Sarah Fejfar 0:00
How do we want the room set? Do we always want it to be a U shaped table so everyone can see each other? Do we want to make sure that the room always has natural light and never has pillars to get an amen? Do you see how this can be helpful right to have standard operating procedures for stuff like this? It allows you to remove yourself.
Sarah Fejfar 0:26
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 events? So we can get our message out into the world in a bigger way. It's not only profitable, but it's actually something we can be proud of.
Sarah Fejfar 0:46
That's the question. And the answers are inside this podcast. My name is Sarah Fejfar. Welcome to greenroom Central.
Sarah Fejfar 0:54
This is for you if you've ever said how do I remove myself from the event planning process? Or I'm happy to report that the answer is yes. And it lies in using s o PS. So I want you to keep listening for the 411 on how standard operating procedures can be life changing for event leaders just like you. It took me a while it took me a minute to realize that my superpower is actually in creating systems that scale. repeatability and profitability is totally my jam. My first job out of college, I worked for one of the world's largest banks.
Sarah Fejfar 1:41
And I was in the accounts receivable payable one of the two and no Accounts Payable I think yes. And I was an accountant. And there was a bunch of people who processed invoices that came in and they had goals like a certain number per day that they had to process. And I remember I don't know how it came up. But it wasn't part of my job. But I ended up sitting with one of them and watching what they were doing and then sat with another and watched and I was like, Well, why why are they doing it differently?
Sarah Fejfar 2:25
Or why are they doing it the same every single time? Or why aren't they doing it like this, which I think would be a little bit more efficient. And I ended up being tasked with creating a process. Like one of the very first things I did is my first job out of college. And just because I found it fun and the weird thing is that has kind of like been the MO throughout my corporate career before I moved into entrepreneurship. And but the really weird thing is that I never did it for myself as an entrepreneur until probably a couple years into running my business. And I find that so curious.
Sarah Fejfar 3:21
And I wonder if you've experienced this yourself where you're just you're doing the work, and there's so much to do. And there's so many balls in the air, and everything feels urgent. And there's so much to learn that it kind of feels like the last thing that needs to be done to document what you're doing to like, have super detailed level so that someone else could do it too. And it wasn't until I was introduced to the concept that it is absolutely vital to a business's success, to have documented processes and be able to handle those processes over to Team.
Sarah Fejfar 4:09
I think the first person I learned it from was John Lee Dumas inside of his book The common path to uncommon success, so good, highly recommend you read it. And then another one of my favorite mentors is way into that whole building machines type of concepts like James Wedmore and I love the way Stacey tishell I don't know if that's how you pronounce her last name. teaches that as well in she has a program well oiled operations which I haven't taken yet, but I'm so excited to do it someday.
Sarah Fejfar 4:47
Anyways, I digress. It's weird to me that I didn't think to do it for myself, even though I'm so good at it. doing it for other people. And I wonder I wanted to have a conversation today about standard operating procedures and how they relate to your events. Because I'm wondering if you have standard operating procedures for your events? And if not, given if you do, I think this is going to be a great refresher, but if not, definitely keep listening, because I'm going to give you the, the what, and the why to standard operating procedures as they relate to events.
Sarah Fejfar 5:38
And I think this is going to be super, super helpful for you. So the first thing I want to talk about is, what is an SOP? And it's really its documentation, that step by step, think of it like a recipe. So I was watching this episode of Be my guest, I think that's what it's called on Discovery. Plus, it's on a gardens new show. And she had on Misty Copeland, who's a famous ballerina. And Misty was showing her how to cook a dish.
Sarah Fejfar 6:15
And I said, this is the moment that I fell in love with her even more than I already am in love with her. And she said that, oh, that's so interesting. You're not measuring any of the ingredients. And I. And then she said, but I, I measure everything, even in my own recipes. And I was like, yes, because that's why they work, because you're following the recipe, right. And I think that's why we love Starbucks too. Right?
Sarah Fejfar 6:57
When we're traveling, I do absolutely positively love, don't get me wrong to try local places, especially vegan, or, you know, plant based ones, super healthy, crunchy ones. But if I'm in a mood, where I do not want to be disappointed, and that can happen when we're traveling, right, we just have those days, then I will choose a Starbucks, which is out of character, because it's not something I do in my normal day to day life. But the consistency is very comforting.
