 Welcome to the wide world of eSports, a show devoted to all things eSports. I'm your host, Catherine Norr. Today, my guest is Adam Donarski, and we're talking about eSports networking, making industry connections. Welcome, Adam. Yeah, happy to be here. Thanks, Catherine. So I think many of our viewers know what it's like when they put their game down for a moment and think, okay, maybe I could do something in the eSports industry in my career, and how do I make those connections? Was there a time that you thought that? Yeah. For me, it was about a year ago today, actually just my wife ended up getting a job that we moved to Washington DC for, and it's something that she's super passionate about in the sports industry. And seeing her develop that passion for sports and getting into that field, it really made me think internally what I wanted to do, and then I started looking a lot more deeply into different avenues that I could pursue within eSports, which is something that I'm super passionate about. So just even as somebody who's been very involved in watching a lot of eSports and competitive gaming, when you get into it, there's a lot more opportunities available than I even realized when I first started digging into it. So where did you relocate from? Originally from Crookston, Minnesota, and then we worked in Grand Fork, North Dakota, which is about 20 miles away from there. So right there in the upper Midwest, right next to Canada. Okay, so did you feel that Washington DC was a better potential location for an eSports career? I definitely did when I moved here. I thought, you know, Washington DC, it's kind of a melting pot. It's got everything, but as I kind of dug into it, a lot more opportunities within eSports that I found in ways where Dallas is a huge hub anywhere down in Texas and Los Angeles, California are a little bit more populated within the eSports industry. But, you know, there's definitely opportunities out here that I found when I started networking with it. Monumental has a 2K league and an NHL team. The Washington Justice is an overwatch league team here in DC. And then I'm actually interning at a place that does youth eSports game gems. So those are kind of like the three major ones that I found in DC. So, you know, I'm sure everyone's wondering, and we'll provide the answer before we move on. Did you actually find a job in the eSports industry? Yeah, so good news there. I just actually got a job offer that I am planning to accept when we get the contract all drawn up. So it's been a successful journey for me. Okay, so let's dive into that journey. What were your first? Well, let's talk about your background. So what you had to work with in terms of your skills. Where did you come from in your education and work experience? Yeah, definitely. So I went to University of North Dakota, which is right in Grandport. And I went from there to work for Pepsi actually full-time. I've been there for seven years now. So I started as a driver and then about a year and a half in. I was kind of targeted when they switched their plant system. It was brought to a few more salesmen on the team and a little less frontline workers or merchandise as we call them. But so they added a couple of sales roles. And I was targeted from our plant managers, somebody who could excel in that role because I had already proven myself as a valuable asset on the delivery team. So I was able to move into that sales role. And then I really kind of took off from there, was in that role for only six months until another opportunity came available in the same sales team there. Sales relief is what that was called. So main jobs there were covering the sales routes when people were on vacation. And in that role, my plant manager at the time really kind of took me under her wing and showed me a lot of the logistics and everything that kind of went on behind the scenes instead of just the front line work. So that was a really important role in my development, just learning all that kind of goes into creating a sales deck, building partnerships with different gas stations and places within our territory that would be our business partners. So that was super rewarding. And then I took that job to be promoted to a sales efficient leader, which is our territory's small format manager. So I oversaw six different people on our team and just we, I took that over right in the beginning of 2020. So it was right at the beginning of COVID. So it was a tough time for everybody, but getting a whole new role and kind of getting tasked with a bunch of new things all at once, it was a lot to take in. But we were able to improve metrics as far as servicing our customers and making sure that we were completing all the steps in our premier process. And we were able to increase sales across the entire territory that first year at the end of it, we do annual contracts and we were able to complete those annual contracts with a hundred percent renewal rate across our territory in the fastest amount of time that we had ever done it in our plant's history. So that was a really impressive feat that we were able to kind of overcome as a team. And then so I was in that role up until we moved out here to DC just last August. And in that time, I was able to become the top salesman in our DMV area throughout our Columbia plant. And currently in 2022, I had my route is up 40% versus prior year in total volume. And it equates to about 500, about positive in revenue from last year. So just a lot of really impressive things that I've been