Well Seasoned The Podcast
Well Seasoned The Podcast
Selling in the Age of Covid
BONUS EPISODE!!!
We have so much great content that this week you get two episodes! *Cue the airhorns*
Staceyann and Patrick are joined by Nevar Cambell CMP - President of MPI Tampa and Event Sales and Services Manager at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay. This week we discuss virtual learning, site visits, staying connected and cocktails!
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Email us your questions and event stories to be featured on the show:
wellseasonededucation@gmail.com
Hey everyone, I'm sure you're wondering why we're in your podcast feed on a Monday. We have so many episodes lined up for you and we want to make sure we get them out while still timely and relevant. So enjoy today's bonus episode and come back on Wednesday for another one. I'm not saying that I'm drinking but I'm saying that drinking may come up today. So enjoy and thanks for listening! Hey everybody welcome back to another episode of Well Seasoned the Podcast we are going to talk about something that is so highly relevant right now in the age of COVID. And it is about selling so Patrick, who are we with today?
Patrick Brochu:Today we have a very special guest and I'm honored to have her on we kind of sprung this one on her last minute and she agreed to do it but no surprise there. Once you know who we're talking about. This is novar Campbell, c. m p she is the event sales and service manager at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay. But she is also the president of MPI Tampa Bay Shapter. What what!
Staceyann VanHorne-Doria:We only two big things here only big things.
Patrick Brochu:MPI president only big things. She also has a awesome Instagram feed. It's called a Campbell and a Cocktail. And maybe we'll ever if we have time talk about that a little bit later. So welcome the bar. Thanks for joining us.
Nevar Campbell:Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here.
Staceyann VanHorne-Doria:Thank you. Is there anything you want to add to that all of your titles and all the importance? I feel like the minion right now I've been depressed guys,
Nevar Campbell:Patrick, that was a great introduction. Thank you so much. It's been a joy being a part of MPI Tampa Bay tell I got to meet both of you. So MTI is just such a great organization. But I love what I do at my park. And what I do on my Instagram just brings so e joy at home
Staceyann VanHorne-Doria:and that's what it should be right like people go to social media and they get all stressed out and they want to live up it should be your joy. So that's awesome.
Patrick Brochu:Like Stacey, your joy on your social media feeds is mostly about your cooking.
Staceyann VanHorne-Doria:That's it I cook everything and I, I could spend days cooking like I have done sous vide for like 48 hours and I enjoyed it.
Patrick Brochu:And the two of you guys both of your feeds on your Instagram look so professionally done awesome shots of a drink awesome shots of food. But mine's a little all over the place. I guess if I had a patch, you would just be the kids because you know, whatever. Everybody loves my kids more than they love me. But that's boring. I'm not jealous all the time. You should be Yep,
Nevar Campbell:They're stinking cute.
Staceyann VanHorne-Doria:They really are
Patrick Brochu:One of them was just out here with me and made an appearance a minute ago. But he's disappeared since.
Staceyann VanHorne-Doria:Funny because he's walking around with his helmet on
Patrick Brochu:Yeah, who knows he might be back. We'll jump right into today's topic. Today, we wanted to talk about selling in the age of COVID. I asked Nevar on because she has been instrumental in virtual networking events, both within MPI and other areas. So she can talk about that from that angle, but also talk about her job during this COVID situation that we're dealing with. Let's start by talking about virtual networking. We can talk about platforms that we want. But one thing that I think is interesting is times of these virtual events, what platforms have you used in this virtual networking, not a virtual conference, but virtual networking Nevar or Stacey, that you guys find the best?
Staceyann VanHorne-Doria:In terms of virtual networking, I find that everyone is pretty much sticking to the go twos, right. They have a lot of zooms, they have go to meetings, you're seeing a little bit of Microsoft Teams pop up. And of course now because of COVID a lot of people are getting on to this special platforms like the individual platforms where you could have like a trade show and your breakout meetings and whatnot. I don't know what you're seeing a lot of on your sidebar.
