One of the most rewarding, invigorating and fear-inducing experiences for me during the past 16 months has been saying “Yes”. 

From early on in the pandemic, when potential clients asked if I had a solution to challenges they were facing on how to reach, entertain and engage their event audiences, my answer was “Yes”. Because the online event landscape was new to me and most of my prospective clients, often I was answering with the confident assumption that a solution existed. I just had to find it and deliver. 

Equally rewarding has been collaborating with other creators and producers who have shared this positive experience. Working with Arthur Kerekes at Fusion Events has proven to be inspiring, productive, and fruitful.

This virtual studio option we’ve created using vMix is just one example.

As a Host and Entertainer, the most powerful tool I have is agility to deliver exceptional experiences whether I’m being asked to perform at an in-person, online or hybrid event. Here are just a couple of examples of how saying “Yes” have enabled me to elevate my ability to do so and why Pankaj Srivastava at Forbes agrees: 

RTMP What?

Another platform I use for performing and producing online event experiences is Streamyard. This is the result of an early client challenge: I was asked if I could livestream my performance directly to their chosen online event platform with an RTMP URL code and streamkey. It was scary saying “Yes” before having ever tried this solution. With confidence that I could execute, it was exciting to accomplish.

While vMix offers a lot more versatility in terms of event design, with Streamyard I’m able to provide a full, turnkey event solution to clients. Either way, when you’re looking for a host or comedian, my competitive advantage is not limited to providing entertaining and engaging content. I’m a production resource and working with other such producers. To this day, there are still clients approaching me with requests to help create their very first online event.

Your Own Trivia App? Sure.

Another early request from clients was to have a customized, interactive trivia experience from me that 100s, if not 1000s, of event attendees could play. This was a challenge to create engagement that didn’t use the internal “Polling” option that many online event platforms offer. Saying “Yes” resulted in me using several options before settling in on Stagecast, which I have licensed and gone one step further by making branded gamification available with a quick scan of a QR code or manually keying in www.adamquiz.ca. After that easy, URL based connectivity (no download, or profile to set up), all of my interactive trivia experiences look like the client’s very own branded App.

The key to these two solutions, and the other “Yes”s I have delivered upon, is that they’re not necessarily restricted to online events. I will continue to use the custom branded gamification at in-person and hybrid events. And my Streamyard and vMix solutions can be used to augment events with a digital component, and/or to produce promotional tools to increase attendance, engagement and post-event lead generation.

“The Power Of Yes” (as described in Forbes) came to me instinctively in response to the pandemic and has lead to innovation. Instead of waiting patiently for pre-COVID, in-person events to return, as for Mr. Srivastava, saying “Yes”, opened me and my business up to new opportunities.

I agree that the fear-inducing experience of saying "Yes" was worth it for:

1. Becoming a better listener/thinker.

I’m responsive to client needs, as opposed to trying to push through my own event solution strategies.

2. Inspiring originality.

If I had said “No”, I may not have advanced my thinking to become a turnkey event solution provider, which has helped create many original event experiences for organizations and their employees.

3. Empowering team-based conversations.

Even upon discovering proven and innovative solutions, clients and their key stakeholders may have opinions that require we explore alternate pathways together. Communicating as a team, instead of in a linear manner, ensures attendees have an event experience that is the most relevant to them.

4. Reducing risks of saying “No”.

I realized I don’t have to be a risk taker or push boundaries in my content in order to discover possibilities and achieve awesome results. With this approach, I can say "No" to content that I know from experience won't work, but still take risks on the delivery mechanism in order to explore new horizons.

Read more about his “yes mindset”, here in Forbes.

The greatest advantage of adopting this mindset instinctively during the pandemic is that, moving forward, whether I’m being asked if I can host or entertain at an in-person event, online/virtual event, or hybrid event, the answer will always be “Yes”.

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