Episode Summary:
Mary Davidson and Logan Clements, co-hosts of the Better Events Podcast, join Alysse Bryson and Libby Sundgren on this episode of BEATS WORKING. With over 15 years of combined event expertise, Mary and Logan spill their secrets on creating memorable events, share their favorite “meet cute” story, discuss backup plans for when events go sideways, and dive into the power of community and collaboration over competition in the events industry. Expect tangible tips, unexpected behind-the-scenes stories, and laughs that only true event pros will understand.
Timestamps:
[00:00] – The power of the clipboard
[01:06] – Meet Mary Davidson & Logan Clements
[03:13] – Their event industry “meet cute” and partnering up
[05:17] – Falling into events: Childhood dreams vs. career reality
[09:44] – Niches and favorite types of events: sports, nonprofits & production
[12:57] – Tangible event tips: clipboards, backup plans and “event chill”
[18:12] – Rolling with chaos: Backup plans & empowering vendors
[27:56] – Building trusted teams & finding your event “crew”
[28:05] – The origin & evolution of the Better Events Podcast
[34:09] – Favorite lessons learned from podcasting
[37:29] – Better Events Conference: what to expect
[42:19] – Most rewarding event moments & Olympic dreams
[51:03] – Doozy disaster stories and must-have event kit items
Resources & Links:
-Better Events Podcast: Website, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
-Email the Better Events duo for their free Run of Show template at bettereventspod@gmail.com
–Logan Clements & Logan Strategy Group
-Alysse & Libby: Bios & LinkedIn
Connect with Us:
-Website: www.beatsworkingpodcast.com
-LinkedIn: @BEATS WORKING Show
-Instagram: @beatsworkingshow
-Facebook: @Beats Working Show
-YouTube: @BEATSWORKINGPODCAST
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Send Feedback:
If you have a show idea, feedback, or just want to connect, email us at info@beatsworking.show.
BEATS WORKING is a platform on a mission to redeem work—the word, the place, and the way. We believe that work is the most honorable act in the universe, and through inspiring stories and practical insights, we want to transform the way people think about work and help them discover greater fulfillment in their lives. We invite you to join us as we build community through sharing and actively demonstrating what we learn.
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Transcript
The following transcript is not certified. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors. The information contained within this document is for general information purposes only.
Alysse Bryson [00:00:00]:
She loves her clipboard. I was going to say she’s going to talk about her clipboard because she loves clipboard.
Libby Sundgren [00:00:04]:
It’s actually right here.
Alysse Bryson [00:00:07]:
Power of the clipboard.
Libby Sundgren [00:00:09]:
Got some notes, Logan, on this floor plan.
Mary Davidson [00:00:12]:
I saw the. Does it open?
Logan Clements [00:00:14]:
It’s similar. It looks like a clipboard with storage.
Libby Sundgren [00:00:16]:
We love. Yeah, I think I need a new one because this one is kind of old. I’m sure they make better ones now, but it opens right now. I’ve just got some Sharpies and a couple name tags in there. And then the bottom opens. Pens. Usually I put a little in there. Yeah, there’s a paper clip.
Libby Sundgren [00:00:34]:
There’s a binder clip in here.
Alysse Bryson [00:00:35]:
I’m opening that like it’s a Polly pocket.
Libby Sundgren [00:00:37]:
Well, don’t get me started on the Polly pocket, because I do have it right here. I know you also have that might bust that out.
Alysse Bryson [00:00:43]:
Welcome to Beats Winning the Game of Events, where we share stories and strategies to turn any event or life moment into something unforgettable.
Libby Sundgren [00:00:53]:
Events are wild and the people who work in them are some of the most resilient humans. Humans on Earth. If you know, you know.
Alysse Bryson [00:01:00]:
So come with us behind the curtain for a look at their most memorable experiences.
Libby Sundgren [00:01:06]:
As they say, the show must go on, so let’s get on with the show. Welcome back to Beats Working Winning the Game of Events. We are so excited to have some fellow event podcasters in the house today. They just are much more experienced than we are, so we are grateful for our event podcast. Sensei. Today, meet Logan Clements and Mary Davidson. They are co hosts of the Better Events podcast. They have over 15 years of combined experience in event planning and production, and they are on a mission to help others create, host and attend better events.
Libby Sundgren [00:01:50]:
That’s the goal. We’re all after, guys.
Alysse Bryson [00:01:52]:
Snaps for that, Snaps for that.
Libby Sundgren [00:01:54]:
Logan is the founder of Logan Strategy Group and she brings her expertise in show flow and multicultural event production. Mary is the driving force behind EP events and she manages purpose driven, nonprofit and community events across the country. That’s right, people. She travels wherever you are. That’s where she’ll go. Through their podcast, they serve up practical tips. I’ve got a whole bunch of those from them myself. Honest conversations.
Alysse Bryson [00:02:20]:
We don’t do that here. Libby.
Libby Sundgren [00:02:22]:
We’re gonna start. We’re gonna start copying off of the smartest kids in class, the most effective. And they are here to. And a welcoming dose of real talk. They’re very relatable, so we’re so, so thrilled to have them. Whether you’re just starting at events or you’re a seasoned planner looking to up your game. They are championing collaboration over competition. They speak our language, and they are ready to spill the secrets to making it all work.
Logan Clements [00:02:52]:
Welcome. Thank you so much for having us.
Mary Davidson [00:02:54]:
Thank you. Yeah, we’re so excited.
Alysse Bryson [00:02:57]:
This is so fun because, yeah, we don’t normally get to talk to other event planners that know each other as well as you two know each other. Like, we know each other. So I’d be really curious to hear how, like, how did you guys meet? What was your meet cute situation?
Mary Davidson [00:03:13]:
Logan, I want to hear this from you. I want. I want to hear Logan’s perspective.
Libby Sundgren [00:03:17]:
It’s a different meet cutes. Ooh. Was it the same story? Yeah.
Logan Clements [00:03:23]:
Well, our. Our listeners of the Better Events podcast, I feel like has probably heard this story. Agnostic. But I actually credit my late mother in law with introducing us. She was on the board at the zoo that Mary worked at running all of their events, and she knew I did events. And so when we went to one of the zoo events, she said, logan, meet Mary. And Mary was quintessentially doing what event planners do on site and running around. So I don’t know Mary, if you truly remember or now just have a fake memory of meeting me, but I remember like, oh, Mary seems nice.
Logan Clements [00:03:50]:
And then she ran off. And then our true meet cute was during the start of COVID We both. I found out we were both pitching for the same virtual event to be the planner. And we essentially would have been competition and don’t fully know the process, but I was like, well, there’s not a lot of work going around, so I might call her and see if we just pitch for it together. Because I knew she had really strong Pacific Northwest ties in the event industry. I was pretty new before COVID but I was pretty strong on the production side. And so we partnered up and I. She said, look, I was very grateful.
Logan Clements [00:04:21]:
She said, yes. And then we weren’t competing against each other. We were working together and the rest is history. From there. She gets credit for having the podcast idea. And I said, why not?
Libby Sundgren [00:04:29]:
That’s awesome.
Mary Davidson [00:04:31]:
What?
Logan Clements [00:04:31]:
I miss Mary.
Mary Davidson [00:04:33]:
I mean, I think you covered it. It’s. Yeah, I just remember having conversations about, like, there’s this girl named Logan and she, she’s in China, but she’s coming to the Seattle area and she does events. And I’m like, someone in China that does events moving to Seattle? I’m like, my mind was blown because my understanding of the industry at that time Was like, I’d, like, I just can. Could not comprehend that, like, that the world of events was so big because mine was so small. But, yeah, I think you covered it. And we’ve seen pictures. Like, I’ve been going through, you know, past event photos, and I’ve sent Logan some over the years.