Nevar Campbell:Yeah, I'm definitely more zoom base and always throws me off when I don't check a meeting. Notice before I go and login, I'm like, Oh, no, I don't have this one.
Staceyann VanHorne-Doria:I know exactly right.
Nevar Campbell:I have to hurry and get signed up
Patrick Brochu:That is annoying the bar because it's like today, you're automatically thinking, Okay, we're so busy with so many back-to-back-back virtual meetings. It's like, okay, zoom, I've got my goto meeting. I've got my team's downloaded. And then somebody sends you one for meeting XYZ, new one that you have to download. And you're like, Oh my god, I didn't realize and then you're like scrambling and like you start sweating. And
Staceyann VanHorne-Doria:you're like I'm running late, because I didn't realize it's gonna take me 10 minutes to download this new platform or app to get online app to sign up here. And it's not very consistent. Like with Teams, I noticed, especially with Teams Live, people have the ability to log on anonymously. You don't actually see who you're speaking to you unless they're in the chat. And they say I had to log on anonymously. But my name is Stacey and I'm like, well, that kind of sucks. There's just so many platforms out there now. And obviously we're seeing way more people because of what's happening, and that can be so frustrating because you have to learn about it. But like, I know, there's just a time element of it. Because that's the only way we can get in front of people, are you noticing that it's starting to encroach on your personal time? Everyone's having a meeting at every time of day and they want you they're like, how are you managing that?
Nevar Campbell:Oh, wow. Yeah, it seems like I'm now taking, it's gonna sound terrible taking calls in the car, on my way home from work, I have the video off, but I still want to be a part of it and not miss out. Like, maybe it's time that like, while we were in quarantine, time wasn't an issue. It was like, I could take a Zoom at six o'clock, because I hadn't done anything all day. And now I'm juggling work and being home. And I'm like, I still signed on to this, even though it's kind of late. And I'm like, Yeah, I might as well
Staceyann VanHorne-Doria:Yeah it's that work life balance, where we as society have always done a really horrible job of the work life balance, and COVID happened. And it was like this automatic assumption, especially within the events world that you had nothing to do like you were automatically let go or you were furloughed, and you know, you have to stay relevant. So you have to attend all these things. And it's exactly what she said, I can't tell you the amount of times I've taken a zoom call in Costco or on my way to doing whatever, where I'm just like, I don't want to sit in front of a computer again, I just want to be outside, you're sitting outside in your backyard. Because what else I mean, outside is closed, you can't really do much. So it's really hard. How do you bounce it? and Patrick, like you said, You have twins? How are you bouncing it with all these calls?
Patrick Brochu:It's super difficult. And I won't say that I'm necessarily proficient at it either. And I personally probably need to do a better job that that work life balance, but one of the things like Nevar said that I think is interesting, because during the height of quarantine, and you know, right now we're at this weird place, and some people are still corn, some people aren't and things are getting back to normal and some places but not others. But like Nevar was saying that she is back to work. So at the beginning of COVID, like the happy hours became popular, and me and the networking side, love the happy hours, because I was actually getting to know more people more frequently and bringing more people into my personal network, also enabling me to be able to expand my network outside of just my area. But you know, though, back then the happy hours were four or five bucks. But now because some people are going back to work, they're getting pushed back. And that was that's meaning for certain people. Okay, nevarez in the car, you're at Costco, me, I'm here at my house where I live, we're still in the strict quarantine. But I've been now in my home office working all day on proposals reaching out to people, but then at night, it's maybe I go eat dinner, and then I come back to my office. And then I'm working more. And my wife is asking, Well, why are you doing this? Well, I have to expand my network. So it's like a weird time thing that's going on, especially cuz we're all in different places, and all in different situations.
Staceyann VanHorne-Doria:I'm in northern Nevada, in Reno. And there's still obviously some restrictions that's in place, things have opened up. But there's still a lot of restrictions in place. And you know, it's just about your comfort level, are you ready to actually re enter the world. But I find that there's just also still an oversaturation of these events. They know companies that's doing a virtual event every day of the week.
Patrick Brochu:Yeah.
