The Mixology of Hybrid Connections

A conversation with Rachael Green Founder/CEO of Rach Green Cocktails

This article was originally published on voltagecontrol.com

“I think that people have been trying to facilitate these virtual meetings and they’re pretty dry in a lot of ways, but they get the point across and that’s good, but they’re finding maybe a lack of productivity that happens when people just feel like this mundane day-to-day.” -Rachael Green

Rachael Green is the CEO and Founder at Rach Green Cocktails, where she uses high level hospitality, spirits and cocktail knowledge to entertain thousands of people from around the world.

In this episode of Control the Room, Rachael and I discuss hospitality, hybrid events, and mixology. Listen in to hear how prioritizing fun and connection can usher in balance and harmony within your teams.

Show Highlights

[00:51] Rachael’s Beginnings

[13:49] Significance of Hospitality & Fulfillment vs. Security

[23:50] Formulas for Hybrid Experiences

[31:09] Actionable Steps to Creating Better Virtual Experiences

[34:51] Rachael’s Final Thoughts

Links | Resources

Rachael’s LinkedIn

Cocktails & Connections

About the Guest

Rachael Green is the founder of Rach Green Cocktails, and a master mixologist with a knack for fun. Rachael’s entrepreneurial spirit combined with her hospitable nature results in a buoyant perspective that lifts teams, individuals, and organizations out of the drudgery of the mundane. By engaging the five natural senses, she’s discovered that people can bring their full selves when given the expectation and opportunity to do so.

About Voltage Control

Voltage Control is a change agency that helps enterprises sustain innovation and teams work better together with custom-designed meetings and workshops, both in-person and virtual. Our master facilitators offer trusted guidance and custom coaching to companies who want to transform ineffective meetings, reignite stalled projects, and cut through assumptions. Based in Austin, Voltage Control designs and leads public and private workshops that range from small meetings to large conference-style gatherings.

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Full Transcript

Douglas Ferguson:

Welcome to the Control The Room Podcast, a series devoted to the exploration of meeting culture and uncovering cures for the common meeting. Some meetings have tight control and others are loose. To control the room means achieving outcomes while striking a balance between imposing and removing structure, asserting and distributing power, leaning in and leaning out, all in the service of having a truly magical meeting. Today, I’m with Rachael Green, CEO and founder of Rach Green Cocktails, where she uses high-level hospitality, spirits, and cocktail knowledge to entertain thousands of people from around the world. Welcome to the show, Rachael.

Rachael Green:

Hey, Douglas, how’s it going? Thanks for having me.

Douglas Ferguson:

Yeah, it’s great to have you. I guess for starters, let’s just hear a little bit about how Rachael Green became Rach Green Cocktails?

Rachael Green:

Yeah. Well, man, you could say that it starts all the way back when I was a kid and I was just mixing my fruit juices, which is actually true, but it’s interesting because I was born into a family where my father has always been an entrepreneur. And so, I’ve always really idealized this as something that I wanted to do, but it really started for me, 10 years ago when I got into the hospitality industry where my “why” came from. I worked in retail for a second, and then I got into food and beverage where I was working as a cocktail waitress. And I started to see things in the food and beverage industry that I thought was just related to this one restaurant that I was working for, when in fact I realized over the years that this was a systemic kind of issue of how people were approaching hiring and treating their employees and treating their guests was so short-sighted.

So, I really wanted to learn more about hospitality. So I got my bachelor’s degree in hospitality management and administration to really understand the truth behind what hospitality really means and how to facilitate it in a way that is in fact true hospitality. And I’ve been on this journey for 10 years, finding people that I feel like are doing it really well, seeking to understand the pieces that make it run really well, and the pieces that don’t. And for 10 years, I worked with other people, for other people, all sorts of different positions all across the food and beverage from sales, bartending, restaurant management, catering, events, all sorts of different things. But something really stuck with me when I was going through college.

