243: Run Live Events and Workshops with Direct Response Event Planner Sherrie Sokolowski

Robert Plank 0:00 Robert Plank Show episode 243, run live events and workshops with direct response event planner Sherry Sokolowski. Hey everybody, and welcome back to the program. We're joined today with Sherry Sokolowski, and over the course of her 11 year career, she's combined the wisdom of marketing and event planning experts by obtaining the level of knowledge, wisdom and understanding that enables her to set her business apart from the rest. We're going to talk about running events and all kinds of cool stuff. How are things today? Sherry,

Sherrie Sokolowski 0:34 things are very well. Thank you. How about you? Robert, can't complain.

Robert Plank 0:37 It's a sunny day out. Just had a big storm. The storm the storm is cleared, so off to bigger and better things. And so I was looking at your website, as we're sort of getting started here, and at SLS event planning.com and I'm seeing like you've worked with Russell Brunson and Marcus Lemonis and Bill Glazer and James malach and all these different cool people. So can you sort of tell us about you know what it is you do exactly and what makes you stand out

Sherrie Sokolowski 1:04 Absolutely. How I stand out, I'll start with that. First is, I'm not your normal event planner. I not only can I site select and contract negotiate for you and bring you great concessions to help you with your ROI and investing in my services. But I also love to help my clients with the structure and the strategies on how to fill the seats right before the call Robert and I you, we were talking about the shift in change. And what I'm able to help my clients with is, how can we reach out to your ideal clientele, and bring them to an event where you can then market your service, market what you're all about, and get that personal touch that you really can't through a webinar or an email notification or even through direct mail.

Robert Plank 1:58 Okay, and so this, this kind of event that you're describing. I mean, so what is this ideal situation exactly like, are we talking about, like, to get these clients? Like, are we talking about, like, a free event or, like, what kind of, what kind of scenario are you laying out for us here? Well,

Sherrie Sokolowski 2:14 you can look at it in many different ways. It whenever someone comes to me and they say, How can I market to my existing clients? You know, how can I get people into an event if I've never done an event before, and the big question I always ask them is, what is your existing relationship with them? Do you already market to them in a way that gives you response so that you because we all need to kind of get an idea of what our response rate is going to be like in order to figure out our marketing strategy. So that answers your question as far as, do I charge for someone to come or is it a free event? Or do I pay a refundable seat deposit? There's many different ways of going about it, but we all know free isn't value, so I'd never really recommend to anyone to offer a free event, but the way that you can go about it where they're not really paying a ticket price to come to the event there, it's actually a bonus to something else that you've already sold them into. So say, you have a product or service that you're you're offering, and part of that service is you get to come to this event to learn more about this product and service. So you bring them there, and then, let's say they bought this service or product that is at a certain level within your business. You're at this event, you're training them, and you're sharing with them all about what this new information they just received is all about. But then you take give them another opportunity to take it to the next level. So not only are you making money by using it as an opportunity for them to come and get additional training for a service or product that they've already purchased from you, but you're establishing a relationship with them on a personal level. Because you're in front of them, they get to engage with you, ask questions, shake your hand, take a picture or a selfie, as we like to say, but then you get that opportunity to say, Okay, if you think you may be ready for something else, here's another upgraded opportunity for you. And then you can sell them into something that is at a next step for them, or next level. And what it's a win, win in that situation, because then you're allowing an opportunity for your either existing client or new client to continue to work with you on a level that is comfortable for them and in a level that you want them to continue to grow. But it's also a profitable business arrangement for yourself, for your business, as well as for them, because they're going to continue to grow as well.

Robert Plank 4:38 Awesome. So as you're describing all this, it's sort of it sort of, you know, makes me think that, well, it sounds like things are either sort of in the process of changing, or it sounds like things have changed, compared to that, that old model where it's like the pitch fest, and you have a bunch of speakers, and it's this whole kind of thing where, like, every session there's, there's all this sort of sort. Of pitching going on. And so, I mean, what? What do people, like, need to know these days, in these last few years, about, you know, like, what's changed, and what changes to be willing to make in order to catch up with all those changes?

