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Sean Sebring:
Hello and welcome to another insightful episode of SolarWinds TechPod. I’m your host, Sean Sebring, joined by our new host and THWACK superstar, Chrystal Taylor. I could not have asked for someone better to join me in hosting, so welcome back, Chrystal.
Chrystal Taylor:
Thank you. It’s great to be back. I have hosted on a number of occasions in the past, but I’m always happy to be back. I enjoy doing this show, so I’m happy to be back, and I’m always happy to work with you, Sean.
Sean Sebring:
Thank you. Glad to have you here. Today. We’re going to talk about something a little different, but likely still very relevant for most of our listeners. For those not aware, trade show season is right around the corner, and we’ll be discussing different aspects of events, logistics, pros, cons, and we couldn’t have asked for a better guest than our very own Val Rivir. Val is a Senior Manager of Events here at SolarWinds. And Val, thank you so much for joining us.
Val Rivir:
Well, thank you for having me. I’m quite honored to be a guest here on this, and I love working with both you and Chrystal, so it’s my genuine pleasure.
Sean Sebring:
Awesome. Val Rivir, I’ve actually had the pleasure of going to a handful of events with, is a blast. But, let me not just tell you based on my own experience. Val, could you tell us a little bit about your background and what got you into, I guess, the events space as a Senior Manager of Events here at SolarWinds?
Val Rivir:
Sure, sure. Well, I’ve been doing events for over two decades, and for a variety of different companies, from the boating industry, to chemical industry, to technology, and that’s where I’ve kind of resided over the last decade, and really enjoy it, and really appreciate the opportunities that are afforded to me when I get to do events, and get to network with a ton of people, and have met millions of people, literally, I think, over the years. Definitely.
Chrystal Taylor:
I certainly believe that. You were telling us before we started recording, when we were kind of doing our pre-gaming, or we tried to discuss kind of the topics we want to cover, that the history of events was really interesting, and you’ve looked into that in the past, how these trade shows kind of came about. We were talking about kind of the World’s Fair, and those kinds of things. Can you talk about your interest, I guess, in the events industry?
Val Rivir:
Yeah, actually it all started in the industrial Revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries when the World Fairs came together, if you remember all the different World Expos and World Fairs, and the first one was actually in London, Hyde Park, back in about 172 years ago, and that’s where folks actually had demonstrations. They were selling their wares, et cetera, and that has continued through the years. I think the first one in the United States was the Lewis and Clark one in 1905, and that had 1.6 million visitors, and also contributed to the baby boom there. As you can imagine, when a lot of people get together, a lot of networking happens, and we’ll leave it at that.
Chrystal Taylor:
That’s a great way to phrase that.
Sean Sebring:
It’s cool, looking at that as how it started, and what’s crazy is the number you just mentioned, I guess kind of being the first of its kind, maybe it was more exciting, they were less frequent, so it was more in demand when you had one. People really needed to, and wanted to be there. But man, yeah, that long ago, and to have you said, 1.6 million people, that’s crazy. That’s not the numbers we’re seeing today.
Val Rivir:
No. We had a little thing called the Pandemic, that kind of settled things down a little bit for a while and actually brought the industry to a halt, where literally no trade shows were occurring, as we all remember from those days. And the trade show business had been pretty steady, and consistent prior to that. And then with COVID, it obviously took everything down, and then the hospitality industry was ground to a halt. Travel was ground to a halt. I mean, it just literally stopped everything.
And then we had the inching back into events with the vaccinations that are available, some of the safety precautions that are taken for events, et cetera. But it still is one of those things that’s looming. You don’t want to be associated with a super-spreader event, and you also don’t want to attend one that’s a super-spreader event, so everybody’s erring on the site of caution these days, it seems.
Chrystal Taylor:
Speaking of the pandemic and kind of getting things back on track, something that I think was tried a lot during those times is people really wanted to recover the traffic, and the networking, and they tried to emulate it in a virtual format, and it wasn’t nearly as successful. Why do you think that is, as a professional opinion?
Val Rivir:
Virtual events will never replace in-person events. There’s a lot of digital fatigue with virtual events. They have a great purpose, and they serve a great purpose, and we did use them a lot for webcasts, podcasts, et cetera, prior to the pandemic, but when the pandemic happened, we still had the need to be able to communicate our products, our services, our features, our benefits.
So, a lot of people gravitated toward the new technology that was being rapidly developed for virtual events, and to hold somebody’s attention for one day, for two days, for three days, for four days, and have them pulled out of work, and not traveling to an event, and not networking with people in person, even though it may be networking through messaging, et cetera, just doesn’t replace that in-person perspective, or experience that you get when you actually attend an in-person event.
So I think there is a lot of fatigue that occurred with that. They still do have hybrid events out there, that are brothers or sisters to the in-person events. What we do see is that sometimes those are great for people who may be in different countries, or different locations that can’t travel to the actual in-person event, but it’s just not quite the same experience.
Sean Sebring:
I’m trying to think of ways that a virtual would still be as stimulating from the social aspect. Because you’re right, I mean, there’s no way to replicate that. But, Chrystal and I are both gamers here, so I’m like, “What if I had an avatar I could pretend I was at a trade show with, and go bump into people like it was a video game?” And I’m just thinking outside the box. How do we make virtual a reality?
Val Rivir:
No weapons, right?
Chrystal Taylor:
I think that there’s… The challenges that Val’s suggested are real challenges, but we, SolarWinds, and our community, have an annual event that is completely virtual, and it’s going on its 11th year now, and it’s highly successful, but it’s different. It’s not a trade show. You’re not trying to showcase anything really. It’s more of a learning event. So, I think they each have their spaces where it can work, and also, it’s not trying to pull people’s attention for multiple days.
These big trade shows, like your AWS re:Invent, and Cisco Live and those kinds of things, those are a whole week in person. So trying to do a week virtual, I don’t know if I could do that. I mean, that would be insane. And having… You miss out on a lot of the networking connections. A lot of the interactivity that you get at these in-person events is at the parties, and at the giveaways, and the talking to people just in general.
