Embracing Virtual Events for Business Growth with Nicole Borghi

Hello, everybody, and, welcome back. This is the creative collaboration

show with Chuck Anderson, and this is the show where we serve business owners

and entrepreneurs, coaches, course creators, whatever

type of business you might be in. And we talk about

strategies for, growing your business. The reality of

every business is you need more leads and you need more sales, need

more exposure. And, you know, a great way to do

that is through virtual events. And anyone

who's been to my workshops and has worked with me knows that,

our primary method of list building and

client acquisition is through virtual events. And my guest

today is not only experienced with

virtual events, but is an innovator in some new

technology that's gonna make virtual events

even easier and more interesting than ever

before. So, today, I have Nicole Borghi with me,

and we are going to be diving deep into this, idea of

virtual events and, all of the ideas that she has. So, Nicole,

welcome to the show. Hey. Thanks for having me, Chuck. It's good to be here.

I love that you're here, and I know this has been a long time coming.

We've been we've been definitely wanting to do this for a while. So, Nicole,

I I don't like to butcher people's, introductions, so I

won't. I will get you to, start by letting

everybody know a little bit about, you know, yourself, your background, and, you know,

how that led you to virtual events. Well, you

know what? My my background now

is is basically working with speakers and podcasters

know, you know,

where do I get a stage, how do I get a stage, and and being

in front of people and showing up. And

that's really standing out and shining for the most part of it

and and sharing with people, you know, hey. My

business is the digital diva. So working on digital

platforms, and that that that really

came from the the discovery of of

kinda messing up. You know? The mess became the message,

and and how did I find out this path

was was in the background just trying to get on YouTube

or Instagram and and playing around on social

media and realizing, you know what? I learned all this,

and I took all these courses and classes. And the best thing for me

was to share my knowledge. And I started showing

people, hey. Look. I made this slip up. Maybe I can make this

better for you, and and being able to to take this

with me anywhere. And virtual events are amazing because you

can do them on your phone or you can do them on your laptop. And

so traveling around just in even in the continental

United States. You could do it from anywhere however you want.

You know, we were joking before this episode that, you know, in today's marketplace,

and and virtual events is that we we only have to we

only have to, get dressed and and and look good

from from from here up. And I know that's even changing,

with some of the technology. So, you know, what are some of the

the the virtual events that, you know, you've been part of, and what what have

you seen that is, really working out there in terms of

virtual events? Well, the the the fun is getting

to the point that we are now, and you can create

your own stages. So you don't have to go to public. You don't have to

fly anywhere. You don't have to worry about something closing down. You don't have to

worry that you packed your toothbrush and that you're gonna you know, you got coffee

breath or whatever next to the the person next to you or, you know, you

you forgot your bottom half of your suit or something.

And and, you know, just travel just really wears on you if

you're doing it for business because it's go go go go go, and you

never really get to that point of the vacation where you think you're gonna take

a few hours, head to the beach, or something like that. It doesn't

always work out as planned, and virtual events don't

either, but you can kinda fudge it just a little bit because, you know, VCs

what's going on beyond the stages. And and you can

get a bit more participation. And you don't have to worry about

that that person in the front of the audience, and the the fun is now

that that we get to do we get really get to gamify the events

into the virtual space of web 3. And and to

really innovate that at this point is is like, hey. Yes.

We could still do Zoom. It's great. It works. It's

wonderful. It's simple, and I really love, you know, the

acronym, KISS. Keep it simple stupid. Really keeping

it easy and, you know you know, bringing

that forward. We launched last year in October

for, domestic violence awareness month. I work with a

nonprofit called confronting domestic violence. And

the great thing on the virtual space in virtual reality

was a few of the people that we were working with weren't quite

ready to show their face or to be seen. And talk about not

being able to be seen or heard, it's even harder if you're

hiding. And the ability to bring,

women and men into virtual reality. And if they want

to, they could still show show their face just like Zoom. We have a little

bubble, but the reality is is you

need to respect and know who your customers

are, and how do you do that? So this this is it's it's

exciting for me because you could still make money, you could still

generate income, and we can respect the people that we work with

and allow them to show themselves or not show

themselves coming to character. You can, you know, come in a furry furry

suit if you want and identify however you want, and and

that's the great thing of this. And you don't have to brush your hair or

your teeth, and you could just throw the don't have to have a camera or

a headset, and it's just just show up. Click a link, and

there you are, and be your best self, and then generate from that. And it

it's it's great for the audience and and all ages,

really, in that space, and we're not forgetting the group of

people that are coming up. A lot of times, you know,

in 2020, we had issues with at Toastmasters

with teaching someone that was 85 and teaching someone that was

23 how to unmute. And how did how many times do we

forget that? We had a little bit of an issue when we started.