Sherrie Sokolowski 5:13 That's a great question. The the changes have been, what you just mentioned is it's not that normal pitch fashion. You still have those out there. For example, one of my clients that I'm working with right now, they have structured their events to where it's about a three to a four day event, where three of those days, three of those four days, have your speakers that come in and teach and sell and really focus more towards giving great content. So the I guess you could say, quote, unquote, pitch fests are now where hosts of events are training the speakers that come in with the upfront knowledge of saying, I don't want you to just stand up on stage and pitch to my attendees and to my clients. I want you to teach them and train them, so that you'd grab their attention to come to you and want your product and service. That's what usually two to three of those four days will be, and then the other days are what they call bonus days, or workshop days, where the people that are coming to this event, they're not going to be sitting in front of speakers who are trying to pitch them, but they're actually getting training and great content from that. And I noticed that shift happening probably in the last two and a half to three years, and it in this past year, in 2016 it really has grown and focused more towards Okay, I have a business. I have a service. How do I actually make it a real business? So another one of my clients, what they do is they market towards a particular industry, whether starting to create a new a new niche, or a new business in this industry. And they've got a few sales, or they have a few clients or a few members, and they need to know what's next, and that's what this program is about. So you're seeing the shifts being not only do you want to introduce your product and service, or whether it's a mastermind or some kind of a trainee program or software program, but how do I actually make what I what I like and what I enjoy, into an actual business? And what they've developed is that they will bring in experts that will teach you how to staff appropriately, train your staff appropriately, what other kind of software or resources you need to make your business succeed. And you know, the list could go on and on. So those are the very many different shifts I see happening over the last several years. So

Robert Plank 7:43 is what you're saying, that you're seeing more of like implementation happening at the events, as opposed to before it was just sort of teaching the generalities.

Sherrie Sokolowski 7:54 Yeah. So if you recall back in the day, a little bit of my histories, I used to run Bill glazers events for Glazer Kennedy insider circle, and a lot of what those events were, you know, bringing in speakers that that spoke about a different niche or a different part of the industry. And they would have, what would, they would call it the info summit, the blueprint. So you would walk away from events like that with a blueprint. So it would either be what notes you take while you're at the event, or maybe a product or service that you walk away from where all day you're taking these notes on? Okay, what do I need to do? Whereas the shift that we were just talking about is more of implementation of that blueprint. So the service that I mentioned earlier, that you're selling, so let's say one of your listeners has a product or service, but they want to get out there because they believe it's going to help people with their business in some fashion. Well, they sell it, and then they could the bonus to that can be a ticket to come to this one two day workshop where you get to teach them how to actually utilize that information and take it to the next level, the implementation next level. What is that that could be, maybe more, one on one, coaching with you, or maybe the next part of what that product or service could be,

Robert Plank 9:12 awesome and so, and I've heard you mentioned a few times that, um, that, or it sounds sort of like you like this idea of, instead of trying to, like, as far as you know, filling the seats with some butts instead of promoting an event on its own. It sounds like you prefer that people, like, sell a course or something, and that live event is sort of the bonus. Is that kind of on the right track.

