Jay Clouse  00:00

In March of 2020, the world shut down due to a global pandemic. In person events were canceled left and right.

Audio playing  00:06

South by Southwest in Austin Texas, the Cannes Film Festival, the 2020 Summer Olympics Ultra Music Festival

Jay Clouse  00:13

has been canceled. But what you might not know is that this change in plans actually lead to the rise in virtual events. And for a lot of online creators, that shift to virtual was a runaway success.

Bari Baumgardner  00:25

We work with everyone from Tony Robbins, Dean Graziosi, Jamie Kern Lima, we have 15 years and in person events. We generated 700 million over this 15 years through high ticket offers for our clients. With COVID, we had two years of virtual events and we generated 500 million.

Jay Clouse  00:42

That's Bari Baumgardner, the founder of SAGE Events. Bari has been in the event space since the 1990s. And as you heard, she has worked with some of the biggest names in business. When Tony Robbins was figuring out how to build his legendary virtual events stadium, he got in touch with Bari.

Bari Baumgardner  00:58

One of the happy accidents, I think, that came out of COVID is because we couldn't gather in person, we still had this need for content and connection and community, we had to find a way to still gather to be part. And so Zoom made that opportunity available. You literally can take your computer, a TV and a Zoom account, and host a global virtual event from your basement, your living room, a corner of your dining room, whatever. I love that.

Jay Clouse  01:21

So in this episode, you'll learn how to create the perfect event. We talked about the perfect format, the costs associated with an event and how you can earn revenue outside of ticket sales. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this episode. As you listen, you can find me on Twitter or Instagram @jayclouse. Tag me, say hello, let me know that you're listening. And now let's talk with Bari.

Bari Baumgardner  01:53

Oh, you know what's really interesting is that if you love what you do, it's actually not hard. So I really do love live events I have since I was a kid. I was the kid like organizing our prom and doing fundraisers in my sorority. Like whenever there was anything remotely an event, I'm like, I'm all in. I love it. But what's true about events is there's a lot of moving parts like it definitely is, I think why it feels hard to so many people is that it's a mix of mindset and skill set and tactics and logistics and science and art, especially for the types of events we run, we run what I think of as enrollment events, which are events that generally are making a high ticket offer for done for you services, group coaching, programs, masterminds, that kind of thing. So generally, for our live events, there's a lot on the line, not only do you want it to be logistically flawless, that you want the audience to have a great time, but there's a pretty big pay day on the back end, and you want to make sure that everything's working there, too. I happen to thrive in that environment. I love that kind of stress and adrenaline. So it's perfect for me.

Jay Clouse  02:54

Can you give me an example of a client that you've worked with, to outline, to use as like a running example for this conversation, to kind of outline what this process looks like, especially on the live side pre some of this virtual event stuff?

Bari Baumgardner  03:09

Yes. Yeah, absolutely. So it's really interesting about what we do right now, as we work with everyone from Tony Robbins, Dean Graziosi, Mary Morrissey, Jamie Kern Lima, Jeff Walker. And we have some really incredible names in the business development and personal development space that our clients but we also have a lot of people you've never heard of, and they're doing amazing things to what's awesome about this is we use the same exact process for all of them. So whether you've, you're an up and comer, or whether you're well established, whether you've done no events, or one event or 1000s of events, we start our whole planning process with what we call the big why exercise, which I'm kind of led with, I've always, you know, since I was a kid loved to ask the question why, like, I think it's really important, not just to do the thing, but to ask, why are we doing this? Like, why is this important to you? What's the outcome that you're trying to create? And I think it's actually differentiated us from some of our competitors early on. Because I think in the event planning space, you have a lot of people who are and I mean, no disrespect with this, because I was what I'm about to say was one of these. They're glorified waiters and waitresses, I made all my money for college as a waitress, so no disrespect there. But it's a lot of you know, yes, ma'am. How high? How high? How high? Can I jump? How fast can I make it happen? It's like, you know, just a lot of big ideas. And let's make it happen at Sage. We've always said, that's amazing. Why do we want to do that? Let's talk about the whys. So for example, if a client came to us and said, I really want a pink elephant, I'd like interesting tell me more about why a pink elephant like why nothing? Why pink? Do you want it on the stage? Do you want to write in on it? Or do you want it just to be an element that we're gonna include in your room? So we're always starting with that why question and then using that to create an event and an offer that you're really gonna love that's in alignment with who you are. And with the right fit client, you're meant to serve with your non negotiables which I think is really critical. I think a big step that people miss when they're making a high ticket offer or running an event is to not think through what do I want the end result to look like? And what are my non negotiables around it? So for example, if I were to use a client like Jeff Walker, when I started working with him, I said, Jeff, what are your non negotiables? And he said, Well, here's what's really important to me. I don't do one to one coaching, nothing on ski Fridays, like, I live in Durango for a reason I love skiing, nothing in August, because that's rafting, nothing at night, nothing on the weekends, as long as we don't do any of that I'm all in. And I love that, right? Like, the clearer you are and what you don't want to do, then the more likely you are to build a business based on what you do want to do. So we look at that big, why we look at who you're meant to serve, we look at your non negotiables. And then we look at what would make your right fit client, that person who meant to serve the person who's really, really right fit for you, people caught your ideal client or avatar, for your right fit client, what would make them rave renew, and recruit, like rave about your event, come back here after a year and then recruit other people to come with them. So that's our goal. And then we reverse engineer everything from there. So that was a long winded explanation. But literally where I think most people might go in a question like that is well, you know, first we find the venue first week. And for us, it's like, first we figure out where we're going and why. And then we reverse engineer how we're gonna get there.

Jay Clouse  06:18

This is already such helpful contact, because I'm realizing this is giving me flashbacks to planning my wedding this year. And by planning my wedding, I mean, supporting my wife while she planned our wedding. And what we realized was, there was just so much value in talking to the staff that was supporting us, because not only like they just done it so many times before and not even just the muscle memory of it. But they were asking these like why questions as well. Why do you want to do that? Maybe there's a better way, maybe there's a different solution. Yeah. And I hadn't been thinking down that lainnya. So this is this is really helpful already.

Bari Baumgardner  06:51

Well, I love that they did that for you. And you know, we have a saying in event space, you can't be the bride and be the wedding planner, you can't be the groom and be the caterer. And it's true if you're running a live event to like generally why we've done so well in our space is the people who hire us are in their zone of genius. And they want to hire us to take care of all the details, the strategy and the logistics, so that they can focus on just being really present, serving and connecting with their audience.

Jay Clouse  07:15

I was listening to an interview with Sean Cannell who I'm actually interviewing later today, I logged on, he talks about working with you on his recent event, as well. And something he mentioned as a regret was that he wished he had started the process of working with an events team sooner. So if I'm listening to this, and I'm saying, Yeah, I think I do want to explore doing an event. How early should I be starting the process of finding a team or even planning if I really want to DIY before the lead up to an event?

