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Creating The Ultimate Experience - Birmingham - Matt Evans
Episode 924th July 2024 • The Ultimate Coach Podcast • Meredith Bell and Ipek Williamson
00:00:00 00:45:47

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What’s it like to commit to the creation of a live event and then follow through to ensure it’s a transformational experience for every participant? Matt Evans, with his outstanding team, accomplished that audacious goal with The Ultimate Experience in Birmingham in May, 2024. You’ll be inspired as he describes to host Meredith Bell the many elements required before and during the event to pull off such a feat, including the unexpected need to change the venue months before the event.

Matt opens with his personal journey to finding sobriety and a new career in coaching. He talks about how he discovered The Ultimate Coach book and what resonated most for him. You’ll get a behind-the-scenes look at the speakers and participants, and you’re sure to be moved by the stories Matt has heard from various individuals about the impact the event has had on their lives.

About the Guest: 

Matt Evans is many things.

A people and business transformation specialist, a loving husband and father, a creator of incredible charity events, and a lover of coffee and baseball caps to name a few.

Matt completely turned his life around 4 years ago, going from a nearly divorced, anxious, depressed, and suicidal mess, to a life filled with love and fun, shifting his marriage, who he is as a father, and even creating a whole new life with the birth of his son Will through all this.

He has worked in and with some of the biggest and most iconic brands in the world, such as Aston Martin, Caterpillar, and the life-changing Guide Dog Association. Matt has helped hundreds of people improve their lives by changing their stories about who they are, often including the removal of coping mechanisms such as alcohol, drug abuse and other destructive behaviours.

Matt was the project manager for the first UK Ultimate Experience in London, and then creator, Event CEO, and more for “The Ultimate Experience – Birmingham,” where he raised over £30,000 for Birmingham Children’s Hospital.\

Matt is known for his no-nonsense approach to life, bringing his “most efficient and effective being on the planet” statement fully out of his management background, along with his incredible loving, fun and service-led way of being, to combine into his unique way of coaching and mentoring to help others be who they really can be.


https://www.differentfocus.co.uk/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattevansdfc/

https://www.instagram.com/matt_lovin_life 


About the Host: 

Meredith is the Co-founder and President of Grow Strong Leaders. Her company publishes software tools and books that help people build strong relationships at work and at home.

Meredith is an expert in leader and team communications, the author of three books, and the host of the Grow Strong Leaders Podcast. She co-authored her latest books, Connect with Your Team: Mastering the Top 10 Communication Skills, and Peer Coaching Made Simple, with her business partner, Dr. Dennis Coates. In them, Meredith and Denny provide how-to guides for improving communication skills and serving as a peer coach to someone else. 

Meredith is also The Heart-centered Connector. One of her favorite ways of BEING in the world is to introduce people who can benefit from knowing each other. 

https://growstrongleaders.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/meredithmbell


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Transcripts

Speaker:

TUCP Intro/Outro: Thank you for tuning in to The Ultimate Coach podcast, a companion to the transformative book, The Ultimate coach, written by Amy Hardison, and Alan D. Thompson. Each conversation is designed to be a powerful wake up call, reminding us of what's possible for you, and your life. So if you're on a journey to expand your state of being, this podcast is for you.

Meredith Bell:

Welcome to another episode of The Ultimate Coach Podcast. I'm one of your hosts, Meredith bell. And I am really excited today to welcome as my guest, Matt Evans, Matt, welcome to the show out a so funny for you to say howdy from the UK. Hello,

Matt Evans:

I'm American at heart and everybody knows that I was born in the wrong country.

Meredith Bell:

That's great. Well, many of our listeners are probably very familiar with your name from some of them having attended the event in Birmingham in late May, and others certainly having seen all the announcements and promotions about it, and we're going to talk about that event. But first, I would love for you to share the backstory of you know, your life and what led up to you learning about the ultimate coach book and some of the events that have happened along the way since then.

