How Events Influence our Culture and Community

[00:00] Felicia Asiedu: But yet they understood who their audience was, because it's a micro community, and in a space where you were learning about technology, I was on a panel. I was able to share, you know, my journey with a whole bunch of people, and they could ask the rarest questions that you may not be able to ask everywhere. It was a real community, and I've only been once, and I felt very blessed to be in that kind of space.

[00:26] Alyssa Peltier: Great events create great brands, but pulling off an event that engages, excites and connects audiences, well, that takes a village. And we're that village. My name is Alyssa.

[00:37] Paulina Giusti: I'm Paulina.

[00:38] Rachel Andrews: I'm Rachel.

[00:39] Felicia Asiedu: And I'm Felicia.

[00:41] Alyssa Peltier: And you are listening to Great Events, the podcast for all event enthusiasts, creators and innovators in the world of events and marketing.

[00:50] Paulina Giusti: Hello, everyone. What is going on in the wide, wide world of events? My name is Paulina Giusti. Welcome to this week's episode of Great Events.

I am joined today by our newest podcast host. I wasn't on the first episode of the year, so I'm really, really excited to have a conversation with Felicia today.

We are going to be talking about a really exciting and fun topic, we're talking about Black History Month. And all of the goodness from the history, to the learnings, lessons, everything about it in terms of pop culture and how our events program, how our event's industry is embracing Black people in events, Black history and all of that goodness.

So welcome to today's episode. Like I said, it's a celebration of Black culture through events. And so often podcasts, webinars, marketing campaigns, what have you, they take a moment to look at the Black community and look at it through a lens of the struggles or the challenges. And Felicia came up with this great idea of, "Let's talk about the successes, let's talk about the future, the go forward look as well." And so that's what we're going to focus on today.

But before we do, I just also want to talk through this year's theme, it is African-Americans and the Arts. And while we both love that, the arts are very impactful and influential in our lives, Felicia is a talented musical artist, she is a musician.

I'm just throwing this out here. I mean, it just hit me. I'm like, "How are we not talking about the arts even more?" But it's obviously had a major impact on Black Americans and the global Black community in terms of cultural movements, visual arts, music, like I said. And of course events play a critical role in all of that.

But, Felicia, we were talking about on the celebration aspect of Black History. Talk us a little bit about how that perspective is for you.

[02:52] Felicia Asiedu: Well, I'm not going to say I came up with it, I'm sure other people are doing it too. But it was just that I remember throughout the past few years, it's kind of, "Come and share your pain, come and share your pain." And I said this on last year's podcast as well, and I was like, "I'm not doing this anymore."

I was on a panel once with a lady, it was like, "I am so not here to be sharing my pain so that you can go, 'Oh,'" it's just not fun. And actually it's just you don't want to live in that feeling, right? You want to be like, "Okay, so now what? Where are we going to go from here?"

So I'm really happy that we're here to discuss that, and just think about what are those things that I've discovered along the way that I've been like, "Whoa, that's really pretty cool."

And I remember when I was probably in my early teens when the internet was being invented, yes, I'm that old. And in our school library, one of my friends was printing out papers of Black inventors. And she gave me this paper on George Washington Carver. And I was like, "Whoa." And this is American history, so that's not even my history. And I discovered that he had made 300 products out of peanuts and legumes. Wow, when did that happen?

Or Louis Latimer who invented the light bulb filament. And I'd never heard of these people before. And it kind of took me from that, "So we weren't just slaves?" Moment to, "Black people could be useful." I know, it sounds mad.

[04:17] Paulina Giusti: No, but you're right. It's interesting to think on how really important people kind of get not lost along the way, but their importance doesn't... We have a duty to kind of extend their impact on our own history.

And I think it's nice that you tell that small anecdote of you and your friend in the library, and just having that moment of, "Ah, these guys did something really influential," and extending that into a story today.

And of course we can do so much of that with current day, especially the availability of storytelling. Events are so much catered to storytelling, and so there's this extension of opportunity in sharing awareness and sharing information that I think is really an interesting way of thinking about things.

