of all trades. So many fun things. She got so many hats. Did you like the way I said that? I feel like I'm underqualified and I'm not working hard enough.

My job. So tell us a little bit about your topic. Well, we heard from Ariana yesterday, but more about the different generations. the education committee, Anne Harper asked me if I would be willing to put together a program because a lot of people have been asking for this topic. And so so I said, Yeah, absolutely. I love doing that. Like I do that a lot with you know the different classes that I teach and things like that. So

I then I realized when we were talking about it that our board in Charlotte has four generations on it. Wow, that's crazy. And all four generations were coming to this conference. Wow. So we I was like, okay, let's put together a panel and hear from all the different generations. And so we have a boomer, we have an Xer, that's me.

We have two millennials. Okay. And then we have one of our millennials is a xennial, which is the ones that work right on the cusp. Yes, right. And then and then we have the Gen Z, and we have a Gen Z that is in the workplace. She's at school, she's working. And then we have Ariana who is Is she an alpha? No, no, she's an alpha.

no, Alpha is our 16 this year. So yes. Yes. Okay. So they are, she is in school. So she's our Gen Z student. Yeah. So we we have a really great diverse panel today. we did some rehearsals back in Charlotte. identified like what questions each person's gonna answer. And I think it's really I I think the main focus is gonna be on how do we collaborate.

How are we open to other ideas and suggestions and not be so set in our lanes? Yeah. Yes, because we I feel like we are as our generation. Yeah. And and I think that too, for some of us who've been in the hotel industry for so so long, we were raised a certain way. And we have to kind of we have to be the voice that breaks those barriers of let's, you know, we have to get past the well.

at le they have a job and they can just do their job and right today be celebrated for doing their job. I guess well, because people need affirmation. They need they do. They need to know they're doing a good job. Right. They really do. We need to be open to different ideas and ways to do things. So yeah. Yeah. It's it's interesting. Change. So and communication is different across all four of these generate like so are you guys gonna be touching on

How to communicate how we all can communicate and get along harmoniously. Harmoniously. Yeah. So you go to like different conferences and they talk about like your wedding clients now are this generation and this is the way they like to communicate, but they never talk about how do we as a board or how do we as a team at a hotel or venue or what have you, how do we all work together? Because like you said, like the alphas are coming up soon.

into the workplace. So eventually we're gonna we may have five generations. That's so weird to think. Right? Yeah. I mean, have there ever been five generations in the workplace at one time? I don't think so. I don't think so either. I don't. Because people are working longer, so those boomers are not retiring. Correct. I mean, I don't know, Clem's not gonna retire anytime soon. I love how you just called him out on that. Thank you. So you know the the alpha is gonna be starting into the workplace

I think it's really important to think about the communication piece is what you know what's gonna work best and and and giving everyone a voice. Yeah. Okay. Because everybody has value to add to the conversation. But I think sometimes some of us boomers, Xers, we talk over the conversation because we've been around so long and we know it all. But we need to leave space for other generations too.

There's a lot of power in communication when you listen. So that's I learned that. Wow. I feel like we need that on a on a sign. Okay. Yeah. I come up with good ones. You do every now and then. You guys are Xers, right? Yeah, I'm an ex. Right. I'm I'm old. You're you know, you're an Xer. No. I'm 56. no. What you you're an X? All right, all Yeah. Yeah. I thought it was You are not a boomer. Okay. No. I'm old. No. No. No. Clem is a boomer. Yeah. You're so bad. Yeah.

so what's one thing that every event professional listening can do this week to strengthen their team, regardless of their age or experience? Okay. So I coming from the education side, I just think that it's best to be very open and honest and let's educate each other on what what generations do we have on our team and then talk about those. Talk about what are some of the strengths. What are some of the things that we

misconceptions that are they have about the diff different generations. I really bothers me when people say, this generation's lazy. I feel like the millennials have the biggest stereotypes on all of them. Yeah. No, and I've I feel but I think the millennials are get it worse than any of them. Yeah. So sadly. That sitting down, talking through it, it's just like when we would do those personality tests. Yes. yeah. You know, it's very similar. Yeah. I think two of the other pieces just kind of find out

What were your parents? Like, or what generation are your parents from? Because that really has a piece into how you were raised. Okay. yeah, I I think as a Gen X, it's kind of funny. People are like, they watch all the movies from like the 80s and stuff, and they're like, Where were your parents? They weren't. They were, no, we were the first, we were the first kids of double income. Yeah. So we were the latch keys. We figured out it all on

We totally did. And we I mean, I know people joke that it was we were the kids that played in the street until the street lights came on. But it's that was very true. It was very true. Yeah. So it's yeah, so I think that's gonna be the best step is like you said, communication, right? And education and getting to know your team a little bit more than just what everybody's job is. I agree. I think because I used to be able to go run around the town without like any supervision. Or so terrifying.

Now aren't my kids, it's you have your watch, you're fine f you know, you're yeah, we can find where you are and we're watching where you why are you hanging out at this place too long? You know, we are too Yeah, it's very scary. Yeah, my mom has yelled at me if you why do you worry? Like let let them be and I know, but it just I feel like that's where we got the society. But anyway we digress, but that just made me think of that. I don't know why, but no, I think I really

I even do that with my kids in college. I've actually had to tell my husband to stop. I'm like, you do not need to know where your daughter is at 4 a.m. Trust me. It's not good. You don't want to know and it's not going to be good. Just leave it alone. I love it. I love it. So all right. Well, Erin, and you're going to be two forty five today. So I think we we should probably We should be able to be make it that. I'll be I love that. Yeah. It's gonna be a great day. It is gonna be a good day. All right. Thank you for joining us. Yeah. We'll see you soon. You too.

