SHOW TRANSCRIPT

This transcript is automatically generated by Descript.  Any errors or omissions are unintentional.

[00:00:00] Jeff Sieh: Hello folks. Welcome to Social Media News Live. I’m Jeff Sieh and you’re not.

[00:00:05] Conor Brown: And I’m Connor Brown, and this is the show that keeps you up to date on what’s happening in the world of social media and more.

[00:00:12] Jeff Sieh: Have you ever pondered the essence of what makes certain experiences truly unforgettable? Maybe you’ve been intrigued by the art and science behind creating lasting memories. Or maybe you’re on a quest to craft a personal brand that leaves a mark. If those thoughts strike a chord with you, then today’s episode is tailor made just for you.

[00:00:34] We’re so excited to introduce a guest. Who has written the very book on this subject, Phil Mershon, the author of Unforgettable, The Art and Science of Creating Memorable Experiences. He’s transformed his understanding of memorable experiences into a guide for us. Phil’s going to delve into his research, his revelations, and his invaluable advice on becoming truly unforgettable.

[00:00:57] So sit back, clear your schedule, clear your mind, and get ready for this week’s episode of Social Media News Live. Phil, my friend, thank you for joining us today.

[00:01:07] Phil Mershon: well, thank you, Jeff. That sounds like someone else that you’re talking about, but I’m excited to be here with you guys and have this conversation because I think we’ll all be better if we even learn one thing in this conversation that makes us a little bit better, Connor. So we don’t want to be unforgettably bad, right?

[00:01:26] We don’t want to be that, but we want to move toward being unforgettably good and James Clear shows us the way through those atomic habits. It’s, you don’t have to massively overhaul what you’re doing today. Just make those 1 percent changes and we’ll talk about some of those changes you can make and in a year or five years you’ll be totally different.

[00:01:45] You’ll be a Dustin Stout who tried and tried and tried to get something to go and finally he’s done it. So let’s

[00:01:52] Jeff Sieh: he has. Yeah, so I want to introduce you to Phil Mershon if you don’t know him. He is the Director of Experience for Social Media Examiner. He’s been designing the social media marketing world experience for over a decade. Drawing from his over 25 years in creating customized events. Phil loves to create memorable moments and transformational experiences.

[00:02:13] He’s also a jazz saxophonist. Not just, you know, he doesn’t dawdle. He is really, really good. And he’s a pickleball enthusiast. And, once again, author of Unforgettable, The Art and Science of Creating Memorable Experiences. So, Phil… You know, we have worked together for such a long time, when I was actually at Social Media Examiner for, I think, five years it was, and then also, we meet every week, in a men’s group, and we’re going to talk about that a little bit, but I am so glad you’re here today.

[00:02:41] I’ve been wanting to have you on the show for so long, so it’s really, really cool that this book came out.

[00:02:45] Phil Mershon: It took me six years to write a book so that you would have me on. So just for those of you who are aspiring toward this position, that’s how hard you have to work. It’s a very in demand spot. No, it’s great to be here, Jeff.

[00:02:58] Jeff Sieh: Speaking of something that works hard, it’s our sponsors, Ecamm. So they’re the ones who make this show possible. They’re the ones that allow us to bring Phil all the way in from Wichita. And at the end of it, we’ll have isolated tracks for our podcast, isolated video tracks for our repurposing. So if you want to know more about our sponsor, Ecamm, go to socialmedianewslive.

[00:03:18] com forward slash Ecamm, at socialmedianewslive. com forward slash Ecamm. I kind of told Phil at the very beginning that, I really, like I sped read his book, I think I read it, he gave me an advanced copy, but to be honest, Phil, I did not use it, because I bought it from Kindle, because I take so many notes, and I have to have it in the Kindle format with all my stuff, so, we’re going to be talking about this, you know, creating an unforgettable brand, because in the book, you talk about creating these extraordinary events that shape You know, people’s memories.

[00:03:52] So, what advice do you have for, like, individuals to create extraordinary, unforgettable, personal brands?

[00:04:01] Phil Mershon: think the same formula that I use for events can be used for a personal brand. And so here’s how I think about being unforgettable, and this is based on both science and art. I’ve boiled it down to three Ms. And those three Ms are be memorable. Be meaningful and be momentous. So let’s break those down real quick.

[00:04:21] So if we’re talking about being memorable, we’re trying to do something that’s going to stand out in someone’s mind. So you probably need to do something that’s unexpected. Unconventional may be a combination of things that people know and are familiar with, but when you put them together, it becomes something else like the Savannah bananas do, or it’s leaning into being multi sensory.

[00:04:43] And we can dig into any of these that you want to, Jeff. but I’ll give you the high level of each of the three M’s. So that’s, that’s being memorable. Being meaningful. That means we’re talking about personalization. We’re talking about customer journeys. We’re getting to know who is that audience and what is the emotional journey that they’re on.

[00:05:00] And then how do we do this? How do we do it? Andy Stanley says, how do we do for one? What we wish we could do for everyone and our personal brand will become unforgettable as we do that for more and more people. And then being momentous, leaning into the research that Chip and Dan Heath did in their book, The Power of Moments.

[00:05:19] they, they, that book is a book that everyone needs to read and it’s foundational for understanding what I’m talking about, but they helped us understand that not all moments are created equally. So, some moments are more important than other moments, and if we lean into the right moments, which those would be defined as first impressions, last impressions, peak moments, and what I call brick and mortar moments.

[00:05:42] And what I mean by that is if you’ve ever seen people laying bricks, imagine them laying bricks, Jeff, without putting any mortar in between. What would happen in a Texas or Kansas tornado?

[00:05:54] Jeff Sieh: They would whack you in the head because they’d be blowing around everywhere.

[00:05:56] Phil Mershon: Yeah, they blow over. The big bad wolf could blow that over with no problem, right? So if you don’t have mortar, and mortar is not something that anyone remembers, mortar is what causes things to stick together. So mortar is a good MC who knows how to stitch a conversation A to conversation B. Mortar is that you’ve got food and beverage available while people are on breaks that facilitates them having those.

[00:06:20] Memorable Conversations. So that’s at a high level, the three M’s, we can dig into any of those that you’d like to as it relates to personal brand or we can move on, whatever you’d like to do.

[00:06:29] Jeff Sieh: So, I do wanna, one of the, you talked about being memorable and, Gary Stockton, our friend over, watching over on YouTube says, who could ever forget seeing Phil playing his sax at Social Media Marketing World. That is true. I was so impressed when I walked in and, oh, look at him there! Look at that. See that that’s that’s so cool. So yes, that’s the first time anybody has played an instrument on this show So that is memorable right there, but also in your book Phil you constantly made References to Disney because that’s one of the brands and one of the things they talk about and they’re very unforgettable And the way they do excellence and you you brought in some other books that you’ve read about it Now, Conor used to be a cast member at Disney, and Conor, I know you actually have some questions also you wanted to ask Phil.