Bari Baumgardner  07:48

Yeah, that is such a good question. So I'm going to give you two answers. Because what COVID has ushered in for us is a whole new way of thinking about events. When COVID Had I kind of think of COVID is like what travel did for the or what 911 did for the travel industry, which is change it forever COVID did for the events industry, which has changed it forever. One of the happy accidents, I think they came out of COVID is because we couldn't gather in person, we still had this need for content and connection and community, we had to find a way to still gather to be part. And so zoom made that opportunity available. So all of a sudden zoom blows up. And you know, I think I like to think of this as the democratization of live events, meaning that because of zoom, and because of what happened during COVID, you now have an an nor you can do in person events or virtual events. And if you want to do a virtual event, while it's the democratization of live events, as you no longer need a hotel, you don't need a food and beverage minimum, you don't need a room contract, you don't need all that liability, you literally can take your computer, a TV and a Zoom account and host a global virtual event from your basement, your living room, a corner of your dining room, whatever I love that about what we're able to do now, which ties into your question about timing. If it's an in person event, even an intimate event like maybe 50 People 100 People, I really would recommend a six month runway and that's in part because you do have to find the venue negotiate the terms start laying out the design, and you have to fill the room and people need time to book their travel. So you need a longer runway because you have to get people invested in coming and to get them to actually booked the hotel booked the flight all the things right but if you're virtual, what's awesome about this is that people can buy up until the day before the event right because they are just logging in from home. So you can really compress that runway to three months or even three weeks. I'm a big fan of three months especially if you're new at this to give yourself a little bit of time to fill that event make sure you've got your strategy dialed in. But what was amazing about COVID is we were flipping events from in person to virtual literally with like a one week runway a two week runway a four week runway, and it's possible it's possible to do with virtual kind of gets back to that why though. Why you're running your event, how many people you're going to have, how big you're anticipating it being the bigger the of and the longer the runway you're going to need,

Jay Clouse  10:02

You just mentioned a few things that I have a little bit of understanding with, but only recently, and I'm thinking a lot of listeners probably don't. And that is some of the logistics with doing an in person event. And not even just the logistics, but the cost commitments. Can you talk a little bit about that for people who are completely unfamiliar with that process?

Bari Baumgardner  10:19

Yeah, 100%. So if you are doing your first or next event, you want to do it in person, the biggest liability you're going to have right out of the gate is finding the venue to do it. Generally, if you're using a hotel, they're going to have a contract, they're going to have a food and beverage minimum, they're going to have a sleeping room minimum that you have to achieve. And so that's where the bulk of your costs are going to be. Because if you don't hit that minimum on food or on rooms, then you're actually going to have a liability that you're going to have to pay. So one of the hardest things about hosting an event first or next for those up and coming event hosts has always been how do i crystal ball, how many people I'm going to have before I sign my name on the dotted line, and I'm then liable. The other thing you have to think about within person is you're probably going to have registration credentials, like a badge, a lanyard, you're probably going to have a workbook or a journal, something they can write in, you're going to have some printed materials, you're going to hand out, so you have some actual overhead that you can't get away from. And with virtual, one of the reasons I love it so much. And again, I think it's a gift to come out of COVID, there's any silver lining COVID, this is what I think it is, is it you don't have to do any of that, again, if you've got a computer, you've got a TV, you got a Zoom account, everything can be digital, you don't have overhead, you don't have liability. And you also don't have that pressure on you, you know, like it's so much easier to compress time, and so much easier to run the event without any issues. The other thing I think about on this really quick that factors into the finances is the net is so much better. Because if you start doing the math on all those things, serving food and having room for yourself and for your team, or for volunteers who are going to be helping you doing the printed product, you start adding up those numbers, whatever you make that's coming out of that. And as an entrepreneur, what's more important, what you gross or what you net, I mean, we love to brag about our marketing math, right? So we'd love to brag about our gross numbers, but the one that really matters is what you're taking home and putting in your pocket. And what's awesome about virtual is you're gonna keep all of that money is so much more lucrative than doing an in person event.

Jay Clouse  12:20

One more follow up on the in person side of things. Yeah, the the liability and the overhead that you're talking about. How does that relate to cashflow I typically paying for that upfront or is that after the event?

Bari Baumgardner  12:32

It's such a great question. This is getting into contract negotiation. But ideally, you want to work with your hotel to push as many of those expenses as close to the event or after the event as you possibly can. So a little sneak tip I'll give you a little trick is we always ask for some portion of Direct Bill, meaning that they will bill you after the event. And so you're getting essentially credit with the hotel. Ideally, you want 100% credit, and they'll base this on your business credit and your personal credit, they'll look at both. Even if you're only to get a portion, take it because the next event you do, they're going to look at that. And when you've paid it on time and then paid the balance on time, they'll give you more credit and a time, over time, you'll end up with 100% direct billing, which is fantastic. Because then you're putting all that liability, you're so liable for it, but you're going to be paying for it afterwards. The other expenses like print and product are generally going to be about two weeks to three weeks out. Same thing for your audiovisual team, they're going to want to be paid in full, or at least the majority paid in full photographers, videographers anything like that team, you may have team expenses, where they're going to need some commitment from you in advance. But we're always looking at what portion can we put down as a deposit, and then what portion can we push off to the end, or even after the event, generally 30 days after is awesome. Especially if you're doing an enrollment event with a high ticket offer, you're gonna be getting deposits in for people to be in your program. And that's going to pay for the expenses. And the overhead. Another little sneak tip I'll say is you might be thinking, well, all those registration fees are going to pay for it. So you know, the revenue side is that generally with enrollment events, we're charging less on the front end and making more of our money on the back end, which is why that liability can be so scary. But your ticket costs vary depending on the type of event you're having. We can talk about that if you'd like to, but it's all over the map from $97 to $5,000. Depending on what you're doing. You know, I think the thing to think about too is like could you have sponsorship with sponsors? Is there some vendor that might want to partner with you that would be willing to offset some of these costs or pay for some of these costs or partner with you or they're speakers that might be willing to go in with you or would pay for an opportunity to be on your stage and as long as they're right fit and complimentary to your program. It can help offset some of those expenses on the front end.

Jay Clouse  14:44

Love, love, love those tips of how to offset some of those expenses. My mind went to an assumption that may or may not be true, and I'd love to hear your take on this. Yeah, I would assume that the terms are harder to dictate on a location that's more in demand. Like if I went to a place That's not a marquee venue or in like a major metro, it might be easier to negotiate. Is that true?