Now, okay, I think you have a little story about your daughter.

[05:18] Felicia Asiedu: So even for her, so over the years then I watched films. And just like you said, that's like storytelling. I watched something back a couple of years ago about Madam C. J. Walker making hair care products.

And then my daughter recently was reading Hidden Figures at school, so all about Katherine Johnson and NASA. Absolutely absorbed by it. And she was chosen to play Mary Seacole at school in her school play. And I couldn't be prouder.

You should have seen the tears that were flowing from teachers, me, parents as she's singing. And then they made her sing Beyonce's Brown Skin Girl, just pearls as this Madam C.J. Walker... Sorry, not Madam C.J., Mary Seacole.

And for those of you who don't know, Mary Seacole was a Jamaican nurse, helped during the Crimean war, saved a lot of soldiers. And just telling me that story, I had no idea. I was literally in tears, Paulina. I was like...

[06:15] Paulina Giusti: And to hear it through your child's eyes, through a younger generation's voice, that has an astounding impact. And I think there's so much learning that we can do across generations, across different cultures, and it's just nice to hear these stories.

Actually, it's funny, growing up we had, gosh, now I'm blanking on the name, her name... Julia Ward Howe wrote a famous song in American history. And I remember we had to dress up and do this sort of performative thing. And it was like a women in history kind of lesson.

And I think I was in third grade, I was eight years old. And there was something about it. And I remember performing and doing this reading on behalf of Julia Ward Howe, and kind of going to my dad and my dad being so proud. Being like, "Okay, one, I've never heard of this woman. Two, I can't believe hearing the story through my daughter's eyes."

And so there's that layer to it as well that that's really nice. I love that, that's amazing.

[07:17] Felicia Asiedu: And I was going to say, with that, with her sharing that, I know we're talking about school and all that on an events podcast, but to me that was an event. That's the moment where people were learning, people were being educated through fun, through art, through singing from these young kids. And I just love it.

And I think being able to see yourself slightly differently and see what you can achieve, I just think you can barely pay for that. And that's why I'm always encouraged every year I see the Black in Events Top 100 list.

And do you know, here's a funny thing, we're very competitive as humans. So I was on the top 100 list last year, so I could be looking at that top 100 [inaudible 00:08:14]. So I could be looking at that top 100 list thinking, "Oh man, I wish I could be on it again." I'm not even... That is furthest thing from my mind.

I'm like, "Oh, I wonder who that is? Oh, I didn't know that person. That person's in Luton. Luton is not that far from me. Alabama..." And I'm trying to reach out to as many of them as I can just to say congrats. And I think it's amazing. I don't know if you'd ever seen the list before?

[08:22] Paulina Giusti: No, I haven't seen the list. But I mean, I would love... We should definitely share that with our listeners after today's episode.

I think something that we were also talking about before we hit record today was there is this notion of Black History Month, and that these topics live and breathe in the 28 days of this particular month. And I think for us, we kind of just wanted to have this informal casual conversation between colleagues, between friends around what it means to us, how important it is to us. But by no means does this conversation end today.

And we'd love for this to give our listeners a sense of certain things that are important to us, or give them insight, or fun anecdotes like the story that you just shared. But know that there are going to be subsequent conversations, episodes three, four, five throughout the year on this topic.

Because it's certainly very important to us, particularly as we are community makers, if you will, as event professionals. We bring macro communities together, and then within that we try to find these sort of subsets of smaller communities or micro communities.

And I think for us, we're charged with a lot of calls to action. There's, what are the attendees coming to your event for? But how are we also cultivating experiences that extend not just knowledge on the product or the notion of why people are there, but how are people sharing stories of their ethnicity, or stories of their culture, or stories about how music and elements are impacting them on a day-to-day basis?

And so I think that's where this conversation is just kind of growing legs and we're hoping to kind of keep it going throughout the year. So stay tuned, more conversations on this topic for sure.

But let's keep talking. So in the spirit of talking about how events amplify Black stories and Black communities, talk to us a little bit about some events that you've perhaps attended in the past or been a part of that have really stood out to you.