Sherrie Sokolowski 9:36 That's part of the shift I've seen. That's not the only thing that I've seen transpire over the past couple of years, but that, I think, probably lends itself more to those startup companies out there. Maybe you have a solopreneur that's listening to the podcast that is like, what can I do to reach more people? You know, there's so much competition out there on the internet with trying to reach a certain amount of people. So if you get that personal time. Touch with them. The only way you really can do it personally is at a live event. So that's just one of many I've seen. Another great example is, let's say you have one of my other clients. They they work with dentists offices, so they provide dental offices with additional training for how to get more more butts in their seats, right, more people that need work on their dentistry, or they do an overall health lifestyle. They have all kinds of training for these dental offices to expand and grow their dental practices. And so throughout the year, they work with them on this and they train them so that they can continue to grow their practices. And another shift that I saw in this kind of industry is he has taken the brilliant idea of having not only his existing clients, there learning and training, and taking them to the next level. He does that with them throughout the whole year, and then while he's there, at this last say, level of training, he also has in another room, potential clients, so people that he wants to sell into his program of training. They haven't worked with him yet before. They just reach out to their new dental practices, and they get to come to this event. While they're there, they learn about all the different services that this business can offer them, and then they combine the two rooms for about an hour or two for lunch, and these new people that could potentially be new clients will get to hear and learn. I think we've all heard of that terminology, the best of presentations where you get to show off how well you've done in your industry or your business, they'll have a few select practices come up on stage and share their results of how they've been helped to get to and achieve that goal, and these new potential clients get to see and witness that. So that's another opportunity for people to utilize in their businesses for live events.

Robert Plank 12:03 Awesome. So, so it sounds like, I mean, it sounds like the, I don't like, the big, the big lesson that I'm hearing from here, as far as all these changes, is that now we can do some kind of cool stuff. It's not just the standard, kind of cut and dry format. Now we can sort of have fun with it. Like, there's that room with the clients, another one with the potential clients. And so, like, you know, I haven't done that many events personally, maybe like, five or six, and usually, and I haven't, it's been about four years since my last one, and usually we get about, I don't know, say, like, like 30 or 40 people in the room. Highest price point, 2497, lowest price points, been about 197 and, like, a few years ago, like, I tried this. I'm glad that that, that I'm hearing the things I'm hearing from you, because a few years ago I tried a couple times that whole, you know, workshop kind of thing, go there to open up your laptops and implement and back then, like, the Wi Fi situation, it seems like it, it wasn't really to figure it out, and then, and then, you know, likewise, you know, I haven't been, I've only been to a few live events since then, but sometimes I'll either go to, like a big event or for that smaller event, I'll buy, like the live stream. And sort of what I've been seeing a lot of is when it's those events where it's, like, just a speaker on stage, I've noticed, like almost everyone now, sort of has a laptop, sort of has their hair head sort of buried in the laptop. And so, I mean, what are your thoughts in that? Do you think that that's, like, that's bad, or is there a solution, or is it sort of, if you can't beat them, join them? Or what sort of your your thoughts on this whole, you know, wi Fi's and laptops are everywhere at events, sort of situation.

