 It's the mat work. Oh, what's up everybody? Once again is brand man, Sean and I'm back with another link up. Today I am linking up with T-Cup. You have seen her before. She is the voice of the indie artist. And as always, she is here recording live from the streets. So today we got seven tips from T-Cup, right? T-Cup seven tips for operating an event without a hitch. And I think this is super important because people talk so much about how do you get people out? But sometimes people get people to show up and the thing is trash and nobody's coming back. So T-Cup, I'm glad you had this idea. You've been obviously doing it successfully for a good minute. One of the most well known figures in the cities, particularly in the indie scene. So like, like, like talk to me, talk to me. I'm excited to kind of get your perspective on these things. OK, man. Thank you for having me back. I really do appreciate all the love that I've been giving your community. Like a lot of people, they follow me and they ask me a lot of questions. So I'm very responsible and like the DMs at email. So thank you for having me back and thank you to everyone that's watching and that's been engaged with me. So a little bit about what Sean said. I do an artist development here in Atlanta. So pretty much if anybody wants to get connected to other people, to curators, they want to get on shows. They want to get interviews. They want promotions just to have their music exposed. Pretty much to get me up. And I help curate and plan events with them as well. So pretty much I just want to speak on artists throwing their events. So that's a very common question that I get a lot. And artists are pretty much a lot of artists are just in different stages of event planning or throwing their own event. So some artists is their first time throwing an event and they don't know where to start at all. And then you have some artists that's been throwing events for a while, but they just want to grow like that that that audience or they want to take it to the next level. And it was like sponsorship or investment. So, yep, just wanted to say that clearly, you know, it may be different orders and different steps for different people. Some people may not need all seven steps. Some people make it to two. Some people may just be started in different areas. So always, always, always. First, before you do anything, you always want to research. OK, so you always want to do your research on the venues. You want to do your research on the area. You just want to understand just how people move. What would make people come to an event? So a lot of people, typically in Atlanta, when you say free liquor, free food. Hello. OK, so you just want to research just going outside and doing field research. What does that look like? Like, though, to you, like, what are you? What kind of information are you really taking in? When they research. OK, so yeah, so when I say research, I say find out different pricing. OK, so find out good locations for people. Where do people like to go? What's more convenient for people? What are some things that people like to do when going out? Because everybody's an artist. Everybody goes to artists to listen to parties, concerts, shows, events just every day of the week. So definitely find out how people move. Find out what people hang together. And I always say, I always tell people before throwing any events, go and make friends, you know, go and build those real supporters. Because when you throw your event, you want to make sure that you do have people that can support. I know a lot of artists when they throw their events, you know, they do add other artists onto the bill with them. So it's just like a listener party. They may have featured different artists or even if it's a concert, of course, you're not throwing a concert alone, you know, while you're still going fan base. So definitely go out and make genuine friends with other artists. Build relationships with other artists. You can do this in social media. You can do this by going out and supporting them. How important is like staying in the scene to you? Like actually physically going out to events? I think that's very important because it's always like Atlanta supports Atlanta. It's always a support and support type thing. Like if, you know, you can't really unless you have that sort of status or that sort of following where you can be more exclusive when you're more on like that newer, more fresher ways, like the goal is the network. The goal is to go out and support people, not even just in a transactional way, but going in, seeing if you kick it with people at the studio, you know, going to see it if you can kick it with people at a bar where it's not even, you're not even there for an event, you know. So I would say just physically going out always first, you always want to make friends. So that was two so far. OK, one research to feel research and make make friends, make friends. OK, three, think of the concept. So how people are kind of moving these days. I don't like back in the day, you can get like some sort of hole in the wall being you and as long as it's just like a lot of people there. And, you know, it's just fun. But now in these days, people like activation, people like experience, people like to come and do shit, you know, people like, like I said, everybody is an artist, so you have so much competition against everyone. You have to compete probably again, gonna throw in a concert on the same day of your event, you have to compete again. Yeah, this going on, you know, it's so many things that go on in Atlanta that you have to really conceptualize. You have to really stand out. You have to really do something that draws people to come out. So that pretty much bring me to like marketing. But why are you still on concept? What have been some of the most interesting and dope