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Behind the scenes stories, experiences and lessons shared by the world's leading event experts. Hosted by Christian Napier.
This is Event Masters behind the scenes stories,
experiences, and lessons shared by the world's leading
event experts, hosted by Christian Napier.
Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of Event
Masters. I'm super excited to have our next guest, who
literally is the best in the world at what she does.
It's Christy Nicolay joining us from far away. Christy,
how you doing?
Yeah, good. Christian, how are you?
I'm doing really great, and I'm so glad that you've
carved out time out of your extremely busy schedule to
have a conversation today, but you got to tell me where
you're joining us from because that background, that
doesn't look familiar to me.
No, I'm in my room. I'm in Santiago, Chile, right now,
so we're about a month away from the Pan and American
Games. So, you know, getting close, getting excited. And
it's winter. You can't see it because it's there, I
promise. Some beautiful white capped mountains here in
Chile. Where it's chilly.
Wow. Well, I appreciate you joining us all the way from
Chile. And before we started recording, you told us that
things are not entirely stable there. There might be a
little bit of earth shaking going on.
Yeah, quite a few earthquakes here. I think I've had one
every single trip. I've been here now, so it's been
about six or seven. But they're kind of fun. I mean,
come on, I'm from California, so it's no big deal. It's
all fine.
Well, fingers crossed. Stay safe there and warm in the
winter months here in Salt Lake City, where I am right
now. It's quite nice. Temperatures in the mid 80s. It's
very comfortable, so no complaints. But winter is on the
horizon. We got our first snow of the season up in the
guys are getting.
Ready, and we're wrapping up here. Yes.
All right. Well, when I said you are the best in the
world, it's not hyperbole, it's not exaggeration. Right.
You have I'm looking at this bio here, which is amazing.
Produced executive produced sport presentation, victory
ceremonies for more Olympic and Paralympic Games than
anybody else in the world.
Yeah, that's a bold claim. Well, I didn't write that,
but it is. Yeah. My first one was I mean, my first Games
was Sydney. That was with NBC. But my first time
executive producing sport presentation was there with
you in Salt Lake. So yeah, a long time ago.
Well, we'll get to the history of this in a minute, but
a lot of innovations that we've seen in sport
presentation over the last two plus decades have come
from your creative vision. They've come from your brain.
And I'm curious, your bio kind of talks about this
coming from MTV and then the ESPN and so on and so
forth, but maybe you can kind of flesh that out a little
bit how you got involved in this particular industry,
the crazy world of major events.
Yeah, sports. And I didn't I didn't really know what I
wanted to do when I grew up. I just knew that I loved
sports and entertainment and traveling. Like, I'm
fascinated, working in different cultures. I'm super bad
at all of them, but I love learning new languages. And
so, yeah, somehow I just started doing everything that I
loved, and it kind of evolved into the perfect I
started. I really had done everything else. I was a
flight attendant. I was a gymnastics coach. I was a park
ranger in Santa Nofre for San Clemente State Parks or
sorry, California state parks, but I ran surf
competitions in San Clemente in Santa Nophre, which is
like a really big surf spot a long time ago. So I kind
of learned to run events, and then I was in Hollywood,
so I got to see a lot of behind the scenes production
stuff, and then it just sort of was like, hey, I want to
do this, I want to do that, and I really had done
everything else. And then really what happened. I was
working at the Ritz Carlton So in Laguna Nigel, long
time ago, and I was running the fitness center, and I
was back in school. I took some time off, and then I
went back to college while I was working at the Ritz.
And I took a film class because I thought that it would
be like an easy A. And it ended up being kind of a lot
of know, it was like writing screenplays and a lot of
analogies. But I was also into photography, and then my
professor was like, look, you have a really good eye.
You write really well, you have a great imagination. But
I would write these true stories about growing up in
Oregon with All Brothers, and he would go like, A plus,
great imagination. Anyway, so he sort of, I guess, saw
the potential and said, you should think about
production, like, film and production. And so I started
taking those courses and finally figured out which path
I wanted to take. And I was living in the French West
Indies. I did a small job for Club Med down there, and I
met all these people that worked for MTV, and I thought
like, oh, that's what I want to do. And I thought, that
okay. I'll finish school, and then I'll go know, film
school, and then I'll get an internship. And so I kind
of had this whole path lined up. And then my kind of new
friends at MTV said, hey, we heard you switched your
major to TV and film. And I said, yeah, someday I'm
going to grow up and be like you guys. And then they
said, well, do you want a that's? That's kind of what
happened. So I started at MTV, and that took me to ESPN,
and then I got into sports, which I already loved. I
already did a lot of sports, and then it just kind of
went from there.