Matt Evans:

Okay, so how it came about with this? How far back do we go? Okay, so the quick version of my history. For years, I was in a really bad place, mental health wise, I was what most people would say is the poster boy for bad men's mental health. And the way that I say the story is, you know, I had a good job. I had a nice house, two cars on the dry, beautiful wife, you know, kids, I was the guy that fixed everyone's problems, life and soul of the party. Everything was kind of on the external looks great. And internally, I was ruined, I had depression, I had anxiety, I was suicidal. And I was drinking to the point of disruption. And, actually, there was there was a moment where it was all going completely wrong. I ended up in a police cell one night. And that was a pivotal moment, in that I said, Okay, enough is enough. And over the course, 48 hours, I had a realization that I either carry on with this life, or I don't. And if I carry on with this life, it's about having what I want. I wanted my wife, I wanted my kids who wanted my family, and I wanted to change who I was. And what happened was, this was all during COVID. And so you know, have a brain, I have a rather good brain, I've got an engineering background, problem solving and fixing things and creating new solutions has always been who I am. So I put my engineering brain and my analytical brain to work on. Okay, who am I being and why am I doing what I'm doing? And what's all the thoughts? And where's it all coming from? I did, you know, some counseling. And yeah, I really went to work on who I was. And within that process, I was involved in a lot of online groups for people with alcohol addiction and alcohol problems and substance abuse and whatever you want to call it. And very soon, I actually started helping a lot of other people. I found it was quite a good thing. I'd always mentor the people in work, I'd always had my own staff that I'd coached and supported along with other people, you know, I'd had graduates into me and did all that kind of stuff. But during COVID, there was so many people going through, you know, this alcohol problem during lockdown, and I was actually helping a lot of them. What actually happened was that in one group, I started talking to someone who was a professional coach. It's what they did, it was a living and it's who they were. And, you know, we talked about some stuff around, you know, what they were dealing with, and I help them work through some things. And her words to me were, how were you not in this world? She's like, you know, it's what you do. It's who you are. And I was like, I've never thought about it. And a couple of months later, it was October 2021. I think it was she messaged me and said You have to get hold of a copy of This book and I was like, what look. And she was like, There's a book was just come out called The Ultimate coach. And I was like, Alright, sounds a bit grandiose. You know, I was, I'll admit I was a little bit judgey at this point. And she said she was like, right. Don't look at the numbers, don't look at the big money involved. And she said, you know, take away the talk about the poor washer that's in there a lot. She said, read about who this guy is. She said, You will resonate with him so much. I was like, Okay, I trust you. I'll take it on your word. And I got hold of a copy of the book on Kindle. I downloaded it that afternoon walking home and got home started reading it. And she wasn't wrong. I started reading that book. And it really did resonate. And I got about halfway through. I was at the point where, you know, Steve was talking about being at Rock cell and, and some of that career area. I ended up messaging him on Facebook Messenger. Hasty, you have no clue who I am. I'm the guy from the UK, US just reading the book about you about me. And we had a couple of messages. And within about an hour, it was half two in the morning for me. I ended up on the phone with Steve Hardison. I had, it was quite funny because I come downstairs, I was on FaceTime with him. And Kate, my wife, she comes downstairs. Are you on the phone? I'm like, Yeah, I'm on the phone. Steve Hardison say hi. And she was just like, are going back to bed? And yeah, from that moment, we were talking and he said, there's a Facebook group been set up, he said, you know, talk to Eric. And I said, Well, if I could be of any help, brilliant, you know, I've been running these groups online through COVID are, you know, helped admin for groups of eight to 10,000 people or so if they want help count me. So, the night that my son was born, Kate was in labor, I was actually outside the labor ward on the phone with Eric lawfarm and Tony schmaltz talking about, you know, running the Facebook group and helping them. And, you know, that's, that's why there's always kind of a really fun little story that, you know, I often talk about where there's a will there's a way well, Will's my son, who was born the night that I signed up to sail help with the Facebook group. And, yeah, it just went from there to three weeks later, Matt Smith said, I want to do an event in the UK who's in and I was the first person to throw my hand in, you know, I said, Matt, I bet you've not run any events before. I've done some events in the past, you know, commercial work supplier events, and, you know, hired places had 300 people in a room and, and done some stuff before. So I was like, count me in. And that's how I ended up project managing the London event effectively. And it just kind of rolled from one thing to another, just saying yes to a lot of things, being open to the conversation and going with the flow all the way through to once we got through London, it got a bit itchy. The story between London and Birmingham is that there was four of us who were all having dinner at my house, there was Fiona Bush rag, and me, you know, we were all kind of part of the London team. And they all came for dinner at my house. And we all were sitting around my table going then there's, there's more to go with this. Then we all started kind of looking at each other. And that was the start of the conversations that were like, do we go again. And it was getting very itchy to do something else. You know, we knew how good London was. And then we said, Okay, well, what can we do next? And it started the whole Whatsapp group that we had between us of going. Okay, if we were to do one, what would we do? And where would we do it? And the conversation started snowballing until the point when it was okay. Let's do it. So yeah, that's kind of the history of how I got into the whole TDC thing it was, it was literally part of my journey from you know, complete chaos into I don't even know what it is low love giving service. Everything that I am now when I was there, and I just didn't know how to show it properly.