Mary Davidson [00:05:05]:
I’m like, hey, this is a picture of you.
Libby Sundgren [00:05:06]:
Like, remember when.
Mary Davidson [00:05:08]:
Yeah, we didn’t. Like, we didn’t really know each other, just of each other. And I happen to have this picture of you on my computer, which feels.
Libby Sundgren [00:05:13]:
That is so funny.
Mary Davidson [00:05:14]:
Yeah, but now you have them, so that’s happened.
Alysse Bryson [00:05:17]:
I’ve had that experience too. That’s fun. How did. Okay, so that’s your meet cute story. You both remember it. Very, very work romantic. How did each of you know you even wanted to get into events in the first place? Like, is this something that, like, when you look back at your childhood, you’re like, yeah, it was always there because.
Libby Sundgren [00:05:37]:
This was an accident for me. I mean, it. What looking back, or like, this is. This makes sense. But it was not. I was never like, I’d love to go into events. That wasn’t what I thought I’d be doing.
Mary Davidson [00:05:51]:
Yeah, for me, I mean, when I was little, I always wanted to be like a teacher or something like that. And very soon realized that wasn’t actually what I wanted to do. But I think I kind of fell into it as well. My, you know, my. My parents tell me, oh, you always like to do the planning. I’d have, you know, friends over for, like, themed nights. And we always did the stupidest stuff. You know, so many, like, blackmail photos from high school of us doing things, you know, so that’s my story.
Mary Davidson [00:06:15]:
I think, I think, Logan, you might have a similar. Similar kind of story. But yeah, I think. I think this is kind of in my blood. What about you, Logan?
Logan Clements [00:06:23]:
We. Yeah, we did do a bonus podcast for, like, paid community that had our mothers on for Mother’s Day. And it was quite funny that they both had very similar, like, we knew it all along. Like, once they got into it, it makes sense. But I think you have to. It’s more like looking back, right. Hindsight’s 20 20.
Libby Sundgren [00:06:38]:
Yeah.
Logan Clements [00:06:39]:
I definitely stumbled into events. I always knew I wanted to work in sports, and I was an athlete growing up all the way through college, and I think I just thought I had to work for a pro team or work for espn and I completely missed the whole piece of the. Of the pro sports puzzle. That is logistics. And what more would I Do entertainment. And so I got into marketing with sports in mind, and then we would attend events. And then I worked at an agency where the marketing team would help out the events team whenever things got busy. And I actually went out on my own and started my own company because I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, if I wanted to be more marketing or more events, But I need to create space.
Logan Clements [00:07:14]:
And over. That was almost nine years ago. And those first, like, two, three years, I realized I really like the people side of things and the being on site. Then the, like, behind, you know, on social media, kind of content creation. Me and my laptop so kind of fell into it. But I definitely. If you look back, I’m the oldest sibling, so oldest. Oldest child, oldest daughter.
Logan Clements [00:07:35]:
Always kind of planning and organizing people and knowing where we’re going when. So, like, that all aligns when you look back. But I did not have a dream of being in the event industry.
Libby Sundgren [00:07:45]:
Yeah. Our boss, Dan. I am not going to get the quote correct. Basically, it’s like, if you’re in events for more than three years, you’re just certifiably insane or something like that. I don’t know. It’s nice. It’s said with love. And I’m always like, you’re right.
Libby Sundgren [00:08:00]:
Because I went to. I haven’t done, like, a big, big, big event in a while. And I went and helped our logistics team in Vegas a few months ago, and we were like, 12 hours a day. Just. It’s like shipping. It’s diff. A different thing than being the actual event producer. But Elise was like, how’s it going? What are you doing? I was like, there is something wrong with me, because I love this.
Libby Sundgren [00:08:30]:
I love being in a convention center 12 hours a day. I didn’t want to leave. I wanted to stay. They were like, we’re gonna go. And I was like, we got. We could do, like, two more hours of work. We could reorganize this. We could do this.
Libby Sundgren [00:08:41]:
They’re like, no, leave. It’s like something is wrong with me. So Dan. Dan’s correct. He’s right.
Mary Davidson [00:08:49]:
I saw a post on LinkedIn about. Someone was posting about, you know, the Tomorrowland Festival. The main stage caught on fire. Did you see that? It was like, of course.
Libby Sundgren [00:08:57]:
Anyone see this? No.
Mary Davidson [00:08:59]:
Yes. The, like, their huge main stage. Go look up a picture because it’s intense. Like, part of their stage caught on fire. And I don’t remember if it was, like, how far before the event started that it happened, but it was, like, close enough. People were freaking out, and there was, like, the comment section of, like, event planners. That was, like, just another day. And it was.
Alysse Bryson [00:09:15]:
It was crazy.
Libby Sundgren [00:09:17]:
People never know that’s what it was supposed to happen. It was supposed to Catch on Fire was part of the show. So what how you guys collaborated in 2020? Have you done any other events together since then? And what kind of events do you both specialize in? I know we kind of touched on it in the intro, but what is your kind of sweet spot, you know, favorite little event niche to live in?
Logan Clements [00:09:44]:
Yeah, I think. Yeah. 2020 was our first time working together, and we up till this day do at least a handful of projects a year together. And it’s funny. Mary will hire me for things. I hire her for things. We have definitely fallen, and we talk about community over competition all the time, and both of us have only been able to, you know, get busier and charge more and all good things for both of us. With that collaboration, I have definitely fallen heavily on the production side of an event.
Logan Clements [00:10:10]:
So I say anything with a microphone and a stage, but the stage is a very loose term. So most recently, I was doing some producing for women’s professional softball. So we were in a touring model, going to different cities, and I was the one in the booth cueing the national anthem, cueing the T shirt toss, telling the emcee when to talk. Any. Anything you saw or heard if you came in person was scripted and planned and rehearsed by myself and my team. But I can also do a corporate sales kickoff, and we’re coaching CEOs and PowerPoint decks, so. And then I do some nonprofit stuff as well. But sports are definitely my favorite in the sense that I don’t feel like I’m working.
Logan Clements [00:10:46]:
I do feel like I’m like, oh, I get paid to be here. I would probably be here as a fan anyway. And I just get tickled with any mascot moments and just some of that little stuff that you have more freedom in the sports realm than you do in corporate. So. But that. And I do mainly production and then show calling as well, so queuing and doing that. And so that is pretty complimentary to what Mary does over with EP events.
Mary Davidson [00:11:07]:
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And for me, basically everything Logan said, I specialize more in fundraising events. I say, like, nonprofit events are my jam. Um, but similar to, I think what a lot of us do, we get pulled into other events and types and things like that, so done other things. But the majority of the work that I do is nonprofit events. And, like, I think A good example of this is Logan and I, we worked together on an event in April or May this year. It was a really large, like, fundraising dinner.
Mary Davidson [00:11:34]:
And Logan was the, like, producer. So Logan, you, like, made the production run of show, did the rehearsals with the tech team and kind of like ran the show as a show caller. And then I was the on site event manager. So we were working together in these different roles for this event. That worked together really nicely.
Libby Sundgren [00:11:52]:
That’s very much like what Elise and I would do. Elise is more of the production show caller. I’ve had made her MC things before, and I am, like, working off that timeline, contactless production schedule, like checking things off. I always like to print it out and put it on my clipboard.
Alysse Bryson [00:12:13]:
Yeah, she loves her. And I was gonna say she’s gonna talk about her clipboard because she loves a clipboard.
Libby Sundgren [00:12:17]:
It’s actually right here.
Alysse Bryson [00:12:21]:
Power of the clipboard.
Libby Sundgren [00:12:23]:
Got some notes on this floor plan.
Mary Davidson [00:12:26]:
I saw the. Does it open?