You meet up with people that you’ve met online, and we as humans, I think, still need that in-person connection as much as we as gamers maybe don’t care. Sometimes I think that it is nice to get out of the house, get out of your space. I’ve worked remotely for almost 14 years now, and it’s really beneficial to me to sometimes get to go to a show, or go to the office, or go somewhere and see people in person. And the pandemic made it really clear, I think, that human beings are not meant to be so isolated for so long.
And even in the virtual space of an event, like our THWACKcamp is, people get in there, and they’re having a good time because it’s meant to be the vibe that we have for the event is learning, and it’s like your people sitting next to you, we’re all having the similar problems, we’re all talking about the things, and we purposefully try and make it a fun, bouncy event. It’s not the same thing as one of these big trade shows, because I did work some of the trade shows during the pandemic that were virtual, and it was just not the same. You’re like, there’s… A virtual booth is nothing like working a booth in person for instance. It’s just, maybe somebody will come in, maybe they won’t, they don’t really have any interest in talking to you like a person. It’s more like they’re talking to a bot, and they would be totally fine, and it’s just a different vibe, I think.
Val Rivir:
Yeah, I would also agree with that. And I also know that in trade shows, in-person events, there was a lot of trying of gamification at trade shows, and there was a lot of money spent, a lot of creativity put into it. A lot of thought was put into it, to try and create some sort of game effect, when you’re trying to show your products or features. But, from my experience, what I saw was a lot of them weren’t 100% successful, that the success came in. Having those one-on-one conversations with the person and establishing a connection, and carrying the conversation forward, and having meaningful, meaningful dialogue.
I think there’s nothing like it. And you both have been at trade shows with me before. To hear a customer come up and talk about their experience with SolarWinds, and that they really appreciate our products, our people, and to hear those kind of comments come from a customer is just so absolutely, just incredibly joyful to hear, because it’s so different than hearing it in a written word, or reading it in a written word versus in person, and being able to sit there and look face-to-face at somebody and chat with them, and find out how they’re doing, and what they like, what they don’t like, what’s going on in their lives, what’s going on with their work lives, things like that.
So, it’s interesting to see the changes that people have tried to introduce with gamification. As Sean was saying, what if we had an avatar, and I jump around, and I can go over here? I still don’t think it’ll replace the in-person one-on-one effect that you get when you’re actually at a trade show.
Sean Sebring:
Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I agree. I’m being silly, talking about avatars, Ready Player One stuff, right? There’s just so much, we’d say communication, the majority of it is body language, and so being able to communicate real time. If things can be lost in translation with text, the same thing is true even through virtual events, if you’re hearing my voice, without the full body language. But personality, there’s just… You can, at a trade show, give personality, not just for you, but a cultural personality to kind of showcase, “Hey, in our case, I represent SolarWinds, here’s my personality.”
And that is something that’s invaluable to be able to show people, that you really just can’t get through virtual events. And I’m a social creature, I love being around people, making people laugh, and having a good time. So, I would never want to replace it, but I also like video games, so I like the idea of gamifying, get myself an avatar, or something too.
But Chrystal brought up a good point, as well, that the content, I guess the subject matter is impactful to these events. So, she talked about THWACK, and our SolarWinds user group stuff. So if I’m not going there to go shopping, which a lot of trade shows is in a sense shopping, I’m seeing what’s out there, what do I like about what’s out there, versus just almost therapeutic, community driven, “Hey, you have the same tools, we have similar problems. How are you doing it?” I would imagine that has a pretty big play on it, and we can kind of see it, but you’ve been in more scenarios, where you’ve hosted different kinds of events, and trade shows. What are your thoughts on that?
Val Rivir:
I have a couple thoughts on that. The first one is based upon the industry. I think I was asked at one point, how different are the trade shows, if it’s a different industry, if you have healthcare, versus the boating, versus technology, versus the auto industry? What are the differences in those? And bottom line, you’re still trying to communicate what your features and benefits are there for that attendee, and being able to draw them in, and be able to provide information to them.
I think the differences in the complexity and all stems around, well, what size booth do you have? Are you working with a 10 by 10, or do you have a 20 by 20? Or do you have a three-story with a swing, and a dog, and petting zoo? Things like that. So, if you’re bringing boats in from all over the world, to be able to show in the water, in the ocean, at the Miami Boat Show, and also have an on-land one, the complexity is very, very great. If you’re just doing a 10 by 10, and all you have is a tabletop, that’s a different story. So, it varies in that.
But the other comment I was going to make on what you were saying before, Sean, was that the other benefit of the in-person trade show is the dialogue and the interaction that you get with your fellow coworkers, because you get to meet so many different people. I’ve met so many Solarians in my time here, and I’m just going to give a little nod of recognition to Sean that we were talking about driving a demo. I don’t know if you remember that at one show, and maybe getting a driver’s license for the person, that kind of thing, and that thing. And we’re actually using something, we’re actually using that activation point for upcoming AWS re:Invent. And so I don’t want to blow the surprise or anything, but it’s a really cool idea, and I think it’s going to draw in a lot of folks, and a lot of people are going to learn about SolarWinds when they’re at a AWS. Definitely.
Sean Sebring:
I totally forgot about that.
Val Rivir:
Oh no.
Sean Sebring:
I’ll take full credit still, but yeah, no. And yeah, gamification is still necessary, whether it’s in person or virtual, it’s just one of those things, from a psychological standpoint, keep me interested. So, I love that. And what I want to make sure we remember is, what has been our favorite way to lure people in Val? What’s our big one that we’ve seen in the past?
Val Rivir:
Well, I should have had a patent on it. I can tell you that, because I think I could have retired by now, but last year, in 2022, I was thinking about how nostalgia seems to be coming back into the trade shows, in the booths. You see magicians now, you see Elvis impersonators, you see different characters, things like that. And I remember as a kid, and my son also was completely obsessed with claw machines. Those are the things that you put a quarter, well, it’s not a quarter anymore, I think it’s like 10 bucks that you end up spending. You put money into the machine and then you maneuver the claw around, and be able to get that plushy, or that prize that you want so badly.
