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Get ready to dive deep into the heartbeat of Raleigh as we explore our hidden gems, thriving food scene, rich history, and beautiful parks — as well as the programs, people, and ideas helping to navigate Raleigh’s biggest challenges, like growth, transportation and housing.
“Big Ideas Raleigh” is not just a podcast; it's a journey through the past, present, and future of our beloved city. So, buckle up for engaging conversations with the people behind Raleigh’s big ideas.
Find out more at https://www.Raleighnc.gov/big-ideas-raleigh.
Kerry Painter - 00:00:04:
Most cities struggle with sort of a chicken egg problem. Do we build a convention center and hope we get a hotel? Do we build hotels and then there's no business for the hotel? We have this beautiful moment where everything is happening at the very same time.
Evan Carroll - 00:00:16:
Last February, we brought in a 40-foot pirate ship. And that was a stage that a band performed on in the exhibit hall. So it's really a blank canvas.
Dan Bagley - 00:00:31:
Hey listeners, welcome to the Big Ideas Raleigh podcast, the show where we pull back the curtain and let you in on the stories and inner workings of your Raleigh. I'm your host, Dan Bagley, and I'm excited you joined us because we're going to be discussing how, why, and who makes large conferences and exhibitions a reality in Raleigh. As an added treat, we're recording in the bustling Raleigh Convention Center, a cornerstone for those events in Raleigh. Joining me on this incredible journey are two special guests who are experts in creating unforgettable experiences and managing premier event spaces. First, we have Evan Carroll, CEO and co-founder of Attended Events, based right here in Raleigh. Evan is an experienced design expert who has crafted numerous conference-based events. Evan, welcome to the show.
Evan - 00:01:19:
Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here.
Dan - 00:01:22:
Next, we have the amazing Kerry Painter, Executive Director of the Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts and General Manager of the Raleigh Convention and Performing Arts Center, as well as the Red Hat Amphitheater. Welcome, Kerry.
Kerry - 00:01:34:
Thank you.
Dan - 00:01:36:
Okay, so to start these events off, I'm calling it an event today since we're talking about events. To start this podcast off, we do a little icebreaker. We have a little fun. And I'm gonna play a game called Two Facts and a False. You have to guess what the false is. You guys are a team though, so you can work together.
Kerry - 00:01:54:
Great, okay.
Evan - 00:01:54:
Excellent.
Dan - 00:01:55:
Kerry, you might have a little bit of a leg up on this one. Here are the statements. The large public art piece on the west-facing wall of the convention center, known as the Shimmer Wall, was completed in 2009. Number two, the Shimmer Wall contains 40,000 aluminum panels backed by LED lights. Or statement number three, the piece is 44 feet tall and 210 feet wide. Which one is false?
Evan - 00:02:26:
I think the second one is false. What do you think? 2009 completion. That sounds right.
Kerry - 00:02:32:
210 sounds about right.
Evan - 00:02:34:
1040, that sounds about right.
Kerry - 00:02:36:
I feel like it's a little more than 40,000 squares. Should we go with two?
Evan - 00:02:40:
I think I would go with two.
Kerry - 00:02:41:
Two.
Dan - 00:02:42:
You guys are incredible. That is correct. That's hard. It's 80,000 panels. That's insane. But I mean, when you see that panel at night and all the LEDs going, it's just gorgeous.
Kerry - 00:02:54:
It is gorgeous. It's our jewel.
Dan - 00:02:57:
And it is. And it is.
Evan - 00:02:59:
And a fun fact, if I may.
Dan - 00:03:00:
Please.
Evan - 00:03:01:
For events that come into Raleigh, and when I say events, I mean just like you, conventions, conferences, we'll use all the words. We have an option to customize the color of the shimmer wall to match the brand colors of the event.
Dan - 00:03:14:
That's awesome. How fun is that?
Kerry - 00:03:17:
We just relit the wall about two years ago now with a goal that we could put a rainbow in June and other colors pink for breast cancer. And at the same time, colors for our clients, colors for the events.
Dan - 00:03:30:
I love that.
Kerry - 00:03:31:
It's really funny. Since the pandemic, a building has become almost a political statement, a community gathering, a reason. And so being able to color it has turned into a fabulous moment.
Dan - 00:03:43:
Yeah, you're absolutely right. I mean, it just kind of wraps its arms around you and it makes that moment even more special. So yeah, thanks for sharing that fact. That's really great. What we're going to do now is I'd like to learn a little bit more about you guys. You know, what do you do? What's the day-to-day? And if you could explain it to me like I'm a four-year-old kid, that could be helpful. Why don't we start with, yeah, we'll start with you, Kerry.