Logan Clements [00:12:28]:
It’s similar. It looks like a clipboard with storage.
Libby Sundgren [00:12:30]:
Yeah, I think I need a new one because this one is kind of old. I’m sure they make better ones now, but it opens right now. I’ve just got some Sharpies and a couple name tags in there. And then the bottom opens. Pens.
Logan Clements [00:12:45]:
Usually.
Libby Sundgren [00:12:45]:
I put a little in there. Yeah, there’s a paper clip. There’s a binder clip.
Alysse Bryson [00:12:49]:
You’re opening that like it’s a polly pocket.
Libby Sundgren [00:12:51]:
Well, don’t get me started on the poly pocket, because I do have it right here.
Alysse Bryson [00:12:54]:
I know you also have.
Libby Sundgren [00:12:55]:
I bust that out.
Alysse Bryson [00:12:57]:
Logan, what is your. Do you have a favorite sport?
Logan Clements [00:13:00]:
Oh, it’s usually probably the one I’m in, whatever that is. I’ve been doing a lot of volleyball. Softball and basketball would probably be the three. But some of my most favorite events to work are I’ve done the Olympics, which has been amazing, and then I’ve done Olympic adjacent events, which I did the Pan American Games, the Parapans and the World Games, which. Parapans and the Pan Americans are Olympic sports. And it’s a lead up to the Olympics. It’s usually the year before. And then World Games are summer sports that have not become Olympic sports yet.
Logan Clements [00:13:31]:
So, like softball is an example that was an Olympic sport and then got dropped. So it went back to the World Games. But there was also things like life saving and like drone racing. Those are world game sports. And it’s sports that are trying to prove that they are big enough to make it into the Olympics, but they’re often like on that teetering level. And I love those because I’ve told anyone I’m a. I’m a fan of sport in general, so I will learn whatever technical part and then apply my knowledge from the entertainment side. Um, so.
Logan Clements [00:14:00]:
So yeah, this summer has been a lot of softball and a lot of volleyball for 2025, and I’m a big fan of both.
Alysse Bryson [00:14:06]:
Is pickleball at the World Games yet?
Libby Sundgren [00:14:08]:
Not yet.
Logan Clements [00:14:09]:
I wouldn’t be surprised if it joined. I think I actually put that on my hit list for the next three years as I want to work a. A pro pickleball event. I’ve done some tennis, so again, I’m just curious of the nuances of it. Padel is another one that’s coming out of Spain that’s very similar to pickleball and racquetball. I think it falls somewhere more in the middle. That’s picking up. So, Adele, okay.
Logan Clements [00:14:30]:
Yeah, very.
Libby Sundgren [00:14:31]:
What is life saving? It’s like literally saving a life. Like literally swimming lives.
Logan Clements [00:14:37]:
It’s. It’s like a swimmer and think like what your lifeguarding skills would be. So you’re not saving a real live human. They have dummies. But there are certain skills you do to like for speed and things like that.
Libby Sundgren [00:14:48]:
Fascinating. Yeah.
Logan Clements [00:14:51]:
Just go to World Games. Google it. That’s so interesting.
Libby Sundgren [00:14:54]:
I could totally get behind that as a sport. Fun fact. I hope you. No one here ever has to go there. But I did go to Great Wolf Lodge with my children last year for. I want to say it was definitely less than 24. It was like 18 hours. And they were like, we’re.
Libby Sundgren [00:15:09]:
We’re leaving. We’re done here. I mean, we were leaving that day, but it was only for one night. But the next day by like 9am they were like, we’re. I got to get out of here. I was like, great. I. I’m not going to for fight you on this.
Libby Sundgren [00:15:22]:
But their lifeguards are constantly. I feel like some of them could enter the life saving thing, except only if like eye scanning is a thing. They literally are going like this. Like, like, I don’t know what it’s like, the technique. Like, they’re very attentive and there are signs everywhere that they have dummy dolls. I don’t know what this doll’s name is, like William or whatever. It’s Great Wolf whatever. But they’ll throw a fake doll in the water and the lifeguards have to just be prepared to get it.
Libby Sundgren [00:15:55]:
So there’s all these signs, like, don’t Freak out if you see this, you know, someone throwing a fake dummy in there. It’s not really somebody drowning. It’s just an exercise for our lifeguards.
Logan Clements [00:16:05]:
See, and that concerns me because I always joke, any sign you see that sounds silly, you’re like, oh, there’s a sign. Because someone did that, there’s a reason for it. Like, there’s a reason behind the silly sign. And that one makes me concerned that they have a lot incidences. I don’t know, not making it or having serious injuries, people everywhere.
Libby Sundgren [00:16:24]:
But I was like, I am not gonna ask to go back here ever again.
Mary Davidson [00:16:28]:
So you’re actually selling it for me now. I want to go. I want to see the dummy in the water.
Libby Sundgren [00:16:34]:
There were some super fans there. Kind of like, Disney’s got super fans, but people had, like, all kind of wolf gear. They had. Like, there were people who were there for probably like a week. They were coming in with, like, their suitcases and, like, tons of food and like, I. Oh, we. It was fascinating. It was fascinating.
Libby Sundgren [00:16:54]:
We did talk to a woman at the pool who’d. It was her sixth day there. We were just like, how.
Logan Clements [00:17:01]:
I don’t know.
Alysse Bryson [00:17:02]:
How do you last more than 24 hours?
Libby Sundgren [00:17:04]:
I know. I didn’t even make it that long. We didn’t make it. So in a game of Survivor, they would win, we would lose. The Sungrins would be out in Great Wolf Lodge Survivor anyway. They might want to look into that world game. I don’t know what the training is.
Alysse Bryson [00:17:23]:
Did you know that the pickleball was actually originated here in the Pacific Northwest? There’s a little fun fact.
Libby Sundgren [00:17:30]:
Yeah, I did.
Logan Clements [00:17:31]:
Yeah, I’d heard that since being here. And I guess my. My partner’s from the area. That’s why we relocated here to Seattle. And he remembers playing pickleball, like in the early 80s. Like gym. Like in gym class, you would play it, but it wasn’t as big of a craze.
Alysse Bryson [00:17:49]:
I actually, in my senior high school yearbook, they asked all the seniors to say what you want to be when you grow up. And I said I wanted to be a professional pickleball player. So I just want to point out that I was a trendsetter from a young age. Like, that’s. That’s my jam trend setting.
Libby Sundgren [00:18:09]:
Well, you haven’t made it yet, but there’s still time.
Alysse Bryson [00:18:12]:
Well, games and sports are a lot like events, meaning you don’t exactly know what’s going to happen. Like, you go in with the plan, but you don’t exactly know what’s going to happen? So how are you guys? How do you. What tricks of the trade do you have to roll with the punches of when things do go sideways, like stages catching on fire or somebody not showing up?
Mary Davidson [00:18:37]:
Oh, my gosh. Like, what a good question. And I feel like there’s so many answers to that. I’ll start high level and then we’ll get down into it more. Logan, I think you, for me, I want to trust the partners that I’m working with. So if like, like, we were just at an event and the stage started to cave in on itself during the event, it was a festival, so, you know, those are already kind of, like, wild. But stage started to cave in. There’s this.
Mary Davidson [00:19:00]:
There’s. There’s a spot that, like, you could tell that looked unsafe. And, like, the MC was like, don’t step on that. Like, And I’m like, has anyone addressed this issue or are we just okay with it, like, being caved in like that? Anyway, but the production vendor fixed it, you know, so my point is, like, really trusting the partners. Obviously, there are things that we. We can do, but a lot of the things have to do with the vendors that we have hired to support this work. And so really making sure that they are empowered to be able to make those decisions, I think is a huge part. So that’s probably where I’ll start to answer is just not having micro.
