How to Find the Social Element of Organizational Culture - Jade Leong

As the Founder and CEO of Voyager’s Table, Jade Leong is redefining what it means to feel truly connected in the midst of a global pandemic. Jade was born and raised in Australia, and has lived in Singapore, Los Angeles, and Seattle. Her adventures have taken her across the world - producing events on 5 continents, from intimate house parties to 100,000+ person festivals. 

Jade has reinvented a business largely predicated on creating memorable in-person experiences, to one solely-focused on digital interfaces. 

It’s a topic I’m particularly interested in as work shifts to a more hybrid setting. How do we create true connection in a dispersed setting? How can organizations and their leaders more closely engage their customers and employees when a screen is the interface? 

These are some of the topics we discuss over the course of our conversation. 

It was an awesome chat. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Jade Leong

Jade Leong is the founder and CEO of Voyager’s Table, a company specializing in event production and project management. Jade was born and raised in Australia but has lived in Los Angeles, Seattle & Vancouver, and Singapore. Her adventures have taken her across the world- producing events on 5 continents, intimate house parties, and 100,000+ person festivals.

Before turning her passions and 20 years of event experience into her full-time venture, she worked as a therapist and philanthropic consultant. When Jade isn’t hosting, curating, and producing events, she’s traveling, eating, drinking, and working towards her goal of becoming a volunteer adaptive snowboard instructor.  She’d love nothing more than to karaoke with you, as long as you’re okay with duetting Endless Love” by Luther Vandross and Mariah Carey… and letting her sing Luther’s part. 

LinkedIn
Instagram

Thinking Inside the Box

Constraints drive innovation. Each week we’ll tackle the most complex issues related to work & culture.

LinkedIn
Instagram
Twitter
Website
Apple Podcasts
Google Podcasts
Spotify
Stitcher
Pocket Cast

Matt Burns

Matt Burns is an award-winning executive, social entrepreneur and speaker. He believes in the power of community, simplicity & technology.

LinkedIn
Twitter

Transcript

[00:00:00] Guest 1: [00:00:00] And so with that at our poll, with celebrating the talents of our creatives, we're engaging our guests in [00:00:10] an experience where they get to peek behind the curtain to learn something new, to connect with their colleagues or their clients in a more deep and meaningful way. But it feels like [00:00:20] you're just getting together to make risotto.

And then after that hour and a half you leave and suddenly you feel refreshed from being on zoom. That to me is a sign of our success.

[00:00:40] [00:00:30] Matt: [00:00:41] string, Stripe innovation. Hey everyone. It's Matt here for another episode of thinking inside the box, a show where we. Discuss complex [00:00:50] issues for it to work in culture. If you're interested in checking out our other content, you can find us at bento, hr.com, wherever you find your favorite podcasts by searching, [00:01:00] thinking inside the box.

And now in virtual reality, each Thursday at 5:00 PM Pacific standard time in Altspace VR. In today's [00:01:10] episode, I chat with Jade, Leon. Founder of Voyageurs table, a virtual events organization, that designs experiences for powerful connection and creates events with impact. [00:01:20] Jade is a serial entrepreneur originally from Perth Australia though.

Now living in Vancouver, Canada, and over the course of our 40 plus minute conversation, [00:01:30] we cover a number of interesting and relevant topics, including. Her own organization's evolution from a popular in-person events company to a fully remote [00:01:40] virtual first business, that blends technology, social psychology, and fun to produce events for clients around the world.

We discussed the social [00:01:50] element of work and the importance of creating digital connection in the strange isolated world of ours. And we wrap with our own forward-looking projections for individuals. [00:02:00] Teams and organizations, as we all come to grips with this new normal, our world has been indelibly marked by the events of the last year or so.

[00:02:10] If the pandemic had lasted one, two, maybe even three months, it's slightly, most of us wouldn't have changed our habits all that much. Well that ship has [00:02:20] sailed. And when we do return to some normal technology, we'll be a stronger presence in our lives. And it's visionaries like Jade who are showing us that this doesn't need to come at the expense [00:02:30] of true intimacy collaboration and ultimately connection.

We had a great conversation and I really enjoyed our chat and I hope you do as well. So without [00:02:40] further ado, Jade, Leon. Hello, Jade. How are you? 

Guest 1: [00:02:43] Hi, Matt. I'm very well, thank you. How are you 

Matt: [00:02:45] doing well? It's a sunny day today, which have been few and far between of late. [00:02:50] So I'm, I'm decidedly better than 

Guest 1: [00:02:51] yesterday.