[10:27] Felicia Asiedu: Yeah. I think the first one that came to my mind, and if they're listening to this, they'll be like, "Of course," was Black Tech Fest. So we partnered with them last year, Cvent partnered with them. And I was really glad we did, because what we did, fair enough, we supplied event technology.

And one of the things that we are saying, or we've kind of realized over the past year, is we supply event technology. Okay, fine. We love it, it's good stuff. But actually it's much more about what you just said, the micro community that the tech supports, the moment that that tech supported.

And if we had just done the partnership and I hadn't gone to the event, I'd be like, "Oh, that was a good thing to do. We supported that moment for those people." But going and walking into Black Tech Fest was a vibe, Paulina, that's what I'm going to call it. I'm going to use the young people's word and call it a vibe.

Because from the Afrobeats music that was playing as I walked in, to seeing people with Kente cloth, which is a cloth from Ghana, and they were coming to a business event wearing themselves, wearing Afro hair, Kente cloth. In my goodie bag that they gave me I got traditional African food, I got something called chin chin, I got plantain crisps. I got all sorts of stuff that I would go shopping for at my local store, but yet they understood who their audience was because it's a micro community.

And in a space where you were learning about technology, I was on a panel, I was able to share my journey with a whole bunch of people, and they could ask the rawest questions that you may not be able to ask everywhere. It was a real community. And I've only been once, and I felt very blessed to be in that kind of space.

And I know sometimes people say, "Well, why is it Black Tech Fest? Why do you have to have just the tech fest for the Black community? Why can't you just have Tech Fest?" And I would challenge, but, "Okay, we do all sorts of things for smaller communities," like Women in Leadership, for example. I know you've been to Women in Leadership sessions both, I'm sure, within and outside of Cvent. How does that make you feel when you're at those Women in Leadership sessions?

[12:31] Paulina Giusti: Yeah. I think you bring up a really good point, because when we are in the corporate world or corporate community, there are sort of these standardized barriers or walls that we put up in terms of how we network, and how we communicate, and what we feel comfortable sharing.

And so, yeah, when I'm in a Women in Leadership session or networking event, there is this sort of innate desire to share and know that it's being received upon allied years or received upon empathetic years. And so just knowing that others who have either lived with what you're talking about, or are living with what you're talking about, those walls kind of come down and there's a different layer or way of communicating.

And I can totally hear that in your voice, when, I mean, if the food... Food makes you feel a kind of way just to begin with, right? So if it's food that speaks to you and your more intimate community, I can imagine how the conversations just start to roll off the tongue. And I completely empathize with that.

And I think it's important to though call out that, yeah, we could have done a tech fest, but to appreciate and show support for micro communities is also a statement in and of itself. And I think that it's not divisive, it's just we're securing that community and supporting it.

And, yeah, I think it's really interesting. And I hope you're going back. Are you going to go back this year? Does it happen every year?

[14:04] Felicia Asiedu: It does happen every year. I'm so excited. There's a couple of these types of events, like the UK Black Business Show and Black Tech Fest, it was very inspiring.

And I think the feeling, that good feeling like you said, often then says, "Well, actually let me network more. Let me go back. Let me absorb more content, let me follow them on their socials." And it's more than just that day, so we were talking about longevity.

And I just think when you really try and put that back into context, that's what we're here to do. We're here to create long-term good feelings, good education, good networking. That is the purpose of it.

And tech helps with that. We don't, "Oh, wait," I love the fact that Cvent tech underpins all those good moments, all those good feelings, but it isn't what you're there for. Let's be honest with ourselves.

We shouldn't say that, we're Cvent, we'll be like, "You're there for the tech." No, I love that it helps to smooth the way, but let's just not forget why we're here, to shout about those voices and those moments that happen. I think it's awesome.

[15:07] Paulina Giusti: Love that. Amazing. So okay, beyond attending events, you also have a completely different part of your business where you have a Speaker Bureau. And I'm interested to hear what your experiences have been like on the content curation side or being a vendor across different types of events. So beyond just Black community oriented events, what is the perspective from that vantage point and that sort of business view for you?