Mary Davidson [00:19:37]:
Not micromanaging situations and having vendors be able to troubleshoot. Logan, what would you say?
Logan Clements [00:19:43]:
Yeah, Mary knows this. I love a backup plan. And I think backup plans are useless, though, unless you actually tell people about them. And so I will. It’s controversial for some because I feel like they think you jinx it, but almost every speaker I work with, I will talk to them about what should happen, what will happen if their mic stops working and what to do and how long do they keep. Like, if it’s a headset microphone, you know, I say if it blips for a second, just keep talking. If it goes out for more than six seconds, no, Jeff here or Jenny here is going to run out to you with a handheld microphone. And the whole point of talking about it is, yes, maybe you’re creating that scenario, but also then when it happens, you avoid some of the panic that happens to like, oh, no, something happened and we don’t know what to do with it.
Logan Clements [00:20:26]:
And I had an example where it didn’t work because I had Mary and I worked at an event together, and I had a backup plan. And I guess we never Stepped through it of what we’d have to. It was a hybrid event of, like, what things we’d have to click on to activate this backup link. And sure enough, our video blipped for a bit. And I was like, mary, let’s go with the backup plan. It was like, wait, what? It’s like, oh, nope, not helpful if I just talked about it in my head and not like we hadn’t done a dry run of it. And luckily things came back up and it was, you know, the difference of 10 seconds or something. But I often do not have audio issues at my events.
Logan Clements [00:20:56]:
But that’s the big one I like. If I were a speaker, I would want to be treated very empathetically and someone to tell me what to do if someone. Something goes wrong, because I want them to look like, oh, they mentioned, you know, somebody would be coming kind of thing. And it’s not always the most popular. I have some clients who are like, we don’t want to talk about what would happen if things go wrong. And I go, yeah, but if that were you up there and you knew, okay, someone’s coming to me with a handheld, you’ll feel better than just standing there like a fish out of water without able to talk in front of 2,000 people.
Alysse Bryson [00:21:25]:
So, yeah, I would want to know. I do a lot of public speaking. I would want to know. I want to know what plan B is. What’s plan C?
Libby Sundgren [00:21:33]:
Did you get prepped for that? When you did your speech earlier this year, Elise, did they tell you what to. What to do? Do you remember?
Alysse Bryson [00:21:41]:
Do I remember?
Libby Sundgren [00:21:43]:
It’s okay.
Alysse Bryson [00:21:44]:
I don’t think I remember.
Logan Clements [00:21:46]:
Yeah, not everyone does it. I mean, I definitely.
Alysse Bryson [00:21:48]:
I don’t know that I remember.
Logan Clements [00:21:49]:
I am.
Alysse Bryson [00:21:50]:
I was really nervous about the PowerPoint behind me because it was. Once it started, it was on a timer. It was automatically sliding every 15 seconds. And so that I was. I was very concerned about my pace matching the PowerPoint. So I don’t. I think I was more keyed on that than I was if the microphone went out. I’m so loud anyway.
Alysse Bryson [00:22:12]:
Like, losing a microphone, it’s not something that would rattle me.
Libby Sundgren [00:22:15]:
They probably turned off the microphone when you got up there. Yeah, probably they did. That’s such a good idea, though. And I get why people would be like. I don’t want them to feel, like, panicked, but if you don’t say anything, they’re going to stand there and start. It’s so much more obvious. They stand. They start looking around.
Libby Sundgren [00:22:32]:
They’re like, I Get. I don’t, I, you know, and they’re just caught off guard. Like you said, it’s way easier to recover if you know who’s going to.
Logan Clements [00:22:42]:
Run out to you and your deliveries. Your delivery is so important with that, right? It’s not. And I mean, we joke with new people getting into the industry. You don’t really know if people can handle events. Libby, you mentioned earlier, like you loved being at the convention center. Like, I think people see the glamour or the, you’re doing the fancy things, you’re meeting the fancy people. This seems so cool. And I said, you don’t really know if anyone has what I call event chill until they’re in a stressful situation and you can see, can they absorb that stress and present the calming presence that like maybe screaming would feel good right now, but would that help everyone around you? Probably not.
Logan Clements [00:23:14]:
And so you need to be able to take that deep breath and be that calming person. And so that’s what backup plans. I’m like, can I say it to you in this calm manner of just like, hey, on the off chance that this happens, we’ve triple checked batteries, but this is what will happen is a lot better than like, oh, just so you know, because another show we had this thing, like there’s a delivery of it that, I mean, I joke, that’s why I have a, I have a business as a producer. Because I say I am that like calming presence between sometimes the tech team that can be a little too techy and too in the weeds and then the corporate folks or the client side that maybe are almost like too formal and too risk averse. And I’m that middle person that can be like, I’m going to tell you how it is, but also I’m going to say it in a empathetic and, you know, polite way.
Mary Davidson [00:23:53]:
So and so many attendees don’t even realize if something goes wrong. Right. Like it’s behind the scenes, but so many of them would know. It drives me crazy when someone is on stage and they call out something that went wrong that no one would have noticed. That just drives me absolutely insane. Like we were just at an event and the emcee, he like played a video before introducing someone else. It was supposed to go the other way around. And so when the person came up after the video to do their part, he was like, oh man, you skipped me or something.
Mary Davidson [00:24:22]:
And I was like, no one would have known that you got skipped if only you had said nothing, just kept going.
Libby Sundgren [00:24:28]:
Yeah, I liked what you said to Mary about empowering, like, trusting, but also really empowering the team that you’re with. I think when I first started, it.
Logan Clements [00:24:37]:
Was.
Libby Sundgren [00:24:39]:
Coming from a good place and a scared place, because my boss at the time. Not Elise, somebody else, my. She was like, my boss’s boss’s boss. She was very scary, and so I didn’t want her yelling at me. So to avoid that, I was way too, like, wanting to control every component and, like, totally micromanaged people. I’m sure. I mean, my husband will tell you that I’m really good at it still to this day, but I’ve gotten a lot better. And it really is, like.
Libby Sundgren [00:25:13]:
And it’s, like, very freeing for an event producer to be able to have somebody show up and just giving them the reins and the freedom to do what they’re gonna do and be like, yeah, whatever you decide to do is fine. Like, you’re gonna. You’re gonna do the right choice, and it’s gonna be fine, and nobody’s gonna know, and we’ll just. It’s not the end of the world. We’re going to make it through it. This event, I did maybe, I don’t know, 10 or 15 years ago. It was at the Delta Airlines hangar. We had 2,000 people.
Libby Sundgren [00:25:46]:
It was this big anniversary party for the magazine I was working at at the time. And it was huge. I mean, I got more steps during those event prep days and the takedown day than I ever have in my entire life. You could not yell across an airplane hangar. I kind of thought you could just yell to somebody, but, no, you literally cannot. You have to call them or radio. But I had a vendor. So many great vendors, but one vendor in particular.
Libby Sundgren [00:26:13]:
Tuxedos and tennis shoes Catering. Amanda Austin. Now Amanda Haggerty, shout out to you. She came up to me at one point and was like, hey, we were out of this. We needed this. I took your keys because I was parked, you know, right outside the hangar. I took your keys. I drove.
Libby Sundgren [00:26:29]:
I got this stuff. I dropped it off. I just wanted to let you know, so you don’t need to do anything. But I have the receipts. I’ll just give them to you later. I was like, oh, my God. You. Thank you.
Libby Sundgren [00:26:38]:
Thank you for stealing my car and problem solving without me, because I probably would have cried. It was really, really stressful. A lot of inspectors just following me around all night, so.