Yeah, we're all at flowers in the attic. Just reaching for the sun. That was a visual to stop. Wasn't it. 

Matt: [00:02:59] We need as much [00:03:00] descriptive visual language as possible on an audio only podcast. So I greatly encourage that. Uh, speaking of visions, I think for the benefit of our audience, it would be great to learn a bit more about [00:03:10] you, your background, your experiences, and a bit about your organization.

Well, 

Guest 1: [00:03:13] I'm happy to do that. Gosh, how long have you got, um, well, as you can probably tell by my [00:03:20] accent. I'm from the Southern part of Florida, also known as  so apologies if people need the subtitles on this podcast, I'm [00:03:30] happy to provide. So yeah, it had the fortune to grow up in the land of sunshine and particularly where I'm from Perth, Western Australia is the most isolated capital city in [00:03:40] the world.

It also gets about 360 days of sunshine. So it's a weird tale of how I ended up in the. Somewhat gloomy, occasionally gloomy, but today's [00:03:50] sunny, Pacific Northwest. So yeah, parents were, you know, hardworking university students that emigrated from Singapore to Perth in the late [00:04:00] seventies. And I was born shortly after that, which is everybody, an indication of my timestamp grew up there, moved around a lot.

So. Looking at my [00:04:10] move history, you would think I was a military kid. So I moved countries three times moved house nine times before I was 11, but it gave me a really interesting and fortunate [00:04:20] perspective on the world. I'm very lucky to have had that background. I went to college, uh, to study occupational therapy.

So that is my background and worked as a therapist [00:04:30] with kids with different degrees of abilities. Um, In my early days and in worker's compensation and then transitioned into more [00:04:40] sort of communications and marketing type roles, and then ended up in philanthropic consulting, um, and then got the itch to adventure.

I'd moved to LA for a little [00:04:50] bit, and then to Sydney and to other places as a young adult. But I kind of hit this point in my late twenties where I was feeling a bit dissatisfied and I jokingly call it. My Stella [00:05:00] got her groove back here where I dated a much younger man. It was quite fun at the time. Uh, we won't go into that too much.

Um, but what are you going to do when a [00:05:10] handsome professional tennis player wants to take you out for dinner? Right? So now I'm getting sidetracked. What am I saying? Oh yeah. I'm telling you about my, my journey. And so then I actually just sold [00:05:20] everything. And on a, when moved to sunny, Seattle, Washington, um, not knowing anyone, having never been there before arrived with two [00:05:30] suitcases and just decided I was going to be an entrepreneur.

And so started five businesses in four years, some in technology, some in [00:05:40] retail. And got to a point with one of the businesses, which incidentally for your audience was a recruitment applicant tracking software. So, um, [00:05:50] we were trying to solve hospitality, recruiting. It was a great product. I was not a good tech startup CEO, and didn't know what I was getting myself into.

[00:06:00] I quickly realized that, unless this is your life, life, passion, we probably shouldn't put your heart and soul into something that isn't your life passion. Um, and so we [00:06:10] actually handed the business over to someone who's passionate once. Um, and then. I, uh, have been, you know, dabbling in events for 20 years, honestly, just [00:06:20] doing it because I enjoyed it.

Every city that I moved to, I would, my Mo was always just throw as many dinner parties and invite random strangers. I've met people, sitting [00:06:30] at cafes and invited them to dinner that night. And it's kind of like a. It's a, it's a trademark, but it's also a strategy that I've, you know, just adopted to get to know people in a new [00:06:40] city.

And so over the course of doing that for 20 years, I realized I was pretty good at events and kind of had an aha moment around the time we were wrapping up that [00:06:50] recruiting software company. That this was my magic skill. Um, and so at the beginning of 2017, I [00:07:00] started voyages table, which is a bespoke event, production and project management company.

And we help people make meaningful [00:07:10] connections with one another when they spend time together. So that's really our focus. We like to say that we design experiences for powerful connection. And we do that because. [00:07:20] Giving someone the gift of your time, when you show up to an event cannot be replicated.

You can never get that Alabama. And although we've all been [00:07:30] experiencing the online version of that potentially multitasking while we're on, uh, an online event, you know, in person events, you're there, you're physically there, you cannot [00:07:40] transport your body somewhere else. And so we really focus on creating events that.

Whether they're six person dinners or hundred thousand person concerts [00:07:50] and festivals person that walks in, walks out feeling like somebody thought about them when they were planning that event when they were putting that together. So, yeah, [00:08:00] that's what we're fortunate to do. It's understandably been a crazy year in the past 12 months and we've had to make a couple of interesting pivots that, you know, we're very lucky to [00:08:10] do some.