Meredith Bell:

I love that. You just said that. Yes, we all have this within us. And it's a matter of, I guess peeling back the layers and uncovering what's really there. To begin with. What I'm curious after you read the book and you know you helped with the London event and then were inspired with your colleagues to put on the Birmingham event? What were some of the drivers of that? What was it that caused you to say this is something we must do?

Matt Evans:

Okay, so when we put the Birmingham roof together, I had a few really big, what's the word goals for it. And it was around. He was purely around service and giving you know, Steve's talk in London, I don't remember much of it. So you know, when you're running the event, you don't remember as much as what you're gonna hit take in. But yeah, there was a section he talked about giving and not taking, and you know how to receive. And the bit that really resonated, you know, because I've always come from that I always just want to get, if I can. And the work that we have, within this whole philosophy of your being, the whole nature of it can give so much. And for me there was, this has got a bigger audience out there. And the more that we put it out there, the more that people will resonate, and the more good it will do. Now, I said, if we want to do this, to really push it, we have to do an event that runs on its own without Steve. And I talked to Steve about this, Steve was the first person I round and said, I want to do this. And I don't want it to be around you. I really want to push that point. So there was two really big goals within the Birmingham event that it was a an event that is nowhere near Mr. Hardison being on the bill. It was all about people who could talk about being talk about who they were talking about their experiences in the world, you know, the work of who you are, and who you're begging at any moment, and what that can really provide to everybody else. That was a huge gift. And the other one was, by doing this, you know, we could create a really good donation for charity. But it could also prove that it could create something that was sustainable. If we're going to carry on doing these events, it has to be a sustainable model that says we're not always relying on everybody saying we want to go in here, Steve, it was relying on people saying we want to go in here about being we want to go and hear what's the possibility for us, as an attendee out in the world, for being, you know, anyone that's out there, you know, I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the state, the speakers, we had what anyone, we had speakers that were out of this world, brilliant. And yet, they came at it with so many different angles, and so many different backgrounds, that we have something for everyone, and that everybody could hear something different from each person. And it was always about creating an event that would create, you know, potentially a sustainable rolling model of events around being. So when we talk about, it's about you, it really was about you. And we always push the narrative. It's not about Steve, it's about you. Hence the reason why I always had the idea that Steve would be there. And yet, he was never ever on the bill. Because we wanted people to come up their own volition and their own want to hear about who they can be listening to the amazing speakers, we had to talk about who they are, and what being is for them.

Meredith Bell:

I think that's a wise because I think it would be a mistake to have everything focused around one individual, I love that you had so many different speakers who came at being from very different angles. And I would love for you to just share a few of those, you know, maybe contrasting different things that they either talked about, or they were coming from in their experiences.

