Katie: Welcome back to the BusinessMakers Overtime Show heard here and online at theBusinessMakers.com/overtime. So, we're still having a very special Overtime experience with guest co-host, Monica Danna of co.lab. Love having you here babe, it's been awesome.

Monica: Love being here.

Katie: Yay! So let's talk about something that you could probably do backwards, forwards, sideways, in your sleep, under heavy medication -

Monica: And have. That last one especially. (Laughter)

Katie: Woo, okay then. (Laughter) And of course, we're talking about event planning -

Monica: Absolutely.

Katie: - which isn't something that comes naturally to everybody. It's kind of a scary thing for a lot of people.

Monica: It is, and growing up, I think that people kind of emerge in their families as the event planner.

Katie: Ahhh.

Monica: You know, you've come from a big family, a small family, who organizes the family picnic -

Katie: Right.

Monica: - who organizes the reunion, who's figuring out who's gonna bring what to Christmas dinner? And if you kind of look back at your childhood you think, "Okay, Aunt So-and-so was always the one, you know, calling, 'Are you coming, are you coming? We got this,'" you know and that was always me. You know, I'm the oldest -

Katie: Not surprised.

Monica: - oldest child. My dad's the oldest of ten so I had a big Italian family.

Katie: Oh wow.

Monica: I really think it came from my need to, number one, want to have my way.

Katie: (Laughter)

Monica: And number two, to organize. And that's one of the thing that I wanted to talk about, is that when you approach event planning - details, details, details. This is not the kind of career or job for someone who thinks kind of very high and conceptual and theories. This is someone who has to have a plan and be able to get things done.

Katie: Okay.

Monica: So, that the first piece of advice.

Katie: Whoo.

Monica: If you're not a detail-oriented person, you're not gonna probably be a very good event planner.

Katie: No they're not.

Monica: Yeah, absolutely. (Laughter)

Katie: I'm not a detailed person! (Laughter)

Monica: And honestly Katie, I'm really not, I have to work at it. I have a lot of people that work for me that really are.

Katie: Excellent.

Monica: So that's number two, delegate.

Katie: Yay. (Laughter)

Monica: If you're not good at something, find someone who is. I have an event that I work with who is much more detail-oriented than I am.

Katie: Excellent.

Monica: But I do have to work at it, so it is something that - and I'll tell you what has really helped and I couldn't stress more - is collaborative tools online. Tools like either Google Documents or a Basecamp. We use drop boxes, a file-sharing system. If you're working on an event, which normally most events have more than one person working on them -

Katie: Hopefully.

Monica: - if it's more than five people, it's usually one or two or, you know, up to ten people that could potentially be working on a project at a time. So, I can't stress how important it is to find a good group collaboration tool that works for you. I know people that use Basecamp Katie, I think you have experience using Basecamp.

Katie: Yes, and actually we use Basecamp to organize the Overtime Show.

Monica: Oh, excellent.

Katie: I mean, this is how Esther and are communicating the stories we wanna talk about, coordinating people we're gonna interview -

Monica: Right.

Katie: - and I mean, I can't even tell you how amazing it is to know that I'm gonna be able to track every single change that each of us have made -

Monica: Right.

Katie: - be notified, be able to set up milestones and tasks lists. And it's the only way that, in our busy world, we can get together on the same page.

Monica: Yeah, and it's great for projects in general, but specifically for event planning, to have more than one person be able to come in and collaborate on a tool. You know, just recently I've been using Google Wave, which is a new group collaboration tool that Google launched at the end of last year.

Katie: And you know, Esther and I have given it a really bad rap. Can you tell us, how do you use it? How is it working for you?

Monica: Okay, and I was honestly on your side. You know, Google Wave came out and I thought, "Uhhh, another tool that I'm gonna have to learn." You know, that's Google, which I love. I thought, "You know what, I have my system, I'm good. I've got my Google Docs, I've got my Drop Box" - it's like a rap. I've got my Google Docs, I got my Drop Box.

Katie: Whoo whoo. (Laughter)

Monica: You know, I started working with a client who I'm planning a very large conference for in DC this year, and insisted on using Google Wave.

Katie: Ah!

Monica: He had recently implemented it in his company and it had had much success. They are a political technology consulting firm in DC, and insisted, absolutely, "This is what we're gonna use. I don't want you to send me one email. Everything is going through wave."

Katie: Ah, no emails?

Monica: So um, you know -

Katie: I can't breathe. (Laughter)

Monica: - after some hesitation, I was forced to learn it for the client. It was their preferred method of communication.

