Connecting the events industry through camaraderie

Mar 9

featuring jonathan stone, senior events marketing manager at cloudera

Jonathan Stone is a self-described “no-bullshit” event industry pro with diverse industry experience spanning virtual and live events, industry tradeshows, media, film, and commercial production. He is currently a Senior Event Marketing Manager at Cloudera where he applies more than 10 years of event production experience working at companies like Facebook, Google, Brand Fuel, and many more to get the job done well on time and on budget.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

Jonathan Stone discusses his career background and how he stumbled into the events industry through the Hollywood film industry
The resourcefulness, energy, and inner calm it takes to make someone successful in the events industry
His problem-solving mentality
The value of events as a marketing tool
The importance of relationships in the events industry
How harnessing big tech will create new opportunities for connection at events

In this episode…

From the not-so-glamorous challenges of ever-changing demands to the joy of seeing a group united over a shared experience, the life of an event organizer is both enormously fulfilling and incredibly stressful. It’s easy to lose perspective or inspiration while you’re in the middle of yet another hectic event project. What makes the long hours, late nights, and high-pressure situations worthwhile? The strong sense of camaraderie that’s fostered among peers, vendors, partners, and stakeholders brings an unforgettable experience to life.

Camaraderie is often used in reference to the bond among sports and military teams. As in sports and the military, events teams have missions and wins to accomplish; relying heavily on one another to get it all done. Strong team camaraderie is critical and that sense of friendship and trust is the secret ingredient enabling high-functioning events teams to collaborate, innovate, communicate respectfully, disagree amicably, continuously learn together, and ultimately, deliver. In a small, convoluted industry that’s in constant flux, your peers are your lifeline.

In this episode, Paige Buck hosts Jonathan Stone, Senior Event Marketing Manager at Cloudera, to discuss camaraderie in the events industry, the value of events as a marketing tool to bring people together, and how tech is creating new opportunities for connection.

Resources Mentioned in this episode

Sponsor for this episode…

This episode is brought to you by Kennedy Events.

Kennedy Events creates stress-free conferences and events, providing expert management and design for all your corporate event needs — from in-person to hybrid and virtual events.

To learn more about our services, visit our website at www.kennedyevents.com and schedule a consultation today to find out how we can guide you in making your event successful.

Transcript

Paige Buck 00:04

Welcome to the Kennedy events podcast, where we feature top marketing, communications, and future of-work leaders and share their biggest takeaways and insights. We love these conversations and hope you will too. Let's get started.

Paige Buck 00:21

Hello, and welcome to the Kennedy events podcast. I'm your host Paige buck. Recent past guests include Pam Perez of the chase center, John Silva of culinary AI, and Elaine Hoenig of Studio 440. And today I am excited to be talking with Jonathan Stone, a self-described no-bullshit event industry pro with diverse industry experience. Currently, a Senior Marketing Manager he has more than 10 years of experience in Event Production, during which he has seen it all while working at companies like Facebook, Google, Brand Fuel, and many more. And at the end of the day, he is here to get the job done well on time, and on budget. That's what we all hope for in this industry. Before we get started a dive in with Jonathan Stone. To share that Today's episode is brought to you by Kennedy events. We create stress-free conferences and events providing expert management and design for all your corporate event needs, from in-person to hybrid and virtual. And you can learn more about us at Kennedy events.com. Hello, Jonathan.

Jonathan Stone 01:23

Hi, how's it going?

Paige Buck 01:24

Oh, I'm great. Glad to be here with you today and find out how we were sharing before we got started that we've sort of switched geographies. I've come to the Bay Area and been here for many years, and you've left the Bay Area and are in a little pocket of New England. soaking up the I mean, living through winter.

Jonathan Stone 01:47

It's supposed to be 57 on Friday, but raining all day. So I don't know whether I'll take it or leave it but we haven't had much snow. So I'm expecting that to be a burden on me in the very recent future.

Paige Buck 02:02

Yeah, yeah. Good times. Always fun, like figuring out like, I still, when I experienced the occasional frost here. I'm like a credit card works. You couldn't scrape it off. And it's momentary. And then you get to New England, and you're like, how does this work again? Yeah, so but that's not what we're here for. We're here to talk about your career. And I'm curious how you got started in this amazing industry that has, you know, us both addicted to event planning, how'd you get started?

