Kacy Ackerman 0:00
I've seen it where all this stuff is living in your head or on your notebook or in your notes app on your phone or, you know, some random spot that no one else can see. And then at the end of the event, once it's ended, if you're wondering why it wasn't successful, you're wondering why certain things didn't get done. You're wondering where your team dropped the ball. And the hard truth is that it honestly might have been your fault. You know, and I, I say, that was like, the most loving piece that I can but it does come down to if you have all of these things that are inaccessible to your team, or to whoever supporting you with the event. They're not gonna get done like you just said.
Sarah Fejfar 0:38
How are entrepreneurs like us daring bravely to build a stage? Ditch the sweat pants and step up to the mic? How do we create our own transformative offense? So we can get our message out into the world in a bigger way? That's not only profitable, but it's actually something we can be proud of. That's the question and the answers are inside this podcast. My name is Sarah Fejfar. Welcome to greenroom Central. Today I brought into greenroom central studios, Casey Ackerman, Casey has helped over 1000 business owners streamline their business with clickup. She saves CEOs 10 hours a week and increases their profit by 25%. With a robust and automated clickup system. As a frequent guest speaker at events and lover of organization and automation, Casey has a unique perspective on what it takes to run a smooth and stress free event. Recently, she put that amazing experience to the test and hosted her very first virtual event. Welcome to greenroom, central studios, Casey, say hello to linchpin nation.
Kacy Ackerman 1:45
Hello, how's it going?
Sarah Fejfar 1:49
So excited to have you here today. Because as we were talking about right before everyone joined us, I am so like, passionate about events, yes. But also, like the organization side of it. I'm so passionate about people, leveraging events to scale their businesses and then doing it in a way that feels like a wash, rinse and repeat. You're not talking about like, we're not reinventing the wheel every single time. And so I thought, hanging out with you today and talking about clickup. And how that can make our lives easier and less stressful as we move into event planning season in our businesses. And so that's what we're going to talk about today. And I thought, well, let's first get into that superpower of yours and just kind of have you give us an overview of the Why are you the queen?
Kacy Ackerman 2:45
My audience gave me that actually that title. They call me The Queen all the time. And, and like in Facebook groups, they'll tag me as like, like, she's the queen or whatever. So I kind of just went with it. Yeah. Mainly, I am obsessed with clickup. It really is what it comes down to. And I, you know, before I started my business, I was very much in the management world of organization. And even even back when I was in high school, I like daydreamed of having an office admin job where I was like doing paperwork. And, you know, that's evolved a lot. But you know, it just it's been part of me like my whole life and laying office was.
Sarah Fejfar 3:26
Yeah, exactly.
Kacy Ackerman 3:29
Yeah, it's like, my, my parents had their own business. And I would help my mom and their office when I was like in grade school and stuff.
Sarah Fejfar 3:35
Okay, I have to just jump in here and say, because I think you'll appreciate this level of nerdery. Inside of me, my first buy as a child after I got money of my own was to have my parents take me to the local hardware store and buy a full closet organizational system. I love it.
Kacy Ackerman 3:57
With your own money. That's amazing. That's what I wanted. You didn't want Lisa Frank stickers.
Sarah Fejfar 4:03
No, I think I had some of those. Yes, in a little binder. But no, I really wanted organization.
Kacy Ackerman 4:11
Yeah, yeah. It is like my love language in the business world, you know, and clickup. The main reason I live, click up and breathe and just everything is because clickup allows you to use it not only in so many different ways, but you also get to grow with it. So a lot of other project management tools you actually end up growing out of because their capabilities of it just aren't really able for you to continue scaling your business and click up the capabilities of clickup doesn't do that it continues to grow with you because there's so many ways you can use it. You can use it in a very small, simplistic way with just a task list. And then you can even get into like automations and ditching, you know, like Google Forms and Google Drive and all those different He says you can get away from that and really have clickup as the hub of your business. And that's why I love it. That's why I tell everybody that they should use it, even if they are a solopreneur, or a small business. Or if they are scaling and have a team of 10. Like it can serve both of them.
Sarah Fejfar 5:18
So good. So we have a lot of angles that we can go at this process of this conversation about organizing our event life with clickup. But first, I want to go to how you have spent a lot of time guesting at other people's events. And so you have this really unique perspective of seeing what a train wreck looks like, and how that feels as a guest. And then also seeing what easy breezy, beautiful looks and feels like as a guest when it seems like like the event just is flowing and smooth and just feels good to be a part of. And so I wonder if we could dive into that a little bit and talk about what do you think the differences are like systematically from like a planning and organization standpoint, what do you see?