Matt Evans:

I mean, we had the whole range. I mean, I mean, when were you it was quite interesting. We we said that, you know, from day one, we want to have the absolute spectrum. We want people from all corners of the world that we can get. We said we want diversity in terms of people, sex, color, background, you know, religion, or God knows what we wanted to have the broad range so that people could come at this and identify with her different backgrounds here contrasting views. I mean, you know, Jackie Moses, she's amazing, you know, she came at who she was being and what she brought was just an amazing, calm presence. She was talking about, you know, doing work with people in the prison service and the abuse that she had. And she who she was, you know, from from that point on And then you know, the night before you'd had Qur'an MRI, you know, this huge presence on stage talking about, you know, flying around the world doing marathons on every continent, and you know that real? You do it at all costs, you know, very, I won't say Gung, Gung Ho, he's not gonna know, you know, what I mean, you know, just massive kind of action type guy. And everything in between, you know, we had Gary and Wragge, you know, really good, fun, light hearted on the Sunday morning, we had Caroline, she had everybody up and dancing, you know, doing a whole thing around river dance. And you know what that was culturally from her background in Ireland, and we just have such a wide spectrum. You know, Becky Robins talking about, you know, her background and injustice and how she felt through, you know, certain years in her life and where it led to, we couldn't have asked for a more diverse group. And they all were brilliant, you know, Martine cannon, wow. You know, Martine, finish up the whole event for us. And there was a reason why we knew we had to have her finish. Because what she brought to that stage was incredible. You know, the story of who she is right in this moment, you know, a lot of us have these stories about the light, you know, we did this and it was brilliant. And look how it ended. Martini brought her. This is who I am being right now. And this is what my life is. And she literally just ripped open everything about who she was being in this moment, and the strength and the struggles and the grace that she is going through. It was just a it was a masterclass in a powerhouse all in one of who you can be at any moment. Yet, I cannot say enough good things about every single person on that stage. They were all they were magnificent. And they were truly there because of who they are.

Meredith Bell:

I picked up that just watching some snippets here and there of things that have been posted since the event and the energy, talk a little bit about what the energy was like there, when people were focused on who they were being in the presence of that entire event.

Matt Evans:

It was like nothing I've ever felt. And I don't mean that as you know, pay, I'm bound to say that it was your gig. It truly was. You know, during the day, there was moments where econo just stood up on the corner of the stage, looking at what was going on during some of the breaks and how people were interacting. And there was absolutely a brilliant Bullers between everybody in all of the segments, you know, there was such a really good, fun, lively energy. And yeah, when everybody then kind of calm down, and we're listening to the speakers, you could hear a pin drop, you could feel the focus that was going on. He could you know, you could tell that everybody was so engaged. It was it was buzzing in both ways. There was this real focused energy. And, you know, when it came to content, being broken up a little, it just lifted. There was such a fun atmosphere.

Meredith Bell:

No, I think fun is so critical in the scheme of things when you in being able to learn if we're very serious and intense, and, you know, that can get in the way because I've done that myself. But having that lightness and the fun while still being very focused on the speaker and what's being shared here.

Matt Evans:

Being honest, being an event run by me it was only ever going to go one way. Yeah, I mean, you know, there's not many events you go to in personal development where everybody walks away with a baseball cap on there. So yeah, you know, we we had some fun we made a good fun you know, we have baseball caps and chocolate all round and you know, the music playlist we had was pretty upbeat, you know, we we deliberately kept the music quite raucous and energetic. So yeah, we we knew what we were trying to create. And it worked. I mean, the venue we had was good. Yeah,

Meredith Bell:

I'd let's go back to the preparation. Because like this doesn't happen by accident. Just what you've said shows so much care with the details. And I would love for you to talk a little bit about where their challenges I'm guessing there were that you individually faced or the team faced and how how did you work through those how were you all being to make all of this work?

