Ep 113 What Vivid Sydney and Pokemon Go can teach us (or not) about immersive events, with Nathan Cassar Part 2

Sometimes we can stick to safe formulas while the rest of the world forges ahead with innovative ways for our events. Event producer Nathan Cassar believes this is what's happened to Sydney's Vivid Festival and other events that have not yielded the desired results for attendance, scoring wins for creativity or building community. But all is not lost, with plenty of inspiration around to correct our course, including lessons we can learn from Pokemon Go.

Based in Sydney, Australia, Nathan's rich experience has included being a Cruise Director for Princess Cruises, emceeing wedding receptions and leading major awards evening galas. His own awards have included Best Wedding MC by the Wedding Industry Awards (Western Sydney) 2023 & 2022 and Most Entertaining MC (NSW) - Lux-Life Global Excellence Awards 2022.

Quotes from this episode:

"(I would love to see) the ability to be more bold rather than this wide, wide funnel to try to bring as many people in as possible to take away as much money as you can (through things like) a $22 chips on a stick."

"Ask us what we're really capable of because we're already masters of being able to manipulate language and people."

Nathan's website:
www.nathancassar.com.au

Connect with Nathan:
Email: mc@nathancassar.com.au
LinkedIn: nathan-cassar-master-of-ceremonies-sydney
FB: @nathancassar.mc
IG: @nathancassar_mc

Nathan's image credit: Puzzleman Productions

Connect with Adelaine:
Email: uponarrivalpodcast@gmail.com

Record interviews remotely with Riverside:
bit.ly/RecordWithRiverside
Get 15% off your subscription with code: Adelaine

Host your podcast on Buzzsprout:
bit.ly/BuzzsproutGet20Amazon
Get $20 Amazon gift card.

Edit interviews like a word document with Descript:
bit.ly/EditWithDescript
Adelaine's game-changing podcast production AI tool

Note: Some links on this page may be affiliate links, meaning I may earn a commission that supports this podcast if you make a purchase through them. All recommendations are based on my personal experience and made in good faith to provide helpful resources.

Transcript

Adelaine Ng: 0:00

Last time on this podcast.

Nathan Cassar: 0:02

The days of old. Emcees and hosts literally would shake people's hands from the moment that they walked into the door. You would work the room, you'd remember names, and this is stuff that we do on cruise ships daily. I know that there is a much more vibrant way to perform to people.

Adelaine Ng: 0:20

Welcome to Upon Arrival, a show that uncovers stories and strategies that make up all the moving parts of business events tourism.

Adelaine Ng: 0:27

I'm Adelaine Ng, and this is part two of my interview with former cruise ship director and MC extraordinaire, Nathan Cassar, who is now also putting his hand to event production.

Adelaine Ng: 0:39

If you missed the last episode, Nathan basically took us on a journey through some of his major live milestones, which has given him the career he has today in the event industry, and he challenged us to expect more of our MCs or Masters of Ceremony, because there is so much more that they can do to make our events more memorable and even improve ticket sales.

Adelaine Ng: 1:03

In this second part of our chat, Nathan takes off his MCing hat for the most part and instead puts on his event production cap to rant a little about the state of events in his beloved city of Sydney. I'll say you don't have to agree with him on his position, but hey, this world would be really boring if we agreed with everyone and if we didn't allow our feathers to be ruffled sometimes to think about things from other points of view. We also talk about the blending of art and technology, funding going to the wrong places and, of course, how our events can learn a thing or two from Pokemon Go. So are you ready? Here's part two, and I begin by asking Nathan why he's become more passionate about the event production space in recent years.

Nathan Cassar: 1:51

Well, in a nutshell, I think the too long didn't read is that in Sydney? I think I'm just getting tired of how relatively boring and uncreative some of the events here are. And that doesn't mean that there's nothing going on in Sydney. That's of anything. No, because I'm sure some people listening they just say Vivid, vivid's amazing.