Sarah Fejfar 7:43
And, you know, with nearly like 330 1000 stores globally, I think they're onto something with this whole consistency piece and us being able to get what we want whether we're in New York, or we're in Portland, or we're in Dubai, right? And the reason why I bring that up is that I think you can agree, right that we want this for our guests at our events. And so before we dive into why it works, I want to talk about what would what would you even make one for when it comes to an event. And I think I know that inside of live event Academy, I teach all sorts of the what and the how to all this stuff.
Sarah Fejfar 8:56
But the thing is, you have tastes and preferences that I'm not going to know I'm going to be able to ask you the right questions inside of the program in order to pull that out of you. But only you know things like how frequently do we want to talk to our event guests before and during and after the event? Like what do I want to eat? When I'm onstage for three days? What do I want to eat and drink and when do I want to eat it? And so like who's going to have to go get it and where's it gonna have to be ready for me? Stuff like what's her gratuity practice? Who are we going to plan to tip and when and how much?
Sarah Fejfar 9:53
And what kind of food do we like to serve to guests? Do we want them to have an access to cafe Eat? Do we want them? To have super healthy options? Do we want to make sure that the food is really well labeled? So people with food allergies, or gluten intolerance? Or preferences like being vegan or dairy free are going to know what's for them? And what's not for them? Our what's our process for greeting guests when they come in to registration? Or into the ballroom? Or into our Airbnb that we've rented? What? What how do we go about preparing presenters?
Sarah Fejfar 10:44
What's the stuff that we want to make sure that they know every single time? And who's going to tell them? And how do we want to tell them? And how many times do we want to tell them? And how do we go about finding a venue that's right for our brand? And how do we want the room set? Do we always want it to be a U shaped table so everyone can see each other? Do we want to make sure that the room always has natural light and never has pillars? And to get an amen?
Sarah Fejfar 11:18
Do you see how this can be helpful, right to have standard operating procedures for stuff like this, it allows you to remove yourself? And that leads us into why does it work. So having procedures for the stuff that I just listed off. And even more than that allows you to step back, because once you've gotten those preferences, and those needs and once out of your head, it allows your team to go make the magic happen. It gives them the confidence that they're doing right doing it right. It gives them autonomy.
Sarah Fejfar 12:07
People love autonomy. Oh my gosh. I do not like being micromanaged. That's probably one of the reasons why of an entrepreneur and your team having this information, allows them autonomy allows you to step away from micromanaging. That's, that's powerful, that frees you up to do so many other things and gosh knows you and I know that planning an event is not an easy road. And there's, it's busy. And what if you could create space during that time for you to really think and be intentional about the content?
Sarah Fejfar 12:58
When that'd be awesome. What are some things that you could do that you haven't had time to do in a past event cycle? That if you got the stuff out of your head, it would free you up to do that stuff? I want you to journal on that. Write that down? What could you be doing if you got all the things that you're holding in your head about the event out and on paper? So that's why does it step? Why does it work is allowing you to step back and giving your team with that confidence and that autonomy, but also, it's ensuring that balls don't get dropped. Right?
Sarah Fejfar 13:51
I think one of the names of the modules inside of live and academies preventing problems before they become problems. Like that's so important. Because we don't want stuff to go wrong, at least big stuff. And we don't want we don't want us to be in constant reactivity mode when we could be having the time to enjoy the moment with our guests be more intentional, be more present and react to the actual real have a space to react to the actual real emergencies.
Sarah Fejfar 14:37
So I hope this whole conversation has helped you feel encouraged to assign your team members the task of creating SOPs, and that is why you need to stay tuned to the green room central podcast next week. Because what I'm going to do is I'm going to break down To the how we just covered the what and the why. But I want to deep dive into the how, so that you can make this a reality for your next event like removing yourself from the pot process, giving yourself space.
Sarah Fejfar 15:19
It's going to be awesome. I will see you back here same time, same place next week for the why. Take care. Thanks for hanging out with me today. 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 to 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.
Sarah Fejfar 15:47
That'll help me know what to create for you. Also, if it's on your heart to host your first or next event this year and you need a jumpstart. Let's connect for a strategy session. Just go to green room central.com. In a two hour intensive, private session, I can help you pivot scale or start your event vision from scratch. Together. We will build an actionable means that you feel competent and clear on your next steps. Go to green room central.com Right now, to sign up.
Sarah Fejfar 16:15
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.