So how did you end up finding this niche of sport
production, or sport presentation, as it might be
called, in the victory ceremonies? How did it go from,
okay, I'm doing stuff on MTV, and I'm doing stuff for X
Games and stuff, and now I've created this thing called
sport production, or sport yeah.
So so when I was working at MTV, I was very much on the
I only knew the TV side, the broadcast side. And
actually, everything I did, I did a lot of shows. I did
a couple of films, even as an assistant director, and I
did a lot of TV. And one of my favorite jobs on the TV
broadcast side was I loved being a field producer. I'd
worked my way up. I mean, I casted talent. I was a
supervising producer. I did kind of know on the
production side and then somebody that I worked with at
hey, you know, you love skateboarding and you love
surfing, and you should interview for this show called
ESPN's X Games, which at the time, this was early, kind
of mid ninety s, I guess it was. Now I'm dating myself.
Anyway. But it was in San Diego. X Games. So I got an
interview down there and I went for an interview that I
thought was for a field producer for the broadcast side.
And so I went down there and I got the job. And then
they were saying, well, yeah, you're producing for the
big screen. I'm like, okay, that was completely new to
me. I came from the broadcast side, and I was used to
having my own crew. I mean, you could do take one, take
two, take three, you got a lot of chances. And then, of
course, you could fix anything and editing, but it was
live. But even though it was just for the big screen and
all of my TV friends will argue, well, that's for 10,000
people, as opposed to broadcast, which is 10 million or
whatever the numbers are. But I really liked it. I fell
in love with it because it was immediate gratification,
and you could see the reaction from the fans that were
actually there, and you could make a difference in the
show, and you could enhance the competition for the
athletes that are there competing, and you can engage
the crowd. And it really was like a whole new world. And
so that kind of happened by accident. I just thought I
was going for a TV filled producer job. And it was for
what we now call sport presentation, but then it was
called live event production. So live event production,
sport presentation, sport production, day of game
presentation, it's all the same thing.
Why don't you describe, for those of us who may not know
exactly what that is or what that entails, what, sport
presentation or live production, what that actually is?
Yeah, sure. So if you bought a ticket to a sporting
event like the Super Bowl, for instance, or any game,
any NHL, NBA, any Olympic Games or Pan American Games,
anytime you go to watch a sporting event, live sport
presentation is everything that you kind of see and hear
in the venue outside of the competition itself. So if
you go to the Super Bowl, it's going to be the halftime
show. And of course, the preshow, we always do at least
an hour preshow leading up to what we call the zero
time, which could be the tip off or kick off or however
the sport starts. So it's all the music and the announce
and all of the video content that you see on the video
boards, any entertainment, all the elements that kind of
surround a sporting event. That makes sense.
It does make sense, and it can be absolutely amazing.
You mentioned, and I have seen this, that a lot of
innovations that have come in this space over the last
two plus decades have originated with you. And I'm
curious if you can describe what some of those
innovations were or are, and what are some of the
favorite ones, what are some of the stories behind some
of your favorite innovations that you've seen over the
years?
Yeah, I mean, it's getting harder and harder to be
innovative. On one hand, it's easier because there's
technology that supports it, but on the other hand, some
of the technology takes us in a different direction,
people looking at their phones rather than looking at
the field of play. So it's always kind of a struggle.
But back to the early days, I think I learned so much at
MTV that I was able to kind of take what I learned at
MTV and then go to ESPN's X Games. And then at the X
Games, it really was like we could be as creative as we.