[00:07:17] Conor Brown: Yeah, that’s such a big thing. It’s, it’s all about story. And you can see all my Disney stuff behind me as well. we always wanted to talk about the story about creating unforgettable experiences, because that’s what set us, Disney, apart from so many other places you could visit. But, I know we want to have cons when it comes to our personal brand and becoming unforgettable, we need consistency and we need innovating.

[00:07:42] like innovation. I know you talk about that. You talk about consistency in personal branding, but you can also be innovative. Well, Phil, how do you strike that balance? Because it seems like those are two very different things. And when it comes to avoiding being forgettable, how does, you know, the kind of Yin and yang of, of consistency and innovation work with each other.

[00:08:04] Phil Mershon: Well, let me start by talking about one of your heroes, because I had the chance to interview Lee Cockerell a few years ago. And so he, he talked to me and he was a COO of all of Disney eventually. So that for those who don’t know, and what he told me that he gave permission. For people to do all the way down to the front line, because he knew at the front line, you had to be able to do this is to be constantly on the lookout.

[00:08:29] And he gave permission for people to solve problems that they were seeing. So yes, there was the consistency that you were highly trained in doing, but there was also a mindset of constant improvement and looking for that. Let’s flip over to the Savannah bananas. And I think this is more true too. Each of us is a personal brand.

[00:08:48] Jesse charges his team at every game. Jesse Cole is the owner and founder of the Savannah Bananas. They have a mission at every game to conduct five experiments. They don’t have to succeed. They just want to be constantly trying new things. But think about that. That means like five moments in a two hour, actually like a three and a half to four hour experience.

[00:09:11] There’s five moments that they’re experimenting. Everything else they’ve done before. Or they’re improving on something they’ve done before. So they know they’ve got a product. So those experiments are risks that they’re worth, they’re willing to take for the sake of the fans. It’s always defined by your fans first is that motivation.

[00:09:28] So I think what we can take away is that same balance of Okay, let’s make sure we’re putting on a great product, you know. So I’ve got a team that I get to work with who are very operationally minded. They want to know where does B fit after A, where does C fit after B, where are the dots, where are the tittles, all those things.

[00:09:47] They want to know, they want to have a plan. And when you marry that with someone like me, who is creative off the charts, we have a good marriage. Now, if you’re comfortable with what One or the other of those, it’s going to be hard for you to bring these together. So one of the things is have people on your team who balance you out.

[00:10:02] another is be controlled in your experiments. So go back to James Clear, what we said earlier about the 1 percent improvements. You don’t have to change everything. Know what you’re, what you’re changing. Now, it’s challenging for me. I do an event once a year at Social Media Marketing World, at least. I get feedback once a year.

[00:10:20] That’s hard. So one of the things that I do is I’m watching what’s happening in the industry around me and see what experiments others are doing. And I try to learn from those things so that I can avoid mistakes that they’re making. And also, learn from ideas that they have that they’ve wanted to try and see what might work for our audience while keeping a consistent experience.

[00:10:39] Does that, that make sense, Connor? Or do you want to ask more?

[00:10:42] Conor Brown: No, that’s awesome. I love that Savannah banana reference too. They’re consistent in their innovation. Like that’s a great way to think of it and to frame your, your personal brand around.

[00:10:53] Phil Mershon: Yeah.

[00:10:54] Jeff Sieh: So, one of the things, Phil, that really struck a chord with me in, in reading the book, because you, you highlight the value of studying, You unrelated subjects, you know, you just mentioned that, you know, you’re always looking for things in the industry, but in the book you also mention these unrelated subjects and seeking inspiration.

[00:11:11] Outside of maybe one’s industry. And one of the things that the, the best thing I have done for my business and for, for my brand is I did just that. I went to, I started speaking at Momentum. I got involved with all these crazy Disney people. They’re in my show now. I get to go and speak with it, but it, it was outside and it got me connected with other entrepreneurs outside of my, you know, because social media can be a little, a tight knit group.

[00:11:35] We all kind of know each other. but you talk about this a lot in the book, so how can somebody draw inspiration from other sources and to shape their personal brand? Do you have any things that, like, you know, you talked about, like, some, but some practical ways to do that.

[00:11:50] Phil Mershon: We’ll start with what are your passions? So Dennis Yu, when he coaches people in his social media model, gets people to write down six different. Areas of passion, things that they love to talk about, things that they love to listen to and study and draw a circle and write those six different things down.

[00:12:09] And then think about who are the people that influence them that they listen to and that they know that can help. And what that does is it shows that you’re not a single topic person. And every one of us has part of how we’re unique is we all have a different set of passions and interest. I’m a Swiss Army knife.

[00:12:27] So I have more than six things that I love to talk about. I, you know, I’m a speaker. I’m a writer. I’m a jazz saxophonist. I’m a pastor. I love pickleball and I can make the list could go on and on. I’ve got all these different blades. So I study and read about all these different things and most of them have nothing to do with events But there’s things that I can learn from them about events.

[00:12:48] And so that’s that’s what i’m encouraging and you know, if you’re In an industry, this was a rule of thumb that someone taught me and I forget who it was first, but they said, spend 70 percent of your time studying things in your industry and 30 percent things outside of your industry. So I suggest follow your passions.

[00:13:05] Don’t just go try to. Pick some obscure topics, pick something that you enjoy. You know, you’re into wood, wood whittling, Jeff. So, you know, maybe there’s things that you can learn from that industry that you didn’t ever think about, but you’re interested in it. And then all of a sudden these connections happen.

[00:13:20] I don’t think you go into it saying, I wonder, you know, all the five tips I’m going to learn about speaking from other wood whittlers. No, you just go read, become a better woodcutter and then you’re going to see something. Because you’re curious. So that’s part of it is be curious, be reading. And then the other thing I’d say is C.

[00:13:37] S. Lewis who wrote the Chronicles of Narnia that most people know about. He was an Oxford professor and he challenged his students. He said, for every new book that you read that’s written in the last five years, read something from a century ago or more.

[00:13:53] Jeff Sieh: Yeah, all those the’s and thou’s, that’ll, you know, it’s like the Canterbury Tales, you know, that, you know, we all had to probably read that in the, so, this is a great question, a great point from Facebook, I’m a mega multi passions person, I’ll see if I can whittle it down to 20, I feel their pain, cause I, the best thing for me is, and we’ll talk about this on another show, and maybe we’ll even ask Phil back, is, The way to capture that, because for many, many years I was very scattered and I was, and it was just everywhere and I had so many different passions, but be able to take those and what Phil had explained in this book and taking it and putting it down somewhere where you can reach, you know, get it later, it’s building a second brain, it’s pretty much, and Eric Fisher, our friend, has had some people on his podcast to talk about this, but anyway, I digress.