And so we created a claw machine for SolarWinds, and that travels with us to many of our booths, the larger ones, and the popularity… It brings out the… People are people, right? We’re all kids at heart, honestly, and there’s nothing like pure joy that when you watch people stand in line for 10 minutes, so that they can get their turn at the claw, and be able to try and win that prize. And when they reach their hand in after they’ve won, and to pull out that prize, the pictures that we have from some of these events are just amazing, because their smiles go from ear to ear. It’s like they’re back at the carnival again, or they’re back at that place that had the claw machine. So, that one was actually replicated by many, many different companies in 2022 and in 2023, and it continues to be very popular along the trade show industry. So, you’re welcome trade shows, you’re welcome.
Sean Sebring:
And challenge of it. It’s also its own challenge, is someone says, “Oh cool, there is a prize there.” But you also go with the risk of, “Oh no, what if I don’t get the prize?” And then if you don’t get it on your first or second grab, then now you’re… It’s a different kind of… So it’s gamification, but there’s also just more of a gamble to it too, of feeling like, “Oh, I need to overcome that claw machine,” which is just talking about psychologically, that stuff that we like as humans. So when we finally beat that claw, and we get to pull out that plushy, the smile goes ear to ear and I’ve been there, and seen it. And I’ve also had that song stuck in my head-
Chrystal Taylor:
Stuck in my head for weeks.
Sean Sebring:
That plays on the claw machine.
Val Rivir:
I think we have a recording of it that we’ll send out to you, just so you can remember it.
Chrystal Taylor:
Yeah, I think the first show that you brought the claw machine out at was Cisco Live, right?
Val Rivir:
It was. It was, yeah.
Chrystal Taylor:
I was there for that. It really was kind of a fervor. We had huge lines, and people come back, and they want to try again, and they want to try again, and it really brought people back. So that was a fantastic idea. It definitely played well.
Val Rivir:
Yeah, I remember security had to actually ask guests to leave, because the expo hall was closing and people did not want to leave their place in line.
Chrystal Taylor:
Some of the other things that I’ve seen at booths that were really fun were like at RSA this year, there was a company that had partnered with a local pet shelter, which was really interesting that they did this. I mean, a lot of people travel for this, but I guess if you’re local it makes sense, but how are you going to travel back with a pet? But it was super nice, and you get a nice dopamine hit, going to visit that booth, and holding the puppies and everything, and it was super sweet. So, it definitely brought people over, but I thought it was really interesting that they… An interesting experiment to do for a large trade show like that.
Val Rivir:
Yeah, there was a lot of booth envy at RSA by a lot of different sponsors. I can tell you that, because I heard a lot of comments from a lot of different companies, and I remember there was also a slide in between the two escalators, that somebody branded, and you could slide down, instead of taking the escalator.
Chrystal Taylor:
I didn’t even notice that.
Val Rivir:
Yeah, yeah. I mean, again, it’s kind of going back to that nostalgic, take the slide, or swing on the swing, that kind of thing.
Chrystal Taylor:
Yeah. You said earlier, we’re all just kids. We’re all just kids inside.
Val Rivir:
Well, we’re just pretending to be adults.
Chrystal Taylor:
Yeah.
Sean Sebring:
So, you started talking earlier, we were talking about… You mentioned the Miami Boat Show, there’s a in-water, on-land part of it. From a logistics perspective, I’m curious if you can tell us some of the major challenges, or things that you do ahead of time, and how much time you need. But when I think about Val, I imagine that it’s like having a lot of fun being a kindergarten teacher. You’re shepherding a bunch of adults who don’t know where to go, or when to be there, and saying, “Hey, it’s not nap time, get back on the floor.” But yeah, can you talk to me a little bit about logistics, planning, and what goes into it?
Val Rivir:
Yeah, it starts way back, and I know people go, “Oh, well I just got invited to the booth staff meeting this week, so nothing’s been happening since then.” But there’s been a lot of stuff that’s been happening. There’s obviously a lot of deliverables and deadlines that have to be met in order to get the show lifted. And then there’s the whole element of the booth staff too, because you have new people that maybe haven’t been to a trade show before, and then you have seasoned people that have been to several trade shows before. And you have to be able to kindly and professionally set the expectations for when people need to be where, and then how we’re going to capture information, and how we’re going to relay that information. So, there’s a lot of different checklists that have to be checked off, in order to get to that point where you’re like, “We’re ready to go to the event.”
And there are a lot of… I think probably one of my favorite things that I see on job postings, or out there in the trade show, or event industry is that you must have flawless execution. No mistakes. You must be flawless. And I look at that and I go, “You know what? Stuff happens every day at the shows.” Speakers get sick, somebody’s flight was canceled, all of our swag didn’t show up. It’s stuck in Tennessee, or it’s stuck in California. It’s not going to make it to the show. So there’s all these pivots that you’re doing behind the scenes to make things all okay, and nobody realizes the blood, sweat and tears, and the crying, and the stomping of the feet that’s being done behind the scenes. But, if you look at a neurologist or a brain surgeon, you don’t see that posting out there that says, “Must have flawless execution,” but you sure want that, right?
But stuff happens all the time on the operating table. A patient might be allergic to a medication that anesthesia is giving to them. The patient might code. “We didn’t know they had that heart issue, it was undiagnosed.” So there’s a lot of things that always happen. It’s just how you pivot, and how you actually make it okay, and nobody actually sees what happened behind the scenes. So that’s what our goal is to do when we are doing events, is to, yes, appear like we’re flawless. “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. We got it. We’ve got it going on. It’s all going to be okay.” So that’s one of the challenges too, that you face with events, definitely.
Chrystal Taylor:
Those traits that you mentioned that are so much more important than just being flawless, which is really adaptability, and problem-solving, are what I would say, key traits in IT, that are incredibly important at all times. And technology is always advancing at a rapid rate, and you’ve got to keep up, because people are going to keep putting more stuff on your plate. Whether you’ve learned about it, or not, you now have to deal with it. And I think that that’s a nice parallel between just a general, like an, “I’m a network engineer, but now I have to go deal with this other thing, because no one’s here to deal with it,” or whatever. So it’s a nice parallel for events. Really, it’s about being adaptable, and learning how to problem-solve, and keeping your cool. I think that is probably incredibly important.