Katie: Okay.

Monica: So, um - and I've actually seen the light. So using a wave, which is much like an email conversation in Gmail, with some just kind of - just beefed up a little bit.

Katie: Excellent.

Monica: So whether it's Basecamp or something like a Google Wave, I definitely would recommend getting your stuff together and all in one place. So very, very important again, coming down to detail. The closer you get to the event, the more details are flying around your head -

Katie: Exactly.

Monica: - and you don't want 20 post-it notes on your computer screen, you know.

Katie: No, or like five email threads that are all sort of about the same thing -

Monica: Absolutely.

Katie: - but then people chime in at the wrong time and then you don't know -

Monica: It's frustrating isn't it. (Laughter)

Katie: - and then you get frustrated. And sometimes if you're -

Monica: And sometimes if stuff gets dropped, yeah.

Katie: - human like me, you're like, "Fine, whatever. I'll look at it later." And then you don't. (Laughter)

Monica: Right.

Katie: It's gone into the void. (Laughter)

Monica: Yeah, you know, I've -

Katie: Alright, Google Wave. I can try.

Monica: Yeah, well - and not even if it's Wave, you know. Give it a try, but using a group collaboration tool. Like I said, Google Docs is great, Drop Box for file sharing.

Katie: Something that the BusinessMakers and the Overtime Show uses as well, we have a weekly, like, Monday evening meeting where we'll all get together and we use this video software called PDQ Meetings. Which it's kind of like Skype except you can have multiple people, the quality's really great, and it's so much easier. Even if you actually are in the same city, it's impossible to meet, let alone -

Monica: Yeah, exactly.

Katie: - you're in DC, you're here, you're here.

Monica: I have clients all over the country I do events for and -

Katie: Exactly. So being able to, not only just collaborate but see each other face-to-face, even if it's just a few times. Such a difference.

Monica: It does help. You know, when I approach an event, of course budget conscious is always, you know, going through head, especially in the last couple of years -

Katie: Oh yeah.

Monica: - and this isn't, you know - this isn't the '90s when we're spending lots of money on advertising and marketing budgets.

Katie: That's right, and send all those press bloggers to the Ritz-Carlton and we're gonna "Whoo!" (Laughter)

Monica: Absolutely, a free weekend. You know, I always try to approach an event and figure out how I can make an event that hasn't been done before, or a different spin to a normal event. I do a lot of PR event coordination in the book publishing industry, which can a little stale at times. What I've really tried to do is kind of invigorate by bringing in some new media tools. You know, let's get some bloggers out there. You know, let's get some photographers out there. It doesn't have to be a book writer, or maybe this is a lifestyle writer or a lifestyle blogger. So creating an experience through an event. You know, we talk a lot about PR, and you guys do too here on the Overtime Show. You know, anytime marrying PR with events is a natural fit. The other thing that's really important to do is, when you're talking about cost conscious, I seen where you can team up with other brands and other companies, and to do some trade. Some people call it "in-kind", some people just call it "donation". I like to look at those as partnerships. I'll approach a company. For example, GM has partnered with us on this Marfa Shadows trip to provide us with the vehicles to transport some of the journalists. So when I say a partnership, I don't say, "Just gimme gimme free, gimme gimme free." I treat my partners very well and I know that they're a professional company that is doing this for a reason. They're not just being fun and free and, "We just wanna give you cars, you know, we just wanna give you cars."

Katie: Like, "Oh you're nice, here." (Laughter)

Monica: Um, "Here, you're pretty, here's a car." You know, they're business. You know, they have a marketing goal just like I have a marketing goal. And you know, I approach these businesses all the time and say, "Look, this is what I can offer you, what can you offer me?" And it's very important that's a fair trade. And I always like to say, give as much value to your sponsors as they're giving to you, whether that's a monetary donation, whether that's an in-kind donation - and that's another point I wanted to get to at the end of the event. You definitely wanna thank your sponsors accordingly. A lot of people make the mistake of as soon as the event's over, they're so exhausted from event planning, they're so exhausted from months and months of planning, that they kind of just let things go to the wayside and they forget to thank those people who helped make those things possible, so -

Katie: Oh yeah.