[00:14:35] but I want to, I want to have Connor have this chance to ask this next question because I think it’s really, really pers, really Thank you. Really, important as we grow as, creators.

[00:14:44] Conor Brown: Yeah, Phil, you know, you talk about the importance of continually improving through practice. Those things that you mentioned that you love to do, playing the saxophone, pickleball, even being a pastor and public speaking. You probably get much, much better at it the more you practice, the more you learn about it.

[00:15:01] But you also talked about the importance of getting feedback when it comes to continually improving yourself. Framing this around the notion of personal brand. How do you solicit advice when it comes to that? And how do you ask for feedback on something to ask, I feel like, sometimes?

[00:15:22] Phil Mershon: Yeah. So first thing I would say is Practice makes permanent. So the way that you practice matters. So I’ll just say that up front and then the way I get feedback. First of all, ask directly people that you trust who you might not agree with. Like have a circle of people in your life that you know are going to tell you what is true and not just what you want to hear.

[00:15:45] and that takes time to build those relationships, but you probably have people in your life like that. Not people who are against you. You want people who are for you, but are still willing to speak truth to you. a second thing you can do though is ask via surveys. So whether it’s SurveyMonkey or poll questions that you’re doing in a Facebook group or some community forum that you’re part of, some kind of formalized survey.

[00:16:09] is something good to do once or twice a year? Don’t do that too often because people think you don’t know what you’re doing, but you can do that periodically, but you can also ask questions that are engagement type questions, but are also giving you feedback, in your social channels, and that could be a great way to solicit feedback without people even knowing.

[00:16:29] That they’re giving it because they’re just, you know, they’re, they’re saying things because people love to talk about themselves. They love to share their expertise. And so if you get them doing that in a way that helps you know how you’re doing or what you could be doing to help serve them better, then that’s a great way to do it.

[00:16:44] Now you’re getting multiple benefits from the same thing.

[00:16:47] Jeff Sieh: Hmm. That’s really good. And, and I credit Phil for, as I grow as a speaker, one of the things that he did, and I, and I asked him to do this, because he would just like, hey, you did a great job at social media, you know, marketing world. I would go, Phil, what could I do better? Like, and I know that he would tell me, and he would tell me the truth.

[00:17:06] And he would say like, hey, they said you, you went a little long here, but maybe, and, but they said you’re really, really funny, so maybe if you made it shorter and did this, this would be better. So he was, and being able to have that relationships, and we’re going to talk about that, with other people really makes a huge difference on becoming unforgettable with your brand and your event or whatever.

[00:17:26] So, I really appreciate Phil for his honesty, but also his encouragement. to help me as I’ve grown as, I move forward in my entrepreneurial path. So, I wanna, on that note, what’d you go ahead, Quidphil?

[00:17:38] Phil Mershon: can I tell you a quick secret?

[00:17:40] Jeff Sieh: What’s that?

[00:17:42] Phil Mershon: most speakers don’t ask for the feedback.

[00:17:46] Jeff Sieh: Oh,

[00:17:47] Phil Mershon: Be one of those who does. Be one of those who asks. We don’t automatically send feedback out, we wait for someone to ask for it. I mean, we’ll offer it, but we wait for them to respond that they want it. We don’t just automatically send it because usually it requires a conversation.

[00:18:03] Usually it requires us because people say stupid things in surveys. Let’s be honest, because they think nobody’s listening.

[00:18:10] Conor Brown: Yeah.

[00:18:11] Phil Mershon: So it’s unfiltered. And, you know, and it’s usually you’re getting less than 10 percent of the audience who are filling it out and someone says something crazy. And then all of a sudden, if you’re like me, any of you who speak and you hear that one crazy statement, you think everyone thought it. And maybe it’s true. Maybe there’s some truth in it that you need to hear, but maybe it needs to be packaged in a way that you can receive it and grow from it as opposed to just stewing for the next week and thinking, I better give up my speaking career and go back to being a podcast producer or whatever you used to do.

[00:18:44] Jeff Sieh: That’s funny, because I thought you did that for everybody, so that makes me, I’m glad that you said that, because I always want to, I always want to improve, and you were very gracious in your feedback as well. So, on that note, I wanted to talk about something that I was really, I thought it was really cool to see in the book.

[00:19:02] And by the way, make sure you guys, if you’re watching on Amazon, JeffSieh. live, it’s the first thing in the carousel. I’m going to leave that highlighted the entire time, so click on that, get his book. at, jeffsieh. live, I’d appreciate that and I know Phil would as well, but in your book, you mentioned a memorial, a memorable experience at the San Diego Padres baseball game, from a lady by the name of Tracy that you talk about in the book, and I really, I remember that day vividly because I was there with you, Jason and Eric, And one of the things you wrote in the book was creating spaces for conversations lead to lasting memories.

[00:19:40] And then later on you said that’s when the serendipity of a special moment and lasting relationship develop. Can you share with our audience the significance of that day in the context of creating, you know, unforgettable personal brands and how these interactions and moments can shape our personal and professional connections?

[00:19:58] Because I think it’s a really great story.

[00:19:59] Phil Mershon: Yeah. Well, it was significant because I did meet you and got to know Jason better. I didn’t really know Jason, but what happened is Tracy was the sales director for Hilton. And San Diego Bayfront and a couple other Hilton properties. And she had been asking me for a while about meeting and she said, can we host you at a San Diego Padres game after your conference?

[00:20:22] And I was planning on being in town another day. And I asked, Jeff, Eric and Jason and my assistant, Joanne, was there as well if they wanted to go. And they all said yes. And so Tracy was the ultimate host and she didn’t, she did not watch the game. I don’t know if she ever sat down because she was constantly, I don’t, I hate to stereotype, but I have the stereotype in my brain of the Jewish mother who says, eat, eat, eat.

[00:20:48] And she’s not, she was not Jewish, but she kept going to the concession stands and bringing back. bags of peanuts and cokes and beers and whatever. She was creating space for us to enjoy a moment watching a game. And I remember we got on the big board, they took our picture. Someone got our picture and we were up there.

[00:21:07] and even Mike Stelzner saw it on TV or somewhere, and said, Hey, well, I love that hat. Cause I was wearing a social media marketing world hat. so what she did. And I think this is what’s profound about your question is she did create space for an experience together and she extended it by bringing food into it and being incredibly hospitable and up to that point, I knew Joanne well because Joanne was my assistant.

[00:21:30] I didn’t really know Jeff, Eric, or Jason all that well. Jeff and Eric, or yeah, Jeff and Eric had just started, I think, working with social media marketing world at that point. maybe you’ve been there a year.