And and it it it's just, you know, it's how to

use these tools. And the simplicity is if you show up, you

take a breath, and just pull the trigger. You know? And there

you are. And and it's as simple as that, and you don't have to make

it difficult. And here you are, and the great thing is is you can edit

it. Oh, exactly. Especially when

you're putting the recording out there and and, all of that.

So, so I like this idea of of virtual reality,

and I know you've been working on this with some of your partners. What what

is you know, what led you to this, what led you to this,

discovery and taking virtual events, you know, to to

to this level? Well, the the the great thing is is it's

here. The great thing is is it's easy, and I'm a

Silicon Valley baby. So I was born in the seventies, raised

up in the eighties. And what AAA group of years where

Silicon Valley was building and growing, we had those big, huge, 10 and a half

inch floppy disk, you know, the the big fish kinda thing. But they were

huge. They were ridiculous. Your computer took up your

house, your, if you had a fax machine I don't know if

anybody knows what a fax machine is, but we had to pick up the phone,

dial, and then it was this really weird green and white stripe

paper, and it would just print in kinda purple ink at the

time, a big fax. And and it just cost 1, 000

of dollars. And being around engineers and

and people of that aspect to see these people come

in, even, you know, doctors and scientists to

build this at least a couple sheets of code.

Even when I was in the police department, we

had it. No at least a couple sheets of code. Even when I was in

the police department, we had to know some code too. Because before

95 hit and we got Microsoft, which was 95 was

the the most amazing system. But teaching people in the police

department how to kinda get on a typewriter and not dictate

anymore. So I've seen those changes and how hard it was, and then the

palm pilots coming. And, you know, the the thing is is

that it it got so difficult, but it became a part of our lives.

And technology is supposed to make things easy,

and and seeing this, the the the

change and the growth and now I don't have to have a headset. I

can't see. I'm dyslexic. I get my peripheral

vision. It just messes me up, gets me seasick. I can't do it. But I

can talk to you just like this, and I can look at a laptop

or I can get an app on my phone now and and,

you know, be on the stage anywhere or watch something. And that's

the the great thing about this is web 3 is here,

AI is here. No. The robots aren't gonna take over the world if you don't

let them. So the the point really even as a healer or

a Reiki practitioner is to take this reality from

Silicon Valley and merge it with the dimensions

and the portals of what they're actually researching

in Silicon Valley now, and what they've opened

is is to share that as a healer, these are the dimensions we talked

about. This these are the downloads of the knowledge and the

Akashic records all into 1 space,

and it's it's so great right now. Things are so easy. You could just get

on and and and be a part of this. I don't have

to code. I don't have to pay someone to code because it's ridiculous.

And, you know, I don't know how many of your viewers have tried to run

UE 5 and CGI. It's a mess. It's it's a lot,

and, you know, getting into that back office and doing that, and it's

it's, nowadays, it's

all there, a click of a button, and it's so easy. Why not use it,

and why not integrate this now? And

that's the point of really changing this to virtual stages

for podcasters and speakers because now you can sell all your goods

and wares and affiliate that in joint venture,

and it's profitable. And it's cheap,

so why not do it? There you go. Well and so

you just mentioned podcasters and speakers, who is primarily who you're

working with. What are you noticing in terms of the ones that you're talking

to, the ones that are coming to you for help, in terms

of, the opportunity to maybe have their own

stage or to to create virtual events. What are you hearing from

them? What are the challenges that they're having? And and then how how

do, you know, how do you help them to overcome that?