Staceyann VanHorne-Doria:And then the sales rep that's doing one specialty for their region every Thursday, and then there's maybe their region that's doing one every Friday the varg. What's your company doing in terms of virtual events? Are you guys doing a lot? Or...?
Nevar Campbell:Company wise, since I'm at a theme park, we're not doing anything virtual. The most is what I'm actually doing for my clients. I did kind of see with getting familiar with Zoom during all of this, I've now found new ways of like reaching my clients instead of having them come out physically for a site that isn't always the easiest, especially if it's a client out of city or out of state, I've now moved to more of a virtual platform for my site tours and being able to walk them through it all more than just the proposal live they've received. But like for MPI, we went from having two virtual networking events a week we did a coffee talk every Tuesday morning, and then a five o'clock somewhere every Thursday. Now we do one a week and it rotates between a Tuesday or Thursday. And we've definitely seen like our numbers drop off, but at the same time, we have members that we're trying to keep engaged. It's hard if you keep it going for the few or you kind of start to eliminate it completely because Tampa's like Reno and that most things are back to normal. You just have to wear a mask.
Staceyann VanHorne-Doria:You mentioned two things there that I thought was interesting now that we're kind of getting back into the routine with MPI, you kind of have to shift what you were doing before but let's talk about what you're doing at Busch Gardens because what I find fantastic about what you just said is so many people are doing these Zoom meetings and it's you sit there you talk, you might share a presentation but now you're doing it as your virtual walkthrough right? So how would you actually conducting that because that is something that is a little bit different. You don't have to feel like you You're just in office? Are you literally walking with a phone? Are you doing a PowerPoint? How do you do that?
Nevar Campbell:So I've done both options. Okay, so like, I know, there's plenty of really cool platforms out there that you can do like the 360 tours with and stuff. But like right now isn't the time a company can kind of invest in those options. So it's getting really nitty gritty, I'm very lucky to have a great photographer and videographer on our team. So I can always ask him for some photos. So professional, photo wise, I've put together a PowerPoint that kind of walks our clients through each of our different spaces and subscripting. Art, it's not the standard for wall ballroom and seeing a area of the park and how you can activate it. I've done that. And then I've also just gotten on FaceTime or zoom, and like, physically walked through the park and showed them the animals. And, yeah
Staceyann VanHorne-Doria:I think that's awesome. Because like, as a planner, I need to be in the space, I want to feel the space and see the room. And there's a reason why we conduct site visits, right? You could see the pictures online, but it's different kind of experience it the thought of Okay, yeah, I'm getting on the zoom conference, but it's not the usual like, we're going to be talking we're going to be walking, she's going to be showing me the space, I think is such a draw, or even with my team, what I started doing is we're moving away from the seated zoom meeting, and we'll take the phone and just walk with the dog or now everyone's doing the what's going in your backyard, you know, just something different, because it can just get repetitive. So I do like that. I like that a lot.
Patrick Brochu:Yeah, 100%, I want to go back a little bit to what Nevar was saying about keeping those members engaged -- With MPI?-- one thing that I found, yeah, with MPI, and just networking in general, one thing that we found is I do know, from MPI global, their education is on an all time high. So people are trying to go back, get some certifications, you know, filling their time up with this. But well, we've been finding our chapter level with our chapter events with our chapter education, our numbers virtually weren't very high, we were getting much higher numbers on our networking side than on our our education side, which is interesting, because MPI Global's reporting that they're receiving so much in their education, but what we're finding down here and in our market is just people wanted to connect and stay connected. And overall, that's the the point of our industry, right? MPI's thing is, we know, when we meet, we change the world, it's about having people there in the ballroom in person live. And right now, because we can't do that we're striving for the next best thing. I know that there's a fear for some people that are like some of these virtual things that so much better. No, this is not going to take the place, this is going to be a temporary thing. And maybe some of this will be integrated for the future. But I guess my rant here is people want to have that connection with other people. I can't tell you how many times that I've signed up for what I thought was going to be a virtual networking event. And you get on and it's actually a webinar. And then you're like, oh, man, I'm on here because I wanted to connect with somebody. Yeah, you know, now I'm like, Oh, I'm on this webinar and comment in the chat or whatever. And maybe I see somebody I know, chat back and forth with them in the chat while the webinars going on. But I want more that connection. I've been striving for that connection in our in
Staceyann VanHorne-Doria:I think there's so much going on our industry. now, are you we're saying we don't have the funds do a lot right now in our industry, you got to make whatever tools work. And I think that has caused us to be more forgiving. In a lot of ways. We're event planners we are um, we're a group of judgmental people.