[00:21:41] Jeff Sieh: Yeah. I think a year or two. Yeah.

[00:21:43] Phil Mershon: we didn’t, we weren’t meeting in our small group at that juncture. I think that was actually the formation.

[00:21:48] we didn’t start it right after that, but those were four of the family members of this group that we have been doing for at least four years now. So she created the space for conversations and connections. I have no idea what happened in that baseball

[00:22:01] Jeff Sieh: I don’t either. I don’t either. No.

[00:22:04] Phil Mershon: know this. We left.

[00:22:05] We left somewhere around the seventh inning and we went up and got more food. She kept on feeding us.

[00:22:12] Jeff Sieh: because I remember the thing that happened is we went, the hotel was kind of showing off their food. So we went to eat before we went to the game. Remember, we went up to the, I think it was the Hilton, and we ate, we had sushi and all this amazing food. And then we went to the game and we got barbecue and pretzels and all this stuff you said.

[00:22:29] And I mean, I. One of the things I remember, because I think that was one, either the first or second time I spoke on that big stage at Social Media Marketing World, and I was exhausted, and I just felt like that was such a relaxing time. We got to know each other, there was no pressure, but we did really develop these things, and I love how you talk about Using those, those places in your events to create these relationships.

[00:22:54] It wasn’t forced. There was no agenda. Phil didn’t come like, like, hey I’m asking you guys because I want you to get on my team at Social Media Network World and we’re gonna do that. It was none of that. It was just enjoying a baseball game together and then it developed into something amazing.

[00:23:09] Phil Mershon: And that’s a great example of what I said earlier about Andy Stanley’s principle of do for one what you wish you could do for many. I couldn’t do that for everyone who attended the conference. Not even everybody on the social media examiner team, like she had a limited number of seats. I think there may have been a couple other people I invited that had already left town.

[00:23:31] But it wasn’t, you know, those were the people that needed to be there. And so those kinds of experiences, you could call them micro experiences you can create at whatever event you’re doing that are special for some people. And hopefully you can do lots of those over time. And as you do them for one and two people and five people, like in this case, those people are going to go and do it for other people and it will have a multiplying or amplifying effect.

[00:23:58] Jeff Sieh: That’s great. I want to, I want to go into our next section here when we’re talking about, we talked about at first creating an unforgettable brand and now I want to talk about creating unforgettable content because I know a lot of people who watch this show or listen to this podcast are creators and to be honest I think, you know, It’s part of our DNA for everybody on this planet.

[00:24:15] In some way we are a creator. But I want to talk about creating unforgettable content. And this question by Gary I think is a really good one. He goes, What do you think about having a clothing gimmick? There’s a guy that wears a bright yellow shirt it shows, which I think is from the Savannah Bananas. I think that’s Jay.

[00:24:35] Phil Mershon: Yeah, that’s Jesse.

[00:24:36] Jeff Sieh: Yeah, Jesse. And then Jay Baer with his check jackets. Well, you know, I wear bowling shirts all the time. I wear them to church. But that’s my gimmick and the beard is definitely a gimmick. Connor just, you know, he’s good looking and he’s funny and that’s all he needs. Yeah, that’s all he needs. but let’s talk about the, because in the book you do talk a lot about the power of storytelling.

[00:24:57] So, what kind of storytelling techniques do you, like, recommend individuals use to craft compelling content? Or even, like, study people who you know that create this kind of content?

[00:25:08] Phil Mershon: Well, I think we should probably be interviewing Connor right now because Disney is one of the best at telling stories. I think the Hero’s Journey is a great one. Park, oh, what, gosh, what’s Park’s last name? Park Howell. also with the business of story. All, there’s so many different variations on the arc of a great story.

[00:25:28] But if we can follow that arc where people feel like they are part of the story that you’re telling, so you’re telling it in such a way that I realize, oh, I, I’ve had that happen to you. Oh, I’m feeling the pain of that hero. Oh, I, I’ve experienced that high. I’ve had that desire. I’ve had that passion. Oh, I’ve had that down where I failed and I didn’t know what to do.

[00:25:49] And I got up and I had a modicum of success, but then I fell down and it was even a deeper, falling down. And then someone comes along and picks me up and shows me a new way that I’d never found before. And then we rise together to this new height. And now all of a sudden I’m at this destination that’s even better than what I thought.

[00:26:06] I mean, that’s a simple storyline. Almost every story that Disney tells has a variation of that. Am I wrong, Connor?

[00:26:12] Conor Brown: got that right. Nope.

[00:26:14] Jeff Sieh: Yeah.

[00:26:14] Phil Mershon: I mean, just think about it. Toy story or whatever you want to say. So I think study great stories. And learn how to tell them in small microcosms because, you know, online, at least in social media, you’ve got to tell them very shortly and very briefly.

[00:26:30] yeah.

[00:26:31] Jeff Sieh: And that’s a skill that’s really hard. I mean, you know, creating shorts and reels is almost harder in some form, in some ways, than doing like this show, like being able to distill something. You know me, I go down rabbit trails and ramble, so it’s really hard to distill some of this into a story. Connor, you’re a TikTok guy.

[00:26:48] How do you do it? Like, are there some principles that you use to tell a story when you’re out in the parks?

[00:26:54] Conor Brown: Well, I think it always comes back to that age old thing with stories, beginning, middle, and end, right? You just have to focus on that. You have to have your beginning section, your middle section. You gotta wrap it up in, in some manner. every story has to serve a purpose, whether it’s education or entertain, but that Beginning, middle, and end thing is how you structure it.

[00:27:15] And there’s a reason that people have, humans have been telling stories that way for thousands of years. Because it works, you know, it’s, it’s kind of the, the keep it simple, stupid method. it’s very hard to do, but, but beginning, middle, and end.

[00:27:29] Jeff Sieh: Yeah. Well.

[00:27:30] Phil Mershon: wouldn’t you say, Connor, that with the TikTok or Reels or Shorts, especially that that beginning begins with a hook? How are you going to get people hooked in saying, Oh, there’s something different here. I want to hear a little bit more. So that’s super important in the online world today. We’ve got to capture their attention before they’re ever going to even listen to the rest of the beginning to even get to the pain of the middle and the.

[00:27:54] resolution of the ending

[00:27:55] Conor Brown: Yeah, there’s no, there’s no such thing as a prologue in these short content things, right?

[00:28:01] Phil Mershon: a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, lost, gone.

[00:28:06] Conor Brown: No way. I think what’s so interesting is, you know, we create content for a lot of reasons, right? But I think one main reason, probably the main reason, is we’re looking to elicit engagement. or responses or having people react to it in a variety of ways. You have a quote that says, Questions are taken for granted rather than given a starring role.