concepts that you like seen or been a part of? OK, so we can kind of understand like when you talk about stand out and not just being like a basic event. OK, I would say with my homegirl. So she throws a party. It's called bounce that and it's the all female party. The flyer is really adorable. She has incentives to make people want to come because it's a woman-based party. So she has things to make people come like you get your nails done for free. It's free before a certain time. She has like a baby hair station, you know, all type of stuff. And it's basically women. So as it grew, she had like activations like she had a Barbie doll. It was like a Barbie doll frame that people could take photos in and stuff like that. So she has certain things exclusive to only her event that draws women to come out that makes people like you only get this experience here at her event. I didn't think I like. All right, so we're going to talk about her a little bit for marketing too, because that's DJ also, right? Yep. Yeah. And her I didn't know what she went into that level of detail in the actual event. But I rock with her marketing. Obviously, it's not for a male. So I never went right. But so that's dope. Like the fact that you got to be escorted by a woman to come. OK, OK, OK, man, that's cat. So with that being said, though, you know, smaller details and memorable experiences and getting to things that aren't even typically associated with a concert or like getting your nails done and things like that. To me, that's what real experience and standing out really means in today's age, because you really are talking about that you're giving people the actual game. But I think some of it might go over people's head, right? So one, that's just a real thing you got to make that happen. But two, when you talk about make friends, not only friends you have but make other friends in the environment, that's that's a real thing. But that doesn't get capitalized on as much until you get to step three. If you don't have a concept that, like, for real, for real makes people talk about it. It's like, all right, they came out and support and, you know, that's that's it. They're not going to talk about it. They're not going to it's almost going to be like. You know, I just did it off the strength, but I'm not going to play his record in the car, you know, because I'm playing it one time because that's my homey, but I ain't playing this guy. I don't like it. It's the same for the actual event, but I can't because I had something to do. But next time, since I know it's trash, I might look. I already went once. I don't need to go again. You know what I mean? Like, that's that's for real. I mean, tell you, you know, it is moving in and about the scene, but if it's something that's super dope, people will tell other people about it. Some people, you know, people will make sure other people know about it. And that word of mouth is the from the concept part. If you execute the market and the research and then the fram part, like, once you have that, you come with a strong concept and execute on that. But yes, I'm so happy on that. So glad you touched on the fact that word of mouth, that's like the biggest. That's the biggest ever form of promotion. That's the best form of promotion because, you know, if you have one person wanting to pull up, you know, rarely do people ever pull up alone. They always pull up. Usually they pull up with friends. So even when it goes to you making friends, don't neglect, you know, your girlfriend, your girlfriend, your boyfriend who probably got a couple of friends, you know, reach out to your cousin. I always tell people when throwing an event, I would say at least invite like 10 to 15 people who, you know, will pull up, you know, they're very close to you, they'll be there, invite them for free if you can, you know, just so you can have some sort of people there supporting you before everyone else. A lot of people, I know they may want to make that monetary gain, but when it's like your first, first, first event, I always just say, you know, just invite a couple of close ones just to share this experience with you so they can be there early, send them a special invite. A lot of people do like the personal-ass flyers. You remember when J. Cole had the Dreamville flyers going around, floating the internet? So I would say like send a personal invite to a few of the ones that you really want to come like, you know, like a best friend, like your brother, you know, some people that you will want there to share these moments that are also in return going to pass it by that word of mouth. So that goes into that goes into I'll say in the make friends number two. OK. And then, yes, marketing. So as me and Brian mentioned, I say you always want to conceptualize on something that is going to capture the eye using certain colors. Canva is great for making flyers. A lot of people do use those apps and things that can be on the phone. But definitely make sure your visuals look clean. You always want to make sure it's clean. Make sure you have the address on there. If it is a public event, make sure you have the date. It's the little things that could cause people to not go to your event. If somebody will find a flyer and it's like, OK, but it has no address. It has no time on it. So what? So there's no date. Like, did this pass already? Like, so definitely important things to put on the flyer. I say for like the average time to promote an event for a newer person, maybe like I would say maybe three to four weeks. What do you think? What do you think, Sean? Yeah, no, I would say three or four weeks in this age. If you're if it's just like a you're trying to do like a hundred people, it's probably about three to four weeks. If you're trying to really push and make it something bigger and especially get deeper, deeper into