Val Rivir:
Right, yeah. And I would say the parallelism is incredible, because there’s a ton of pressure on all entities. If the system goes down, and you’re a DBA, I mean it’s just incredible because all eyes are on you. And not just all eyes, the CEO, or the CFO is going, “Why is the system down?” And yeah, definitely the ability to be agile, and pivot, and remain calm is key.
Sean Sebring:
The show must go on.
Val Rivir:
The show must go on.
Chrystal Taylor:
Well, and kind of speaking of technology, how has the technology at events kind of evolved over the years? We’ve talked about, while we’ve been at events working the booth, the trouble with getting the right spot to get wifi, and then you have the lead loading that they’re able to do now with machines that some places, and not other places. And how has the technology advanced with events in the past, I don’t know, 10 years or so?
Val Rivir:
Yeah, I would compare it to the fishbowl effect, right? Back in the day, literally people had a fishbowl at their booth, and that’s how you got information from the booth attendees. “Fill out this piece of paper with your pencil, your number two pencil that’s sharpened, or your pen, and put your information on there.” We didn’t have email addresses then. It was your phone number, and you hope that they wrote down the right phone number, and weren’t just writing down something to scribble on, so they’d get that piece of swag, and then somebody had to manually go back, and whether it was on a dummy terminal, or maybe we actually had Microsoft products then, to be able to enter it into an Excel sheet, then somebody had to somehow compile that information. And then you had… I mean, a lot of times people worked off of the old Filodex, those old Rolodexes that literally you spun around with the business cards in them, et cetera, and that’s how you kept your customer contact information, or your prospect information. So it was all very manual.
The other thing that was very manual, and very difficult was the being able to submit deliverables. So, you have to have a logo, you’ve got to have some kind of handout, or some kind of information. You’ve got to have some kind of branding where you’re going to be. And back then it was literally, before faxes were widely available, literally some account executives running around in their car, driving three hours to go show the sketches of what they would like to propose to the client for their booth, and then running back to the agency going, “This is what they really want.” And then it was the whole construction of very heavy products, not fabrics, not the lightweight products that we have today.
So now, it’s all digitized. I email my logo in, I upload this to the portal. I’m not out there constructing stuff. The booth is constructed for me, and it’s all lightweight, and it’s easily shippable. It’s not heavy. It’s not weighing 3 million pounds, and costing me a fortune to ship. So, that has been a major improvement over the years with that, with the lead retrieval systems, the wifi, just all the different things. We’re very lucky in this age, to have all of those accoutrements that make our lives so much easier, because I don’t think people really understand how hard of a lift, and heavy of a lift it was back in the days before all these different technologies were available.
Sean Sebring:
I’m curious, and I know technology has to have improved, at least in our industry, I know it’s helping with a lot of this stuff, but what I’m thinking about going to a booth, or rather when I have someone come to my booth, what’s going to make the best experience for them? And I know we’ve talked about things like magicians, and claw machines. That’s going to be the hook. That’s the hook, but for them to consume what I want them to consume, do you think that there’s any one best route? We mentioned gamification can still be part of it, like the driver’s license, earning your driver’s license concept. But is it hands on? Is it being demonstrated to? It’s going to vary based on industry of course, but is there any one thing that you can think would be the best for someone to say, “Here, do this so that you can sample my stuff,” whatever that stuff might be.
Val Rivir:
Yeah, I think it’s the ability to read people. So, when somebody comes up to the booth and they’re like, “I got five minutes.” Or if I ask them, “Hey, would you like to take a demo and learn a little bit more about this?” And they’re like, “Well, how long is it?” I’m like, “It’s as long as you want. You want a one minute, you want a five minute? How in depth do you want to get? It’s okay.” So it’s asking those clarifying questions, and also reading that person, of whether they just want an overview, are they wanting to dive deeper? Is this something new for their company? Are they using our products today? What are they using? How are they doing it? How do they feel about it?
And then being able to be able to deliver the information to them in the capacity that they need, and in the timeframe that they need. Because at these events, remember they’re there to also go to learning sessions too, or to attend different sessions. So, the expo hall is one element of it, but they also have a schedule that they’re trying to adhere to, as well. So, it’s being respectful of that, and I think what we talked about was just the clarifying questions. And then, I do see some people who want that, who want to be talked to, “Show me the demo,” but I also see that there’s a definite need for them to be able to drive it, test it, feel it, it’s just like a car, right? Some people, I won’t say who, but I’m one of them, I did not go test drive my car when I bought it. I just said, “I’ll sign on it.” But it was during COVID, so there’s that.
But there’s other people that want to inspect that car. They want to drive it on the highway, they want to drive it on the bypasses. They want to drive it on the country roads, they want to brake. They want to see, what about for my kid? Is there a cup holder? There’s all different elements that people want to be able to test, touch, punch, be able to feel, experience. So, there’s some people who are just like, “Just talk to me.” And there’s some people that say, “I really want to get my hands on this. Can I try that? Can I drive it?” And so I think it’s the opportunity to be able to provide all those different avenues, and to be able to read that person.
Chrystal Taylor:
Yeah, I think it sounds like-
Sean Sebring:
So, more agility.
Chrystal Taylor:
Yeah, yeah. The key is that people learn differently. So, there can’t just be one way. You can’t just present them with a video, or have a conversation with them. No one knows their problems if… Because we’re in the market of helping them solve problems. That’s our particular thing that we’re trying to do. And if we’re trying to help them solve problems, no one knows their problems better than they do. So, if anything that you can do, I think… And our IT pros out there maybe don’t want to hear this, but one of the key success pieces at working one of these shows is being able to talk to people.
You need to be able to communicate with them, and communicate well, because that’s how you learn what their problems are that they’re looking to solve. Because they will write you off right away. They’ll be like, “I’m not interested, whatever you’re selling,” right? It’s like when someone comes to my door, I’m like, “No, I don’t want you. Why are you at my house?” That’s me with solicitors. I put a sign out, I don’t want people talking to me, and yet they still do.
But, I am also the person that you talked about, the person that wants to test drive the car. I want to get in… I bought a Bronco during the pandemic, and I wanted it so bad. I waited so long for that Bronco to come back into play. It had been out for a long time, and they were bringing it back, and I was super excited, and I was watching for years and years and years, and I didn’t want to order it. I was like, “What if I don’t like it? What if I get in it and when I drive it, I hate it? I’m going to spend $60,000 on a car that I don’t like? I don’t think so.”