Monica: - I always make it a point after every event, whether it's the next day or even that night to sit down, handwrite some thank you cards, pull together some statistics about the event - how is was a success, who attended, how your product was used - really showcase how those partnerships were involved. And nine times out of ten, that partner's gonna come back to you for the next event, as opposed to - in GM's example, "Give us the cars, give us the cars." And then, "Oh great, that was fun," and just never talk to them again. So you know, I run all my events like a business. These brands that I work with are large brands who are businesses as well, and they have a marketing plan just like I do. And sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't. So, I think when you're striving to be cost conscious, keep in mind that other companies have agendas as well, and there's nothing wrong with that -

Katie: True.

Monica: - and it's a smart event planner to team up with those companies and give them just as much value as they're giving you. I know I always try, whenever it makes sense, to team up with a local charity. Especially if you're putting a lot of promotion and time into getting a lot of people together to attend one space at one time, you know, share that spotlight a little bit, you know, with a non-profit charity that maybe needs that spotlight. Whether - you know, a lot of the clients that hire me are big companies or small companies, and they hire me to give light to their for-profit brand. And I always suggest at the very beginning, "Is there something that we could team up with? Is there some organization that means something to your company that we can really just give a little bit more to," because you know, a lot of these non-profits have very slim staffs as you know - usually don't have a marketing person. Usually the marketing person's the PR person's the trash picker-upper.

Katie: Exactly. (Laughter)

Monica: So anytime you can involve another organization to share the spotlight with, I think is a great thing to do.

Katie: Excellent. So, do you have one tip that you would like to give every single entrepreneur that's even considering an open house or, you know, the next big product launch? What is the one thing that you wish you saw more of, of event planners?

Monica: Creativity. It's not easy to be creative with event. I always say anybody can put an event on, but it takes a really good planner to put a great event on that people talk about afterwards. You know, how many times have we gone to the same happy hour with there's some wine out, there's some beer out, and nobody really knows what's going on. You're just kind of talking and drinking and - you know, countless. We probably go to two of those a week, you know, you and I.

Katie: Yep, yep.

Monica: So I think even if for the smallest event, even for a very small 50 person, you know 20 person event, just the little things that make it a little bit different and not just repeat the same event over and over. I pull inspiration from a lot of different places, whether it's, you know, Real Simple Magazine, or Etsy, or you know, some of my clients. You know, Sew Crafty, which was a client of mine here in Houston -

Katie: And actually a guest on the Overtime Show as well.

Monica: That's right, a guest on the Overtime Show.

Katie: We love Sarah, yeah. Sarah Gabbart's awesome. (Laughter)

Monica: Yeah, so I think that striving for that creativity and just to be a little different is really important. And something unexpected. At the party we did at our loft, we teamed up with TOMS Shoes and we had everybody take their shoes off.

Katie: Everybody was running around barefoot. That was like, so really fun. (Laughter)

Monica: And you know, number one, that was entertaining.

Katie: Yes.

Monica: But it made people relax, you know, and you were there and you were there, and you know -

Katie: John - wait John, did you take your shoes off?

John: I didn't know we were suppose to.

Katie: Ah, John didn't participate.

John: I had my shoes on.

Katie: Well, element of surprise clearly lost on you.

John: So lame. I will take 'em off now.

Monica: And the next one. (Laughter) We're all taking our shoes off right now.

Katie: (Laughter)

Monica: Okay, but yeah. So yeah, an element of surprise. Just kind of that little thing that people walk away weeks, months later thinking, "You know what was really cool about that party, nobody had any shoes on." (Laughter)

Katie: Except that John guy.

John: Except me.

Monica: Except for that lame John guy. (Laughter)

Katie: (Laughter) Who let him in there? (Laughter)

Monica: Athlete's foot, I had athlete foot. (Laughter)

Katie: Well Monica, that was entertaining, enlightening, and certainly inspiring for all of our entrepreneurs out there. And hopefully, they'll be inviting all of us to their upcoming parties with their great events going on. (Laughter)

Monica: Bring it.

Katie: Well Monica, thank you again for being here.

Monica: Thank you.

Katie: You were a fantastic guest co-host. Awesome. (Laughter)

Monica: Thank you.

Katie: And as always, you were a fantastic listener. We're so glad to have been able to spend this little bit of time with you. We love to connect with you on Twitter at Twitter.com/overtimeshow. And of course we are fiercely and psychotically active on Facebook. Facebook chat exploits or not. You can find us at Facebook.com/overtimeshow, and be sure to send us any questions, any ideas, any inspirations, any potential speakers that you'd like to see on our show. We are open, we are always on their, and we can't to hear from ya. You've been listening to the BusinessMakers Overtime Show heard here and online at theBusinessMakers.com/overtime. See ya next week.