Some work with some organizations that are doing really cool things. And, um, it's taken me all over the world. You know, Beyonce first public performance [00:08:20] in South Africa, we were fortunate to help produce. And as small as, you know, producing kids entertainment, On zoom for some parents who were [00:08:30] tearing their hair out because they didn't know what to do with the children while they were trying to work.

So it's a, it's all kinds, but we're very lucky to get to do what we do. So that's yeah, that's us. [00:08:40] I'm 

Matt: [00:08:40] glad you took the time to, to provide a longer story. I often ask us to do that and I do that. In a lot of cases because the stories behind the people to me are as interesting as the things that they're [00:08:50] doing.

And I think in your case, that's absolutely the case in this situation. And now I think a lot about our chat that we had before the [00:09:00] podcast, where we got to know each other and a bit about, you know, your background in history and, you know, one thing that's struck me about the chat that we had was the degree of intentionality and the degree of [00:09:10] thought that you put into virtual events.

And I, I share that because we're into a space now where a lot of organizations, both event organizations, but also just [00:09:20] enterprises in general, as you pointed out, have made the shift to this virtual modality out of necessity, they didn't want to do it. They went kicking and screaming and they haven't really put a lot of [00:09:30] thought.

Into the experience because a lot of people, let's be honest, aren't super skilled at translating experiences into a digital modality. And as a consequence, we hear [00:09:40] terms like zoom fatigue, and we know that the participation in events is, is dropping that the, you know, in a, in an, in an economy of attention, people are.

[00:09:50] Spreading their attention. So many different ways. I'm curious how you think through those challenges and create events that have that lasting effect that you're going [00:10:00] for, but doing it in a, in a space where people either have a reticence to joining virtually or their past experiences, haven't been that great.

Guest 1: [00:10:07] So we have a couple of [00:10:10] sayings. One of them is people don't know what they want until you show them. And I say that because. We have faced that conundrum that you've [00:10:20] just shared it's Oh, I don't know if we could do a zoom happy hour because everyone's fatigued. And then I invite them to one of our voyage dinners or our Sunday supper [00:10:30] clubs.

And they're like, I forgot I was on zoom and I'm like, yeah, it's possible. It just takes extra work and we're humans. So we have human tendencies. [00:10:40] And when crisis comes, what often happens is we close up instead of open up. And so we closed up means Batten down the [00:10:50] hatches. We reduce the spend because we have to protect our resources.

And so we streamline and streamline and streamline. And I think that is so important, but I also think we have to do it [00:11:00] very thoughtfully when you streamline and say, well, we don't want to spend money on this. You will get the value of what you put in. And so we, [00:11:10] you know, anyone can go on YouTube and look at.

How to make a mushroom risotto, how to make an a groany you can play the video and watch it and [00:11:20] do it that isn't actually, that's not the magic of what we do. Um, and I will confess as long as no one meaner releases my trademark to the world. Um, [00:11:30] I'm just stealing a lot of it is therapy. I use my therapeutic background.

We have. Hosts who are trained in facilitation techniques. And [00:11:40] we don't do any events without one of those trained facilitators. Who's helping to keep the momentum, helping to keep that energy and the [00:11:50] flow moving. Right. These are, you know, they're, they're essentially. People experts. And, and then in partnership with that, we have an amazing creative [00:12:00] who is in our community, who we collaborate with.

We call them our creators and residents. Um, and they have amazing sales. We've got Michelin, Michelin star chefs. Uh, we have [00:12:10] award-winning bartenders. We have potters. We have. Uh, watercolor artists. And so we're able to celebrate the talents of these incredible people, but those [00:12:20] incredible people aren't then tasked with keeping the momentum and the flow of the event going, and to me, that's been the key, it's the partnership and collaboration, which incidentally is our [00:12:30] principal value at voyages table is we celebrate collaboration.

And we say that we play well with others because it's more fun to succeed together. And so [00:12:40] with that at our pool, With celebrating the talents of our creatives. We're engaging our guests in an experience where they get to peek behind the curtain to learn something [00:12:50] new, to connect with their colleagues or their clients in a more deep and meaningful way.

But it feels like you're just getting together to make risotto. And then after that hour and a half [00:13:00] you leave and suddenly you feel refreshed from being on zoom. That to me is a sign of our success. So that's when I know that we've hit the right Mark. So. Yeah, that's [00:13:10] kinda, that's the approach we take to the question cause I get excited talking about this stuff and then sometimes I forget what the question is.