Bari Baumgardner  15:07

It's so true. So first of all, like your local Courtyard Marriott is probably going to be far easier to negotiate with than your local Ritz Carlton. And if you're in a premier city, think of this as if you have an international airport, a truly international airport, then you're a first tier city. First tier cities are cities like Atlanta, Phoenix, Las Vegas, San Diego, Orlando, those are all cities, Dallas, they have international hubs, they're popular cities, and they're more in demand, you will pay more to be there. But their sister cities which are second tier, like Sister City to Dallas would be Houston, Sister City to Orlando would be Tampa, Sister City to Miami would be Fort Lauderdale. So they're one tear below, those tend to be less expensive, because they're less than demand. And then the next piece to know depending on the time of year. So Miami, when it's super hot is going to be less expensive than in the summer. In the winter, when all the people who are escaping the cold are coming and paying a premium to be there. Phoenix is going to be less expensive in the summer, then it's going to be in the winter. Chicago is going to be less expensive in the winter, that it's going to be in the summer. So if you factor in seasonal averages, it can help a lot. And then the other thing to know is that a resort is going to be more expensive than an economy Hotel. So the more amenities you add, the more you're going to pay. And another little sneak tip I'll give you is that the hotel night that's hardest to fill in the industry across the board is Sunday night, that tends to be the emptiest night in the hotel world, regardless of city, regardless of type of hotel is if you're willing to do an event where your attendees might arrive on a Sunday. And it's like a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, you're likely to get a better deal than if you're doing it over primetime during the week for a corporate hotel, or on the weekend for a resort hotel. All of that matters.

Jay Clouse  16:52

The sneak tips are so good. Thank you very has me thinking like there are trade offs here. You know, if you do a sister city, it sounds like you're probably going to save some money. But it might be harder for people to travel in to so you're almost like pushing.

Bari Baumgardner  17:06

We're shaping more expensive, right? Yeah, I mean of that connecting flight, but it may be offset by the hotel. And here's another interesting thing right now, travel is that 47% from pre COVID numbers. So because of inflation, recession, and pent up demand from COVID, we have once people were able to travel again, we had leisure travel, corporate travel, event travel, everything picking up. And so right now 47% More for flights for hotel, and food costs are up because of supply chain issues. So this is another reason why virtual is a really powerful opportunity. If you're doing first or next and you're just trying to bite your teeth on this or cut your teeth on this, you don't have to worry about that. And neither do your attendees. So so often an attendee will come into an event filling cash poor before they've even gotten started. I mean, they've had to pay for the hotel and the Uber and the flight and the, you know, they went down to the bar to grab a burger and it was $25. And they're used to paying 10 You know, that kind of thing can automatically having them feel like they don't have any money in their pocket. And if you're making a high ticket offer, we're asking them to spend money at your event and they're already feeling cash poor, that's certainly harder than when they're doing it from home and they don't have any expenses, only thing they had to do was bargain with their spouse probably to say, Hey, can I just have a quiet three days, and you know, the guest room to attend this virtual event. What I also love is that attendee could say to their spouse, you know, a three day event is really a five day event with the travel, but with a virtual event. It's like listen, I'm don't have to travel anywhere, I just need the three days, I'll even be here to like, tuck the kids in at the end of the night. And I'll seek out to make you guys dinner when we have a break. So it's a little bit easier to barter for that time you want then Hey, honey, I'm going to be flying to Vegas for five days, you've got the kids Good luck with that, I'll see what I get back and your spouse is like I don't think so. So it's a little bit easier to barter for the time of virtual than it is when you might be going to find first your destination.

Jay Clouse  18:59

After a quick break, Bari and I talk about your budget for an in person event. And later we talk about the perfect framework for any three day event. So stick around and we'll be right back.

Jay Clouse  19:11

And now back to the show. All right, well, we're gonna do we're gonna do our virtual and in person comparison. But last last question the in person things we can do that comparison, if I'm gonna if I'm doing a good job and being economical and smart, but still hiring help with this. How much should I be budgeting as a first time event vreator?

Bari Baumgardner  19:32

That's such a good question.

Jay Clouse  19:33

And you can give me a range obviously.

Bari Baumgardner  19:35

Yeah, I think this varies so much by what city you're in. You're going to spend more if it's first here, of course, if you have good partnerships, and if you're a good negotiator. There are so many ways to cut corners. For example, you might be able to use a community center like you might live in a building that has a center that you can run out or your church might have that or your gym or your you know, local YMCA. There are ways that you could get more economic well with your venue than using a hotel and just let attendees stay where they may, but I would say like, you know, a blender, this is like, wow, I mean, like such a broad range depending on what you're doing. But if you're just getting started and saying you're doing an intimate event for like 25 to 50 people, I think you could do it for under $10,000. And the more people you add, you can start to do the math on like, you double the number of people, you can almost double your expenses, there's certain tipping points. And this is another tip, hopefully not to confuse you guys. But whenever we look at a budget, we look at, like fixed expenses and variable expenses is when you're looking at your numbers. A fixed expense would be your AV team, whether you have 50 people or 150 people, you're having the same AV in the room. So the more people you have, the cost per head has gone down on that expense. But a variable expense would be a cup of coffee, you have to serve one for every person who comes in the room. So whether you have 50 or 150, that cup of coffee, coffee costs the same, you're just having to order more of it because you have more people. So with our budgets, we're always looking at what are the fixed expenses and the variable for a combined a safe industry average that I've used a lot using that model is about $350 a person when you factor in a venue rental, food and beverage, some rooms for you and your team print and product audiovisual a photographer, because you're gonna want to capture some pictures to use for future marketing. When you do like just the basics that I really think are non negotiables. It's around 350 ahead. And granted, you could get it for less. And granted, you could spend more, but it's a good blended average.

Jay Clouse  21:32

That's so helpful because people running the math in their heads. Now they at least have something to give a baseline because they'd probably be thinking thinking about ticket price. And if I am going to have a high ticket offer, you know, how many do I expect to sell. So it helps to see how these things offset, because, as I understand it, a lot of the folks in the Creator world running these events. Part of this is a brand play, right and getting yourself out there. Part of it is relationships. And of course you want to turn a profit on the event. But it seems like there are a lot more factors that go in and creators aren't typically just using events as a profit center.

Bari Baumgardner  22:06

Right? Well, here's the thing. I think much like writing a book is a credibility builder. Having an event is a credibility builder. And I think when people you can even look at a speaker, a keynote speaker who's really well known in the space, the minute that speaker has their own event, it's like it's elevated them to a new status. There's some even if you're having intimate events, smaller events, there's something about the fact that you're hosting your own event, you have your own stage, you have your own platform, much like a podcast, it's the dividing line in the sand, I think that has people take you more seriously. And I think there's something about the power of a stage that really gets people's attention. So you get this, we always say look at the whole continuum. So often when people are planning an event, whether it's virtual or in person, we're looking at that moment in time, but you have the pre event ramp up, where you're getting a lot of credibility from your partners from your Facebook, advertising, your organic, social, whatever you're doing to build awareness of the event you're having. And then you have what we call the event echo, which is word of mouth, people posting on social you putting your sizzle out there putting patient pictures out there results out there. So that continuum of pre event event and post event can really create a massive bump in your business. And I think for a lot of people, when we hear of an overnight success, like where did they come from nine times out of 10. There's an event attached to that. So it's a great awareness builder, credibility builder, and something I often look at is that you can be an expert in your space. But I think hosting your own event makes you the authority in your space. And there's a difference between expert and authority. So especially if you want to be a category King in a specific area, claiming that space where you're not just another expert, you're the authority by virtue of the fact that you host the event on that space is huge for growing your brand and growing your profit center.