able to do in my career. And I was able to put that down on paper and be able to back it up on a resume. So really rewarding seven years and definitely something that I take a lot of pride in. So when you looked at your skills and how you had developed, what was your target in terms of the type of jobs that you felt in the eSports industry that would, where you would excel? Yeah, definitely the first thing that came to mind was brand partnerships and sponsorships just because of my sales background, kind of building a relationship with customers, really learning from customer one to two what makes their business thrive and what makes this one thrive. So it's not just kind of a blanket statement or a blanket contract that fits everybody. It's making sure that you kind of sit down with the business owners and create that relationship and make sure that you're making the right business decision for myself and for your company as well. So brand partnerships is definitely something that stood out to me. And then just a personal thing, gaming operations just always sounded like something that I would really thrive at. So that's another area that I really targeted and gaming operation just kind of includes that background and stuff that I was kind of alluding to in my sales relief role that I kind of learned at Pepsi. And I really liked numbers and logistical things within routing and stuff like that. So within gaming operations, that's more of booking flights and getting hotels ready and making sure the players have their jerseys and stuff like that. So it's definitely a different industry to get into but I've networked with a couple of people that do that for their career and they say, it takes a special somebody but if that's what you wanna do then there's a new port in the sports industry. So that's another area that I've definitely looked into as well. So Adam, how important is making connections and networking when you're looking to enter a new industry? I think it's very important. I don't think, obviously your background in your experience and your personality all that kind of comes into play but I think networking is something that's very, very important. And when I first started, I definitely underutilized and my wife actually was somebody who kind of brought me down that path to realizing that using LinkedIn is a great tool. Just getting connections and following up those people and making sure that you're staying kind of in their mind when they know that, hey, this guy that I just met seems like a really great guy. He's got this impressive background and I just heard about this job that came up. Maybe that's something that I could send this person as a reference. So it's just those little things and with something like eSports where it's kind of very tight-knit community and it seems like a lot of people know everybody. If you get your name out there and you kind of present, hey, I'm looking for this, maybe at that point, that person doesn't know anything that's available but maybe a month or a year later, you're keeping up with that person and a role and opportunity comes available when they think of you because you kept up that networking and that relationship. Sure, you know, LinkedIn is really fundamental to being a working person and a professional in any industry. I started, you know, it's been years. I started working on LinkedIn over 10 years ago and over time and putting a lot of time into it. I now have the maximum 30,000 connections and I had to actually just every single day work on it and back then you were not allowed to connect with people you didn't know, but I did anyway and I got kicked off quite a few times for doing that. I don't think they do that anymore but now I think you can connect with anyone but it was pretty interesting. You know, building that 30,000 was quite a, took many, many hours and I would say when you look at my 30,000 I would say a lot of them are in the sports industry. More recently I've added eSports industry people and when you get the limit you actually have to start unconnecting with people so that you can keep adding to them. So it's kind of an interesting process and also keeping your information, your profile updated but LinkedIn is amazing because you can put articles and so many things in there. You can write like, it's like a blog post you can actually take classes on there and you can get certifications. Have you ever done anything beyond just the, kind of networking and connections part, Adam? I just wanted to say it's a first for me here and that somebody almost got banned or did get banned from LinkedIn. I didn't know that was a thing. So congratulations on that. That's pretty impressive I think. But I personally haven't done a lot of posting outside of just kind of like updates on my life as far as kind of business goes. I try to keep that a lot more professionally just down to that but I do know I just attended the ESTA event in Chicago and I was speaking to somebody there who she said kind of at the beginning of COVID she started taking articles that were being posted on Esports and just saying, putting her two cents in, reposting that, putting her little blurb on top of it and she actually had people reach out and her trying to get into the Esports industry and say like, hey, you're like an Esports expert can you help me on this or what do you think about this? And she really was just putting her opinion down and so when people started seeing that it was just something that they knew that she had the finger on the pulse