Kerry - 00:04:07:
I have an incredible job. And the funny part about my job is that people don't really even know it exists. Nobody ever comes into a convention center and thinks, who makes all this happen? Who's in charge and how does that look? But we're like a three-ring circus. You know, we have four buildings and then some of these are all happening at once. And then there's four theaters inside the Performing Arts Center. So now that makes it seven buildings. It's a pretty spectacular thing. But what I love most about the convention center is that there's just, it's this mystery behind the wall. It's unfortunate that most citizens don't get to come here and see all the incredible things. But the stuff that happens here, no one even knows exists along with me.
Evan - 00:04:51:
Yeah.
Kerry - 00:04:51:
So it's really great. We provide a wonderful space for people to do all kinds of incredibly unique businesses.
Dan - 00:04:59:
That's really cool.
Evan - 00:05:00:
It is cool.
Dan - 00:05:00:
So you literally just kind of, have the ability to touch everybody in the city, depending on what you have here at any given moment.
Kerry - 00:05:08:
We really do. And our whole purpose is about enhancing quality of life by making economic impact. So we keep downtown full, we fill hotels, we fill restaurants. That's really our focus and function on top of making a space for all this incredible work.
Dan - 00:05:22:
Yeah, I didn't even really think about that. And we'll jump into that. I'd like to jump into that a little bit more as we move on. But thanks for sharing that. I really do appreciate that. And what about you, Evan?
Evan - 00:05:32:
So I have one of those jobs that everyone says when they hear it. I should have went into that, right? My job is event planning and production, which as soon as you hear that, you think, I get to travel all over the world and go to events all the time.
Dan - 00:05:49:
Wow.
Evan - 00:05:49:
Which is often true. However, there's the process of putting on those events. So Attended events were based here in downtown Raleigh. We do event planning and production.
Dan - 00:05:59:
Okay.
Evan - 00:05:59:
So that means we are organizing events like those that you would see here at the center, you know, those conferences and conventions. We are also doing the production for them. So the technical production, the lights, the video, all those things you see during those events. We also have a studio over at our headquarters on Fayetteville Street. So our team represents clients. So a client will hire us. Like right here in Raleigh, we work with Pindo. They will hire us to organize their entire event. Which is great. We love working here at home. We love working with Kerry's team, love working with locals and those from out of town alike. So it's a really, really fun job. It also falls into the category of, oh, I didn't know people got to do that.
Dan - 00:06:42:
Yeah, absolutely. And it sounds like, again, kind of the same thing. You also touch so many people across the city and nationally, it sounds like as well. You both do.
Kerry - 00:06:53:
We do. It's pretty great.
Dan - 00:06:55:
Wow, so I have to know this right off the bat. Between the both of you, what's the largest venue conference that you've ever thrown here. And what's the smallest?
Kerry - 00:07:07:
Mm.
Evan - 00:07:09:
Your numbers are going to be more impressive than
Kerry - 00:07:11:
mine. I think one of the astounding large ones was QuiltCon last year.
Dan - 00:07:18:
QuiltCon.
Kerry - 00:07:19:
QuiltCon.
Dan - 00:07:19:
Tell me about that.
Kerry - 00:07:20:
Who knew there was such a thing as QuiltCon?
Dan - 00:07:21:
Right. You're talking about like the little pattern quilts?
Kerry - 00:07:24:
Yeah, in my head it was, you know, sweet quilting groups and, you know, Amish quilts and things that my grandma passed down and heirlooms. But it's not. QuiltCon is this. 60,000 person attended event. And it's like an art gallery of quilts. And the quilts are very modern and political statements and social statements and how to quilt. Everything from top to bottom, but there's an extraordinary exhibit you can walk through. And I just, I didn't even know it existed. It filled every hotel room in town.
Dan - 00:07:59:
Yeah, 60,000 people, I would imagine so. Wow, that's-
Kerry - 00:08:03:
Who knew?
Evan - 00:08:05:
I walked through, I was actually looking for some things we left behind while QuiltCon was here. And all of the rooms on this level were sitting, most of them were set up as classrooms. So probably 30 sewing machines in every room.
Dan - 00:08:19:
Oh, wow.
Evan - 00:08:19:
So I'd like to know how many sewing machines were in the building that day.
Kerry - 00:08:22:
Oh, man, I'm going to have to go get that fact.
Dan - 00:08:26:
That's great. What about yourself, Evan?
Evan - 00:08:28:
So we have a sweet spot that is around 1,000 attendees. And so that's usually our largest. We can go larger, but around 1,000 is where we feel like we're able to do some of our best work. The smallest could be as small as five, really. Because sometimes, you know, we're brought in to organize those very intimate events that just have just a couple of very important attendees. So. It ranges the gamut, really.
Kerry - 00:08:56:
I love some, this is one of my favorite spaces in the center, to be truthful.
Dan - 00:09:00:
This is a beautiful space.