Jay Clouse  23:56

This is so next level and it's stretching me and I love it. So thank you. You're saying the word event and you gave us some budget figure think figures per head? are you assuming a three day event? When you're when you're saying these things?

Bari Baumgardner  24:10

Yes, you might have caught that I really am talking about a three days. So at Sage regardless of what size client you are, we've really recommend a three day event whether you have no experience or a ton of experience. And I'm going to use a simple analogy for why. If I had more time, I'd write you a shorter letter. What I mean by that is it's harder to write a short letter than it is to write a long one. It's harder to give a TED talk than it is to give a workshop and consequentially like the same is for events a one day is harder than a three day a half day is harder than a one day like the more compressed you make it the more dialed in, you must be as a host, especially if you're making a high ticket offer. It doesn't give you a lot of time to build rapport with your audience to make the offer to make any corrections on the offer and to give your audience time to perceive whether The offers right for them. I really believe the audiences come in two types. You've got emotional buyers and logical buyers. Now I happen to be married to an emotional buyer, my husband Blue has never met an offer. He doesn't like we have subscriptions to toothpaste, underwear, socks, like whatever it is blues, like I'm all and he's the guy in the middle of the night is like, oh, yeah, on TV. All by that sounds good. I'm a logical buyer. And so anytime I hear an offer, I'm the one and the nitty gritty like so, you know, like, if I'm buying a car, I'm literally reading the contract. I'm literally saying when you say this, like, can I cross do that? Is this something that, you know, so audiences are both and I think a longer event doesn't penalize your logical buyers, by forcing them into a quick decision they might not be ready for. So I really love a three day because it's very forgiving to the host and to the audience. And again, if you're making a high ticket offer, and I think of a high ticket, as you know, done for you service group coaching mastermind over 5k, I find that dividing line is about 5k. When you're investing more than 5k. In your logical buyer, you're going to take a minute, and we jokingly say consult yourself, your spouse and your spirit guides, right? Like you're gonna be like, is this right for me? Like should I be doing this? And so you want that logical buyer to have a minute to really be thinking about is this right and to get their questions answered, so that they will say yes, so our three day model is calibrated on time to build trust and reciprocity, without making any offer time to build up a pent up demand for the offer. And then time to answer questions for the logical buyer. So they have time to say yes to the offer. So for all those reasons, three day, please, please, three day.

Jay Clouse  26:37

I would love to talk through that framework a little bit more, because I'm assuming the first part of the first day isn't someone going on stage and saying, Hey, I'm going to sell you this $5,000 thing and three days. And let me tell you why. But I assume they're also not letting it go till the very last session to talk about an ether. So how does that how does that flow work for an event that is impactful just for the events sake, but then also converts to some people saying, yeah, this offer is right for me.

Bari Baumgardner  27:02

Yeah, well, I think first of all, really quick, I think a buyer psychology is our job is to take them from free to paid through this little arc, which is what you can do that I had no idea you could do that. Jay, that's amazing. You can host a podcast, that's incredible. To wait, I can do that. Wait, now that I learned how this works, I think I could actually do that, too. Going into Wait, I will do that now that I know how this works, I am absolutely going to do that. Then they come to your event, they moved from free to paid ticket to your event. They learn your methodology, they hear your offer, and they're like, Wow, I must do that I have to do that offer. And then do the last day thinking wait a minute, I'm crazy not to do that, like the logical buyers are like now that I think through all of this, I'm crazy not to do that. So if we're going to take them from you can do that too, I can do that, I will do that, I must do that. I'm crazy not to do that. We need a minute to get them through that cycle. So I like for the three day what I call the three by three pHG. It's three things over three days. So each day you do three things. The first day is content connection community, you're gonna give them incredible content, like they are going to be Aha, after Aha, they're thinking to themselves, this is so amazing. I'm so glad I came what incredible content, then the next piece is connection. They feel connected to you as the host. They feel connected to the other say community, and they feel connected to this higher sense of what's possible for them. And this is really important. Anything you're selling, I want you to think about this, whether it's an event or not an event. At the end of the day our job of for selling something is to enroll people and their belief that they can do it because if they don't believe they can do it, why are they going to pay you to help them do it right you can do that I can do that wait now that I can do that I want you to help me do that. So on day one, content connection and community with the most important piece being that based on your content and this sense of like minded community, I'm seeing something for myself I couldn't see before and now that I see where I want to go and I see where I am I see the gap what happens we see a gap, we want to close it that leads to day two. So the three things for day two are I'm in pain over the gap. Like the more you teach the more I learned the more I see the gap the more I want to close the gap, the more I see where I'm stuck. Can you please help me solve this? Like yes, I have a solution for you in the form of an invitation. I'd like to invite you to join me in my offer I actually have a program that actually helps you do this over the long haul we're all be with you doing it So day two is pain solution invitation so if day one is content connection, Community Day Two pain solution invitation, we're moving into day three with our logical buyers the offers now on the table we've made the invitation and I think the three things for day three are decision commitment celebration, decide to do something differently. Don't let this be three days wasted. Commit to a timeline preferably today like when you're getting started preferably today and then celebrate what's it going to look like when you get to that goal if in deciding committing and celebrate and you realized you could really use help. And I want to remind you, it's not too late for you to join me in the invitation. So that flow logically takes people through a pent up demand to actually want your offer like before you then make it. They're like, Jay, this is amazing. I want more. And you're like, I thought you would I have something for you right here. And then those logical buyers have time to think about it, ask questions, and then decide, commit, celebrate.

Jay Clouse  30:24

I love how tactical we're getting with this. And I'm thinking through some of the events that I have gone to that are three day events and trying to map this on to it. What's coming up for me is a lot of events I go to, which is packed with speakers, right, just like packed with speakers. And what I'm trying to understand is how do invited speakers map to the strategy of I want to show people a gap that I as the host of the event can help them solve? How do I think through that?