Jonathan Stone 02:30

It's funny because I feel like nowadays people choose to get into this industry. Whereas like, when you and I probably got in this industry, it wasn't like chosen you kind of like felt tripped and fell in this industry, which most people did, and they either loved it, or they ran very far away from it. Did something completely opposite, like sell real estate or do something nothing that has nothing to do with it? I knew like growing up my two cousins were in the Hollywood industry as producers and I wanted to be in the Hollywood industry not as an actor per se, but like do behind-the-scenes stuff. So out of college, I went down to LA and I was working as a PA (Project Manager). Just all sorts of stuff and working in that industry. In the film industry TV industry. I have many stories that, just say, I worked on every season of Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew so I have plenty of stories and fun times and I did probably a majority of my job as a PA in LA doing stuff that I definitely was not legal. I wasn't getting paid enough for an SI. Yeah like there are human rights laws that are written about it now. You know what, as a PA and trying to make a name for yourself, you did what you did and

Paige Buck 03:54

All the labor practice laws that were violated in your early days.

Jonathan Stone 03:58

Oh, yeah, like I mean, there are stories of I drove a big rig down Sunset Boulevard because the art department wouldn't move the big rig and I had to find a place to park it and it's like, I don't have a big rig license. Norrish yeah there's that story times as you know, multiple 20-plus hour days back to back to back, and sure, you know, when when you're getting paid $125 a day is good times.

Paige Buck 04:26

But you did all that which sets you up really well for like all of the, you know, the can-do attitude that events require.

Jonathan Stone 04:36

it does and it's like when it's funny being on the client side and the vendor side being on the vendor side. I think one of my issues was I never like reacted, like, overreacted to any sort of problem that happened. And I think some clients at some point have wanted to see more like the panic and this and that like something was getting done. But In the big picture, I was like I've seen a million times worse. And guess what we're going to fix it like there is a fix here where I've dealt with problems that like, there might not be a fix for this, this person might never come back to set or this person might have gone AWOL or might have overdosed or something. Those are, those are unfixable problems, not like in the industry that we're on. We're just like, we need to find the right person that can fix it. So it did set me up. And it did set me up for those long days and putting yourself into show mode, and you just do it to get the job done. And

Paige Buck 05:34

how do you do that? How do you get out of that and find discover that events were a thing and that there could be a career there? Yeah,

Jonathan Stone 05:45

it's funny, because I never again, like no one really knew about live events that weren't in the industry already. And so I had a friend in San Francisco, and he called me and he said, you're working in your, you're doing project management in LA, like, do you want to come to do this for corporate events? And I wanted to go back to San Francisco just because it was home and I missed it. And I said, Sure. So I did a permit Lance, it was on the vendor side, and it was permanent. I think this company did a lot of gaming programs and gaming conventions. But they also did a lot of corporate stuff. And I think just right out of the gate, I just fell in love with the industry. And I'm just like, this is a controlled version of what movies and film and TV is. And it's, it's just fun like I had a lot of fun doing it. And I did it with this company for about a year and a half. And then they didn't want to bring me on full-time. And I had another lucrative job and the TV industry down in LA. So I went and did that. But I was also sending my resume out. And I had a company called Envision communications reach out to me and said, Do you want to come up and work for us full-time? And I said yes, I wanted to be home I want to be as their Cisco around my people. So I came in, and I took that job and was there for almost seven years on the vendor side doing everything from like, small, intimate, white glove, minimal sea level dinners to Oracle world and dream force and kind of everything in between and got to see this industry and really, like, not make a name for myself because I didn't want to make a name for myself. I just wanted to like enjoy doing what I did. And I think when you try to tell like, it's funny about our industry, I still feel like people don't know what we do. Like my mom, 100% doesn't know what I do. The best way I've found to describe it is like you've been to a concert, you've seen someone on stage singing, think about that talking about like the latest pharmaceutical device or the latest trend in tech or what this company is doing. So I kind of leave it at that I don't have too big of a detail. But yes, really fell in love with this industry and was happy that I, you know, came from the vendor side to just show you how basically, to pull back the curtain and see how the sausage was made. I think it's very important for anybody working in the industry.