Nevar Campbell:100%
Patrick Brochu:Understatement yeah
Staceyann VanHorne-Doria:My goodness, I can't go to a friend's barbecue without being like, well, if it were me, I would have started this 15 minutes ago and had everything laid out.
Patrick Brochu:Yeah, you're looking at the buffet. You're like, Well, why are the forks over there? And why are the napkins and who would place the condiments before the hot dogs and hambergers?
Staceyann VanHorne-Doria:Oh, forget it. going to weddings is the worst. Oh my gosh, I can't go to a wedding without like, if I go wanting to reach for a radio or wanting to be like, Hey, hi, there's a spill over in that corner someone gonna get-I can't. But like I said, we don't have the funds. So a lot of these webinars, a lot of these events are free to go to. And so because of that, there's just so much more opportunities, right? Like, you know, before there was the big shows, there's the MPIs, there's the IMEX, there's to Connect Corporate, it goes on and on. But you have to choose which one can I go to because of location because of timing, travel. And now we have all these webinars to go to how do I prioritize my schedule right now to actually get what I want because it can also start being repetitive. Like Patrick said, you're signing up for something that you think is a networking event and it's a webinar or I get maybe two to three emails a day and that's because I highly filter my emails telling me about a new planet. form to host an event after a while it's repetitive. How do you assess which one to go to? Like which events event which webinar? What virtual event do you go to? Do you have a process? Or do you kind of just feel it out?
Nevar Campbell:Oh, I'm a sucker for my association so if it has MPI in it, I usually give it a little bit more benefit out of the doubt. There's also an organization here in Tampa that was founded to help event industry professionals. It's a grant-based company organizations that people can fill out and receive funding from them. But they started actually doing their own virtual networking sessions. A lot of it's just complaining. But it has been good to like listen to
Patrick Brochu:not complaining, venting
Nevar Campbell:Venting, but it's been good to listen to and kind of hear what everybody else is going through. And especially it's a different dynamic then was most associations are made out of because it could be a photographer, a hairdresser, kind of wide range AV companies. So it's been interesting to listen in on some of those conversations. So I want to see those pop up. I'm always like, oh, maybe I'll check it out. But I've participated in a couple of those like, oh, webinar, networking things, or they have like a catchy subject line. And then when you actually watch it that had nothing to do with what I thought I was signing up for.
Patrick Brochu:Oh that's the worst.
Staceyann VanHorne-Doria:Yeah the marketing team did not speak to the creative. And it's just was basically about what means that obviously, president of MPI, does we know where your priorities lie, right. So it's kind of about your personal priorities. I think, on my side, I think my priorities shift to be week to week or day to day, right. It's kind of dependent on what my companies that I represent me one week, it might be, I need you to find a platform another week, it might be how do we creatively design our agenda in a virtual world? No, we do not want to attend an event at 7pm on a Friday, because it's virtual? No, doesn't mean I need to be on a virtual event for 10 hours. No, I think it's kind of week to week on that, you know, how I try to manage my schedule and what I'm trying to learn. And at the same time, it's, you're kind of forced to be a jack of all trades. Right now, if the world was open outside, I would never be attending webinars about a virtual event platform.
Patrick Brochu:Yeah.
Staceyann VanHorne-Doria:It wasn't going to happen, or how to creatively design an agenda for virtual event or stuff like that I just would not be attending. And I think also for me, I do crave that networking in the hospitality because even though I'm a member of MPI, I'm in an area that doesn't have a local MPI chapter. So I'm actually pretty active in Florida's chapter in Florida's happy hour events, because I want that interaction. I want to continue learning and I've learned a lot from hotels just on what they're doing to be safe in the world right now. What about you, Patrick?