Sherrie Sokolowski 13:43 Yes, I noticed that back in the day too, when when people would bring their laptops in, and they would always come to us and say, I could have a place to plug in, or what's the Wi Fi password and and you're like, why do you need to know that? Aren't you going to be paying attention and taking notes? But then you started seeing that the apples and the Macs and things come to light where most people were using them, and those guys got the battery of the whole day. And a lot of people will come back and say, Well, I'm just I use this to take notes. So most of the time, what I can happen is people like to bring their tablets or their MacBooks to take notes of what's going on, and it's lends itself a little bit more towards the implementation. You know, we take notes and write notes and have handful of notes to come back, but if someone has an organized fashion of being able to take notes while they're doing it there, then a laptop is necessary. But to answer your question for the Wi Fi, it really, and I get that question too from my new clients a lot is, do you think we should worry about Wi Fi? And my question back to them and and to you and your listeners are, why do you think Wi Fi would be necessary? And it's really important that you actually have that discussion. Question before you start going into the site selection and contract negotiation part of it, and I tell you that, because Wi Fi can be expensive, it has changed quite a lot. Where people are hotels are realizing that they are not. I don't want to say the word legally, because I'm not a lawyer, but they really shouldn't be charging the amount of money that they have been for years, charging folks for using a Wi Fi signal in their meeting space. It's been ridiculous, but what has happened and transpired over the last I'd say, probably three years or more. Marriott started it where, when they do new hotels or they do new renovations, they bring in their own Wi Fi, whereas, for the olden days, it was in a second party another company, and that's why they were getting charged all this amount. So you have now going into this, depending on what property you go to, and I've seen that quote, unquote shift when I start site selecting and looking out for new hotels, a lot of them, what they'll offer is free Wi Fi in the meeting space. And that's anywhere from, depending on how big the group it is, anywhere from 500 to 1000s upon $10,000 worth of savings Wi Fi is necessary if you are developing some sort of a workshop, whereas one of my clients, for example, a lot of what they offer their products and services is virtually online, through a website. So when they bring their members in to have this training, quote, unquote workshop program for two days, throughout those two days on and off, they may find it necessary to say, Okay, those of you that brought your laptop, or those that didn't, let's gather around someone who did, and let's go up on our website and look at the resources I can walk you through and how to use it. So if your workshop lends itself towards that, it's necessary to have Wi Fi. So again, kind of think about if you are considering putting on an event, will Wi Fi be necessary? Will it be something I might need? And just because you ask for it up front in a contract with a hotel doesn't mean you have to have it. That sometimes people misunderstand that. So within what I call the list of concessions, if we work out something where, if I know you're going to need it, I always ask it anyway, what kind of discount Can you give my client for internet? Because back in the olden days, Robert, you remember it was just for the speaker. We'd hook up a hard line on the stage for the speaker, and maybe for the AV guys in the back, they'd have a Wi Fi or hardline connection, and no one else needed it. Because it was a distraction, and usually it can still be a distraction, but it's sometimes it can be necessary. So hopefully I answered your question, I kind of went in a roundabout way on that answer, yeah,

Robert Plank 17:50 I mean, I mean, I did answer my question and and I but I appreciate that you went in that roundabout way, because it kind of, it kind of helped us to understand your thought process, that it's not like such a cut and dry kind of thing, and some of it is sort of a judgment call and what kind of event that you want to have, but it's also good to know going in as you're sort of selecting the venue and stuff like that and so, so sort of along those lines. Well, actually, actually, one thing I kind of want to say is, um, like, I don't know, like, for me, and I'm not sure if this is sort of, like an outdated way of thinking, but for me, like I said, like, it's been a bunch of years since we've run events, and we've never really, really run, like, any humongous events, but even from just that small crowd, like, for me, like my sort of, like wish as a, as a, you know, a speaker and stuff like that, is I kind of wish that People, you know, wouldn't plug stuff into the outlet so that, you know, people could trip over it. And I kind of wish that, in a perfect world, there would be, you know, no, no Wi Fi or like, a Wi Fi jammer, if that was even, like a legally allowed thing up just because, like, I don't know, like, for whatever reason it's like, even if they're taking notes on their laptop, I kind of wish that. I wish you were taking notes on paper, even though, I guess, like you said, like some people are sort of set and they're note taking ways. Because just my worry is that if they're on the laptop, it's only a matter of time before they hop on Facebook, they hop on Skype. But it's just sort of sounds like, there's, there's a really, you really have to kind of let it happen. It sounds like because, like you said, like they need to implement or gather around or apply what they're learning anyway.

Sherrie Sokolowski 19:26 Well, I'd like to add on to that, if you don't mind, a lot of big events, not even really big events. A lot of my events that are anywhere from a couple of 100 or more, encourage their attendees to and I don't know, correct me if I'm wrong here, your viewers probably understand this more than I do. But hashtag, I need you to go on. Let's take picture, take a quick video of what's happening on stage and post it on Facebook. Post it on Twitter with my hashtag, because that's promoting the promoter. So it's like, look what you missed. You know, you just heard Russell talk about the latest and greatest thing with Click Funnels, and you took a video clip of it, and you put it on Facebook and you had adhered it to their hashtag for the event or to their business. So it's a way to promote and bring in other people into the promoters company or the promoter service. So going into an event, the things that you could think about, the many different things that you said were objectives in the past, there are different ways to kind of bring that to light in the very beginning, you in your housekeeping notes or or any materials that you hand out or even up on the screen when it's a break, you advertise the hashtag, so that, as people are on Facebook or on Twitter, you're encouraging them to promote the event, not to be on for them, for their self or their purpose, and because everyone is so engaged in Facebook and addicted to Twitter and such, if you are encouraging it to promote your event, then that's what they're going to be doing, instead of, oh, what's going on in my facebook page today, they're going to be oh, I want to post this on my Facebook page, and it's promoting your event. And as far as note taking and such, I've noticed what a lot of speakers will do, and I will encourage them to do so, is, while you're on stage, you let them know ahead of time, if you see people kind of like worrying about taking notes off of a slide, like a lot of speakers don't like to use PowerPoint slides anymore, or very little, because people are not listening to what you're saying. Instead of trying to write what's on the on the screen, you just remind them as it's happening, saying, Look, I just you to know I've got a lot of valuable information to share with you today. I will make sure that you get my slides so that way. They Oh, okay, I don't have to worry about trying to because you'll hear somebody in the audience say, Well, can you put that slide back on I missed it, kind of thing, and it's lends itself towards what you were saying, Robert, is people taking our attention away from what you're trying to say from stage?

Robert Plank 21:52 Awesome. I'm glad you brought that up and it's, yeah, I'm glad that this is sort of a, you know, a direction we went into, because it just sounds like there's all these changes and new set of problems, but also sort of a new, a new set of solutions. And I'm really, I completely forgot about like, I've been to events lately where, again, like, not very often, but again, when they do that, where they say, you know, go on Twitter with this hashtag, go on Facebook with this hashtag, post some pictures. And even like, you know, things like, like, you know, Ryan dices of it and stuff like that. I haven't been to the last one or two, and then I'll go on Facebook just to kind of see what I'm missing and and I'll be like, Oh, geez. Like, this person was speaking, or there was this sort of huge crowd. And so that kind of kind of drew me in there. And so, you know, I don't want, I there's a couple, there's, like, maybe one or two things I want to sort of get to before we wind this down a little bit, but that sort of reminds me of this other kind of new technology that's happened with events, which is that many people running of an event will stream it and maybe offer, like, a cheaper price to stream it over through a membership site or through Facebook or something like that. And so I mean, what are your thoughts on that and how that's changed things?

Sherrie Sokolowski 23:06 Yes, I'm glad you brought that up. That's live streaming is a little bit of a pet peeve of mine, because it really takes away from the sole purpose of having a live event to begin with. And my pet peeve is, when people do live streaming, they make the mistake of advertising the live streaming way too early in the registration process. Live Streaming should technically be and that this live stream has been going on for quite a number of years, because Glazer Kennedy used to do it when I helped run their events, and we would only live stream certain parts of the event. And that's another mistake. I see a lot of people do the live stream the whole thing. Now you can live stream it like, for example, with Ryan dices, eventually we're talking about they've become so huge, where they in other other events as well. The live stream it, but the live stream it to an overflow room so that people can see what's happening on stage alive, but they're in a different room, and because they've paid to be there, they get to see it. So that should be a different sort of live stream. But a live stream where you pay because you can't come, should be a discount at price, yes, but if you advertise it too early in your registration process, I've seen this happen too. People who have spent more money to come. They spent more money in the registration ticket, spent more money for travel and time away from their business. They'll cancel their registration and sign up for the live stream. So it can work against you if you do it, number one, too early. And number two, if you live stream the whole event, it should not. You should not live stream the whole event. You should pick out particular ones, because that's what video recording is for. If you want to make a product or service out of it afterwards, then you utilize that with the video recording of it.

Robert Plank 24:51 And when you're saying, don't announce the live stream too early. I mean, how early are we talking when? When's the good time range to do this kind of thing? Yeah,

Sherrie Sokolowski 25:01 that's a great question. In my personal opinion, it would depend on your refund policy. There should always be a refund policy on your registrations that you have for the actual attending the event once that cancelation period is over. I know it's kind of sneaky way of going about it, but usually the cancelation dates are somewhere between a 15 to 30 day range, but I would say maybe a week to two weeks out, because at that point, most people, if they're going to come, have already purchased their tickets. Because let's face it, most of the time, unless you're traveling through a particular airline carrier, if you've bought your ticket, you're not going to cancel it. So usually people will not cancel where they're going unless it's an emergency. Emergencies do come up, and that's where a live stream will will come in handy for them. But I would say no earlier than two weeks out from the event, should a live stream be necessary. Because technically live streaming should be for those folks who couldn't make it. So you're going back after those people that you've been marketing for a number of months and saying, Okay, I've realized now you're not coming. Perhaps it's because you couldn't make it, for any reason. So if you would like to participate via live stream, here's an opportunity to do so, or if you have faced a situation where you have a sold out venue a lot of times, one of my clients now, they've sold out of their event for about a month and a half. So when that happens, then you could say, if you are interested in the live stream of this event, because we are sold out, please reach back to us at this date, and we will give you that information. Don't give it out ahead of time. So there's ways around it, and that's things that I can I always like to help my clients with awesome

Robert Plank 26:51 and it sounds like all these things that you're describing are just little tweaks that maybe people otherwise would have had to learn the hard way or through trial and error, and just these little tweaks that that make all the difference, because it sounds like the way that that you're, you're laying this out, that the live stream should be just like if they're, if the only objection that they have for not coming to the event is they just can't travel, they just can't get away, then the live stream is, there's the sort of catch those people, or in The instance, of the people with the event already sold out, the live stream was a way to just get some extra money for that event. And it sounds like those two ways are the right way to do it, but the way that maybe people fall into is is, is making it so that the customers sort of sort of shortcut the live event. And it said, Buy this cheaper thing, and maybe people sort of shoot themselves in the foot by, like you said, announcing the live stream way too early,

Sherrie Sokolowski 27:46 exactly, as well as allowing every single part of the event to be on live stream,

Robert Plank 27:52 right, there you go. So that way, it's like, there i That way I can't even see what the advantage is to me. Being there in person exactly, makes a lot of sense. And so you know, in your your travels and adventures with, you know, big events and small events and events with, you know, the live stream and all these different things, like, are you seeing any sort of common mistake that everyone running a live event is making

Sherrie Sokolowski 28:18 a common mistake is not preparing yourself for every single detail that has to happen behind the scenes for your budget. And what I mean by that, you know when a client for me, client already is starting to think that process, when they call me and they say, okay, Sherry, what do I need to budget for? The biggest mistake that people I've have seen over the years make is not budgeting enough for audio visual. Lot of companies will have their their own internal person that has video recorded a product or service for them or or something. But live events are drag drastically different from sitting in a quiet room with the perfect lighting creating a webinar or create creating a product or a service. You have so many other little nuances that you have to worry about and plan ahead for when you're having a live recording of an event and mistake, two mistakes out of that means not even considering video recording it. If this is an event, a one of a time kind event that you're going to have, that you could possibly create something out of, especially if you're going to have a paid speaker or keynote speakers of some sort there that's giving valuable information, as long as they approve it, you should be video recording that, because you can utilize that afterwards. You can pull out bits and pieces and parts. Even what you speak at a live event can be used for a product down the road. Once it's done, you can't take it back. So. That's number one mistake, and number two mistake is not hiring a professional to do it. When you cut and dry a budget, AV should not be one of them. I work with my clients all the time and trying to find ways to save money. You know, saving money through an AV company. Of course, you could do it many different ways. You don't have to have dramatic lighting, you don't have to have dramatic staging, but you do have to have proper sound. You have to have the right number of people behind the AV table, tech table, to handle an event for you. So I would say that's the number one, biggest mistake I see people make all the time.