of and that's another way that you can show that you're passionate about it and that you do know what you're talking about because people are reading it especially if you got 200 connections or if you got 30,000. Anybody that you're connected with they see that stuff when they're scrolling through so that they continuously see your name and see that you're giving your two cents on stuff that's another great tool. Sure and you know what's interesting is that I have people message me about Esports and what I do in my responses do you want to be on my show? Like I don't want to buy your product but do you want to be on my show and I've gotten a lot of guests that way. I don't really know how many but maybe 50% of my guests are from LinkedIn contacts and it works out pretty well that way. So let's move in. You mentioned the ESTA Esports Trade Association which I'm also a member and that's how I think you ended up being on the show is my connection with you on one of the happy hours. Tell me how important do you think an association membership is in connecting with other people in the industry? Yes, absolutely. Very, very influential for me and important. That was a kind of funny story. Megan Van Petten, who is the co-founder CEO she's everything there. I mean, she's the MVP for a reason but she was somebody that I found on LinkedIn just connected with her and she said like, hey, yeah, I'd love to chat. So I got a call with her scheduled and this was in late December and I remember because I was home for Christmas. So I wrote on the way to see my wife's grandmother. So we were kind of heading out shortly after the call but I remember specifically asking about the coffee connections, just what kind of is that? And she just, she just raved about and said, it's just an hour where we sit down and just introduce people. And that's really all it is. But it's the little things that come out of that are just, they can bloom into something else. Great. So that's the first thing I did was that following Wednesday was the first one that I attended in January. And I haven't missed one since. It's every first Monday and then they do other virtual things throughout the week, throughout the months. But that membership has been very important to me. My wife actually just became a member two, three months ago now. But it's just great. Just meeting all the people that are in the industry, learning more about different roles that are in the industry and what different people are doing. It's just been a great, great tool for me to get to know more people. And then I've had a couple of people from there just reach out to me after the meetings and say, hey, I'm not sure if I have anything right now, but I would like to keep in touch. Maybe something will come up down the line. So, the ESCA has been a backbone of kind of the things that I've used to keep up with people and keep my finger on the pulse as I've said a few times now, but just on what's going on in eSports and kind of what people are doing and learning a little bit more about the industry as a whole instead of just the top level of professional gaming. We got Freddy with Think Techie, or Techie Factory, sorry, not Think. I got the Think Techie LIA on my screen. So that's where they came up to you. But doing a lot of things with kids, doing a lot of things in the collegiate space. James Hess with Encore, they're doing a lot of events and lighting and audio visual. So there's just so much within the eSports space that I've learned through my membership at ESDA. Yeah, you've just named about three people that have been guests on my show. Freddy, James Hess, and Megan have all been guests. And definitely I would have to say that's really valuable in whatever industry you're in. Look at what associations you can be a member of. But you can't just be a member. You have to actually be active in that membership. You talk about attending the virtual happy hour, or coffee breaks or whatever. Unfortunately, they're 4 a.m. at my time. But what I've got to do is I've got to rally and get up at 3.30 a.m. and attend one of those because I missed them. They used to have more of a happy hour one. Which was later in the day. It was late for you guys. It was still early for me, but that was really perfect. But there's another aspect of associations and that is being involved and being a member of committees. I'm a member of the Education Committee for ESTA. Have you become a member of any committees, Adam? Yeah, I was actually on the Events Committee up until about the middle of July. Because at first I wasn't going to be able to attend the ESTA event in Chicago. So Megan was like, well, I kind of feel like maybe if you're not going to be attending the event, you won't want to be planning something that you won't be attending. So she kind of felt bad that I was like planning something so spectacular and then wouldn't be able to make it. I didn't end up making it. But I was on the Events Committee for three, four months and then just recently I got transitioned over to the Membership Committee. So just kind of started that one. We just had our very first meeting that I was a part of a few weeks ago now. So yeah, definitely to your point, getting involved. Being a member is one thing that looks great, but I think getting involved in, like I said, I've made every topic connection, but maybe if you can, if it doesn't work out for your time and you end up having a meeting then, just whatever you can do if you can pop in for 15 minutes, say hello, say what you're doing