Patrick Brochu:For me, the advantage has been, I'm used to hopping on a plane going to a city, maybe I'm attending an event, maybe not, and then doing, you know, a series of sales calls or something like that in a specific city. But now you know, I'm not having to leave my house to do it. I'm actually able to go to other geographic regions quicker by dropping in. And again, like Nevar said, using those associations, whether it be MPI or CITE or a few other organizations that on their mailing list, CITE Minnesota is having a networking event. I do know a few people. So I wrote some people out in Minnesota for Hey, are you attending this? Yeah, but then I got myself an attendee buddy that can start introducing me to people in that region. So you have a virtual attendee buddy. Yeah, the virtual attendee buddy in that region. And Stacey, it's funny because this is something that we actually talked about in our live in person meetings in our networking. So one, we talked about having that attendee buddy, like, if you're at an event, trying to get somebody to go with you, or, or meet that one person, make a connection and walk around with because when you're with somebody, it helps you not feel like just that lonely person out and the two of you together can improve somebody easier than just you
Staceyann VanHorne-Doria:So you and Nevar need to be virtual attendee buddies, for sure.
Patrick Brochu:Oh, trust me, we have we've been virtual attendee buddies on a computer. Yeah. But that's been the one advantage to this is I've been able to expand my network and therefore my company's network throughout this process that's been going on. So the end of the day, yeah. Are we down revenue? Absolutely. Everybody is but you know, we're actually trying to use this time to expand our network. And now we have so many new people and clients and clients that now know as they didn't know us.
Staceyann VanHorne-Doria:That's interesting. You said expanding the network and growing that way. It'stough to say, how are we pivoting in ways-
Patrick Brochu:oh that word
Staceyann VanHorne-Doria:I know right? How many times have you heard that word. Now? How are we pivoting in ways that stays true to us? We're trying to find creative ways to bring in funds but it's not. I'm an event professional. I'm not a car salesman. I'm not a professional landscaper ight? So how can I I use my expertise in a way that's going to expand and stay true to us. I don't know, has Busch Gardens done anything? Or have you yourself Nevar done anything that you would not have done January, February, that you're doing now that you're kind of learning and growing from?
Nevar Campbell:I think, for me, the biggest thing was the online education that became available, a lot of our local universities, all the different either certificate programs, our free continuing education. So I signed up for a couple from UCF on management skills and kind of growing myself outside of my field. That's kind of huge to me, but the park wise, we're just taking all of our seats,
Staceyann VanHorne-Doria:But you're saying management skills, right? That's not even outside. That's something that you use everywhere, right?
Nevar Campbell:Yeah, exactly. Like I'm taking personal finance, management and communication. So it's, there have been cool classes, it's all online, you're not interacting with anybody else. But it's perfect. For those days, when you don't really want to do anything. I just like put my iPod on and start taking classes. It's been great.
Staceyann VanHorne-Doria:I know a lot of people are taking them emergency management classes to I've seen that a lot. Something I'm doing and I started it before, and I'm restarting again, is I'm studying to be a sommelier. So I'm picking up wine and, and learning about wine and old world, new worlds and different grapes and techniques and whatnot. It's just outside. But inside, I mean, how many high end events do we do where you want to do a pairing, right? And it's just a different step within the industry. So I mean, I think that's something that's pretty cool. This time forced you to do things that you didn't have time to take a management class, you know, and I think that's pretty awesome. I don't know, Patrick, what do you think?
