VEM Chronicles

Its About the People

2011-03-13T10:55:00.000-07:00

The 2011 season is officialy underway. The Little Rock Marathon has been checked off the list and we are now off to Atlanta for the Publix Georgia Marathon & Half Marathon this coming weekend. We then get a little reprieve for a month until we really get rolling in May. Returning from Little Rock thought, reminded me of a big reason why I enjoy what we do, the people we work with.

The people we get to work with on a daily basis and at the events make some of the crazy things we do enjoyable. As I've written about before, we do a lot of things most people don't consider normal. We see the early morning hours at the beginning of the day instead of the end, like most people normally would. These activities surrounding the events can only be done with people you enjoy being around. Smiling and sometimes not so smily faces not only make it bearable, but make it fun. Great stories, inside jokes and great laughs usually come of these times.

Little Rock made me think about how we don't only enjoy being around our crew, but how much we enjoy our clients. The crew from Little Rock is not only great to work with, but they make the job feel not so much like work. They know when to get down to business, but like to have fun doing it. We are all in it together, so we all might as well enjoy it.

We don't view our "crew" as hired help or volunteers, but as friends. How else could we get them to do what they do? We don't view our clients only as clients, but as friends as well. The good people we work with on a daily basis and at our events make the job, not seem like a job. The events are fun, but the people we work with make it memorable.

So it Begins

2011-03-04T03:55:00.000-08:00

The 2011 event season officially kicks off this week for the crew at VEM. It’s not that we haven't been working during the winter months, but this week the events actually start to take place and it’s time to put the plans into action. March serves as sort of a 'warm-up' for VEM with the Little Rock Marathon taking place this weekend and then that “little event” that is the Publix Georgia Marathon and Half Marathon and its nearly 20,000 participants taking place on March 20th.

I know Ryne seems especially excited to get the events started. He is off to produce his first running event as we head to Little Rock this week. I'm sure he is especially interested to see it all come together. Experiencing a race first-hand really helps make it all start to make sense. Little Rock is a good one to get his feet wet with before we jump into the monster that is Atlanta.

I personally have mixed emotions about the start of the year. On one hand, it’s great to get back into the swing of things; getting on-site and making it all come together. But then to think that it’s March 2nd and our last event will be mid-November, I start to wonder if I can survive another year. We've invested quite a bit in staff and resources this winter to help make this year a success. This is especially good for me as it takes some of my load off!

It’s quite daunting when you look at the grand scheme of things. We will serve well over 100,000 participants and spectators in 2011, which is an amazing stat in my opinion. While I'm not quite sure if I'm ready for it all to start, I am excited to get back to Little Rock. It’s one of my favorite stops along the way as we get to work with great people and have good times. It’s hard to believe, but the 2011 event season has begun....only 19 more events to go!

The Many Hats We Wear

2011-02-14T11:00:00.000-08:00

For the last week and a half, VEM has been conducting intern interviews. Yes, after four years we have an official intern program off the ground. There are some really great candidates out there; young energetic people looking for a truly hands-on experience, which we can definitely provide. As with a typical interview, we leave it up to candidate to ask any questions they may have at the end of the interview. One of the most common questions asked is “What is a typical day like?” This question really got me thinking. While it’s cliche to say that no day is alike, I believe this especially rings true within VEM.

Andrew and I often get a good laugh about the many different responsibilities we have. We are not only involved in the logistics of the event, but we are also hands-on when it comes to the marketing, public relations, customer service, technical support, and the many other aspects associated with event production.

Andrew and I are both pretty confident that the participant calling with questions about an event has no idea that we are driving a bobcat in the middle of a pasture or standing in 18 inches of mud, while they ask “Do you think I will be able to do a Mudathlon?” I'm also sure most participants believe the informational email about the upcoming event was written from the comforts of an office as opposed to the backseat of a car or at an event site. Or for that matter, the author of the email is not the same person who deals with trash crews and port-o-let companies (not that there is anything wrong with that). When a detailed participant lets us know that our website has incorrect information (which we do appreciate), they don’t realize that the update was not done by a marketing person sitting at World Headquarters, but rather by one of us who makes the update from whereabouts unknown.

It’s life at a small company, doing what is needed to get the job done. If the time ever came to start looking for a new position, I'm not sure how we would fit it all on a resume: Event Production, Logistical Planning, Marketing, Public Relations, Customer Service, Graphic Design, Mapmaking, Technical Support, Accountant, Office Manager, Human Relations...the list goes on and on. The great part about it is, each day involves at least half of those tasks!