Adelaine Ng: 2:10

And they go well, yeah, but then we really really look at it and to explain to our international friends who might not have heard of Vivid but they'll know the sales over the Sydney.

Nathan Cassar: 2:24

Sydney Opera House.

Adelaine Ng: 2:25

Yes, crazy, I can't believe that. Just as crazy. The Sydney Opera House. Yes, the sales over the Sydney Opera House and it's that light show that is projected on the house. And I've done the bridge climb during Vivid and that was pretty amazing because you're combining two experiences in one. For me it was quite a highlight because I wasn't local to Sydney, so that was something new. But you think that Sydney can do a whole lot better.

Nathan Cassar: 2:51

I certainly can. I mean, look, I went with my very good friend and international event producer, world-renowned Darren Brown, who's the co-owner of the Mandala Social, who actually created an incredible festival that I encourage you listeners to check out the Norm Riyadh Festival in Saudi Arabia it was, If you put these two events together.

Nathan Cassar: 3:11

And that's a light festival, correct, Correct yes, now, it is a beautiful curation of touchpoints throughout the city that were truly interactable. I think the one thing that they really wanted to focus on was to really expand people's mindsets and immerse them to the point where they had things like there was this massive plinth about oh geez, about 20 meters away from this big screen and if you were to be in front of like a Kinect style camera and if you moved, it would then take that vision and then push it out to this big screen and then do all sorts of things with it. So it was augmenting your relatively normal vision in real life and then putting it up to the screen in light in real time. Fascinating stuff, wow, absolutely fascinating. This thing won six Guinness World Records and just one festival. Now I challenge anyone to determine the amount of. Okay, I'm not saying this is the only metric, but I challenge anyone to determine the last time that Vivid won a Guinness World Record or at least focused on doing something of an epic scale to that point. I'm not saying that the Vivid Light Festival is bad. It's definitely held its water for a number of years, for good reason. But here's an example I went to it this year and it's been a number of years since I've had no opportunity to go, and so I went with Darren and it was interesting.

Nathan Cassar: 4:32

We were at the I can't remember the name of the building the one that's at Circular Key. If any of you have been here in Sydney, it's the immediately the building that's right behind Circular Key Station, and they always put it up in vision on the 3D projections on the walls of the building. Now, okay, it was fine, it was a good show. There's definitely better festivals, like the IMAP Festival in Bucharest. That's basically designed around mapping 3D presentations immersed upon the sidescapes of different buildings, and I know there's something major focus of the festival. But it'd be great if Australia could bring a lot more of those people who could break some records and showcase that.

Nathan Cassar: 5:12

But right next to it was this huge, big I don't know what the resolution is 8 or 16K LED wall. They had this little container thing where they were doing this experience. We had to get into a line and it was all very corporate and they give you this little safety thing and then you go in and you play around some colors on their new Fandango light fridge or something. And then you go in and you play this little mini game where you go from one side of the room to the other and then you get out and you get bombarded with spam emails after that, with the recording and everything else, and I was just so confused by it all because I knew I wasn't confused, since I didn't know what was going on.

Nathan Cassar: 5:50

But two things I was confused by One. This experience was really blah in of itself. It was clearly just a sales pitch and it just wasn't really well executed. But two you've got this massive heritage building being projected light screen and the projection is never going to be as bright the technology we have at the moment. But then you have this big moth-like light, the zapper light thing kind of brightness, right next to it that's catching people's attention away from the immersion of this other building being lit up and just that.

Nathan Cassar: 6:22

For me it's like, yeah, okay, that was for foot traffic, I get that, but obviously they're a corporate sponsor and that's where the money comes from. But that really, in my mind, takes it away from what we're really trying to do here. You walk through the streets of Dark Mofo in Hobart in Tasmania, or you walk through Rising Festival that's across the entire month in Melbourne, for instance, that focus on being able to really immerse families and art enthusiasts and enjoyment enthusiasts alike anybody really who wants to go and discover the best of Australia has to offer without that sort of he feeling that corporates out to kind of get their tendrils over you.