Kerry - 00:09:01:
It's beautiful. And I take everyone here when I'm on tours, but I've had a few dinners here for people. And it's extraordinary at night and the lights and the amp out there. And you can do this gorgeous high, high food-styled service dinner in this beautiful place, and the chef gets to show off all the things he loves to do but can't do for 5,000 people.
Dan - 00:09:24:
Yeah. I never really thought about that, though, but inside the convention center, you can really use all the different little spaces and create and experience.
Kerry - 00:09:37:
Yeah. And that is just our whole purpose. How do we create a moment in any given spot that we have that we can tell somebody how fabulous it'll be?
Dan - 00:09:44:
Yeah.
Kerry - 00:09:45:
So you can see the X Hall sometimes. It's just 123,000 square feet turned into something extraordinary. Oh, my gosh. Evan did the most stunning nightclub in there. But then other times it's a Comic-Con and it's just booth after booth after booth. So every space can be anything, which is super exciting.
Evan - 00:10:03:
We'll have to share some photos. We've turned an exhibit hall into a 1950s New York-style speakeasy.
Kerry - 00:10:10:
It was amazing.
Evan - 00:10:10:
Which is what we did in February.
Dan - 00:10:11:
So cool.
Evan - 00:10:12:
Last February, we brought in a 40-foot pirate ship. And that was a stage that a band performed on in the exhibit hall. So it's really a blank canvas. And that's where folks like me and my team, we get to have a ton of fun figuring out how to make something work within the blank canvas. And that all sounds like fun. There's also a lot of work, a lot of safety concerns. There's a lot of behind the scenes work to make all that happen.
Dan - 00:10:38:
Well, when I think about a blank canvas, and I love that you use that term, you know, the sky's the limit. But sometimes when you have that blank canvas, you know, it can paralyze. You know, it can be really tough. How do you guys deal with, kind of coming up with the ideas, the logistics, and taking that blank canvas and turning it into those aha moments.
Evan - 00:11:01:
You know, I'll start on that one. I remember we were working on an event. We put a three-track conference into Red Hat Amphitheater. I think it was the first time and probably the last time that was done. What we had to do is we had to divide it up and start thinking about the smaller portions of it.
Dan - 00:11:20:
Okay.
Evan - 00:11:20:
Design those. I remember we were designing the seating area. And instead of it being one big open seating area like you'd see at a concert, the client wanted it to be different and dynamic. So we actually divided the area into quadrants.
Dan - 00:11:34:
Okay.
Evan - 00:11:34:
And then we numbered the quadrants. And then we designed 10 possible quadrants and then placed the 10 designs across the larger design.
Dan - 00:11:44:
Brilliant.
Evan - 00:11:44:
So a lot of—you have to think about it differently, I guess is how I would say it. And think of it as this experience and that experience and then bring it all together in a way that makes sense.
Dan - 00:11:56:
That's great. Kerry?
Kerry - 00:11:56:
Yeah, and sometimes... You know, I think Evan's probably just like me. I see the world in pictures. So I'm the worst client for my staff because I get this bright idea. I saw a piece of somewhere. Next thing you know, I'm taking that piece and pushing it into something that becomes something. And that's the fun of it. I mean, they just dread if I come in and say, I saw a billboard somewhere because Lord knows that made me want to do something new. And so, but then we translate this picture into something real and it gets to be so incredibly. Incredibly.
Evan - 00:12:28:
Absolutely.
Kerry - 00:12:29:
Gratifying and fun. And then somebody has to take all those little tiny details and break them down. That's where Evan comes in. I just like picture big things.
Dan - 00:12:37:
I love it. Big picture. And then you take it and make it happen.
Evan - 00:12:41:
And I have to say, there's a lot of design and planning that goes into it. We spend tons of time in front of computer screens doing everything from 2D top-down layouts to 3D renderings to make sure what we're going to put together works. Because the thing that a lot of folks don't understand is sometimes we have eight hours to set it up and less than that to take it down. And so we have to have a very clean plan coming in the door to make sure everything can happen. Because the one thing that never changes with events, the deadline is always the same.
Dan - 00:13:16:
Yeah.
Evan - 00:13:17:
The attendees are walking in the door at the time we said they're walking in the door.
Kerry - 00:13:22:
And it has to be done. And sometimes the details our extraordinary. You know, we did a e-sports and had the most heavy hang from our rigging points in the history of this building. It was like 200 and something thousand pounds.
Dan - 00:13:36:
Wow.
Kerry - 00:13:36:
And so you suddenly think, oh, wait, whoa, did we get an engineer? We had to think this through because safety has to be paramount. Someone can't be standing under it and have a fall out of the ceiling.
Dan - 00:13:44:
So you're talking like huge screens?