Thanks for coming. All right. All right. So what what are we up to? Well, I don't know. What are we up to? You know, it's last day conference. Are you enjoying yourself so far? I actually am having a great time. Have you had enough oysters? I actually, okay, you're gonna don't make fun of me. god, no, he hasn't had a single oyster. I ate my very first oysters last night. I've never had oysters in my whole life until last night. What kind of oysters did you have? Did you have the char grilled? Did you have the raw the charred?

those are like life changing. I feel like it's a good place to start. That's an exactly yes, a hundred percent. That is a great place to start. otherwise you yeah. I can't believe Why can't you believe? Because this how many times you've been here? a bunch. And that was your first char grilled oyster. Yeah. That's so wrong. That's so wrong. Did you have the alligator? Did you go to the tasty bites last night? No, no, no, I did not. Okay. I had a private dinner.

la de la I had some of the best food I think I've ever had last night. They had an alligator stew, which was to die for. they had a sh what was it? lamb chop on top of a wild mushroom bread pudding. That's amazing. yeah, I I came back to the hotel completely stuffed. No way.

Yeah, I did not need any more food, even though I didn't have my oysters yesterday. All right. All right. Well, we can talk about oysters later. We totally can. Our next guest is here. All right. Yeah. yeah, that's about right. Come on down. She's like, wait. First of all, we we match. Look, we match. Y'all are twins. No, you and I.

yes, we do. I know that we're the boot buddies. We're the boot buddies. But there's more We are the boot there's five of us. Five. Is there really? Yes, there's five of us. We have more fun together. And I broke my toe two weeks ago, but it's doing a whole lot better, so I didn't need to be in a boot, but missed in the fun. Yeah, no when you totally miss on the fun. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well tell the audience a little about yourself and

Sure. My name is Jennifer Jenkins, CPCE. I am the Nace Houston chapter president. Wonderful. And this is probably my, I don't know, sixth or seventh conference. Actually wearing a boot. Are you kidding me? Not my the joke, the running joke is is is my my frienders from other chapters will come up and look to see if I'm in a boot and go, my gosh. my gosh. And I think last year was my first

conference and is it always the same foot? No, this is actually my good foot. Yeah, but you need to ask her when she did that. You need to ask her when she did that. This was on Friday. my god. I got into town at Friday. it was like six hours. It's the streets. It is the streets. Yeah. It is. I blame it all on New Orleans. Just because it doesn't like me.

It's just me. I should be bubble wrap. It's okay. But it's not. So should I. We were walking last night, and Gigi, who was from my chapter, I'm homeless now, but but but but anyway, your your sister chapter adopted me. But anyway, but we were walking around and I'm worried about her because you know it's dark and she, you know, struggles walking a little bit and and I'm like, whole, and I'm like pointing out things, and I'm like, because there's

Massive and then the some of the some of the stones aren't like you step on them, they're cracked and they start moving around. I already wobble enough as it is, so I don't need to Yeah, it was it's yeah, it's kinda scary out there. All right. Well tell us what's going on in Houston. We are excited for things to come in the future. We have we can't say. No. not quite yet. We're just having a great day. Tonight we'll talk about it, right? Yeah, okay. We're gonna have a great, great time in awards.

we're just excited to kind of show everybody what we can do. Yeah. on the national stage and okay future Yeah future things. Is this live right now or is this going out later? This is live. Okay. Okay. How many people are watching?

All right, we're good. Houston's been busy. We're we're doing better things. Yeah. Yeah. And I I have to say as a bystander, ex just somebody just sits and watch the whole battle at Parade Giving between Houston and Dallas. I was gonna say

I have to like I was sitting next to no, I was texting with Nicole, and I'm like, who's gonna win the share? Is it gonna be Dallas or it's gonna be Houston? And she's like, I don't know. So that is one of the most entertaining parts of pretty giving every single year. What? Because I'm on the foundation board. So thank you for what you do for us and giving back. But but it it actually a few chapters were like, were like, what's going on? And why are they

There's a lot of first time attendees that we're looking at us like we were crazy. But it's just and but that's the you have to let the first time attendees do that and then they figure it out because if they come the next year, they're like, yeah, this is a thing. That's a thing. This isn't a nor this isn't one this is a thing. And it's all in love, and obviously it's worth every penny because it goes to the foundation. Of course. But it's such a fun little competition. So I just have a question as a bystander. Is do you guys all have it kind of

Well, I'm not talking about you, I'm talking to them. Do you have it all kind of like planned? Like, okay, here's your hundred dollars, here's your hundred dollars, and we're only gonna go up higher than the one that's above them. Wait, wait, and real quick from the foundation side, I will say, because l sometimes the pledges are coming in early now. And so this year Dallas pledged two thousand dollars and we were like, wow. You know, and so we were but we learned later that the plan they budgeted more because but

For the for the whole for the battle. Yes. Yes. Yes. I we always like to it just kind of started. I don't even remember how many years ago it started. And so now it's whatever we have, you know, budgeted for our chapter funds, we always like to kind of break it out. But Dallas did take one step up and do the extra hundred and hundred and here I was thinking, Yeah, we're gonna do the extra five and I went, Dang it, they got a leg up. They got a leg up.

Next year, just watch out, Dallas. Yeah, I we gotta top each other every year. It'll be fine. No, we just we just kinda always wanna bring that extra little bit and they beat us by I think twelve dollars. So we'll come for them. Yeah. Was it only twelve? I think it was twelve or I thought it was five. Was it a little more? It I thought it was five. I don't know. It was a small it was it was a small I was actually shocked it didn't keep going. I was like, Come on, somebody's not about to pull some more out of their pocket. I don't know, but it's it's but it's like

said it was all in good fine. All in good fine. It is. Yeah. It was very much so. Yeah. And it's entertaining for the rest of us. So please keep it going. I actually would love to see what I would love to see is one of another chapter at some point get in on it without you two the your chapters not knowing. So like like you guys think that it's gonna be Houston and Dallas are going out and all of a sudden somebody comes in and you don't realize that they've given two thousand or maybe they've given fifteen hundred and you guys have both done two thousand and they're like, forget this. I'm coming up. Here's another thousand yeah

And you gu you all are just going, Wait a second, when did this happen?