Adelaine Ng: 7:02

Yeah, it sounds like the beef that you have is really with Sydney, not with the rest of Australia. Is that right?

Nathan Cassar: 7:09

And I want to make that clear. Don't get me wrong. Like you know, I will be the first person to say that Sydney Harbour itself is still, in my opinion, the my favorite harbour. I've been to a number of harbours across the world, you know been to Melbourne, I've been to Brisbane, I've been to well glad they called Sydney home. I just Look there is some good news in the horizon.

Nathan Cassar: 7:28

It was good to know that the most recent announcement for the redistribution of funds from the festival in Noel Sydney two events one I've actually worked on, I've done a lot I did it first year, I'm not this year's one, last year's one and Noel Sydney I had no idea it even existed until that same employer I mentioned it and I was like, oh, okay, but those two things alone was something to the tune of twenty million dollars being used for things that Our current arts minister said no one knows about him and I think it's time to redistribute that and I think that is the first step that goes a long way to proving, to giving people out there the opportunity to build more immersive environments and more immersive experiences that don't highlight the corporate aspects of the world we live in, but instead bring the beauty back, bring some thematic, immersive experiences, like you see, a dark mofo where the website, if you like. What am I talking about? Is that like a like a new website? I'm not supposed to be on the type in dark mofo and look at the website. Even if you look at, that is such a beautiful touch point of the theme, of the secularism, of the uniqueness of this particular type of festival that draws people in from all over the world to enjoy something that you know it's.

Nathan Cassar: 8:47

It's a package. It says this is who we are and if you like us, come. If you don't like us, okay, that's great, that's fine. Plenty of other things going on. If you prefer a wine and cheese festival instead, well, there's plenty on offer for you, and I think that ability to be more bold, rather than this sort of wide, wide, wide funnel to try to bring as many, many, many people in this, possible to To take away as much money as you can from twenty two dollar chips on a stick, I will praise Vivid for one The one thing, though, I really did enjoy the use of I can never remember the name of it is an Berangaroo in berangaroo. Forgive me for not knowing the name of it. I'm sure some of this is will remember. It looks just out to where crown is and you can. This is Big, big, big under like it's like an under cave kind of thing, and that.

Adelaine Ng: 9:39

That just goes to show where I do for a visit back I agree, actually yes or at least a map.

Nathan Cassar: 9:45

What they did was right was that they put this really cool grungy, mental arts, rustic, fired themed meat restaurant sort of space. I thought that was brilliant. I was for the first time. I was like Throughout the whole night I was like this is actually pretty cool. You had open fires, you had thematic building structures for the restaurants and so forth. You had some presentations and some live demonstrations of the food being roasted and different things like that and I thought, of course, why is fire not being introduced into vivid mid march until now? But I thought at the same time, brilliant, absolutely brilliant.

Nathan Cassar: 10:25

I thought it was a beautiful use of the space, respected the fact that it was in the middle of the, the cold of parts of the year, start on purpose, obviously for the light, and I thought this kind of thing needs to continue more and be sort of exported across the city a bit more than just let's see if we can get another weird like light structure that is really obscure and you have to read the thing that has little plinth and it's in a really bad resolution she can't even read the name of the artist itself and see if to go on the website without point.

Nathan Cassar: 10:55

You're going on to the next one anyway, because the whole vivid wall takes about you know, an hour or two to go around and You're a cost of expensive food in the meantime. So I hope that a lot of the event reduces out there listening can take some notes from and I'm sure they are from other much better immersive, curated experiences in australian abroad and just say you know what Sydney's hungry for the money's being redistributed in yourself was. Government is finally on side with this. Let's make it happen.

Adelaine Ng: 11:26

Why do you think it hasn't quite happened as quickly as you'd like?

Nathan Cassar: 11:33

Money. Money in the sense of money was going to places where perhaps so it's money and it's not vision.

Nathan Cassar: 11:44

Well, yeah, because if you consider this, the budgets for Vivid obviously increased ever since.