selling the experience, then it might need to be something something bigger than that. Like, but most people need to start off with those three to four weeks. And rely the lie back on that word and mouth part. Like, that's like, you have to make people. I want to say this real quick, because like the way I found DJ also was her flyer, because we talk about marketing, right? She had that flyer where it was like the girls in the car. And they said, how's that? And they were and they were I was like, yo, this ad is hardest. Yes, I was like, you know, on the on because it was one of like this other chick I know, I was like, yo, who did this shit? And she was like her. And I was like, I got to follow her because this junk, this junk is this hard. So that alone, like people pay attention to the quality and your creative approach and your marketing. And then you bring that same energy to the actual experience. But learning that she's a DJ too, though, I feel like she has an advantage because obviously you're talking to a lot of artists. The part where a lot of artists mess up. This is where I had the advantage, too, when it came to like throwing events over a lot of my artist friends, because artists always try to make the shit about them versus just creating an experience where everybody else has a great time not realizing that you can make them have a great time. They're going to just keep coming back to you off of that strength. They're going to want to be around you. But I was like, oh, no, I just want everything sitting around me in the stage and they thought was too much on that side of it. Yeah, man, I'm just going to say that. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Like that for real, for real, like, especially if you aren't even strong in the show game, so make it about the fan. How can you make them have an amazing experience, regardless of you being there? And then how do you integrate your goals and your your project or your narrative into a dope experience? Yes, yes, yes. Thank you for breaking that down. Like I always say with the marketing when it comes to an event, especially for a new artist, you want to treat your marketing with that three to four weeks, man, you want to treat it like a project rollout. Like think of it as you're rolling out a single. You're rolling out your EP, you're rolling out an album, a mixtape. So pretty much you have, you know, you announce it and then every week you get something else added on and something else being added on and something else being added on like some people. OK, so the first week, it may be a giveaway being done, you know, so we can get some more followers so we can get more people looking or paying attention to the event. Next, you may announce like the special guest or the lineup, you know, and stuff like that. Then the following week up, you know, you may offer like may offer a giveaway, you know, for some merch or something like that. You know, for people that purchase the ticket as it gets nearer and nearer because people, a lot of people really purchase tickets as it gets closer to the event. Like I've noticed on me doing events because it might scare you, you know, when you personality, people realize, OK, what's the move? What's the move when it's like a day or two before the event? And that's when ticket sales are shoot up like that. So that's just my experience. And even if you want to do something like, you know, giving a discount, rolling out a discount code, certain things. So you kind of have to build up that anticipation really for people to buy and for people to say, hey, I've got to be there. So to DJ also's case, she I remember, you know, before she's dropped the flyer. She's dropped your promo video. She's announced like some special guests, you know, coming through and stuff like that. So it just builds on top of that anticipation like, all right, boom, like I've got to be there. And then whatever you do, as far as like your different announcements and your different rollout, make sure it all has the same colors, like the colors that you use in your buyer or your brand. And make sure they all have the same colors. Make sure they all have the same aesthetic. Make sure they all give out the same vibe. So that's pretty much just a couple of things to pay attention with the marketing. So OK. And then that goes back to, you know, using a graphic designer, things like that. And then I would say, of course, how do you pay for it? A lot of us ain't got no money. So how is it going to pay for all of this? So OK, this just starts off to say it's different. It just all depends on where you are. So some of us are some of you all may be just out starting. So it may be, of course, self-funded, which is typically ideal. For the first event curator, a lot of people, they sell been in slide. They may have a grab bag or something where people can sell items. You can you can pay a fee to people with your items in a gift bag, been in slides, even sponsorships, like whether it's a big or a small sponsorship. A lot of people will pay for, you know, just to have their logo on your flyer. Just to have their logo on a step and repeat. So you can sell that even to smaller brands, like local brands, smaller brands, your homie that has a photo line, stuff like that. And you can even package it for bigger brands, which, Portia Marie gets more into that of how to pitch to like a sponsorship. Pretty much getting your pitch deck, having those things already ready and then making face to face interactions with the sponsor reps that you want to meet. So I'll let her video explain that. I know she did talk about how she met Google and made their relationship. She already had her pitch deck everything ready top of the year. And then when and then she she knew that Google was having an event and she wanted to talk to a specific person. So that's when she