Kacy Ackerman 6:23
So I will tell you right now, the, the biggest difference is when somebody has me fills out, fill out a form versus not. So that's the biggest difference. Because when somebody has you fill out a form, they know exactly what they need from you, they have got they've taken the time to put it all in one place. So that you are not going back and forth via email. And also, it gets me a little bit more excited, because I know that like they're planning a successful event, if you will, and not try and just sort of wing it by you know, saying, here's this email, can you email me your headshot? Oh, what about your bio? Oh, what about this? What about that, and it's like constant, you know, 20 emails, and, you know, like, I have my own business to run. So the fact that I'm getting all of these emails, I'm like, I don't have time for this, can you just send me one form for me to fill out and be done with it. And that is the biggest piece. And actually, I will say this. The other thing too, that gets me really excited about events, is when they make you responsible. So the host makes you responsible for telling your audience for sending out an email for giving you like assets so that you can do that. And that gets me even more excited, too. Because I'm like, Oh, wow, they're they actually like, want me to be a part of this. They aren't just saying like, Hey, can you talk to my people, and I'm going to do all the legwork. And you know, then we're going to be done with it. And there'll be like maybe two people on the on the call type thing. But when they actually say like, you need to share this here, you need to do this, here are the assets for that. And they give you all of that. It makes me even more excited to be a part of it. So I'm like, Oh, wow, like my audience is really going to get something out of this, you know? And there's this too, because I'm guessing for it as well.
Sarah Fejfar 8:04
Yeah. So I there is kind of a line there. I think that we have to toe where they're demanding that you share in certain ways. Because I think that event, guests can get a little sensitive when they're already donating their time and their expertise to show up live for you as the event host. And then to also say, but you need to promote it in this way, in this way, in this way, in this way. And almost saying like, unless you unless you do that you can't be on I think then it gets a little bit. Yeah, uncomfortable.
Kacy Ackerman 8:46
So let me rephrase that. It's only when they actually provide me everything. So they so I did a I did two events in September. And they wanted me to share one email to my email list and also wanting me to promote it on my stories twice. But they gave me the email, like I don't have to do anything. I literally just put it into my email system and sent it. Yeah. And then they also gave me they pre made all of the graphics, every single thing that I needed was already there. So that's what I mean by like having you promote stuff, it's when they the host does it for you and makes it very seamlessly where you literally just download an image and share it to your stories with your link and you're done. And but I do agree you know if you are asking them to do all this stuff, like and create their own stuff, that's totally different. I agree with that. Yeah, I wouldn't do it. I'd be like No, thank you. So you
Sarah Fejfar 9:43
love it when someone has created all the assets and also just like a almost like a little almost like a blanket. Yeah, a packet of here's, here's in an ideal world. We'd love for you to promote it in this way, this way in this way. And here's all of the assets That's that you would need in order to do that. And we'd be grateful for that promotion and exposure.
Kacy Ackerman 10:06
Okay, love it, the biggest piece is the form, having everything in one place to collect all of that info. And not going back and forth through emails, and just getting the reminder of like, Hey, here's your reminder, this is when you're going to go live, make sure you know, here's the link, if you have any questions, email me, like having all that stuff done. And the best part about all of that is you can actually automate all of that, like, you don't need to be manually sending that stuff out, like all of that can be automated. And I think that's like the best part, which kind of ties into clickup. Because clickup can automate all of that for you. But yeah, that's, I've been on both ends. And, and I will say the ones that did not have any organization, they didn't have a forum for me to fill out, they didn't have any promos. Unfortunately, the the event was not, you know, it didn't turn out very great. Not very many people showed up, I didn't get to connect with really anybody. And for me, as I guess that's kind of what I'm doing. I want to be able to connect with other people and make new connections, and make new business friends and stuff like that. And so it was almost, if you will a flop maybe. So I think the organization piece of it is huge, when it comes to hosting events are a lot of work. And if you don't have the extra row, you're gonna be like, you know, the day of trying to figure out why your tech isn't working, because you didn't test it a week ago, you know?