[15:43] Felicia Asiedu: It's been an interesting ride with the Speaker Bureau. I think we've had probably every spectrum. So those types of events I was talking about, we tend not to actually get requested, because the community is building in itself and people know people who know people.

I think most of our requests have come from people that, if they're honest, they kind of say, "We need to look more diverse." So that's kind of where it will start. I don't think it's their fault. I don't love it, I don't love that that's the starting point, but it is. And that's why we built our business in the first place, because we knew that that was a feeling, that, "We need to look more diverse."

Some people will say, "I need a difference of conversation. I need to add-

[16:20] Paulina Giusti: Mm-hmm. Perspective.

[16:21] Felicia Asiedu: "... perspective," exactly, "To this conversation." And so, "Do you have anyone that can speak on X topic?"

Those are the best inquiries you can get, because immediately my brain starts thinking like, "Oh yeah, I know so-and-so, they speak about this. I know..." And that's the richest kind of content that you can get, I think, because they're the right person for the right job.

There's a whole thing I've been listening to about quotas recently. I'm going to be a little bit controversial. In fact, I won't say any names.

[16:52] Paulina Giusti: No, no way. You, controversial? Get out of here.

[16:55] Felicia Asiedu: I won't say any names and therefore I'll keep myself well. There was an airline recently that said, "We are going to fill this quota of diversity," that's how I'm going to say it, in pilots. And it was like, "Really?" Because are they qualified? I love diversity, man, but I want to be safe on my plane.

And so that's not the good type of inquiry. You don't want like, "Hey, let's just get some diversity up in this." Are they qualified? Are they good enough? So we've had those inquiries a lot. And that's not good content, and you're coming from the wrong place.

[17:38] Paulina Giusti: Is there a teaching moment in that?

[17:41] Felicia Asiedu: So we definitely do. I will always... Once I get those inquiries, I am like, "Can we talk?" And I kind of say, "What is your event about? Who is it for? What's the audience?" All the good questions you're supposed to be asking.

And they know the answers to the questions, but it somehow breaks as soon as they think diversity. It's like, "Okay, here's my event on the left. Let's just be good, let's be right and go and find a good speaker." You're like, "No."

So we're kind of blessed that when we opened the Diverse Speaker Bureau a lot of people put themselves forward, even if they they hadn't been speaking for 10 years. They were like, "I have a specialism and I think I could talk about that." And I was like, "That's great." That's also a good place to start from the speaker side, because we can help coach into making sure that your specialism is in the right place.

So I love it. It's actually one of the things that makes me happy. Some people think we're a social franchise, we do want to get paid out here, just going to tell you. But I think we come across like that, because we do it because it is genuinely a good thing to do.

[18:42] Paulina Giusti: Yeah, absolutely. And, I mean you just sort of alluded to this a little bit, but for those who may be qualified to speak on a niche topic, but they haven't necessarily entered the market because maybe they have some hesitations around what the experience will be like for them. Do you have any advice for people on the speaker side?

And then maybe we could talk a little bit advice for those planning events who it's beyond the checkbox. And so what are ways that we can arm listeners to say, "This is how you should be thinking about your event from a DE&I perspective." Or, "This is how to liaise and engage with speaker bureaus to ensure that, one, you're coming from a good place too. And, two, thinking about this the right way."

We don't want to be an industry of checking boxes. And I think we've said this across the board, when it comes to accessibility, when it comes to women speakers, we want to be really thoughtful and intentional about incorporating a breadth of individuals as speakers at our program.

So on the speaker side, what is your advice for entering the market, if you will?

[19:56] Felicia Asiedu: I mean, I could say so many things that I'll try and limit it. But I think, first of all, if there's an area of your life, or your job, or your work that you just know that you know, then you have to kind of internalize that, "I know that, I know what I'm talking about."

A lot of people start in a place of, "I couldn't and I can't, because I'm not." Whereas you have to start from a place of, "I know this, and I know this, and I know this. These are the things that I know that I know."

