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Behind the scenes stories, experiences and lessons shared by the world's leading event experts. Hosted by Christian Napier.
S1E2 - Beverly Carey
Christian | August 21, 2023 | Organizational history and stories
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Speaker A This is Event Masters. Behind the scenes stories,
experiences, and lessons shared by the world's leading
event experts, hosted by Christian Napier.
Speaker B Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of Event
Masters. And today's amazing guest is Bev Carey. We'll
get into her experience here, which is vast, in just a
moment.
Speaker C But before we do, Bev, how are you doing?
Speaker A I'm doing fantastic. It's great to see you.
Speaker B Well, it's great to see you as well. And it's been a
minute since we last spoke, but I really appreciate you
carving out the time to share your experience with us.
Speaker C And speaking of that experience, let me just kind of go
through the bio
Speaker B of Bev because she's amazing. She's worked every Olympic
games, I think since the Salt Lake 2002 games. So
running through Beijing 2022. 2022 World Athletic
Championships, which were held in Eugene, Oregon, last
year. The 2021 Olympic Team Trials.
Speaker C Track and field.
Speaker B 2016 invictus Games. 2015 Special Olympics World Games.
FIFA World Cup, US
Speaker C Open Tennis Championships, and then Major League
Speaker B Baseball, the Atlanta Braves and American football, the
National Football League, Super Bowls, a couple of
those. As well as working directly for some
Speaker C really high profile famous brands like Reebok.
Speaker B Adidas, Target, SoulCycle, and Smuckers. Bev, I've known
you for a long time. You've done a lot of different
things in these events.
Speaker C We're going to talk about these, but
Speaker B focus on integrated, complex strategic planning, major
Speaker C event operations, operational readiness, incident and
crisis management planning.
Speaker B Facilitation, you've got all kinds of certifications.
Speaker C From FEMA, which is in the US.
Speaker B It's the Federal Emergency Management Institute,
including special events, contingency planning, and
emergency program management certifications. Proficient
in workshop design and delivery. Attended the Royal
Academy of Dramatic Arts in London while working for the
London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Organizing committee
for the 2012 Games.
Speaker C Bev is super passionate about connecting with
Speaker B people, connecting audiences with mission, brand and
Speaker C celebration, and believes that major events have
Speaker B the power to create transformative action. And I think
that's one of the
Speaker C reasons we're in these careers.
Speaker B Bev is also an avid runner. Marathon finisher. I
couldn't even start one.
Speaker C A reader, learner traveler driven by what I like
Speaker B I love this in your biography, Purposeful
Accountability. Beverly is the director of Women in
Sport and Events. The acronym is WISE within the Atlanta
chapter membership program.
Speaker C So it is my honor to welcome
Speaker B you, Bev, to our humble podcast today.
Speaker C How are you?
Speaker D Thank you. I'm great. That's quite a greeting. I don't
know if it ages me or makes me tired, but thank you for
that. That was fun.
Speaker B Oh, that was a lot of fun. Maybe the place to start with
all of that is at the beginning, because we all had our
different ways and our different paths into getting
involved in this crazy industry, the major event
industry. And so what was your story?
Speaker C How did you get involved in this weird business?
Speaker D Yeah, honestly, it was sort of a lightning in a bottle
moment or incident. And I started out working in
advertising. So I was in Boston, I went to Boston
University and I was working there happily in
advertising for Hill Holiday. And I was doing a lot of
Speaker A print production advertising and kind of bouncing
Speaker D through and enjoying life, really. And we had an
opportunity to work. One of my clients, or the accounts
I was working on was John Hancock, and they at the time
were a TOP sponsor of the Olympic program.
Speaker A And when the Games were in Sydney
Speaker D we were able to do a little bit of the print production
for some of the John Hancock promotional things that
would be in Sydney. And it was really cool for me. I
just felt this sort of connection to sport and to the
Olympic movement. And I had grown up in figure skating,
which obviously has a huge Olympic piece to it, and
everybody's focused on the Olympic Games, even if you're
nowhere near going, which would have been me in that
case, but it was still enough that I spent most of my
growing up years on an ice rink. And so I just started
to get a little bit of this pull. And very luckily for
me, the next Olympic Games were in Salt Lake in 2002 in
my home country. And there happened to be an internship
that I had learned about that was end figure skating and
short track speed skating. And I thought, that's a long
shot, but I'm going to give it a go and just see if I
can
Speaker A even get a connection with someone and
Speaker D was able to get that internship. And it was a real kind
of like, all right, which way do we go? Direction,
because it was unpaid and it was very clear this is
going to be unpaid all the way through the Games, but
we'd love to have you
Speaker A if you're interested in doing it.
Speaker D And so it was just a no brainer. I quit my job and I
drove across the country and just sort of into the hands
of this amazing sports team for figure skating and short
track within that OCOG. And I embraced it and I said,
whatever they tell me to do, if it's pick up trash, I'm
picking up trash. If it's like, whatever, I'm in. And
very luckily, I ended up getting hired into the OCOG a
few months in, so I got very lucky with that and took a
chance and it happened to work.