Sarah Fejfar 11:36
Yeah, preach. Couldn't agree more. So you're, so what I'm hearing from you is that you're loving when people are collecting all the information they need up front from a guest speaker using a form. You're you're loving when they're empowering the guest with a packet of information, so that they can promote if they like the event. I'm also hearing using clickup to automate the reminders to the guests have all of that important information leading up to the event to make sure that they do show up and have all the information that they need in order to present it. Yeah, I think it's it is a lot of, we have to appreciate that our guests have a life and a business to and that even though we're running an event, and it is the center of our universe, and there is nothing else happening. But that event for our guests, it really is like they're just like, kind of, like popping in and out. And so we need to make their life easy with reminders that show tell them what we need and when we need it and where to show up and how to show up. But you're also taking it one step further and saying that you can tell when an event host has their stuff together and is organized because they've promoted it thoroughly in order to get guests to not only register, but to show up. And that means a lot to you as a guest because you your time is valuable as well. And you want to be able to affect as many lives as possible. And if they're not in the room, how can you?
Kacy Ackerman 13:20
Yeah, exactly, exactly, yeah, and I, you know, even even reminders about the form. So you know, they send the form out. And then I actually did this I didn't set I didn't fill it out and like the time that they wanted, so they sent me a reminder, they're like, Hey, you haven't filled this out, like you need to do it. And so even those types of things to just like having, it's all automated, it's not something where you're opening your computer on Tuesday and sending out individual emails to
Sarah Fejfar 13:47
Are you telling me that clickup can actually do that, because I'm like, a newbie inside of clickup I did not know that. This is above the fold front page news to me.
Kacy Ackerman 13:57
Yes, um, clickup can do all of that it can automate everything. And another thing too, is if you utilize clickup forms to collect all that info, everything is in one place. So your entire like task list for the event is there but then also all of your guest info and all that stuff is there as well. So you're not having to go to you know, like, if you're if you use Google Forms, you wouldn't have to go there to find all of your guests info and then back into click up to do all of your tasks. Yeah, everything's in one place. And same with like the if you do have a promo kit that you're going to share with them, you can put all of that into clickup and just share it and they have access to it and can copy and paste everything that they need. So it's really like clickup can give you that one stop shop, if you will to make your event so successful, obviously outside of hosting it, you know, on Zoom or whatever platform you decide.
Sarah Fejfar 14:58
Yeah, so let's talk about it. know you've, you've hosted your own event. And because you're such a whiz kid at clickup, how did you approach, hey, I've got this project that is an event, and we're gonna go run at it, what did what was like the first thing that you did inside of clickup.
Kacy Ackerman 15:22
The first thing I did in click up was build out just like a basic task list of like a brain dump, really, of all the different things I needed to do. And then I went in and started utilizing custom fields to group things. So group things as in tech, group things as in like what kind of guests we want, or speakers we want. And then you know, writing out emails, creating social stuff, creating ads, if I don't think we read ads, but you know, like, all those different like the marketing side. So having all those groups in there, and then going through and deciding, like when those things need to be done. So setting those due dates, and it was me and another person that hosted it. So we tag teamed a lot of the a lot of the tasks together. But mainly like starting with that brain dump, and then going in and kind of organizing it based off of department, if you will. And the best thing about it is, you can save that entire thing once you build it as a template. So anytime you do an event, again, with like three clicks of a button, you have it loaded and ready to go. And you can just read like you said, rinse and repeat.
Sarah Fejfar 16:30
And that's so important when we have signature events that we're doing multiple times a year, I think it's so important that we're we're not reinventing the wheel that we're just refining every time or just getting like 1% better every single time and being able to have a template for managing the project already sitting there in clickup, that we can just make a copy of. Yeah, that's very attractive. And going back to how you said, you got started as you did a brain dump of tasks, so somebody doesn't have any sort of project management system going for their events, the first step would be this brain dump of everything that they know that they've got to do.
Kacy Ackerman 17:18
Yeah, and I think so if you're not using a project management tool, but you've done events in the past, I would assume you have been using a notebook of like all that you're writing down all the things that you need to do. And so the difference would be is actually just putting that into clickup. And, you know, moving from the notebook, into clickup. And also, if you have people that are supporting you with this event, they have no idea what your notebook says. So even more important to put things in there, because they can't read your mind, they can't see your notebook. You know, we're all in this virtual world now where everything is just in their homes. So the idea there is do that brain dump, it feels really good on pen and paper, do it on pen and paper, or a whiteboard, or you know, whatever floats your boat there. But then the next step you have to do is actually put those things and click up so that you have the support that you need to get those tasks done. And you're not feeling like oh, well I have to do this because I wrote it here. And it's not in click up, like put it in, click up because then you won't have this question. And also your notebook can't remind you that you forgot something.
Sarah Fejfar 18:31
Yeah, one of the one of the things that my assistant said to me once that boosted such a weight off my shoulders was, it's okay, if you need to send me an email that says go put this in clickup. And I still use that. I use that with him, I will be like, Okay, could you please put this in clickup. Like, I need a reminder, do this thing, like every week on this day, and you just go put it there?