So when a candidate asks about a typical day, I really don’t have any idea where to begin to explain. I usually respond by saying “That’s a great question. I guess the best way answer that is to expect the unexpected.” How's that for an answer?

A Long, Strange Trip

2011-01-27T08:21:00.000-08:00

I just marked my three year anniversary of being a part of Vision Event Management on January 21st. Three Years! On one hand I think, “Time has flown! Where did those years go and how did they go so quickly?” On the other hand, it sure seems like it’s been thirteen years, not just three. Jeff and I both are amazed that it’s only been three years. I think that is mostly due to the fact that we have come so far as an organization in that amount of time.

Those first few months were quite interesting. It was a leap of faith for me. I left a good job with the Mini-Marathon to be a part of VEM but I knew the potential was great. I knew with both of our attitudes we would make VEM successful or we would die trying. We started with a couple of clients who are still with us today; The Indianapolis Marathon, Little Rock Marathon, Geist Half and Spirit Run. They were great to have faith in our mission, but they just weren't enough to sustain the business.

A couple of memories have stuck with me during this time. The first occurred as we were preparing to head to Little Rock for a site visit preceding the event. It was the first of February and we had about seven pages of questions for the crew in Little Rock. It was our first year being involved, so to make sure we had all bases covered, our questions were plenty. I was preparing everything we needed to head to the airport the following day and decided to print the three copies of questions. Well, funny thing about it, to print you actually need paper! We had none and it wasn't because we were going green. We couldn't afford it at the time! I proceeded to pull paper out of the trash, decrease the font to 6, eliminate the margins and reduced it to 3 pages. I made one copy.

The second memory which has stuck with me occurred about a month before the first Geist Half. The first year, we weren't contracted to do all the event production as we are now. We were more of a consultant, handling just certain aspects of the event. However, we wanted the event to be successful and we went well beyond our contract to help make it a success. The event consumed much of our time, (which wasn't bad since we weren't overly busy) but it wasn't enough to sustain us. As Jeff and I were talking through some details, the discussion turned to VEM in general. We both wondered how we could put food on the table if things continued like this; it was a sobering moment.

Soon after this conversation, momentum seemed to shift. We received a couple of calls regarding potential events, neither of which turned out, but you could feel things changing. Soon after the first annual Kent's Run, we received a call from US Road Sports about the Chicago Half saying they had recently purchased the race and were wondering if we knew someone that would be interested in producing it. After my wife called us wimps (well, she used another term, but I won't use it here) we decided to pursue it as VEM. This sort of opened the flood gates and we haven't looked back since.

Things have changed greatly in my three years and it’s sort of fitting that on January 21, 2011, we were fully moved into our new office/warehouse. No more storage closets, working out of Jeff's home and yes, we can afford office supplies. Those three years have definitely been a long, strange trip, but we've enjoyed every minute of it.

Not Too High, Not Too Low

2011-01-12T06:08:00.000-08:00

The last couple of weeks got me thinking more about this saying and how truly fitting it is not only in our business, but life in general. We've been on the road the past few days for planning meetings for our various events. On more than one occassion, we've gone from true excitement about the potential relationships, to questioning whether there would be any relationship at all. The feelings swung in hours or in a matter of a few minutes.

I've always thought it would be interesting to chart and follow the ebb and flow of the mood of the staff during the planning of an event. We invest countless hours in the planning of our events, as many do with their jobs. The more time we invest, the more emotionally involved we become with the event and it truly becomes a personal challenge. Not the challenge our participants face as they spend hours training and plannig for their race in order to finish, but the challenge of getting them all to the starting line. The emotional investment can take its toll as the planning process goes on for months.

During the planning process, we have many smaller goals or aspects of the event that we need to achieve. We strive to achieve all of these goals, working to get the plan in place we feel will help the event be successful. The results of these planning goals may be bette than we had hoped or may not turn out to be so rosy. It is very easy to let these 'wins' or 'losses' get to you. I'm probably guilty of swinging one way or another more than anyone in the office, but not getting too high after a win or too low after a loss is key. Its a saying that is used quite often in our office, Jeff is always a good reminder. Once you take a step back, the 'win' or 'loss' probably isn't as good or bad as you think. In reality, especially with the 'losses', if things didn't turn out, if this is the worst thing to happen, its not that bad. You still have time to prepare and plan.