And I think it’s the same thing for a lot of people. For us, we sell software, when they’re trying to get new products or whatever, maybe it’s not their money that they’re spending, but they are going to be the people that have to use it, and then report back metrics, and say, “This is working for us, this is not working for us. How much is this costing us?” And all of that. So, being able to poke at it, and prod at it, and look at things, and, “How good does this look for management?” And all of that stuff, I think is a really important aspect.
Sean Sebring:
Val, you’ve brought up a few times agility, and adaptability, and versatility, a lot of -ilities that just describe the wonderful Val here. So, I want to ask, what makes a great events coordinator? And I know a lot of it, just because worked with you and had a chance to go to events with you. Of those, what do you think is the strongest thing that would make a good events coordinator? Is it organization? Is it the adaptability? What’s your take?
Val Rivir:
Let’s say my famous saying that my kids, if they hear me say it one more time, will scream, and they’re across the globe right now, but you’ll hear a silent scream, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” And I think it’s about project management. I also think you need to have the right personality for doing events, because there is a lot of stuff that happens, and you can’t beat yourself up, and you’ve got to be agile, and pivot, and move, and fix that issue, and come out the champion, and say, “Everything’s okay.” So I feel like those are the key elements, and the planning is huge, because you can’t just walk into the event and go, “I didn’t think about that. Oh. Yeah, that’s going to be a problem.” And I think I probably overdo it on mitigating risks. Because I am like, “What if? What if? Okay, so what am I going to do now? Okay, so what will I do if that happens?” So I always have if then, I must have 4 million of them for every event so that I’m ready to go if anything hits me.
Chrystal Taylor:
It’s a classic if, then, else statement.
Val Rivir:
Yes.
Sean Sebring:
No, and you are fantastic at this, and I’m sure experience helps too. Having been to one, then you’re a little more prepared for the next one. And this is one of the reasons we wanted to bring you in, is one, you’re so much fun, and two, you’ve got such great knowledge to share. You were talking to us about the Miami Boat Show, and I never think about stuff like that. In my optic visions, I’m just like, “Cool. A trade show. That must mean like a convention, with bearded guys like myself, wandering around, looking at technology.” That’s kind of just how my brain defaults, and I’m like, “Man, a boat show, that’s definitely a convention, an event.” There’s tons of logistics, larger logistics, there’s boats, and piers, and docks, and space. So yeah, there’s just so much that goes into it. So, hats off to you. Great job at what you do.
Val Rivir:
I do think an interesting topic that we haven’t touched on, but we did mention, when we were just talking about this event here, is what events went away, and never came back with COVID, or with just different scenarios. So, there are ones with COVID that people just said, “We’re not doing this anymore.” And then Chrystal, you brought up the E3 Conference.
Chrystal Taylor:
I did.
Val Rivir:
Yeah. And I did a little bit of research on that, and this is one where, this is where all of the streaming gamers, everything, all the different big box manufacturers would go to. I mean, it was huge. It was massive. It was the place to be, and I think you even said that you had just started at SolarWinds, and then was offered to go, and you couldn’t go, because you had a lot of obligations here.
Chrystal Taylor:
Well, yeah. I mean, I had an opportunity to go to E3 when it was still really big, and it was already starting to get some competition, even before the pandemic actually. Nintendo started doing their own kind of… Some of the big brands, I guess, not just Nintendo, but some of the big brands came out, and were doing side parties that were outside the convention. And that started even before, and even though it was a physical conference where you went to it in California, you would still have to… They’re competing for time and attention at these things. And that kind of had started physically, even before the pandemic. And then they tried… E3 just wasn’t able to pivot to a virtual conference. They did not in any way succeed. They postponed the first one, and then all of a sudden these virtual things started popping up.
Nintendo started their Nintendo… It was originally a Nintendo Treehouse, and then they changed it to Nintendo Direct. And you have the summer games fest, and those are virtual. And for gaming, because they’re mainly showing trailers for new games that they’re working on, they’re talking about doing developer interviews and stuff, a virtual format works really well, because you can watch it later, or whatever, because you’re just trying to get the information on that. They still do sometimes an in-person element for those things. But I do think it was really interesting how E3 just never came back. They could not recover. And at this point now, there’s too many other competing shows now, that are happening at the same time that E3 used to happen, that it’s probably not worth it to them to try and bring it back.
Val Rivir:
Yeah, so you nailed it on the head. They actually in 2023 went out to their big box manufacturers, like Sony, like Microsoft, Nintendo, and those three said, “No, we’re not going to come back.” And then everybody else followed suit. And I think some of it started with what you called the social events, because that tends to cannibalize the primary event. And then if those become more popular, then uh-oh, the primary show vendor has an issue.
And right now what we’re seeing in the trade show industry, there are a lot, I can’t tell you the… It’s almost like a legalese contract that you have to acknowledge the rules and regulations of the trade show, and there are always clauses in it saying, “You will not hold any kind of reception, outing, social,” whatever. There’s a whole list of things within so many miles of the event, or on site, or even at all. So, now it’s almost forbidden. It’s like, I think that’s kind of the hallmark of what started all this stuff. And the other folks that used to be sponsors see that they can hold their own, and so they started doing their own streaming events, and they do them more frequently now, because they’re like, “We don’t need you. We can do it on our own.” So yeah, it was very interesting history of events there that went down, with that, that impacted a lot of different ones.
Chrystal Taylor:
Well, and speaking of gaming, going to a gaming convention, because I do that, going to a gaming convention is in some ways very similar to going to a tech convention, or a tech show, and some ways very different. You still have your expo halls, where they’re trying to sell you the new games, whether it’s like board games, or video games or whatever. They’re still trying to offload merchandise, for lack of a better phrase, where they’re still trying to show you their products, whatever’s coming out or whatever. And sometimes it’s actual, a lot of times it’s actual merchandise in a gaming convention, versus like at a big tech convention, it’s usually software, so you’re not going to walk away with a physical thing that you now have to cart home.
