Mike Walker Creative

I just arrived back in country from Brazil. As I walked in to look over items on my desk I saw the cover of a magazine article with a stage design…that drove me crazy. It was way too busy, had nothing to do with the messaging of the organization, was lit poorly, etc…

The old saying of “just do something” is not always the correct response. Sometimes the best thing to do is nothing at all.

I am ALL in favor of pressing forward and doing things that create momentum, but at least show there is progress happening. If you are still at the same level today that you were 2 years ago there is a problem.

In the words of Bill Hybel “move me, scare me, change me, but don’t leave me the way you found me”. Don’t rest of what you have done, and more important…if you (or your staff) have become your own biggest fans….it’s time for change.

Have a plan. Make it look like you thought about things and that what you are putting in front of people is intentional and not accidental….or do nothing at all.

It’s been a whirlwind trip.

End of day 3 we have started re-laying floor for the stage, completed 4 of the 8 speakers (we are waiting on parts), started building the subs, and having speaker hanging brackets being built.

Here are the pics…

I meant to get online last night, but my schedule didn’t allow. Yesterday was spent leaning over custom made speaker cabinets and soldering speaker cables. The welding and carpenter teams spent the day prepping the truck for what they will do over the next couple of days which will be to re-floor it and then start installing equipment.

I will post more hopefully tonight with a few more pictures. Until then….

I am in the middle of a long, but exciting stretch.

I was in DC for a week at the Washington DC Convention Center with Bishop TD Jakes (pictures to come). I left on a plane Sunday afternoon for Rio de Janeiro. I flew all night, arrived this morning and hit the ground running.

I am with a team of 3 guys. Greg is a welder from Winsboro, Texas, Mark is a contractor/builder from Sulpher Springs, Texas, and I am heading up the sound.We got off the plane this morning without a whole lot of details, but knew that the missions organization had partnered with Joyce Meyer Ministries and Gateway Church to build a production truck to do street crusades. They wanted a truck to be able to pull up, the sides open to make the stage and load up a sound system in under 1 hour.

Greg spent the day pulling together resources and welding materials. Mark and I have the task of building and putting together a speaker system (Marks doing all the carpentry work and I am doing the tech side).

At the end of day 1 we have all our tools and a game plan in place. We figure by the end of the week we should have speakers built and wired, a new stage deck put on the truck, and a rigging system to lift the speakers in to place on site. From there we will lay out a game plan for electrical work to be done for the truck and sound system for another crew to finish.

I will be posting some pictures along the way…check out day 1

I get back in town next Sunday long enough to change out my laundry and fly out the next morning for 2 events in South Africa. Fun times!

I have always tried to think through a persons entire experience when the encounter an event or an organization. If a persons first interaction with your organization is the web…is it an experience that appeals to you or appeals to them…what you want versus what they are looking for. When someone arrives at your store or event. What messages do they receive when they drive in the parking lot until the time they drive off?

So why the intensity level? You never get a second chance to make a first impression. With all the options out there today people can tune you out quickly. Don’t give them a reason to tune you out. Think through the details, think through the experience…start to finish. Don’t look at it with your eyes…look at it through their eyes. I read not too long ago that your brand isn’t what YOU say it it…it’s what THEY say it is.

I come in contact with way too many organizations who don’t think through the details and don’t put the work in to be great. Too many people settle for mediocrity….it’s in the details and the first impressions.

I am in Washington DC which I love as a city, but working here is quite the challenge. Outside of Chicago and New York its probably one of the tougher places to do events…..miles of red tape

We loaded in a show today starting at 8 am and finished up at midnite (long day for all).

I was recently have started using some different technology tools to help with event/tour management. First I started using ActivCollab which is an online project management tool. I came across it by working with Church Media Group on a couple of projects. They recently made the shift from Basecamphq.ActiveCollab has been a life saver on a few projects and today was one I wish I had used it on. One of the most challenging things I find with events that have multiple people working on them is the collaboration on show documentation. In ActivCollab it actually helps organize the documents and keep everyone up to date with the latest version. I have had way too many times where not having the latest update has come back to haunt me. This helps fix it.

I have also made a switch to a program called Master Tour Database which is put out by a company called PCGuild(production consultants guild). This thing is ROCKSTAR cool. Not only is it a database that is laid out correctly for tour/event folks, it also has an archive of information gathered from countless tour managers and event managers. It was the coolest thing when I was putting all the information in and got to the venue info, typed in DC Convention Center and it pulled up everything I needed including contacts and rigging information. Then it got better….I started looking up hotel information and there was everything I needed to know about the hotel including room service hours, laundry service, etc….very cool stuff. If you do events or tours it’s an amazing tool…check it out.

I will be posting pics once I start getting things uploaded.

Unfortunately I wasn’t home last night so I missed both McCains acceptance speech as well as the NFL kickoff game (which sounds like it was kind of dull).

I caught up on the Republican National Convention last night thanks to Larry King. After viewing the footage and hearing portions of the speech I think The Republican party is in trouble on this election.

1 - I noticed the arena was not completely full….arena…not stadium. Obama had a completely full stadium in Denver for his acceptance speech while the Republican convention was in a much smaller arena and was not full.

2 - When Obama came out the other night it took him nearly 10 minutes to quiet the crowd so he could give his speech. The crowd last night was far from rowdy…and in fact had mixed boos within it.

3 - Whoever did the set design and video content for the set at the convention should be fired. We live in a media and technology age folks. Used properly it can really enhance your presentation and image, done poorly (like last night) can really hurt you. The LED screen behind John was set in blue at times which made Senator McCain look even older. When there was a red background behind him it looked much better on camera. It looked like the set designer and content folks gave SOME consideration to those in the room last night, but hardly any consideration to the people watching on tv (which was the largest audience).

4 - After watching the 2 conventions it sure seems as though the Obama movement appears to have a lot more traction and popularity. An oversized crowd worked up as loud as a football game compared to a much smaller less full arena sure paints different pictures.

5 - In watching Larry King I was actually very impressed that the Obama supporters that they had on last night didn’t spend time blasting McCain. They were actually complimentary while able to share differing view points. It was almost as if they felt the Republican convention went as well as they wanted it to. Obamas camp seems very poised and very confident.
I am sure the democratic convention wasn’t exactly tipping their hand as to what they were going to reveal, but they left the Republicans looking small, desperate, and in search of help (and no I am not going to talk on here about who I think should be the next president or why).