Oh, great questions because, you know, my

my podcast is called just that pain point. Mhmm. And

and it's really understanding the pain point of where someone

is at, and that's 1 is definitely finding your

own stage. If you're a speaker and a podcaster, where do

I start? How do I start? Maybe you have a following

and you're a coach and you're bringing that in. Why not bring your people to

you and and use that virtual space to share

with them, everything you have? And it's an immersive

marketing, factor of getting that. And and,

also, the other thing is really profit, which

leads to, you know, the monetization and sponsorship is a is a is

a second 1 of of a pain point for a lot of my my

customers or people I network with is, how do I monetize

this? And, Chuck, you talk about affiliation, which has sent me down this big rabbit

hole, which is amazing. And I so appreciate that

because it has changed the workspace, and it has changed

how I do anything that I do because I don't

have to pay $3, 000 to do a YouTube ad,

which goes nowhere and nobody watches it and people just click and nothing

happens. There's no return. With affiliation, my group,

my tribe will share me, and they can get a little bit of the

money on the back end. And it's so wonderful because, you know,

now we're crafting a community. And and that that that third

thing is right now, another pain point is

generating leads, and it's as easy as affiliation in

itself. You share affiliation, you share a link, and you

you get all that email content. We we sold ourselves,

you know, some some people I know say, and and I just say it,

is kinda sold your soul to the the devil of Facebook. You gave

all your information away, but yet Facebook shut you down. They took

took all your crew, and I remember about, I wanna say it's

about probably 5, 10 years ago, people 20, 000

members on Facebook groups, and people just lost everything. They had no

backup. In the virtual space, when you create your own,

so, quote, unquote world in there and you're building your own

stages, those are your people. When you affiliate and you generate

leads, through a freebie or a lead magnet,

you get those emails, and those are people who subscribe to you. They're

not getting sold to you. They're subscribing because they want to, and what

an energetic exchange that is it raises the extra

frequency, like, phenomenally. Mhmm. You

know, all of the the things that you just mentioned are all

the reasons why I have really adopted

virtual events in my business. I

run workshops and webinars every single month.

Soon, it'll be every single week. And then

and then bigger events like summits and and, you know,

virtual conferences and and things like that. And 1 of the

you know, to to your point about, you know, affiliate

is that when it comes to having other

people promote your event for you and filling your event for you,

there's no easier way to do that than through other people's

lists. And they want to promote it. I mean,

affiliates love to promote events, and it is a nice

easy thing for them, you know, to ask an affiliate to do.

And so you can set up this really cool virtual event, which is gonna help

you to, like you said, grow your list and and, you

know, develop a relationship with the audience and

sell whatever, you know, services or product that you're selling.

But it also makes it very easy for affiliates to promote because it's

an event, and it's cool, and it's got a date and, you know, a deadline

built into it. And and so these are all the things that we love about

it. And so I know that, so

that you're you're definitely, innovating in terms of

how how virtual events are are done. But what are some of the,

what are some of the typical types of events that that you

are working with with your with your clients and the people who come to you

for help that are really, getting them some great results?

So some of the events can be as small as just a podcast. That's

that's an event and sponsorship, and it runs on that that same

premise and the same strategy. So all the logistics are kind

of the same on the back end. But creating that

and having speaker stages. So just, you know, virtual

summits for people to come on the stage, you know,

and and working into even networking. So we're working with

that as well. There have been, you know, NFT

crypto events, where people are having their groups in there

and and they're sharing information, And it's a it's

a fun way to listen to stuff that you're not necessarily

gonna engage in, but if you gamify it on this this

platform, more people will engage in money and

NFTs, because it's it's something good to

learn. And and, you know, we have, you

know, domestic violence awareness and we're I'm working,

with a nonprofit in for October again to do a

gala and to stream, on the virtual space and

and to create that content. So we're working on those events,

and and it's just great to kinda share and network

because all at the bottom of that, everybody's got that

same pain point of, you know, that immersive marketing and branding

where they really want to get out and get in there. And and

it's just kind of like when you get those 3 pain points

and and you start to understand what that is and how that works on the

simplest, in the simplest form, you can

bring that into a stage and and and sharing that.