So challenge to the ones that gave a thousand this year. Let's see if you can bring it up and start competing. Yes. Huge challenge. I'm I'm sending that out. I will say I give lots of props to the gentleman from Boston that brought Did you see the ribbon? Yeah. That was a lot of I love that. Because I was at the end of the line and I'm staying. I'm like, what is

Were those real? My brain just started clocking like, I gotta think of something clever. We took it and we decorated with it on our stuff. Yeah, that's that was very cool. Very, very hundreds, right? No, they were written I wouldn't have believed you. And they were twenties. He did twenty. they were twenties. okay. Okay. Yeah, that was really clever. Very cool. I yeah, I enjoyed that.

Well, and then Denver had the ninety nine cents. I'm assuming that was it was one of them was it was thirteen hundred forty eight dollars and ninety nine cents. Which didn't like at first I'm like, Well what is that like the nope, their peaks are all fourteen thousand. So yeah I'm was trying to figure out the ninety nine cents. It's probably what they raised in the fundraiser. So someone didn't want to. I didn't see the ninety nine I didn't see between foundations with every penny. So that's great. Yeah. So I thought that was very cool. So

The seven seventy seven was my favorite though. All right. Are we excited for tonight, the Gala? Very excited. We have a lot of first timers at our chapter and there's thirty-four of us troublemakers. You guys are insane. It's so crazy when I heard you had that many people coming. I had no idea. You beat Dallas there, you be Dallas. I was talking to Chantel and she I think we have thirty one. And I thought, How many do we have? And I counted and went, My gosh, I'm so proud to be able to see so many people from our chapter. Yeah. All of our six students are here. That's great.

board student board so everybody is over the moon excited for tonight. Amazing. Well, it's what happens when it's literally within driving distance too. Very much so. Yeah. I always forget that you guys are right I know, it feels like it's not that close. Yeah, yeah. That's like I I live in Northern California. It's like me driving down to Southern California. It's like coming to see me. true. Yeah. Or me like or seven and a half, but that's a whole nother stuff. It's like me going to Vegas. Yeah. There you go. Mm hmm. Yeah. I'd make that drive. I drive to Vegas all the time. It'd be very dangerous if I lived that close. Bad enough we live by a electoral so it's

Two hours away. Hello. Well we're excited for tonight. Very much so. Thank guys for having me. Thank you for coming by. See you this We'll see you soon. See you this evening. Yep. Thank you, thank you. All right. So we talked about oysters. We talked about I can't believe you've only had one. So No, I had four last night. Okay. Well then I'm taking you to the Creole house next door to have another one. Because I have to have some before I leave. All right.

So we have gala tonight. We have gala tonight. I can't believe how fast this conference really goes. It's like once it kicks off, it's like it's done. I'm like, wait, can we just have one more day? Well it's probably because we have a lot to do and I feel like every day, like yesterday I was killing myself and today, you know, I So does we do the podcast, we wrap it up here in a little bit and then boom, we're moving on to moving on to a nap. I wish.

We're moving on to a hair wash and a nap and then lunch. Yeah. but no, I I agree. The I think I I'm kind of wondering once I have rolled off the board next year, will this slow down a little bit? I I think it will. 'Cause I always feel like by the time gala Day comes, I'm like, I haven't seen enough people, even though I've been hanging out with you guys for five days. Yeah. So I'm not ready to say goodbye to my family. I'm not. But I I am ready to go home. I've been here for a week.

Almost. I came in on Wednesday. I know you were crazy. I was crazy. I went sightseeing. So I I highly recommend for anyone watching, all one or two of you, World War II Museum. Yeah. Highly recommend. So I know you keep talking about I I should be a paid sponsor. You should. I should. Walt went last night. he at dinner he was Was he talking about it? Yeah, he was talking about it. Did he go see the movie? he said he lived a lot of that. So he he he said you really need a day and a half to go through the movie.

You really do need a day and a half to go through that museum. Four four or five hours, however many hours I did was not enough. I did not stop and read everything. I just kind of but yeah, it's a heavy museum. It's really great though. Highly recommend. Highly recommend. So yeah. So you know, your election certain you have to run those next year. And then after that, what do you do? I don't know. I'm done. Yeah. So I chair nominations and elections next year. Okay. that's your big lift. That's my big lift. On Sunday.

Your big day. And then I'm done for the rest of the conference. Okay. But I'm not quite sure what I'm gonna do yet. I have been sitting on a board of some sort, God, for the last 12 years. Okay. So I might take a little bit of time off. Fiesta. Yeah, it's been a long time of volunteerism. I I'm not going away, but I definitely could use a break. but you know, I'll still be around for NACE.

I kinda threw my hat in the ring for to be a fast track trainer. I'll keep that going. I was gonna throw my hat in too. You should. Yeah, you should. Because I've I I think I would be really good at that. We could have fun with it. We could we could tag team. no. Patrick, watch out. That could be fun. We could do fun. Yeah, we would. Okay. All right. Tell Patrick. Okay, perfect. Yeah. But and then I'm kind of entertaining maybe something bigger.

Okay. But you're not gonna tell us? No. Okay. Not yet. I need to I need to scope it out. But yeah, I have I have bigger does bigger fish. No, I don't have bigger fish fry. I have bigger dreams that I want to keep doing, but NACE will always be at the at the center of it. And and that's it. You never know. You'll see me around. You know, I could be like Doug and just come back around as a director at large for two years and then leave again. So yeah. All right. All right.

So let's Tom over. Yeah, let's bring Tom. Yeah. Come on over, Tom. Come on over, Tom. You're you're stopping us from just gabbing. my gosh, I finally have a friend on my side. Yeah. No one sat next to me today at all. no. It all sat over there. I'm your f- well, you're better looking. Thank you. That's why they're sitting there so they can look at me. That's right. Instead of I'd rather be closer. You're so bad.

o. I've been doing that since: 2008

Because I really wanted to know what you guys all do. But I only lasted two years. So a lot of you lasted a lot longer than me. So I came back to the knot and now I had the best job at the knot. And I traveled the country probably seventy five percent of the year, learning from wedding pros, taking what I learned and sharing that across the country with other wedding pros and internally. Wow. I love it. I love it. I love it too. So and you are a national sponsor, or not you, but the company. Yeah, the company is. So yes and why NACE. You're just good people. Okay.