in the space and get a quick connection that way and then catch up with that person later on. Anything you can do, try to stay involved is just definitely a great thing, but the committees are above and beyond and so far they've been very rewarding, just learning kind of from all the brilliant minds in the space, especially on that Events Committee. James Hess, I've mentioned him again, but he was thinking about 10 different things when they were only thinking about one because he's done it so many times. So just getting that knowledge from people who have done it and are doing it at a very high level is another really great reason to join a committee. Yeah, I've learned a lot from being a member of an association. Actually, before my primary association, I'm a member of this International Association of Insurance Professionals and I've been a member of that since 2002 and I've learned a lot about leadership. I was president, I was regional vice president and had a lot of opportunities and being on the board of directors and chairing different committees and running meetings. You gain skills from these associations that you may not be able to gain from working at a company and you can apply those skills when you, in your job. And one thing that if you have high expectations and in terms of where you're going to be within the company that you are working, getting that boardroom experience and that leadership experience directly can relate to the skills you'll need for those positions. What skills do you feel that you're gaining from being a member of eSports Trade Association? It's a really good question. I would think, just knowing that I'm not the expert in the room on all things and taking advice from everybody else within the room, that's one thing that has been super helpful for you learn that this person knows what audio visual they're gonna need at the event and then this person knows how it has to be set up and just kind of taking all that information in and definitely putting in your two cents and trying to get your voice heard and showing different people that you know what you're talking about as well but knowing that if you suggest something maybe somebody else has a different way to do it that is a better idea and making sure that you're kind of hearing everybody and taking everybody's voice into account. I think it's one thing that has been super, super valuable in being a part of the ESTA. And the relationships that you build, they can really be turned into friendships and or business relationships. It's amazing. And then a lot of organizations have awards that they, you know, that they issue or opportunities like eSports Trade Association has that elevator pitch contest. So there's those kind of opportunities that you can't get in other places but you've also mentioned that you've done and or you're actually currently doing an internship. Tell us about that. Yeah, so I started, it's game gym. It's a local youth eSports club here in DC. They have a few different locations where they run summer camps throughout the year. They also run a collegiate league, the MAEC, the Mid-Atlantic eSports Conference. So last year they just did Rocket League and League of Legends, but this year they're adding Overwatch and Valorant. So they run a bunch of different things and the main thing that I got started on in February was their championship weekend in February, the spring summit. So I came on about a month before that and I was tasked with building donations for that, which then they used and they donate to Children's National here in DC. So they've been doing that for about three years, now I believe. And so I came on and helped that. We were able to raise over 4,000 for Children's National, which was awesome. And then over that weekend, I actually was doing some social media stuff for them, doing a lot of clipping of the content. I did all the legal editing stuff. So if you ever saw any of that on Twitter, that was all me clipping that. So it was kind of cool. That was my first experience with that. And then lately throughout the summer, I helped with their summer camps. So working with their camp director, building their curriculum for their coaches. So basically if you're a kid, usually ages like eight to 14 is kind of their target range. They kind of bring you in for a week and it's basically a summer camp but focused around video games, but not just sitting down and playing video games for eight hours a day. They do a holistic approach. They do a lot of stretching. They kind of get your mind right. They have like little class sessions. So we did a few different ones that I kind of helped build up the curriculum for with the meta versus one, just listening was one, just kind of some simple stuff, a little bit more advanced on other ones, but kind of depending on like the campers for that week. And they really focus on gaming and helping kids game a lot more, like I kind of said, holistically and making sure that they're healthy while they're gaming. And it's just been a super rewarding experience. The guys and girls over there are just super awesome to work with. And if I was a kid, summer camps for games just sounds like a perfect thing for me. So it was kind of a really easy fit when Josh reached out to me and asked me to kind of come on as an intern. So I was very appreciative of that. And my whole time there has been nothing but spectacular. How much time have you devoted each week to that internship? I would say a little bit less than five hours probably. It kind of varies