Nathan Cassar: 11:48

My friend, Darren Brown, was part of the first bunch of people at the Opera House who literally helped part of the initial conception of Vivid, which was just the sales of the opera house being lit up, and that was the birthplace of Vivid itself as it stands today and it's funny because people wouldn't even remember that to these days because Vivid has now taken over everything else and it kind of has nothing really to do with the opera house anymore, apart from the sales being lit up.

Nathan Cassar: 12:13

It's kind of ironic in a way, but anyway, the point is is that if corporate interests are seeing the most money can be made from putting so much emphasis into one particular type of festival, well then all the money is going to get funneled into one, whereas I'm inspired and excited by the fact that another good chunk of money, which was admittedly misdirected to things that were not well known and not well executed, is now being earmarked for some serious review and by the end of this year they're hoping to be able to release the first stage of policies regarding it, and from there I really hope that some visionaries will take up the mantle and bring some interesting proposals to the New South Wales government to say, look, let's put Sydney back on the map because it's about time.

Nathan Cassar: 13:02

You want Sydney to become a 24 hour city again after you smashed it and that's another big factor too, to be honest, the fact that we had our lockout laws for so long you want Sydney to be renowned for more than just vivid. You want it to be the people of Sydney. You want to bring them back for something more than just lights and over expensive food and drinks. Then we can make this possible. And so there are so many other great ideas out there, and I think it's just now that there's been a change of government, there's a change of mindset, there's been a redistribution of funds, there's an effort to say that arts and culture is here to stay and here to grow and thrive. I think we're now finally going to get the momentum swinging back in our direction.

Adelaine Ng: 13:45

Okay, so it sounds like, while you had your grievances with the event sector in Sydney in particular, there is enough that you've seen changing to give you confidence that we're moving in the right direction. Oh yeah.

Nathan Cassar: 13:59

And look, Australians, we're adaptable, you know. I mean like we, we love to do things better. We just take a little bit of extra time compared to other people. We enjoy the status quo a little bit too much, unfortunately.

Adelaine Ng: 14:13

We do have a name for being the laid back people.

Nathan Cassar: 14:16

We do, but unfortunately we do it too much Like, but it's interesting because the perspective overseas still today pervades particularly in the States. They perceive us still as like real laid back, larrikin, anything goes, Paul Hogan style kind of vision, when in fact we're really nothing like that anymore. We still run things at a pretty slow pace. I mean, geez, we're probably as slow as our internet on the international scale. I think that really is an allegory for the fact that as fast as and slow as our internet is compared to other places. I think it's also important that we continue to increase the speed of access to public events that make people feel alive and that they're publicly accessible, that they like the. You know, I know it's like hanging fruit, but the controversy that came up over during vivid this year about $130, $30, $40 entry fee to get into the Sydney Botanical Gardens for something that used to be actually free Wow, that is a pure example of just the corporate entities taking over an event that should be for the people the city is. You could easily do something like a Melbourne Laneways style thing up here to exemplify the lesser known parts of the city. Yes, we all know Darling Harbor. Yes, we all know the city opera house and so forth. Why not celebrate the lesser trafficked places of the city, mainly, for instance, the Northern Beaches? Their council is doing some amazing work. I'm proud to be working with them on a number of different projects because they've at least got this, this mindset that says we need to bring people to this base to immerse with one another, you know, shape their hands, eat the food right next to one another, enjoy, be around and socialize and enjoy the cultural immersion.

Nathan Cassar: 16:03

I was so blown away, in a good way, by how many people were from different countries when I would be hosting the concerts and one particular event known as play manly, which was just done after covered the main restrictions and lockdowns were done, was mainly done to draw people back to the manly course, so to invigorate spending within the local businesses, but also just to show people that a like the course, so manly, is back for business. And it was vastly successful. The amount of expenditure was up by almost, I think about nine, ten percent of the course of the two, three weeks it was on. You had multiple thousands of people come join in the festivities. But it was the most like humanizing of it was the fact that when I was hosting the night and I love to always get to know people where they come from. For me it's a big fascination because of having been immersed in so many cultures and I was just so heart warmed by when I was there. Right, everybody, where you from, and I would just see this coffin in this orchestra, this beautiful tapestry of like I'm from Brazil, I'm from Mexico, I'm from India, I'm I've just arrived from the UK like it was amazing those conversations aren't happening enough in the middle of the city.