You know you're good people. The hospitality is amazing. Your conferences are always great. Anne is amazing. She keeps me in order with all her emails. I know, right? you didn't give me this yet. You didn't give me that yet. But you know, she she keeps on track with me. Hello. and you know, I'm blessed to be able to form relationships with the chapters across the country at this event and then also evolve. And I've probably spoken at eight chapters this year and and I got four more chapters lined up just

For next year. Amazing. Amazing. And one of them I think was Alaska, right? I I'm hoping for Alaska. That would be fun. Steve. I don't know if I can I I don't know if I can get the company to be ready to go to Alaska, but we're gonna we're gonna try to work that deal. I heard you're working that deal. All right. So this year, big big number for the knot, right? We celebrated. Thirty years. Yeah. Wow. Thirty years on the knot. You know, when I first started at the knot, we had to used to

tell people, well, you probably need a website. Do you know what the internet is? You know, like it was it was that, you know, groundbreaking back then. And now look with fifteen million unique visits a month and and you know, the numbers just keep growing and getting better. I was gonna say over the your time spent with all the wedding pros and being with the with the knot, like what what do you think like other than the website, like big changes have happened like throughout the years? Well I mean

Relevancy throughout the years, right? Like we're in the middle of this generation Z relevancy where forty-one percent of weddings this year are Gen Z. Next year it's gonna be well in the 50s. So anytime you go through a generational change, you have to change. Right. So the knot and wedding wire, they had to change the look of their website, the content, where they're advertising, where they're marketing, how they're communicating, just like wedding pros do. Right. So that really just just continuing to stay relevant because we're a two-sided marketplace. We have we have to have the couples.

And if we don't have the vendors, we don't have the couples. And if we don't have the couples, we don't have the vendors. So we have to work both sides all the time. Yeah. And I quote you a lot in the podcasts because you said something that was very powerful. You said I I forget, it was either when you were speaking locally at our local group or I heard you somewhere say, But it was like if you're continuing to do business the way you were, you know, two years ago, you're gonna be irrelevant. Right before you know it. And it just like it and people are talking about like having to adapt and having to change and

What's w what's working six three months ago isn't working. You know what I mean? So crazy how fast that's really changing. It is. And that you have to understand the generational shift. You have to understand their level level of tolerance for planning. Some people still want to do it all, couples. Some people just want to do a little and some people want the wedding in the box. So you nearly need packages and and you know, understand what that level of tolerance of planning. I'll give you a tip though. Okay. I love it. Ready for a tip? Yeah.

I like quoting Tom on my podcast. So I've been I've been working with pros across the country, improving their sales consultations a lot. And one of the biggest things that they've changed and that is really working is saying so that you can. So, you know, you can say that, you know, we're gonna send five photographer, we're gonna send, you know, five hours of a DJ, and we're gonna have a mic there, and we're gonna have an MC there, and

We're gonna have great music. And if you don't stop there, if you stop there, but if you say so that you can enjoy your day, da da da da da da da. So that is really like that should really be in your website. I love that website. Wow, I do love that. That's brilliant. You have to paint the picture with two examples. So couples are doing more research than they ever have. what are they looking for?

when they're deciding which vendors to book. Well, first off, at minimum, they're gonna look for you in four different places before they even send you an email. Okay. Right. So even a referral at minimum of four different places. So what why are they booking? Is that what's that question? So the number one thing is everybody thinks it's price. Yeah. It's price. It's personality, it's connection, it's rapport. And I don't know the exact quotes in front of me, the exact numbers in front of me, so I don't want to be misquoted.

But it's personality, but price out of the four, price was last. Wow. So I feel like that's changed because before it was price. When I was in the wedding world, it was price. But I like that that it's changed. So you have to connect with them in your website, in your lead follow ups. Con you gotta build that trust rapport, be friendly, be helpful. That's why Chip has the video to help with that rapport that you have to sorry, I'm pointing to Chip like he's there. He's not there. I'm like, who's Chip? Who's Chip? Where'd you come from? Chip was sitting there.

But that's what Chip was talking about was that catching them and that gives them a report. Only have three seconds or less to to capture their attention. Correct. Well it might be eight. You have twelve seconds to read an email and it will people need to decide either they're going to continue reading or hit reply. So what is in that first twelve second period? of an email. well of an email. It's crazy. I know we're learning a lot today. We are learning a lot today. So all right. Is there any trends or anything that is happening in the not?

that you know that you guys are finding that is surprised you that's going on right now? man, I think we get surprised all the time. As far as couples surprising, one of them was the big thing with personality. Yeah. You know, because you we hear, I hear all the time, it's price and echo economics and things like that. But it's a connecting with the personality. The number one thing couples want, and I don't have my numbers in front of me. I think it's 69% nationally when planning the wedding when we ask, is we do a really big wedding study.

Is what makes you what's the most important thing when you're planning your wedding? It's guest experience. Yeah. Yes. It's not price. Yeah. It's not location. It's not the color of your website or your or anything else. It's guest experience. So keep wrapping up that guest experience. Yeah. I harp on that a lot on the podcast because people I think it's all about experience is not it. And and when the couples do that, that's what the guests remember. Yeah. So I mean you should have a lead magnet on your website, it's guest experiences in your market. Yeah. Yeah. That's that's a good idea. Yeah.

I will compliment the knot. I know you had nothing to do with this, but the knot killed it in covering the the wedding of the year. I mean they it was was yeah, you really did do a good job on that. Thank you. I had nothing to do with it. I know, but it was really impressive on the as I mean, I felt like as the wedding was happening, information was coming out and it was just and not the the only the little bits that were coming out that you guys grabbed it. And they had those trucks with the knot. Yeah, yes, yes, I do like it was.