Paige Buck 08:09

So did you then sort of say like, oh, having seen this whole array of possibilities, I want to choose this narrow path, or did it happen accidentally?

Jonathan Stone 08:20

I mean, it happened accidentally is just something that like kind of again you fell into and you either loved it or I wouldn't say hate it, I just didn't love it anymore. It wasn't for you because it does take when we talk to other event professionals, you just automatically vibe with them because you just know and they know what you've gone through and you know what they've gone through. So I feel like it takes a special person and that's why we keep coming back for more it's funny because my wife does the same thing and that's how we met was on site and so it's you know, it takes those types of I know opposites to attract which is opposite to but like it either takes somebody that doesn't have anything to do with this industry or somebody that knows everything about this to be compatible.

Paige Buck 09:06

Absolutely said agree to and I also met my spouse at work though not at events. It was a similar similar level of mayhem that we look like without freaking out as we share that gene whatever that is as well. I'm curious when you talk about like you know been there done that seen that many of it much of it illegal. But on the less sordid events side of things. I always still like the most you know, like the learning experiences or the fun stories to tell at cocktail parties or the things that went unexpectedly wrong. But then you reflect back and you're like but then we did this and this and this is how we shifted Do you have any fun stories of things that went sideways or and you how you recovered from them?

Jonathan Stone 09:53

Pre-pandemic when I never wanted to go to Vegas again because we were there, at least over 10 times a year for programs. And it was just like, the only good thing about Vegas is a very short flight. We're in Vegas for a user conference, but it was also a brand release. So they rebranded everything. And huge conference, I think it was like, you know, 3500, and maybe 4000 attendees. And they had this whole digital live opener with like dancers and this. And so we're rehearsing until, you know, forever. And one of the dancers cuts themselves on a piece of glass that was on stage from a light I don't know, I can't remember distinctly what it was. And, of course, like everything is choreographed everything, you have to have somebody in this spot. So the one time where I'm like, I'm kind of glad we're in Vegas. Full circle. We were on the phone all night calling. I mean, I was calling people's houses. I was calling anybody. So I, you know, I'm calling people at midnight, waking people up, finally found someone got them. A ride down to the venue, got them rehearsing till we went on. So yeah, we literally rehearsed until the program went. It went well. Unbelievable. In my view everybody did, but like, stuff like that just happens all the time. Yeah, that's where it is. I do have a fear though. Working in events. I don't know if you have a fear. This is going to be horrible too. I always have my worst nightmare at events like, when the opening or after the opening video when the lights go on, that the trust is gonna fall and hit everybody in. Fear every time that program,

Paige Buck 11:54

We like to ask our clients what's keeping them up at night, and then we call it when we keep asking it as we get closer and closer to the event. And we like, feel like everything is copacetic when they're like, I'm just deciding what I'm going to pack or like what I'm going to wear or you know, I still haven't figured out what gift we're getting the speaker we're like good get small problems, small problems. When I hear I'm just worried the trust bike fall. I don't know how to help you with that one like spiders might crawl out over the wall too.

Jonathan Stone 12:24

It's just something that I always think one of my co-workers or something said at one point. And then I'm always just like, I know it's sturdy up there. I've seen a million shows, and I've done a million programs. I still have that. Like what if something's loose up there, what, uh, you know.

Paige Buck 12:41

The cable, that's what the cable wire helps that I was in the theater. I'm like, I don't need to look, I know what goes into that I'm good. But don't know I need to not get this idea of stuck in my head.

Jonathan Stone 12:51

But just now, I ruined the rest of your events.

Paige Buck 12:55

What really struck me was like these sorts of things happen all the time, not the trust falling, but that something goes wrong. You have to solve it. And what makes somebody like us successful in our field is having the resourcefulness and the energy and, you know, inner calm to figure it out.