[00:28:33] I love that. But for us as content creators, what principles have you found when it comes to creating content that does a great job at eliciting that engagement and that response from the audience we’re trying to reach?

[00:28:49] Phil Mershon: two things come to mind. One is curiosity. If you’re insatiably curious about your audience and wanting to know who they are and what they care about and allowing your own interest to maybe guide your curiosity. that’s going to be one thing that’s going to elicit them because they’re going to see that it’s genuine, that you’re not just there, you know, doing focus groups on them.

[00:29:11] They feel used if you do that. But if you care about them as people and want to know what they really think or what they really experienced, that’s going to end up coming across over time. It may not in one question, but it will in questions over time. And the wording that you use in those questions really does matter.

[00:29:28] you want to evoke something that’s easy to respond to it. the other thing I would say is back to what we said in the first section is about experimentation. Like you got to try stuff, you know, what’s, what relates to you. So back to Gary’s question about, you know, should you wear something strange to capture people’s attention?

[00:29:45] You know, try it and see if it resonates anywhere that may not feel like you. I, you know, I’m more simple. I wear black t shirts with a sports coat when I’m speaking somewhere. I might wear jeans. I might not depending on the vibe of where the place is. That’s very simple. That’s very almost Steve Jobs ish.

[00:30:01] but that works for me because I’ve got the bald head and it kind of works. I, I don’t work with the bowling shirts or the yellow tuxes or the, but I did trim my beard a little bit to be a little more hip. So, you

[00:30:12] Jeff Sieh: kind of look like Mr. Clean. That’s, you should wear a white t shirt and you would be Mr. Clean of the Advent Markings. Wait, no. But that red shirt is Dustin Stout, by the way. If you don’t see Dustin on a red shirt, you must have caught him at Walmart late at night or something. I don’t know because he’s always.

[00:30:26] In a red shirt. That’s how I met him. That’s how I always see him. I think that’s, that’s even how he shows up on our show. So, that’s, one, it makes it easy, to do. That’s why I do what I do. So, another comment from Facebook. When I tell stories, I get the beginning and the middle last, so long and windy.

[00:30:41] I never finished a story. I feel your pain. I’ve, I’ve been known to do this on that sh on this show before. so I, I wanna talk about something that. It’s kind of, not talked about a lot, but it’s very, very important, and if you look at great speakers, you mentioned Michael Port, you mentioned some other people, how you present on stage, how Michael Stelzner presents on stage, and that’s about emphasizing practicing and refining that content.

[00:31:08] So, Thank you. A lot of people don’t want to talk about the nitty gritty of, practicing, and, you even mentioned in practicing for events, you know, thinking it through with your staff, what could go wrong? We do this on this show, like what happens if we lose internet, or Connor freezes, or Jeff presses the wrong button, which happens all the time.

[00:31:25] So, talk a little bit about that practicing and refining content and strategies you suggest for individuals to kind of improve that content they’re creating over time.

[00:31:34] Phil Mershon: Hey, this is something I’m still practicing. Tuesday this week, I’m, I’ve been running an event all week long while we’re having this conversation. And on Tuesday, I forgot to review my notes on introducing the different people. And by the time it got to the last person, I thought, Oh, it’s so firmly in my brain, the company that he works for, I don’t need to look at the notes. And so I didn’t, and I got it wrong and I had to eat some crow and it was a little bit embarrassing because I got it sort of right, but not right. And, you know, it’s probably the biggest named person speaking that day. So, you know, it’s something that we all have to keep learning. fun story. So here’s a fun story.

[00:32:15] When I was a college or an intern right out of college. I had the opportunity to speak on stage at our church. They asked me if I would read a scripture and say something. So I got up there and I had practiced this thing for five, five different times. That was my rule of thumb. Five times. I got up there.

[00:32:33] I read it perfectly. Not a faulty word at all. I noticed that there was this loud noise in the congregation. and later I found out it was the ruffling of pages because I had told them what page to turn to, but I was reading the wrong scripture. So, you gotta practice correctly. Back to my point, practice correctly.

[00:32:53] I think practice is really important so you, for you to feel confident so that when something goes wrong, you can flex. another story, one year, the AV was not working for one of our keynote speakers and the AV team could not figure it out because it worked the previous day in dry run. It worked earlier that morning in sound check, but at that moment it was not working and the MC had to fill an unknown amount of time.

[00:33:20] And that was something that had not been practiced or ever thought about because it had never happened before. And he had two minutes of content. You know, that should have been enough time for them to fix it. At the end of two minutes, we’re still wondering, do we bring the band back up? Do we, you know, bring the speaker up for some Q and a, our CEO ends up getting up there and winging it for some Q and a, which wasn’t the greatest idea, but we didn’t have a plan.

[00:33:43] So it taught us the importance of, you’ve got to have plans for those things that you don’t even think could go wrong. And you’ve got to also practice the things that you want to go right. So back to the moments thing, those key moments that you want to stand out. And Connor, you know this from Disney, like the fireworks show.

[00:33:59] If that went wrong, that would totally ruin someone’s experience at the park. Right?

[00:34:04] Conor Brown: All these little things.

[00:34:06] Phil Mershon: just little things. So you want to make sure those big things that you want to stand out in people’s memory, those are the things to rehearse first. So keynotes at an event, you want those to go flawlessly. The experience when people first arrived, getting in through the gates at Disney, getting in through registration at a conference, getting onto your website. That could be an experience. You’d need that to go right. If they get there and it’s the whatever the number is 404, when they go to it, that’s not a good experience. They’re wondering, okay, do they know what they’re doing? I, I’m going to a surgeon on Monday and I’ve literally had a nurse call me three times asking for the same information.

[00:34:43] It’s not giving me a high level of confidence, you know, but I’ve asked the PT who referred me said, yeah, the front office isn’t very good, but the surgeon’s the best in town. So just, you know, turn it the other way cause they, they can get away with that cause they’re the only game in town. So that maybe is a good analogy for you.

[00:35:01] Jeff Sieh: Well, I just want to tell you a story to make you feel better. A friend of mine always tells this story about he went to get his tonsils removed and his mom decided to get him circumcised at the same time. So he woke up not understanding why he was hurting in certain spots. So just want to let you know about that, Phil.

[00:35:21] So don’t feel, don’t get nervous at all. all right, Connor, sorry, I had to go there.

[00:35:25] Conor Brown: That’s rough. That is rough. Phil, you talk about the importance of, of practicing perfect, right? I also think the content that you do practice is what’s gonna resonate with people. And you highlight the importance of making content dynamic. Adaptable, engaging so it can strike a chord with the right audience.

[00:35:45] And we’ve talked about the importance of being innovative as well. So what techniques do you recommend individuals use to achieve creating content that’s dynamic, adaptable and engaging for the audience?