And that was done by our fantastic marketing team. Yeah, it was great. Feet on the street. Yeah. Helps that we have our main office in New York. Yeah, it really does help, right? It was helpful. So all right. Well, Tom, thank you for having me. Yeah, thank you. Thank you for supporting NACE. We really appreciate it. I look forward to many more opportunities to support nationally and locally. And we'll be happy to take your money. Yes. Thank you. Thanks, Tom. Thank you. All right. So All right, speaking of and

We've got Anne and Lawrence. The bosses are with us. he's just standing there. He's like, wait, I'm not going. Anne, come on up. Anne's like, I'm coming. Anne picked me. Anne Yeah. She's too worried that I might have tears. She sits next to me. Hi, Lawrence. Hi. Well, last year when we did this this, I got flack for turning my head away from the microphone. So I watched a YouTube and hopefully I do better this year.

You did not. Did you really? No, I did not watch a YouTube. I was like, wait, did you really No? No no YouTubes were watched. All right. How do we feel day last day of the conference? Are we feeling relief, survive? Tired. Tired. I mean always tired. Yeah. Right. We have a lot of fun at this conference. Yeah, we do. So I think great. Yeah. we had a record number of attendees this year. you know

Since the pandemic and the energy's been great. Yeah. Feedback's been great. So a lot of first time people here this year, which yeah. Did you see that during the opening session? Yes. Yeah. That was im impressive. Like I was shocked by how many I mean I mean, that's good for you guys 'cause then I feel like that's gonna continue to help grow the conference even more. Absolutely. people continue to discover the experience conference and come to realize that dollar for dollar it is the best value, it is the best bang for your buck.

Yeah. Whether you're you know in social events or you're in business events, you're a venue owner, manager, no matter what you do, this is the place that you want to be to learn about what's going on. I agree. I do agree with that one hundred percent. You're the past president, usually I hope she agrees. Well, and I've gone to other conferences, but and I I mean, and that's why I can agree with that. This is like someone asked me last night why NACE. I said, because NACE has everybody. We we're not just weddings, we're not just social, we're not just corporate.

We're everybody and we we've got the education, we've got the networking, we've got the the business referrals and the family loyalty. So yeah. And we were talking about it a little bit earlier too. For some people that have been coming for multiple years, it's like a it's like a family reunion. Every year the family comes together. This is the one time of year that we all, you know We're renaming it. It's gonna be the NACE family reunion conference. I I I I I did say that Lawrence would not agree with that.

I was like, We're gonna have to workshop that a little bit. Yeah. Can you workshop it a little bit? No, we'll workshop that a lot. Okay. To the point that it's not gonna happen. I liked everything except family reunion and everything else you said. Yeah. No, but it is true, there is that vibe. There absolutely is. And part of it, Kevin, is you you know this. This is a relationship, this is a business that's built on relationships. And you know, you can keep those relationships going virtually now like never before.

But nothing keeps them refreshed and living like coming to this conference and being able to see those people once a year. Well and sitting across from some even like if you're sitting next to someone at dinner or what and you're just meeting people and getting to talk to people and you know, like and like even like at the OG dinner, it was so nice. OG dinner. The OG dinner. But it was just nice to see some of these folks that are a little older that have not been involved anymore, but that came back and just to see all the faces and the names and some of them, you know, have

You know, it's amazing like the stories that you hear about some of these people and what they the the heavy lifts that they did back in the day, even like 'cause I'm still on the foundation side, it's like s what some of these people did to even get the foundation to where it is today. So Yeah. All right. So what I know we can't say where we're going next year.

Correct. It will be revealed later tonight. I know. It'll be available on the website tomorrow. I know. Okay. So NACE. I've been trying not to say not to say it. NACE is at flash events tomorrow. NACE is at flash events tomorrow. So I know we've actually done a pretty good job this year of keeping it under wraps tomorrow. Sometimes when we try to keep it under wraps, yeah, it's like the worst kept.

Secrets around. But this year we've done pretty good. I yeah I I mean I know some people know, but if they do know, they're keeping it quiet. Like people aren't just going around and talking. They're No, we would we like the fact that we're having a surprise. So yeah. I mean there'll definitely be fun surprises. That the gala, which is gets everyone excited where where we're going next year and all that kind of thing. Well, and and that is coming up this evening, like the the gala. Yeah. Are you are is everyone ready? Are you how are you feeling about it? Yeah. Yes. And the answer is no.

Not ready? No, well, yeah, we didn't make it work. The answer is never mind. Just keep Okay. Keep going. What is she talking about? I have no idea. I can't tell. August couldn't get it to work. Okay. okay. Yeah. The so now we're ready. Okay. Yeah. I'm so confused. Don't worry about it. You're good. That makes three of us right here. So it's all August got it. We're all in good company. No! Okay, never mind then. Keep going. I'm going back to my own world.

We'll figure it out when we're not The Night Awards program is it's it's always a great opportunity to recognize not only the fantastic talent that's in the industry, but even more importantly, the fantastic work chapters are doing and some of our top members. I mean, this year we are celebrating three people that are fantastic. The Foundation of NACE is celebrating their inaugural legacy award with Tim Lam, obviously huge supporter of the foundation.

And of NACE. And of NACE, absolutely. TISOH national partner also. Yeah. the other thing is Steve Kemble as the NACE icon winner. I feel like Steve Kemble icon surprised he hasn't put a marquee up yet. Right. Name and life. Times square something. and then Joe Mahoney, who obviously has long time leader.

Longtime leader. He'll be inducted into the NACE Hall of Fame. that is a very elite crowd. about a dozen people. So it's really important. So it's been but we even more importantly are celebrating, you know, member of the year, the people who are doing the work on the grounds right now, along with George Zell, which is also another lifetime award. Important award. Very important award. Important award for NACE. Yeah. And and our partner of the year.

Gotta give a shout out to them. Yes, AFR for NACE. Yes. They will be bringing their team on stage to celebrate all their contributions to NACE for the past year. Yeah. with the wellness lounge that they launched last year and continued this year. That's great. They support the XK Plus event every year. and they are always willing to step up at all of our chapters to donate furniture. they'll also be sponsoring the awards program with our lovely VIP seating this year. So they're really excited to do that.

this year also. I can't wait. I love it. Then the New Orleans has done a great job as a New Orleans has New Orleans has done a great job. I mean, look, there's no city that's more synonymous than with hospitality. yeah. It really isn't. Right. Yeah. And Vegas probably close, but I mean, but this is a different level of hospitality. That's absolutely right. And you know, the New Orleans and company, new New Orleans C V B like one of the best C V Bs in in the world.