Kerry - 00:13:46:
Huge screens. And you know, for us, we do a lot of e-sports competition. So there's, you know, live play happening in big, big screens and scoreboards in the middle. And sometimes it's like a football stadium in an X hall.
Dan - 00:14:00:
Right.
Kerry - 00:14:00:
And you just got to be sure you got to think it through. You got to engineer it. They've got to render it on computers because you don't just show up and hope it works.
Dan - 00:14:08:
Right. You have to plan it out. Absolutely. Well, this, this is good. I'd like to talk a little bit more about the power of conferences. You know, conferences, exhibitions, and events are such powerful tools for bringing people together. And driving community engagement. And you both work on some pretty big ones as we've been talking about here. So Evan, can you share a big idea from added events related to the experience design that you're excited about right now?
Evan - 00:14:35:
So excited about right now. I hesitate to share the client's name because I can't share it. I don't know that I can share this one. But one of the things we've been asked to do is upstairs in the ballrooms in this building, we've been asked to design a general session or a keynote session for 500 people that is in the round. And so that means the stage is a square in the center of the room and we have chairs on all sides.
Dan - 00:15:00:
I love it.
Kerry - 00:15:01:
I love that.
Evan - 00:15:02:
It's an actual challenge. We have renderings. We're six, actually we're 10 weeks away from that event. And we are knee deep in doing some of those calculations to make sure everything can hang in the right spot. Doing the math to make sure we have enough PA speakers so that everyone in the room can hear. So we're doing a lot of that stuff we were just talking about. But I don't think there have been many... In the round setups here in the building. So it's a challenge for us and it's going to be a challenge for the building team.
Kerry - 00:15:36:
I have not seen one yet, so.
Evan - 00:15:38:
Well, September. Here we go.
Dan - 00:15:40:
So this could possibly be the first in the round. At the convention center.
Kerry - 00:15:46:
It could be. And I love keynotes. I'm one of those weird people who loves to sit and be spoken to about something I had no idea in the world existed. That just thrills me to no end.
Dan - 00:15:56:
Yeah, I enjoy that too. It helps. But Kerry, what about yourself? What are some of the big ideas as you help our area leverage these amazing spaces?
Kerry - 00:16:06:
So I think for me, the big ideas come out of this building. Raleigh's incredible export product, so to speak, is intellectual knowledge. We have so much intellectual capital here. And we see this building as a chance to show the world or bring the world to Raleigh.
Dan - 00:16:27:
Love that.
Kerry - 00:16:27:
We had three incredible conferences that we managed to book recently. And I just, I think they're a perfect example of this big idea. We did the eighth International Soft Matter Conference. I cannot explain to you what Soft Matter is. I've looked it up many times on Wikipedia. It is a breakdown of a breakdown of the product within the product. But it's happened in Japan, Poland, and Raleigh. I know. The World BioAg Conference just left here, and it has happened last time in Brazil. And it is sustainable bio-agriculture conference.
Dan - 00:17:04:
That's amazing.
Kerry - 00:17:05:
It is amazing. And then we did the anti-bullying forum, which has happened in Stockholm, Sweden, Dublin, Ireland, and Raleigh. So we're doing these incredible, brilliant conferences where real minds in the world are exchanging knowledge, and they're going to take those big ideas out of this building and change the world. I wish we could catalog what was ignited when they're here.
Dan - 00:17:30:
I mean, when you're putting your name next to Brazil, Dublin, Ireland, Raleigh. I mean, it's big time.
Kerry - 00:17:37:
We are absolutely playing in a league way beyond what anyone would imagine. And it's because we have this capital intellectual knowledge here that people come and see us. And when they're here, we make sure that the visit's extraordinary. And I can't even fathom what brilliant ideas come out of this building.
Dan - 00:17:55:
I love that. Well, with that, we need to take a quick break, and we'll be right back with the Big Ideas Raleigh podcast. Welcome back to the Big Ideas Raleigh podcast. Kerry, this next question is for you. What impact do large conferences at the convention and performing arts complex have on the city of Raleigh?
Kerry - 00:18:14:
They have an incredible impact. Again, people don't really know what's going on in here. It's just a big, formidable building. But what it does for the city is incredible. We had last year 156 events, which made $134.5 million in total economic impact.
Dan - 00:18:36:
$134 million.
Kerry - 00:18:37:
It's incredible.
Dan - 00:18:38:
Wow.
Kerry - 00:18:38:
In one year. It affects everything. It affects restaurants. It affects hotels. It affects downtown. It adds a vibrancy. There's nothing more fun than this week when you're going to see thousands of youth downtown on the streets in their FFA jackets. Or last weekend when we saw 4,000 women in red and white Delta outfits all over the street.
Dan - 00:19:05:
I love it.
Kerry - 00:19:05:
Visiting, spending money, being part of downtown. It makes an enormous impact.