My last semester, I was in international wine and culture and I applied to become the head teaching assistant because I did really well. I always was really fascinated by alcohol and fermentation and the science behind it. I almost wanted to go into chemistry, but I was such a social creature that I couldn’t see myself being in a lab coat. So, I really love the scientific aspect behind growing grapes and understanding the knowledge in wine and the geography of everything. And that’s when I got my first taste of educating. And so, I kind of dabbled in that little pieces throughout the next five or six years when I got into liquor sales and I got into educating people on spirits. And then I also got an opportunity with a little shop named Collins & Coupe, they’re out of San Diego where I was based out of and they would have these cocktail classes. They would get a little permit for it and they would have cocktail classes with like 20 people.

And I was starting to facilitate once a month these in-person cocktail classes for consumers and I fell in love with it. I was like, “So, this is like the educational aspect that I really loved mixed with also the passion for what I was doing in alchemy.” So, I was able to figure out a way to do this in other ways. So, I started figuring out other ways to do these in-person cocktail classes. Now, I left California in October of 2019 and I went to North Carolina here where my family is just to kind of get grounded in a space to launch off from. And I started doing these in-person cocktail classes and they were such a blast and I was starting to get a lot of traction with them and then everything in March of 2020 went virtual. So, I didn’t look at it from the very beginning as something that was a business opportunity, right?

I went and decided to go live on Facebook to just teach people how to do cocktails because I’ve been doing it in person. And I was like, “I’m just going to come on.” And it was a total hit. People in my network really loved it. And as I started to do them more consistently on Facebook, I started to see how people wanted to become connected with something in either connected through comments with other people, connected to the story of the cocktails, connected to the fact that they themselves are able to make these amazing creations based on the ingredients that they have at home. So, once this kind of clicked for me and I started to get a lot of traction just through Facebook Live, I was like, “I wonder if I can start doing these for like personal parties” and got into the B2C sector of this a little bit.

And I started doing these and they were starting to get a little bit of traction, but not too much. And then in August of last year in 2020, I decided to venture into corporate and started to check out what corporate was looking and what team building as I started to see people really sought connection, people really sought those things that they just couldn’t have physically right now. So, when I started to see that when doing these things virtually, when done really well, you can suspend people and disbelief that they’re in fact in a virtual space with other people, but they’re in the same room with each other. So that’s something that I wanted to bring into the team building and the meeting environment. So I started to do things in the business world and it was amazing to see how these connections really started to form. But yeah, so that’s kind of where it really all stems from. And as I’ve been turning this more and more into something that not only I love, but people love too, I started to see how the connections, this is the hospitality that I was searching for.

Douglas Ferguson:

Yeah. I want to talk a little bit about that pivot from B2C to B2B and specifically what were you noticing about the business world that was so receptive or what was that need that you were really kind of tapping into that they responded so much?

Rachael Green:

Yeah, absolutely. So there, I started to do a little bit of research of what the main issues were with people working remote, right? And not just for the pandemic, but in general. We’ve been moving into a direction of being working remote and people desiring to work remote, whether for travel or for flexibility. And so I was looking into the key things that people really struggled with as being employed in a remote environment. And one was the ability to turn off at the end of the day, right? Another one was feeling connected or part of a team or part of a community and there’s a few others as well, but those two really stuck out to me. And so when I started to look into that business side of things, I started to realize, “Wow, people really miss being in touch with people.” Maybe not necessarily touching them, but being in a space where they can be fully present, right?

So, when we have the access to be fully present with the people that we’re in a room with, then magic really happens. And I think that people have been trying to facilitate these virtual meetings and they’re pretty dry in a lot of ways, but they get the point across and that’s good, but they’re finding maybe a lack of productivity that happens when people just feel like this mundane day-to-day. And when they go into the office and they leave, that’s an eight-hour Workday, but when they’re working from home, it can be 11, 12-hour workdays and they don’t even realize that they’ve got up and it was dark outside and they started working and then it’s dark outside when it stops. And so I think that those things are really important to identify with.

And when you bring people in for experiences for your team, you get to give them an opportunity to just be present, to leave work aside for just a moment, maybe even incorporate their partners or their husbands or wives and do something truly together. And so, when I started to realize that there is actually proof in people being more productive once they can let loose a little bit, and it’s not like, “Oh, I’ve been working straight for 14 days,” but it really breaks the monotony. And I think that that’s the real need that I sought to fill in providing just some entertainment and some ability to be present, activating all five senses, right? You’re touching ingredients, you’re smelling ingredients, you’re tasting things, you’re building, and then you’re enjoying something that you created. So, there are other sorts of entertainment, but what I love most about what I do is that it actually activates so many of the senses, which makes it easier to be present and in the moment.