Matt Evans:

Well, I mean, first off, I have to say that I had the most amazing team around me to support me for this. You know, as much as I might have been the face of it, I had some incredible individuals supporting me all the way throughout this. Rose lay them was, I will only say a magnificent Titan in this in how she handled all the speakers side of things who she was for me it No, Fiona Ross, she was effectively my right hand throughout all of it. Angie, she was so supportive throughout the enrollment, Andreas Rubin in the social media side, Cassie, you know, do read all the day plan and that the event for you know, how does it feel when you walk in there? You know, I had an amazing team throughout this to help me create meet it. So you know, I don't want, I want to make sure that this is not an ASMR EMS roadshow. But what was the biggest challenge in all this was actually we had a venue switch. And it got what I heated, let's say, between the original venue and myself, you know, we started this off as a charity event, made me finish the charity event or so. But we realized we weren't going to get the numbers we originally wanted. And we had to go to the venue and say, Look, you know, we've, we've got this contract in place, we both signed up knowing what it was and that there was a potential risk. And we got a berm hard, nope, not amending a thing. And I was like, Oh, so you know, they they've got multiple venues, we could have switched to a different place. And there was a lot of ways that could have been a scenario to, to kind of find a way through this with them. And we got a hard look. And so I had to make a decision that it was a, it was a huge risk to carry on with the event. Or we pulled the plug and walk away and be damned for anything that could be after it. So we did that. And they sent me a bill of 150,000 pounds, which is a reasonable amount of money. So which I said, No, I would like that. And that was one of the biggest lessons in standing up for this. I was like, you know, we both knew what we were getting into. If you want to really try and exercise your rights and put your legal team onto this, feel free. But I'm not paying that. And if you really want to push it, let's see where it goes. And I walked away with the, for the service of everybody in that event, to still maintain it and that it could still run. And I did have the option. I talked about this on stage in Birmingham, I had the option to walk away from it all. You know, it was it was a heavy weight on my shoulders. Those no doubt, you know, been been threatened with having a legal scene put onto you to kind of, you know, say, just under half the value of your house. Yeah, I always had the option to walk away. You know, I could have walked away from all of it. But out of service to everybody who had already bought a ticket out of the service to everybody who wanted to be with us, and to still create an event that would create amazing ripples for people who attend. I could walk away from it. I had an absolute outrageous fire that I would not let go off to create this event. And as much as it weighed heavy. I mean, this was right before Christmas, I just lost my job before Christmas. And I was dealing with this. There was no way I was walking away.

Meredith Bell:

So I'm curious for you to talk about who you were being when you told them no. And how did it get resolved?

Matt Evans:

Or how this will go down. But when I told them that I was absolutely shifting it. It was it was yeah, it was one of those where I kind of knew what I was doing. You know, I've dealt with contracts before I've dealt with multi million pound, you know, get out of jail clauses and all sorts in, in my previous world. And I always knew that there was many a possibility of a way that this could go. And it played really heavy on my mind. And yeah, I had to trust that it would work out. And when you talk about who I was being Throughout all this, so, you know, there was this was a really noisy period in my life. And actually, a couple of people noticed that I went really quiet. You know, around Christmas. I've been very, very quiet given everything that was going on. And I said, it sounds a bit dramatic. But I say that I went through everything that I went through with my alcohol or my, you know, abuse problems. or years ago, that created a huge shift in me reading the ultimate coach and being in the community, and, you know, around Steve, and everyone that I'd been with, helped then create me into a much better person doing this event, and that period, was almost the test to say, will it stick? This was the test to say, you know, everything was on the up in the previous, you know, everything life was getting better, you know, me and Kate, we're in the best place we've ever been, you know, I was earning more money than I'd ever earned, I was in the best position in my life, you know, fitter than I'd been for years, it was like, everything was on that upward trajectory. So everyone could swing around going, Yeah, I'm amazing. Look at me. And then everything came crashing down into a really hard place of, you know, no job, threatened with legal action, running an event that you don't know will happen, you know, you've got a lot of risk involved and all this noise. It was like a crucible. It was so much heat. That, you know, it was, it was testing. And I was thinking about how you actually put this into words. And the best way I can say is like when you're forging metal, heat and pressure creates a better, stronger metal, it puts it into alignment. And going through all this heat and pressure. actually went back to what my document was. I started really rereading, and and going, is it true? I checked myself through every line that said, Am I really what I've said to the world I am. And I started making the steps forward. You know, as much as I said yes to a lot of things. This was where I had to say no to a lot of things as well. And I kind of I can happily say that I came out of it going Yeah, it's true. I had to remember who I was. And it was reinforced.