Dan - 00:19:12:
Well, I got to tell you. FFA, if I'm not mistaken, is Future Farmers of America.
Kerry - 00:19:16:
It is.
Dan - 00:19:16:
Just for the listeners out there. But one of my favorite events and one that I have triplets and I bring my kids to is GalaxyCon. That is just so much fun. And when you're just out in the downtown Raleigh area and you see all these different superheroes and comic book figures just come to life. And everyone is streaming to this little hub of the convention center. It's just amazing. It's magical. It's really cool.
Kerry - 00:19:40:
It is magical. And, you know, sure. We're talking about these incredible conferences. But there's a lot of things that the actual community does get a chance to participate in. And what I love is some of them are such a safe space for anyone and everyone. Like GalaxyCon. Like Animazement. Like eSports. You know, some of those kids who may not have fit into the, you know, actual volleyball and basketball sports suddenly have a place where they belong and they fit and they see themselves. And then there is the cheerleading and basketball and volleyball.
Dan - 00:20:10:
You even have that here still.
Kerry - 00:20:12:
Five in thousands. And so the parents get to come and spend their day here. And we make sure it's a comfortable day as they get to watch and cheer on their child. And then everybody gets to graduate from here. So we do have some really significant family moments that this building holds every year. And for that, we're super proud.
Dan - 00:20:28:
Yeah. Moments. You're making moments. That's I love that. That's a great way to look at this. Evan, can you give citizens a behind the scenes pass and share some of the unexpected aspects of organizing a big conference?
Evan - 00:20:42:
So, we like to say that there are always things that come up during conferences. So our mantra is not about preparing for everything that could happen because we can't anticipate that everything that might happen. We prepare for everything that we could imagine happening so that we have the bandwidth left to handle the unexpected. And so some things you might not think of, you're doing an outdoor event. Where are all the people going to evacuate to in the event of a thunderstorm?
Dan - 00:21:09:
Yeah.
Evan - 00:21:09:
Something we have to plan for. I'd like to say, the best way to not have rain at your event is to have a really good plan for what happens when the rain comes. Because you'll never get to use it. It's good insurance policy. All of the details that we put together, I think, are the most astounding things. That's a fun example. But if we think about a conference that 1,000 people attend, there might be 250 people who, in one way or another, touch the setup and execution of that event.
Dan - 00:21:41:
Wow.
Evan - 00:21:42:
So whether it's the staff here at the Convention Center, whether it's the catering staff here, whether it's the technical staff that we bring in, everybody from the people who hang things from the ceiling, we really like them. We need that to be safe, to the folks who set up the tables or bring out the food. There are dozens of people, hundreds of people even, involved in this process. And orchestrating all of that, that's kind of the fun part. Because there are moments where I'm putting on a large event, and Kerry probably thinks about this number as well, and I'll kind of add it up in my head. My goodness, there are 100 people working beneath me today. Just for this event. And I'm sure it's much more than that for you, Kerry, but it's astounding the number of people that we touch.
Dan - 00:22:25:
So it almost sounds like, you're a conductor and you're trying to create a symphony. And there's all these different pieces, the cellos, the violins, the trumpets. I don't know if a trumpet's in a symphony, but anyway.
Evan - 00:22:39:
There is a trumpet in a symphony.
Dan - 00:22:40:
Is there? Okay, good. All right, few.
Evan - 00:22:41:
I played trumpet, so I would know.
Dan - 00:22:43:
All right, very cool, very cool. And they all have to work together to make the product happen?
Evan - 00:22:50:
That's exactly right. That's a great analogy because if one detail is off, let's say the oboe is out of tune, we know. But if the entire symphony is out of time, we also know that. So we have to work big picture and little picture at the same time.
Kerry - 00:23:06:
And it makes hundreds of jobs.
Evan - 00:23:08:
It does.
Kerry - 00:23:09:
Really good jobs that, you know, feel incredible and are wonderful. Even if you're cleaning a bathroom or cooking the food behind the scenes, you're a part of this symphony.
Dan - 00:23:20:
You're right. When you talk about acting, there's no small part.
Kerry - 00:23:25:
That's right.
Dan - 00:23:25:
It's the same thing in a center, the convention center or the Red Hat or at the Martin Marietta. You all have a specific purpose that you have to do to make it all come together. I love that. When you were talking about, you know, when things go sideways. What's a fun one that's happened, you know, in the past that you had to regroup really quickly and, you know, move forward?
Evan - 00:23:51:
Hmm.
Dan - 00:23:53:
Or something wacky that's happened.
Kerry - 00:23:55:
Well, I would say the Bluegrass Festival is a great example of that. Oh, tell me more. We planned the Bluegrass Festival, the festival itself.
Dan - 00:24:03:
It was an amazing festival.