Bari Baumgardner  30:54

I love this question so much, and most people don't get there as quickly as you did. This is actually one of the most important things in live events. And I think in sales in general, it's through line, there has to be a through line in your event that through line of taking them from, you can do that, I will do that, I must do that. I'm crazy not to do that. If you have a speaker on your stage, and they don't know that you're doing that the chances of them botching your event are huge. And here's what can happen. This is the danger, I actually had a huge name in our space, somebody that most people would love to have on their stage, they did an incredible job, the audience loved them. But what they said at this event is you don't need to buy anything, everything you need is free on the internet. And this was at an event where we were selling something that's not free on the internet. So immediately, there's this disconnect. Now the audience didn't know the audience loved it, the audience is like that was an amazing speaker. That was an incredible talk. I'm so fired up. This is amazing. The host was cringing backstage, because it could not have been a worse message for what we're trying to do that week. So you can't allow yourself to be blindsided by your own speaker, it's really critical that you have a pre meeting with your speaker and say, I put you in this program in this spot. Because what's happening before you is what's happening after you is you're the bridge between those things. And the outcome for your talk is like you want a speaker to be clear that there's an outcome, there's a reason why you invited them there. And you want to make sure they're able to see it or at least be in service to the bigger through line of your event, which is making a high ticket offer. So it's really critical. And I will just throw in there that those events, I think of them as kind of speaker buffets, where you have lots of speakers, I want you to know it's not necessary. So if you're out there and thinking about doing your first event or your next event, you don't have a budget for speakers, you don't have connections, to have those people on your stage, just know that your right fit audience is paying to see you, they want you. So that's a nice, not unnecessary, you don't have to have outside speakers. But if you're going to have them, you have to follow what I just told you about making sure they understand that through line.

Jay Clouse  33:00

What I'm realizing is I've gone to events that I think were trying to be profitable in their own right, as opposed to making an offer, because it seemed like their strategy was speakers bring in ticket sales. And they were often telling speakers, hey, this isn't an opportunity for you to sell you're saying from stage, which probably means they weren't paying those speakers are not paying a full rate, if that's the pitch to them. And it sounds like what you're advocating for is if I'm going to do a three day event that is getting people even deeper into the trust they have in me and moving towards this high ticket offer. I'm probably paying my speakers to help set that agenda for me.

Bari Baumgardner  33:41

So good. And I really think this takes us full circle to big why. So why I think it's so important to be clear on what you want from your event is that there are events that are speaker buffets that really are designed to be that and there's nothing wrong with that. Like I'm the host, I've curated a group of guests or of speakers that I brought in to speak to you because I know they have content you need. And also they have programs you need, they're going to make those programs available to you because you're one of my guests. And so you're going to benefit from my connections to know someone you didn't even know you needed to know and buy something you didn't even know you needed to buy. And I'm gonna get a cut of it. So as the speaker, everybody wins, and you can make a lot of money that way. But it's a very different style from I'm bringing you in, because I'm the authority, I want you to learn from me, I want to take you on a journey, I'm going to map it out for you so that you're actually learning a methodology in service to you. I may bring in speakers at certain moments that can enhance the learning and help you really land the methodology. But ultimately, if you want to do more work, I want you to invest with me because I know the journey you should be on and I know how to get you there faster, simpler and easier. They're both lucrative models, but they're radically different models. And most of our clients are doing the latter because they're really using a live event and high ticket offer to have what we call a purpose driven pay day which is I want purpose and pay day impact and in Come, I've really tried to build my impact and my legacy in the world, and I want to be paid well for it. And the fastest path to that is an enrollment event with a high ticket offer where you're the star. And you may bring in one or two speakers, that's up to you, they may or may not sell something also up to you. And if they do, make sure it's limited and not in competition with you, but really, you're the star, like the focus is on your methodology.

Jay Clouse  35:22

So if I'm not doing the speaker buffet event, does the event become a Jay buffet? Like, how much time am I spending on stage versus like, how do I fill that time, they're there for three days, How do I structure all those time blocks? because it feels like it could be a lot on me.

Bari Baumgardner  35:37

I love a Jay buffet so much. It is a Jay buffet. And here's how I look at it. This is really fascinating. If you were to take a three day event, let's say you have four sessions on day one, five, on day two, and three, on day three, that's my recommended number, especially if you're just getting started out. So for 90 minute sessions on day one, 590 minute sessions on day two and 390 minute sessions on day three, that's a total of 12 sessions, right, you're gonna have a welcome session where you're just warming them up, right, you can't just walk out and start teaching. And you're gonna have a wrap up session where you close things out. So now 12 is down to 10, you're gonna have an offer session. So now you're down to nine, you're gonna have a laser coaching session on Night to Remember I said there are five sessions on day two. That's because after you make your offer, I want you to do some laser coaching so that they can see you in your zone of genius. So now you're down to eight, what's a laser laser coaching would be where you take a topic and you troubleshoot it, you think tank it, you brainstorm it. So for example, at my event, I might say, we're going to do laser coaching tonight on how to fill your event, I'm going to take three students and deconstruct with them how to fill their events. So they're actually seeing you and your zone of genius, which makes them more likely to want to invest with you. The next morning, the morning of day three, you're going to do some form of reap pitch. Think of this as cart close. This is a way of saying we're about to close the cart on your ability to purchase and invest in this program. So I want to give you the opportunity to a get questions answered and B make a decision. So now you're down to seven sessions. So think about this. Seven sessions Do you have seven pieces of content that are part of your methodology part of your zone of genius that you could teach. And those seven sessions are 90 minutes each. And there needs to be a little bit of q&a, there should be a little bit of exercise time, a little bit of share time. So even in a 90 minute session, you might only be teaching 45 to 60 minutes. So you're talking about maybe seven hours of content outside of the welcome the clothes, the offer, or the laser coaching, and the repitch the next morning. So it's really really doable. Like it's rare, the person that I meet that doesn't have enough content to fill seven hours.

Jay Clouse  37:48

Yeah, what's coming to mind for me is I had always imagined events as like these giant, like a ton of sessions and a bunch of them are breakouts. And so people are even like going off in small groupings to learn different things. But what you're kind of describing is, hey, you're going to essentially teach a course over the course of three days that's very intentionally designed in his curriculum to make the obvious next step, your high ticket thing to go the next the next path?

Bari Baumgardner  38:18

Yeah, yeah, I think it is a natural step. And here's the way that I look at it to jays, like, if I put on an amazing event, and people were like, so fired up like that, Jay, this is was amazing content. I love this. I want more like where do I get deeper learning? Where do I get deeper work on this, like, I don't know, good luck. Like the rodents here, I gave you all I've got, go forth and prosper. You know, like that would be actually not in service to the people we want to help. So to me, it's a natural extension. I think this is really critical, too. I do not believe in events that are bait and switch events. Meaning that I'm giving you just enough information to make you dangerous or if you want the really good stuff you have to buy the next thing. That's not we're talking about here, like your free stuff ought to be amazing. But free, needs to be bite sized. It's like a taster. Right? You taste it. And you're like what you can do that I can do that. That tastes so good. I want more. And you're like I thought you would you should join me for my live event. They come to the live event like this has been amazing. I've really loved this entree. I'd love dessert like I thought you would I have that ready right here. Let me invite you to do that. Let me just think about the natural journey for people of consuming in small bites, and then being ready for the entree and then wanting like the whole enchilada, right? They want to have the full experience. And so your job as a host in any market that you're in, is to really think about what are the bite sized pieces that would attract my right fit client, make them want to do more with me, the deeper learning that would have them really be invested in the methodology and want more and then ultimately continue the work. And this is a critical piece of that today's non buyer is tomorrow's buyer like you're never going to be in a space where everyone in your room is going to buy some people are going to say, this was amazing, Jay, I'm really happy with this. We'll see you next year, like, Great, I'll see you next year, because chances are that person wasn't ready today, but they'll be ready next year. So if we're in this for the long haul, we're actually building event after event on success after success. And over time, our raving fans, students remember back to when I said you want them to rave and renew and recruit are getting such great results that they start to pull other students in who are also now coaching with you because they want to get those same results. This is how you build a highly leveraged scaled business year over year using the power of a live event and a high ticket offer.