[00:35:59] Phil Mershon: I think this again is a place of constant experimentation, knowing what you’ve seen work for you before. So if you don’t know your data, you know, Dustin could come on and talk about this. If you don’t know the data of what has worked for you and aren’t able to tell the story of why you think one video or piece of content worked better than another, then you probably don’t know your own content well enough.

[00:36:21] It also requires that you know your audience. So this is the number one mistake that event planners make. And I think content creators do it too. And that is we plan an event for ourselves. Instead of for our audience. So quick story is the first, I don’t know, I think it was five years, Jeff. First five years of social media marketing world, we started the conference with jazz, live jazz.

[00:36:42] And I thought that was the perfect music for background music. So people could talk because that to me just, you know, it’s background is wallpaper music. It’s, we don’t want people singing to it. We want people to talk to each other. Well, over time I started getting feedback from staff saying, you know what?

[00:36:58] You’re a great player, Phil, phenomenal player, great band. It’s, but it’s not quite the right energy. It’s not my music. And so, but I ignored them because I like, I know better. I’m the events guy. but then people from our audience started to say the same things. And then I started to ask myself, well, who is our audience?

[00:37:17] And get this and see if I sound like this person, a person who is 40 ish years old, who happens to be of the female persuasion, who is a social media marketer for at least five years, by the way I’m not a marketer, she lives in North America, she probably has a couple of kids, she probably that does not sound like me and what she listens to is not the same playlist that I listen to.

[00:37:47] When I had that revelation, we started to change what we do. We started to change the playlist up and all of a sudden people were resonating with it and say, Man, I want a copy of that playlist. That’s when you know you’ve resonated and I think the same thing happens in the content we create. If we don’t think about it long enough, we’re going to create content for ourselves instead of for our audience.

[00:38:07] And I think we’ve got to put a pause in there to make sure is this for the audience? And I think that’s probably the number one thing. If we learn who that audience is and then we study the data, what are they resonating with? And not just on our site, go look at other sites that are serving the same audience and see what seems to be working there.

[00:38:24] Facebook makes that really easy for you to do pages like mine, right? Look at other YouTube channels that are like yours and other TikTok channels, wherever you’re posting. I think that can help you a lot.

[00:38:35] Jeff Sieh: So before we, we move on to the next section, we’re still talking about, you know, unforgettable content. One of the things, and you mentioned this almost, it has a little bit of theme that kind of goes through the book a little bit, is you talk about the toothbrushes at social media marketing world. And yeah, I remember when I, I went and I was like, man, that is such a good idea.

[00:38:53] I don’t know of any other conference that I’ve ever been to that does that. So. and that’s a piece of content, kind of, that you guys created to, you know, put in there, to make that little special moment for people, and it’s unexpected. So can you talk just a little bit about that, why you did it, and how that has paid for itself over and over and over?

[00:39:15] Phil Mershon: Yeah, first of all, the reason no other event does it is because they don’t see themselves in the business of solving that problem. They say, well, hotels can take care of that or drugstores can take care of that. That’s not our problem. Well, here’s how we got there. And it was through a different exercise.

[00:39:30] We were moving from being a single hotel event.

[00:39:37] You can find us on Twitter at socialmedia and the Eccam Duffy. And I hope you had a great day. We’ll see you next time. Bye bye. Bye bye. plan to not come back, but they, in the act of leaving, they may end up just never coming back. So we identified a bunch of things, but there were three top reasons. One was they might want to get some work done in a quiet place.

[00:40:01] Two, they might want to kick their feet up and catch some shut eye or just be able to rest for a few minutes. And three, they might want to brush their teeth. The first two were easily solvable. We created spaces for people to work. We created a quiet zone where people could rest. And then the third one, is best answered by telling the story of Malene.

[00:40:20] Malene was from Denmark. It was her first year coming to the conference and she went up to the information desk and she said, Hey. Can you tell me where the closest drugstore is? I forgot my toothbrush and the hotel is 25 minutes away. I don’t want to miss anything. can you help me get to a close by drugstore?

[00:40:37] And they said, we can do you one better. Follow me. And they walked her over to the restroom and to your point, when she walked in, there’s a basket and had a toothbrush, toothpaste, dental floss, and mouthwash. and then there were mints at that information desk if she didn’t want to go to that trouble.

[00:40:52] And she, she looked at that and said, wow, they have thought of everything. And so she said, I’m buying a ticket for next year. And then she went back home and told all her friends about the toothbrush. And her friends started getting interested and they bought a virtual ticket one year. And then now Malena has been coming five, six, seven years in a row.

[00:41:11] And then several of her friends have come over, over from Denmark and attended with her. So the ROI on a 3 toothbrush and toothpaste kit. Has been five figures easily. just that one little decision it’s paid for all of those toothbrushes and toothpaste, some of which we still have, most of them aren’t used.

[00:41:31] So most of them aren’t used, but to your point, it is a content statement of, Hey, we’re caring about all of your needs. Now, it, it looks like we’re caring for all of your needs, but we’re not. There’s a thousand things we didn’t think of doing. We thought of that one because there was a reason behind it. We don’t want you to feel like you have to go back to the hotel if you forgot to bring it, which most people aren’t going to think to bring that with them.

[00:41:53] to the conference, but you’re doing a lot of talking, so you don’t want bad breath to scare people away. And maybe a mint isn’t your thing. Maybe you really want to get your teeth brushed. So that’s the story behind it. And it, it literally has been told on many different podcasts. as an example, we may not do that next year.

[00:42:10] I’d said in the book that we’ll do it as long as I’m the director of events. Well, I’m now the director of experience, so I’m off the hooks. We may not, we may not do it, because we think there’s a different problem that we need to solve, or there’s, that’s a, that problem no longer exists. You know, it’s a, it always will depend, but we’re always out there trying to solve problems that affect a lot of people’s experience.

[00:42:31] Jeff Sieh: That, that example seemed very Disney to me. You know, it made it, it’s like something that, it’s unexpected. You know, like you mentioned in the book where characters will come and sit down with you or whatever. Those unexpected things, man, they can sure, you know, play a long way. You know, and the same, yeah, go ahead,

[00:42:53] Conor Brown: I’ll tell you a story about this that this would, people would go wild for this. I worked at a front desk, a hotel. And when you check in at the airport at Disney’s transportation, they don’t have this anymore. It’s a long story. But when you would check in there, I would get a notification on my iPad that said, this family checked in, they’re on their way to the hotel.

[00:43:14] I could see, all right, this family is four people. There’s a boy and a girl, a mom and a dad. So when they got off that bus, I always made a guess. And they taught us to do this, that this was this family. So, as they get off the bus, I greet them by name, I greet the kids by name, and they are flabbergasted.