But, I think that it’s very interesting going to these events. It’s the same kind of thing. You get people in a room, and whether they have ever met before or not, they have similar interests and similar things that they’re doing. And the same thing happens in the booth when you’re working a show. You’ll be doing a demo for someone, and someone else will walk up, because they can hear you talking, and they’re like, “I have that problem too.” And they’ll just stand there, and they’ll listen. And then eventually, a lot of times, the two people start having a conversation about what they’re doing to solve that problem at their place.
And I think that those connections are invaluable at these shows, and even as an attendee, well now I’ve met somebody who has similar problems to me, now I have another comrade in arms and they might network, they might talk to each other offhand, and that can lead places later. So, I think it’s a thing that you can’t get virtually, much as I would love to say that you could get virtually, you can’t always get that virtually. It’s very difficult to build that kind of a networking environment virtually, versus when you’re just in-person.
Earlier you were talking about kind of the humanization of it, and I was thinking about it as, it’s like anything else online. When you see a username, or a screen name, or even if it’s an actual person’s name, and it’s like text-based comment, it doesn’t feel the same. You’re missing voice inflections, and tones, and body language, and even if it’s a compliment, it doesn’t hit the same. You can’t tell if it’s genuine, you can’t tell if it is… Maybe it is genuine, and it does make you feel good, but it doesn’t hit at the same level as hearing those things in person.
I think in person, you can tell more, right? You have the benefit of being able to see, and hear everything about the person that you’re talking to. So, not that I’m opposed to online communications, because I’m definitely not. But I do think that it does make it easier in person to not miss all of those things, especially if you have trouble with that kind of stuff. Maybe you don’t have an easy time of it listening for voice inflections, but you can see body language, or something like that. There’s more ways to offset those kind of issues reading people in person, than there is online.
Val Rivir:
I would agree. It’s completely organic, and it’s very natural, and it’s exponential. It keeps growing, and growing, and growing, and I think that’s the beautiful thing about events. And I consider myself extremely blessed to have this role at SolarWinds, because I get to meet so many of my Solarians, my fellow Solarians, that other people never get to meet, the half the people I’ve met at SolarWinds. And it’s just to hear their stories, their journeys, and then to interact with the customers and the booth visitors, and the prospects, and the other show sponsors, too. I mean, I learn a lot from them as well too. It’s not a cutthroat, “Oh, we’re not going to talk to them.” It seems like everybody’s there to help. If I need AA battery for my mouse, somebody’s bound to have one, and then vice versa. So, it’s a great community and I do feel truly blessed that I have this role.
Chrystal Taylor:
We love working with you. It’s always nice to know that if I have a question, or something else, when we’re at an event, and I’m looking for something, Val is there and Val has an answer for me, or she’ll get an answer for me, and that is incredibly awesome. And you are always so positive. Something happens, and you don’t… Like I said earlier, keeping your cool seems so important, but you’re always so positive, and I think that that is incredibly helpful for keeping first timers, and people who are less experienced at attending these events. As you said earlier, sometimes people working in the booth, it’s their first show. So, I think that’s incredibly important, and I applaud you for it.
Val Rivir:
Oh, well thank you. I appreciate that. Thank you.
Sean Sebring:
I will never forget my first interaction with Val. I feel like I was on her naughty list, because I went to a show, and didn’t have any content prepared. I thought some… Classic Sean, I just show up and expect my agent to have prepared everything for me. And I get on the phone with Val and she’s like, “No, you’re responsible for your own content.” And I’m like, “Okay.” So, get on stage, and I just talk with no content. So, that was fun. But this is where I was talking about Val being like a kindergarten teacher. She had to shepherd me, like I had no idea where I was supposed to be, and at the end of the show, all I wanted was my tee shirt. And so for the next few months, I remember chasing Val and team saying, “Hey, where’s that tee shirt?” It was the coolest one we’d had, in my opinion. It was really cool. And I was like, “Where’s that tee shirt?” So, it’s still a lot of times, just comes back to cool swag, but that’s just my story, and loved working with Val.
Val Rivir:
Well, and to tell the truth, Sean, you actually were prepared, and it just was startling, that I was like, “No deck, no PowerPoint?” Because usually I’m handing the jump drive to the AV tech going, “Here’s his presentation.” But I can’t tell you how many people spoke volumes about you, and they’re like, “Sean’s a stand and deliver guy. He’s going to wow the crowd, watch. Watch him take ownership that this,” and you did. So it was awesome.
Sean Sebring:
Well, it’s that agility you talked about, right? You got to be able to just say, “The show must go on.”
Val Rivir:
Yep, yep. And I remember walking Chrystal and Sasha to their speaking session, and those are some of my favorite times, because I’m like, “Just take deep breaths, you’re going to be fine. I’ll be right here. I’ll be right here. You’re all good.” So yeah, good memories. Good memories.
Chrystal Taylor:
Yeah, speaking-
Val Rivir:
Hope to create more.
Chrystal Taylor:
Speaking at these events is always very nerve wracking for me. But, having someone there to answer the logistical questions is very helpful, because then I don’t have to also be responsible for knowing those things.
Sean Sebring:
No, it’s a great relief having Val in your corner. I think there’s one more thing I wanted to bring up on here, and it’s just, we’ve talked about some of the history, how technology’s helped us. Val, when we look to the future, what do you think that the future of events looks like? Right? We were obviously impacted by COVID, that was an eyeopener, probably one of the biggest things that’s affected in-person events, whether it’s trade shows, or otherwise. But what do you think this means for the next five years, 10 years, for events like this?
Val Rivir:
I think that the pandemic forced the whole entire industry to sit up a little bit straighter, and say, “We have to anticipate this is not going to be the only time something like this will happen.” Through the years, we’ve gotten much better with fire code, safety regulations, things like that. So we have evolved over the years, but these are brand new things that are coming into our focus right now, with the different endemics, and pandemics, things like that. I feel like certain locations like Las Vegas and Orlando, the larger convention sites have really set the bar for how the standards, the gold standards are, for treating new things that happen, that we have to be able to mitigate those risks, as well as deal with them if something would occur on site.
