Meagan Sweeney-Hyde and Jordi Stack: Career Journey Tips in the Event Industry

Meagan Sweeney-Hyde and Jordi Stack: Career Journey Tips in the Event Industry

Meagan Sweeney-Hyde steps in for regular host Joey Goone and speaks with Utopia Director of Communications Jordi Stack. Meagan and Jordi bring a wealth of experience to the table, having navigated multiple aspects of event production through their careers. Through candid discussions and insightful anecdotes, they share their personal journeys to Utopia, and the lessons they’ve learned on the way. In this episode, join us as we uncover invaluable career journey tips, focusing on the art of creating impactful nonprofit events. Get insights on starting your career, navigating the field and how you can make a difference in event production. Learn firsthand what drew them to Utopia Experience, and how they contribute to its success.Subscribe now to The Impact Roadmap podcast for practical advice and inspiring stories from the event industry! Utopia Experience's website: https://www.utopiaexperience.com/ [https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbjRuNExCOG96ZHI3Z1ZhN3RXTlBSd2JOQXl0Z3xBQ3Jtc0ttNjluLUp4V0tiQjZCZlk1VHlXOFRTNjczYTIzaTJhYlBfdmQ1SkItbGluM3lBRjM4N3RtOFQyQnhZdmdSU1FyYWV6MmhkVGl2T1IwWGp3U3JJQ053RnRzaEMyR19NenhVSi1DS2pjdk5JOEdwaExhdw&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.utopiaexperience.com%2F&v=c1o8XA9ztwc]

Meagan Sweeney-Hyde: The Personal Power of Nonprofit Events

Meagan Sweeney-Hyde is the Director of Business Development at Utopia Experience, with extensive experience in the nonprofit sector including Make-A-Wish America and Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.  She brings over a decade of experience in the events industry to the table in today’s podcast, sharing her passion for making a positive impact on attendees as well as clients.

Taylor Shanklin: The Impact of In-Person Events

Meet Taylor Shanklin. Her friends call her T-Shank. She’s a dreamer, writer, adventurer, fast decision-maker, creative, mom, and founder of a branding agency. She brings awareness on how to work through life’s challenges through her lived experiences with chronic autoimmune disease. Her life mantra is Minimize to Maximize and her superpower is listening to others, understanding what they do best, and helping them focus energy in the right places for growth. Joey and T-Shak chatted about the impact of in-person events and how to capitalize on them. TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 - Impact of Events 0:10 - Intro 0:24 - Introducing Taylor Shanklin 1:09 - Taylor’s Bio 1:49 - Barlele and Creative Shizzle 3:09 - What is the difference between branding and marketing? 5:16 - Where can smaller organizations start looking for information and data about their client’s problems? 8:48 - The intersection of events and marketing 10:31 - Using events as a tool to gather data and information 13:30 -  Bringing members of an organization together with events 16:37 - Live in event surveys and polling 19:44 - Advantages of collaborating with teams and organizations at events 22:57 - What are innovative ways to incorporate branding elements into event design? 25:45 - How do you evaluate metrics with a branding strategy? 29:50 - What is a funnel fundamentally? 33:37 - What is on the horizon for the world of branding? 36:09 - How do we navigate the new landscape of technology while maintaining our humanness? 39:55 - How do you “Robot Proof” your business? 41:11 - Using humor to recover from a minor error 44:12 - Stand out by being human and being real 46:41 - Where to find Taylor? 47:12 - Upcoming conference from CREATIVE SHIZZLE! 49:17 - OUTRO USEFUL LINKS: Taylor's Website: https://www.tshank.com/ Taylor's TEDx Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=hEJpd5WjYks&ab_channel=TEDxTalks Utopia Experience's website: https://www.utopiaexperience.com/

Patrick Kirby: Do Good Events Better (Fundraising Mistakes, How to Get the Right Audience, Donor Retention)