Alysse Bryson [00:26:51]:
But don’t you find, like, as event people, that once you work with some vendors a couple of times, and not only has the friendship formed, but the trust has been built. Then you find that when you get approached with new events, you’re going to go to your crew. Like, you have certain people that you’re going to always call for this, this, this, and this. And I think that happens a lot in this industry is not clicks per se, but it just. Things work out that way where you end up getting a lot of different events together under the same belt, even though you’re totally different companies.
Mary Davidson [00:27:26]:
It’s also really hard when there’s, like. There’s also so much turnover, I feel like, in the industry as well. So when we work with, like, recurring catering partners, many of them get new, like, banquet leads or. Or. Or salespeople. And so whoever our contact is specifically for catering. I’m thinking of this because in the area, this is something we struggle with. We have a hard time using consistent caterers because they always are new people that we’re working with.
Mary Davidson [00:27:48]:
And so the level of service changes each time, which is very frustrating.
Alysse Bryson [00:27:53]:
Yes.
Mary Davidson [00:27:54]:
So both ways, I guess.
Libby Sundgren [00:27:56]:
Yeah. Yeah.
Alysse Bryson [00:27:57]:
Well, I do want to hear how the podcast came to be. So when did that start and how’s it been going?
Logan Clements [00:28:05]:
All right, I’ll jump in to tell.
Libby Sundgren [00:28:08]:
Mary, we’re waiting for you, but take it. Yeah, we.
Logan Clements [00:28:13]:
I always credit that Mary had the idea first of having a podcast, and she is very good at having new ideas and then finding an accountability buddy to continue to make it happen. And so I felt very, very honored and working together, we felt like a lot of our experiences were complementary, Both of us also having our own businesses, but also now it’s been even more interesting. We’ve been in. The podcast has been going for Mary. What are we, five seasons? 2021 was when we started. We’re at over 215 to 20 episodes. We record them every week, every single Wednesday, wherever you listen to podcasts. And we take a break only two weeks off at the end of the year.
Logan Clements [00:28:52]:
So we’ve been nice and consistent. And I think a lot of it was, you know, with events, there’s no. There’s not really a formal degree. I know some programs and universities are starting to have that. But, like, there really wasn’t a lot of your experience of why you got good at what you’re doing is by experience. And one of the things I love about freelance life is getting to experience a lot of different styles and different types of, you know, work structures and all of that. And so you just always want to be a fly on the wall. And that was part of our idea with the podcast, was to allow People to be a fly on the wall in our conversations, bring in cool people that we were meeting in the industry and showcase their expertise.
Logan Clements [00:29:28]:
But also you get to be a fly on the wall for those conversations and just have some real talk behind the industry that you only get when you become close with other people who are doing what you’re doing. So, yeah, it was really a podcast that I wish was around when I first got started, because I think it would have made a lot of tough scenarios a little easier to know that I wasn’t alone in it. But, Mary, what would you add to that about our podcast origin story?
Mary Davidson [00:29:49]:
Yeah, like you said, Larry, we’re alluding to. I think it’s so interesting to see how it’s. It has grown, but then how we have grown because we joke still that, like, we agree on everything. So anytime we say anything, we’re always like, I love that. Yeah, thanks. That’s always our response to everything in an episode. But you get like the occasional time when we’re like, wait a minute, this is like, I actually have a different experience. And I think some of that has come look.
Mary Davidson [00:30:12]:
And I’m trying to remember the episode, but there was some episode that was, I think, about like, how like our, like our teams or our structures or. I can’t remember exactly what it was, but that, that is where we started to see, like, a difference. And I think is a really wonderful thing to be able to represent as well. And we still agree with each other. It’s just different perspectives and. Yeah. So I. I appreciate all of the agreeable moments and I appreciate to see how we’ve grown and how we’ve been able to share that.
Mary Davidson [00:30:37]:
So if you go listen to, like, our first episodes, I think that they’re pretty different than the episodes that you hear now. But, you know, speaking of that, ironically, some of our most popular episodes are the ones from the very beginning. So it’s just kind of funny. I don’t know if you experienced that as well for this podcast.
Alysse Bryson [00:30:52]:
Well, usually people get into podcasting because they listen to podcasts. And so Libby and I have both been avid podcast listeners for a very long time. Totally different genre. I mean, I guess you could look at some similarities between true crime and events, possibly, but pretty much different genre.
Libby Sundgren [00:31:14]:
There’s always an urge to murder. Just always. Just kidding. There’s not, but, ah, sometimes.
Alysse Bryson [00:31:21]:
So it’s just. It’s interesting to me how much more common podcasting has become and how it’s easier to produce. I even read an article the other day that there’s a Walmart back east that is getting a podcast studio put in. Like, we used to go to, like, JCPenney’s or Sears for headshots or glamour shots or whatever you want.
Libby Sundgren [00:31:43]:
People can just go in and rent it.
Alysse Bryson [00:31:44]:
Now you can go into Walmart podcasting and make content. So, like, I don’t know if that’s a foreshadow of what’s to come. I don’t know. That. I don’t know. I just think it’s. It’s interesting. But I also read a lot of stats that it’s like, there’s still so much opportunity in podcasts because of the population and how many people are listening and all those things.
Alysse Bryson [00:32:07]:
So I. It’s also kind of hard to go back and listen to yourself. Like, I’m sure you guys have had that experience. I’m like, does my voice really sound like that? Why do I say so many times? And then Tamar’s like, oh, you have no idea how many of those I actually edited out. I’m like, oh. Oh, my gosh, it’s terrible.
Libby Sundgren [00:32:25]:
Yeah, twist the dagger.
Logan Clements [00:32:27]:
Yeah, there. I mean, I think there’s also. I mean, when we were first getting started, it was, you know, that perfectionism of wanting to be good before we launched. And that was something that I’m sure you guys have experienced as well. Just having a buddy, having another person helping make sure you do it. Because it. We’ve been able to set deadlines and be like, no, it was like, the only way to get better at podcasting is by podcasting.
Alysse Bryson [00:32:45]:
Exactly.
Logan Clements [00:32:46]:
I feel like maybe right after Covid or during COVID it did feel like a lot of people had podcasts. And then we do. We are very proud to be that one or one of the longest continuous going. Like, there’s a lot of event pros out there that had podcasts that. I wish I had their contact info. Cause a couple of them were, like, really good. And they just stopped. And I’m assuming because they got busy.
Logan Clements [00:33:06]:
Life happens. Like, even Mary and I, every spring and fall, have to do a solo episode or two that we can then record in our own time because schedules just don’t work out. But it has just made it that we have to be ahead, you know, thinking ahead of what our schedules are. And that’s kind of helped us with the longevity of sticking with it because, yeah, I think there’s. I feel like we get it less now, Mary. Now more people think. I think it’s interesting. Before, I feel like it was when we were starting, like, oh, another podcast.
Logan Clements [00:33:33]:
Everybody’s got a podcast and you know, people.
Alysse Bryson [00:33:36]:
But it’s very niche, you know, it’s very niche. And so I do think that makes it very different, for sure.
Libby Sundgren [00:33:42]:
What have you. What’s something that both of you have learned from the podcast in an interview or just through a series of interviews? Maybe through many of them, but something that you’ve learned that you’ve implemented in your own work. Because I love hearing tips and learning things from. From our guests and from other podcasts. I don’t always remember. Sometimes I’m like, oh, that’s so great. I’m definitely gonna do that. And then I forget.
Libby Sundgren [00:34:09]:
But don’t worry, I want to remember. So what do you want to remember that you’ve learned or what do you actually do?
Logan Clements [00:34:16]:
I mean, we pride ourselves on tangible tips and tricks with our episodes. So we tell. I feel like there’s a lot of episodes podcasts out there, especially in the event industry, that talk big strategy and trends. And we found a hunger with our listeners for the, like, this is. I need one nugget that’s gonna. I can tomorrow apply to my event and I will be better about it. And that’s. I mean, we love doing a random bonus tip at the end of our episodes, which are very unfiltered, usually from something Mary or I just experienced.