Douglas Ferguson:

Yeah. It’s resonating with a lot of things and specifically this notion of being disconnected and this need for connection and community. And it reminds me of a BBC report that came out it’s about a year ago now or more, and the headline was Most Ineffective Meetings Are Actually a Form of Therapy. So, folks are striving or have hunger for this connection and community so much that they fill their calendars with kind of ineffective meetings. And it’s a very inefficient approach, whereas you’re bringing an intentional approach. I usually coach people on we need that, so let’s plan on it. Let’s actually honor it and be intentional so that when we come together, we make good use of that time. So I love what you’re doing from the perspective of it’s allowing people to be intentional about that time they spend focusing on connection and community.

Rachael Green:

Yeah. It’s almost like you’re creating those boundaries for them, right? So when you put their personal needs and personal lives in addition to the priorities of our business, when you prioritize them themselves, because they’re working so hard for their families and to get ahead and to really serve and to show up really well, when you’re rewarding them, you get to put that boundary in there and it’s like, “Hey, remember, you are a person too and we want to value you by giving you something to really enjoy yourself for a second.” And yeah, when you have those ineffective meetings just to fill time, yeah, I understand where that can come in too. So, by putting something intentional in there, you’re able to break that monotony. So, it’s what I’ve found to create that product to be. It’s funny how that works, right?

It’s funny how you’re like, “How can something that’s completely unrelated to business in fact help your business?” But as an entrepreneur, I’ve come to realize that days off aren’t just for me, they’re for my business. If I’m not taking days off, or if I’m not setting aside time to access those really creative sides of my brain or those connection points or those things that really bring my spirit up, then my business will suffer if I don’t do those things. So, I think that definitely works in the corporate world. And it’s such a pleasure for me to see businesses that are doing it.

I’ve become friends with, her name is Kristen, and she’s amazing. She’s the head of engagement at headquarters at LinkedIn in New York. And her main job is to set up these amazing field days and challenges and bring your parents to work day on Zoom and all of these amazing things that they initiate so that they feel seen, they feel respected and heard just as… Even though they’re part of this corporate machine, they are seen and the company desires for them to feel that sense of belonging. And I think that’s what drives loyalty in this space. So, I think that that’s really important too.

Douglas Ferguson:

It’s critical. It’s funny that so many companies have embraced design thinking and plenty haven’t, but a lot have, it’s common and so focused on customer experience. And I think they’re missing the ball on the employee experience piece. And it’s so great to hear of companies that you just mentioned, LinkedIn, and you’ve got lots of clients that are spending time thinking about these issues. And it’s just so critical to create environments where we can build friendships, we can build connection as we’re going to do much better work if we can build that trust and that sense of safety.

Rachael Green:

Yeah. I think that’s what it comes down to, hospitality comes from the core, right? You can’t deliver a good customer service if your employees don’t feel like they’re served too.

Douglas Ferguson:

Mm-hmm.

Rachael Green:

And I feel like that’s where the health of an organization really comes in and I’ve read a lot of books in hospitality and they say that labor should be your number one priority, your number one cost. Making sure that they are well-educated, that there’s team-building experiences, that they feel like they’re learning and growing. And especially a lot of these younger generations too, like for them fulfillment is prioritized over security. And I think that’s something that a lot of businesses should really remember as these younger generations start to join the workforce and especially the corporate play.

Douglas Ferguson:

So, let’s unpack that a little bit. What does that mean, fulfillment prioritized over security?

Rachael Green:

I think the desire for constant learning, growing, expanding their minds and understanding… And there’s more left-brain, right-brain people as well, but I think that there is such a drive for connection and community because technology too is such a strong piece of this that the loyalty and connections it’s different. It looks different now. So, I think what I’ve come to see and why team building and team engagement and employee engagement has become such a strong piece in the corporate structure is because people are desiring to learn more, to grow more and to become more of an expert, to have that sense of ownership in the roles that they have. So, by providing educational opportunities and opportunities to connect and become really a part of a community in a workplace, that’s becoming a really strong desire. I feel like more than just tenure.