when I first came on and was doing the donations, building up to that, reaching out to people and trying to get the donations in for their spring summit. That was a lot more, I mean, not a ton more, but that was pretty consistently about five hours a week. Now lately tracking sponsorship metrics and things like that are just kind of something that I do on my Sunday morning routine. So it's just a couple hours a week. It's not too overbearing. Sure. And the great thing about internships is you're not only gaining experience, but you're creating relationships. And sometimes an internship can turn into a full-time paid job or even a part-time paid job. So I see the value in that. But then there is also volunteering in the eSports industry. Have you done that aside from your internship? Yeah, actually, eSports Insider was here in DC and it was through the Game Gym internship that I was able to volunteer at that event. And that event was awesome. It was just super rewarding, super great to get to meet a lot of different people that a lot of them are in the ESTA as members. So that was kind of the first place I got to meet a few of them as well as just other people that are in the eSports space that I had never really met with before but had linked in message before and just getting to know them face to face is just something that's, you know, you can't really beat. So that was super great. They just asked Game Gym, hey, do you guys have any volunteers? We'd like to get a few people to come work at our booths and work at our check-in desk. And I raised my hand right away. And that was one thing that I really, really recommend to anybody kind of looking to break in. I know a lot of people say volunteering is a huge thing. And if you can make it work, I definitely recommend it because I worked at the check-in desk and that was a great spot for me because I was trying to get into the industry. So I got to see everybody as I came in and introduced myself and say, hey, I'm Adam Bernerski from this where we messaged earlier or from ESEA Coffee Connections. So just being able to be in front of people was very, very rewarding. So I was very happy to do that. Yeah, that's the secret to be at the registration desk of any, when you volunteer, always volunteer for the registration desk if you have an opportunity to, or if you want an opportunity to meet a lot of people or you volunteer for something where you know that everyone will have to come up and talk to you. So that's really clever. And you know what I found and you kind of alluded to this in relation to ESTA is attending conferences. I've attended many conferences in different industries and it's a great way to meet people. And during COVID, there were a lot of conferences that were virtual and now they have hybrid conferences. So you don't want to have to travel to the place. And what I can tell you that the first guest on the show in 2020 was Major General Frank Muth of the Army, US Army Esports and I met him when he spoke at a virtual conference. Oh, awesome. Did you feel like when you attended the ESTA conference or other conferences that you were able to make meaningful connections in the industry? Yes, absolutely a hundred percent. I've attended three conferences in the last four months, I want to say, I went to PAX East which isn't really a conference necessarily but I took it as one and I really focused on kind of hitting all the panels in the break rooms that did have Esports teams and just people in the industry in those rooms. So I was able to meet a few of the team members from Evil Geniuses from the Boston breach. So I used that opportunity for there and then like I mentioned the ESIDC and ESTA. And then those panelists that were speaking at those just going up to them afterwards and kind of putting the name to the face. But yeah, it's definitely something that I recommend. ESCA was able to meet with a couple of people that I'd been messaging for and just applied and interviewed for a role within their company. So I think that's another way to set yourself apart is you have a resume that might look great but when you kind of can present yourself in real life it just really changes their perspective on reading a few really good words about you and then seeing that, hey, this guy really is a really great person, I think you'd be a great asset to our team. So definitely 100%. Sure, and I met fatality of a pretty famous Esports athlete when I spoke at a conference we were on the same panel at Casino Esports Conference and after our panel he showed me the virtual fishing pond and taught me how to fish. But anyway, it's been such a pleasure, Adam, my congratulations on using all of your networking skill and making connections to get a job in the industry. Yeah, thank you so much and thank you for having me. It's been a very fast half hour and I really appreciate the time and if anybody wants to connect with me or anything like that, definitely shoot me a message. I'm always willing to talk and see what other people are doing in the industry. Terrific and thank you to our viewers for joining us today next week. My guest will be, actually it's in two weeks, my guest will be Jamar Monta Hermoso. We'll be discussing partnering with government in promoting Esports. See you then. Thank you so much for watching Think Tech Hawaii. If you like what we do, please like us and click the subscribe button on YouTube and the follow button on Vimeo. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn and donate to us at thinktechhawaii.com. Mahalo.