So, you know, just virtual summits and really sharing with people how to

go beyond the stage and and what's that next thing that you can

harness those virtual, events for. So everything now

is just a virtual event. You know, anything that

we do is a virtual event. So if, you know, if you think

about it without getting too deep into it and and the technology on it,

the this at the at the lowest point of that up to the the the

highest peak

of creating your own tribe and your own spaces. So sharing with

coaches how they can have their own space, and it works for every,

platform that they utilize. Yeah. I think that's a great lead

into talking a little bit more about your virtual event, and you practically

said the title of it right there in just what you said. But I

think that's a good point to insert this, because I think anyone

listening in who's kind of curious about virtual events and

how they can use it to generate leads and more sales and more visibility

in their business, should really check this out and

go, go spend some more time with you, diving deep into

this and start thinking about and planning how they can,

either uplevel their current events or or start doing events if they're

not doing already. Like you said, creating their own stage. So

tell everybody about your your your your webinar, your

event, and, you know, what it is and what they

will learn when they're there. Well, thanks for for that.

My webinar is going to be, beyond the stage and how to

go beyond the stage. It's really it's called beyond the stage harnessing the power

of virtual reality summits from Zoom on.

And and that's really sharing with people

the, how how to you know, really the

strategy and how to

structure the event. So that's crafting the the

killer virtual summits and building thriving communities and

maximizing sponsorships and revenue streams that continue and have

continuity, for your business. When you are

able to craft it once and get that strategy down, it's rinse

and repeat. So it's really sharing how the disc the

discovery of how to transform your passion for virtual

summits into profitable ventures. They're not highly

cost. They don't cost a lot to run. And, you

know, you can you can even take the video

and and and share with people how to monetize off the

video of that and tickets. So it it it's

wrapping those blue bulletproof strategies,

for the client and and sharing those those buzzworthy

summits that people wanna go to, sharing those information, getting

speakers. And and it's just those steps of

of learning, and and sharing the technology and

the strategy to empower, everyone to be able

to to really just knock it out of the park. You have these tools

with you. Some of them are free. Utilize them and and

just, you know, harness that power. And, you know, how do you how do you

get that launch out there? How do, you know, how do you craft it? And

it we all have everything in our box. How do we take

those little folders out, and where can we use the information that we

already have? And it's just, you know, even down to tips

for sponsorships and marketing, and the affiliation is 1 of

them. I mean, we just dropped those bombshells a couple of times. Those are rider

downers. You you you know, when you affiliate, you're generating

leads, and now you can generate sponsors because people know

that you have these really cool summits that you've launched. They're

gonna wanna market, and you can have those banners there.

You can put a booth in in the virtual space, and now you

can market. And so you're generating income, and people are being

seen and heard. And when you have a community

and a tribe that you have and they're supporting you, they wanna know how to

support you, and they'll show up every time. And they'll

continue. It's the continuity in the rinse and repeat on it.

That sounds amazing. Well, anyone listening in right now, if

you're not already itching to look for where you can register,

you're gonna find that link right beneath this video. If you're watching this

on video or on YouTube. The link is right there.

And if you're listening to this on podcast, of course, if you go

into the, into the player, whatever network

you're listening to this on, the link is there in the

notes as well. That will take you to the goals page where, you know, all

it takes is a name and an email address, and you're in. And,

these are, these are events and webinars that, Nicole is

running regularly, and you can, you can check it out and

learn, more from Nicole there. And so,

Nicole, other than registering for your webinar, which I think is

AAA great next step, what what would you say are some of the

next steps or, things people should

be thinking about in terms of harnessing the power of virtual

events? Well, in those next steps and come to the

webinar, it's free. Right? You can learn a little something or share you

know, you know, get your get your learn on in there and just

engage. You know, what once you engage in this and

you're creating your own stage, you're birthing your own

product and service into the world, and you're sharing that great

energy. And and you can use this user friendly platform

and reshare it. And how fantastic is that? Because who do you

know, like, and trust, and how can you share this? So what's the next

step of that? Utilize that magic that you have and

really just come on the stage and get seen, get heard, get

noticed. Absolutely. So

pardon me. So,

yeah, time well spent, and, you know, I think we could we could

probably spend hours really talking about, you know, all of the

things that you can do now to plan a virtual event and to

execute a virtual event and to even make it really cool.