Jonathan Stone 13:16

It's called being a masochist. It's one of those where, if you're not in our industry, you need praise for everything that goes where it's like after the show's done. I'm just like, what went wrong? Because I need to know because I need to keep that in my back pocket because we don't have time to have a meeting about the meeting that's going to try to solve the problem. Like we get told what's wrong and we need to choose left or right and it better be the right answer. We have to go so I always want to know what went wrong. You can tell me what went right later. Yeah, another instance like that is like when it's quiet, and you're not hearing anything. It's like with children like something's not right like I gotta

Paige Buck 13:57

I also can't relax at that moment. Like even, you know, whatever day of the show it is you get after everyone's gone in from lunch back into sessions on day two of the conference. It's like it should be rolling downhill from here it gets easier right? We're starting to pack some things up we're starting to tidy we're starting to like think about whether we will make happy hour tonight or not.

Jonathan Stone 14:24

Ordering a drink and room service in your room.

Paige Buck 14:29

My team is always like I just want to order french fries and put my feet up the wall like that's and do no,

Jonathan Stone 14:38

This is another reason why I have horror stories. Another thing another fear of mine. My wife will hate me telling this too, is I think that when I was on the vendor side in the heavy thick of things pre-remote, pre-call this was the way I was going to die was going to be at the Venetian after like multiple Will you fill in the blank our days I was going I don't. This is probably TMI, but I don't care. I'm not a bath taker. But I will in Vegas just sometimes just to like, because your whole body is just like numb. And it was going to be me with

Paige Buck 15:13

No moisture in the air.

Jonathan Stone 15:17

Yes, anything to restore. But they have the TVs and there's gonna be me falling asleep in the bathtub. And like, that's how I was gonna go.

Paige Buck 15:26

On-site together combined with Vegas, you're like, I hate this place. This is not where I want to go. Yeah,

Jonathan Stone 15:33

It's because we love this industry. And it brings us joy. And I wouldn't want to there are a couple of other things that I want to do. But it would require me to be like, Self Made Millionaires or inherit a lot of money, and I don't have it.

Paige Buck 15:51

Okay, so more into the pedantic corporate side of things. Who, in the companies that you've in-house teams that you've worked on? Who do you see as your internal stakeholders? And how do you involve them in the decision-making?

Jonathan Stone 16:09

I mean, I keep excusing, I keep communication lines open with everybody. So I will, you know, I have, if we're using slack, I'll have Slack channels with my sales, with the, you know, with the brand team with, you know, upper management, whoever may be involved with that. And I will give them updates that way. That's why I love products like Slack where you can have that lines of communication, where it's not an email, you're not waiting on things. But I am an over communicator, just because problems usually happen when people don't know things or people, stakeholders don't get involved. And I just want them to be involved in especially, you know, working at bigger companies, I feel like, it's funny because we work in an industry where communication is key. Yet, I can probably bet if you polled 10 event marketers, and asked them what the number one problem is, it would be communication.

Paige Buck 17:10

Like, oh, we also are in an industry whose whole focus is like bringing humans together, and you're like, but you know what the problem is, it's humans. Like, you got these people out of the problem, it'd be easy.

Jonathan Stone 17:22

Before my current company, I was at a startup that was bought by Xerox. And, you know, one of my, once I got my feet kind of wet, and everything, I was just like, so we're doing this program, who's my stakeholder? And I got a like, confused, I don't know, answer. And I was just like, you're telling me I don't have a stakeholder in this. I'm like, who makes decisions on budgets, and what we're doing there, and they're like, you, and I go, Okay, this is going to be this is gonna be a long road, if I'm, if I'm making decisions on this, because I need it to be driven by at least sales, or some sort of demand gen, or whatever this program may be. So I can, you know, be sure I'm on the right track. So I was raising my hand and talking to people, I did this at Google to like, probably talking to people that you shouldn't be talking to, I guess I used air quotes on that, just because, you know, they're very senior level or this person. And I just didn't care because I needed to figure out what the hell to do. Well, you need

Paige Buck 18:30

to identify the decision-makers. And then you also need to hear like, I'm sorry, but why are we doing this thing? And please don't tell me because we've always done it that way. Or, or because we set aside a budget for it. But what's it for? What, what's, what's the goal? What are we trying to get out of this?

Jonathan Stone 18:46

Oh, we had, I mean, and you know, the supply chain during the pandemic was absolutely crazy. One of the times that COVID was over the same company that I previously worked at, they historically did this event. I don't know why, but they wanted to do it again and had to get an I think there's a 20 by 20, Booth built and everything that's associated with that in two and a half weeks. Three weeks. Wow.