Patrick Brochu:I think the people like Nevar that have taken advantage of the time that we were given that we didn't know we were going to be given and tried to do something with it. That's the smart thing to have done. I did a few certifications FAU presented one, Hospitality Field One, did that one, did a few other things. And just trying to make good productive use of my time, but also expanding both for my company and inside the industry, but also a few things outside of the industry and Nevar, it sounds like you did the same thing kind of expanding yourself helping yourself. So
Staceyann VanHorne-Doria:I also noticed that we are reaching out to our contacts more than we have before, right. So all these wellness checks the organization, the company is telling you Hey, you know you need to call your contacts and make sure they're okay. And it's kind of turning into this wellness check slash soft sell kind of call. What's really funny is when I get the wellness checks and people I have no idea who they are they just checking in I know you're doing good. I'm like, I have never-- like who are you?-- spoken to you before a day in my - who are you? And it turns into a soft sell. So I don't know we as an industry. And as we keep going right? You get so focused on doing and selling and signing the contract. But you forget about the humanity side of it. Right? When this all started, I reached out to most of my contacts. And I was like, Hey, I know this is a crappy time. Just checking in making sure you're okay, hope everything's doing well. I don't know if you've been doing that a lot on your end with whether or not it's your contact that you were close with on a daily basis, or just someone that you know, you spoke to once I don't know if you've been doing a lot of those wellness checks.
Nevar Campbell:Yeah, I definitely have. So I had actually just started my position at Busch Gardens on March 13.
Staceyann VanHorne-Doria:Oh, girl.
Nevar Campbell:So, yes. So like the world turned upside down like almost immediately, and I was furloughed on April 1 and then I started back on June 1. So like, I didn't really have a chance to reach out to any of my contacts even tell them I was there prior to everything happening. So it wasn't until beginning of July, I finally actually even reached out to my contacts. And I was just like, Hi, I want you to know I'm here. I'm Well, I hope you're well like so it was such a weird transition. Prior to this, I feel like I constantly wrote hope you're doing well and an email. And never really actually meant that, like I was just like something you say, and it has a whole new meaning now, when you type in, I hope you're doing well, right?
Staceyann VanHorne-Doria:It's so true. I just had this conversation with my CEO of my medical org. And I said, we're also so accustomed to, like someone's asking How you doing? And you kind of just brush it off and you're like, Oh, I'm fine. It's fine. Everything's all good. And it's like so many times people have stopped me and be like, No, seriously, how you doing? We're all trapped inside outsides a [sensored] place a bad place. I don't know if we're cursing or not. And you really do genuinely want to know like, you know, I have family in the Bronx. So when people call and they say How you doing? they genuinely are asking like you have family in the epicenter right now are-is everyone okay? Or Stacey like you're a social person and you're trapped inside and on my side 2020 has been a whole year.So like, I had this transition with my personal life and my father in law passed away in February and then COVID started and then my mother in law moved in, and we didn't know what was the fate of our jobs and what we were going to do. And everything happened all at once. And then somebody asked how you doing and you just, I'm fine, everything's all good. And it's like, I just want to go outside and go to a bar and have a drink and eat in the restaurant. And I just want to go see my family in New York. And I think that's really your feelings, you know, and it kind of puts in perspective how important your mental health is, right? Like it's really important to get through this.
Patrick Brochu:The good news for you. For all of us. There's only 144 days left in the year though we're on the countdown there. Also, Nevar, one of your points when he said I would always write you know, the beginning of an email Hey, hope you're doing well. And then here's my app, or whatever. But yeah, I switched up and if you guys have ever written me know that, you know, either my out of office replies normally have like something humorous at them or you know, I normally put something funny in there, whatever. And some some people don't care for the personality and some people really get a kick. But at the end of my emails I switched up because I I've always been short in the end of my emails, I always say best Patrick, but I switched up and I started to people that don't know as well I put a here's my email. Thank you again, but uh, and then stay safe and sane. And then Patrick, now if I really know you, I say stay safe, sane and sober.
Staceyann VanHorne-Doria:Not with all my cocktails
Patrick Brochu:and I normally get replies back off for those that are like oh my god, you know me too well. Oh, my goodness. Yeah. I hope you're doing well too. Or whatever.
Staceyann VanHorne-Doria:What are you doing right now like through all of this to kind of just stay sane? What's your thing?