So I think that's really kind of where I learned to not
limit myself and just little things that don't even
matter anymore. But back then, it was like, hey, let's
ask every single athlete what music they want to hear
when they drop into the pipe for skateboarding, for
instance, or snowboarding. Let's do moving athlete
headshots so that we can capture the athlete's
personality. So one of the first times we did that,
well, we did it at X Games, but then when I was at the
Olympic Games in Vancouver, I was able to do things like
put a screen, like an extra large video board at the top
of the half pipe for snowboarding. And I didn't want to
just do like still photos. I wanted the fans to be able
to connect to the athletes. And you can't really do that
when they're wearing a helmet and goggles and you can't
see their faces. And so started to think, well, of
course everyone can see a photo of them, but let's
capture their personality. So we told the athletes, and
one of the first ones was Sean White, which I'll never
forget. And we told the athletes they were coming for a
photo shoot, and we wanted a whole bunch of different
poses. And then really, we were filming, like, a special
camera at the time that looked like a regular camera,
but it was a film camera. And so it was amazing because
then the athletes came and we said, Give us your serious
face. So they'd like, Give us your laughing face, and
give us your strike a pose model face. But really, we
were filming the whole time, so we were really able to
show their personality. And I think the result of that
were that fans could see what they were really like when
they're relaxed. And then when you feel like, you know,
an athlete a little bit better, then you become a fan of
theirs. Those are just simple things, but we're always
trying to think of something new, heavy.
Well, one of the interesting things I think about sport
presentation is there are so many opportunities for
things to go a little wonky, a little haywire, whether
it's because of power, whether it's because someone got
delayed in transport for whatever reason, things can go
a little weird. And I'm curious, have you had any
experiences? Do you have any stories about where you had
to off the cuff? Well, okay, we're going to switch to
plan B or we got to do this because something's not
working.
Gosh, yes, for sure. Of course. Let's see. Yeah,
definitely. We've had things I mean, something we were
just laughing about because we're getting ready for
Santiago here, but we're just talking about our mascot.
So mascots are something that often fall into sport
presentation. And just this morning, we were talking
about how we had a mascot in I think it was the Rio 2007
Pan American Games. And the mascot was a giant sun.
Like, giant sun?
Yes.
Don't tell me you have one. Yes.
Cauê. This is him. Cauê.
You have Cauê. My gosh. That's amazing. And you had it
right there. That's amazing.
I don't know why it was sitting there. Actually, I do
know why it was sitting there. I was going through my
office and trying to reorganize some things. My wife was
helping me out, and she's like, Where do you want to put
this? I'm like, I don't know. Just set it down and I'll
figure out a place. And I haven't figured out the place,
so it's just sitting back. It's hilarious that you
mentioned we're in.
So imagine this. So now you know who Cauê is. Can you
show it? A giant. The mascot is a giant, dude.
Right here.
Okay. He's a little bit more to scale there, but in the
mascot, he's a giant. Right? You can tell like this. So
is it gymnastics and the field of play? He's on the main
mat, and he's kind of raised up. It's, like, kind of on
a platform, so it's like a foot off the ground, let's
say. And he's out there performing and he cannot kind of
only move like this. And then the song was over and his
handler, I don't know where the handler was, but somehow
missed him and instead of stepping on the step, he
completely stepped off the stage and went like flat and
was like, oh, and couldn't get up. I'm sorry. It was
really funny. We were just talking about it this
morning, how important it is to have mascot costumes
that are more functional because he also could never get
through a door, he had to turn sideways and shimmy.
Yeah, no, I'm sure we've had much worse things happen
and they're going to come to me as soon as we get off
this call.
Well, maybe it was you. It was telling me maybe on the
Salt Lake podcast, I can't remember. But one of the
challenges with mascots is just coordinating their
appearances, right. So that the kids think that, oh,
here's the one and only.
You think there's only one of these.
Mascots so that they don't appear like, oh, here's the
mascot here, and then, oh, there he is over there. Who
thinks of this kind of stuff? It's not something that
the normal population thinks about.
Yeah. At the same time, you can't have only one because
they would just be exhausted and stuck. They can't be in
that costume for so long. And again, we were just
talking about it. So we have eleven here, so that's
good. I don't know. I'm sure I'll think of other things
that have happened, but we're always doing these. What
happens if the flags get stolen? And what happens if in
the Pan Am games in Lima, 2019, we were doing indoor
volleyball, and it was indoors, but it was kind of an
indoor outdoor venue, and it had some air kind of
ventilation at the top. And fog actually rolled into the
venue. And we had to stop an indoor volleyball game due
to fog because the whole venue filled up with fog, and
you couldn't see, like the players couldn't see each
other. So there's all kinds of things happen.