Paige Buck 19:12

Yeah, that's fun. No worries. Nope, no problem. We can make that happen. No problem.

Jonathan Stone 19:18

You know what? So we recently remodeled our kitchen. And I feel like the event industry is the same thing. throw money at it. If you want to make something that we could do anything I would tell clients we can do anything our heart desires, and our mind can make up and throw money at it. Well,

Paige Buck 19:35

It's that triangle, right? Like you can have it on time on a budget, you know, in goal and if you want to if those things need to move like then you're gonna have to solve with money. Money is the fastest way to change things. Get it? Easiest, yes, if you've got it. So then when you then have to articulate to somebody else what seems like it seems so obvious because we're like it In it five feet from it, but like, what problems do events solve for tech companies? Because there are so many, but sometimes it's not apparent to the would-be stakeholders or the people who are looking over their shoulder when you say who are the stakeholders. Like, don't look at me.

Jonathan Stone 20:21

It's just such a valuable marketing tool that it can reach. I think in the beginning days of the pandemic, everyone was like, oh, virtual is the worst virtual is worse than in the back of my head. I'm like, we have virtual, all of our events ever. It's the people that you don't know that are sitting in the corner of backstage that is broadcasting yes, met the other day. But we always had a virtual element. I feel like in the beginning days, it was great because you got to touch an audience that you might not get to touch at a live event or even, you know, broadcasting where you were touching APAC and EMEA. Yeah, simultaneously, all at the same time, you'd have, you know, not 5000 People live, you'd have 60 to 70,000 people tuning in, I thought that was like really, really cool. That obviously, dialed back a lot with virtual fatigue, and just the way everything goes now, but I feel like it's such a valuable marketing source and a way to get yourself out there. That's it's invaluable. Like when you see companies that are laying people off. Yes, the marketing team will have a lot of layoffs. And I've seen this happen. But like, if you go dive deep into the events marketing team, you hardly ever see people get let go. And in that specific on the client side, just because I think people now today know how valuable events are from a marketing standpoint. Whereas when we both started in this industry, I feel like nobody had any clue that it was that events were that important. And I think they're realizing now that it's completely, it's extremely important.

Paige Buck 22:04

That's a really interesting perspective. I like here a minute like, yeah, may you be right. So if we have a recession, proof that may you be proven right. I think it's interesting, what you're saying about that virtual gave folks an opportunity to actually see and sort of be forced into seeing the value because it's it, everything was so distilled. I am curious, when you're in-house, as you happen now, you know, in different in-house in different houses for years? How do you learn? Where do you go to learn and stay inspired, and, and get, you know, get new ideas for how to deliver on something?

Jonathan Stone 22:46

I love the old school where I talked to people. I know, it's weird. I know. It's weird. Like, why would you speak to people? Why would you do that? But like I have, from vendor days, so many friends that work in this industry that are technical directors that are out there pounding the pavement on the road. 24/7. So I reach out to them and I'm like, what worked? What didn't? You know, what's trending? What do you see happening? So I just, you know, I pick their brains and like, I have other friends that were technical directors that are in-house now on, you know, on staff, but on the client side, so I just, I honestly I schedule zooms with them, like once a month just to see what's going on and see what's new and see what's happening. Sometimes, you are able to utilize that. And sometimes obviously, you get what you get if you're doing you know like we have the not the most glorious things, but like putting together booth builds and stuff like that that are you know, they're very, very, very important. Extremely important from a marketing standpoint, but maybe not the most glamorous if you're doing a turnkey booth. Like there's we can't do much to make, you know, very brand-centric or exciting,

Paige Buck 23:57

Right? Yeah, well, yes, our bread and butter have to exist and have to happen but aren't going to be wowing folks day in and day out, right?

Jonathan Stone 24:07

I mean, until you get to your dream courses and stuff where you can do where you get your space. And then you can build where I've seen like, you know, working on Ken Lyon, I've seen the craziness of crazy get built. Like, it's funny, everybody who and I worked on camera and a couple of times. When I was at Facebook, the goal was to replicate what Google did with the Ferris wheel, but not do Google Ferris Wheel. They're like, Oh, that was so cheesy. That's so corny. I'm like And here we are five years later talking about the Ferris wheel.