And because of that, you're naturally going to be able to talk about those things well. So that then, once you approach a bureau like us, just tell us what you know. Say, "I know how to pot plants, it's what I know."

So one day someone's going to come to us and either... So two things can happen, either there's a plant potting conference and you're just the best person for it. Or what we can do is also help you turn that into metaphors that help people to understand how to do something else. You can always transfer those skills.

So I think ultimately I'm saying, "Be confident in yourself," but I'm saying it in a way that hopefully I'm giving you some tips on, "Okay, well how do I start that confidence?" Know that you know what you know, that's how you start.

[21:09] Paulina Giusti: Love that. Love it. Okay, and then for those on the event planning side, maybe they aren't working with speaker bureaus, maybe they're not working with speaker bureaus that represent broad communities. So in that case, check out Felicia's Speaker Bureau, one.

And then, two, think about partnering with the speaker bureau, there are tons of benefits to it. Let alone, I mean, not just the pool of talent that they have access to, but they're also great collaborators to give... You can give someone the themes of your conference, the theme of your day, or just topics of a session that you have in mind, and they can come back to you.

And just like Felicia was suggesting that we can turn a story into a metaphor, they can do similar elements for how you think about a particular general session, or how you think about a particular hosted networking activity.

So what would your advice be for event professionals, Felicia?

[22:08] Felicia Asiedu: I would say just be good. I mean, like with anything, it's your brief. Your brief is everything. Your brief has to say more than, "Oh, I just thought I'd have a diverse speaker." Your brief is kind of like, "I want a speaker who can..."

And the aim of working with someone like us is that we are going to find you a speaker from our books. That's it. All the speakers on the books have some kind of diversity. We're a little bit biased in that we just won't necessarily have people on our books that don't have a diversity, because we want to make it a little bit, how to put it, different. You could go anywhere and get any person, but we want to make sure that we're giving our speakers a chance to be present.

And then you are comfortable enough to say, "This is the brief. The brief is they need to speak on X topic. That's the brief, because my conference looks like this, my audience looks like this." Just write the brief well. And then when that comes into us, we will find you a speaker so quickly. Just, it's so much easier.

Some people even come with the person that they want, because they've already done some kind of research that says, "This person aligns with my theme. Can you find them?" And I'm very good at finding people.

[23:20] Paulina Giusti: She is, she absolutely is. And if we can't find someone, it at least gives us some really great direction on who is similar to that person? Who has a same similar story? Yeah, so I think all of that's some really great advice.

Okay, shifting gears a little bit, so I just like this concept of local heroes, people who are connecting communities, people who are certainly leading the change by way of storytelling, by way of sharing. Felicia is certainly that to me. And I sit in Washington DC and she is all the way across the pond in England.

So I think we're at a really unique time in everyone's lives where we're celebrating Black History Month across the globe. And that can mean different things to different communities, I think we celebrate Black History Month very differently in Washington DC than they probably do in London, or maybe not.

And I think what's really fun is that Felicia and I can bounce ideas off of each other. I'm telling her things that are happening here, she's telling me how they celebrate over in London.

And I think what's interesting is there's also all of these resources that we share because of where we're employed too. And I think there's a lot of initiatives that are happening across organizations, across industries, call them ESG initiatives. But Felicia, what are some areas that help you connect with other communities, with other colleagues?

I feel like that's something that we can certainly share with listeners, to say, "If you're kind of celebrating by reading, if you're celebrating by posting, it's kind of like this passive experience, passive celebration," which by no means is there judgment upon that, right? Learning and absorbing is all really, really great.

But if you're in a position to celebrate actively and create new relationships and tell new stories, what would you tell others who are in a place to take their celebration to the next level?

[25:36] Felicia Asiedu: So I mean... And that's very sweet of you, Paulina, by the way, a local hero? I don't know.

[25:41] Paulina Giusti: I think you are. You're my global local hero, okay?

[25:44] Felicia Asiedu: I love it.

But I think the first thing I have, so I'll start with what do I have that helps that? So I have the blessing to work for a company that is a global company, and that means that I have a lot of American colleagues, Black American colleagues.