Logan Clements [00:34:43]:
Like, I talk about, you know, get your printing plan if you need to print run of shows. Libby, you love your clipboard. Like, do that the day before or two days before. And like, you might have to get creative. I think every. For show callers and producers, we’ve all fought with a printer before. It’s a very universal experience.
Libby Sundgren [00:34:59]:
And so.
Logan Clements [00:35:00]:
And so that’s one. But we’ve had, like, who came on. Liz Lathan was talking about different ways to have, you know, experiences at your events and. But putting people in a room together with some cheese and wine and saying, that’s a networking event is not a networking event.
Alysse Bryson [00:35:14]:
Right.
Logan Clements [00:35:15]:
Um, and it’s just one that, like, you know, we all know a lot of things. I feel like we hear on the podcast. We know, but sometimes you just had to hear them a different way for it to be like, yes. And that’s one I do. I honestly keep thinking back to her when we’re. We’re planning our own conference right now for our listeners and we say we’re doing the unconference. And I feel like everyone says the unconference, but we’re truly doing more interactive. I say when I go to A conferences.
Logan Clements [00:35:39]:
All I want to do after I hear a keynote or something is like, sit and talk to my table or whoever was in my row and be like, okay, what did you actually think about that? Did that really make sense? Does like, this make sense or what are you going to. How are you going to apply that, you know, to what we’re actually doing again, taking big concepts and actually applying them. And that is something we’re trying to do with the conference, is give people space to talk. But, Mary, do you have another tangible takeaway from one of our guests?
Mary Davidson [00:36:04]:
Same recent. I’m thinking in, like, recent terms. We had another guest on Kelly Thorpe, and she’s talking about beyond bookkeeping. And so sometimes we have, you know, professionals come on and talk about, like, more like business related things. Not necessarily event specific, but of course always tie it into events in some way. And she was sharing just, like a lot of really wonderful things about. She gave some real talk about, like, if you don’t know your finances, basically, like, what are you doing? And Kelly, if you hear me talking about this, I’m not going to word it as well as you did, but it was kind of like the kick in the pants that I needed that was like, you need to understand your financials, and there are people who can help you do that. And that was.
Mary Davidson [00:36:39]:
She was kind of talking us through some tips and tricks that we can. We can use on our own. But for me, when I was listening to that, I was. Because that’s not something I’m great at. And so I was like, you know what? I think it’s time that I really just need to figure this out. I really need to, like, dig in and just. Kelly, do the thing.
Libby Sundgren [00:36:53]:
It resonated, Kelly. Thank you.
Mary Davidson [00:36:55]:
Resonated Kelly.
Logan Clements [00:36:56]:
Thank you.
Mary Davidson [00:36:56]:
But yeah, like Logan said, we do these off the cuff episodes, and those sometimes are the ones that, like, selfishly resonate. It’s just Logan and I, so it’s not a guest, but I’m like, we just, you know, we pull, like, what’s going on recently that we want to talk about. And for me, that is very, like, freeing to be able to just like, here’s really what’s going on. And usually it’s Logan, Usually it’s based on struggles, stuff that’s been a little bit rough. And so it’s. It’s nice, selfishly, just to be able to like, I think, get that off the chest and hopefully it helps other people as well.
Libby Sundgren [00:37:26]:
Mm.
Mary Davidson [00:37:27]:
Little solidarity.
Libby Sundgren [00:37:29]:
Logan, I’m really glad you brought up the event because I was gonna ask you to about this. Elise and I were going to go last year and then we had scheduling conflicts because we found out about it too late because we’re just not cool. But we obviously know about it this year and we will be going. We’re very excited. But can you please tell what’s really cool is that it’s a two parter or it could be a one parter, but I love the two part component virtual and in person. And I’d love for you guys to give some tips or just kind of a spiel to people about what they can expect without giving away the secrets.
Logan Clements [00:38:07]:
Yeah, no, we’re open an open book about the conference. It is, yeah, the 2025 Better Events Conference. It’s being held virtually on Wednesday, October 1st, and then in person in Seattle on Thursday, December 18th. It’s our third year doing the conference. So similar to the podcast, it’s kind of a labor of love. We created something from nothing and it’s been really fun to put ourselves in our client’s shoes where we’re often helping advise them on some of the decisions. But we’re not necessarily making the decisions. But with our own conference, it’s like, oh, we got to figure out ticket posts, we got to figure out what time to launch registration, we got to decide how long of a day we want.
Logan Clements [00:38:42]:
And you know, all of that. That is both exciting and daunting, personally. And Mary, I know you agree with this, but I believe there’s no conference or event like this out there. Again, we are really ditching the whole PowerPoint talking at you format. The last two years we’ve had a virtual day. Last year was the first year in person. So we’ve taken lessons learned from both of those experiences and are applying them to this year. So virtual is going to be a lot of interactive workshops.
Logan Clements [00:39:07]:
We have found you can still have serendipitous connections with other event pros virtually. And our podcast audience is not regional. They’re really all over the place. And so doing a virtual day helps us also keep it really cost efficient for people to join. And then you don’t have to get on a plane if you’re busy. So we’ll do conversation starters like we do on the podcast. Do that at the start of episodes when it’s just Mary and I because our brains need a moment to warm up. So we’ve done those both in person and virtual.
Logan Clements [00:39:32]:
And what was it, Mary? Our in person day last year I feel like we had a whole. We had a little Crew of people who are obsessed with their air fryer. Because we said one of our questions was what is your most used kitchen utensil? And these like six, seven people for the rest of the conference that day were just bonded and multiple times brought it up how much they love their air fryers.
Libby Sundgren [00:39:50]:
Air fryer, we get it folks, but also we love it. We love the connection.
Logan Clements [00:39:53]:
You never know who hired who for an event or brought them. Like, you know, that was just the cat, you know, the catalyst for that. So, so yeah, so that’s the virtual day. And then in person we just had a lot of fun in. We were in Tacoma last year doing things like we did a CEO day reflection period of time. So that was a workshop for about an hour where you were sitting there and thinking about on your career. Again service industry. We think about others a lot and don’t think about ourselves.
Logan Clements [00:40:17]:
And so the in person day and is meant to be in December end of year. You’re kind of reflecting what do you personally actually want to do next year? And we did a cool like write a letter to future you. Which it’s almost August and so or it’s in August. I have to mail the August letters that people earmarked. We let everyone write a letter and seal it up and tell us when to mail it to them. So that was something I loved. But Mary, what else would you call component you add to the conference plug?
Mary Davidson [00:40:43]:
Yeah, I mean obviously we’re, we’re passionate about it and it’s a great excuse to try something new because it is a. Well first it’s a community of event professionals. So that’s super intimidating because we like like nice things. But then also it’s a nice community that understands, oh, we’re just going to try this crazy idea and see if it works because we can’t try it on the events that we’re getting hired for. So we’re going to try it on you all and see if it’s a good experience.
Libby Sundgren [00:41:05]:
Yeah, guinea pig for you for sure.
Mary Davidson [00:41:07]:
Yeah, exactly. It’s a fun little test group. But yeah, we like to say that our promise is to make sure that attendees leave with like one new tip or trick or perspective that they can apply immediately to their events and then also that they will meet at least three new people in the events community. Which is like if you can’t meet three people and come to our conference, then you like lock yourself in the bathroom the whole time. Because there are so many opportunities to meet. You’ll probably like almost meet everybody in the room, actually. Which is pretty cool.