Kerry - 00:24:04:
On the street and at the amp and outside. And there have been two times now in history where it has rained on the festival. And we've had to move an entire festival inside this building or the theater and this. And it's some incredible hands on deck, I got to tell you, to try to relocate, you know, street fair feeling and booths and people and instruments and stages and all these things within a day and a half notice.
Dan - 00:24:31:
Yeah.
Kerry - 00:24:32:
When we spend 11 months planning it. It's chaos for sure.
Dan - 00:24:39:
It's controlled chaos.
Kerry - 00:24:40:
It's controlled chaos. And, you know, every year we go through exactly what Evan just said. Do we hold these buildings for this? We really can't hold all buildings in case it rains. So we just cross our fingers, make a great plan and hope. But it's happened twice. And there's many people who say, man, we loved that. Can we just leave it there? But that does kind of kill the festival atmosphere outside.
Dan - 00:24:59:
Yeah, sure, sure, sure. I can understand that. What about yourself, Evan?
Evan - 00:25:03:
My goodness, there are so many. I'm going through my catalog trying to pick one. Because one of the reasons why our clients work with us is there's so many things that we simply handle for them.
Dan - 00:25:13:
Sure.
Evan - 00:25:14:
Like these last minute things that come up. Let's see, what would my favorite one be? My absolute favorite one. You know what? I'm going to have to pass on that one. Any of the ones I have, they go too far into how the sausage is made. And nobody wants to know how that happens.
Dan - 00:25:31:
Totally understand. Totally understand. Well, one thing that's interesting that I was kind of pulling out of this, too, were the partnerships that play along with the center and people outside of the center. So how do partnerships and collaborations enhance the conference experiences at your venues?
Kerry - 00:25:51:
Everything Evan does enhances the experience. You know, we're a space.
Dan - 00:25:54:
Yeah.
Kerry - 00:25:55:
We rent a space. We do extraordinary food and beverage. We bring in beautiful furniture. But then somebody has to have the capacity to take all the rest. And as you said, a big blank slate can be extremely overwhelming.
Dan - 00:26:10:
Yeah.
Kerry - 00:26:10:
If you're not that kind of person that plans conferences. And not everybody is the planner. They just have to make it happen. Some are more experienced planners. And that's a little bit different. But Evan, everything he does brings in the layers that make events amazing. So the partnership is absolutely integral and important.
Dan - 00:26:29:
Yeah, the layers. I love that. That's a great statement. It is about the layers. Did you want to comment on that, Evan?
Evan - 00:26:34:
Yeah, I'll throw in that I think if we were to name all of the layers, I mean, there are layers. There's a furniture layer. There's a how people will move through the space layer. There's a food and beverage layer, a lighting and video layer, audio, making sure they can all hear. The schedule of how the event schedule is going to fit into the building and how rooms are going to change from one setup to another during that time. Because that's actually something a lot of folks don't realize about events is. They're not set up once and you do the event and then you leave. That may be the case in sort of a one-room event. But in a center like this, it's constantly changing. And we're not just planning what it's going to be for the entire thing. It's going to be this on Tuesday, this on Wednesday, this on Thursday. And how are we going to make those changes happen and do so in a way that everyone is able to do their part and has a reasonable amount of time to do it. So I guess I would say to listeners. Next time you go to a conference or a convention, start looking at the little details.
Dan - 00:27:41:
Yeah.
Evan - 00:27:42:
And remember that everything you see Some person had to make a decision about that. Some person had to set it up. Some person had to tear it down. Some person had to put it on the truck and take it to the next place. And think about just the number of people who might be involved in that process. And that's what we get to orchestrate every day.
Dan - 00:28:00:
That's really cool.
Kerry - 00:28:01:
And as little as the chair you're sitting in. Did we choose a hardback chair? Did we choose a flex chair? Why do we pick it? How's the fabric? Like every flower on a table, every light, everything is a decision somewhere. And then there's the layer no one else sees, which is the Convention and Visitors Bureau. So not only in this building are we doing all these layers, but somebody is orchestrating when you arrive at the airport. And how do you get there? And is there a banner on the street with your name on it? And, you know, is the hotel ready for you? And do they know what you do and who you are and how many rooms you have? And so we ripple all the way out, all the way through. It's not just in the building.
Evan - 00:28:42:
Kerry, my favorite detail is that the Convention and Visitors Bureau. Finds out which meals for a large conference we're serving here at the center and which ones where attendees are going to be on their own. And they brief the hotel restaurants and all the restaurants downtown when they can expect a surge in convention attendees so they can prepare for it.
Dan - 00:29:02:
That's a great point. I mean, again, that's something I never would have thought about. But if you don't have enough food on hand, it's like all of a sudden on a Tuesday night, there's going to be 200 people that aren't normally downtown storming the food scene. You got to be ready.