Kacy Ackerman 19:02
Yeah, like if that if that is what's going to help you get out of your head, then do it like find a process that works for you to get out of your head. We have, I just did a VIP week with a client. And she actually forwards a lot of emails to her. She has two team members. And so that would bog down their email a lot, right? And they're trying to deal with their emails plus hers. And so what we did actually was set up a automation where anytime she forwards an email, it creates a task and click up automatically for them. And so like that process works really well. Another process would be like having a form that you click up form that you fill out and it creates the task right after you fill out the form type thing. So there's all of these great ways and all that matters is that you're getting it into clickup. So if that means that you set up a Slack automation or an email automation or you email your your assistant, whatever is going to make most sense for your busy life, do it because if you don't, you're just going to be waking up at two in the morning and saying, like, I forgot to do that thing.
Sarah Fejfar 20:09
Yeah. And so I want to, I want to definitely underline what you said about get it out of your head. And I coach so many clients on this piece that it's worth repeating and diving into a little bit deeper here is that if if it's in your head, or if it's in your notebook, and you haven't told somebody about it, by the time you get to your event, it is too late to make it happen. Because if it's an I love to use this example of flowers in the bathroom, okay, so let's say that you just love flowers like me, and that you love decorating and you just love, you just want a beautiful space, that's part of the experience that you want to create for your event guests. Well, so if it's on your heart, that there are flowers in the bathroom, then you not only have to have in advance, like ordered the flowers. But you have to have planned in advance, like who's gonna go meet the florist and go put them there. Because otherwise, it will be a guarantee you will be so busy that the florists will drop them off at the front desk or whatever, and they will just sit there the whole event, and they will not have gotten to the place where they need to go because it nobody had that job. Like it wasn't it didn't come out of your head and, and get into an action plan like it really, if if it's on your heart to eat a certain food at a certain time. That has to be like told the gotten out of your head and into like a system like clickup so that it's organized and like assigned to somebody otherwise it won't happen like that. That minutia level stuff that would make you feel so much, like more excited about your event so much like healthier while you were there and focused. All of that little, itsy bitsy stuff that just circles in your head has to come out. And it I think putting it into clickup is a is a brilliant idea. Because then the next event, it's already there that you have to pre order your meals from DoorDash. And you know exactly,
Kacy Ackerman 22:25
yeah, exactly. And, you know, it also, I've seen it where all this stuff is living in your head or on your notebook or in your notes app on your phone or, you know, some random spot that no one else can see. And then at the end of the event, once it's ended, if you're wondering why it wasn't successful, you're wondering why certain things didn't get done. You're wondering where your team dropped the ball. And the hard truth is that it honestly might have been your fault. You know, and I, I say that was like the most loving piece that I can but it does come down to if you have all of these things that are inaccessible to your team, or to whoever supporting you with the event. They're not going to get done, like you just said, and it's really important to when you're reflecting kind of like, oh, well, you know, like you said, I didn't get that out of my head. I have that on a notes where no one can see it. No wonder it didn't get done. So it just creates like chaos, and it creates frustration between you and your team. And then it also if you do have guests creates frustration with your guests. Because, you know, I had gotten the emails five minutes before I was supposed to go live with something, you know that I can't remember exactly what has happened, you know, where it's like, they forgot this one thing that I'm that I needed, or I still didn't have the link to join or, you know, different stuff like that. Gosh, yeah. And it's like that stuff should be tested weeks before. Yes, it even happens, you know, the event is even, you know, your tech should be like at least two weeks before so you can work out all those kinks.
Sarah Fejfar 23:57
I think that hosting an event really spotlights how good of a leader you are. Yeah. And in order for your team to shine, it needs to be out of your head. Yeah, exactly. It really does.
Kacy Ackerman 24:18
Yeah, and I think too, like, um, it's so exhausting to run an event just in general, like it's a lot of work. And so if you are if you're the one
Sarah Fejfar 24:31
scare people off right now.