made the connection. So she had a lot of events will make sure send me the specific ones like the video that you're talking about. And we could put those in the link in the description for anybody interested with checking her stuff out and understanding how to get that sponsor game together. Yep, yep, yep. And then even, even if it's not from friends, a lot of times we overlook a lot of people that are around us that want to invest in us. Like a lot of people think we have to get an investor like an actual investor, which that's cool too. But in a lot of cases, a lot of people around you are willing to invest in you. A lot of people that believe in you are willing to invest in you. I've even had like my therapist. You know, she's seen me on Instagram and offered to, you know, want to invest just in return me advertising her brand. So it's just all about different conversations, all about different relationships that you make with people and people that most importantly believe in you. So. Interesting. Interesting. Have you ever like heavily needed to get investment for one of your events? Definitely. I mean, a lot of my events coming up, hopefully after this virus pass by, I'm going to get some, definitely going to get some investments. Hopefully let's keep our fingers crossed for the most part for my events. I do use vendors and I do use sponsors, like people that want to just pay to put their logos on things. So that's really been starting out for like my event so far. So. Which one do you think is easier? Like for someone who just really don't get it. Vending is always going to be easier people. You have people that always want to sell that sell so many things that sell art that sell clothes right around you, even charging like, you know, $50, you know, stuff like that where they can come and get a set up. If you get so many people, then that's going to probably pay for like the DJ, you know, pay for certain places. And then I just want to talk about just the places that we, that people tend to have events too. A lot of these are built off of relationships because I used to have artists in the bar and gallery, you know, for free at no cost in the beginning to really build my following or, you know, a lot of the artists that were on my shows. And then a lot of people just think, you know, you got to have like some fancy place. Like a lot of people, I've seen people have, have events in Airbnb. I've seen people have events in like restaurants, you know, where a restaurant, where it's a bar and they have just the area with the stage, you know, go and talk to people and say like, hey, you know, I'm looking to bring business to your, to your facility. I have a crowd of people that like to drink, they like to eat. I think this will be a really good vibe. It was what I'm trying to do. If you just go talk to people a lot of times, especially as a smaller artist, like it's no point for you to go and rent a masquerade. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like it's no point for you to try to reach out to out five, when you're not bringing, you know, no more than 50 people, you know what I'm saying? So in a lot of places, I've literally seen so many, like I've seen, I've been to an event by a lake before, like all types of stuff where people just really get creative, you know? So, you know, just as long as that sound right. Now that's a big tip. That's a big tip. Because also, like, you don't have to even, it doesn't have to feel like, oh, I don't, I can't hit a certain number, right? When you have it in different environments, it just feels like a whole different aesthetic, a whole different type of like vibe where people aren't necessarily even expecting that show feel, hey, you got to bring out numbers. It just feels like you did something creative and different. Hey, man, when you have a fun, if you're having fun, you're there with the right people. It won't even care how many people, you know? You know what I'm saying? Yeah. And then another thing, the most important thing I want to get, just what artists know about is just like your ticketing or just how to more so get in touch or keep in touch with the people that come. So definitely a great way to do would be, of course, Eventbrite, which is pretty much a app that everyone uses, no matter what city they go to, typical travelers, especially in Atlanta, where people are always coming here. People tend to just get on Eventbrite and find events or find things to do. They'll look for something to do. Yeah. The Splash is another ticketing app where you kind of can design the feel of your ticket. So basically, it's like you can create like a mini website for the event. Which one would you go with and why? Because I've always wanted, like why people choose to go with Splash that versus, yeah, versus Eventbrite and vice versa. I've actually personally never used Splash because of how I hear that they do the payout. I hear the payout is different, but I think Splash is very dope to give an aesthetic or to give a direct feel of your event because it does give you like a temporary website feel where you can put juice and you can put customized photos and you can customize your layout so that people can directly see, you know, or understand a breakdown or just the overall feel. It goes into that marketing of like what they're going to, and you can see it just directly before purchasing. And that's the best thing to make people one of five. But I use Eventbrite because I love that Eventbrite has an email blast included with it. So with people that sign up for your past events, you can be able to invite them to feature events. They can get an invite to their email. You can be able to get a reminder. You can be able to email them updates. Like if you say, hey, if you plan to come part here, don't forget to bring XYZ or wear a dress or, you know, you can, it's