Douglas Ferguson:

So, I’m going to bring us back to some of the stuff that you were saying a little bit earlier. And I was really intrigued by the comment around the truth behind hospitality and what does it mean to facilitate it well? You talked about facilitating hospitality and so as a community of facilitators, the truth of hospitality and facilitating it well really kind of jumped out to me.

Rachael Green:

Yeah. Love it. Love it, love it. Okay. So, let’s start from a basic, right? Let’s say you go into the Ritz-Carlton, right? And you put your name into your reservation, maybe the intention of your stay, right? Hospitality comes from anticipating needs at the bottom line. Anticipating needs and making people feel seen, or helping people to feel seen. So, in the customer experience, anticipating their needs by even having surveys to understand what their interest in working with you might be, and anticipating their potential questions that they’ll have through the customer journey and all the way down until after the experience is over, what are you doing to help them feel seen and heard? So, dialing that back to your employees and the people that work with you, how can you anticipate their needs by even giving out surveys or giving out… Applying what you’re applying to your customer journey to help that brand loyalty happen can be applied to your internal team as well.

Do you know all of the names of the people that work in your office? What are their birthdays? What are their partners’ names? What are their interests? If you prioritize making that connection happen, then that sense of comradery and that sense of productivity will build this little microcosm. So when you have this, especially if it’s productive, right? So, something that you’re facilitating and cultivating in a productive way, not just something that’s haphazard that can breed some sort of toxicity, but you’re encouraging that sense of camaraderie and community, then that sense of warmth and connection, not only to the people in their office, but the company and the brand itself, then that will trickle out as a vibe to people that they’re working with, either as partners or as customers out into the world.

So, it really comes down to the health of the organization. How can you create more health within your organization by providing an opportunity for them to connect back, for them to feel seen? And that is something that will be an example for the way that they connect with customers and they connect with potential partners and vendors, right? And when you have that good health emanating out, then those relationships with those people on the outskirts will also be benefited.

Douglas Ferguson:

Yeah. I was thinking the same thing as you were starting to tell some of those stories and explain this, as you start to create a dynamic where those behaviors are reinforced within the organization, and then to your point, that emanates outward. And I was also thinking about this notion that the root of hospitality is to be hospitable and what a lovely thought if we create hospitable environments within the workplace and we’re supporting each other and treating… It just comes down to the ways that people like to be treated and honored and respected.

Rachael Green:

Yeah, it truly is. And it’s interesting because hospitality is such a wide net, right? You have food and beverage, you have hotels, you have movie theaters, you have events, and it’s interesting. It’s like, where do these all connect? And it comes down to people, the end consumer coming into a space to have an experience, whether it’s at an event, whether it’s at a movie theater, whether it’s at a hotel, at a restaurant. They’re going in, could they be doing these things on their own? Yes. But they’re going somewhere and they’re building a sense of loyalty based off of what they’ve received as an experience. So, it’s really important to make sure that that experience is super tied in to a brand. I don’t know, I got a little wrapped up in something.

Douglas Ferguson:

No, no, no. What that reminds me of is the late Tony Hsieh and how one of the reasons that he opened Zappos in Las Vegas was because of the strong customer service and hospitality industry in Vegas. And he was able to hire folks that really took customer care obsessively. And I think it directly impacted their ability to grow that company in the way they grew it.

Rachael Green:

Yeah. Absolutely. And here’s the thing too. It’s like when you have a lot of opportunities for the people in your organization to learn, right? To learn about shoes, to learn about how to deliver good customer service, to learn about what things mean, it builds a sense of culture, but also when you’re providing these things for your team and not just giving them, “Here’s a computer,” and go then there’s a lot less confusion too. So, you’re able to deliver better service. When you’re providing infrastructure, whether it’s in educating them or in providing an experience for them to become part of this community, you’re giving them the tools to give better service, to be that brand that people really are loyal to. So yeah, I love it.

Douglas Ferguson:

It reminds me of experiences I’ve had at really nice hotels where I walk in and they treat me like they’ve known me for years. They’re like, “Good to see you, Mr. Ferguson, thanks for joining us.” Versus an average hotel where you walk in and it’s like, “Do you have your confirmation number?” It’s like it’s so transactional in like, “Give me your thing.” It’s like it’s all just in how you approach it. It’s not likely to cost them any extra money because it’s not like they had to charge extra to behave in that way.