Speaker A So it was fun.
Speaker B All right, we need to unpack this a little bit. First of
all, you said, oh, well, I enjoy figure skating, but I
was nowhere near the level of Paul. Okay, well, it's a
very small percentage, but you were no slouch when it
comes to the figure skating. And in fact, if I recall
correctly, you'll have to again, correct me if I'm wrong
here.
Speaker D I will do.
Speaker C You were actually invited to participate in
Speaker B the ceremonies at Salt Lake 2002 because you were such a
good skater.
Speaker D Right, right. Yeah, that sort of did happen. It was
literally just because I could stand up and do multiple
crossovers at once. But we were skating. Actually a good
friend of mine who you may have on this podcast Michelle
Thornberry was on the venue side for the ceremonies, and
there was an open ice there that we were literally just
all skating on this amazing Olympic ice that would be
for the opening ceremony. Just checking it out, making
sure it's working, getting people on it. And so, of
course, I took that opportunity to go throw my skates
on. And so, yeah, there was a moment of like, Why aren't
you doing this?
Speaker A And it was because I was doing
Speaker D the other side of it, on the other side of the ice. So,
yeah, it was sort of a funny moment.
Speaker A But, yeah, skating was great.
Speaker D I mean, it taught me so many
Speaker A things about the way I am in
Speaker D my career now and passion for sport and even teamwork
and all that stuff. It was a great sport to be a part
of, but, yeah, it is the few and far between that are at
that level.
Speaker B Well, I want to get into the teamwork aspects and some
of that in a moment, but coming back to your entry into
this industry, you mentioned you're
Speaker C working for John Hancock, and you make this decision to
leave a paid position and go for an internship. I mean,
that can't necessarily be an easy decision.
Speaker B What was going through your mind as
Speaker C you were contemplating whether or not to
Speaker B take this opportunity to actually forego potentially a
career, well paying job, to going into something that
had maybe a little
Speaker C bit of uncertainty associated with it?
Speaker D Yeah, it certainly did. I don't know. I think there's
something about uncertainty that attracts me, and the
challenge of it seemed interesting, and it was just one
of those things of, like, I can't not be part of this.
That's not happening. Right.
Speaker A So what are the alternatives to that
Speaker D not happening is just doing it and figuring it out. And
I think there were probably more questions of my family
when I told them that I was quitting this job and going
across country. They supported me, of course, but I
think that there were some people thinking, what is she
doing? But I never looked back. And it didn't even need
to become a regret because it worked out so well. And I
think that's kind of driven me through the rest of this
crazy event. Career is just if the opportunity is there,
take it. You'll figure out the details, but just take
the opportunity, because they don't come
Speaker A around that often, and I think it was the right call in
the end.
Speaker B So why don't you explain a little bit what it was that
you were
Speaker C doing there at the Salt Lake Organizing Committee?
Speaker B SLOC, as we called it then, and then how you
transitioned out of you know, oftentimes people work an
Olympic Games
Speaker C and then that's it.
Speaker B It's kind of a one and done thing. And then they go back
to their regular careers. That was not the case for you.
So why don't you explain a little bit about the role
that you had.
Speaker C And then what you did after those games ended.
Speaker A Sure, yeah.
Speaker D So I kind of bounced around a little bit, honestly, when
I got into the OCOG. The first four organizing
committees, we have a series of test events that happen
in each venue prior to the Olympic Games going live. And
that gives us an opportunity to test all kinds of things
as a field of play and our volunteer system and just all
the things that make it happen. And so I did the Four
Continents, which was a figure skating championship, as
my first sort of at bat that was at the internship level
and worked with the sport team there. So sort of
everything to do with athletes feel to play, making sure
the volunteers around the sport piece, that the
technical officials, all of that have what they need and
everything is set.
Speaker A So I did that and then I
Speaker D think I did the very same thing for the curling test
event. It was just sort of figuring out where I'm going
to be here in this space. And I had an opportunity to do
a couple of things within the OCOG
Speaker A that were presented that just didn't feel
Speaker D like what I was there to do.
Speaker A And that was really to not only
Speaker D just be a part of that figure skating team, but to
experience things happening in the venue. That was
really what I was driven to. And so I ended up, when I
Speaker A was actually hired, we realized that with
Speaker D atraining venue for figure skating in short track,
because it had two sports in it and kind of high profile
sports, that we needed somebody there who could sort of
dedicate their time and their attention to what was
happening at the training venue.
Speaker A So I got in my mind very
Speaker D lucky in that I was on the sport team, but also had this
venue management component to this role and almost in a
really safe way because it was a little bit smaller. It
was a training venue. And I can learn all the nuances,
the ins and outs of how to run a venue, how to run a
venue team, all those functions coming together and yet
still having my hand in the sports side of it as well.