There’s always usually something that’s happening. There could be a fire, there could be bad weather. I remember flying into Orlando last year and it was right after the hurricane. I was like, “I hope there’s not three inches of water on the floor.” So, I think it has forced all of the hospitality industry, and the trade show industry to start thinking even harder, and more, with a more focused lens on, how can we mitigate risks overall? I mean, we’ve always done it, and we always will do it, but I think there’s new situations that have cropped up, especially since 2020, that have made us pivot a little bit harder, and say, “Now we have to plan for even more unexpected.”
I don’t think trade shows will go away. I think they’ll continue to evolve, and I think the safety, and the hygiene, and the precautions, I think those will evolve along with it. I think that’ll be part of the protocol going forward, is that there’ll always be something in the background ready to go, so that we’re… We know about fires, we know about the fire marshal coming in, and doing the inspections.
We have all those things in place, but now we have to expect the unexpected, and be able to start tracking things. I track COVID on a daily, weekly basis right now, because we’re getting ready to go in, as you mentioned, at the top of the session, into our busiest season with Q4, so I’m looking at those locations. I’m looking at how large is this conference? Do I need to caution our staff? What kind of preparations do I need to make? As well as the show vendors are doing the exact same thing too. So everybody’s preparing, and getting ready, et cetera. And it’s not just for that, it’s the weather. Are we still in hurricane season? Is this going to be a problem? Is there an issue? Do we have forest fires in the area we’re going to? So, I think the world has changed, climate-wise, and we’re dealing with that, and it has obviously trickled down into the trade show, and the hospitality industry too. So, it’s something that we have to be prepared for, and we will be prepared for.
Chrystal Taylor:
I was going to ask you, we were talking about kind of the future of events, and you mentioned a lot of things about hygiene, and adjusting to the global climate changes, and things like that, but what about this hybrid concept? Do you think that’s here to stay? The thing that they’re doing, at least at the big trade shows, where they’re live-streaming, at least the main room where people are learning, and sometimes side areas for the teaching at least. Do you think that’s here to stay?
Val Rivir:
I think a portion of it will be. I think a portion of it will be. It is a lift for the show vendor, and for the show sponsors. So it’s like having another show, within a show. So, you have to carefully consider whether you have the resources to be able to manage that and lift that up. But I do think there’s a place for it. To simply film everything for no reason is not probably a good idea to do a hybrid event, but if you have key sessions, maybe keynotes, or there’s key presenters, things like that, that people would have great interest in, I think that will continue for a while. Plus, people like to have that if they can record it, and then replay it on demand. That helps for the folks who absolutely cannot travel for whatever reason, and they just needed to catch… They wanted to hear so-and-so speak, or they wanted to catch that session, it gives them that opportunity to be able to do that, and be able to absorb that information.
Chrystal Taylor:
I absolutely agree. I think that especially with coming around again, and you still have to quarantine yourself, or you’re ill, or anything else, and you have to cancel last minute, you can’t go to the show, those things are invaluable. I know there are some shows where you can also access vendor information that you might’ve missed. So, those things, with technology continuing to advance, I think that we’re going to continue to see improvements in those areas, as well. I know it is a bigger lift, having worked with our own multimedia team, to do live events, it is a big lift, and it’s a lot of work. So I do completely understand that it is a challenge for these event venues to try and make these things happen.
Sean Sebring:
All right, Val, let’s do something entertaining here. Being at events, I would imagine that you’ve seen some interesting things. Can you give us a funny, or horror story about an event?
Val Rivir:
Sure. I was in Vegas for a sales kickoff many, many decades ago, and this is back when the budgets were tight, and Vegas was not that cheap, as it is… I shouldn’t say cheap, cost-effective with hotel rooms, et cetera. So the sales reps had to share a room, so you had a roommate, and you did not choose that roommate. And Vegas is 24/7, 365, and it was his first time at a trade show. He was recently hired, and we had a mandatory meeting for the first general session, first thing in the morning on day one. So we all arrived day zero, and this person decided that it was Vegas, well, he’s there to have fun, and literally was up all night gambling, drinking, and then showed up at the general session with two bloody Mary’s in his hand, and was terminated on the spot.
Chrystal Taylor:
Yeah, yeah. You’re still working, bud.
Val Rivir:
Yeah.
Chrystal Taylor:
That’s…
Sean Sebring:
More PSAs from Val.
Val Rivir:
Yeah.
Chrystal Taylor:
Yeah.
Val Rivir:
Yeah. Yeah.
Chrystal Taylor:
Well, do you have a favorite experience?
Val Rivir:
Yeah, yes.
Chrystal Taylor:
Because I have a favorite experience from working at a trade show.
Val Rivir:
Well, I have a couple of them. So, one of my favorites was at the Miami Boat Show working with this boat vendor, and they were an electric lithium battery-focused motor, and we were partnering, I had the idea to partner with a solar dock that actually recharges solar boats, or solar engines, things like that, and we actually created a solar zone, and then won an award for that, which was awesome, and I love that. I love doing the executive forums, and did several of them at the Master’s Tournament in Augusta, and was able to go out on the course one day, during a downtime, and actually stood in the galley, and watched these professional golfers two feet away from me, with how many hundreds of yards of people lined up, hit the ball straight down the thing, and not hit anybody. I was just amazed.
Chrystal Taylor:
Precision.
Val Rivir:
I was like, “How do you have the confidence?” Yeah, I mean, how do you have that confidence to do that? So those are a couple of my-
Sean Sebring:
Flawless execution.
Val Rivir:
Yeah. Yes. Flawless execution. Yes. Don’t pan into the camera, or the kid getting hit in the head, or-
Chrystal Taylor:
I’m going to pretend that’s not like Mortal Kombat, what you’re doing there, Sean. My favorite experience that I’ve had so far, going to professional events, I’ll say, not to my gaming conventions, but professional events is our good friend Sascha. He is German, and he is one of my favorite people to work with. And he came to Vegas for Cisco Live last year, and it was his first time in Vegas, and he had spent, I think 22 hours of travel time to get there for the show, and it was his first time in Vegas and he was gung-ho like, “You guys need to show me around, and we’re going to walk around, and go see things and do things.”