Because like you said, some of the new, you know, technologies such as web

3 and virtual reality, are really kind of taking it to

the next level, and people are now sort of

discovering this this world outside of

Zoom. And, even for myself, I mean,

I do a lot of events, and they're all through Zoom, but it's so cool

to see what is possible and and and what can be

done. So so I really appreciate you you sharing

that. And, I you know, definitely looking forward to checking out

your your webinar and learning more, about that.

Now before I let you go, right, because III have to

ask because, I started this bit of a social experiment,

at the beginning of this podcast where, I

started asking my guests for a must read book recommendation.

A lot of the same, books. But what happened was almost

every guest, few exceptions, very, very few duplication,

but almost every guest has had their

own recommendation that we had not received from a previous

guest. And, you know, we're almost a 100 episodes into this,

and that has has been true. So I wanna ask

you, since we're speaking to, you know, business

owners and entrepreneurs and coaches and consultants and

speakers, you know, are always trying to take their their their

business and their lives to the next level. And so

much great information is is is written in books. I wanted to ask

you if you had 1 book that you

would recommend that everyone put on their must read

list, which 1 would you recommend? I would recommend The Art of

War by Sun Tzu. Mhmm. And and I I read that from the

academy on in through law enforcement, and

and the wonderful thing about that book is it teaches leadership,

and it teaches you to identify, and

plan ahead, but it also teaches you to identify your enemy. And

when you identify your enemy or in our world of networking

and being speakers and podcasters, we can get a little bit jealous

of the other influencer in the room or the person that

has cool stuff that we don't. And when you know that

enemy and how they they work or or talk

or run their business, you know how to plan

the competition. And and and so taking a little bit

of the knowledge of what they do well and what they do that fails.

And and so take the success and take the failures and combine those and

learn from that and move forward, and then you can conquer

that enemy or even the enemy within on a soul level that we have that

little sabotager. Wow. Great

book recommendation. And,

definitely, our streak is alive because no other guest has

has recommended that book. But I love not only the book recommendation,

but why you recommend it. And I you know, that just

speaks to me on so many levels. You know, I see it all the time.

I attend a lot of virtual networking events, and

you kind of you can kind of see the reaction of people

when they get into a breakout room or they get into a virtual event,

and they perceive someone as being their direct competitor

or doing the same thing that they they do. And

nobody really does the same thing that

that that that another person does. I mean, there is uniqueness there

if you, are willing to look for it. There's collaboration

potential if you are look willing to look for it. But this whole you

just can you can just see the you know, going into the turtle shell

and and, like, it's like, wow. They're already sharing, and I loved

their message. Mine is not gonna be as good as that 1,

and all of that. So do you see that out there as well?

I I see it a lot. My background is really in leadership

and in commanding. And so, you know,

in that management and those super advisory roles, it's

reading that body language and and and seeing that

people just they do. They they go in their turtle shell and they

crouch down and they get scared. Hey. Take a second. Turn off your

camera. Take a breath. Turn it back on and come into the room.

You know? Be there. Know, like, and trust people. You don't

you you you can't know if they're better or not unless you talk to

them, and you teach that all the time. You know, you've gotta get to know

people and get into those breakout rooms. And, you know, it it

can be exhausting, but as an and as an energy worker,

you you you can read through that energy and not not be on that

empathic where you're taking all their negative energy and, you know, letting

them suck all your your good juju out, but really sharing

the how do you what what are they doing? How

are they holding themselves, and how are you holding themselves? How are you

mirroring that energy? And and and just it shows up on

Zoom whether you like it or not. It really does. Yeah.

You III can see it, and IIII love

watching people's reactions. And, you know, for me, I just think

that 1 of the best things I ever did in

my business to kinda develop that confidence in. It doesn't matter if

another, marketing consultant's in the room, another

even affiliate manager is in the room. It doesn't

matter because there's always a way to collaborate. I was at an

event yesterday where almost everyone at the event were

people who do what I do. And and and so

then the the you know, it's an opportunity to say, how

can we all help each other do

better at what we do? It's not like, oh, you do the same thing I

do, and so, you know, like, you know, we're, you know, we're,

you know, we're gonna avoid each other when we're out there, but it's not how

can we work together to, you know, lift both of our businesses up?