And I'm able to talk to them every time this time comes around and say, "Oh, what are you guys doing? What are you seeing?" We're sharing a lot of stuff with each other, we get to talk to each other.

I learned a lot. I was about to tell a story, I can't even, because the stuff I've learned... It's been interesting, let's just say. But that I think is really cool. And not everybody has that in their workplaces, where they have that glocal, local... They just don't.

[26:28] Paulina Giusti: Global, did you just make that word up?

[26:30] Felicia Asiedu: No, it's an actual word, glocal.

[26:32] Paulina Giusti: Is it?

[26:33] Felicia Asiedu: Yeah.

[26:33] Paulina Giusti: Oh my gosh, I love it. Okay.

[26:33] Felicia Asiedu: So that's what I have.

And then in amongst the culture, I have a mentee. So my mentee, wonderful, wonderful woman that she is, and I won't say anything because I don't want to embarrass her. But, again, I'm going to use the word blessed. I feel blessed to have her.

And she told me the other day, she really made me want to cry, that how much me being a mentor to her has meant to her. And I was like, "Oh my gosh. You don't know how much having you as a mentee has meant to me." And she's in America, we haven't even really met other than virtually. So again, what can tech do to help this kind of stuff.

And she got on stage recently and just blew people away with an emotional story. I'm crying back in my house with my kids. And she was one of those people that said, "I don't know that I can do that." And she said, "I don't know if I can do that like you." And I was like, "What are you talking about? You've got it, just go."

[27:25] Paulina Giusti: She did it. She brought the house down, she was unbelievable.

[27:30] Felicia Asiedu: Unbelievable. So that really enriches me, to have that community across the pond. And then locally, I mean, I've always got my squad locally that's just as helpful.

And what's cool is that Black History Month is celebrated now in February in the US, but it does transcend across the ocean. And then we have a British Black History month that happens in October. So that thing you said about, "Hey, let's just go do next one, next one, next one," until we get to October we could just keep this going.

[28:05] Paulina Giusti: Keep it going. It doesn't have to just live in one month.

[28:06] Felicia Asiedu: Exactly. But I just think if companies find ways, like we use Slack, we use all sorts of things to try and find ways to come together. We're sharing music, we're doing all sorts.

I remember I shared some clips from, oh, some ratchet show I was watching. And I couldn't understand what the people were saying because they had such thick American accents. So I was like, "Hey, team, what is this?" And they were like, "Oh, we can interpret that for you." Just fun.

And this is why I said I wanted this episode to be about celebrations, people, seeing yourself, enjoying, sharing, music, all of these things, the culture is rich. And yes, sometimes we have to talk about things that aren't great, but more often I just want to lift people up and I want people to lift me up too. So that's where I'm going to land that.

[28:59] Paulina Giusti: I love it. Well, I think that's a nice stopping point for today's conversation. It's always a pleasure to just chat with Felicia, but I think today's celebration of Black History Month to be extended across many months in the future has been a real treat. And we hope that you enjoyed today's conversation. And we'll catch you at the next one. Thanks so much.

[29:24] Felicia Asiedu: Bye.

[29:26] Alyssa Peltier: Thanks for hanging out with us on Great Events, a podcast by Cvent.

[29:30] Paulina Giusti: If you've been enjoying our podcast, make sure to hit that subscribe button so you never miss an episode.

[29:36] Rachel Andrews: And you can also help fellow event professionals and marketers just like you discover Great Events by leaving us a rating on Apple, Spotify or your preferred podcast platform.

[29:46] Felicia Asiedu: Stay connected with us on all your socials for behind the scenes content, updates and some extra doses of inspiration.

[29:54] Paulina Giusti: Got a burning question or an epic story to share? We want to hear from you, find us on LinkedIn and send us a DM, or drop us a note at greatevents@cvent.com.

[30:05] Rachel Andrews: And a big thanks to our amazing listeners, our guest speakers, and the incredible team behind the scenes. Remember, every great event includes great people.

[30:10] Alyssa Peltier: And that's a wrap. Keep creating, keep innovating, and keep joining us as we redefine how to make events great.