I certainly 

Matt: [00:13:16] did, but it, it, but it prompted another question. So, you know, your answer is good [00:13:20] when it triggers other questions. As we pivot to a conversation around this. In the context of work. And you mentioned you get in, you get out what you put into the investment. And when it [00:13:30] comes to things like culture, things like the employee experience, I know that you've spent some time working with organizations and put on organizational events.

And I'm [00:13:40] curious, you know, what you've learned through your experiences of the last year and a bit with a particular emphasis on the social element of organizations and how [00:13:50] important that is to drive in 

Guest 1: [00:13:51] culture. Yeah. And especially when we're living at work, we aren't working from home. We're living at work right now.

Right? So the boundaries between [00:14:00] work and play are so blurred already. And in addition, because my seeing less of our non-work friends and our non-work community, we're [00:14:10] essentially, I would default. Socializing with our work friends as our principle form of social engagement. And that creates a conundrum because you, you know, [00:14:20] talk about not having life balance in that moment because your work friends or the people you see most often by the time you're done with your day, you close the laptop, you turn [00:14:30] around and.

Partner's like, okay, well it's time to dinner. Let's make dinner. And then it's kids are running around or it's time to choose, or it's time to do other things in your life because life still moves [00:14:40] forward. And you might squeeze in a Cole with grandma or a friend that you're probably pretty tired from that.

So really a lot of the social [00:14:50] feedback that you're getting comes from your work colleagues. And so. I I firmly believe, and this isn't because I'm promoting my business. We believe that being very thoughtful [00:15:00] about the way that we help facilitate some of that downtime, the breathtaking, uh, breathtaking in a D like it's not breathtaking experiences.

It's taking a breath together [00:15:10] collectively to pause. Because the reality is we are, we are effectively socializing with our, what colleagues, whether we think we are or not, they are aware it we're social beings. [00:15:20] And so whether we're talking about a problem we have at work, or whether it's, we're trying to project manage something, there's still that interaction, which feeds a need that we have inside as [00:15:30] humans.

And so if that's the only scenario where we're getting feedback and we're getting interaction, it becomes very problematic because. It's work and there's [00:15:40] no, there's like, it's like a, for me, it's like a, uh, a pressure that builds up and can, can be unproductive. So, you know, I just, I really encourage [00:15:50] everyone that's listening and we encourage our clients to think, okay.

So one of the ways that we understandably at this time limited resources that some companies may have, how do we be [00:16:00] more thoughtful about creating space for that steam led off to happen and doing it in a way that. D isn't just like, Oh, well, we're just going to go, [00:16:10] go hard at it. And in three months we'll do one half day off and everyone gets a Slack really long weekend.

It's how do we do things in, in a cadence that helped build momentum, build that [00:16:20] sense of collegiate newness? Because we aren't having these incidents with social conversations at the office. We're not able to have a laugh at something goofy that someone posted on the work fridge, [00:16:30] because it's just not there.

How do we create those opportunities? Because that actually helps us be more productive in the work that we do together [00:16:40] because we're having the right kind of release and balance of our social interaction and social feedback. So that's, yeah, that's a lot of the things that I [00:16:50] think about and agonize over and things that we, you know, I feel that we've been very fortunate to help.

Some of our clients and the companies that we work with to, [00:17:00] to do really well. And I think the magic man, if I, if I can add just one, one point is. Not to do. Oh, well, every Friday we're going to do this. It's, let's pick [00:17:10] something we can look forward to and maybe do two or three sessions in a cadence and then have a break.

And then we come back together and it's, it allows for the ebb and [00:17:20] flow, all project deadlines and schoolwork and all that sort of stuff. So, you know, it isn't just about, Oh, well, every Friday we're going to. Everyone get a drink off [00:17:30] door dash, and we're going to sit and drink together cause that's good.

But there are other ways and creative ways that you can actually keep everybody engaged and it makes them happier at work, [00:17:40] which hopefully helps bottom line as well and retention, which is also important. 

Matt: [00:17:45] Well, and it's going to become increasingly important. I was reading a study. Yeah, the day before [00:17:50] yesterday, and it said that 41% of employees are considering making a career change in the next 12 months.

So Oregon [00:18:00] organizations. And I think when I look at the SU obviously a largely an organizational lens, given my experiences and backgrounds and I've thought a lot about lately. Well, I thought a lot about over the last [00:18:10] 18 months, frankly, the, the idea of how do you, how do you. Bottle up and transition culture into a digital modality.