Kacy Ackerman 24:36
But it's super rewarding. It really is. If you have if you've taken the time to not be chaotic about it. You know, if you've taken the time to, like, make sure everything's out of your head. Make sure every task has an assignee with a due date, making sure that you can rinse and repeat these things and you're fine tuning the next time. And you know, the other thing too, it's almost kind of like launching where your mental energy is just as important as the actual thing that's happening. And if you are, you know, the week of the event, scrambling, your mental energy is going to be completely drained to where you can't even enjoy the event yourself. Because you're just like, this has to happen. And this has this, this, this, you know, and there's no, there's no rhyme or reason for any of it, you just have to get all of these things done. And instead, you can have this in click up, you could have a support team to help you get these tasks done. And the week of the event, you can go get a massage, you know, before the on Monday and the events on you know, Thursday or whatever you can, like start to relax and refresh yourself to bring all of your energy into this event and really show people like how much you care about them how much you care about your event, how you can impact these people's lives. And that's, I know, a lot of people say, you know, like, they don't think about systems, they don't, it's not important to them. But when you start hosting these large events, or you start, you know, building a membership, and it grows into 1000s of people, what you're doing right now, very manually will not sustain where you want to be. And that's the important part. And that's, that's why I always say like build systems for where you actually want to be. So if you want an event that's going to bring in 1000s, and 1000s of people, you writing down the task list on a notebook is not going to do that.
Sarah Fejfar 26:28
100% agree, I just told a client that I said, you are not ready, your team is not ready to grow where you want to take this event. Yeah, I can see, from a leadership standpoint, from an energy energetic standpoint, you're not there. And so I love Casey, that you were talking about how it's just like, launching and that mental energy is so important. I just, I love that piece. Because I think that when you have the space to go out to dinner with your team before the event, when you have the space to get a massage, in the days leading up to the event, when you have time, the day before the event to go do one of your favorite things. Maybe it's like, I don't know, wandering in window shopping with a coffee in your hand, when you have time to refresh in that way before and energized and like break bread with your team like the you will show up so much better for your guests and enjoy the process that much more. But it means that everything has to get out of your head. And all of your deepest desires and wishlist items and must haves must be documented. And they must be assigned to somebody because I guarantee you guarantee that there will not be time know when you're in the heat of it. Because we've all been in launches, we've all been to an event and just like there's just so much other stuff going on because we live together with people. And so the the wheels just fall off if it's not all out. So what I'm hearing is we have to start by doing the brain dump and getting it all out. And then what you said was categorized and I am a huge fan of that. And I teach that inside of live that Academy as well is that let's categorize all of the the buckets of things that need to be done. Then I typically like to assign buckets to people. So it's okay if people have multiple buckets, like they're in charge of communication, and they're in charge of food and beverage. That's okay. I like but I kind of like to give an entire bucket like you have responsibility for that bucket. And so then it makes it I would assume a little bit easier inside of clickup. If maybe you're color coding the buckets and yep, assigning them all out to people.
Kacy Ackerman 29:15
Yes. So color coding is a huge piece because it's really easy just visually with your eyes. The other thing is, you can have this amazing bird's eye view. So I don't know. What would you say is the lead time of planning and event?
Sarah Fejfar 29:37
Well, we could start six months out. Yeah.
Kacy Ackerman 29:39
Okay. So you would be able to have this overview that you could look at, you know, like every week or every two weeks and then when it gets closer every single week to see like, who's overdue on stuff, where are things being dropped? What support needs to be happening, where can you make sure to you know, fine tune for next time like You could already start to kind of audit those things and improve it before the event even happens. And then you can also see, like, you know, maybe one bucket is actually way more time consuming than you initially thought. And you had this person assigned to to two different buckets, yeah, remove them, get somebody else in there that can support that area that maybe didn't have such a, you know, large, large task list, if you will. Because, you know, we all we all love to think about, like, oh, that should only take five minutes or whatever. But that's not always the case. Sometimes things take longer. And so being able to see that and checking in with your team very easily through clickup, we have, whenever we are doing large projects, we have a check in form that they do weekly. And so they can tell us exactly like what their priorities are for that week, where they fell behind last week, if they need in support, if they're waiting on me, because if I'm the bottleneck, that's a whole nother issue that we need to unpack. And so every single week, and the best thing about it is when you're able to utilize clickup. In that way, you are not getting on a call every single week, you are not getting in like a physical meeting, you can very quickly just go through, you know, every form that the PERT that the people filled out and just see very quickly and you know, five minutes, awesome, this person needs support with this, this person is on track doesn't do anything. And so you're not taking up even more time, and they're able to actually focus on the event and put all of their efforts into the event and versus this constant. Where are we with this? And where are we with that, like, click up allows you to actually just view all of that on your own and really see the event unfold? As you get closer and closer.
Sarah Fejfar 31:45
Oh, and you could probably even make those team meetings, because I I do advocate for for weekly event team meetings. But by doing what you're saying is having like that project form once a week that would be completed before the meeting, then we can just have way more productive use of that. Yeah, time together, because we already know where the bottlenecks are. Yep. What are the hot buttons that we just need to hash out together?