Paige Buck 24:37

Talking about something coming off your tongue if you didn't really envy it in some ways. Yeah. Do you think that your peers are similar to you and that they're, they're looking to their vendors and checking with the vendors or do you think you are you're better at that? I don't know that. I know many of my clients who Do that, for instance?

Jonathan Stone 25:02

I? And I don't know, I don't think so either. I think I think there are a lot of talented people that work in this industry. But I also think like, once you get, what's your title, once marketing is in your title, I feel like a lot of companies want you to be a marketer and not an event marketer. So I find a lot of time when, like, when I was interviewing for jobs is like, well, you know, what's your, what's your knowledge, stability of Salesforce database, and I was like, I can pull reports, but I'm not going to I don't know what the trenches like that. They're like, Oh, that's what we're looking for. I was like, Why do you have events? On this job title? Just curious about that. Yeah, no, I think I think creativity comes in a lot of different ways. And I think we, you know, once we work with vendors when we have vendors, not vendors, partners because they are partners, they do more than the vendor. And I, I use the word just because I come from that side. So I feel like I'm not disrespecting you. Like you have somebody that doesn't.

Paige Buck 26:00

I mean, we are a vendor, and we have vendors, and we say, vendors, partners, and best friends and collaborators and all of the things.

Jonathan Stone 26:08

And drinking buddies. Here's a dark secret about the event industry. Doesn't matter who you are, how big you are, how whatever. There's always a moment on site that you will have tears, it doesn't matter. I don't care how tough how this is, there's always that moment. I don't know can I will find it. Maybe people won't admit it. But 100%

Paige Buck 26:33

I'll tell you where I had it. I'll tell you I had it. It was in May of this year. I mean, this is just where it readily comes to mind. I cry all the time. So this one memorable, had several hundred people really didn't say it was interesting because it's an all-hands, but it's also incredibly intimate. And it's a community of staff who really love one another. Getting together after you know, they're now 100% virtual, they're all coming back to company HQ. They've done all of the mandatory COVID tests so they can be together. But they're a very conscientious group. And so when they were endorsed, they were still masks on, I had a little bit of an emotional breakdown midway through the day when I realized that I was having so much cognitive dissonance because everything is going swimmingly, the client is happy. Attendees are happy vendors are happy that every time I ask them how it's going, all I can see is their Botox face mask, and they're like, it's going great. And I'm like, why is everyone lying to me? Like, I'm not getting any of the visual feedback that I need to know what's going well, and I couldn't figure out what was wrong. And it was the lack of visual tell. I just had to go the bathroom and cried for a few minutes come out and be like, if someone tells you it's going well, you're just gonna have to take their word for it.

Jonathan Stone 27:55

You just got to trust them because you can't read. Because we read people really well.

Paige Buck 28:01

We know when they are when you're getting like this. That's all I got is your eyes and you're like, it's great. It's great. I'm like, what's going on?

Jonathan Stone 28:09

So yeah, if anybody's ever told you that they ever cried on site that they're like,

Paige Buck 28:16

that's the like, that's the calm on the surface, swim pal duck, you know, paddling like hell, beneath the surface, the tears are there beneath the surface. I'm curious, like heading into the new year, you know, or at this phase in your career, like, what are you curious about? And what do you really want to learn?

Jonathan Stone

28:35

So, as you know, once the pandemic hit, and everybody flipped to virtual, everybody was a virtual event platform, everybody switched. If you're a lighting company, or virtual event platform, if you are a sound company, you are a virtual event platform, everybody. But there were a lot of companies doing a lot of cool shit. And I'm excited if these companies didn't pivot completely and change their whole model. What events are going to look like in-person events going forward? Because I feel like virtual events did all they could there's nothing you're going to do to change at all ever. Yeah. There's nothing and it's, I mean, even to the point where like, Okay, you could get Michelle Obama speaking at yours. And like, I can go watch a TED Talk. Like, I don't need to watch this specific live. So I'm really curious to like, have these people been in there, like, labs, making whatever they were doing, like 10 times better and like how events are going to be more futuristic and how we're going to like, use the pandemic and it to our advantage in that, like, Let's do more visual stuff and stuff that you don't need to like, talk to somebody face to face and how can we bring that visual element to more of a human element? I'm just excited. I'm excited to get back in person fully He wants, whatever, whatever we're going to look like being back into in-person, and just the cool shit that's going to come about from a lot of these companies that were doing really cool stuff before. Because yeah, there was a lot of like, innovative cutting-edge stuff that was on the verge of becoming the norm at conferences, and they didn't get a chance to do that. So I really hope that that is the direction that everybody goes.