Jay Clouse  40:36

When we come back, Barry and I talked about how to fill the room at your event, how to think about staffing and her experience working with Tony Robbins. So don't go anywhere. We'll be right back.

Jay Clouse  40:46

And now back to the show. If I'm listening to this, and I'm thinking, okay, yeah, 2023 going to do my first event, should I assume that I'm going to drive from my existing audience, like what percentage of customers are like ticket buyers, because some people do events as a list building strategy. I know. And it's like, usually a free event. And I'm sure there are people that will see my marketing for this event who are not in my audience today. That said, yeah, I want to do that. But for my first event, how much of that will likely be my existing audience?

Bari Baumgardner  41:21

Let's use that little case study example. Let's say that you have a list of 500. And they're warm clients, they've been following you, they're fairly new to you, they're not a cold list, I would think a minimum of 10% would convert to a live event even at $97. Not free at a simple simple ticket price, is let's say I had 50 people at my event, let's say made a high ticket offer and only 10% of them bought, which is a very reasonable conversion rate, that would be five people at $5,000. That's a $25,000. Payday. If you did that once a quarter, that's a six figure year. And that's really easy to do with virtual and you can start to do the math on scaling that based on size of your list and conversion percentages and the price point for your offer. But even at the lowest possible conversion percentage for your list, the lowest possible conversion percentage for your event, and the lowest possible high ticket offer, it's still a pretty good pay day. So you know, the warmer your list, the more likely you are to have higher conversions. But it would really recommend not having a three day live event that's free, you know, free generally converts at about 35%. Meaning if you think of your typical webinar, or challenge, we don't expect more than 25 to 35% of the people who signed up to show up. So when we add a ticket price to it, they're more likely to take it seriously and just show up. And that's what we want. We want that because we want them to have the experience. We want them to be in the room. And we want them to ultimately spend enough time with us that they decide to spend more time with us like in the form of high ticket offer.

Jay Clouse  42:48

That math is helpful. I think a lot of people who listen to this show and are getting into this creator world, they're still pretty young in terms of they don't have a huge audience yet. And they're wondering, are live events for me? Are those an audience building strategy or should I wait until I've actually built an audience to consider doing that?

Bari Baumgardner  43:06

Got it. Yes, great question. So the way I would look at it is yes, it is. But primarily based on that front end. Remember, I mentioned the continuum. And what you do on the front end to attract people to your live event, two of the simplest ways to fill a live event at a $97 ticket price, or a webinar or a challenge. And either one of those is going to be a list builder. And they're going to create a warm list for you. And they both convert pretty well. Like we have filled events ourselves using just a webinar, we filled events for ourselves using just a three day challenge, or was like two hours a day for three days. But we're building continuity and trust with that audience. And then on the third day, saying, If you love this, would you like to join us for the live event? It's just $97. We'll spend three full days together. And we're gonna go deeper on all these topics. I think the key to this again is like think of this like Costco, if you go to Costco on a Saturday morning, which is my favorite time to go to Costco because they have the little people out at the end of the aisle who are giving you a sample, right? And you walk by and you're like, oh, yeah, I would like to try that. You try like, well, that's amazing. I didn't even I didn't come for that. But I'm not leaving without it. Like I thought you'd say that. Would you like one box or two. It's like the brilliance of Costco, you end up buying all the things that you did not go there for half the time you leave, you're like shoot, I did not get paying. I came for it. But all the things I didn't come for. So really your job was free webinar or challenge is that taster component, like give them that sense of like, why che you can do that. I had no idea you could do that. Well, I think I could do that and be like I thought so one box or two, which is essentially, would you like to join me for three days for just $97 like based on the quality of the value that you've gotten here. Do you think just for $97 You wouldn't make that up over three days, then join me and then at the event, they're getting a deeper taste and then they're more likely to come to your high ticket offer. But listen, so I think events are list builders, but based on what you're doing on the front end to fill the event, not the event itself. I think the event then is a credibility builder and an authority builder and a leverage builder, because that's where you can make the high ticket offer.

Jay Clouse  45:11

All right? Well, let's switch gears into the virtual side of things. We've had some compare and contrast. So far, you know, you've mentioned that the costs are obviously going to be lower when you do virtual, it's going to be an easier conversation for me to have with my, my spouse, or my family or my roommates to say, hey, this isn't a five day event is a three day event. I'd love to hear how everything you've mentioned, here maps to this virtual strategy, because one thing that comes to mind for me is it's more accessible. That's amazing. Does my cost of tickets need to go down? Is 90 minutes too long of a session when it's online? You know, so How else does the strategy map to virtual and change in meaningful ways?