Oh my gosh. One thing I want to ask you about is in your
career thinking about Olympic Games or major sport
events, there are different ways that you've been
engaged. Sometimes it could be as a full time employee
of the organizing committee, sometimes it could be as an
advisor consulting with them. Sometimes it could be
contracting with your company to basically outsource a
range of services that are being provided, et cetera, et
cetera. I'm curious to hear from you. What are some of
the benefits and challenges associated with these
various ways of engaging sport presentation for the
organizers?
Yeah, certainly I've done both ways. Just it really
depends on the organizing committee and how they
structure all the different functional areas. Sometimes
it's done all in house and sometimes it's outsourced to
a company generally for Olympic games since I was doing
it's been both ways really. But again, I guess I think
of 2002 because that's where I think I first met you.
But 2002 is all in house and I handpicked every single
person for sport presentation and I built the team there
and it was the same way for Athens. Oh, this is probably
a story, but yeah, when I got called for athens, I got
called in November of 2003 by the CEO there, and the
games were in July 2004. And when I got there, nothing
had been done. And I had to not only hire everybody in
house and handpick every single person, but I could only
get approval from the board once a month. So I really
had to be ready for the whole batch of people that were
to be hired for games time. But you can only do a
certain amount each month so that was certainly
challenging. And then Torino 2006, they outsourced, I
consulted to the outsourcing company and then I went
there for games time and Rio 2016 we did it in house. I
had a Brazilian team, much of the same Brazilian team I
had in 2007 which was amazing and actually a lot of them
are here now so it's great to still be working with
people from so long ago. But yeah, on one hand when you
are inside the committee and if you have the time and
the support from the other functional areas it's good to
be in house and other times when it's not enough time
and you can get a company like ours. So now I work for a
company where we do sport presentation then it's easier
because you have the team all lined up and you can kind
of come in hot and you're ready to go. So yeah, there's
pros and cons to just depends how the organizing
committee decides to structure really well thinking
about these.
Organizing committees and these events. As you
mentioned, you're in Chile right now, you worked in
Brazil, you worked in Athens, you've worked in so many
different locations, so many different places, don't.
Forget.
And that requires learning about understanding how the
local culture works not only in the organizing committee
but outside of it as well. And sometimes that learning
curve can be steeper for some places than it can be for
others. And I'm curious if you have any of those kinds
of stories where you came in as like a fish out of water
coming into this new country, a new location, a new
corporate culture and you kind of had to feel your way
around and figure out how that worked.
Yeah, it used to be so many times I would be the only
woman in the room working in sports and working in
production. That kind of was always a fish out of water.
But I grew up with All Brothers and doing all sports,
and so I was never really bothered me, for sure, but it
was something I actually didn't often notice until later
on, and people started asking me about that. So I was
like, oh, yeah, it was like that. But certainly being in
big meetings in Moscow, Russia, like getting ready for
the Sochi 2014 Olympic Games, not only the only female,
but often or actually in Greece as well, but also the
only American. So it's know, I've tried not to know. Too
American, I guess, and try not to always I think I pay a
lot of attention to trying to adapt to whatever culture
it is I'm in. I try to always be culturally relevant to
wherever I am and not kind of not force like, well, this
is what we do in the never. I never want to do that.
Although some of the big sports teams are in the US.
It's a balance, for sure, but I don't know, I'm probably
just awkward in general, probably just a fish out of
water in general, but I get along and it's easy. It is
super fun to work in South America, and I love working
in Europe as well. And I loved working even in China.
And think I think everywhere you go, I have this motto,
like, wherever you go, there you are, so you're still
you wherever you go. And I think I learn amazing things
about people and get new friends that from all over the
world that speak different languages. And I'm not so big
on learning about new food. I'm kind of a bland eater,
so not so fun to have to try weird things sometimes. But
it's an amazing job and lifestyle, I guess.
Okay, I have to ask, since you brought the food up, I do
have to ask, is there one thing that has been offered to
you that you're just like, no, I'm not going there.
Oh, I thought you were going to talk about s'mores. I
was already oh, I'll get to.
S'Mores in a minute. But in all of your travels, is
there one thing where you're yeah, you know, just I
can't do that one. Sorry.
Yeah, definitely. I would have to say that was in China,
getting ready for Beijing. So pre pandemic. I did go
there. I worked the Beijing 2022 Olympic Games. I
consulted To, I was their advisor, so actually, I think
I was like their vice executive producer or something.