[00:43:32] They say, how do you know it was us? And I always respond, well, Mickey, I, I lean down to the kids and I say, well, Mickey told me that you guys were coming today and he asked me to welcome you. So, welcome. They go in the hotel. Their experience is, started off on the best possible foot. It’s awesome. Over the top, but it is so, so perfect.

[00:43:52] And it’s all because I got a little notification on my iPad. It’s those little things that people go back time and time again and tell their friends, just like with the toothbrush.

[00:44:01] Jeff Sieh: Yeah.

[00:44:02] Phil Mershon: Jeff, do you remember Eric Tung?

[00:44:05] Jeff Sieh: Yeah.

[00:44:06] Phil Mershon: one year he, you know, there was a forum that speakers could fill out and we were staying at the Manchester Grand Hyatt and there was a forum and they had this, you know, section, is there anything else you want us to know? And he said something like, and I don’t remember exactly what he said, he said, I like chocolate covered pickles. And so, you’re just testing to see were they reading it. And when he gets to his hotel room, there’s chocolate covered pickles in his room. So he takes a picture and says, I can’t believe that they did it and shares it online and tags the Hyatt. Well, the Hyatt sees it and they share it and it ends up being like this meme at that year’s event of here’s how good customer service looks.

[00:44:48] They’re paying attention to what you say and they’re doing what you ask for.

[00:44:54] Jeff Sieh: One final one, because we’re, we’re like, hey, I got one. so this, this is something that you could do as a, you know, like a business card or something that you would do. Like, you don’t have to be a big conference, you don’t have to be Disney. This is something that Lou, I’m gonna hold it up to the camera.

[00:45:07] Lou Mangiello gives out, these are challenge coins. And it’s got his momentum event on it, and on the back it has a quote. and he talks about this a lot when he does his show, when we do, we’re at Momentum. It says, the way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing, and it’s Walt Disney’s quote on the,thing.

[00:45:22] It’s, it’s heavy, it’s substantial, it feels like it’s worth a lot of money, it probably isn’t. But, you have it on your desk and it reminds you of the event and what you’ve learned. Stuff like that, those little pieces of what I call content and what, you know, the toothbrush, all that stuff, really can make.

[00:45:37] A huge difference with not a lot of, you know, monetary investment in it. So, and Phil has tons of these examples in this book, so make sure if you haven’t got it yet, it’s on Amazon. You can get a physical copy. you can also get it, Kindle, which is what I do, because I love to take notes and have it all, you know, highlighted for me.

[00:45:57] Go to jeffsieh. live if you’re watching anywhere else, but Amazon, if you’re on Amazon, it is highlighted down below. Click on it, get it, you will not be sorry. It is amazing. Also want to do a shout out before we, wrap things up with, my sponsors, here for the show, Ecamm, which makes this show possible.

[00:46:12] socialmedianewslive. com forward slash Ecamm. Go check them out. They are amazing. Lastly, I want to dive into becoming an unforgettable presence. So you talk about being, you know, having that, in your book. And one of the things you talk about is different individuals have different learning styles.

[00:46:29] You got the visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and more. And I want to know, as speakers or presenters, how can we kind of cater to these different styles to keep our audience engaged and make our content more accessible? because you really go into this, into the book as well.

[00:46:47] Phil Mershon: And I want to add another category to that, which would be the neurodivergent, particularly the ADHD community. So I think to that point, you need to diversify your content. You need to be moving. So, you know, every few minutes you’re telling a story. you’re moving on the stage. You’re not just standing behind a podium, reading your notes.

[00:47:08] You’re, you’re mixing up the kinds of content that you’re sharing, where you are, to your point with Michael Port, you’re actually purposefully moving on the stage. You’re not just randomly roaming across the stage. People might think you’re a caged lion or tiger, but instead you want to be purposely moving that helps tell the story.

[00:47:28] Now, to the point of the different learning styles, most of us already use visual. But I think we can do a better job. We can use better job with our visuals by complimenting our session as opposed to repeating what we’re saying. So if what we’re doing is throwing up the exact same words that we’re saying, we’re probably not serving the audience in the best way unless we need that to be notes.

[00:47:51] So if you’re doing like a detailed training on something where people need to be able to take this away, that’s different. but if it’s something where you’re inspiring people or there’s a different way for them to learn the things, don’t do that. Put up pictures or complimentary words, quotes or something that’s going to stick with them, that reinforces what you’re saying without saying all the things that you’re saying verbally.

[00:48:14] So visuals, we need to think about. It needs to look good, needs to be on brand. you know, ideally you can get a graphic designer to do it. Recently, Jeff, I had an event that took my slides and redid them for me. And at first I was, I was offended. because like, wait a second, you know, what are you doing?

[00:48:30] Like, I mean, they did change the meaning of a couple of slides by the way they redid them and I had to fix it. But once I, I got over the fact that they changed it, I was like, Oh, this actually does look better. And I probably would be smart to get someone to create me a template because I’m not a graphic designer.

[00:48:45] So they need to look good. if people can’t hear you, If you’re not clear and intelligible in your language, so let’s say you’ve got an accent like Destin. Oh no, Destin doesn’t have an accent. actually he could, he could. Our friend Ian has an accent. There you go. you need to make sure people can understand you.

[00:49:03] You know, it depends on where in the world that you’re speaking. Make sure that you’re clear, intelligible in your language, but in terms of the kinesthetic, one of the things that I would encourage you to do is have things that people can actually do with their hands. Yesterday, I was on a call and Mike Brennan wrote a book about having, how to play at work or something like that.

[00:49:22] I forget the exact title, but doodling. And that doodling isn’t a distraction. Now drawing could be, but doodling is just giving your hands something to do that actually helps you focus better. give people permission to do that, or give them something to do and try right there and then, like create a little spot in the middle of the session where they can try something, do something, and then get feedback on it.

[00:49:48] If you can do that, now you’re getting their fingers engaged. Now, let’s get the other two senses engaged, Jeff. you may not be able to give them food that they can taste and smell, but you could remind them of food and smells in the way that you tell stories. I’ll bet both of you could think of stories where, let’s use the word bread because that’s one I use in, in the book.

[00:50:08] I imagine if I say baking bread, where would it take you, Connor? If you were, if I just said baking bread, where, where would your mind go?

[00:50:18] Conor Brown: Subway sandwich shop,

[00:50:20] Phil Mershon: Subway

[00:50:20] Jeff Sieh: not good. Print

[00:50:22] Phil Mershon: but it is, but you walk in and you spell it immediately,

[00:50:25] Jeff Sieh: right.

[00:50:26] Conor Brown: in place with

[00:50:26] Phil Mershon: would you go, Jeff? Where does your mind go?