Nevar Campbell:I ride my bike at least twice a week if not three or four times a week. I think last weekend I did over 50 miles this weekend. It was only 35 so it had cleared Yeah. And then it's all the drinking so it's like I do something healthy and then I do the drin
Patrick Brochu:Well, you and a lot of other people it's kind of off topic but fun like right now you can't buy a bike anywhere bikes are sold out
Staceyann VanHorne-Doria:because I want one it's a bike shortage.
Patrick Brochu:Yeah, there's a big bike shortage but also age wanted to get some kettlebell weights and personal improvement home stuff is out of stock peloton there's like a huge backorder on peloton. So but yeah, it's it's interesting. Nevar and a lot of people it seems like the outdoors is obviously become a big thing right now.
Staceyann VanHorne-Doria:Yeah, I have a Peloton. So I have been riding my Peloton. I want to actually get a bike to venture outside but bike shortage. There's none. So Reno is right near Lake Tahoe and Truckee in California. And so I live in this like beautiful area where I could go hiking, this bronze girl has bought hiking shoes, and I actually do hikes now. And it's hilarious because like my mom is like, I don't want to hear anything about your hikes. There's snakes, there's wildlife, I don't want to have anything to do. Don't tell me about it. Just call me and ask me how my day is. That's it. Like that's the only thing to do. I truly am enjoying it. You have to find some way to get out there and I have a sensitivity to sitting in front of the screen too long. Like once I'm done with work I typically don't like getting back on the computer again. That's that's all we do is look at screen so I like just getting outside and doing something and not having to interact with a another blue light.
Nevar Campbell:Yeah, I love hiking. I keep seeing everybody that's doing all these cross country trips right now and going all these national parks and I'm like, Man, I'm like I want to go and do that. Like this would be the perfect time the parks aren't packed
Patrick Brochu:We've had the same thought here pages like oh, let's rent an RV and
Staceyann VanHorne-Doria:No I'm not doing that. That's too much just too much of a commitment to the outside. I'm not doing it.
Patrick Brochu:Well we are at that time and I can't believe it's flown by this fast. So let's go ahead and do one last night
Staceyann VanHorne-Doria:To wrap up. I wanted Nevar to leave us with your personal nugget of wisdom. It could be anything from how to mix a cocktail. What your favorite cocktail is or what two things not to mix in a cocktail to I would recommend this bike ride. What is your last words that you would like to leave with everyone?
Nevar Campbell:So Prosecco makes everything better. So that's just kind of my philosophy on life. So having a bad day, just open a bottle of Prosecco. My favorite cocktail and it's a weird wine and but it's been popping up everywhere. It's called a jungle bird - I'm writing- and it is amazing, as long as you like Campari, party rum, pineapple juice and a couple other things in it, but it is probably my favorite tropical cocktail.
Staceyann VanHorne-Doria:Jungle bird.
Nevar Campbell:Yeah!
Staceyann VanHorne-Doria:I'll be looking that one up. Thank you. Would you like to tell people where to find you and how to get in contact with you?
Nevar Campbell:Oh, yeah. So you can connect with me on LinkedIn: Nevar Campbell, CMP or Busch Gardens, Tampa Bay: Nevar.Campbell.BuschGardens.com
Staceyann VanHorne-Doria:Awesome. Well, thank you for joining us.
Nevar Campbell:Thank you. This was so much fun.
Staceyann VanHorne-Doria:Yeah t
Patrick Brochu:Thank you Nevar. This was awesome hanging out with you. And I know people can't see your background that we see in our zoom meeting here, but it looks like she's on a beach. I hope it's not a virtual beach, but the waves haven't moved in some time. So I'm gonna go ahead and say...
Staceyann VanHorne-Doria:Alright. So you know what time it is. Paprika. I want to talk about your obsession. Putting you on the spot.
Patrick Brochu:Mine? You're talking about me?
Staceyann VanHorne-Doria:No I'm talking about-Who else is there, Patrick?
Patrick Brochu:Okay, I'm ready. I'm listening.
Staceyann VanHorne-Doria:Bob Ross. Let's talk about BobRoss.