It's part of the reason why I so aggressively [00:18:20] pursued virtual reality, you know, getting elements of immersion without co-location. Um, it's one of the reason why, one of the reasons why. A lot of leaders come to me and [00:18:30] talk a lot about concerns. They have about organizations returning back to some degree of, of work, whether it's a hybrid format, whether it's a largely in-person format.

[00:18:40] The idea though that we are not going back to the way things once were that an element of our workforce will always be working remotely from, um, you know, from wherever they are in the world. [00:18:50] And when you think about traditional organizations, I, I, I use the analogy that the only person on a zoom call with a room full of people, right.

That's a terrible experience when you create [00:19:00] inconsistencies of approach. Um, the great thing I love about what you're doing is that you're democratizing access to a high quality and a high level of, of value and [00:19:10] experience. And at the same time, you're creating consistency of the experience for people.

So it doesn't matter if you're dialing in from Perth or Seattle or Vancouver, Bangkok. [00:19:20] You have the consistent experience that everyone else is having with you. And it's a shared experience. And when we talk about building culture, my, my definition has always been the [00:19:30] collection of shared experiences and archetypes and artifacts and the organization, and the level of care that you put into this thinking speaks to my earlier comment around the majority of people [00:19:40] today, tasked with putting on organizational events in this new world.

They just simply do not have the background or the skills or the expertise to think through the level of [00:19:50] experience at the intricacy and the detail that you do. And I think that's why your events stand on their own in terms of creating a very [00:20:00] differentiated, compelling experience when the majority of people are, are, you know, on maybe on a zoom call, but they've got six of the tabs opened up looking at their cell phone.

Um, they're, they're watching their watch to see what they can get off [00:20:10] that, uh, that screen. Yeah. 

Guest 1: [00:20:12] And, you know, I don't like the phrase that I think of. And again, as I've been saying recently, like, [00:20:20] I don't know what day it is and I don't know how to talk anything anymore, but as an extrovert, I really feel I have lost social skills, facilitating all this social time.

So [00:20:30] please, excuse me, if this isn't the right analogy, but you know, it's. It's allowing the experts in your way, when you're weld in your community to be those experts. It's [00:20:40] what we do for our clients, because Allah job is to know this well, it isn't, you know, and I, and I, I feel for many HR managers, particularly who get tossed [00:20:50] with this because it relates to people, but.

You probably went into HR because you wanted to be really good at HR. Not because you want it to be really good at putting on events, you know, [00:21:00] and maybe they are the left, but you know, there's a distinction there and, and I, I feel, and I've been so rewarded by the experiences that we've had in [00:21:10] helping frazzled marketing managers and HR managing too.

Already have so much to deal with with the pandemic, because it is placing a mental health strain on [00:21:20] everyone. There's a lot of pressures, everywhere, things that change the dynamics, the productivity that blah, blah, blah, blah. And then you're tasked with keeping everybody happy and clappy on [00:21:30] engaged.

That's a lot. Uh, so you know, it's been a joy to, to come in almost like a joke where like the, the [00:21:40] event slot team that come in. Help to do what we do well, make you look good. And then we exit stage left quietly with we, we call it invisible fairies. [00:21:50] We sometimes like to play that role to support our clients, our key client context, to look good in front of them, executives and senior managers.

[00:22:00] That's a lot of responsibility to keep a remote. Workforce engaged and productive and happy to be there. So, [00:22:10] yeah, I appreciate that observation, Matt, and it does take work, right. It takes commitment, but also with. You know, we've made the mistakes the last 12 months we've been [00:22:20] hacking at it and changing it and tweaking it.

And, um, um, yeah, I'm really proud of what we've put together and, and that, it, it does feel like it's a, it's a gift [00:22:30] that we can give to our client 

Matt: [00:22:34] leopard. Hey everyone. It's Matt here, and I hope you're enjoying today's discussion before we [00:22:40] continue. I want to make you aware of our latest creative project, HR in VR, every Thursday at 5:00 PM.

Pacific standard time, all connect [00:22:50] with technology pioneers, business executives from the world's most iconic brands and industry thought leaders to discuss the future of immersive technologies like [00:23:00] virtual reality and their impact on future workplaces. In partnership with Microsoft we're broadcasting each episode on LinkedIn live and in [00:23:10] front of a live studio audience in Altspace.

Joining is easy for LinkedIn users. Simply follow my account, Matt in VR and stay tuned [00:23:20] Thursdays at 5:00 PM. Pacific standard time for the LinkedIn live stream. Or for a truly immersive live experience, visit alt [00:23:30] vr.com to download Altspace on your Mac, PC or VR headset, and join us live in our studio audience.