So that was the role for Salt Lake and I took that on
and really loved it. And the back of my mind I just
thought, this is a one and done.
Speaker A Like, how am I going to do this again?
Speaker D This is so hard to make happen anyway. And certainly the
Olympic Games obviously go country to country, and the
next games were Athens in 2004. And I thought, how would
I do that? But I want to figure out how. I want to keep
doing this if I can. And I knew that there were some
people who have been able to accomplish that.
Speaker A And I, through some people that I
Speaker D knew in Salt Lake that I had met, there was a company
called the Intercon Group that provided incident
management and more the operational readiness side of
how these big events come together. And they happen to
be based in
Speaker A Atlanta, which was my hometown.
Speaker D So I had an opportunity to work with them and go and do
some operational readiness in Athens. So I put on a new
hat, really, and that venue management piece and the
sport piece, all the having the opportunity to see a lot
of that in one go helped me be able to move into an
operational readiness role.
Speaker A And that's how I then got to
Speaker D go to Athens and did a couple of games under that, I
guess discipline and everyone is a battle. It's not
guaranteed that you can do the next one.
Speaker A So it's a lot of hustling, as
Speaker D you know very well, Christian, it's a
Speaker A lot of hustling at times.
Speaker C Well, tell me this.
Speaker B So you're kind of going from one organizing committee to
the next, maybe in different roles, like you mentioned,
operational readiness.
Speaker C There, but then you've got these brands, right?
Speaker B So working with sponsors, working with partners. So how
do you transition from working in an organizing
committee, doing operational readiness to working with
some of the world's biggest brands?
Speaker D Yeah, everything that I've done has always been because
of a relationship that I've built right with somebody,
whether it's in the OCOG or was part of just this
Olympic beast that comes together, whether they were
from a sponsor, from a federation, whatever it may be.
Building those relationships has been the key for me in
all those ways. And so I think coming out of, you know,
I worked under a venue general manager, Cecelia Palia,
many of you know, is a genius. She actually was working
for Reebok and had taken a leave to come and do the Salt
Lake Games. And so I was able to move into doing some
events for Cecelia and Reebok. And that taught me a
little bit
Speaker A more about how to look at this
Speaker D from the brand perspective and understanding that when
you're talking about a brand, you're
Speaker A really talking about an experience that's a
Speaker D little bit more intimate. The Olympic Games is this
massive thing and everybody's there for the sport and
Speaker A bringing the countries together and all that stuff.
Speaker D For a brand, it's really about promoting this brand. Is
it a service? Is it a product? What is it going to do?
How is it going to make someone's life better? Right?
And how can we integrate the people who are going to
hopefully be interested in this product with the product
in a way that's exciting, right?
Speaker A And so it's a bit of a
Speaker D mind shift there, but it really, for me, just solidified
that idea of the experience of everything, using all the
senses, right? Touching it, feeling it, smelling it,
whatever.
Speaker A It is, has the ability to move
Speaker D someone in a direction towards something. Right? So
looking at it from the brand perspective has helped me,
I think, just drill down a little bit more into why
we're doing this. So it's been cool to work with
Speaker A some of those bigger brands, and some
Speaker D of them are a lot more corporate right, than an OCOG or
an LOC. And so I've been happy to be able to generate
those skills that if I walk into a corporate environment
that
Speaker A I still feel pretty comfortable there. So that's been a
bonus.
Speaker B All right, I want to talk about these skills in a minute
because you
Speaker C were given and presented opportunities to work in many
different areas, and sometimes that can be scary.
Speaker B I'll just be completely honest. I remember working for
the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic bid, and I was
working with Event Knowledge Service at the time. Craig
McClatchey asked me if I would oversee the project,
dealing with government guarantees, getting all these
guarantees from the national
Speaker C government, the state governments, the local
governments, thinking to myself, I don't know squat
about guarantees.
Speaker B I'm not an attorney. I don't have a career working in
government. But for whatever reason, I'm like, okay,
sure, yeah, I'll do that. And I'm wondering what it is
that just allows you to say, yes, I
Speaker C can do this, to overcome any kind
Speaker B of limiting belief that says, well, I'm not really an
expert in this. I don't really deserve to do this, or
It's too scary for me to take on this kind of an
opportunity and learn something new, to learn about
doing operational readiness or working with these
brands. Of course, you had some experience with John
Hancock and so on and so
Speaker C forth, but you're getting asked to do new things,
working in new sports, working
Speaker B like with FIFA, with the Super Bowl, baseball.
Speaker C You've taken on a lot of different things in your
career, and it seems
Speaker B to me that you've been able to overcome any fears that
you may have
Speaker C possibly had to say, you know what? Yeah, I'm game.
Speaker A Let's go.