Kacy Ackerman 32:14
Yeah, you can do it that way, too. You can have it because then you know exactly who needs support, you know, the person that you know, is just there to take in everything? Or maybe a question comes up at that time. But it's way more effective, where your meeting would probably be like 10 minutes, rather than 40 minutes, you know, of checking in, where are you at with this? Where are you, you know, they can just tell you beforehand. But yeah, I click up can just really make your life so much easier.
Sarah Fejfar 32:47
And so when we're in an event cycle, first we're going to brain dump, and then we're going to categorize everything. And then we're, I think what you're seeing is a really important third step is just keep it create a view where we can audit as we go to see where there are bottlenecks. Or maybe where someone's overwhelmed with too much. And using that check in form every week, because this is a project that we're charging at. And that'll kind of highlight the stuff that we need to like have bubbled up and visibility to.
Kacy Ackerman 33:23
Yeah, it does. And, you know, moving from there, at that point, you're working the steps, you know, you're working through each category, each bucket is getting done. And at that point, you can start kind of going into that test phase, because you have all of those pieces done. And then depending on where you are at within the planning of it, then you start testing long before the event actually happens. So that you can make sure that everything is good. Obviously, there's a long piece there where you're literally just doing the work, you're getting everything set up, you're doing all the all the nitty gritty, actual stuff that has to get done. But then you go into that testing phase. And then you have the event. And it's like it's a really honestly a really weird feeling when you get to the week of your event or the week of your launch or the week of your new membership or whatever it may be. And you literally don't have anything to do. Like it's it's so weird, and I've been there I literally have been there where it's like, Did I miss anything, I didn't miss anything. You know, like it's so good to feel that way. And it opens you up obviously for that space that we talked about previously, but it just like it just immediately like allows all the stress just to melt away because you actually did do all the things like you are ready to go and now all you got to do is like enjoy the event and enjoy the people that you're connecting with. And you just know and sure maybe something will come up here and there but it won't be Do you like the end all be all you know of, of how your event is going to be successful or not?
Sarah Fejfar 35:06
Well, the best thing about creating that space where you're so well organized and plan that the stuff is done in advance is that it opens up that space during that last week leading up to the event and during the event itself, for you to be able to react to stuff that is coming in because like stuff will happen, like, you know, nothing will go perfectly in an event world and funny story. When I was hosting one of my first events, the president of the company was like standing next to me in the the food line to get dinner. And I we were just chit chatting. And we'd come from Minnesota, I think we're in Florida. So it was already like my mind was in a just a different magical place. Because it was so nice. And so we were just chit chatting, having this lovely outdoor dinner. And he found out that we I was planning my wedding at the same time. And he said, Well, something will go wrong. And and I remember in that moment hating him thinking like, well, that's like he's wrong. That's terrible. That's terrible advice to give a soon to be bride and. And then just as I grew, as a business owner, as an event planner, I just realized it's so true, like, will go wrong, like we're doing something live with real human beings who are in person with us, or virtually live in person with us and stuff will go wrong. And I love that we've planned been so planful and organized leading up to the event that there is space for us to handle whatever comes up, because we're not also bogged down with a million other things that should have been could have been done weeks ago. Now, Casey, the last thing I want to cover with you before I go into a few rapid fire questions that would be fun, is there is a little like chest tightening that's happening for me right now wondering, Where's the point where we've over engineered things in a project management system like clickup, because that I don't want to make it so complicated that nobody wants to use click up, or manage their event as a project within a project management tool.