There you'll have a chance [00:23:40] to ask questions, meet me and our incredible guests and connect with others from the comfort of your own home. This is the future folks. And I hope to be part of [00:23:50] it. And I'll link the details for HR and VR, along with all other relevant information in the show notes of this podcast.

And now [00:24:00] back to our discussion.

And I'm curious, I would assume that their clients that are engaging you also in an externally [00:24:10] facing fashion, that they as well, you know, I think about traditional sales teams, you know, you know, the routine where you hop on a plane five days a week, you're going out for steak dinner the day before the deal [00:24:20] doing business, you know, and like, like that, that, that previous.

You know, business to business or even business to consumer sales in some cases was predicated on the [00:24:30] entertainment, budgets and proximity and FaceTime, and that's now completely shifted as well. I'm curious how organizations have embraced [00:24:40] this type of thinking when it comes to engaging with prospective clients?

Guest 1: [00:24:45] Yes. I mean, gosh, that, that whole client engagement stuff. [00:24:50] Uh, has for us, you know, it's allowed us to kick it into a whole new gear for a lot of our clients, because you also can reach clients that wouldn't have [00:25:00] met with you, or been able to take a meeting with you before. But mostly, you know, whether they're going to be, they're going to be a high amount of time because where else is anybody right now?

And so it's actually [00:25:10] created a lot of opportunities for our clients to engage with people and potential clients, as well as existing clients in a way that they've not been able to do. And honestly, I [00:25:20] see this as a trend, that's going to continue. Um, then it's going to be a lot of accountability about flying people on planes to destinations, not just for a well wellness and [00:25:30] safety factor, but we're starting to count the cost of, of air travel on the environment.

And that's something that consumers are looking to brands to set the example. So then [00:25:40] from a PR perspective, you don't want to be doing, um, you know, within reason you have to be full, full about. Oh, do we want to fly a hundred of our clients [00:25:50] to Florida for this fun conference? Or do we want to do things in creative ways and you and I have bias, we obviously want to use the technology and the tools that exist with [00:26:00] AR and VR to engage people.

And, and I do it not in an invented or virtual reality sense, but. You know, in the zoom context or in, in online platforms, [00:26:10] but there's a way to also reduce your impact on the environment, through doing these things. And it's been a joy, particularly with some of our key clients to help them [00:26:20] grow their business.

Um, nonprofits, as well as full-profit organizations to engage with their clients and help their clients feel really a part [00:26:30] of their mission and their brand in a much deeper way. Because they kind of a captive audience and they're not doing a whole lot with their time outside of, [00:26:40] outside of work. Um, one of the most wonderful pieces of feedback, you know, that I treasure this I'm I'm having it framed is we did a [00:26:50] holiday event for one of our clients and it was their sales team.

So this was every key account was represented. All the account managers. There's a lot of pressure [00:27:00] on this and the beautiful feedback that was in the zoom chat was. Oh, my gosh client, like company name. I forgot I was on zoom. This is [00:27:10] the most fruitful way to bring people together. Thank you so much. I really needed this.

And they didn't mention us, which for me was actually the perfect part because that's what we wanted. [00:27:20] We wanted the client's company to look really good and to develop that meaningful connection with their clients. And so to be able to be a part of that now [00:27:30] is such a huge privilege. And there's some really, really fun things you can do.

I mean, We've had Michelin chefs teach people their secret, you know, [00:27:40] fine dining composition recipes. Like how do you play like a Michelin star chef? And we've had bartender competitions and we've had chivalry tied. I, and it [00:27:50] sounds so like, well, okay. That just sounds like cooking and odd and Croft, but.

There's something very egalitarian about seeing your CEO in their own kitchen and seeing them [00:28:00] not sure which one is the wooden spoon and you can have a giggle, but it's all like in a safe way to, to connect and to, to bring people together. So, yeah, it's been a great [00:28:10] Coolidge for us to help our clients with.

Matt: [00:28:11] And I'm curious, I mean, if you're like me, you think a lot about what's to come and. You referenced this earlier. I am [00:28:20] fingers crossed. I hope that at some point in 2021 things returned to some degree of normalcy is as vaccines rollout. And as we titrate between lockdown and being released, um, [00:28:30] uh, I hope that we get that some form of normal.

I'm curious how you see the next, if you will, 12 to 24 months going both, um, for your organization, but also for your person. 