We had a great time. It was so fun to watch him experience the old school-style slot machines, and he wanted to take pictures with everything. And for me, it was just so much fun, like when you have a new child in your life and you watch them experience the world with wonder, it’s kind of that same experience when you go with someone to a place you’ve been to before, and they’ve never been, and you’re like, “Oh, well I can share my experience with this person, and watch them experience all of this with new eyes.” And we had a great time, and that’s been my favorite experience at a trade show so far.
Val Rivir:
That’s amazing.
Sean Sebring:
Back to the human connection, what do you know? Val mentioned that vendors themselves can’t have, as she mentioned, legalese, right? You can’t have your own parties, or after hours things, but the event hosts themselves, right? So, I think it was Support World Live, I’m mentioning here, have fantastic after party. The Blue Man Group was in there, and they had a DJ, and the social aspect is just so much fun. The people that you’ve visited over the last few days, and it’s just so much fun. So, I’m sure it could have been one of many, but it’s just such a good experience, being able to go to events like that, and let loose socially with people. And like Val mentioned, your coworkers, there’s dance moves that shall not be repeated by coworkers.
Val Rivir:
I have the video. I have the video still.
Sean Sebring:
Oh my goodness. So I mean, it’s such a good opportunity. So, I won’t say there’s one. It’s just I love that I get the wonderful opportunity to go to these events, and Val’s a big part of helping make that stuff happen.
Chrystal Taylor:
Yeah, it is great. And I think it’s definitely different, going to one of these bigger events. We talked about Cisco Live, and Support World, and those are kind of bigger events, but we also sometimes get to go to small events, and those are much more personal, I guess, because there’s less people. So, it’s like a room of 50 to 75 people, and you are talking to them, and those are also really nice. Again, like you said, it’s the human connection. You go, and you talk to people, and they tell you their stories, and you end up talking about Star Trek for an hour for no reason, and those are the great times.
They’re the best times for… The best reason to go to any of these events is to make a personal connection. I want to thank you so much for being here, Val. And also, before we kick things off for the end here, we do want to talk about, as we’ve mentioned a couple of times now, the event season for the fourth quarter of the year is kicking off for us, and we’re going to be in a lot of places as SolarWinds. So, if you have any events you’d like to mention that people might find us at, I would love to hear them.
Val Rivir:
Absolutely. We’re going to be at Service Management World, and Live 360 in Orlando, Florida the same week of November 13th. So we’ve got two overlapping events there, which I’ll be managing, and I’m very excited about. And then we’ve got PASS Data Community, November 12th through 17th, in Seattle, Washington and AWS re:Invent, that massive show that’s expecting 62,000 people this year, November 27th, through December 1st in Viva Las Vegas. And then our final event is Gartner IOCS, December 5th through 7th, back in Vegas. And then we start it all over again in January.
Sean Sebring:
Awesome. It’s going to be a fun season, and I am jealous of everyone in Orlando that will get to see you there for two events. So, happy, sad about that one. Or maybe jealous. I don’t know how to put it, either way. So, we’re going to roll next into our rapid fire session, and this is just a fun opportunity to get to know Val, even though we’ve done a great job of getting to know Val today, but get to know Val a little bit more. So, we’re going to just shoot you some questions, and you can just give us a quick response, or a little bit more elaborate response if you want. But either way, let’s get started, Val, and I’ll start with my favorite and first question that we usually ask, which is, Val, would you rather travel to the past or future?
Val Rivir:
That’s a good one. And this is supposed to be rapid fire, so I can’t think about it very long. Future.
Sean Sebring:
Yeah, gut reaction, future. Okay, cool.
Chrystal Taylor:
I like this question, so I’ll ask the next one. If you could choose what to come back as, like if reincarnation is a thing, what would you come back as?
Val Rivir:
An angel.
Chrystal Taylor:
Angel.
Sean Sebring:
I love that.
Chrystal Taylor:
Fitting.
Sean Sebring:
I would’ve never expected that. Yes. Well, the crazy part is you are already there, Val, so not much would change. Not much would change.
Chrystal Taylor:
She gets some cool wings though.
Sean Sebring:
I have another one.
Val Rivir:
Yeah. I can fly.
Sean Sebring:
Okay. Touche, wings would totally be worth it.
Val Rivir:
And a halo.
Sean Sebring:
I think this one I’ve stolen, and it is one of my favorites because this really tells you a lot about a person, but if you could give yourself any talent, right? You just snap your fingers like Thanos, and choose which talent to have, what would you give yourself? What skill?
Val Rivir:
Sing. I can’t sing. I cannot carry a tune. I love to sing. Everybody hates it when I sing. My kids… We had a…
Chrystal Taylor:
I feel that.
Val Rivir:
What was that Xbox band game?
Sean Sebring:
Rock Band.
Val Rivir:
I was always on microphone. The Rock Band. Yeah. I was always on microphone doing Debbie Harry, and they were like, “Stop it. Stop it.” Yeah. They both can sing too, by the way. I can’t. They were in choir. I wasn’t, I was told not to be in choir.
Chrystal Taylor:
That’s a mean thing for someone to tell you. I definitely can relate to that, though. I have the same experience. I cannot sing. Can’t carry a tune in a bucket. Well, that’s really funny. I like this question, too. Okay, what is your favorite tech invention?
Val Rivir:
I’m going to say the laptop, or the computers, but where we are today, because I grew up with dummy terminals. I learned, what was it, AS/400? So yeah, I like where we are today. The stuff you can do today is amazing.
Sean Sebring:
The concept of a user interface?
Val Rivir:
Yes. Yes. Yeah.
Sean Sebring:
Yeah. That’s what AS/400 did not have, was a user interface there. Totally acceptable. Yeah. I love me a computer. Man, Val, it has been so good to have you on. This is a unique topic, that thank you Chrystal for bringing up this idea, and giving us the opportunity to meet with Val, but thank you so much for joining us today.
Val Rivir:
Thank you for having me, and I look forward to our next events that we’ll be at, and hopefully I’ll be able to make it across the pond there to see you, Sean.
Sean Sebring:
Well, thank you listeners for joining us on another episode of SolarWinds TechPod. I’m your host, Sean Sebring, joined by fellow host Chrystal Taylor. If you haven’t yet, make sure to subscribe, and follow for more TechPod content. Thanks for tuning in.