Rachael Green:

Right. But it comes down to what kind of support are they getting, right?

Douglas Ferguson:

Mm-hmm.

Rachael Green:

Is it just a paycheck?

Douglas Ferguson:

And encouragement.

Rachael Green:

Right. Encouragement too, but just awesome. And you brought too a really great point, right? So there is something different that they’re doing to ensure that customer experience and there’s people that follow up on that to ensure that that is followed through. Right?

Douglas Ferguson:

Absolutely.

Rachael Green:

So, in my experience in the way that I’ve grown, I have surveys when people are interested in my service, I have service surveys throughout the customer journey of like, “Okay, what do you expect? Okay, was this what you expected? Where can we improve?” And when you have these types of things in addition to that personal contact, then you have the opportunity to add in little pieces that they’re like, “Wow, they’re listening.” Like, “Great to see you, Mr. Ferguson.” Right? That’s what I’m talking about when you go into these particular experiences and you feel seen. And that hospitality, how it dials back into, how can we incorporate hospitality into our meetings? How can we incorporate hospitality into our home lives? Dial it all the way back. How can you provide that experience for your employees to emanate that type of respect and service to their selves and their families? That’s like next level, right?

Douglas Ferguson:

So I’m going to switch gears on us just kind of quickly, because I feel like there’s so much in the media right now about hybrid events. And I feel like folks like you and I who do events and create experiences for people, I think we both know that, well, we’re not doing hybrid yet. It’s on the horizon and it’s soon. And a lot of what people are talking about is like projections and whatnot. And so, I’m curious to hear what’s rattling around your head? I know you talked about this notion of cross-platform and how these different formulizations… Well, formulas will arrive as we move into this new space. So, I think the listeners are curious about this stuff and especially from a practitioner’s point of view. So I would love to hear your thoughts there.

Rachael Green:

Yeah. It’s super fun because when I first was thinking about the word hybrid and as it was first produced, I started to think about, “Well, what determines a platform?” Right? A platform is a place where people can go to to get the content that they need or the service that they need. And that is in fact delivered, right? So people will… An unpopular opinion that in-person in itself is a platform. So, when I was thinking about multi-platform events and the main difference that I have received in starting these unpopular conversations is that hybrid is a mix of in-person and virtual, versus hybrid being a mix of different online platforms. That’s a multi-platform event. But it got me thinking, I was like, “Okay, well, how is in-person if you’re looking at it from a strategic perspective and a systems perspective, they are in fact different.”

So, when you’re doing multi-platform events, you have strategies for each individual platform. And so, when we’re getting into hybrid, we’re starting to think, “Okay, well, we have a strategy for our in-person and what is our strategy for virtual? How are we going to engage them in the same way that we can engage our in-person?” Well, the reality is that you can’t, right? But it’s not that you can’t, it’s what can I do to have them feel as engaged as the in-person audience? And not only that, how can we create that bridge so that the virtual audience and the in-person audience can actually connect with each other? So you have things that I feel like are really important, and I’m going to use Clubhouse, for example.

Now, as people start to get back into in-person and are utilizing these virtual events, you can use things like networking platforms such as Clubhouse to connect both audiences, right? So even though people are doing things in person in their daily life, they’re signing onto Clubhouse to do the laundry, to do whatever, but they’re also utilizing Clubhouse as a pre-event and a post-event networking or value-add conversation. So, there are ways that I think are really important to consider and I was on a call with someone this morning about this. We think of these as different audiences, as different platforms, but how can we going forward connect the two? I went to a hybrid event last year, I was virtual and it was a chore to get people that were in-person to go downstairs, because it was at a brewery upstairs, downstairs to where the TV was with the virtual people, coming down in sections to engage with these people.

The people that are in-person, how can we encourage or really inspire them to want to connect with the people that are still virtual and obviously the people that are virtual are missing out on the opportunity of being in-person. So how can we not let them feel left behind because of things they weren’t able to get together to get to the in-person event and why should they be left behind? But it’s kind of interesting. So there are ways that I’ve seen it done really well, like gamification. So you can use gamification, whether everyone together is on a Facebook group, whether it’s in person or live and you can connect and have different calls to action and get on the leaderboards and different things of that nature.