Evan - 00:29:16:
That's a great one.
Kerry - 00:29:17:
It's all the reputation of the city. Everything everyone does comes together in that experience. It's not just what happens in one spot for them.
Dan - 00:29:24:
Well, you guys are definitely continuing that awesome reputation that the city has. So thank you for that. I want to switch gears for just a second on this next question. And I'd like to know, how do you see conferences and exhibitions playing a role in addressing issues like sustainability and community resilience in Raleigh?
Evan - 00:29:45:
I think I'll start the... There's certainly a role for conferences and exhibitions to play because the dirty secret of our work is it is very wasteful. There's a lot of food waste that we try to address. There's a lot of waste in terms of material. And I think that we all have to play our part to facilitate reuse as much as possible, food donations, which I know the center does a really good job with, choosing sustainable packaging. We have a responsibility to play in that world to make sure that whenever we're making decisions, we're not making decisions only based upon the cost or only based upon the timeline, but also about what's the reuse and sustainability of what we're doing as well.
Kerry - 00:30:28:
And some pieces, we try not to even give the choice. All of our throwaway is compostable. We don't say, do you want to spend an extra, you know, 30 cents a cup to do this? They just are. Just do it. And so we can manage a bit of it where a planner might have had to squeeze it out of their budget by just making it so.
Evan - 00:30:48:
Yeah.
Kerry - 00:30:49:
And then the other parts is the consideration of the conversation. The food's the toughest because there's nothing more mortifying for a meeting planner than to run out of food. And you don't know who and how much someone's going to eat or are they going to, you know, take all the meat choices or just one.
Dan - 00:31:04:
Right.
Kerry - 00:31:05:
But you also don't want to waste it all. And so we work really hard to make sure whatever's left gets in the hands of people who need it.
Dan - 00:31:11:
That's fascinating. How do you do that?
Kerry - 00:31:14:
Well, we do many layers. We do donate afterwards. We take them to food kitchens. We work with the Interfaith Food Shuttle.
Evan - 00:31:24:
Interfaith Food Shuttle.
Kerry - 00:31:25:
Interfaith Food Shuttle. I said it completely backwards. But we got there. And we make sure that they get food. We also, you know, we only order food when we have an event. So our kitchen's closed and the cupboards are empty. So when someone says, can you whip something together? It's like, no, we cannot because we didn't order it because we didn't have an event. Which also helps keep that down, right? But should we have extra or should we have something? We make sure that if it's going to expire, it's donated first. If nothing goes to waste that we can manage. We also tend to try to feed our staff and the servers. You know, if you're a temp server, we don't want you feeding thousands of people thinking how hungry you are.
Dan - 00:32:03:
Right.
Kerry - 00:32:04:
That's not acceptable. It's not human.
Dan - 00:32:05:
I love that.
Kerry - 00:32:06:
And so everybody eats before they serve. We really take the care to do that. We watch over our staff in the same way. It just makes a difference.
Dan - 00:32:14:
So that's special. I mean, it's more than just a job. It has that feel of, you know, a family and I'm being looked for, looked after. And so I think that's really special. And the sustainability measures, it sounds like you guys are trying to look at all the angles to be as sustainable as can be. Is this a LEED certified building?
Kerry - 00:32:34:
It is. We're LEED Silver. And the new expansion will also be LEED Silver.
Dan - 00:32:39:
Oh, can you talk a little bit about the expansion now that you brought that up?
Kerry - 00:32:41:
I can. We have a whole new building going in across the street. So we're very excited about that. The Red Hat Amp, sits on the land purchased for the expansion.
Dan - 00:32:52:
Okay.
Kerry - 00:32:53:
Was, we thought, a short-lived amp, but it's turned into a treasure for all of downtown.
Dan - 00:32:58:
It is a treasure.
Kerry - 00:32:58:
I mean, it had 98,000 people come through it last year. So it's doing incredible work, made $17 million in economic impact. Makes a difference.
Dan - 00:33:06:
Wow.
Kerry - 00:33:06:
I know. Just concerts. And this year we have 51, which is record-breaking. So it's going to move over a block. And then the new convention will go where it is sitting. It'll be about 300,000 square feet, give or take. And it'll have two huge flex spaces and all the desperately needed meeting rooms that we need now. So we're excited about that. They'll join over the street.
Dan - 00:33:29:
And how long is that going to take?
Kerry - 00:33:31:
Well, the Amp will open in 26.
Evan - 00:33:33:
Oh, wow.
Kerry - 00:33:34:
And the convention center will open in 28. So we are rolling fast. In the middle of that, the new Omni Hotel will be coming in, which has 550 rooms that we desperately need. So we're excited about that. Most cities struggle with sort of a chicken-egg problem. Do we build a convention center and hope we get a hotel? Do we build hotels and then there's no business for the hotel? We have this beautiful moment where everything is happening at the very same time.