But anyway, I was working with the Beijing committee
leading up to the Games, and then during the pandemic, I
couldn't get there, obviously, but then I went just for
games time and still got to do those games. But prior to
that, yeah, I was going there once a month or something,
and they would always have these fancy dinners. And one
time I was having dinner, I think it was like the owners
of the Bird's Nest where the opening and closing
ceremonies were, and very fancy dinner. I don't know,
maybe twelve of us at a round table at the top of the
stadium, overlooking the stadium, and things were just
coming out and they were smoking and on fire. I couldn't
tell you what it was that I couldn't eat, but I just
knew I couldn't eat it, so I didn't eat it. Some things
that looked like maybe they weren't quite dead. You
never want to insult anyone. I'm sure it was a delicacy
and it probably was delicious, but I just couldn't
another time.
Go ahead.
Now. People are going to think I'm crazy now. What does
she eat? She doesn't eat anything. No. One time in
Tokyo, another fancy dinner leading up to the Tokyo 2020
Games, and it was on the top of a fancy restaurant, on
the top of their tallest building, and it was similar.
I'm going to say it was like a Bini Hana, where they
cook in front of you, but it was just a sushi place. And
also where they kept on and they cook in front of you.
But yeah, they brought out I had ordered shrimp, and
they brought out this plate of shrimp, and I guess I'm
supposed to see if it was fresh or not, so I'm like, oh,
yeah, okay, it looks fine. And then they took out a
little brush and they tickled the bellies, and they all
were like, oh, they were still alive. So I was like, oh,
no, I can't eat those ones so I could eat them later. I
don't want to see them in front of so I don't know.
You don't want to witness their demise?
I don't want to be the reason.
Yeah. At risk of Scott Givens getting mad at me, his
rule is he always ordered tofu, like, if he ever went
anywhere. Because I can't go wrong with a tofu. That's a
relatively safe thing. But I do remember my times in
Beijing, those big fancy dinners you were talking about
with the massive round tables. And one time I got camel
feet. Yeah, that's great. Thank you very much.
I try never to eat anything I could be friends with. I
stick to fish. Tough to have a conversation with a fish
or shrimp, but yeah.
I kid. But in all seriousness, though, I really
appreciated the hospitality wherever we went, but
particularly in those Asian countries where they really
did make an effort to make us feel important and wanted,
and they treated us exceptionally well, so I have no
complaints. It's fun to talk about camel feet and things
like that, but honestly, they were fantastic. Really
enjoyed my time over there.
Yeah, me as well.
All right, well, let's talk about the S'mores, because
you brought that up. So tell us about the S'mores, the
tradition of the S'mores.
No, I actually have some here I brought, but it's too
far over there in the cabinet. I'll spare you the proof.
But no, I grew up in Oregon and we'd always go camping.
And I love S'mores, and it's just something that every
country I go and work in, it eventually always comes up
and like, you don't know what a S'more is. Okay, I'm
going to bring them because they don't always have we
might be I'm trying to think of where we were, but we
were in Doha, for instance, one time, I think the Arab
games, and it was tough to find a fireplace there. I
think we put them in the microwave. But you guys don't
have Hershey bar and graham cracker and marshmallow.
This is crazy. So every games I do in every country and
culture, we always have S'mores. We also always play
Rock, paper, scissors. So I don't know, it's just things
that kind of traditions that kind of stick with me, we
just always do it.
But how did the S'mores tradition come about? That's
what I want to know.
I don't remember. I don't know. Do you know? Did I tell
you once before?
You may have. I'll have to go back and listen to the
podcast, but I really like that. I forgot.
What?
I don't know if you've ever tried these guys. No, they
are really good.
Okay, wait, hold on. I'm going to be right back. Hold
on, hold on.
Look for those.
I didn't open them yet. My husband bought them for me
for this trip, but just to prove wait. There we go.
Hey, Mickey, you're all set? Okay, well, I got mine and
you got yours. We're all set.
No, I don't remember why. I think we talked about that
before, but it's just a thing.