Speaker D Yeah, I mean, those fears are there every time, and
certainly anytime I make a shift. And I think there's
often a time where I'll come into something new and I
find myself really holding back and being an observer in
many ways.
Speaker A And I think that's a lot of
Speaker D it is just an insatiable desire to learn new things and
observe the way different things are done and not just
having one niche or one viewpoint of how things work.
And so there's always a fear I mean, I'm not going to
lie, that's present no matter what. And sometimes. It's
gotten the best of me, no doubt, and I've had to kind of
regroup and push forward again. But I think the bottom
line at the end of the day for me
Speaker A is about picturing the end result, and
Speaker D most of the time, I'm doing something that is event
related or has some kind of experience attached to it.
And so if you can envision the end result of what you're
trying to get to or what it looks like, then there are
some best practices to how to get there. And it sort of
doesn't matter what space you're in, there are nuances
to all those spaces. And I know every time I go into
something like this or something new, that there's
always going to be a subject matter expert there.
There's always somebody who knows that particular area
or that discipline or that industry or that vertical or
whatever it is. So well, that for me, as more of a
generalist. It's a little bit about learning from that,
listening to that, learning that vernacular, that
vocabulary, or whatever it is, but understanding that
there are some real best practices and some innovation
that we do with those best practices, but that we can
use those to get to the end result. So I guess that's
what I hold on to, and there's a confidence in having
done it a few times and been successful in the end that
you're
Speaker A going to figure it out for sure.
Speaker D As long as you're willing to open your mind to those
people who know
Speaker A more than you do.
Speaker B Well, I think that's a great example of a way, a method,
perhaps, of being able to overcome impostor syndrome,
right. Especially as a generalist where you feel
Speaker C like you're the jack of all trades.
Speaker B The master of none. And you're dealing with people who
have really deep expertise in certain areas. I want to
come back to you mentioned working with Cecelia. I want
to come back to some
Speaker C of the mentors that you had, the
Speaker B people that you worked with that you
Speaker C found particularly inspiring, that really helped propel
Speaker B your career to the next level. I know it's hard to name
names sometimes, but maybe you could just tell a few
stories about some of these
Speaker C people who really mentored you along the way.
Speaker D Oh, yeah, for sure. I mean, I've just really been lucky
in that way, and I've had mentors to push me and
challenge me and nurture me and all these things, and we
don't get anywhere without that, and we don't stand a
chance. So, I mean, from the beginning, yes, it was
Cecelia, it was Heather Linhardt Zhang who was on the
sports side. That whole team. Lori Morency Kune and
Katie Clifford and Kari Hart-Larson. I mean, all those
guys, those are family to me now, and they mentored me
not only in events, but in how we do events technically,
but also how we operate as a team and how we trust one
another and how now hold each other up. I think that was
one of the first biggest lessons I learned, is that
there really is space for all of us at the table, at any
table. And so it's about being able to find and pull out
of people the things that they're the best at. And I've
just had people who've done that really well for Know.
Darren Comer, who was with me at the Intercon Group, was
really one of the first people who was really tough on
me in terms of, you can push better than that. You can
do this, you can do that. Why are you questioning? Go
Speaker A You know, he was a very smart
Speaker D guy, and he taught me a lot of really cool things about
being in business and feeling more confident about we
would go into all these different, not only on the
sports side, whether it was US Open or the Atlanta
Braves, but we also did some work for the courthouse
here in Atlanta after a really big incident had happened
for them. And that was way out of my wheelhouse. I had
no business being there whatsoever. But between his sort
of confidence in us to be able to do it and in the
things that we have experienced and what we could impart
and just kind of watching the way he did it was really
inspiring.
Speaker A I think I really kept that and
Speaker D took that with me. I've had Michelle Thornberry, who was
in Salt Lake on the venue side, has brought me on, let's
see, at least two tours with Stars on Ice. So post the
Olympic Tour, we took all these, know, awesome Olympians
and medalists on the road to all these different so. You
know, I got to watch her, tell me how to live on the
road, how to be on a bus.
Speaker A How to do what you got to
Speaker D do in a venue to get ready for your day. When you're not
in a hotel, you're in a venue, all kinds of crazy
things. And it's just by watching that, you learn in
many ways. So that has been really great. I have peers
that are kind of on the same path with me. The Jacquie
Edmiston's, Hiam Katrib, all these people who I've
worked with shoulder to shoulder in many cases, but have
also taught me so many things that I would never have
known or seen or challenged me on certain things about
myself, about the way that I work. And so I think it's a
self reflection back on you when you're listening to
that and letting those things draw you forward. And so,
yeah, I've been able to have a lot of really good
mentors in this industry and in other industries as well
that aren't even in the
Speaker A event world that have really just sort
Speaker D of said, hey, here's some of the things that I think you
have the superpower in. And here are some areas where
you
Speaker A might be able to upskill a little
Speaker D bit and being able to listen to that upskill. It's not
always easy to hear that. You don't always love hearing
the things that maybe you're lacking in or you're
Speaker A not as strong in.
Speaker D But those to me, have been the most important where I've
spent a lot more time. The superpower almost comes
naturally.
Speaker A But the other stuff.
Speaker D I appreciate that I've had people who have been honest
with me and who have been helpful for me in taking those
next steps.
Speaker B Well, I appreciate you mentioning that sometimes people
think we should just focus on our strengths, but I think
it's important also for us to acknowledge our weaknesses
and focus on those and help turn those into strengths
with the help of other people.
Speaker C This is not an easy journey, as
Speaker B you have pointed out in our conversation.
Speaker C And the way that I've thought of these big events,
generally speaking, is it's
Speaker B Overcoming a series of impossible obstacles and
Speaker C meeting these impossible deadlines and delivering
anyway.
Speaker B I'm curious, in your experience, maybe you
Speaker C can share one or two stories of
Speaker B these challenges that you faced which you
Speaker C thought were these challenges are huge.
Speaker B Like there's no way we're going to actually pull this
event off, and yet
Speaker C you find a way, the team finds a way to make it happen
anyway.
Speaker B So why don't you share with us one or two of those kinds
of. Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker D I think, you know, probably the most recent stuff comes
to mind. And so last year I worked on the World
Championships Track and Field Athletic Championships in
Eugene, Oregon. And the challenge there is that it's
know, massive event. Obviously, it's going on right now
in Budapest. If anyone's tuning in, do so. It's super
exciting. And Budapest has built this for purpose venue,
which is really cool to see. And we had the same in
Oregon and Eugene with Hayward Field. The new Hayward
Field's been renovated. It's fit for purpose. It's track
and field from A to Z, and it just doesn't get better
than that. But Eugene is a college town. It's a small
town and you're bringing this global, massive event and
one that usually has far more space in every kind of
way, from the arrival at the airport to the hotels to
the venue itself, which all these things are fantastic,
and Eugene is a great place to be, but with this much
impact on that town, it was really one of those things
of are we even literally just going to have enough space
Speaker A to do this right?
Speaker D To put all the things that we need from the technical
aspects of the
Speaker A track and field event on the sports
Speaker D side to the broadcast piece, this massive broadcast
piece with nowhere to really put all of these trucks and
all this equipment and trying to keep people motivated.
A lot of people had not done
Speaker A an event of this size before.
Speaker D And so there were a lot of challenges in getting to the
start line, and every day I was just sort of like
holding all the things in place. I think people probably
literally were holding different cables and wires and
things in place and just hoping that this thing doesn't
just blow. And so that was really a very challenging
event, rewarding in a lot of ways, but I definitely had
to get creative. And I know everyone who worked on that
event had to get creative. And we banded together and we
got it done. So that's one I think being in countries
know, whether it's in Sochi, Russia, or in Torino, in
Italy or any country that is not your own just
Speaker A trying to navigate the cultural differences and
Speaker D the language barriers and still working with people to
get something done and knowing that that deadline I
mean, we talk about it all the time.
Speaker A That one of the reasons that at
Speaker D least for me, that I'm drawn to this is that that
deadline does not move. It just does not move. So
whatever it is on, the minute that it happens, when you
go live and those lights come on and that
Speaker A broadcast starts, that's what it is. That's what it's
going to be.
Speaker D That's it.
Speaker A So it's just about having time and
Speaker D really about being as creative as you possibly can in
those moments and being super confident that you can
troubleshoot things. I mean, there are probably a
bazillion stories that I could literally tell here, but
they all sort of blend together. And this just one
concept know, looking to your left, looking to your
right. What resources do you have? What people do you
have? How can you solve know, move the obstacles, find
the solutions, and just roll with it?
Speaker A Right?
Speaker D Vancouver comes to mind, right? We had no snow at
Cypress Mountain for those that were part of that event,
they will know far better even than I will. I was a
regional manager on the event services side for that.
And so dealing with everything, with spectators and
accreditation and access control and all of that, and
the team that was there just did like, amazing efforts
to get all those spectators into spaces that didn't
exist because they were supposed to be built up by snow
and there's no snow. So where you have these plans of
snow removal, it was like the opposite of that.
Speaker A From snow removal to snow, to bringing.
Speaker D Snow in and using these massive helicopters and to see
that whole thing unfold.
Speaker A And think, this is not going to.
Speaker D Happen, how are we going to do this? There's literally
nowhere for these athletes to compete. They have no
field play, right? And then to see that come alive
Speaker A and just knowing how much it probably
Speaker D literally almost killed people to get that done, but
they did it, it's pretty inspiring.
Speaker A So there's a lot of good stories like that.