Paige Buck 30:27

Yeah, I'm with you on that. I think I'm curious about how you harness that big glorious tech thing that really was everybody or creates a new opportunity for connection, along with the more intimate things like making space, more space because we always say this. But then when we deliver on the space for conversation, the space for a breather? Let me just tap out for five minutes. How do you actually embrace that instead of like shove it to the sidelines?

Jonathan Stone 31:03

Yeah, I hope that the audience you know, in future events also becomes a little bit more humble, because everybody, as you would know, people take the littlest thing so seriously, and there are troubled by the meals are in troubled by this. And I hope that air temperatures are. I mean, you can name it and everything's wrong. And I really hope that it humbles the audience and they're there too, for the program that we built to get knowledge, learn, and network with other people. So I hope that that's the main concern and not the air temperature room was this little minute thing that's not affecting many people.

Paige Buck 31:52

So you talk about things that get like, unexpectedly wrong. And as we start to wrap up, I guess my last question will be if you have moments of like, things that went unexpectedly, right, where you're like, Who knew that was going to be so popular, or who knew that was going to be that the big aha that everyone loves so much?

Jonathan Stone 32:09

I don't really have those. There are so many of like, the moments that went well, that again, the mask is to me always wants to know what goes wrong. But I think when you take off your badge and use just start listening to people, and when there are attendees, and they're saying they're having a good time, and they're really enjoying themselves, like that, to me is unexpectedly when things go right because I'm always searching for what goes wrong. And I think we do as event professionals always seek for what goes wrong to fix it to try to be the fixers that I feel like when you are hearing people and they're enjoying and they're having fun, and they're standing up and cheering and they're interacting with whatever technology you have, I think that's when you kind of sit back and smile and be like, Okay, it's gonna, it's gonna be okay, it's gonna be okay. And you know, people are having fun and all the hard work and attendee journey process that we put ourselves through is paying for itself. And that to me, at the end of the day, the attendees being happy is my ROI or what my goals are. Short program.

Paige Buck 33:14

I love that. I love that for you. It's always a happy surprise. You are you're having a good time. You are long as my arm of all the things back there that really needed to fix it but yeah, yeah, amazing. Amazing. That's great. I share that I share that masochism.

Jonathan Stone 33:34

As I said, it takes a strange person. But I think we're unique in our own ways. And we all get along and it's such a small industry that like, you can't be that much of not the nicest person I'm using my words kind of nicely. You can't piss off too many people and still be in this industry where it's you know, everybody's going to run into everybody wants to once in a while and now and again. And it's a small industry. So I tried to at least make people around me happy.

Paige Buck 34:03

It is way too stressful a job to add a difficult personality to it on top of everything else for sure. True. Well, it has been awesome talking with you. I've been talking to Jonathan Stone, Senior Events Marketing Manager, and thanks so much for bringing all your expertise and insights here today.

Jonathan Stone 34:20

Appreciate it. This is really fun. Yeah.

Paige Buck 34:25

Thanks for listening to the Kennedy events podcast. Come back next time and be sure to click Subscribe to get future episodes.

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PAIGE BUCK

Paige Buck is the co-owner of Kennedy Events, a large-scale event management company based in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York City. Our team creates stress-free conferences and events with a positive impact, which allows our clients to resonate with their audience. Kennedy Events specializes in producing flawless product launches, award ceremonies, fundraisers, and multi-day conferences while keeping our eye on retention and engagement goals.

About Kennedy Events

Kennedy Events began with one goal in mind—to produce high-level corporate events with just as much strategy as style. Maggie founded the company in 2000, found her match in Paige, and in 2011 the two became official partners. Since then, these two resourceful and brilliant creatives have pooled their strengths to build one one of the most the most sought after corporate event companies in San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles.