Virtual Ways to Spend Your Free Time

Cody Liskh: 
And we wanted to bring you some positive vibes on this very special Friday episode. 

Brooke Gracey:
So today we are joined by one of our favorite colleagues Kim Siegel. She's a senior principal account manager here at Cvent and she's here to talk to us about some of the things her clients are doing during this downtime.

Kim Thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today. 

Kimberly Segal: 
Well, I think I just want to hear you guys talk more about how great I AM. No, but I am personally very honored, you know, and I love this podcast. You know, I'm a mega-fan, so honored to be here tonight. And if I can inspire or at least entertain at least one of my event producers, then I'm happy. 

Cody Liskh:
love it. Well, we have tons of stuff to talk about today. But before we get into that Kim. Can you just tell us about how you came to work at Cvent?

 

Kimberly Segal: 
Yeah. Um, so I didn't know what I wanted to be when I grow up in college and right out of the gate. I got lucky enough from networking to introduce someone To the event planning world and started working for a third party event to the company in Washington DC and then did that for a year with manual processes and was really burned out already.

so I kind of switch gears and got introduced to Cvent from a dear friend and started in the client services world where I kind of, you know, supported the more the product technical side Of the relationship and then quickly move into more of the client-facing on the account perspective and eight years later, here I am. And you know, it's crazy. I mean, when I started with 500 employees and now, we're like 5000 so pretty crazy. 

Brooke Gracey:
Such a wild ride. Yeah, I still remember the first day I met you. You have a lot of energy. Really positive outlook. That's why I think you're perfect to come on the podcast and just kind of like tell us what you've been hearing from some of them, you know, meeting planners and event producers that you've been working with You know, I know there's like a lot of different topics that we could talk about. But I was going to kick off with exercise because this is the one thing that I hate doing

And especially when we're in a quarantined world like How do we still stay active. Like, what are people doing 

Kimberly Segal: 
definitely. Right now, you get Such a diversity of what people are doing because everyone's in different situations, whether it's professionally or personally. So, my event producers are furloughed So my event producers are busier than ever. And so, I totally wholeheartedly think that exercise is so important.

Um, you know, just for me personally, I was OCD and enjoy my phone before all this. And so, the thought of even going outside is intimidating but, I started to walk my dog and my boyfriend. Right.

I never did that. Or had the opportunity to do that during the day. So that opportunity to go outside and walk the dog is mentally like such a great thing to just walk away. But there's also a lot of free apps, more than ever, from the business side like orange theory, for example, all of their storefronts are close, they're also a client. And so, they shifted their business model to give people access to like their app. So you people can do orange theory exercises right at their home or even, you know, I bought a Like $100 bike for my mom on Amazon and set up a monitor in front of the bike and now she has a peloton experience without shelving out, you know, you know, pretty a pretty good chunk of money. I mean, I will say to my girlfriend's got it during this and they're obsessed so 

Brooke Gracey:
You have all of that you could just like to use the Peloton app and change any old stationary bike to peloton experience which major FOMO right like so many people are using it right now.

Cody Liskh: 
I have so much FOMO right, now I'm with you. I don't. I mean, I am a little wary of going outside too I'm not really into the whole, you know, exposing myself unnecessarily. But I have a hack that I have done.

I bought this thing called a treadly and it's this treadmill That's like three or four inches thick and it slides right underneath my RLC the red leather couch right behind me and I just pull it out and I will walk or I will lightly jog, and I just positioned my TV in front. I watch all of my garbage reality TV that I love. You know you'll kill two birds with one stone. Might as well. It's exercise while I'm watching something you know it's rotting my brain 

Brooke Gracey:
I mean, speaking of that, like, what are we even doing for entertainment these days. I mean, I know Cody, you have a pretty good list of trashy TV that you love. But how are other people staying entertained out there? 

Kimberly Segal: 
I'm personally A big fan trashy TV has always been. I mean, I think when you're working so hard You need to like kind of unplug and watching something like the Kardashians or gosh anything on Bravo. Um, it's just so nice to have like That 30 minutes or that our going to sleep and really just turning it off. And so, from an entertainment perspective, though I'm like UNC is one of my clients, I would be remiss not to kind of mention the ESPN documentary about Michael Jordan. 

We were chatting, the other day With my contacts at UNC and they were the first to admit that the documentary was so well produced they tease it out And now, so you can't like binge on it.

So, they release it out in segments, but you learned so much about Michael Jordan because there's so much content out there about him that you never knew. And speaking of ESPN It's sports So my boyfriend kind of loves it right now because there are no sports. There's literally not even a sports section in the newspaper. 

Like, I remember that day and my boyfriend open up a newspaper and he was like, there's no sports section. And I was like, I'm so sorry.

I want to talk about it, you know, sports are coming back. So, I heard golf is coming out soon. I don't like golf I mean 

Cody Liskh: 
But know golf is like a really like at the social distance sport to play right like you could really have a lot of space between the people and you get outside and get some of that exercise we just talked about. 

Brooke Gracey:
Having something that you can watch with you because you're all stuck together in the same house right so it's entertaining for both of you. It’s kind of has that like Sports angle, but it's a really good story for you too. That's awesome. 

Kimberly Segal: 
And like, get creative. Like, I know that like from an entertainment perspective, like there's so many of these like um no tribute on concerts, like now virtual So it's planning that also with your significant others or your friends and watching it together and having like an entertainment experience together and make it special and more kind of Chairs of all about the word to the experience you know 

Brooke Gracey:
Yeah, it's like we can almost take a page from these event producer's books and Instead, they're just like sitting down and watching a movie make an experience out of it pop some popcorn together. You know, like just kind of make a day of it even Cody and I were Doing a Bingo Night tonight. You know, like virtually just, you know, let's get everybody together and just have a good time because we're all kind of lonely in our own spots. So, I have to pry Cody away from the TV and his like “love is blind” or whatever he is watching. 

Cody Liskh: 
Well, I mean, I love, “love is blind”, I have to say I might I'm for everybody out there listening. I'm not ashamed to admit that I am full-on obsessed with the “90-day fiancé”.

Oh yeah. It's insane. It sucks you when you watch it. That is my guilty pleasure and like when you have a full day at work, and you know you're exhausted. I love just checking out with a 90-day fiancé, it's so ridiculous. I love just watching the crazy events unfold.

But what I also love about this is that I watch it on Sling TV and Sling TV is awesome. Like, it's inexpensive, there are tons of channels that you can get, and what I love, too, is that it integrates with a virtual experience.

Sling TV is an app, you can get on the Oculus device, and Brooke and I are obsessed with VR. We each have Oculus devices. And Sling TV is something that you can both watch together so you can. We live, you know, we're stuck apart but we can both log in to our sling accounts and watch the same program and it looks like I'm right next to her. So, kind of tricked me into thinking that I'm having some friends over. 

Brooke Gracey:
We even went hang gliding the other day Through our together. There are all kinds of fun virtual experiences that you can do. Now, I know, I know not everybody has, you know, access to Oculus go or VR headsets. But it sounds like there are some other cool virtual experiences out there too. 

Kimberly Segal: 
Yeah, I mean, I just got introduced actually to like a lot of national parks and a lot of like national zoos are actually live streaming there, whether it's like my favorite is the Panda cam

But, you know, right now, more than ever, getting access to what used to have been a live experience Is there's probably a virtual component. So I'm like the National Zoo, for example in Washington, DC, has that Panda cam so I personally just pull it up just to like smile and look at something like really cute and I know like my other clients, even with their kids like to do that as experience with their kids as well.  

Brooke Gracey:
That's cool. I've even started following some of like the zoos and things like that on social media because nobody can go to the zoo. So, they're like letting the animals out to like to interact with each other. And it's like the cutest thing in the entire world 

Kimberly Segal: 
Um, I mean, there's, I mean, there's been some benefits tremendous benefits from all of us to. I mean, the National Zoo just reported that the Panda’s who've never mated it in the last 10 years, during the quarantine finally mated. 

Kimberly Segal: 
Stir up some romance. 

Brooke Gracey:
That's cute. 

Kimberly Segal: 
I know 

Brooke Gracey:
I actually saw. Okay, so one thing that's happened to me over quarantine is an obsession with tik-tok which I am entirely too old for, but I think we all know what's happening. You know, we're all doing it.

And there was one where the whole family got together. So, this isn't really a virtual experience, but they got together and everybody who is stuck together. Each replicated their favorite restaurant in different rooms of the house and then they went on like a food tour throughout the house so like each family member was in charge of one experience in each room like how cute that is. 

Kimberly Segal: 
That's really here. I mean, I think cooking right now and food is like the only thing that I can really plan right now. And I think a lot of my customers can relate, like, you know, the idea of planning something like a program Is a little bit overwhelming totally understand. It's just the nature of where we are But I can plan what I want for dinner. I can plan If I want to take out maybe.

I mean they're doing like just down the street like local gourmet McLean, Virginia. I'm, you know, while they're not the grocery store. I just asked them with this order Can I buy some bread. Can I buy some of your amazing Naomi and they're like, Yeah, yeah, yeah? I mean, they want business right now more than ever to so many restaurants are providing so many alternative options, whether it's takeout, curbside, delivery of alcoholic beverages. 

Brooke Gracey:
Or boozy popsicles were being delivered in some cities. 

Kimberly Segal: 
I wish it was a little bit warmer for that. And I would probably do that. Um. Yeah, so I mean getting, you know, cooking is also from, you know, a mental and just like owning the health side of eating out a lot, especially in the beginning. Well, my customers are now like we're here for Maybe until July. So, let's start getting healthy and so they're cooking way more than ever, and there are so many celebrities celebrity chefs specifically on Twitter Who are providing like live cooking demonstrations. So, if you know one or you want to go on Instagram There's tons of experiential walkthrough with like Jose Andreas. It's just amazing. 

Cody Liskh: 
That and then they have like the meal kits to like even some of the local restaurants here in Portland, like They will give you the meal kit and then you kind of like finish it at home, you know, bake it or whatever you need to do. Warm it up and it's kind of a cool it's more of experience right than just a meal. 

Kimberly Segal: 
Hundred percent last night we Did Cinco de Mayo. I put a meeting request on Outlook for my parents and my boyfriend. Yes, I'm 31 years old and live with my parents. That's another conversation for Another story, um, and it was exciting. Like, I found a 2009 Sarah key Cinco de Mayo shirt. I got excited again and it made me realize like we made this event, fine We had such a great night we cooked our own dinner. Now the tacos to bream that I got on Instagram didn't look like the picture tasted anything 

Brooke Gracey:
I totally get that 

Brooke Gracey:
Cody, I have you tried to meal kit too. 

Cody Liskh: 
I yeah I'm really into these meal kits, to be honest, I so one of the things that I have really been into recently is At first I would just make my dinner and I'm by myself. So, I just eat it and it would look however I don't care. But after like three or four weeks I started realizing how much I enjoy like a nicely plated meal. So, I've been thinking a lot about it and it's kind of bringing me back to civilization, a little bit. Like I'm really taking some time to make it. I'm just by myself sitting by myself Watching 90-day fiancé, but I make my meals look more enticing now and that's really important. 

I do like meal kits. I tried one out though recently that was like one of those keto meal kits and I think I lasted two weeks. Like, I can't do keto guys like This is not the time to be doing, you know, it was probably closer to two days. You're right. Kim, I'll be honest, I see a. I know. Well, I mean, I like to eat. And I feel like They give you these tiny little free samples of food I eat it. And then I have a second meal afterward. I mean, I'm pretty sure I have a quarantine 10 that I need to get rid of. After this, like I 

Brooke Gracey:
Own it 

Cody Liskh: 
Thanks. 

Brooke Gracey:
Get out your, you know, walking machine or whatever.
Well here's the thing that I am not doing and I think I should be as reading books because I mean I'm listening to books and I listened to a ton of podcasts, but reading is not happening as much as I need it to. 

Kimberly Segal: 
my vice president Ashley Baber has been trying to instill reading on to me for like forever and before the quarantine, I went to Canyon Ranch and I took her advice and I started to read “knowing your value”. And it's really good, but I'm on page 40 and it's been 

Brooke Gracey:
Pretty good. 

Kimberly Segal: 
Yeah, thanks I think maybe by the time I'm 50 I'll finish but I mean, you know, for me it's I'm busier than ever. And that's definitely understandable on kind of the new house, everyone's playing and so I personally love the idea of creativity and so you know it's just about what makes you happy. And sometimes it's getting up in the morning and Putting on a dress and putting makeup on it's like the kind of like you said, Cody, as they provide back the routine. So, if that's you know working out again, if that's cooking more if that's reading like just really kind of what's important and it's and it takes time. I have my once a week meltdown like anyone, but I realized with my customers as well as Whatever makes them happy, they have to figure that out themselves. So, if they're not happy It's kind of shifting the mindset. It all comes down to the mindset. Um, I actually really have been getting into Like yoga and like mindfulness on music on Spotify and just upgraded just Upgrade to Premium, a game-changer.

But the yoga-like Adrian home Adrian has a YouTube channel that is called home and you go, go with Adrian. It's for 30 days. And it's funny, like so many of my clients Never done yoga or their husbands actually are the ones I into yoga and they loved in, um, I do not work with her. I do not have but I'm obsessed. I think I have a woman crush on her. 

Brooke Gracey:
Yeah, like there are all kinds of stuff you can do at home and Like to your point, there's free content out there where we haven't really seen it before. So we talked about some of the virtual experiences where you can go to a museum that you are you know across the world or across the country, you can read books and I mean even like the library. I think if you have a library card, you can download it Cody you use it isn't Libby. just access your library books virtually or, you know, download them and you don't actually have to go to the library for that. Harry Potter, I think, is like on Audible, you can get every single Harry Potter book.

Um, what about podcasts. I mean, besides how great events happen which podcasts are, you know, event professionals listening Or, or, you know, just for fun. 

Kimberly Segal: 
Um, I think right now A lot of people are looking at, like, YouTube's as well. So, like I'm, I'm a sucker for like a good light small chunk of a video like I can play it I can laugh and get onto my day.

I think so My event producers as well Like, I'll send them stuff just like random stuff like articles or videos and then just appreciate some lightweight content right now  

Brooke Gracey:
Yeah, I feel like people are craving content and, you know, I've even heard that and I'm a personal fan of crime podcasts. I've probably mentioned that 1000 times but Even listens to those are kind of down right now because people want good news. They're looking for content and a lot of people are even doing things to Enhance their careers, even if they are you know furloughed or have a little bit of time and this is a great opportunity to kind of sharpen your skillset and maybe, you know, get out there and do some networking, you know, virtually as well. 

Kimberly Segal: 
I mean, I think the smartest and event producers that I work with are doing exactly that. Absolutely.

You know, most of them are either taking advantage of, you know, Cvent certification or again like just fine-tuning, whether that's their professional development Or just their day to day operational job so they're getting, like, some of them the creativity that I'm seeing is just unbelievable.

They're really looking while this has been you know a huge shift in so many different ways. I'm seeing this pivot. There was in the friend's episode that working you know. They're shifting them, their mindset on looking at what is this event landscape looks like whether it's live, whether it's virtual and being so creative. Whether that's there IT system, Infrastructure what that looks like they're looking at their data they're asking questions they're doing our research, they're going to a lot of You know, virtual events. People are just creating content in a new way, as well, like a lot of what they're craving is more visual cues. I love that we did this, you know, this podcast on A live stream experience because I think, more than ever, people just want to see someone people want to see the experience versus hearing something to kind of reengage that life of that they used to have in a virtual aspect. 

Cody Liskh: 
Totally agree. I love that, too. I think that that's probably why I like watching TV. So, I want the visual experience too.

Kim, it’s so great having you on here giving us all your tips and tricks.

I gotta ask you though. I want to put you on the spot, a little bit. But if you had to give our listeners, just one piece of advice or take away from everything that you've learned from your event managers, what would that be?

Kimberly Segal: 
Um, well, first and foremost, if any of my clients are listening. Um, I just respect you guys so much. And it's such a pleasure to work with you and support you guys through this. We're all in this together. Um, but I think you kind of touched on it. My one advice is really maximize this time.
I think that there's so much opportunity, especially from an executive perspective on looking at event producers, more than ever, on being creative in this marketing and new experience if you can come with an, you know, a plan or ideas or suggestions and kind of you know well thought through.
Make you look like the rock star make you be the one that's invaluable to the company truly right and so positive. And that was two or three but 

Brooke Gracey:
That's okay. That's what happens every single time we ask that question. 

Cody Liskh: 
It's the hardest question. 

Brooke Gracey:
That's okay though. Well, thank you so much for joining us today. I got some new ideas out of this conversation and I bet our listeners did too and this is our very special edition Friday edition videocast.