Speaker B Well, hearing those challenges and those stories,
they're inspirational. There's another side to that,
which is the event ends and you can be completely spent,
you can be exhausted. Right. So I'm curious from your
perspective, how you were able to find a balance or if
you were able to find a balance and recover from these
events. Because in the lead up to them and then during
these events, you're working a lot of days, really long
hours can be really physically, mentally, emotionally
exhausting.
Speaker C And so going through this, how did you and how do you
cope with the strain that delivering a major event can
bring?
Speaker D Yeah, I honestly think this is the hardest thing, the
hardest challenge. It certainly has been for me. I think
I've gotten better about it over know, when you're first
in it, certainly in Salt Lake and some of those games
and other events after that, it was my whole life.
Right. You just don't even think it's going to end. You
don't want to think about it ending. That is just not on
your radar. And when it does, it's a grieving period. I
mean, it's really hard. You're exhausted, you've had
this huge experience, and now you're supposed to just go
back to what like normal life as we consider it. What is
that? But in reality, normal life is really where your
life is and these are just peaks that happen. Right. So
the more I've been able to learn that, that there is
this sort of steady place to come back to and that you
need to plan for it the same way you plan for the event
itself, the same way you operate in the event. You have
to plan for the eventuality of it ending and the self
care that goes there and the mental health and all that.
I think we're talking more about that, but there still
needs to be a
Speaker A lot more conversation and focus on that
Speaker D piece because I think people push themselves so far that
it really is difficult to recover and you don't
necessarily get back to a good space or it takes a
really long time to do that. I think when you're working
on an event, that if you're working on an event for two
years or more, it's even harder. Some of those events
that are shorter. It's like, okay, I know it's coming
and prepared to go away for a week, which sometimes is
what it is for me, or just to have some downtime refill.
The well, don't think about what's next and don't try
and panic that I
Speaker A maybe don't have something straight away, but
Speaker D being able to just ease into that and finding that
balance is hard. I now do it with a different
Speaker A lens than I did five or ten
Speaker D years ago because I now have a family. And that's
helpful because I have something that grounds me more
than the events do. And the events are something that
really inspire me and fuel me and I gravitate towards
them. It would be really hard to let that go completely.
But it's not everything anymore. And so I really think
it is
Speaker A now, even during some events.
Speaker D I just did the Junior Olympics for
Speaker A track and field a couple of weeks
Speaker D ago and it's 8000 kids under 18, seven days long. It's
long, long days. It's tough. And I found myself taking a
moment.
Speaker A Really trusting in the people that are
Speaker D working around me, trusting in my team, handing them a
radio and going off site for an hour. Going off site for
2 hours. Just regrouping. And getting my mind back
together or getting a good lunch, making sure I'm
feeding myself all these things that I used to never
would do and never think about doing.
Speaker A Now I realize I have to do that.
Speaker D That's just where I am in my
Speaker A life, in my career.
Speaker D And I find that I work so much better that way and I set
it up that way from the beginning.
Speaker A And so it's a learning curve and I haven't achieved it
fully yet by any stretch, but I'm trying to be better
about that.
Speaker B Well, it sounds to me like you
Speaker C are doing much better than I would
Speaker B do, so I congratulate you on that. We've got a few
questions here to just kind of wrap things up. But
before we get to those, I'm sure you've got like
150,000,000 stories, but
Speaker C are there any specific stories that either
Speaker B are really funny or inspiring or educational that you
would like to share before
Speaker C we kind of get to the end here?
Speaker D Yeah, I think probably a couple come into mind, but
maybe one in particular.
Speaker A I was working at Special Olympics World Games
Speaker D in Los Angeles in 2015. I think that was and we talk
about inclusion and diversity a lot and those are really
important. But, you know, for me to really have invested
myself in that and worked with a team of people who were
Special Olympics athletes who had seen this event
before, and just having them part of my everyday life
and getting to know them as people and getting to know
what they were offering to this event, which was really
spectacular, and I think that was just something
educational for me. And it changed the game in how I
approach the people that I work with and the skills that
we impart
Speaker A and the skills that they give us.
Speaker D So that was just a really cool opportunity.
Speaker A I think there's been a lot with
Speaker D working on some of the Paralympic stuff. I find that to
be really fun and really cool. And I've had a couple of
athletes
Speaker A who
Speaker D I don't know, we create these events for them and these
back of house experiences and these pathways and all
these things that make it really easy for them to get
from A to Z. And I had a couple of athletes who had
prosthetics and they were like, what are you doing? We
don't need all this stuff and they're jumping on each
other's backs and they're taking them up escalators.
Speaker A And we were making all these ADA
Speaker D friendly pathways, which absolutely you do, and we
always do anyway, but it's been really funny at times to
just see them be like, come on, we got this. We're well
behind ahead of you here. And so that's always kind of
interesting.
Speaker A And humbling in a you know, some
Speaker D of those are some of the real inspiring stories, I
think. A couple of times I was able to work on some head
of state visits and so I worked with Michelle Obama's
advanced team and some of her staffers and got to watch
her give a speech at the invictus games. That was
impromptu, wasn't planned. She wanted to do it. We set
it up so it could happen. And listening to her inspire
those athletes.