And they absolutely nail it with their new slogan, which is built a host. that says it all right. It really does. Yeah, it really does. It really does. Yeah, no, they they've done a good job. So is that important having a good chapter to be helping you guys with or I mean all chapters are fantastic. Okay. Sorry. Yeah. They're all really good answer. All of them are okay. I love that. I love that. So and I know so you put this one to bed and then we start on the next one right away.

No, she gets a week and then she starts. Yeah, pretty much. I mean, we definitely I mean we w over the next week is really our time to take a a look back and see feedback and where we can make opportunities to make next year even better. Right. So we always take that opportunity right after, of course. but yes, we always start planning once the new city is located, we'll start working on picking the leaders from that chapter who will help us bring next year to life. So

Yeah, so we're about to we're about about to announce twenty twenty-seven tonight. And as Anne said, you know, planning starts literally tomorrow. We do a debrief with the national board. What worked, what didn't, what do we want to do differently, what do we want to stop doing? What should we do? And that is, you know, I mean that's the beginning. That's the foundation of all the changes in the things that we do for next year. And then like we're planning twenty twenty-seven, and just like any organization that plans meetings, we're looking out ahead. And Ann's gonna be talking about twenty twenty-eight, which

Well also be NACE's seventieth anniversary in twenty twenty eight. It is seventy years. Yeah. She celebrated sixty in Palm Springs, correct. Yeah. And that was your first it was it was. Yeah, yeah. That was your first conference. It w it wasn't it was my first NAS rodeo. Yeah. mm hmm. Yes, indeed. Freshly on the job, if I remember correctly. Yeah, like a month. A month. Yeah. It was it was Yeah. And it was hot. Yeah. Yeah. It was hot. Yeah.

And the and there was a Ferris wheel. So if it ever comes back, we will always have a Ferris wheel. All right, love it. Yeah. Is there anything that we should be looking ahead that is coming up on the horizon that you could tell us about? Well, we've got we've got Evolve. Mm-hmm. Yep. Evolve like Evolve's gonna be held in January, February, and Omaha. We're really looking forward to that. It's our annual leadership conference.

It's gonna be fantastic. But before we get to that, one of the things that we're looking forward to is the Events Industry Council's Global Awards program. It is we are delighted to have one of our national past presidents, James Filts from C Vent, named an EIC paysetter. That's huge for NACE. It's huge for our membership. And we are we can't wait to celebrate that's a in October. Cannot wait to celebrate Yeah. In Vegas.

October, right? October, October twelfth. I'll be there. I know at random I know that date, but it's the twelfth. Just like you know things that we don't know. Exactly. All right. Yeah, yeah. Well, thank you guys again for making Thank you. Thanks for having us. Thanks for also being the official sponsor of the That's what we try. We try. We're at the experience conference. We appreciate it. We little niece. The official podcast of the experience conference.

AT NACE experience. We appreciate your time and energy. We're having fun. No, this is a ton of fun. Yeah. Yeah. We should do this at we should do this at Evolve. Okay. yes, please. Okay, we can. And and there, I think late there, let's talk about like here we're talking a lot about what's going on in the events industry, what's going on happening in weekend. Wedding leadership. And y that's exactly right. Let's talk about what's going on in volunteer leadership and even business leadership. Yeah. I love that. We can do it. I'm in. You're in? You're in. I'm in. I'm in. All right. We'll be in all on.

We'll see you in Omaha. And I'll send you the invoice. Okay. Send it to him. Always. Always. She winks at me. All right. Thank you guys for Thank you. Bye. We'll see you soon. She'll be yelling at us soon. I know. Do stand here, talk up, do that, right? Behave. That's the one I get. Behave. Yeah. Yes. Behave. We've been behaved.

Well behaved this year. Yeah, I agree. So yeah. All right. So wow, we're going to Omaha. Yeah. That was big. Does that sound like fun? Yeah. I love that we become the the the voice of NACE. We should just rename it. The voice of nace. The voice of NACE. I don't know if I like that, but yeah, no, I'm loving the Yeah, we gotta work it like

You didn't like the family reunion. I did not like it. I I knew what we said it. I we just it's like a family reunion, but it's like a family reunion. I know. It's an experience. It's an experience. It is an experience. Yes. I think Renee just walked in the door. Someone over there got excited. I know. It was very amazing. So so we just got big news. Yes, we get to do this podcast at Evolve. Yeah. We got picked up.

So all right, we're gonna bring Renee Dalo over. She is probably the best speaker in the event in industry. Let's see. I just wanna see. Don't say it. We're just gonna see what's gonna happen. What? Nothing. She's gonna put set up her little thing and then we're gonna figure out what's about to Hi. Hi. Hi. You can walk in, yeah. Okay. Why is everyone taking to his side today? I don't know. Don't don't sit. Don't worry. You're good. You feel like

Which way is it gonna go? I don't know. We'll just point it at you. There you go. Yeah. She picked me, by the way. I that's I know. You know, it's because it's because she wants to look at me. That's right. No, no, no, but yesterday everyone was sitting here. I didn't get the memo about wearing blue. we didn't do it. We didn't do it on purpose. Yeah. So scary. It happened. All right. So Renee, tell us before we jump into you what you spoke about here today, tell us a little about yourself and I'm let everyone know who you are.

I'm a former wedding planner as of last Saturday. oh my gosh. Yes. As of last Saturday. As of last Saturday. I love that. I love this for you. I love this for you. I am a former wedding planner as well. Thank you. And it's such a wonderful feeling. Thirteen years. Not that I don't love weddings. No, I love them. I didn't for a very long time. Yeah. It was time to pass the torch. Yes. That is that's exactly how I feel. I also turned the big five O a couple of weeks ago. And congratulations. Welcome to the club. Thank you. I think my body was like, you done.