Kacy Ackerman 37:35
Yeah, you definitely can over overdo it. And that comes down to like, where you have subtasks inside subtasks inside subtasks, if you will, that kind of stuff. Another another thing is, you could over you could almost like over organize. So there is such thing as like less is more when I when I talk about clickup. And what I mean by that is, when you're planning an event, honestly, you don't need like seven different lists, like it should just be one list. Everything is grouped into where it needs to be color coded with the assignees. And really, that's it like so simple, like keep it simple, because like you said, you don't want your team going in there, not knowing where their tasks are. And so that's the most important thing. And you don't want to have to I've had almost every client say this to me, I have clicked up but I can't find anything like I don't, I have to look through all these different areas to try and figure out what I'm doing. And that's because they've tried to over organize where they have a folder for like, one thing and then have three lists in there. And then they have another folder and another folder and another folder and it just and so you then what happens when you have all those folders and all those lists is you then start to second guess where like a task should even go. You're like well it could go here because of this, but it could go here. And so that's also depending on where you put it, your team member may think, oh, it should be in this list because it's this task, and you didn't put it in there. So that's what I mean by like, less is more when we're talking about an event. It should ultimately for me, in click up, I would literally use one list with the event name. And all everything is in that list. Where you have all of your buckets, you have all of your automations the only other list I could think of is if you are collecting guest info. So if you have guest speakers, and now you have a separate area for your guests, but that's it. I would not suggest you know, having multiple full like you shouldn't have a folder for every bucket if you will. You shouldn't have a list for every bucket. It should really be cohesive where you and your team can go one place and click up and you can see everything that's going on. You can see like, you know Casey's taking care of all this bucket. Sara is taking care of this bucket justice taking care of this bucket everyone's on track. are awesome, you know, or they're not on track, let's figure out let's backtrack and figure out what the heck is going on. But if you have to go into seven different areas to find out what Casey, Sarah and Jess are doing, you're not going to use click up, and you're just going to revert back to your old ways. And then, you know, have the chaos going and the frustration and all that.
Sarah Fejfar 40:23
Yeah, and then that doesn't help us get any closer to this signature event that we can wash, rinse, repeat, that is very scalable, right? It kind of takes us further from that.
Kacy Ackerman 40:36
It does. Yes, it does.
Sarah Fejfar 40:38
Okay, thank you for the permission to simplify. Because I think when it when a tool can do so much and has all these kind of fancy ways about it, I think. I think it's easy for me to get overwhelmed and think like, doing it in that like hyper organized way, but you just gave us permission to use one lifts.
Kacy Ackerman 41:01
Here's your slip.
Sarah Fejfar 41:03
Thank you. So, since you speak so often on stages, and you have on your own as well. What I want to know, in this rapid fire segment is just the first thing that comes to mind. What do you say to yourself backstage and onstage.
Kacy Ackerman 41:22
Um, I don't actually say anything, I sit with myself. And I just like, take a moment to breathe. Because I do get nervous even on virtual ones, I get nervous. But I just, I don't say anything in myself, I just breathe, and I just am like, this is going to be awesome. You know, like, just taking it all in taking in the fact that like, I was offered this opportunity, and I get to support all these people and just taking a deep breath. And that's it.
Sarah Fejfar 41:52
Oh, good. What was the best thing that you did to get butts in seats at your event.
Kacy Ackerman 42:04
Um, I would say, being super excited on Instagram about it, to be honest. But like showing the excitement showing, like featuring the guests that we're going to be coming. And really like making connections in the DMS about like about the event and how it could maybe like support them. different pieces of that, you know, like really being active in my audience and what they need, and I saw the needs, and that's what I gave them.
Sarah Fejfar 42:32
I love that because our guests can our process, prospective guests can only get as excited about the event, as we are like, people rise to your level of energy before the event and even at the event. And so I love that you're excited about it and sharing about it from that place. Because people want to be a part of something that sounds like it's gonna be amazing. Yeah. What is what was your favorite moment at that event that you hosted?
Kacy Ackerman 43:03
Um, I think it was the chat because ours was virtual. So the chat though, like, it was just exciting, like people showed up live, they were asking questions, they were super excited about the, the different guest speakers that were coming on. So just like seeing that, I was able to help somebody, maybe like, move past a mindset block of their, their business for 2022 or, you know, like, just any, any little piece that that I was able to help them with it just, it feels really good. You know, and that's, that's the whole point of the event is to help people help your, your audience, you know, move one step forward. And so being able to see it, like firsthand happen and, and getting the DMS about like, oh my gosh, this was amazing, you know, and those different things.
Sarah Fejfar 43:52
What would you say? Because you've seen both sides of the coin, you've guessed it, and you've posted your own? What was the best thing that was just it made it different? Because it was yours?
Kacy Ackerman 44:03
Um, I think I was way more connected to the audience. And so, yeah, so it was like, I knew what they needed, I provided what they needed. And then I also got kind of validation, if you will, that, that like I delivered on what they do you know what I mean? So it made it you know, when you go in as a guest, you know, obviously the person that's hosting it, and you kind of know their audience, but you don't know their audience enough to like, be chatting with them, be on stories with them be you know, like really connected to them. So when I hosted my own, I was able to have all those connections and it felt just I love making connections. So that was like really important to me. And the fact that like it happened just made it all better. Love that for you.
Sarah Fejfar 44:52
What are you reading right now?
Kacy Ackerman 44:55
I just started a new book actually just finished. Do you want business or personal?