Speaker A And them being able to share stories
Speaker D with her and just the time that she spent with them and
to hear
Speaker A some of their stories of how they
Speaker D got to the invictus games and what
Speaker A it was doing for them as an
Speaker D event and as an opportunity in their rehabilitation. And
just was really like, okay, this is why we do this and
why we create these opportunities to bring these people
together.
Speaker A And so that's been really fun.
Speaker D The funny stories are there. I'm sure they're too many.
I think when I think about that more, I think about the
people that I've been with and where I had
Speaker A awoman I worked with in the
Speaker D Invictus games who made me laugh so
Speaker A hard in the control room at an
Speaker D Opening ceremony that I had to hit the floor. And I was
like, I think I'm going to need to run to a bathroom. I
cannot stop laughing. And it's just a level of
exhaustion that sets in. Cheryl Eisen is her name. So
shout out to Cheryl out there who can make me laugh like
that in an instant. And it's just those are the moments
that you can't write that stuff. It just happens.
Speaker A And so that was a really fun
Speaker D time and I love being around that kind of banter and
that camaraderie. And so those stories are some I can
share, some I can't.
Speaker B Well, we won't try to ask you to share the ones that you
can't share. We don't want to put you in a position
where you're violating any confidences or anything.
Maybe off air we'll talk about a few of those.
Speaker C But now that you've had more than
Speaker B two decades in this business and it's been super
rewarding, I'm curious.
Speaker C As you look back at your time working on all these
events, if there was anything
Speaker B that you could potentially or would do
Speaker C differently, what would it be?
Speaker D It's a really good question. I try to think back and
learn from the past, but also not regret the steps that
I've taken.
Speaker A I think
Speaker D I would have spent maybe a little more time thinking
about where these major events were going and the whole
sustainability aspect to it and what it's really doing
to cities. And the things that I'm working on. Were they
really benefiting the space and the place and the cities
that I'm in? And how can I? Obviously, one person can't
change that one way or another. But to just be more
mindful of that I think oftentimes you just roll
Speaker A through these things and they're these big
Speaker D exciting events, and we build all this stuff and then we
just leave. Right? And so I've seen that a little bit
living in Atlanta and the 96
Speaker A Games are here and you can see
Speaker D the things that really took off and that we still use
and the things that maybe we didn't. And I didn't spend
a lot of time initially earlier in my career thinking
about that and learning about that. And so I'm just now
I feel like catching up to learning about how to do that
better.
Speaker A And so that's something that I think
Speaker D is becoming more part of the planning process and
vernacular, but I think there's just more education that
can be done around that. And so I'm kind of coming up to
speed to that now. But I wish that would have been
something a little bit more prominent as I went through.
But in terms of the path I took, I think I'm happy about
that. I of course, go back and forth sometimes to think,
oh, if I would
Speaker A have stayed on a niche role or
Speaker D in the corporate world or even in the event world with
an organization, would I have some big fancy title now?
And all that stuff? And a lot of that is I think about
it, a lot of that's ego and whatever else but the
experience that I've had and the people that I've worked
with and the independence that I've had working alone
and as a
Speaker A one person shop, if you will.
Speaker D I think in the end I'm happy with that and I hope that
it continues forward. There's a pretty cool event
landscape ahead of us, certainly in the US.
Speaker A But everywhere else. And so hopefully it'll keep going
from here.
Speaker B Well, I'm confident it will for you.
Speaker C And Bev my last question on this train of thought is
this.
Speaker B So earlier in our conversation you talked about the many
mentors and coworkers who
Speaker C really have helped guide you along the way. And there
might be somebody that's just now coming into this
business and you
Speaker B may have an opportunity to work on an event with them.
And maybe they're an intern, maybe they're just fresh
out of college and they're getting a taste of this
business. They're intrigued by the possibility of
working
Speaker C on these incredible events. And so with that in mind,
what
Speaker B would your advice be to them, to
Speaker C someone who is now just kind of
Speaker B setting their feet wet, might be potentially interested
in a career in major events.
Speaker C What would you tell them?
Speaker A Jump in.
Speaker D Find a place to put your toe in the water and jump in.
It might be in a volunteer role initially. It might be
an internship. And build those relationships. Make
yourself useful when you're on site. I think it's really
important that when you get there that it's not so much,
oh, I'm in this lane and I'm only in this lane. This is
the only lane I want to be in. Just let everything
unfold the way it unfolds. And if you find you've got a
radio in your hand, use it. If you're helping somebody
with something and you don't even know if that's where
Speaker A you should really be, be there, right?