Patrick Kirby is the Founder of Do Good Better Consulting and a believer that “we’ve always done it this way” is the most dangerous phrase in the English language. Patrick has spent over a decade working in nearly every capacity in the nonprofit industry, for organizations of all shapes and sizes, and strives to ‘Do Good Better’ every day. From organizing $10,000 cure walks to $1 million galas, Patrick’s passion lies in creating creative solutions to make fundraising less boring. He cut his donor relations/fundraising teeth as the Alumni Coordinator at the Academy of Holy Angels in Richfield, MN, before trying his hand as a manufacturing sales rep to companies such as Target and Best Buy. Tired of being yelled at for uncontrollable international shipping issues in both English and Chinese, Patrick re-joined the world of nonprofit work as the Sr. Development Director at the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation MN/Dakotas Chapter before taking the Chief Development Officer position at the Anne Carlsen Center. He earned his B.A. in “B.S.” (politics) at Loras College in Dubuque, IA, and is hopelessly addicted to super nerdy Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels and old-school SquareSoft ® RPG Nintendo games. Patrick married out of his league to his wife Shannon, has three ridiculously adorable children named Spencer, Preston, and Willow, a chunky dog named Grover, and lives in West Fargo, ND. 0:00 - Opening 00:51 - Intro and Patrick’s Bio 04:01 - Patrick's Background 06:42 - What Do Non-Profits suck at? 09:43 - Power of Curiosity 12:46 - How do you grow your business? 21:38 - The Biggest issue the Non-Profits are dealing with  23:38 - The Attention Span Problem 25:53 - Keep the donors you have 27:04 - Do you know why you are having an event? Fundraiser vs. Friendraiser 30:02 - What happens when you have the right people in the room? 32:03 - How do you get the right people in the room? 34:46 - Using Creativity to make events unique and help with Fundraising 39:22 - Looking at Non-Profits and their overhead differently 42:46 - How to keep Non-Profit staff motivated 47:09 - Don't forget to love yourself 51:35 - What is fundraising going to look like in 2024 56:44 - Outro and where to find Patrick 0:00 - Opening 00:51 - Intro and Patrick’s Bio 04:01 - Patrick's Background 06:42 - What Do Non-Profits suck at? 09:43 - Power of Curiosity 12:46 - How do you grow your business? 21:38 - The Biggest issue the Non-Profits are dealing with  23:38 - The Attention Span Problem 25:53 - Keep the donors you have 27:04 - Do you know why you are having an event? Fundraiser vs. Friendraiser 30:02 - What happens when you have the right people in the room? 32:03 - How do you get the right people in the room? 34:46 - Using Creativity to make events unique and help with Fundraising 39:22 - Looking at Non-Profits and their overhead differently 42:46 - How to keep Non-Profit staff motivated 47:09 - Don't forget to love yourself 51:35 - What is fundraising going to look like in 2024 56:44 - Outro and where to find Patrick

SEASON FINALE: The Impact Roadmap (Reactions to Alison Canavan, Shavanna Spratt, Andrew Biggs, Mallory Erickson, & Rhea Wong) - #021

Today we’re trying something a little different! To wrap it up, we sat down as a team to reflect on some of our favorite moments from this season. We had so many meaningful conversations with SO many incredible people; it was hard to choose just six. We’re thankful for everyone who’s appeared on our podcast, but the people featured in this episode—Alison Canavan, Shavanna Spratt, Andrew Biggs, Mallory Erickson, and Rhea Wong—deserve a special shoutout. If you haven’t listened to their episodes, go check them out. Links are included at the end of this description. TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 - Teaser 0:22 - Graphics 0:36 - Introduction 1:30 - Bryan’s experience as a guest host 2:11 - Joey’s experience as the host 4:27 - Difference between being the host vs. being a guest 6:34 - Were there any guests who surprised you? 8:09 - Difference between being the host vs. being a guest (continued) 9:08 - Psychological safety 11:19 - Introducing the highlight clips 12:10 - Clip 1 (the myth of no time) 13:29 - Clip 1 Discussion 18:04 - Clip 2 (the benefits of being uncomfortable) 18:37 - Clip 2 Discussion 20:50 - Clip 3 (don’t get stuck IN the business) 21:46 - Clip 3 Discussion 26:03 - Clip 4 (mallory’s ai notetaker) 26:55 - Clip 4 Discussion 29:21 - Clip 5 (4,000 weeks) 30:12 - Clip 5 Discussion 35:08 - Clip 6 (one degree shifts) 35:50 - Clip 6 Discussion 40:22 - Wrapping up 43:02 Outro LINKS: Check out what else we do [https://www.utopiaexperience.com/⁠] Be a guest on season 2 [https://calendly.com/utopiapodcast] Ep. 8 (with Alison Canavan) [https://youtu.be/HLveYAeB9P8?si=IXDmWN2SFdZZLpQc⁠] Ep. 19 (with Shavanna Spratt) [https://youtu.be/iwAXek5Sg6M?si=GRzOqaMlFkZvDZpO⁠] Ep. 17 (with Andrew Biggs) [https://youtu.be/ist6YI7lMeU?si=-gtampTVq-jQFdJD⁠] Ep. 14 (with Mallory Erickson) [https://youtu.be/1PDzJq65CQA?si=YAU5yh0rpxXqL8kk⁠] Ep. 10 (with Rhea Wong) [https://youtu.be/lgIhVPCcAn0?si=KfQ9eIYdtk8kp22M⁠]