Meredith Bell:

That helped you be who you needed to be in that moment, in the face of potential lawsuit, and taking a stand?

Matt Evans:

Yeah, it helped me. I had a good friend, Cheryl, we were on the phone one night, because I was meant to be talking to her about some book stuff. And she turned out to me and said, you forgot who you are now with you. And I was like, Yeah, a little bit. And, you know, by going back through it all, it helped me remember who I was. It's like a compass that gets you back out. In a you're in a hole. And by going through that process, and you know, making sure that you are who you say you are in your document and each of those lines and saying Is it true? inch by inch, you get yourself out of that instance, all again,

Meredith Bell:

I think that's such a powerful process that you're describing there, Matt, because the document has come from us. And there is a time we've created it, that we know it's true. And yet life throws things at us, and can cause us to question ourselves. And that's a very powerful insight, I think, to take the time to go back line by line, not just say the words, but really feel what was meant when you created that line.

Matt Evans:

And when things start to go a little bit sideways, or when things start to look a bit tougher, you'd get to revisit that and it gives you a hell of a lot of a guide to say, remember who you are, no matter what you're facing. That is a brilliant guide.

Meredith Bell:

Well, I would love for you to share, because I'm sure you've had lots of conversation with with people during the event. And then since the event. And I would just love and I think our listeners would love to know a little bit about what are some changes that happened for people what were a Ha's or decisions maybe they made as a result of having attended

Matt Evans:

Oh, you get messages from people about various things, you know, I mean, one of the really nice things that we had was we have some boxes from the Children's Hospital. So they weren't even from you know the community or out of this work before you know, they we gave them a few free tickets to say look, you know, bring some people who can make change your organization or, you know, some people who really want to invest in understanding this. And, you know, we gave them a kind of quick hour and a half Crash Course into the whole being side of things and what it can mean and how it's affected me and you know, the introduction to the book. And, you know, after the event, I had all of them, message me and say that that was amazing, we can see how we can use this in our work, we can see how we can bring this into the hospital and, you know, use it with our colleagues, with our patients, you know, they started to understand what they could do in the community with, you know, what they've learned and what they've heard from various people. I mean, we had Jeff and Cory on stage, you know, they flew overall boy from South Dakota, you know, bringing what they're doing in healthcare and medicine was in the hospital that they're in. And, you know, the guys that have other doctors here about how this work affects their hospital and the changes that they've made, you know, it was kind of a wow, you know, it's not, this was always part of the thing, you know, hearing other people hearing the possibility for you. Yeah, doctors, hearing doctors talk about being and what it means to patients and staff. You know, it became so relatable, that they could hear the possibility, far easier than, you know, hearing someone else talk about it, it created such a relatable, relatable opportunity. You know, I had quite a moment actually, during the event that I genuinely never expected, I had someone come up to me, hug me, and just break down in tears. And he said, Thank you for doing everything you've done him for creating this moment. He said, I've just heard what I needed to hear to repair the relationship with my son. And I was a little bit speechless at that. I kind of just held him. Because there was nothing else I could say. And there was nothing else I could do at that moment. But to hear that, you know, someone can go and have that someone can see the possibility of a better relationship with a child that was, you know, in a in a bad place. Job done, isn't it? You know, that that's what you're there for? That's what you always want to hear. That's exactly why, you know, back to eating cheesecake at my dinner table, we said this work has got so much power in this work has got so much potential. That was in a hug. You know, that was why we do what we do. Yeah.

Meredith Bell:

Yes, that that's such a microcosm of what happened. In general, in that event, the ripple effect, that individual going to his son repairing that relationship, and what can happen from there with other people who are part of either or both of their lives, because of their relationship and what they're able to Shell because of the work that they did, that's beautiful. Yeah.