Nathan Cassar: 17:13

And even something simple like back in my hometown in MacArthur in New South Wales, MacArthur Multicultural Festival some could see this is a simple community event. Was most beautiful about it was you had so much community support. They did a parade in the middle of the day is just a one day event and I'm very good friends of the organizers and they did this every single year. And what was beautiful to see was that they did this parade of all the nationalities that decided to join, all the little community groups and the other local leaders and so forth. This thing, this parade we're just a little humble town in Campbell town in MacArthur this parade, friend, for like 10 minutes.

Nathan Cassar: 17:50

It was awesome to see the world dressed up in their cultural garb. They've got different signs and everything else and the whole festival was surrounded trying to teach people about different cultures and respect and Opening people's eyes and different foods and other different cultural tidbits about. You know where people come from, that you know. If you were to go shopping mall, you wouldn't anticipate or have this conversations, and it's obviously so much on the lower spectrum compared to what I'm talking about things like vivid and all that but it doesn't take multi millions of dollars to be able to bring these kind of things to the forefront and to make these beautiful human connections Possible in public live events. You just got to have the right attitude for it. You've got to have the right buy in from the correct people, have a focus and a vision for what you wish the outcomes to be, how you want people to feel after the event, not just during. Yeah, and we can really really bring back some beautiful life here in Sydney and hopefully inspire other places around the world to start copying us.

Adelaine Ng: 18:49

So Great points. Are there any specific trends or emerging technologies in events that you've seen lately that you know could really revolutionize the way events are conducted? I mean, you mentioned some comparison with, you know, the re-ad festival, for example. But you know what are you seeing that you think Australia has an appetite for? That will be the next level up and will sort of harken to some of the things that you've been talking about.

Nathan Cassar: 19:17

Who's great question. Look, I'd be a miss if I said that people don't like a drone show. They really do. They do, and I know that that's. That's a strange thing to say, given that it seems like commonplace. But, to be honest, this drone shows that we're doing in Australia and nowhere near as good as what they're doing in the UK or in the Middle East. So I would say, like I encourage the companies out there with vision to continue to, and they usually the most well attended as well.

Nathan Cassar: 19:44

So when I was doing elevate a couple years back, you know it was cast of thousands watching these things that we did every single night.

Nathan Cassar: 19:51

I will admit from a stage management point of view was a real pain in the butt because we had a very specific window and we're having major Australian artists having to stop their set at a particular time and the weather and everything. It was a nightmare, I can tell you, but people love it. So I'm not going to deny that there's definitely a trend that needs to continue to happen and I think also be nice to see if it was a bit more accessible, not just in those major places within the major hubs. I hope and inspire that eventually these kind of shows become a little bit easier, more economical, so that you can get them out in other regional areas or other different festivals, that it's not just something that's in as a big, expensive novelty, but beyond that, I think what's really going to come down to sort of more speaking, more small scale but more immersive is speaking to something that I'm currently working on. I would love to see more about. It's funny everybody has one of these right mobile phones that's a smart phone you're holding up, yeah, yeah.

Nathan Cassar: 20:49

And in some way they can obviously be the devil. You know they. They take everyone's attention away. People will more focus on filming something as opposed to whatever, but I like to think that it's really important to discover a way that this could actually be something to connect your fellow person to. Obviously, I'm not talking invading people's privacy is in hijacking their devices and doing things that they're not told to do. But I love things like digital passports, and I don't mean like the political guy, and I mean like you go to an event. It says sign up here, go to these different experiences, these different touch points. Scan this code everyone knows it is a QR code and then it connects with like say, oh, you know, if you opt into a particular app or something, there is an opportunity I've seen some of this already occur where you know you then get told about the history of something going on or the particular artist, or you know there's a game you can play that you can connect with a fellow device that's standing right next to you and all of a sudden, you're now playing with a random person.