Robert Plank 30:34 Awesome. I mean, good stuff for people to know. Budget for that AV stuff. And then even more important than that, higher or pro and so along those lines, I mean, I sort of want to shift gears to to talking you up and finding out about, you know, what, what you can do for our listeners out there. So can you sort of tell us about, about in your company and your website, and if someone, if someone is, you know, thinking about running an event, like, how do they know if they're a good fit for you? Like, what sort of services do you provide?

Sherrie Sokolowski 31:04 Great question. I provide all kinds of services. When I started this business back in 2012 I wanted it to develop on a way that I can help anybody and everybody who has either thought about wanting to put in an event, or has done an event and hasn't gone as well as they want it, or someone that's been doing it for a while, but just needs a little different touch. So I range from anywhere. That's why it's called SLS, event planning and consulting. So I can consult people on an hourly basis on what Okay, I have an idea. I want to start an event. What do I do? So I could do consulting. I have other services where they just need someone to find a perfect venue for them, or they need a little bit more hand holding, where I find the perfect venue, and then I work with their key employees all the way up to the event. And then I can also be on the event, on site, helping them manage the whole thing, or as much or as little as they need. I have concierge services to help them out with vendors and sponsors, as well as their individual speakers. Over the years, I've developed several relationships with audio, visual vendors, speakers, hotels, so I have a big outreach of support out there in the community to help people the best thing for your listeners to do, they can learn a lot from my website, I think, which is SLS event planning.com or they can email me directly, if it's okay if I give that email address, yeah. Okay. The email is Sherry SOCO events@gmail.com S, H, E, R, R, I, E, S, O, K, o, e, v, e, n, t, s@gmail.com, I offer 30 minute no charge upfront discovery call is what I like to call it. Whereas, if you're thinking about it and you're not sure if we're a right fit, that's where that call comes from. If you want to move forward with any consulting, the amount that you invest in the consulting goes toward any upgraded services. And as a favor to to Robert, for anyone who calls in or emails me through your show, I'll give them a discount of, let's say, What's today? Today's Inauguration Day. It's our 45th president, right? Yes. So let's, let's do something fancy and fun. Let's do a 4.5% discount on any product or service of their choosing when they come on board with SLS, awesome.

Robert Plank 33:28 Very generous of you. So SLS event planning.com, and then that email address, we're going to put it on the on the website, in the show notes, Sherry SOCO events@gmail.com and so, I mean, yeah, lots of fun today, and lots of cool stuff. And, you know, I don't know about our listeners out there, but I've been to events where, you know, it wasn't fun for an attendee, and there were all lots of mistakes on and I've also been to events where it was a blast, where things went very smoothly, and then, you know, these things change over time. Sort of the name of the game of the of all these events has changed. And, you know, I haven't been super involved, like when we run our own events, usually, I just have my business partner take care of that. But from what I've seen from him, from his sort of frustrations of trying to go it alone all those years ago, like you're kind of laughing there a little bit, but it sounded to me almost like planning a wedding, like having to figure out all these details, and having to buy, you know, all these gallons of coffee and figuring out the lighting and the microphones and all that stuff and and if we could do it over again, we definitely would have, you know, found someone like you to get us through all those rough patches. So everyone out there, like Sherry said, If you've run events in the past, and maybe you had a rough time, like we have, and you want to run another one. Contact sherry. If even just the idea of running events is just sort of an inkling in your head, then definitely contact sherry. You have nothing to lose, everything to gain. Go to SLS event planning.com the contact form is right there for that 30 minute conversation with her. So thanks so much Sherry for sort of coming here and being. Frank and honest and telling us about the sort of the the ups and downs of running events, and where people are making mistakes and how they can sort of adapt with the times and run a really great sort of, sort of conference sort of thing. So thanks so much Sherry for coming on the show and talking to us today.

Sherrie Sokolowski 35:17 Thank you for having me, Robert. It's been fun to get Sherry's

Robert Plank 35:20 details and find out what she's all about. Go to our show notes page for this episode at Robert plank.com forward slash 243, that's Robert plank.com forward slash 243, you.