Well, one of the things I liked about that though, is
it's one of the unique things that you bring that really
helps the team bond for you. It's absolutely vital that
you have a team that works with you that performs at the
best of their capabilities. And I'm curious how you have
developed your leadership style and approach over the
years that really, no matter where you go, you're able
to get people to deliver their very best and really do
an excellent job. Maybe you can give us a little clue on
how you've kind of developed your approach over time and
some of the stories that you've seen. Leadership, team
building, high performing teams when it comes to your
area of sport.
Presentation one, I think I'm incredibly lucky. I don't
know how or why it is I'm so grateful for the people
that do join my team. Like I'm just every every time,
you know, we're we're about to do a workshop and I have
to go out and speak to, I don't know, three or four or
500 of them, and I look around the room, I'm just always
in awe of their they're also incredibly talented and
creative, and they come from all over the world. So here
in Santiago, we're going to have 21 right. Now we have
21 different nationalities on our team. And so every
games we go to, like here I have I mean, I keep pointing
here because they're in the meeting to go to the meeting
with them in a little bit. But I have Brazilians that I
worked with in Rio 2007 and Rio 2016. And I have
Peruvians that we worked with in Lima 2019 and
Argentinians that did Buenosaris Youth Olympic Games.
And we have, I don't know, like everybody Mexicans
there's. This I don't just I think maybe it comes from
when I did work in Hollywood, I used to cast talent. One
of my team, Liana, just said to me this like, we had to
replace somebody. And I said, oh no, this person will
fit with this person. Or when you look at announcers,
like this voice, like their voice complements the other
voice, but it's really just kind of overall big picture.
Like, I really look at who can complement each other or
who's really going to bring out the best in that other
person. And somehow we just get these amazing people
that love to do what they do and they love to work
together and they don't just become like colleagues for
17 days. They really become lifelong friends. And then
I'm just lucky enough that when I get the next big games
and I call them up, they all say yes, and then we're all
back together again. And I think that's just like why we
all love it so much. It's like you might go two years
before you see them all again. I don't know. I can't
believe when I call them and sometimes they drop
everything. Like sometimes they have full time jobs and
they're like, okay, I'm going to leave for two months.
And I don't. Just lucky.
I think that's probably most of the battle right there.
Just because you approach your role with such gratitude
and kindness that it can't help but be reflected back.
What a remarkable thing that you've done over all these
years. As you look back at the work that you've done so
far, are there any particular moments that really stand
out for you as I don't know if they would call them
goosebump moments or crowning achievements or whatever,
but when something just went beautifully and you're
like, wow, I was really fortunate to be part of that.
Yeah, there definitely have been moments like that, I
think when everything works, it could be something so
simple that when the music and announce and the video
and the sport and everything, it's kind of like if
things don't go well, not that many people notice. I'm
the worst person to take to a sport event. Like, you
don't want to take me to anything because I just sit
there and go, I should have done that. But most people
probably don't notice. But when everything goes hits
just right, it's like magic. Even just something simple
as our victory ceremonies music. For instance, a lot of
times right now we're working with our composer here and
a lot of times you work with the composer and you can do
victory ceremonies music a couple of different ways. You
can have five different tracks, like a walk on music and
then a bronze and then a silver and a gold and then a
walk off music. But then it's up to the DJ to make sure
that it all kind of syncs together. Or you can compose
the music where it kind of naturally builds. And maybe
it's going to hit at that moment when the athlete steps
up onto the podium and gets their medal. Or maybe it's
not, but sometimes when everything just works at the
exact second that it should, I do, I kind of get this
feeling like, that was magic. And you only hope that the
athlete and the spectators felt it, too. But no, I don't
know. I mean, I've been at a lot of different mean I
know, I'm trying to think. Olympic Games, of course, it
was always when Sean White got his gold medals, I was
always there. Most of the stuff that I keep are coming
to mind are like things from X Games. Like I was there
when Tony Hawk did the first 900 at the San Francisco X
Games. I think it was 1999, I was actually on the ramp.
I was there when Travis Pastrana did his first double
backflip. So that's also an X Games thing. But all those
kind of moments. Again, I'm going to think of them as
soon as we hang up.