Yeah, pretty much. Correct. and I'm happy to go out with a couple that I went out with, like perfect, beautiful, lovely wedding, simple, simple ninety guests. gosh, easy. Mine was a complete opposite. If you had asked me ten years ago, I'm like, I'm going out with a castle wedding. I was like, No. No. Yeah. We're going out lovely, simple, one of my favorite venues. But I literally finished that wedding, went home, showered, put on my travel outfit, didn't sleep, and took a got on a flight to come here. my gosh. So I've been on like a

A force march. Anyway, so former wedding planner. Okay. I it's such a great former with a force when you said the first time. Because I've been saying, like, well, I'm not really a wedding planner anymore for a couple of months to like get myself used to it. Now then I was like, former. and I'm a visibility and confidence coach. What that means is I coach individual business owners on how to market their business in a more visible way, i.e., using your face. And I also I also She inspired a gentleman in our market that is just he's

Killing it. Killing it. Yeah. And he DMs me every week with his out with his like updates. Really? my god. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. He's like, and he's an older gentleman. And yeah, one of my big like pet pet peeves slash soapboxes is that even though I love I love the youth, I consider myself a youth. I'm not. but we are the youth, right? I think that because they're so comfortable on camera and they're so comfortable sharing their thoughts online, that right now what we have is a real deficit of like actual skilled.

impressive seasoned veteran business owners who are literally not talking. Yeah. Because they don't like this. Right. Right. But now we have a bunch of twenty year olds, no shade to the twenty year olds, but they don't have the lived experience. And so they're the ones on the forefront of visibility, but they're not on the forefront of experience until there's a real gap. I my work hopes to like bridge that gap. Got it. I that makes total sense. Yeah. I love it. Yeah. And you were talking about

AI. I was. Yeah. So this is my first time doing an AI topic. And so the topic was human, human first AI for content creation. Because I also think there's I don't I don't know if you've been experiencing this, but everyone's captions sound exactly the same. Yes, because they're all coming out of AI. And they're coming out of AI unedited with absolutely no fluff humanity. I hate that word. Sorry. I have forty seven tabs open in my brain. I'm like, why is it forty? Why does chat love to use the number forty seven? Why?

They all sound exactly it's you go look for it now, you'll see it. I am so now you're how do you get that prompt? What's what did you put in? A million prompts. But basically the the idea that I'm hoping to continue on with this year is like we cannot use AI unedited. We cannot use AI with the wrong prompts. You can't assume that AI knows you because they can't know anything, by the way. AI is good at pattern recognition. Okay. So it can only know what you've already done. It's not gonna predict your future. So

Which I get that. People are using it in like wild ways, like and I get it as like people need someone to talk to. I get it. It would because it's that's scary. It will, it will. And we're all a little lonely as the studies show, but I think like it can only make future predictions based on what you've already done. Right. So if you're like hoping to have a new idea, you have to really feed it a lot of your own thought leadership in order for it to get anywhere good. I don't use AI a whole lot. I I I

It's not that I'm scared of it, but I just don't like to use it. I will use it. I will I will use it to wordsmith. Yeah. But I've learned that with if I use Chat GpT, I don't log in. I go in as a guest because it doesn't remember what I've done. So I get something fresh every time. See, the interesting because I feel like so my I do pay for chat, my chat knows me. and it also knows what I hate. So it'll write a caption and then immediately be like, but I don't think you're gonna like that. And I'm like, sure not. It has all the things you know I hate. So

F for me it's actually the opposite. I'd 'cause you prefer it that way. I prefer it has we have a lot of restrictions. Like don't use you know, there's a bunch of like phrases. Right. Don't use forty seven. Don't use forty seven, but don't they you know how it says things like, This isn't your problem, this is. Yes. I just it's my chat is not allowed to do that. No one talks like that in life. No one does that. No, no.

No one's So there's a way, there's a right way, I believe. There's a right way to use AI that still has our humanity front and center. And I think we're a little bit forgetting that. We're we're so excited about the speed and the what we can output that we're kind of missing the point of like we're losing you though. We're losing what makes you weird and edgy and cool and right relatable. And the and a lot of the im you we're talking about like captions and stuff, but a lot of the images look the same too.

Yeah, it just bananas. The images are so bad sometimes. So bad. Well, but like my local little league that I'm still coaching, the girl that does her social media uses AI to do like the home run hit or whatever happened. But like to the point where I'm seeing it there, but then I'm seeing it all over. Yeah. Like in the wedding world. Like the ones from the little league are starting to look like some from the wedding. And so as I scroll, I don't know. it's But it can only generate what it's already created. Yeah.

Unless you give it new art, which please don't give your art to the AIs. Don't give your art to the robots. Listen, for my mind, the AI is not an artist, it is an assistant. Correct. Keep the art art. And keep the tasks for AI. Yes. Right. Like I in in fact in my presentation I I had my chat generate what I asked for was a truly offensive flyer for a wedding show. wow. And it was the

tackiest thing you've ever seen. And I didn't even have to say anything. I actually kinda wanna say it. They just put it on the screen and the and on the screen it said AI is not an artist. And everyone started laughing and I was like, would you go to this event? And everyone was like, no. I was like, would you recommend anyone else go to it? They were like, no, I'm like, I wouldn't give this event one red penny because it looks like a scam. Okay. There's a real trust recession. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I I agree with that. Yeah. It's very hard because I try and use I use it more for creating an image than I do for anything else.

And I usually go through Canva when I do it. Yeah. But AI is wonky, but it is. They're trying. but sometimes the image I get when I put in that prompt, and even if I'm like, okay, here's what I need, but change this, they don't even I'm like, no. Okay. It's like, are we speaking the same? Yeah, you are not listening to my words. The the things that we struggle with in our business is that clients are now bringing us AI images. god, I'm sure. And expecting that to happen.