But how can we… And this is more a question to think about as you go forward, because this is just a question that I’m posing. I don’t have the answers to, is what ways can you be drawing the people that are in person to be interacting with the people that are virtual as well? Because the beauty of virtual is that they’re tuning in from wherever, right? Global, right? Time zones don’t matter as much as long as you have it in your Google calendar. So, you have the ability to access people globally and that’s the beauty of virtual. And it is going to be interesting going back into in-person to see how these priorities and not getting caught up into like what’s so proximate. So, I think that that’s a really great question to consider when you’re thinking about going into hybrid, and you’re thinking about providing a virtual side of your in-person experience, how can you prioritize those people so that they feel connected as well?

Douglas Ferguson:

Yeah. I love the fact that you use the word inspire because I think so often people have the mindset of like, “How do I get these people to do this thing?” And gamification or other ways to kind of create delight and intrigue seems like the right approach and really leaning in and designing those experiences rather than saying, “Okay, we’re going to put a screen here.” I think people get so caught up in the tactics and the logistics of like, “What are the current tools allow us to do?” Rather than stepping back and thinking about, “Well, what do we want to create in the world?”

Rachael Green:

Exactly. And I think that virtual is here to stay just because over the past year, people have started to realize, “Wow, I just made a best friend in Hong Kong.”

Douglas Ferguson:

Mm-hmm.

Rachael Green:

But it opened our minds to see that we can connect with people based off of alignment versus being based off of just proximity. And for me as being someone who’s a professional now in the virtual space, it is something I will never take it for granted again, as being able to connect with people all over the country, all over the world that have similar ideals that I do and can join my my flock, my flock of birds, we’re moving in the same direction, right?

Douglas Ferguson:

Awesome.

Rachael Green:

I think it’s really fun. So yes. How can you inspire people to take action to not only connect with each other, but connect to the main mission? I think it’s really important.

Douglas Ferguson:

So I’m going to shift to closing here and before you leave the listeners with a final thought, I want to see if you could share a little bit of insight, some kind of tangible, actionable stuff that folks might do where they might draw some inspiration from some of the work you’re doing. What’s some simple stuff that teams can start to do to make their experiences more hospitable or more engaging and more tangible? Because I love this virtual mixologist stuff you’re doing. Is there anything that people can try at home before they get an opportunity to work with you?

Rachael Green:

Yeah. Well, it starts with a lemon. No, just kidding. Well, I couldn’t give you guys a little recipe, but I’ll give you this, is that no matter what it is that you’re doing, if you’re interacting with your team, if you’re interacting with the people at home, if you’re interacting with an audience, right? How can you put the medicine in the candy and the candy and the medicine. It’s a funny thought, right? When you think about that, you’re like, “Mary Poppins.” Right? But when you’re putting the medicine in the candy and the candy and the medicine, how can you, in every situation that you’re in add value and also add relatability, also add connection and sprinkle in a little fun, right? So when you’re adding the medicine to the candy for me, what I do in a virtual mixology experience, when I’m speaking with a client and for me customization and that extra personal touch is super important. I want to make sure that I’m not just coming in, teaching how to make an old fashion and sayonara, right?

For me, it’s how can I add more value to these experiential engagements, not just… Like it makes sense, it adds value in some way. It adds a takeaway. What takeaways can you add to your entertainment, your engagement, your team building? What kind of values can you be adding? So, to these fun experiences. Because it makes that connection that much greater. They’re like, “Oh yeah, that’s what you said in that meeting last week. Wow, this is how I can apply it.” Right? So on the flip side, how can you add candy to the medicine?

So, when you’re having these daily meetings at 8:30 in the morning with your team, when you are having these four-hour educational seminars, how can you add fun creativity, gamification, and a little bit of an experience to tie in to break up that potential intense amount of value? But how can you incorporate those candy elements into the value so that it’s actually relatable so that when they are using these things, they’re actually like, “Oh yeah, I remember like you have to add a little sour and a little sweet to create balance and harmony.”