And it's something really cool when you get into a room of

30 people who do something very similar to what you

do and and and then to come out of there with those opportunities.

And and so it's all in a different way of looking at that. And that's

why, you know, your book recommendation really speaks to me because,

you know, people may judge the title, but when you when

you actually really get in there and see what is being said,

it's it's really about, you know, understanding.

And and and when you understand, then you

can make better decisions. Right? And so A 100%. Instead of

getting in the hate, understand why that person does what they do

or how they do or what what knowledge and what education

and experience they bring to the table. And you know what?

There's so many people that either you can take their course and take their

coaching if they are really phenomenal and just,

just knock it out of the park. When they're the rock star, go with

it. Maybe there's something you can learn from them. You know,

don't copy and paste what they do and just think you're gonna show

up, you know, spitting and talking about the same

same subject and using the same terminology. Don't steal it from

someone. But when you know your enemy and you know yourself,

and and they can be 1 and the same psychologically, But

when you know that, you have better business. And sometimes, maybe that

just means turn off the phone for a minute when you're done and and look

at what you have, what you've developed, and where you've come. Those

that person might have years of experience. I mean, I wouldn't say, hey.

I'm I'm the affiliate queen and and run Chuck's

stuff and and do all that. I'm gonna say, hey, I learned from Chuck. Go

to Chuck. He's phenomenal. He's amazing. Go

learn from Chuck. Do you know, learn what he does and then just take it

and bring it up the next level. And that that's just it

it takes a bit. And it it was hard for me to start

networking because I was used to telling people what to do and what not to

do, and now I had to listen and and

learn. And that's where that book comes in and reading it again

year after year to say, okay. What am I looking for? Know my

surrounding. Understand where I'm at. Understand

what I'm doing. Drink a little extra coffee. Have some breakfast. Be

alive. Be awake. And and and be there,

in in that that room. But, you know, but don't be the, you

know, don't be the welcome mat and let everybody rub their feet over

you and take advantage of what wonderful products you have. And

that's where it comes in with doing virtual events is the amazing part of that

is I I can come to the event, show up for a

few minutes, and then go do what I have to do or take a break,

do some yoga, do some meditation afterwards. And

then, you know, I don't have to be there, and that's the difference

between a live event and a virtual event. All that drama

that goes on behind the scenes, things that fail, stuff

that falls apart, friends we have or people we thought we knew,

and, you know, you see them in a convention or a hotel,

totally different after hours. But here,

you know those you know each other and you're safe and you're

comfortable. And just think, you can always turn it

off. And and that's the thing. You can always turn it off, or

you can show up just for 5 minutes. Anybody can. And that's the

beauty of this is you have the control, and you can take the power back.

So true. Well, this has been a great episode. We've talked a lot

about virtual events, and, we talked about Nicole's webinar.

If you haven't already registered, click the link right beneath this video.

Go ahead and register for that, workshop right now. Or

if you're listening to this on podcast, it's gonna be right there in the, in

the player in the show notes for this episode. The link

to Nicole's workshop and webinar is all right

there. So, Nicole, thank you so much for your time and just,

everything that you've shared today. It's been amazing. If you were to leave

our guests here today with just 1 final piece of advice or words of wisdom,

what would you say? Just do it.

Go to the website and register. No. But just just do it.

Start somewhere. Start it start it today. Get on your virtual

space and get out there. Take advantage of it. Absolutely.

That is great words to, end this episode by. So,

Nicole, thank you so much. To our audience, thank you

also, and I want this time that you've just spent with us

us to mean something. I want you to take something that you

learned today, and, it could and

and it could be 1 of the tips Nicole shared. It could be even just

go register for her webinar. I want you to identify 1

action step that you can take, and then just go do it. Just go do

it because that's how we make progress.

And, it doesn't matter what the obstacles are. Just keep moving

forward. Keep taking those steps towards your your big

dream, your goal, whatever it is that you're in pursuit of. And,

the only way to fail is to quit. And until

next time, this is, been the Creative Collaboration Show. I'm Chuck

Anderson. We'll see you on the next episode, everybody. Thank you.