Libby Sundgren [00:41:35]:
Yeah. On your most. I think it’s your most recent episode. But it was kind of like a round robin of little recorded like tidbits from people, which I thought was really cute. But there was a gal who specifically referenced the event and how her business has grown since then and how much she loved it. So I thought that was really cool. Such a great testimonial from. From someone who lived it.
Alysse Bryson [00:41:56]:
And I love that that you guys are so collaboration forward because there’s not. We have an abundance problem. There’s more than enough to go to round. There’s so many events. There’s not going to be less events in the future. AI is not going to take away events. Right. It’s going to change how some things get done with events, but it’s not going to take anything away.
Alysse Bryson [00:42:19]:
And so this is a community. I’ve worked in a lot of different industries and I just find the events community maybe because they just love to party and they are a little loco, but it’s usually like the best group of people. It really is. What’s. I’d love to know as we start to wind things down, like we do always love to ask, like, what’s the craziest thing that went wrong? And of course I want to know that. But what I really want to know is like, would you have an event or a moment in event something that you’re like, this was like, if it all ended tomorrow. This was my swan song. I feel really good about this one event or this one moment of an event.
Libby Sundgren [00:42:59]:
See, we always like to bring true crime back into it. If this was your last event on earth, if Keith Morrison was telling your story, what would you have done the day before you disappeared?
Logan Clements [00:43:11]:
I mean, for me, it was when I was a kid. I always said I wanted to go to the Olympics. I wanted to be an Olympic athlete. That was. I was going to be Mia Hamm and then I was going to be Lisa Leslie and then I didn’t grow any taller. And so then it didn’t continue. I still to this day say curling is forever my backup sport. I could still dedicate my life to curling.
Logan Clements [00:43:28]:
But I did. It’s kind of twofold. I got to work the Tokyo Olympics. It was Covid. It got canceled. So my contract got canceled. Then I got rehired. So it was just this whole stressful will it happen? Won’t it? But it felt very full circle that I felt like to my parents, I was like, I made it.
Logan Clements [00:43:43]:
I said I was because I evolved. I said, well, now it’s not that I’m going to compete at the Olympics, but I’ll be paid to be at the Olympics. And so I did that in Tokyo, but there weren’t any fans. But I remember just multiple pinch me moments videos I took in my. In my room of just kind of, this is so cool. And then most recently, I got to work in Paris and I convinced my parents to come over, and I was like, I don’t know, I just think I was like, buy the flight. Just book a hotel.
Alysse Bryson [00:44:07]:
Yeah.
Logan Clements [00:44:07]:
And like, we’ll figure it out. And I know they had the best time seeing they saw more sports than I did, but it was really, really cool of just again, something I said I was gonna do. I didn’t really know when I was a kid what that would evolve into, and then have it come out. And. Yeah, the Olympics are just. They’re always constantly pinch me moments.
Libby Sundgren [00:44:24]:
Yeah, you did it. You achieved the dream. Just a different way, Elise. You could just cheer at a pickleball thing.
Alysse Bryson [00:44:32]:
Well, no, but, you know, that reminds me of the fact that when I was like, 12 or 13, you know, my bedroom wall was wallpapered in full pages out of magazines. And never in a million years did that girl think she would end up running a magazine. Right? So it’s. I do think it’s always there. When you look back, hindsight being 20 20, you look back, you can find the things that make you you, that lead you to where you end up. Like, they’re just. The connections are all there. What about you, Mary?
Mary Davidson [00:45:01]:
As you all are talking, I’m like, there’s so many running through my brain. And I think that’s why we are crazy event people, all of us. That’s why we keep coming back, because there’s so many moments when it’s like, oh, my gosh, how cool is it to be a part of something that is so much bigger than me? Like, especially doing a lot of nonprofit. As you all know, it’s like these heartfelt videos and speakers, and you’re like, if I have anything to do with, like, helping this be successful, how cool. So I think there’s just so many small moments, but I think that my answer is the most fulfilled I’ve ever felt from an event is the ones that we’ve created. So whether it’s the conference or I used to. It’s not a goal anymore. I used to have a goal where every year I was going to create my own event because I just felt like it was such A like, fulfilling experience to be able to almost like, you know, further invest like we were talking about.
Mary Davidson [00:45:46]:
You’re not just planning it, but you’re fully in charge of the success or failure of the event and have the repercussions of it as well. So to have people come together and you see them connecting and it’s something that you’ve created, there’s that. That’s like even more special kind of magic. I mean, I don’t think I can beat the Olympics, but that, that’s my answer. I think that’s something that’s really great.
Logan Clements [00:46:06]:
Yeah, everybody’s got their own Olympics.
Libby Sundgren [00:46:08]:
It’s just.
Logan Clements [00:46:09]:
It doesn’t have to be the Olympics.
Alysse Bryson [00:46:11]:
Well, and it’s funny that, because when you talk about the Olympics, I see the joy that it brings. I hear Olympics that after working for an NBC station for so many years, I’m like, oh, we’re talking about the Olympics again already? Why are we already talking about the Olympics? Because, I mean, it was always. There’s such a big deal that they were always talking about it, no matter what time of year it was, no matter if we were a year out, two years out. Like, we were already planning for the next one when the first. That one just wrapped. So it’s so funny how people have different attachments to things.
Logan Clements [00:46:41]:
Oh, Elise, you’re not alone. I already told somebody. I was like, yeah, I’m getting ready. I want to Winter Olympics. I’ve been having a hard time breaking into. And I’m like, well, I might just go. I volunteered in 2018 in Korea with Team USA. And so I was like, threw my name into that again.
Logan Clements [00:46:54]:
And somebody was like, the Olympics already? They were just last year. And I was like, the way it works. But this is the short window. I was like, summer to winter. It’s only really 18 months. And then it’s a long window to get back to summer again. So.
Libby Sundgren [00:47:08]:
Yeah, them is two and a half years. I mean, come on.
Logan Clements [00:47:11]:
Exactly. It’s gonna feel really long and especially, well, LA 2028. I’m sure we’re going to be hearing about that as soon. I mean, as soon as the winter ones are over in February, but.
Libby Sundgren [00:47:19]:
Oh, I’m sure. Yeah. See, Elise, if they had pickleball in the Olympics, that maybe it would have been on your thing.
Alysse Bryson [00:47:25]:
Maybe, maybe.
Libby Sundgren [00:47:26]:
I think, I think, I think that could be your Olympics. Maybe pickleball with your dad.
Alysse Bryson [00:47:33]:
I’m still intrigued about the life saving. I still think that’s very interesting. Well, I mean, they’ve been what Was the one they added the last summer that was. Was it skateboarding? Was that when it was new skateboarding? Was new skateboarding. And anytime they add anything new, I think that, I think that’s cool. When they add, when they add new ones, I think that’s really cool.
Libby Sundgren [00:47:50]:
Follow your dreams. Yeah, life saving. Just don’t go to Great Wolf Lodge for your training.
Alysse Bryson [00:47:56]:
Yeah, no Great Wolf Lodge. And if there was a podcast Olympics, I don’t think that we would qualify because we don’t give tips. At the end of our episodes, you talk about poop dollars. That’s what happens.
Libby Sundgren [00:48:07]:
It’s true. I tell stories that my husband wishes I was not sharing with the world. But you know what? That’s okay. I do want to say one other thing. I do really like the kind of the warm up question you guys do at the beginning. And I’m also referencing the most recent episode because that’s the most recent one I listened to. But Mary, I think, was it you, Mary, who said you like to call people? And was that you?
Mary Davidson [00:48:36]:
Oh, that was Logan.
Libby Sundgren [00:48:37]:
Was that Logan? Okay, because I was the one that.
Mary Davidson [00:48:39]:
Was like, I don’t like to talk to people. You don’t like to talk.