Its hard at times for us, but continuing to think about not getting too high after a 'win' or too low after a 'loss', helps keep us in the middle so we can move forward with our planning.

Thanks again for reading.

How Far Will We Go?

2011-01-03T17:07:00.000-08:00

Last night I spent the night on the streets of Chicago. I did this not because I wanted to, but because I had to. You see, in order to produce an event in the city of Chicago, one must first obtain a permit from the Park District, to ensure you get your space, its first come first served! While I was huddled in my sleeping bag, freezing during one of my turns on the street, I got to thinking. My first thought was how grateful I am to have a home and a family to keep me warm at night. The second thought was the extent to which event producers go to have the opportunity to organize events for participants.

Ryne and I left Indianapolis last night around 9:00 p.m. and arrived at the Chicago Park District offices around 11:00 p.m. local time. Though some may assume we would be at the front of the line, we were actually lucky number 13. The line gradually grew through the course of the night and by the time they opened the doors at 6:30 a.m., there were approximately 50 people lined up. These people represented 50 organizations; some having spent 24 hours in line and some maybe only a few minutes; but all of them giving the extra effort to make the events possible.

This is one example of the many crazy things event producers do in an effort to pull off the events. Some of them are due to the circumstances involving the municipalities, some are due to weather, and still others are due to trouble that arises during setup. We've pulled an all-nighter the night before the Indy Mini, near all-nighters in Madison getting mistaken for drunken college students as we closed the street, and in Chicago where 9 inches of rain forced us to redesign the whole post-race area. We've even swept cooking grease that spilled at the start line in Little Rock. The list goes on and on for us and I'm sure other organizations have similar stories of their own.

The funny thing about these stories is that we and our crew actually enjoy it. We don't just enjoy it, we LOVE it! Everyone loves making it happen and seeing it all come together. We enjoy putting in the time and energy and going to these extremes to help make the event an enjoyable experience for our participants. Seeing smiles on their faces as they cross the finish line and overhearing them sharing their stories makes it all worthwhile. Those moments make even the most dreadful moments a distant memory.

Ryne's first day on the job. He is in there!

On a side note to this story, we would like to welcome Ryne Daniel aboard the VEM team. Ryne had the pleasure of spending his first day and night with VEM on the streets of Chicago. Welcome aboard!

Nightmares, or Should I say “EVENTMARES”

2010-12-22T09:02:00.000-08:00

There is a common topic around the office and among our crew throughout the year regarding the events. Our crew uses the term “Eventmares.” An Eventmare is very similar to a nightmare; something scary is happening, you try to react and escape the situation, then you wake up in a cold sweat trying to collect yourself and get back to reality. Nightmares happen often to some of us while others don’t seem to have them at all. However, EVERYONE in the event business is bound to have an Eventmare at some point in their career.

I am not a dreamer, or at least I can’t remember my dreams after I have woken up. However, the sort of dream that I do remember is theEventmare. I’ve had quite a few over the years ranging from a wide variety of circumstances. Most of my Eventmares are centered around the fear that I have forgotten to take care of an important race component or they involve some crazy scenario that takes place during an event. The psychologist in me believes they are a result of having too many event-related details on my mind which then causes me to have trouble winding down at night. Once I have woken up and have reassured myself that in fact all of the details have been handled or that the scenario did not actually happen, I still find myself going through a mental checklist of my responsibilities. Much like a dream or nightmare, Eventmares can be very detailed in content, but very broad in their context.

One of my cohorts, Mark Adler and I share our Eventmare stories and get a good laugh. As I mentioned earlier, the stories offer a broad range of circumstances under which things can go wrong. Once, while at the Indy Mini, I had an Eventmare that I had forgotten to order the tents. In my dream, I realized this on Friday morning and the event was taking place on Saturday morning. I contacted the vendor who informed me that me there would no way they could get the nearly 50 tents up in time since it normally took them all week to build the site. One of Mark's favorite Eventmares involved 200 volunteers working at the start line who started fighting with each other in lieu of assisting the participants. Another favorite is when all of the participants at large race decided it would be a much more enjoyable experience if they went over and around the start towers instead of running through them.

Regardless of the scenario, Eventmares cause us to wake up in a cold sweat and hope it wasn’t true. A second look is given to all the details to ensure nothing is missed. Only after we are completely sure that our Eventmare will not come true can we share the story with everyone and get a good laugh at our scary moments.