Sarah Fejfar 45:02
Well, let's start with business. And then I think I need to know I personally are waiting to Okay.
Kacy Ackerman 45:07
Business I'm doing automatic habits. I still have not read that. So atomic. Atomic. Yeah, sorry. Okay. Yeah. Oh, so good. Atomic. Yes, I actually it just came available in my library today. So I just reserved it. I haven't read it yet. So that one and then personal. I'm reading the holiday swap, which is just a Christmas, a cute little Christmas almost like a Hallmark movie.
Sarah Fejfar 45:35
Who doesn't have a good homework? Chris?
Kacy Ackerman 45:38
I know. I know.
Sarah Fejfar 45:41
Escapism as an added for at its finest. Yes, yes. What do you have going on right now? And where can linchpin nation find you and like what would be the best way to leverage your expertise as a business owner who's about to host an event?
Kacy Ackerman 46:03
Yeah, um, so I am taking the month of December off, yay. So I'm still doing like calls and on Instagram and stuff. But for the most part, I'm taking December off, which is a really great way to just refresh and, like, reflect on 2020 to figure out what I want to do 2023 type stuff. But mainly, you can find me on Instagram. So that's the biggest piece is I'm super active on Instagram. And, really, if you're wanting to host an event, and you don't have clickup DM me on Instagram, so we can talk about it. And I can kind of point you in the right direction. If you have hosted your event multiple times, and you're needing like more built out support, I would love to talk to you about like, what a VIP day could look like in the sense of where I can build out that rinse and repeat style for you. And then you just get to reap all the benefits, if you will. But yeah, 2023 is going to be a big year, I am putting out a new service called VIP week, where a whole week we look at the holistic view of business and really dive into the nitty gritty of what clickup can do for them. So I'm excited for that.
Sarah Fejfar 47:18
I love that you're hands on and that because you know a person like me who just like craves that level of organization and just peace of mind that comes with knowing it's not in my head anymore. And I'm being a better leader because it's not in my head. And it's it's all there for everyone to see. I love that you help people like hold their hands. Because I love it. It feels like a little bit of an overwhelming like impossible task. That obviously is possible because people everyday do it. And I can dream of it.
Kacy Ackerman 48:00
Yeah, I love being inside the business and actually like uncovering all of the different pieces that's going to change their business for the future. So I none of my stuff is rinse and repeat. Actually, it's all custom. So everything that I do for clients, it's all based off of their business and how they run their business. And it makes it really exciting because it's almost like I have a new challenge. Every time I work with somebody I get to like, uncover new things, and I uncover you know, new things that might help other people in the future and stuff. So it's really fun. And like I said, click UPS my love language, so I just get to I get to be in there all the time every day.
Sarah Fejfar 48:43
Last question, hot chocolate eggnog or cider or tea? Like what's your holiday potion of choice? Cider?
Kacy Ackerman 48:52
Cider, for sure.
Sarah Fejfar 48:53
We just ran out I need to get more. Casey, this has been such a joy. Thank you for geeking out in nerding. With an organization with me. I can see how we have so much more to talk about in the future as it comes to events like I even see how it would be so fun to collaborate some time and put a whole click up. You know, template into live event Academy for people to just like, drag and drop, you know? Yeah, happy. Okay, that's for another day. Thank you, Casey. Take care.
Kacy Ackerman 49:33
Thank you so much, Sarah.
Sarah Fejfar 49:34
Thank you for listening to the greenroom central podcast. If you love this episode, then please take a screenshot on your phone and post it Instagram and be sure to tag at Sarah Fejfar and let me know why you liked it and what you'd like to hear or who you'd like to hear from in the future that'll help me know what to create for you. Also, I've been hearing a lot of business owners say people are tired of virtual events and that's just not true. Which is why I created a brand new five day challenge called the virtual event lab. I want to show you how to make your next virtual event, profitable, engaging, most importantly, how to make it happen. And the best part is this five day challenge is absolutely free. To register right now simply visit greenlam central.com. And we can get started today. In case you're curious, this podcast is built on Kajabi. I'm loving how easy it's been to get things set up, but more so. I'm thrilled that my entire business is run within one platform, in my emails to my pages to my courses, and now to my podcast, it's all under one roof. If you love simplicity and scalability as much as I do, then go to greenroom. central.com To get a free 14 day trial from Kajabi. I appreciate your commitment to leveling up and learning the mindset and strategy of live events. Keep going, keep learning. If you want more, head over to green room central.com For show notes and all the links from today's episode.