Nathan Cassar: 21:47

There's a reason why Pokemon go was not anymore but was so popular. People still play it, of course, but at its height it really was. The first iteration was crazy oh my god it was. People were jumping out of taxis in order to catch one particular thing. It was absolutely insane. It was a mania, but it wasn't a manufactured mania.

Nathan Cassar: 22:07

The reason why it was so successful? Because it did two things very well. One it socialized the experience of someone sitting on their phone playing a game for the first time. That took it away from just someone else's reaction on the screen and then you're impacting without any kind of understanding that there's a real wide world aspect to it. But to it created a touch point and a talking point because there was a socialization ingrained into it. You had to get out into the world and experience it.

Nathan Cassar: 22:37

In order to get a play the game, you had to actually meet somebody else, because otherwise, if you were the the technical here but if you were like, say that, the Pokemon that was currently winning the gym, for instance, you know if there's no players, the games boring because there's no challenge. And so that's why, when you had so many people wanting to invest themselves in that challenge, that's why it was so successful so for so long and created so much mania. And I think events can do that too. In fact, I'm not gonna think I know that they can. They can tap into that by augmenting what people experience, by showing that, yes, people bring along their phone, they bring along technology. Let's get them off the instagram and now threads, and maybe not twitter, because it's kind of dying.

Adelaine Ng: 23:21

But you know, like whatever platform they're on.

Nathan Cassar: 23:24

Let's get them away from that for a second. You know, because you don't have facebook, god forbid. You know, doesn't tell you who's nearby. Used to god. I'm so glad that that's not a thing anymore. You know, it doesn't tell you who's nearby.

Nathan Cassar: 23:37

So if people are willing, in an event where they feel safe, to be able to opt into a shared experience where they know they're for a period of time, they're in a space where they could be notified as someone else, I know people might be thinking oh, hang on privacy. Of course, this is just a novel concept to begin, but there's a way that these things can be done, from the smallest guy to the large scale that can really make people go oh, I didn't know this person today. But because this is our one means of technology and communication avenue in our every day, why can't we also do that when it comes to an event where you don't know other people and where if you were to just turn to the person next to you and say, hi, how you're doing, chances are they're gonna think you're kind of weird.

Nathan Cassar: 24:19

But if you've interacted on sort of a shared platform where you've all opted into. All of a sudden that whole wall comes crashing down and you go oh yeah, we have a shared experience on this particular event or this particular day. Oh yeah, cool, what's going on.

Adelaine Ng: 24:34

And then you can take that offline and I think that's beautiful and that's really what makes events great I agree, I would look forward to an app whenever I go to an event, if anything, just for the wayfinder, just to find out. I mean, I would have already identified the things that I really want to experience, I want to go see or want to go buy from, and then I go there and I get lost completely, you know, and oh, I get distracted, and then I end up going home with things that I didn't intend to experience, which are great, but you know, I missed out on on some of the things that I really did want.

Adelaine Ng: 25:06

So it would have been so useful just to have something on my phone that said, oh here, it is or you're like two minutes around the corner from that, so that would have been amazing for me, and I know that it's sometimes a little bit overwhelming for people, especially who are not on the attack all the time and navigating through these things. But usually all it takes it is an intro video that just shows you how to get around inside the app and what's actually available to you and which ones you want to opt in for, and that usually takes care of it and that just enriches the experience so much more. So I completely agree with you there. As we wind up, I'm just wondering, you know, are there any tips you can give on how events can get the most out of working with an mc?

Adelaine Ng: 25:49

show obviously you've just painted a possibility that I had not heard of, which was hey, have the mc be at the door and greet people who are coming in, and I love that personal touch. What else do you think most corporate events aren't thinking about?