[00:28:40] Guest 1: [00:28:39] Yeah. Thank you. Like you. I would like to hug someone other than my partner, uh, in the next. Um, I think there's definitely [00:28:50] optimism and hope on the horizon. I think from a business perspective, what planning for.

The weirdness in some degree to continue for at least the next 12 months, [00:29:00] if not the next 18, um, you know, we're working on a very large show at the moment in Los Angeles and the COVID compliance [00:29:10] steps that we have to go through with a multitude of partners to pull off this show for healthcare workers.

Is astronomical. So [00:29:20] it's probably also going to be financial considerations that impact the event industry, because you have these extra costs that you have to factor in. I think we're all [00:29:30] aware of the vaccines and how great they're going to be. Um, but we're all also cognizant that there's potential for variants.

That will be a little more resistant. So the plane, the [00:29:40] plane got like two steps school, and one step back. Are we one step back or we two steps forward kind of game, but. I'm I'm kind of banking on 12 [00:29:50] months before we really feel like we could drop the shoulders and relax a bit. And probably 18 months in my mind before, you know, barring an [00:30:00] endemic situation where we're like, Oh, okay.

The world has pretty much returned back to normal. And how that impacts all of us, especially in our work is. I [00:30:10] hope that we are able to keep some of the good things that we've learned through this time. You know, for me personally, learning to slow down, I [00:30:20] used to be on a plane every five to seven days, and that takes its toll.

Uh, it's tiring. I love traveling, but, um, this is the longest I've [00:30:30] been. Uh, this is the longest that I have not been on a plane. Uh, so for more than 12 months, and it's just, it's in my entire life. So I got on a plane to Singapore when I was 10 [00:30:40] months old with my mom. And so I've, since that point, I've just always been on a plane at least once or twice a year.

So for me to be sitting still has been quite the change, but [00:30:50] that slowness that opportunity to pause. And in previous conversations, when I have talked about our privilege, that we can do that, our privilege, that we can work from home and have a [00:31:00] roof over our head, even when we're working in front of our laptop.

But that's, you know, those are some of the things that I hope to keep. Um, but I am very much looking forward to getting back to [00:31:10] Australia and seeing my family, but I'm very optimistic about the future of events and the future of ways that we can engage. I think there will always be some sort of [00:31:20] hybrid modality where it's partly online, partly in person, and there will still be the need for, you know, online, really quality online events.

But, [00:31:30] you know, I, I hope we're able to return to some sense of normalcy within the next 18 months to 24, 24 months. Yeah. 

Matt: [00:31:36] I share your optimism and I share your opinions around the [00:31:40] future. Insofar as I think, you know, if this had happened over a two month stretch of time, I don't know that the behavior change would have as.

Been as deeply embedded as it certainly has been [00:31:50] now and will be in the next 12 months. I think a lot of people have woken up to a new reality that certainly has its drawbacks. We've talked about, you know, not being able to see family and some, you know, [00:32:00] lockdown restrictions and clearly health considerations and employment considerations and economic considerations.

And there's been some good things that come from this as well. And like yourself, I used to travel [00:32:10] a fair amount on planes, trains, and automobiles, and to not have to go through a, you know, and show my passport. Three times a month is, is a nice change. Um, I think about all the time that I [00:32:20] spent transiting between meetings, um, as opposed to actually being in real in-depth conversations.

And I've found that now I'm, I'm having actually engaging [00:32:30] with more people at a more, at a deeper level than I ever did before, because I just didn't have the time to allocate to it. And as you know, we've also been dipping our toe into the water of [00:32:40] events. Um, For a different purpose. We're trying to solve a different problem than for me, I'm fascinated in social interaction, the psychology and the [00:32:50] sociology of social interaction, if nothing else, than to understand how we can continue to replicate that for traditional business applications, like learning and [00:33:00] development and like, you know, recruitment and like team meetings and performance meetings and sales for that matter.

And it's, um, I think. What we're hoping to achieve, like [00:33:10] yourself is not to replace what we've come from. I mean, cause there will always be a draw to go to a certain location and be with [00:33:20] your friends or your colleagues or your family. And there's certainly some currency in that. And I also think about the people that were traditionally excluded from those opportunities because of time [00:33:30] or cost or location that we're going to be able to offer opportunities and experiences to do so.

Uh, I get excited about providing another, another option for people [00:33:40] providing, you know, if somebody wants to go to Florida to use your analogy, then I don't know that, uh, at any type of, you know, digital event that we were to put on is going to, you're going to compete [00:33:50] with somebody who wants that physical, tangible, tactile experience of being there and for the folks that.