Thanks again for reading. I hope you everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

The "Off-Season"

2010-12-13T08:57:00.000-08:00

The late fall and winter serve as our official "off-season." I use that term loosely since the only part of it we have "off" is from the actual production of the events. Many people ask us what we do this time of year. While we usually dedicate much of our time to the evaluation and planning for each event, this year we are looking at organizational changes; decisions that aren't easy to make.

After we had the chance to take a deep breath following our last event in mid-October, we spent quite a bit of time reading through event surveys and participant comments, spending time on what they liked about the events, but more importantly what they didn't like or would like to see in the future. We also listened to what our crew was telling us, since they are such a vital role in what we do. All of this resulted in a plan of action for each of the events and the ensuing months is dedicated to the implementation of these plans. This winter however, it is even more important the planning gets done. Our 2011 season is more daunting than the 2010 season. Once we get rolling, there won't be much time for the planning aspect, so we need to have our bigger plans in place so that as we move closer, our time is spent more on the implementation of these plans.

Now, from a big picture point of view. VEM saw many changes during the year, so following the 2010 event season, there was a lot to discuss and plan for as we move into 2011. During 2010, VEM hired another full-time staff member, added another part-time staffer, and added five new events to our lineup, with three of them being first-time events. It was a fun year....and a long year. As I alluded to earlier, we are looking at many organizational changes in an effort to improve our overall operational plan. First, we are looking at the possibility of an actual office accompanied by the potential for a true warehouse. Making the commitment to actually having "brick and mortar" could be the toughest decision of all. Secondly, we are looking at adding an additional staff member, helping to take the event load off of Andrew and myself…or so we think. Adding this new person though is probably the easiest decision because we need the help. The final aspect is our ever-expanding lineup of events. Again, this is not an easy decision or process. It involves a lot of time exploring the options; some of which will be viable and some that will be dead-ends. None-the-less, it’s a process that must be done.

Not only will this winter help give a clearer direction for our events in 2011, it will provide VEM with a direction for the future. A future that is not only promising, but daunting as well. It’s an exciting process and we are enjoying the ride.

Thanks for taking time to read, please feel free to share your comments.

Welcome to the Social Media Age

2010-12-08T16:49:00.000-08:00

Anyone that knows us would tell you that we are not the most tech savvy group out there. While some of us at VEM are light years ahead of others, we as a whole, are still in the dark ages compared to the rest of society. I think this is mostly due to the fact that we are past our prime in terms of the tech world, the youngest of us being in our early thirties. However, we are slowly, with some encouragement, beginning to embrace the new era in which people go about their daily lives. For those of you that know Jeff, it may be hard to believe but he's finally agreed to ditch his flip phone for a Smartphone, so watch out! Facebook, Twitter, blogging, Foursquare, QR codes…. the list goes on and on, but we are trying to figure our way through this maze of ever-changing platforms. Part of our effort to become more in tune with the Social Media Age is the development of a blog. Somehow, I've become nominated to write this thing (although some will tell you I wanted to do it to feed my ego). The goal of the blog is to give people, whether it be friends, family, participants or no one, a look behind the scenes at what goes on at VEM. For example, I will touch on subjects such as how we go about producing our events, what goes into the production, decisions that are made and funny anecdotal stories about things that happen during the production of our events. We hope those of you that choose to follow us find the look behind the scenes interesting or maybe even entertaining.

The Social Media age is making us rethink the way we go about doing our business. We've been on Facebook for a while, but not actively, mostly due to my lack of updates. Honestly, it's one of the last things I'm thinking about when we start to get busy. With not only a VEM Facebook page, but now a Twitter feed (which I had created mostly to keep up to speed on the latest sports news), and Facebook and Twitter feeds for each of our events, we need to do more and we need to be better. Not only must we to do this for promotion of the events and recruiting participants, but it provides a great way for our current participants to connect with us and the events. This will be a learning curve for all of us. None of us grew up with this, so it's not second nature and with its ever-changing and new platforms, it's quite a change from the traditional avenues all of us have become accustomed to.

With all of this being said, we now have a HootSuite account, to make our social media lives easier. Michelle has been reading up on the latest news at Mashable.Com and has sat in on many webinars regarding Twitter, Facebook, and Social Media marketing. We've drug Jeff along trying to figure out how we incorporate this into what we do. Its all a huge learning experience or experiment depending on how you look at it. I guess you can say we are looking forward to developing this side of VEM. I'm sure by the time we have a grasp on it, there will be something completely new for us to learn.

Thanks for reading....come back next time for more from the VEM Chronicles