Libby Sundgren [00:48:41]:
You like to do personal. But Logan, you like to call people. When I heard that, I was like, oh my God. It’s like I am here with Elise because sometimes she’ll be like, okay, well, I’m driving to, you know, I’m making an eight hour drive to Bend tomorrow, so I’ll just call you. Like, okay, I do want to talk to you, but just so you know, I cannot talk to you the whole time you’re driving. I have to break. I love a phone call.
Alysse Bryson [00:49:04]:
I love a phone call.
Libby Sundgren [00:49:05]:
Logan, it’s a great time to get some connection in. When you’re, when you’re driving, what else are you going to do?
Logan Clements [00:49:10]:
Yeah, I’m a newer. Like I haven’t had a car in a really like in over 10 years now. I do. And I’m like, oh yeah. When you’re stuck in a car for an hour, I’m like, who cares?
Alysse Bryson [00:49:18]:
Calls and podcasts. That’s what happens in cars. Calls and podcasts.
Logan Clements [00:49:22]:
Exactly. I did have, I had got stuck in a. Where did I get stuck? Detroit. And tried to catch a flight to Chicago. And I, I decided to drive the four hours from like 10pm till 2am and called one my best friends from college because I was like, she’s not going to be out tonight. She’ll probably answer if she’s, if she’s awake. And she stayed on the phone with me for three hours. She read me several New York Times articles.
Libby Sundgren [00:49:44]:
We discussed current events, beautiful friendship. That.
Logan Clements [00:49:47]:
Yeah. She’s like, are you almost there? I was like, almost. You’ve literally almost talked me all the way to Chicago, and I love you for it, Elise.
Libby Sundgren [00:49:54]:
I would talk you from Detroit to Chicago. Okay. If it kept you asleep.
Alysse Bryson [00:49:58]:
Well, we know that I would fall asleep. I’m not talking to someone. We know that I would fall asleep. So that is why I call people on longer drives, because I. I have a tendency to nod off wherever I am. I went in to get my lashes done the other day, and I walked in, I said, I just want to let you know I’m probably gonna fall asleep today. And she said it wasn’t even. Like.
Alysse Bryson [00:50:18]:
It was less than five minutes. She watched the clock less than five minutes, and I was snoring.
Libby Sundgren [00:50:23]:
At least you give a warning. I would think you would just sleep every time the whole time, but, I mean, usually I would. That’s when I used to get them done. That’s what I did.
Alysse Bryson [00:50:32]:
Yeah.
Mary Davidson [00:50:33]:
Thank you for staying awake during this podcast.
Alysse Bryson [00:50:35]:
Yeah, totally stayed awake. You’re welcome.
Libby Sundgren [00:50:38]:
Episode is about narcolepsy.
Logan Clements [00:50:41]:
Yep.
Alysse Bryson [00:50:42]:
What can I do for the sleepers at your event? No, but I thought I should get tested because, you know I love to sleep, girl. You know I love to sleep. Well, we’re gonna put in the show notes where people can find you. But, I mean, I did bring it up. So is there, like, a terrible thing that happened at an event you guys want to share? Because we’ve got a lot of stories that we could share, so, I mean, I just.
Libby Sundgren [00:51:03]:
We. But we won’t.
Alysse Bryson [00:51:04]:
Game recognizes game. So, like, do you have a real doozy?
Mary Davidson [00:51:08]:
I have an almost doozy, but it turned out okay. But it.
Libby Sundgren [00:51:11]:
So. Well, good.
Logan Clements [00:51:12]:
That’s.
Libby Sundgren [00:51:13]:
That’s a happy ending.
Alysse Bryson [00:51:14]:
Okay.
Mary Davidson [00:51:14]:
Happy doozy. We just had an event in Seattle where there’s, like, a headliner. There’s a headliner. And now ever since then, I’m like, is there a headliner at an event? Because I don’t like it. I don’t want it. Because we used them in the branding of the event. We sold VIP experiences based on their attendance. And then we heard two hours before the event that they likely wouldn’t be able to make it because they were having, I think, a mental crisis, and it was gonna be a huge deal.
Mary Davidson [00:51:40]:
If they weren’t there, nobody would have lived up to their precedent. They got it together. They came it was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever been a part of. So that’s why it was happy. But it could have been just an absolute train wreck. We would have had to refund people.
Libby Sundgren [00:51:57]:
Like, I mean, the stress alone is probably. It was probably just as much as if it hadn’t happened. Just thinking about what you’re gonna have to do, like, oh, no.
Alysse Bryson [00:52:08]:
But also props that person for also paying attention to their mental health and judging whether or not it was right for them. Like, I get both sides of it. As someone who does a lot of work in the mental health space. Like, I do get both sides of it and. But yeah, there’s. People don’t have any idea. Most. The average person has no idea what goes into an event.
Alysse Bryson [00:52:31]:
They think a two hour event is just like something you maybe work started that morning. They have. They literally have no idea.
Logan Clements [00:52:38]:
I’ll let Mary’s story. Story be the story just because I feel like I’ve blocked out a lot of the ones and the ones that I could tell are quite long. So I know listeners there. There’s definitely things go wrong. And I, I mean, I do joke. That’s when we shine as event professionals. I mean, when events go smooth, sure, we love them, but there’s a part of you that’s kind of like, oh, I was ready. I was ready.
Logan Clements [00:52:59]:
And then backup plan that they’re like, oh, yeah. My only thing I’d say my. Well, here, pro tip for anybody who’s an event professional. Have a bag of random items. You never know what you need. I most recently went through sets of earplugs that I’d taken from international flights. They give you little individual wrapped ones because I was like, I don’t need them. Saved two of my anthem singers because it was a horrible sound system delay.
Logan Clements [00:53:21]:
And there’s nothing satisfying. As satisfying as someone going, does anyone have earplugs? And getting to go into your random bag and be like, I do.
Libby Sundgren [00:53:28]:
That’s amazing. I never thought about earplugs. I’m gonna put that in my event kit. That’s a really good.
Alysse Bryson [00:53:33]:
You have a lot of things in that kit, but that’s a good one. I don’t know.
Libby Sundgren [00:53:36]:
Yeah, I. Earplugs. I would never have thought about that. But I am gonna put those in there. It really is. Somebody asked me yesterday at the soccer tournament for a hair tie. I don’t know why I felt so great about it, but I was like, I do have a hair tie right here. Also.
Libby Sundgren [00:53:51]:
It was my only hair tie. So I just want everyone to recognize the level of martyrdom that I am at right now for giving my only hair tie on an 85 degree day in the sun to an eight year old player. Well, she was nine, but still, you’re.
Alysse Bryson [00:54:08]:
A real giver, Libby.
Logan Clements [00:54:10]:
So hair ties also go in the event kit.
Libby Sundgren [00:54:12]:
Mother Teresa hair ties and earplugs. All right Lace, bring us home before we get off on it.
Alysse Bryson [00:54:20]:
Sorry, I was thinking about other things in the kit. Well, that’s a wrap on this episode of Beats Working Winning the Game of Events. If you have an idea or you want to reach out, you can email us at infoatsworking Show. Remember, every detail matters, every moment counts, and no matter what, the show must go on. Thanks for listening to Beats Working Winning the Game of Events, where we explore what it takes to make moments unforgettable.
Libby Sundgren [00:54:48]:
If you’re leaving with a little more inspiration, a little more perspective, and a big sideache from all of the laughing at our funny jokes, then we’ve done our job.
Alysse Bryson [00:54:57]:
Beats working is a WORKP2P production. If you’ve enjoyed this episode, please don’t forget to subscribe, rate and review us on your favorite podcast platforms.
Libby Sundgren [00:55:07]:
Your support helps us keep the magic going.