Matt Evans:

And we still continue to hear these, you know, bits where people say, you know, we can see what we can do with it, we can take it and do something different. We can create more, you know, it's exponential, you know, 300 people becomes 600 people becomes 12, and becomes two and a half 1000. And it just grows. Yeah, you know, for every single interaction, it's what can everybody create in everybody? But

Meredith Bell:

I'm curious, because there were so many speakers there, too. And they each brought their unique message. Did you hear from any of them about what happened within them, either as a result of the talk, they gave the feedback they got or someone else's presentation that they heard that impacted them?

Matt Evans:

It's really interesting, actually. So you know, behind the scenes, I have the best greatest Whatsapp group in the world. That is all the speakers in the the first line team effectively, and there's just so much in there where everybody it's amazing. Everybody is there's so much love and respect for everybody else. You know, that is not a singling out, you know, everybody is gone and said You were amazing. You are brilliant in this. You were brilliant in that. It's just been a it's been like a flywheel of energy. It just keeps growing and growing and growing. You know, they everybody bounces off of each other. It's it's been brilliant. I couldn't single out a single speaker or a single kind of person that everybody's gone then. Because like I said earlier, there was so much diversity and so much of a difference that there was no one brought the same thing. It's Almost like you couldn't compare? Yeah, there was there was too much difference to compare, there was just a lot of contrast.

Meredith Bell:

As I'm listening, we say that I'm thinking about everybody that brings a dish, you know, to a buffet. And each wire can be delicious in its own right. And wouldn't be fair, like you say, to do any comparison, what I love about what you just shared minute, is the lack of competition, the lack of comparison, that I think is essential for us to really thrive in life. Because it's so easy to look at someone else and say, Oh, well, I did this better, or they did that better and feeling that need to judge and compare and what it sounds like is it's a judge free his own with all of them. And it's more of a loving, caring deeply about each other. And, and that elevating and supporting each other.

Matt Evans:

Yeah, I mean, one thing I can say that was probably the most interesting thing, you know, I came at this personally, from a point of, who am I will we always talk about not putting people on pedestals. And I came at it from a place of who am I to be amongst all these, you know, I, I kind of had me just being like, I'm the minion who runs this, I'm just the guy behind the scenes. And, you know, the speakers, they're, you know, they're all They're all bigger and better than me, they're kind of all the people that have, you know, been in work with Steve for two or three years. And, you know, I kind of did that. And then there was a couple of moments that were really interesting that I had a couple of times when, you know, there was there was times when you know, everything was going horribly wrong. And, you know, Qur'an MRI, Martine cannon, were both really there for me, massively, you know, they, I had a couple of conversations with those over the course of December in January, that massively shifted and helped me see a couple of things. But then there was other times when I had the speaker's ruling in me. And I'm not going to name who, but you know, just for the purpose of what people can hear. There was times when, you know, we had these people who are absolute, incredible beings. And even they were a little bit like, oh, how am I going to be on stage? And boy, am I there? And, you know, there was, everybody gets it, you know, and that was really interesting that, you know, I came at this a year ago, going through my way to read all the BS guys in flight Oh, on dealing with all these giants. And it was quite a leveling process. And when I say leveling, I mean leveling up, you know, I mean, it massively kind of pulled me up to realize who I was. But it just gave me that glimpse of you, okay? Even these people who are absolute giants still get that dip themselves. And it doesn't make them any less, don't get me wrong, it just makes them human. And that was the bit that I thought was really interesting. From that point of view, being the organizer. Yeah, that was, that was a very interesting point. And they were all there for each other. I mean, one of the people we've came brilliantly with it is at the event. Dominic London stood up on stage. And you know, when the videos get released, you'll see this, Don stood on stage and said, You know, last night I thought about bailing, because even I was worried about doing this. And I sat there in the audience, and I was just like, No, you blood, the word I would have dragged you up on this. Yeah, I mean, the the humility within all of them. And you know, every single one of them had a humility, a grace, a strength and a power that was incredible.