Speaker D Move those barricades. Do the things. Listen in on
meetings, ask people questions, knock on doors. I think
most people are pretty open to sharing their experience
and the things that they have learned. In my experience
I felt that way. There's not too many people at their
closed door here. I think there is sometimes a
protection around is there enough space for everybody
and you got to earn your place and all of that. But the
reality is just the opportunities are there and to stick
with it and have some opportunity to ask the questions
that you're curious about. There's no question that's a
bad question. Even though I think this industry
sometimes it can feel like that, that there are all
these experts and it moves so fast.
Speaker A And what if you don't know the
Speaker D acronym or you don't know the thing or whatever? Just
ask the question.
Speaker A Absorb as much as you can and
Speaker D make sure you really enjoy it because it's not the
easiest of careers to be in and you have to kind of
create your own path in many cases. And so if you're not
really passionate about it then don't kill yourself to
do it. And also take care of yourself, right? Make that
a part of your path from the beginning. Don't wait until
you're older and tired and all those things. I mean,
burnout is a real, real thing. And so as much as you can
be taking care of yourself and realizing that you have a
life outside of this kind of work and to focus on
building that as much and that this is your job, then
the better. But it is a great exciting place to be if
you're passionate about it.
Speaker A So jump in. We need good people. Of course.
Speaker B I really appreciate you sharing that advice. I actually
think this is a really nice segue into what you're doing
now. I mentioned it when I was going through your
extensive biography there the bio.
Speaker C But the last sentence of that bio
Speaker B I think is interesting which says driven by purposeful
accountability. Beverly is the director of Women in
Sport and Events. The acronym WISE within the Atlanta
chapter membership program. I'm wondering if you can
just tell
Speaker C us a little bit more about that.
Speaker A Sure.
Speaker D So, yeah. WISE. Women in sport and events. And the WISE
within program is what? I work on a committee there, and
it's essentially a mentorship program, right. And it's
basically about all of these women coming together. You
can join the WISE Within mentorship program. You'll be
paired then with a mentor and you, as the mentee, really
drive that experience. I joined that in 2006 myself, and
my mentor is Ellen Lucy, who's now at the NCAA. It's a
wonderful friend of mine. And she was really like, come
to me, have an agenda, ask the questions, I'm here for
you for that. And so it's just a really great way of
instead of going out there and trying to find this
person, you answer some questions about yourself, where
you're looking to go, what it is you do, and you get
paired. And it's really successful. And I think the
accountability piece is something I have a fun hobby on
the side, Live Alive, which is just about women coming
together in groups of four and us keeping each other
accountable to do the things we really want to do in
life. And so that mentorship piece, it's almost
Speaker A like the most important thing that I'm
Speaker D a part of and that I do. And I think it's really
important that we keep raising each other up. I mean,
I'm mentored as much by people who have a year of
experience as I am from people who have 25 years of
experience. It doesn't really matter where you are in
that experience scale. It matters what you're willing to
share and how vulnerable you're willing to be and what
you're willing to teach other people and to support
them. And if someone's down, then let's figure out how
we can pull them back
Speaker A up and making sure I'm saying people's
Speaker D names in rooms that I think deserve to be there, and all
of those things coming together. So, yeah, the
accountability piece, it's not just about your own
personal accountability, which
Speaker A you just have to find you have
Speaker D it or you don't have it. And sometimes if you're
struggling with that, then somebody else can remind you,
right? Speak back to you. Do you remember when you did
this? Do you remember when you said that I watched you
do this?
Speaker A Absolutely.
Speaker D You can do it. You've already done it. And here's where
that kind of language
Speaker A around you is really important.
Speaker D It just makes the whole thing better and more fun.
Speaker A So join WISE. It's great.
Speaker B All right, fantastic. Well, thank you very much. And to
do that, I guess we'll conclude with this. How would
somebody that's interested in joining WISE go about
that? And how would someone who has listened to you
share your experience today, reach out and connect with
you if they want to learn more about events or
Speaker C how you could potentially help them with their next
event?
Speaker A Absolutely.
Speaker D So, WISE, you can go on the website, and there'll be
information there about the Wise Within program. There's
not necessarily a chapter in every city, but there are
in many cities, so you probably can find that. But even
if there's not a chapter in your city, there's the
national level Wise Within program, and you can be a
part of that, even virtually.
Speaker A So WISE is the website women in Sport and Events.
Speaker D You can find them there for me. You can find me on
LinkedIn.
Speaker A I think I'm Beverly Carey on LinkedIn.
Speaker D Or my email is also bcarey@careycommunications.net. The
website is careycommunications.
Speaker A net. So any of those places, you can find me, and I'm
always happy to connect.
Speaker B All right, fantastic. Well, Bev, I really appreciate you
again carving time out of your very busy schedule to
have a conversation today. Fantastic insights and
stories. Thank you so much for sharing them with our
audience and listeners and viewers please like and
subscribe to our new podcast and we'll catch you again
soon. Bev, thank you so much.
Speaker A Thank you.
Speaker D Thanks, Christian. This was super fun.
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