[00:50:28] Jeff Sieh: My mom’s homemade bread is amazing. Like

[00:50:31] Phil Mershon: Yeah. And for me, my mom and my grandma.

[00:50:33] so I’ve done this, I’ve literally put in smaller rooms. This doesn’t work in huge rooms, but I’ve put, bread bakers in the back of the room that start two hours before I need them to be done. So that by the time I’ve ended the session, people are smelling bread and they’re ready for whatever’s next.

[00:50:49] They’re like, huh. I’m wondering what’s going to happen. I’ve had a hotel cook a vat of coffee and put an industrial fan behind it and blow the scent of coffee because I want them to feel like, Hey, this is a coffee break and it’s okay to linger. You don’t need to just grab and go. so pull the senses in where you can, and it could be just through telling stories that remind them of those, giving them permission to take their mind somewhere.

[00:51:14] Of course, everyone now is hungry and they’re going to want an early lunch if they’re in our time zones, but, those are just a few ideas for you.

[00:51:22] Jeff Sieh: Yeah, and one of the things that you mentioned in the book that I took notes on, and by the way for you guys who are watching, we only got a couple minutes left, so make sure you go down below if you’re watching on Amazon, or you can go to jeffsieh. live and go right to our Amazon page, it’s highlighted down below Phil’s book, make sure you get that.

[00:51:39] But I like to use Kindle so I can highlight it, and one of the things I highlighted was that, and I never thought about it before, but you talked about the rule of seven. Like, change something up in your speaking after seven minutes. Like, that’s kind of the link you have to keep people engaged. So, I thought that was super interesting, for keeping, Gary says he’s hungry for toast and tea right now.

[00:51:59] That’s very, very British, Gary, but I’ll, I’ll give that to you. So, that’s pretty, pretty cool.

[00:52:04] Phil Mershon: Yeah.

[00:52:04] Jeff Sieh: but the rule of seven I thought was a great point. So, Connor, you had the, refindable questions.

[00:52:09] Conor Brown: yeah, you know, just as a point on the smells, that’s something Disney does well, as well. The smellizers that they pump throughout the parks. we talk so much about being unforgettable and, and how to not be forgettable, but Phil, common mistakes that prevent people from being unforgettable. What are, what are some of those common mistakes and how do you think those can be avoided for people?

[00:52:34] Phil Mershon: break it down like this. I use the word dried, D R I E D for five of the threats that can undermine an event and make it to be forgettable or boring. So first is dull. Or boring itself. Like you’re just doing things that just aren’t capturing people’s imagination or keeping them engaged. The R is resistance.

[00:52:54] So, you know, whatever you do, whatever I do, people have a preconceived notion, or maybe they’ve had a bad experience with you already. There’s something that’s causing them to cross their arms and watch with suspicion. you, you better do something or I’m not sure I’m coming. Like, you know, this doctor’s office I mentioned, I’ve got reason to be resistant.

[00:53:15] Are they any good? Because of the experience I’ve had, the I is isolation. So, especially introverts, but a lot of people when they show up and they don’t know anybody else, they’re going to stick to themselves until they realize, do I belong here or not? the, she dried, the E is exhausted. So at events, we, we make a mistake of making people get up at six and stay up until midnight or two.

[00:53:39] And then also we throw so much opportunity for them to. To participate, assuming that people will be responsible adults, you know, and not try to do everything. But some people have FOMO and they want to do it all. And so they get exhausted. And the last one is to the rule of seven is distracted. So the quick way to solve these things is with the word taste E and it’s T A S T E.

[00:54:02] And I’ve had to do a little bit of playing with my acronyms to make it work. So apologies. Someone else could probably help me get a better word, but I had to fit with the bread. Metaphor here. So the T is, let’s see. gosh, I haven’t said, Oh, transformational. So we want it to be transformational instead of dull.

[00:54:19] We’ve been talking about that all day long here. The A is we want to move from resistance to acceptance. We want people to embrace it and be open, to what’s going on. The S, stands for. stimulated is pairs with the exhausted. So instead of being exhausted, we want people to feel stimulated and alive and energized instead.

[00:54:40] Then the T stands for together. Instead of isolated, there’s, they found their tribe, they found their people. They feel like they have a great sense of belonging. And then instead of distracted, we want people to be engaged. And that’s something all of us want to do with our brands.

[00:54:57] Jeff Sieh: Well, Phil, unfortunately, this has been unforgettable. Like, it really has held up to the, the promise of becoming unforgettable because you give so much great stuff in this book. what’d you say? Oh, he’s, he’s getting his sax again. but Phil, before we leave, I want people, and before you start, you know, playing your sax, you can play the sax for us to, to end the show.

[00:55:18] But I want to let everybody know where they can find you, your book. You’ve got some really cool extra stuff. if you get the book, there’s some links that are in the book that I saw that give you some additional information, some other stuff. So, tell people what you’re doing, where to get the book, where they can find you, all the stuff that you want people to know.

[00:55:37] Phil Mershon: Yeah, if you go to filmershawn. com, all of my social links are there on the top, and I think they’re all there on the bottom, or at least most of them are there. once you get the book, you’ll be given access to a bonus page. If you stay on the page very long, a pop up will come along and give you a chance to sign up for a newsletter, which gets you access to a bonus chapter.

[00:55:56] The one chapter that I wish I had written is all about community. I’m going to very soon have a link to just go directly to that, but that’s not built quite yet. We’re, we’re in process of building this. This is a new business. So that would be where I’d take you. Go to my website.

[00:56:11] Jeff Sieh: So everyone listening, it’s PhilMershawn. com and that is spelled M E R S H O N, and go check him out and for you guys who are watching, once again, the link will be up. It actually, even when the show is over, even when we’re not live, you can go to JeffSieh. live and also get the book as well. I’d love for you guys to get that because it really is, it really is, and I’m not just saying that because Phil’s a friend, a really great book, especially if you’re creating content and even if you’re creating events, it’s a no brainer.

[00:56:38] You’ve got to get it, like, Duh. Just get it. So, go, go to check out his book at philmarshawn. com. Connor Brown. Where can people find the unsinkable Connor Brown?

[00:56:48] Conor Brown: You can find me at www. opinion. com and at www. opinion across all the social channels, and I can help you plan your next perfect Disney vacation wherever it is. This has been an unforgettable experience, that is for sure.

[00:57:03] Jeff Sieh: Thank you guys for showing up today. I appreciate Gary, Dustin, Jim Fuse, Facebook user, all you folks who stopped by, asked questions, made some comments. Morris, Maurice, also, I think he dropped some stars in for us, so I appreciate that. Maurice, and thank you guys for watching. We wouldn’t be able to do this without you.

[00:57:20] Phil. Take us away. Thank you to Ecamm as well. Here he goes.

[00:57:53] Phil Mershon: Bye, guys.