Well, it takes me to another question, which is about
the crowds, the spectators, because it can be different
in different parts of the world. One of my favorite. So
I like music. I'm a huge fan of the group Rush and
there's a DVD called Russian Rio and they are playing
Maracana and there's like 60,000 people in there and
they are going absolutely nuts for this band. Whereas in
the States they play their demographic skews a little
bit older. They're sitting a lot of the time, they get
up and applaud and they're fine and they're respectful
and they're having a good time. But these folks in Rio
were off the chain. I mean, they are just on their feet
the entire time. They're jumping around. They're even
singing the instrumental parts where there's no words,
they're just singing the instrumentals and you can see
the band members look at each other like, I can't
believe what we're seeing here. And I'm curious, in your
experience, what it's been like because you're
delivering things in venue in the stadium with thousands
of spectators. Have there been places in the world where
you've had crowds that have just been absolutely amazing
and how sport presentation really helped prepare and
influence that crowd to really give its all? Because the
athletes, they can really feed off of that energy that
comes from the crowd, right?
Yeah, of mean the fans and Rio were always amazing. Not
so easy to get the reactions in Pyongchun, for instance,
certainly not Beijing, but also there were no crowds
because it was the middle of the pandemic, although
there were spectators, but they were kind of isolated
and not as packed as usual. But I think in Latin
America, it's really exciting here. I mean, just one of
the things we did in Lima, for instance, lima 2019 Pan
American Games. We didn't have a huge budget for
entertainment, and we really had to get my team together
and go, okay, what can we do here to really engage them?
One of my producers, the guys happened to be out, like
at a bar or something, and they heard this song called
Caranito, and it's like a very famous song, and it's
really fun to dance to. And they said, well, let's make
our own flash mob. So they came up with the
choreography, and then we ended up teaching it to
everybody. So we taught it to security guards and the
volunteers and the medical staff, and we were actually
having workshops to teach everyone that worked this
dance to this very simple song. And then the result was
that every time we played the song in the venue, not
only just the workers or our dancers that knew or the
choreographers that knew the choreography, all the fans
started to learn it. And I remember being at the I think
it was the volleyball finals, and it was a packed crowd,
and we put on that song and sent the dancers out. But
not only were the dancers dancing through the song, the
entire crowd knew the choreography. And that was
something that just happened kind of organically. And
that moment, I remember crying a little bit because I
was like, Wait, we did this, and we did this out of
almost nothing. It's kind of the little things that
stick with me that you kind of get that moment and
you're like, Wait, we did that. And to add to that, then
the team and I don't remember who the winning team was,
but the teams knew the choreography, and they were
dancing after they finished their final match and before
their medal ceremony. So that was pretty cool.
That's awesome. I love that. Well, as you look ahead to
the future, you've been involved and in the middle of a
lot of innovation in this space. Where do you think it's
going from here? It seems like with the technology
that's available today, that in some respects, the sky
is the limit. But at the same time, you talked about
challenges of people just looking at these things the
whole time and not paying attention to the event. So
what does the future look like for sport presentation?
Yeah, I mean, it's a really good question because for a
while there during the Pandemic, of course it was going
in a different completely different direction. I don't
know if I had talked to you before or after, but I did
like the Basketball Champions League in Athens, Greece,
in the middle of the pandemic, and they didn't have
fans, but we had video boards and Led walls and we had,
like, virtual fans. So I thought it's great for the
players to run through a tunnel of video boards and have
their fans, like, cheering, but it's not the same
emotion. I don't think the athletes get the same energy
as they do as people physically being there and being
there and supporting them and being there and paying
attention to the game. So, like I said, a lot of the new
innovation requires people to look at their phones, and
that's not what we want, and it's definitely not what I
can tell you. It's not what broadcast wants. They don't
want to pan the crowd and have people looking at their
phones. So I think the challenge is always trying to
bring the focus back to the field of play. And to me, it
seems like I always want to make the athletes rock stars
and tell the fans not only more educate them more about
the sport or how the game is played, because maybe they
might not know that sport. Like, maybe they bought a
packet of tickets and it came with, I don't know, extra
tickets to some other sport. So you always want to be
educating them. But I think creating fans, more fans for
the athletes is always important. So I think there's a
lot of going in to showcase the athletes and it's,
again, simple things like athlete entry screens that
they walk through, like making a big deal of them of
their introductions when they come onto the field of
play. I think we're going to probably be doing holograms
soon with music. You can do that. We almost did it in
Vancouver, but it was, I don't know, half a million
dollars or something to have a hologram of a band. But,
I mean, there's I don't know, the technology, like I
said, advances and just trying to find a balance, and I
don't know which way it's going, but it's a good
question. I don't have a good answer.