Bari Baumgardner  45:49

These are my favorite questions these days. I'm so glad you asked. So what we've done with virtual I mean, listen, we have 15 years, and in person events, we generated 700 million over this 15 years through high ticket offers for our clients. Then with COVID, we had two years of virtual events, and we generated 500 million from virtual events. Do you do the math like 15 years? 700,000,002 years? 500 million? You might say, What's the difference? Well, part of it is you can host them more frequently. So we're able to do more events in that time period. But part of it is that the events attracted more people to them, because they were virtual, we had higher show up rates, and they stuck with us for the full three days. So if you've been to an in person event, you might have noticed the day three effect, which is on day three, the afternoon of day three, starting about noon, people start slowly leaving the room as they go to checkout and make their flights. Because they had to make that decision. Do I stay tonight? Or do I take the last flight out? Or do I leave a little bit early so that I can get home right? The benefit of virtual is you don't have to make that decision, like you can be there till the end. And the minute it ends, you're right where you need to be you can run to the baseball game or go to the grocery store or fix or whatever you need to do, right. So we found that people do actually stick with us longer in virtual. So to your original question, we didn't change a thing, we don't charge less, we actually charge the exact same. So for events that we did in person that we converted to virtual during COVID, we charge the exact same we did not change the ticket price. In fact, they're more likely to spend more because they don't have to spend on a flight on a hotel, that kind of thing. But we didn't charge more, we charged the same ticket over ticket. The other thing was we did not change the format. The 3d format that I just shared with you is the exact same for in person than it is for virtual, we did have to virtualize some things. Let me talk to you about what's a little bit different. You think of an in person event. Have you ever been to an in person event where you didn't have to get credentials when you walked in? Like you had to go get a badge? They wouldn't just be like, Sure, come on in the ballroom, come on Come All right, you had to go through registration. So for virtual events, we do that to people click a link and they have a virtual registration where someone on Zoom, checks them in gives them their credentials, their virtual credentials, make sure they've tested their tech make sure they know where they're going in the morning, just like in person, what's the most frequent question you get at registration is where am I supposed to go tomorrow morning for this event, you're like right here in this ballroom, so we make sure they know what they're doing. So everything we did in person we did virtually for registration, we just virtualized it. The second thing that I think you have to do is you know, you get like that journal, that workbook that we talked about some kind of, you know, paperwork that you're going to use in virtual, we ship that to them, and we make sure it arrives the week of the event. And it can be flat swag it does. It can be you know, in an envelope, it does not need to be in a box, although I do love a box of gifts. But it doesn't have to be that. And here's the magic to it. Someone knocks on your door and hands you something right, it's in a FedEx envelope or ups that you can send to ground, it doesn't have to be expensive. In fact, when you send it in those envelopes, they pay for the packaging, it's even better. But then you get that not only are you like, oh yeah, I forgot I have this event this week. But you're like, wow, this isn't just a three day Zoom meeting. This is like the jet or this isn't just a three day webinar. Like I've never gotten like a gift before for signing up for a virtual event. And there's some reciprocity because they're like, This is amazing. Now I want to I want to show up for you because you just gave me a gift. And then we have some form of gamification, where there's interactivity, you know, gamification is, you know, the simplest form is you could have every attendees name on a strip of paper and a bowl and when they come back on time, you pick a name, and you say, I'm sending you a $50 amazon gift card, like there's something that's keeping them engaged and involved, which leads to the fourth thing, I really love breakouts. So if you think about an in person event, you're likely to have shares and exercises, things that you might do around the table or turn to the person next to you. You need some form of that and virtual and the Power Zoom. Remember I said you need a TV, a computer and a Zoom account in zoom free of charge. You can do breakouts where you are automatically send people into little rooms where they can network and do shares together. So it really makes it, I think it's so important, Jay, that it not be that you're broadcasting at them, that you're talking with them. Like when I'm running a virtual event, I have the chat open, I'm constantly looking at their chat, I'm looking into their eyes, what's kind of cool is you have a front row seat to them, and they have a front row seat to you, and you have a front row seat to their thoughts, because unlike an in person event, they put everything in the chat, you know exactly how things are going.

Jay Clouse  50:30

And you love that you don't, you don't have to say like, Hey, quiet down, because it's not actually interrupting things.

Bari Baumgardner  50:36

No, and you know, you're getting real time feed on exactly what they're thinking, what they're loving, what they're not loving, so that you can tweak accordingly. It's Marketing Gold, because they're gonna put all their thoughts in there, which you can then use to market to your right fit client. And they're gonna say things like, this is amazing, I love this content, I'm so glad I came, like great, I'm gonna click that out and use that for my marketing next time. So you're really I love the power of virtual for all those reasons. But the key is 80% of what you do in person, and virtual is the same to 20%. That's different is the technology and the touch points. And I just gave you the keys, those four things are what you need to do to really convert your event from in person to virtual or host your first virtual.

Jay Clouse  51:17

How should I think about staffing and my own capacity during this because I've hosted just small workshops on Zoom, where people are showing up 10 minutes later, and then 15 minutes, and I'm the one clicking admit, admit admit and it takes me out of flow. So how should I be thinking about how I need to staff a virtual event?

Bari Baumgardner  51:35

Thank you for asking. I absolutely think you can't be the bride and be the wedding planner, you can't be the groom and be the caterer, I think it's really important to have someone supporting you on the technology piece so that you can be fully present to your teaching and your content. So 100%, I would be Listen, it could be a family member, if you have a teenager in your house, they're fantastic. Or you have a good friend who's techy, it doesn't have to be a higher gun. But there needs to be someone who's helping to support the technology so that you can be fully present, you're not constantly distracted with the things you need to do. In my setup, I have an ADA, many I have a road caster pro here. So you can kind of add some bells and whistles that allow you to do some switching or the person next to you to do that. But you don't need that. Like truthfully, all you need to get started is the computer, the Zoom account and the TV. And you might wonder why the TV, I really think it's important to have a larger than life screen in front of you and gallery view so that you feel really connected to the people that you're talking to versus a tiny little screen where they're barely real to you like you really want that front row seat. And that connectivity and a simple little $15 record will allow that to happen. It makes a huge difference. The only other self move I would give you is I would take two two lamps from anywhere in your house, I'd put them right there in front of you. And I'd take the lampshade off so that you've got light on your face, like I happened to have a light kit right here, you probably do too. I do. But you want some kind of lighting. But again, you don't have to break the bank on that like to lamp shade off. And those three things and you're off to the races. Little sub tip that doesn't cost you anything is stand up, don't sit like if I were presenting a lot, it's fine on a podcast to sit. It's fine on a webinar to sit. But I really think when you're presenting at a live event, you've got to stand you're going to be much more powerful and persuasive standing than sitting so standing desk or something like that.

Jay Clouse  53:27

What about staffing for this registration process? You said if I had 500 people showing up are these 501 on one zoom sessions and my budgeting five minutes apiece, 10 minutes apiece?

Bari Baumgardner  53:37

It's a great question, we think you can do about 10 an hour, we don't have them one to one. So you can start to budget how many people you might need and how many hours you could do longer hours. You can also stagger when you have people register, so they're not all coming at once I highly recommend that we stagger the reg times via email when we're sending out like time to register, you know, that kind of thing. We usually will use a mix of volunteers, our team members or there's something called a temp or brand ambassador, and they're generally about $20 an hour. So if you don't know someone like a family member, or a friend that would do this for you. And generally you can for you know, Hey, would you do me a favor? Would you help out? I'd love to buy a gift card to dinner or for 500 bucks, you know, will you support me over the next three days, that kind of thing. If you have a VA that's another person that could be doing it. But you know attempt at $20 an hour for a few hours is well worth the expense to have the person greeting them not be you, if you must, it could be you. But I think it's much more authoritative to have it be someone other than you greeting them through the registration process.

Jay Clouse  54:43

When I'm an attendee, and I'm on my computer, and there's all kinds of other things vying for my attention. How do I as the host guard against that because there's a cynical part of me that thinks conversion to the high ticket offer might be harder because people are less dialed in throughout the course of these three days because Just all the things that could be happening while I'm trying to pay attention.