Dan - 00:33:56:
Synergy.
Kerry - 00:33:56:
So Raleigh.
Dan - 00:33:57:
So Raleigh. I love that. I love that. Well, we do need to take one more quick break, and we'll be right back with the Big Ideas Raleigh podcast. Welcome back to the Big Ideas Raleigh podcast where my guests are Evan Carroll, CEO and co-founder of Attended Events, and Kerry Painter, executive director of the Marin Marian Center for Performing Arts and general manager of the Raleigh Convention Center and Performing Arts Complex, as well as the Red Hat Amphitheater. So when we left for break, we were talking a little bit about the expansion. Thank you, Kerry. But Evan, I'd like some of your thoughts on why you think this expansion is so important to Raleigh.
Evan - 00:34:37:
I'm so thankful that the taxpayers have enabled this expansion to happen because large conventions, conferences, events require many things to come together. They require that we have the meeting space, which is exactly what this expansion delivers. Requires the hotel sleeping rooms, which the Omni is going to enable for us, and transportation, both ground transportation and air transportation. So having all of those pieces in place allows large conventions to choose Raleigh as opposed to Atlanta, Orlando, Nashville, because we have a better experience. You can be a big deal in Raleigh. Because of our size, but we have to be able to service those larger events. That's what it enables. It helps companies like mine servicing these events. It helps restaurants. It helps the hotels. It helps the Uber drivers. It helps folks at the airport. And truly has a large economic impact on our region. And so events are big business. We should all know that.
Dan - 00:35:39:
And it keeps people coming.
Kerry - 00:35:40:
It's interesting because we are funded by something called an interlocal tax. And what that is is a hotel and food tax. And so it pays for not only us and our future, but it also funds other great things that we love. You know, the new Canes Arena updates, sometimes the museums, other... Cultural venues. And so it's this interesting wheel, so to speak, because the more we can make, the more we put back into that pot, the more we put in that pot, all these other things float. So even with the Amphitheater making that money, that goes back into the pot and that helps fund the Canes. That helps fund us. It funds these other great things. So it's a really wonderful, thoughtful tax that doesn't burden individuals in town who live here.
Dan - 00:36:32:
That's a great point.
Kerry - 00:36:32:
But it does allow all this expansion that we've been looking at.
Dan - 00:36:37:
Yeah, and frankly, as you had just mentioned, the Red Hat Amphitheater was kind of a, you know, just a short term, we're just gonna put it out, there and then you built it and they come. So I think it's proving the fact that the more we do, the more we attract.
Kerry - 00:36:54:
Absolutely.
Dan - 00:36:55:
So I think that's fascinating. Well, we're gonna close out here, but I'd like to ask one more question. So what's something we haven't asked you that you'd love the people of Raleigh and Raleigh fans to know about your work? Or the future of conferences in our city. And Evan, we'll start with you.
Evan - 00:37:13:
So it's really simple. Everyone in Raleigh is a host to all of the events that we have here in Raleigh. So what I want to say is I want to say thank you. Thank you for letting us clog up the streets and the parking decks and all those things because they matter from an economic standpoint. They matter from a growth standpoint for our city. And it truly pays back into the city. So the big thing I want everyone to know is thank you. Thank you for your patience and your understanding. And hopefully you appreciate some of the things that events does for the city.
Dan - 00:37:45:
That's wonderful. Thanks, Evan.
Kerry - 00:37:46:
And feeding off of that, all these things that the events does brings what we hope to be a greater quality of life to everybody. Having amenities for conference goers are still amenities for people who live here. And if they can be built without their dollars, but they get to enjoy and participate in so many of these wonderful things, then it's really a beautiful full circle. So thank you for letting us do it. And then we hope that you see what we bring to you so that the wheel just continues to turn. It's a great ecosystem down here.
Dan - 00:38:19:
Yeah, it really is a great ecosystem. And I just wanted to say, Evan, Kerry, thank you both so much for joining us today. And thank you for listening or watching this podcast. Give us a follow. Find the Big Ideas Raleigh podcast on any podcast app or on YouTube. We've got more great episodes coming your way as we dive deep into the heartbeat of our Oak City. And hey, if you have ideas for our podcast, let us know. Visit our podcast page and learn how you can share your ideas with us. We'd love to hear from you. A special shout out to the production team behind this podcast, Earfluence, a Raleigh-based podcast production company. Learn more at earfluence.com. This podcast was brought to you by the City of Raleigh's Office of Strategy and Innovation, also known as the Office of Yes, and the City of Raleigh's Communication Department. I'm Dan Bagley, and we'll see you next time on the Big Ideas Raleigh podcast.