Patrick Brochu:Oh, Bob Ross. Okay.
Staceyann VanHorne-Doria:So I learned on a trip in Vancouver that the broke shoes have a love of Bob Ross. And listen, I like me some Bob Ross. Bob Ross is cool. But you love you some Bob Ross. What is that?
Patrick Brochu:My wife and I, we really really like Bob Ross.
Staceyann VanHorne-Doria:Oh. I'm Otis Redding.
Patrick Brochu:But sometimes we like to put on Bob Ross. Because And we have you know, the twin five year old boys running around the house crazy. So over the last couple of years, we actually both refound Bob Ross. And what I mean by that is during it when the kids were taking naps, or whatever, and we wanted to have kind of chill time. You know, maybe we're listening to music. My wife likes smooth jazz through the house. Like that's a calming em tional that helps both of us take a nap. Because Oh my god, you know, have you ever watched the show? And Bob Ross during my childhood, he was already done painting, his show stopped in something like '91. And I was born in '95, or '85. But -
Staceyann VanHorne-Doria:I was about to say who you gonna lie to?
Patrick Brochu:- sorry. But by the time that his were being shown on reruns on PBS, that was always my thing. And I think my parents or grandparents or whoever would take care of me at the time would show it just to make them fall asleep. But I love some Bob Ross. And so we watch him. And it's just a smoothing thing. And the show was I believe The Joy of Painting.
Staceyann VanHorne-Doria:Have you ever actually painted any of them? Like you guys need to like- Oh, god, no- not take a nap -- why not? Man, everybody could do it. You got to beat the bush brush. Like you know, you've beaten the devil out of it.
Patrick Brochu:Beat the devil out of the brush. Oh my God, if somebody's listening to this and doesn't know that reference -
Staceyann VanHorne-Doria:I know they're gonna be like -
Patrick Brochu:- yes. So he he would always say now it's his favorite time, you know, the cleaning brush and say, now it's time to beat the devil out of it. He's very religious. And then he's just hitting it on like the bottom painters flying everywhere. I mean, is this like all this like kind of crazy joy looking like he's going on? An interesting fact is that he actually every painting that he painted, he painted it three times, he would paint it once, when he would look at discover it, he would paint it a second time to practice and then the third time live on TV, every painting that he ever did painted three times. And it has been said that in his lifetime, he painted 30,000 paintings. And the man paints and makes it look so effortless and easy, and putting a happy cloud here and and maybe a little tree there.
Staceyann VanHorne-Doria:You have got to do it with the kids. That'd be so adorable.
Patrick Brochu:But anyway, the Joy of Painting is now turned into the joy of growing plants because after you learned about that Stacey -
Staceyann VanHorne-Doria:Had to-
Patrick Brochu:- in the mail at our house, a box came right at the beginning of the COVID and it was a Chia Pet Bob Ross. So his Afro is the Chia Pet. It's great.
Staceyann VanHorne-Doria:When I got it at the store, like they looked at me like I was crazy. And then they looked at who it was. And they're like, oh, Bob Ross is just an awesome dude. And I'm like, yep, I'm getting a Bob Ross Chia Pet. It was fantastic. How can I not?
Patrick Brochu:Yeah, so Bob Ross How much? I mean, how much more iconic PBS if you grew up in that era of PBS is Bob Ross.
Staceyann VanHorne-Doria:Oh my god. Fantastic.
Patrick Brochu:Well, that was a random subject to bring up
Staceyann VanHorne-Doria:I had to. I had to.
Patrick Brochu:I guess paprica, it's the seasoning that means nothing right?
Staceyann VanHorne-Doria:A little bit of paprika for you
Patrick Brochu:Little bit of paprika. Alright guys. Thank you very much Nevar, for joining us and until next time,
Staceyann VanHorne-Doria:Alright.
Patrick Brochu:Bye.
Staceyann VanHorne-Doria:Bye. Episode produced by Patrick Brochu and Staceyann VanHorne Doria. Sound editing by Rocci Doria and song by Dr. Delight.