more convenient for me. I haven't really tried Splash. Another app that people are using are the Dice app, which I'm seeing you can connect your phone number to it. And it has something to do with like their playlist. So it can pretty much like see what type of life. I believe you can like share music and things like that. And you can pay directly through like, because you can send a ticket directly through your phone. And you can pay through like Apple Pay and stuff. So I'm really still looking through Dice, the Dice app. Okay. I haven't heard that one. People are using that. I know DJ also uses that for her bounce that parties. Okay. Yup. And then some people take cash, which that's fine too. The point that I'm just trying to say about keeping track of who all comes is that there need to be some sort of email list. Of everybody that comes. So you can say thank you afterwards. So you can stay updated with them. So take that email list and export it up, upload it to MailChimp. What is it called? Mad Mimi. One of those email blast servers so that you can have a newsletter and then you can stay just in contact with people that came to these events and they can stay in contact with you. And a lot of people are even taking it a step further and getting a text blast. So I have views like Hobb now. So they directly, I can text people when I have events. So that's helped a lot because I'll text them like a day before just to remind them. And even we, the Ryan Leslie video that you have on here and where he also talked about, you know, the super phone. So a lot of people are, a lot of artists are starting to do that. So they can directly text their fan base or their following and let them know everything that they have coming up. Okay. So last one. Recap videos. That's the most important. People forget to get these so much because we don't know unless we see it. We don't know unless we see it. Dang, we missed out on a dope event. How we know we don't see it. Okay. So you get this event and your next one, and you get a little bit of information about the event. You are talking about. Recasters. It, those new vendors or sponsors or whoever apart. Okay. So what are they going to have to go off that you have. Successfully been in that you can bring out numbers. So recaps are always important because content is just key. Nowadays, especially for IGTV. Um, I do TV is now going to start monetizing like how YouTube is. comment. It's about to be a lot of content to get his down to. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yep. So, yep. Those are my steps for the artists looking to have their shows. All right. So, one thing I'll say about that recap video thing is, like, that's, it's so serious. All right. When I first really started doing events that I was taking seriously, the first event, it was, I didn't have nothing. Like, you couldn't have told nobody it happened. It just, it never happened, basically. We had no way to advertise it. I was like, this is crazy. And I was like, all these people, like, hit up your homies, nobody really had as anything. So then the second time, I was like, I'm gonna invite a whole lot of photographers, videographers, all that stuff. And we did have stuff, right? And I have to say, I just wanted to hire them to make a video. And we, we had a lot more, right? Well, a lot more. We had way more than zero. But the issue then was that it still didn't fully communicate what moment was trying to communicate, right? That incomplete energy. So, one, make sure you do get a recap, but go further than just saying, hey, you want photos and, hey, I want to recap. Because the third time, I got super specific. I know the path of my event, I know when certain rooms are going to open up. I know what certain environments are going to be like. So the third time, I'm like, all right, bro, at this time, I need you to be here. I'm giving them a vision of what I really want to recap to look and feel like, make them understand the energy of the event. And then that time, like, it was like, it was a true itinerary, almost, almost like directing, directing a film before it happened, putting that level of energy into it. Product, the outcome was so much better. And you can get the energy of how different the event was from the video. Like, so it goes from, for me, my path was like, literally nothing. Okay, bro, how am I going to even advertise this already happened already. Then, but it just felt like any other regular old event, it didn't feel different until from, and then to the third time where I got super specific. And finally, the videographers got it right. So yeah, don't, don't just do the recap. I go like get specific about your vision that you're putting off. So it's communicated on the back end. But appreciate your tea cup. Can you go over those seven, just a quick summary? Again, like just say where they were one through seven. Okay, got you. So basically, first is to research. Okay, get some friends, get some close ones. Okay, always invite those people out first. Concepts. So think, sit on a concept, get some inspiration, read some books, go out and experience life, make up a concept. Okay, definitely pay for it. That was one. The marketing, that was another one. Tickets, that was one. And then recap. That was four. That was four. Hold up. So way one, you said that was one like two, three times. I lost track. Oh, that was one, like that was another one. So, so research, friends, concept, paying for it, marketing, ticket sales, and visuals. But all right, but appreciate you. That was dope. Yes, everybody is another link up. Again, we have tea cup. Make sure y'all follow her, you know, go get gained from her, you know, pay her if you got something you could pay her for, hit her up for a consultation or something like that. And appreciate you. 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