Well, how can I create balance and harmony into this situation right now? So, it’s kind of fun to think about things that way, but there’s reasons why Tony Robbins is immensely successful at what he does as a speaker, as an inspirational leader, because he brings in stories and stories are relatable. He brings in fun. He brings in workbooks that tie in to different things. He brings in exercises, things that drive home those points, but get people to take action as well. So, these candy pieces, they make something relatable, they make people want to take action and they make it fun so that it breaks it up. We’re dealing with all these distractions, especially in the virtual environment that you can’t see, right? If someone’s, camera’s not on, you don’t know what’s going on. And if their camera is on, you don’t know what’s behind the camera and what’s going on.

Netflix, Clubhouse, friends, family, everything that’s coming in to distract these people. You can’t control that the same way that you would in an in-person experience. So, make sure that you are the best distraction of their day, that you are providing the most value and value not necessarily being things that they write in a notebook, but value being provided in the way of, wow, they leave that event and they feel something. How do they feel after your meetings? How do they feel after your experiences that you’re providing for them? What do you want that to be like? And that’s it.

Douglas Ferguson:

Excellent. Well, with that, I want to just give you an opportunity to leave our listeners with a final thought and we’ll go from there.

Rachael Green:

I think my final thought would be just be intentional. Try to put your team, your clients, your vendors, their relationship with you as a priority, right? And trying to find ways to remember their birthdays, to remember their partner’s names, that little piece of hospitality that is really easy to uncover just by looking at their LinkedIn, just by looking at a profile, write those things down. And then when if they’re in your CRM or however you organize these things, you can pull from those things, “Hey, how was your birthday last week? Did you do anything fun this weekend? How’s your wife doing?” Those things really matter to people. So, whether it’s your team or your clients or your vendors, try to remember pieces like that. Those things go a very long way.

Douglas Ferguson:

Awesome. Well, I just want to say thank you for joining me today. It’s been a pleasure chatting with you and best of luck on the adventures in the hybrid.

Rachael Green:

Thanks.

Douglas Ferguson:

Excellent. Well, how can they find you?

Rachael Green:

Yeah. So a great way to connect with me is finding me out in social media land, that’s where I live most of the time. But you can find me on Clubhouse, which is @rachaelgreen, that’s R-A-C-H-A-E-L Green like the color. You can also find me on Instagram, which is @rachgreencocktails. And those are my primary ones. I also do a lot of stuff on Facebook. If you want to join a community of people that are networking in so many different ways, there’s a lot of entrepreneurs, but there’s also people that are in the B2B world as well. My Facebook group is called Cocktails & Connections. That’s Cocktails, and then an ampersand Connections. And I do live networking at 7:30 Eastern Standard Time every Tuesday and we do all sorts of different things.

This upcoming week, we’re doing pitch strategy. So, that works really well for people who are in sales and marketing to understand the backend of your customer journey, so that when you’re presenting your value and you’re delivering what you believe is a good ROI for them, you understand certain layers of what they’re looking for. The week after that, we’re actually doing pitch practice, which is really fun.

Douglas Ferguson:

Awesome. And I can say that your Clubhouse rooms are great. So, I recommend folks go check them out if you’re in Clubhouse or are getting access to it, jump over in there, it’s very good.

Rachael Green:

Yeah. Oh, my club. Yeah. So I have a club in Clubhouse too. That’s the Virtual Events & Experiences Collective, shortened to VEEC, V-E-E-C just because I chose the longest name possible for a Clubhouse, but we host a daily room in there, week daily room at three o’clock Eastern Standard Time for about an hour, all different topics on virtual events. We talk about hybrid, how to utilize Clubhouse as an event platform. We talk about virtual, all sorts of different platforms you can use for your virtual events, speaker engagements, music events, all sorts of different things. So, we look forward to seeing you there and you can feel free to find me or follow the club. And I’ll definitely see you guys in the hallways.

Douglas Ferguson:

Sounds great. It was great having you thanks so much for joining me.

Rachael Green:

Yay, cheers. Thanks so much.

Douglas Ferguson:

Thanks for joining me for another episode of Control The Room. Don’t forget to subscribe to receive updates when new episodes are released. If you want more, head over to our blog, where I post weekly articles and resources about working better together, voltagecontrol.com.