Nathan Cassar: 26:05

for one. They just don't leverage us enough and you may go, oh, but this is going to cost a lot and well, well, hang on how fees are already quite high. So I mean, like, for good reason, of course, you know if you've really got a mindset that says we're an important part of the picture. Firstly, thank you. Secondly, um, you're already like two steps above other companies and other event coordinators who just want to do in-house and that's going to put their whole event in another scale below. So to the scene you've got me. We come with a pressure trove of vast event experience, from things we've seen that work really well to the things that don't. And I don't get often asked enough what I can actually do. That goes beyond sort of just simply showing up on the day and saying the script and so forth. But if someone else were to say, no, I'm good, like that's not on my contract, okay, well, you decide next time. If you want to engage with that person, that's totally up to you. But for the many of us who are really hungry because this is something we love doing, the more that we feel that we're actually a part of it, so we actually understand what we're actually saying. It's always a great feeling when I get my notes, even if one two weeks before, where I can actually read about the different artistic things and I'm pushing people towards, or if I'm at a festival and I can say, oh yeah, you know, folks go over in this direction at 30 minutes and all that and this is happening. I want to know that I'm not just reading those words because it's a corporate message or it's a council message, whatever. I want to have had enough time to really immerse it and I also, in fact, what I also want to do is feel like I'm part of the success of the program, because I'm going to be the face of the day. Have us do like videos, either at home and or perhaps go on site and have some videos with some of your media team and activate our audience, activate yours by getting a professional voice, because we should be good on camera and say, hey, you know, come on down to so and so I would love these kind of opportunities more and I would sign up for them in an instant.

Nathan Cassar: 27:55

I just recently was talking about an october fest that I should be doing in october in the hunt valley, coming up, uh, at the beginning of october. So what's really cool is, not only are they taking a chance, the, the venco ordinated their gabby. She saw the games and activities that I was doing in my weddings, which were very unique, and they don't see games at weddings very often and it's a big part of my package. She was like, oh, we could totally do an october fest festival with music and your games and activities and really immerse people. So, such as food and music and game over, that's really cool.

Nathan Cassar: 28:24

And so it's like ask us what we're really capable of, because we're already masters, have been able to manipulate language and people and move places, and what we say will dictate the energy and vibe. So leverage us, you know, find out what we know works and what doesn't. We do want to meet people, you know, and you'll find the ones you really like working with, who have a bit of extra pizzazz and fascination about them and can really grab a crowd. And if you're just looking for someone that can just make the announcements, well okay, get them instead. But for those of you who have a bit of vision, allow us to be the celebrity of it. This is not an ego thing, it's just purely we're already going to be up there representing. You know, my scripts always write our this and we this want to. Let us also exemplify that before and maybe even after.

Nathan Cassar: 29:11

I don't know if you've got some sort of an announcement for the charity night, where you know, hey, we're in the studios, back here now after a week.

Nathan Cassar: 29:18

Thank you so much for donating everybody and coming to the charity event night. I'm with CEO so, and so we're just about to bring out the big check, all right, how much money we make. That kind of through thread from before beginning and end really ever happens, and yet it's some of the most powerful ways to get that kind of message across and also to expand your audience and the people you're broadcasting to. And it also connects people directly back to the night, because they remember when I was hosting, I'm the one that says the most audible, hearable words and phrases and I'm the most visual person on the night. So then, why not also leverage us for the before aspect to get your ticket sales going and everything else in between? And then also, if there's a post thing like a charity or even just a public event festival, and you say, hey, we had 20,000 people come in and we sold this many tacos or whatever Like people like to hear that stuff. But so you know, use us more, I think is the best way and there's so many different ways.

Adelaine Ng: 30:20

Great message, Nathan. How do you keep yourself inspired in the entrepreneurship journey in the events tourism space? Are there books or resources that you would readily recommend?

Nathan Cassar: 30:30

Books or resources. Well, I would say I can't recommend any books at the moment, just because I can't recall any of my brain. I do have James Clear's Atomic Habits, which I should read because it's a probably good book and it's just got a cover of dust on my bedside table at the moment. But I recommend people read it anyway because I've heard it's good.