Well, I've got one more question here for you to kind of
wrap us up here. One of the reasons that I wanted to do
this is I wanted a way to kind of pass on some lessons
to the people who are going to come and replace us after
a while. Right. There are people that are just starting
to get into this business, or they're thinking about,
oh, yeah, events. That sounds really interesting. I'd
love to do that. What kind of advice would you give to
people who are thinking about a career in events, who
are just starting their career in events?
I would say, well, I truly believe that if you do things
that you love, you will end up in the right job. If you
just do that, somehow it kind of manifests into what you
really want to do. But if you know already you really
want to get into events, I would do those. I mean, I
would try to volunteer or intern or study or whatever it
takes to learn about all the different positions because
also there's a lot of different roles in sport
presentation. You could be a producer or show caller if
you are able to make quick decisions and you can write
scripts well and you have knowledge, technology,
technical knowledge, as well as if you're creative. So
there's a lot of different areas. For me, I wish if I
could go back and do anything as a kid, I would have
learned as many languages as possible. So I would say if
you want to do events that are worldwide, you should
definitely learn as much language as you can because you
never know where you're going. And also that opens up
the horizon a bit more. You're not just going to work in
the US or work wherever your language is. So I would do
that and yeah, just get out there, get a hold of people.
And there's so many people that want to do this, and
they'll write to me, and I'll be like, okay, I don't
have anything right now, but I do keep a database. And
might be we just did the Warrior games in San Diego, for
instance, and a friend of my daughters had just
graduated San Diego State, and she's dying to get into
this business. And then I was like, oh wait, hey, we're
in San Diego. We have this position open and we brought
her in and now she's full on in to working. It just you
just never know. Just do what you really love and
somehow you'll get there. I think.
I think that's fantastic advice. And if I can gather
from what you said throughout our conversation, one of
the reasons that you've been able to do what you've done
is when opportunities were just presented to you, they
just kind of came. You said, sure, I'll do that. And I
think this industry, it will welcome people who are okay
to try to solve a problem, even if they don't
necessarily feel like I don't have any experience in
that area, but yeah, I'll do that. Like you said when
you started out in MTV, you were just doing all kinds of
jobs. So I'm gathering from what you said in your own
experience that having, I don't know, this ability to
say yes to opportunities and not shy away from them,
even if you maybe don't feel like, oh, maybe I'm not the
perfect person for this, but there's a need and I'll try
to fill it.
Yeah, I can't really think of any definitive examples
right now, but often there's been things that were not
the best job that I did. And then somehow, later on, it
was really good that I had that experience because maybe
it was like I just was thinking of this the other day.
Something happened. I did something in La. And it was
like a two day event. It was when I was doing broadcast.
I don't even remember what it was now, but then
something came back around and I'm like, oh yeah, I've
been there. I've worked at that venue before. Or I did
this even if it's not the best gig in the world or you
don't have the most fun, or maybe it was just like, I
don't know, 24 hours a day, and it was horrible. Somehow
that experience, I find, always comes back around, and I
learned something from it. So I think it's good to just
get out there, do as much as you can.
Well, I know you're in high demand and I know you've got
to run the meetings, and I've kept you beyond your time.
So I appreciate your patience and answering all of my
crazy questions. But if people are listening or watching
this podcast, they want to learn more about Sport
presentation. They are running events and they want to
see if you are available or your company is available to
provide some services. What is the best way for those
folks to reach out and connect with you?
Yeah, well, the company is Van Wagner. I work for Van
Wagner now. I worked with them for a long time, and then
after 2016, I joined them. So now I'm in charge of our
international events division for them. So Vanwegner.com
is our company website for me. I'm on LinkedIn. You can
also direct message me on Instagram. I won't put my
email out there because I already have like 6000 unread
emails. You can find me there also on Facebook, but I
don't know, facebook isn't cool anymore, so I don't know
if anybody goes there.
But yeah, well, people my age or my mother's will go on
there, but yeah, I understand you on that one. Okay,
Christy, we'll let you get back to work, get your
meetings ready. We wish you the best of luck in your
preparations for the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games.
Parapan Games. Super exciting for you. Thank you so much
for joining us, listeners and viewers, please like and
subscribe to our podcast and we'll catch you again soon.
Christy, thank you so much.
Thanks, Christian.