That part of being in Florida or the journey to get to and from [00:34:00] Florida or the idea of being away from home or the idea of spending thousands of dolls dollars, isn't appealing to them. We provide an alternative where they can have an experience that feels [00:34:10] very similar or very much like being in those places, but provides things like flexibility and scalability and adaptability.

And that's where I get excited because we're [00:34:20] giving people choice and we didn't have the choice before. And we've, we've, we've, we're, we're guilty as a society of leaning on things we've always done. And I'm just [00:34:30] thankful that we get to try something different and I'm hopeful that people will understand that.

Geographic proximity and co-location is not a [00:34:40] necessary predictor of a great experience that you can do that in a bunch of different ways. So I wish you guys a ton of success in, in your own path. 

Guest 1: [00:34:47] Thank you. I appreciate it. And I just want to [00:34:50] encourage you in your pursuits as well. Visit. There's an element when in, uh, you know, we, we do some work with the entertainment industry and we have a lot of fun [00:35:00] doing it, but.

There's a trend that's emerging that a lot of bands, particularly artists are wanting to move away from the tulip modality because of the [00:35:10] impact that it has on the environment. So there's a real reckoning happening in that industry around is it okay to travel from place to place, have trucks, [00:35:20] schlepping, Ghia, and stadium equipment, and all that sort of stuff.

And so we're really going to come to this place where we have to ask. The digital modalities help us reduce our impact [00:35:30] on the environment for those things. How can we bring those worlds together and create these hybrid events or a balance of events where we're not placing such a burden on people [00:35:40] to fly to some way or the resources that are required for a lodge festival?

And it's going to be really interesting. So, you know, I think the work that you're doing in, in, in, uh, in VR and [00:35:50] AI to bring people together through digital media that is fascinating and engaging, it's very needed because this isn't going away, even with the end of the pandemic, [00:36:00] certainly 

Matt: [00:36:00] is not. But, um, I, I, again, we're, we're speaking the same language.

I've seen several examples and evidences recently of concerts and performances. [00:36:10] I've seen the Dutch national ballet in virtual reality, and I've seen a Diplo concert in virtual reality. And, um, you know, one of the, one of the shining, you know, memories from [00:36:20] last year when we were doing our final stages as a planning for the global HR summit, we were putting in long hours.

I'm sure you can appreciate him. Spending a little, very little time with people around us because we were in [00:36:30] various forms of lockdown, but a small core working team was connecting on a daily basis to kind of get this thing over the line. And one thing we decided to do about a week before the our event was [00:36:40] to take a few hours off in an evening and go to a virtual reality concert together.

And it had been the first time I had been with friends at a [00:36:50] social event. And even though we were avatars, and even though we were not anywhere in the same room, The fact that we were listening to music and dancing and having an experience. And it was just, it [00:37:00] reminded me of how much I missed that. And it showed me what was possible when you, when you are willing to challenge previous assumptions around what those things look like.

So I'm [00:37:10] equally optimistic about the future and, um, I'm looking forward to our next conversation. 

Guest 1: [00:37:15] Thanks much for your time today. Thank you. Thanks for having me

[00:37:20] Matt: [00:37:25] Ben to HR, we enable your HR strategy, HR technology, procurement [00:37:30] implementations, and integrations. Deliberate your teams from administration enhance their productivity and experience to position them at the center of your organization's [00:37:40] transformation. Where they belong with experience as an HR executive myself, I have a real appreciation of the challenges facing today's HR leaders.

The world is [00:37:50] changing. Your industry is being disrupted. Your organization is transforming and all the while you're trying to do more with less you're being asked to [00:38:00] simultaneously model fiscal restraint, while the expectations of your departments are only increasing. At bento HR, we can support you at every stage of your [00:38:10] transformation from architecting, the strategy to developing and selling the business case.

Internally we support procurement implementations [00:38:20] and ongoing sustainment, and we tie it all together with a deep knowledge of the HR profession. And over six decades of combined experiences from our [00:38:30] founding team who has worked in or supported large HR organizations across multiple industries, including, but not limited to financial [00:38:40] services, technology, retail, transportation, and healthcare, check out bento HR today to build your very own bento box, which doubles as [00:38:50] your business case for transformation.

Leveraging recent research into the upside of digital automation inside organizations. And with your help in answering a few simple [00:39:00] questions related to your organization, our bento builder will provide a directional business case for change. So log on to www dot bento, [00:39:10] hr.com and build your bento box today.