Adelaine Ng: 30:51

But yeah, true confession. I've got mine on the shelf as well and I've not gone through it.

Nathan Cassar: 30:55

So bad, although I'm a big I'm a much more of a big fan of audiobooks anyways, and audible keys to remind me hey, you can get three months free. I'm like, oh, she did that sometime. But beyond that, I would say, actually the best resources for people is a lot of the networking stuff. Look, we're event people. When you're in the tourism game, the event game, you have to meet people in order to be able to get ideas and be inspired.

Nathan Cassar: 31:17

My journey involved me literally coming into contact with the kind of person I wanted to become one day, and so I immerse myself constantly. There's a number of different business networking groups. I'm actually getting myself ready to go once. Once that's an industry one for the Professional Speakers Association and so I would say the best thing is just saying who around me do I want to become, who are they associated themselves with, and then go and do it, because I find that when I get to have get togethers with my wedding industry compatriots or, you know, get to meet other people or business networking groups at chambers of commerce and so forth, those are when you feel really validated and really sort of confident that you're on the right path because you're going to get a human response. We're not statisticians, we're not accountants and I'm not putting these people down, just to clarify. We're just not those kind of people who don't.

Adelaine Ng: 32:08

That's your tribe, yeah.

Nathan Cassar: 32:09

Yeah, but we need people, you know. Otherwise our events are literally just us going. No one came to the event, so you know. So treated as like that's what I do anyway, as I treat it as if I want people to come and listen to me, I need to go out and listen to other people first and get to hear their stories and shake their hands.

Adelaine Ng: 32:29

True, true, Nathan. It's been so much fun chatting with you and just getting an insight into the world of cruise shipping, to everything I didn't know about MCing and also that vision that you have for the event industry in Australia and especially in Sydney, so I really appreciate your time. How can people follow your work and get in touch if they wanted to?

Nathan Cassar: 32:49

Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much. It's been an absolutely great pleasure to be here. I love talking about this stuff. It's actually weird, though, because I don't normally talk about my like on stage. It's the big cardinal sin not to talk about yourself as an MC, and I don't, but it is an honor to be able to share these insights, so thank you for giving me that platform.

Nathan Cassar: 33:06

How do people get in contact with me? Well, I spend a lot of time updating my website, so I would love to catch up with you there. www. nathancassar. com. au. I'm also on more social media than I'd prefer to have, just because it's a beast and a half of the algorithm, but you can find me on Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, of course, oh, Youtube. I've got a lot of my videos there and I'm constantly updating there. I've just recently joined the Threads Train, although I'm still I don't know early days, and I've even just begun a Pinterest, but don't go on there yet because I've only put one thing up so far, so don't do that. But yeah, I would love to drop me a line. My email address and my phone number is on my website as well, so would love to meet people in Sydney or, if I happen to be at the chance to go other cities, I'd love to catch up as well.

Adelaine Ng: 33:53

And it's Nathan Cassar. I was spoke with a double S.

Nathan Cassar: 33:56

Yes.

Adelaine Ng: 33:56

In case you're Googling or looking him up in one of those social media channels, I'll be putting those links into the show notes as well. Nathan, thank you so much. It's been a real pleasure and I wish you all the very best and I hope your voice just gets heard louder and for all the things that we've been talking about today in this podcast, thank you.

Nathan Cassar: 34:14

Thank you, Adelaine, take care.

Adelaine Ng: 34:15

Thanks for listening. I do appreciate it. Do check out the show notes, where I've put links to Nathan Cassar's work and his social channels if you wanted to reach him directly. If you found value in today's show, please click the follow button if you'd like to be notified when a new episode drops. And, by the way, have you ever considered launching a podcast with a strategy to land it Apple's top 200 charts in the very first week? If so, feel free to send me an email at uponarrivalpodcast@ gmail. com and we'll explore how we can make that happen. Catch you next week for another great interview to uncover more stories and strategies for a successful future. Till then, cheers.