Meredith Bell:

It shows the humaneness in all of us, our shared humanity of these ranges of emotions. And it just is proof that we can never make assumptions about what is going on with someone else. That everyone has doubts. Everyone has moments, when and that's where, to me what that event did. The elevation of each other is the speaker's end of, of the participants. It sounds like there was such a supportive energy in that room that helped people feel loved and cared about. And what you know, Matt, as we're kind of moving towards a conclusion here with our conversation. I think one of the key takeaways is we can all be that for every person in our lives. You know, we have that civility. We have that opera. tunity depending on who we want to be in any given moment, yeah, I'm just curious if you have any other takeaways, thoughts, ideas you'd love to share with us?

Matt Evans:

Whoa, that's a bit of an open ended, isn't it?

Meredith Bell:

Just because in the moment something may occur to you. So just take a moment if you want to?

Matt Evans:

Well, you know, I mean, the follow on from what we've just said about of, you know, regardless of who it is, you know, anyone has that ability to do it. The one common thing between everybody, you know, whether it was the speakers on stage, whether it was, you know, my team running the event, whether it was me in terms of everything that led up to the event, and the people that came to the event. The one thing is, is having that commitment to still carry on, you know, that there was people that, you know, I mean, there was people that got enrolled to come to this event, about 24 hours before event kicked off effectively, you know, this was Steve at its finest. And, you know, behind the scenes, he was enrolling people for us like mad. And everybody that has that commitment creates. And it was it was about having the commitment. Doesn't matter how big or how small, you kind of portray yourself. It's irrelevant. It's the commitment and still keeping that faith and going after what you want. wholeheartedly, that, that drives it.

Meredith Bell:

It's great, I love that it's a beautiful way to end because I love the tie in with commitment, and creating, because we need to have that 100% All in commitment. It's amazing what you can create, what will occur to you, in order to follow through with whatever it was that you committed to, then we all have that ability at.

Matt Evans:

And you know what, there was times when, even though it felt like it was bloody hard, and you know, there was so much in the way that you, you know, you could see every issue and every problem, there was still a commitment there. And there was the most incredible team supporting each other. You know, everybody was committed. And even in the moments where it felt really hard. Everybody had everybody else's back. And you know that that was amazing.

Meredith Bell:

A man, thank you so much for giving us a look behind the scenes. And before the scenes. Actually, what happened? How about telling people? What are you up to these days? And how can people get in touch with you beyond the Facebook group? Which you know, I know you're very active in the ultimate coach Facebook group.

Matt Evans:

So what am I up to at the minute at the minute? I am actually up to not a lot, I'm having a little bit of a recharge time. It's been a very bad year. And yes, I have a few things that I'm thinking about. So I've had a lot of people asking, I'll be going again, I'm reserving judgment on that. You know, I have a long suffering wife, if I run an event for every hour that I do, and even she's got an hour of me running an event. You know, it really is a team effort, especially with having a young family. So yeah, we're still working on if there's going to be a part three for Evans, in the UK or wherever it may be. But yeah, I'm building my coaching business. I'm doing some supply chain consultancy work. And I'm just taking life as it comes at the minute. No big plans, just easing in and letting it be what it will be. That's great.

Meredith Bell:

And which social media platforms are you on if people want to follow you and connect with you.

Matt Evans:

So people can easily find me on Facebook, I'm pretty easy to find Instagram, as Matt underscore lobbying underscore life. And you can get my website at different focus dot code at UK

Meredith Bell:

A, and we'll include all of those on your show notes page. Matt, I want to acknowledge you for the incredible commitment that you put forth in developing creating this event and making it a reality and especially with those adverse situations that you referred to earlier and just thank you for who you are being in the world and who you are to so many people. I appreciate you.

Matt Evans:

Thank you Thank you so much. It means so lot. It means so much coming from the people that you know, I hear that from it's, it's truly lovely. Thank you.

Matt Evans:

TUCP Intro/Outro: Thank you for joining us today. If there's someone you know who could benefit from this conversation, please share this episode with them. Also, check out our website beingmovement.com You'll find valuable resources and links to connect to an engaging and wonderfully supportive community. Together, we can inspire and support each other on the path to a greater understanding of being. Until next time, take care and be kind to yourself

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