Well I'm like you're missing the pole that's here. You know, I'm like when you look at the photo, you're like, Yeah, it's I'm like we can try, but this is what is real more realistic. Like this is being held up by nothing. Correct. Yes. With that said, there's a big Wente Vineyards in our in Livermore, has a big like concert lawn and they do a lot of weddings out on the lawn. And someone brought us like our massive chandelier that we

Put up in Yeah, I've it in your warehouse. Yeah, yeah. But so over there. So I'm like, okay, if we get a massive crane and put it off to the side and you know what I'm saying? But I'm like, it's physically not mean from the air. Exactly. So it's physics is a problem for people. Well no, and that's they don't get it. They just so don't get it. But they see now they see the visual and they want it to be executed, but it's not physically. Well, and they don't, I mean, coming from the corporate side, they they give me this beautiful

Visual, I want my event to look like this. I'm like, that's great, but I can't get you all those things because that's literally either 100% AI or they're pulling from all over the country. I'm like, no, they're like, but we can't get that couch. I'm like, that couch doesn't exist. Yeah, they literally a robot made it. Yes, it doesn't exist. I want it to please you. Yes, it looks really pretty. And find me that event because I'll go. Yeah. That is making our jobs harder. It is making our jobs harder. You know, especially when we're talking about social media.

I think like running an account for your business that where you say we do not post or repost any AI generated images, that's a stand. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's a great stand to take. Yeah. A hundred percent. Yeah. All right. Well, I know you get a flight to catch. I do. I actually can I tell you that I thought my flight was at four, but it's actually at two. you need to get out of here. I do need to get out of here. I l thank God for Tripit, which Meghan Ely turned us all on too because it sent me an alert that was like actually you're boarding. I turned her on too. okay, sorry.

You said told Meghan and Meghan told me. So thank God Tripit sent me an email that was like, your scheduled departure is on time. And I was like, two what? Wait, why do you not just use your regular I can't remember? No, Tripit, but the cool thing with Tripit, it it'll it'll tell you you have a flight booked in November to go wherever and it'll go.

You can save eighty five dollars if you go back and re I love that. And and we just made our money I've made so much money. Okay, why have you not told me about this app? It's right. Tripit pro think it's like thirty five dollars a year, but you'll make it back and they'll they'll find you. So one time one time to Hawaii, we saved as a family fourteen hundred dollars. No way. Fourteen hundred dollars. Okay, where were you when I'm trying to book all my fights to move my kids back into college? But but the problem is still.

You have to book them at whatever price. But but what it is is if the flight drops a a month or forty five days or sixty days after, because they're constantly monitoring because you they know how much you paid for the flight. Yeah. But they also know what and they're constantly monitoring the flight as the price changes. So So do you cancel your flight and then rebook it? Yeah, you call I just call and be like, I've I have a you just I just tell them I have Strip it Pro and they told me that this flight is now a hundred dollars cheaper. And almost always, especially American, will be like, Okay, you have a flight credit.

I have so much flight credit because of TripIt Pro. The other thing it does is that you have a connection, which I almost always have a connection these days. It'll tell you if like your connection is at risk of you missing it, or if the flight is like delayed, or if it if that incoming flight has a history of being delayed. Like it's very smart. And also because like like tonight, I fly back to LA, I put down my suitcase, pick up another suitcase, go back to LAX to go to Manchester, the UK. You sound like me.

It's like I it's a constant thing. So if I were to try to remember every single flight, that's not happening. Yeah. I wouldn't try and remember, but like my American Airlines just tells me constant. It also does like it pulls everything you're doing into the app. So like hotel hotels, t like dinner, tickets you have to concerts or even the award show tonight, it would all be there. Bar rental, everything. Anything that's in your email, it it pulls it all in. It's genius. I mean, I didn't have to make that spreadsheet.

No No, no spreadsheets, girl. No, it's and then you can invite like your people to it. Although my husband Okay, first of all, I love the girl. Thank you. My wife never looks at it either. Joe never girl. He's always like, Where are you? I'm like, dude. Dude, look at access to everything. He's like, I don't I don't know about that.

All I'm gonna I'm gonna have to go look that was our ad for Tripit Pro. Trip it provides sign up with Kevin's affiliate link. Yeah, thank you. Congratulations. Yes, and we will see you soon. Yes. Hopefully. Former former former wedding planner. Former

Someone that I had known for quite a while. And she said, Are you still a wedding planner? And I was like, Yeah. And she goes, that's funny, because in twenty nineteen you told me that you were trying to transition out. And it was like twenty twenty four when you said it to me. And I was like, I felt like deep. It was like a deep shame. And I was like, Really? I've been saying that for a long time. And then I was like, I should probably do something about that. Okay. You did finally did something. Congratulations. And she's kidding me. Thank you for coming to NACE again this year. Thanks for having me. Yeah, hopefully we'll see you soon.

Yes. Safe flights. All right. All right. Yes, Boss. Yes. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Love you, Renee. I'm so sad right now. Why? 'Cause we're wrapping up? Yes. Okay. Well I'll see you in Omaha though at least. It's not gonna be a Yes

No, that's I'm I'm excited that this is gonna keep going. Yeah. I know that it was kind of a a little pet project last year, kind of just like let's do this and have fun. I felt like last year we just kinda like we just did it and we didn't know what we were doing, but this year we were like organic. We were so when I f flew in here on the fly yesterday and I saw I'm like

there's actually like questions. I'm like, okay, this is a little more structured. We stepped up a production. If you would like, I can help prepare for next the next one. We would love that. August is like, Yeah, no, you're good. Yeah. Yeah. No, thank you. Thank you for letting me host with you. You will be a good help is preparing for the one in Omaha. Be it the leadership one. Absolutely. Yeah. That'll be that'll be a good one. Excuse me for that.

That's what I because you know I'm not gonna be on the board anymore. So I'm yeah, so gotta get something to do. Yeah. Now I have a reason to go to Omaha. Yeah, there you go. I get to go hang out with you. Yeah, there you go. All right. So All right, so we're gonna wrap it up. We're gonna wrap it up. It's kinda sad but bittersweet, but also we're getting to the end, man. Yeah. It's time to go. Sure, I'll see you in the board tonight. I don't know. Two past presidents walked into a podcast. Yeah, we that's what we did. Yeah. We did for two nights. See you later. Bye. Go Raiders. Go Chiefs.

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