Bari Baumgardner  55:03

Yeah, one of the things we tell them during the registration tech check process is you're going to want to turn off your notifications so that you can be fully present. And we walk them through how to do that on their computer, because sometimes they don't know how it but we really encourage them to be fully present not have their phone, which I say this for in person events to like your biggest distraction at an in person event is the cell phone in their hand. Where if they're, I mean, I know right away, how am I doing by how many cell phones are in use in an in person room, if you're ever wondering if your people are loving it, you have to lie on how many people are on their phone, they used to vote with their feet. Now they vote with their phones, right like with their feet, they just, they're not enjoying it. They're all in the hallway right now. So not enjoying it. They're zooming, they're doing whatever, right? They're like on Instagram. So you know, I think you have that burden these days regardless, but was virtual, we make those recommendations. And also in your housekeeping like we kick off the event with just a few reminders. This is an accumulation effect event, every session builds on the one before it, you're not going to miss the thing to miss a little is to miss a lot. So let's put phones on Do Not Disturb. Let's turn off our notifications, let's be fully present. I'm about to dive in. Like you need to do that. And listen, you need to get good at presenting. If you're a captivating presenter with amazing content, which happens it's a muscle you have to build, like, the more you do it, the better you're gonna get. I promise you, they're not gonna be on their phones. You're not on your phone during Netflix, like if you've noticed that, like very few people are on their phone when they're watching an amazing movie or show they love. It's only when we're not engaged, that we turn to that. So part of that burden is on you.

Jay Clouse  56:36

Well, I think a lot of people listening to this or watching this have probably seen some of the photos or footage of the Tony Robbins virtual experience because that thing was wild. How much pressure did you feel to make this legendary in person that go off virtually and have the same impact?

Bari Baumgardner  56:54

Yeah, it's a great question. You know, it's funny, one of the very first events I ever attended, I was right out of college. And I went to a Peter Lowe event, Tony was a speaker. And it was one of my first doses of personal development. And I was in the nosebleed seats. We won my girlfriend and I that went together won this Tony Robbins DVD set like CD set of like listening to I think, you know, Unleash the Power Within whatever it was. And it's amazing to me, fast forward to May 2020. And Tony walks into our studio courtesy of a good friend, Dean Grazi OC, who called the attorney and said, You've got to go check out what sage is doing. So he flew here, I think they told us like, don't keep Tony, he's got a lot going on. And he'll probably be there for less than 45 minutes, like okay, we get it. He was here for four hours. And over that four hours, we mapped out his vision for taking our studio, which is pretty awesome. If anybody if you know Tony Robbins, he had to supersize it right, it had to be supersize for Tony, and turn it into a virtual stadium, you know, collaborating with someone who has such an iconic vision, I mean, again, and authority in their space to category King and personal development. What I loved was his focus was similar to ours, and that we really felt like it was more about the host first, and the attendees second, meaning if Tony didn't feel it, he wasn't going to enjoy it, then they weren't going to enjoy it. So everything we looked at was through the perspective of how can Tony hear or see their response? How can Tony connect with them individually? How can Tony do q&a and shares and spotlights and together we started co creating with this immersive experience Kobe, we were rewarded with our largest virtual UPW. I mean, really our largest UPW ever it just happened to be virtual. We had 25,000 People at that event. Wow, the pressure was intense. At first they said it'll be 10,000. And we were ready. And then they said 15,020 1000 Like I think we're gonna have 25,000 people flew and I was scrambling behind the scenes to make all the tech work for that. But what was really incredible and I want you all to think about this. I remember standing next to Tony during like one of the speakers that was on stage. And he's like, you know, I was blown away by having 25,000 People were even more blown away by is it's more than 25,000 people, because in every little box was not one person but two people, or a whole family watching or group of friends watching or a classroom watching. If you start to do the math, it was more like 75,000 people. And this is what I think is cool, is that if you were to fly to UPW and covet your family to give you the time off to do it right the time away. You probably wouldn't bring your nine year old, you probably wouldn't bring your grandparents. But when you're watching it at home, and then you know you see i We've literally watched this happen, someone walks behind and they're like, oh, yeah, what are they doing? That's interesting, and they move on and they walked by like it really is interesting. They kind of lean in and like wow, and they start they like I'm just sit down on the sofa. I'm actually going to listen to this and before you know it, they're jumping up and down. If you've been dealing with BW nerds jumping up and down. And then before you know it, there's a nine year old in there and then there's a grandparent in there. And I loved watching the whole family get introduced to personal development like imagine being a nine year old and learning personal development from Tony Robbins in your living room like, it's really incredible. So I want you all to be thinking of this, like, what's the power for your audience? If you are the Tony Robbins to somebody, right? And so when you think of the people that you're meant to serve, what is the power of them being able to zoom in from their office, from their living room, from their apartment, from their basement, with their family or without with their friends? I mean, I've heard people say, don't you worry about the fact that they purchase one ticket, but five people watched? No, because at the end of the day, we're trying to have impact and influence the more people that listen, they're more likely to become followers, and they're more likely to be buyers. So now instead of one buyer, you've got five, what's wrong with that, and the world that we're in, that's what you want to have happen. And I think it is really like one of the most positive upsides of virtual is what's absolutely possible, just through the power of virtual live event.

Jay Clouse  1:00:52

Renew and recruit.

Bari Baumgardner  1:00:53

Yeah.

Jay Clouse  1:00:54

So I'm listening to this. And this all feels much more accessible to me. But now I have this gap. I have this painful gap. What are the next steps that I should take if I'm thinking about putting in place a virtual or live event next year?

Bari Baumgardner  1:01:08

Yeah, I mean, I think the first thing, put the date on the calendar, you got to start with the date that makes it real, just put the date on the calendar, we often say written in sand, not in stone, but at least put that in there as a starting point. And then get clear on your big why what's your outcome for this event, who's the right fit client, who's the person you're really meant to be hosting this for? And you know, I learned this from Dean grazioso. I like to give credit where credit is do but he calls it your dot, it's not like a wide net you're casting it's like, the more specific you can be who is that person that you're meant to serve, put all of your marketing and attracting that right fit client, what are your non negotiables and what would make them rave at renewal recruit what would take them on that journey from you can do that, I could do that, I will do that, I must do that. I'm crazy not to do that. put some thought into the strategy first, and then put your logistics and to place, it is so much easier to design your offer and then reverse engineer from there. And do that based on your big why and your right fit client, your non negotiables and your raving fan deliverables, I promise you if you start there and reverse engineer, macro, clear, micro easy, all the things that would have been hard are going to be so much easier because you're clear on the big vision. And then it's get out there and do it like this really is like about iteration. If you want to make money through the power of live events, or really anything you want to master anything. It is through iteration that we get better. So it's not like you're just gonna host one event, you're gonna host the first of many events and with each event, you're gonna get better. And of course, it doesn't hurt to get some really great coaching from people who know what they're doing so that you're not making mistakes, you're not reinventing the wheel. But the most important thing is put the data out there and just get out there and do it.

Jay Clouse  1:02:50

I really feel like Bari has laid out a perfect blueprint here for your own in person or virtual event. If you wanna learn more about Bari, you can visit her website poweredbysage.com. The link to that is in the show notes. Thanks to Bari for being on the show. Thank you to Connor Conaboy for editing the video for this episode. Thanks to Emily Clouse for making the artwork for this episode. Thanks to Nathan Todhunter for mixing the show and Brian Skeel for creating our music. If you like this episode, you can tweet @jayclouse and let me know and if you really want to say thank you, please leave a review on Apple podcasts or Spotify. Thanks for listening and I'll talk to you next week.