THR: All right, gentlemen. I called you here to this round table, which is actually a round table ...
Carl: Yes, it really is a round table.
THR: ... In the middle of the lobby as we sit here almost post-DLAC. I'm here with Doug Roberts, Carl Hooker and Adam Phyall. Doug, you just arrived.
Doug: Just arrived.
THR: So you're just getting the initial vibes.
Doug: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
THR: Carl, you've been here all day.
Carl: I got here at two in the morning.
THR: Adam, I was in your session yesterday.
Adam: Yeah.
THR: So let's talk to you first.
Adam: All right.
THR: Because you've been here for the full dose.
Adam: Yeah, the full ride.
THR: Yeah. What are your initial takeaways?
Adam: This is a very timely event. I mean, this is my first experience at DLAC, but as I look at where we've been able to go in the past two years with COVID-19 and digital learning and finding the right resources and getting people together in the room that's doing the same work, is very important. While I love a huge conference like an FEDC or an ISTE or things of that nature, oftentimes it's too big-
THR: Yeah.
Adam: At times to get with a group of people that have the same goals of improving virtual learning, digital learning for all the students. That's the great thing, I think, about this particular conference.
THR: Yeah.
Adam: And it's not too far from me. It's only 45 minutes from the Hollywood of the south.
THR: In Hollywood. In Hollywood South.
Adam: Yeah.
THR: Yeah, and I was talking with John Whitton who heads up DLAC here, and runs it, and we were talking a little bit about how they survived through the pandemic having live events. Doug, you survived during the pandemic having live events. When I look at both of them, I see events that were smaller in scale than, say, a TCEA or an ISTE. Talk a little bit about how you see that going forward. Do you intend to scale your events or keep them to where they are? And do you see the interaction with the folks who sponsor your events, interacting versus, say, setting up a booth in a giant hall with balloons and swag and all that?
Doug: Yeah. To me, this feels huge-
THR: Yeah.
Doug: Because if there's more than 150 people there it's bigger than a typical IEI. Ours are very small things. No, I think the events are back. I think we're getting to a point ... Did you guys see the sign down there where you could put a sticker on your name badge for how comfortable you are hugging and whatnot?
THR: Carl's a green. I'm a hugger, as well.
Doug: Nice.
Carl: I was trying to get a dark green if there was something more ...
THR: Can you have one, depending on who can hug you?
Carl: We can have different levels of that.
THR: Different levels how to come up with. What are you up for? Right.
Carl: You can come up. You can stay away.
THR: At a conference, I'm not going to say that.
Adam: That sounds like a party I went to in college one time.
THR: Anyway.
Doug: At any rate. So, for us it's really our members, our superintendent members want to be in person together. So for them there's no virtual. We have a couple companies for whom it's just, they have a little baby at home who cannot get vaccinated or whatever, so we're making exceptions and allowing them to do virtual. But there's just, you don't get the value from our experience from the virtual that you do with the in-person.
THR: Yeah.
Doug: But I think DLAC is a different kind of thing, there's probably, in terms of consuming content, that you can do when you're not in person.
THR: Right.
Doug: And so, I think these guys have a really nice hybrid approach for those who just want the content.
THR: Yeah.
Doug: And then, you're not investing in the relationship stuff, you're just investing in the content.
THR: And there's no confusion with who you're reaching out to when you're on the show floor, again, when you're looking at the big shows, you could have a history teacher who got the free pass to go, and it's not necessarily getting ready to buy enterprise resource software system for the district, right?
Doug: Right.
THR: So it's like, why did you dump $100,000 dollars to talk to this history teacher?
Carl: Right.
THR: Carl, what are your thoughts in terms of the restructuring of these events?
Carl: I mean, I think this was already changing before the pandemic. I think the days of the 350 different vendors on the giant floor, I just don't see that as a cost add and someone who works with, I work with companies now too, as with schools, you have to invest in companies and organizations like ones that are actually going to get you in front of leaders, or what I think now, with the fact that I feel like everyone wants to network again, because we've forgotten the last two years. Like with ISTE which is coming up, that's just going to be an amazing space to actually have that networking area because it's New Orleans, first of all, but I told all the people I am advising, my clients or whatever, I'm telling them, find space where you can get leadership in there, teachers too, but again, with the buyer ship, figuring out who are your hot leads, and who are those people that need to be in the room, but then have a networking event that's going to save you, it's going to cost you half of what it would for a booth.
THR: Yeah.
Carl: But you're going to make two or three really good contacts that'll end up in sales versus a 100 history teachers, again history teachers aren't bad but...
THR: Right. I mean, to me, the booth was invented because there was no internet.
Carl: Yeah.
THR: I've been amazed at people who have been doing these booths for 25 years.
Carl: That is true.
THR: Because it's a place to go find, whereas now you can just Google, and find, "Show me SEL providers", but this is, it's even harder to navigate because the SEL providers are sprinkled throughout, so you have to go to some app you haven't used before. To me, the booth is for the companies who need a home base and they want people to come find them. But if you're in a position where you're at an early stage and you've got to go find people, go get out of your booth and move around or just don't even do the booth and do what Carl just said.
Adam: You know, one cool thing, though, about the booth, are the ones for start-up companies. I think sometimes when you go to some of the larger conferences at times, the smaller entities can't afford those fees to kind of have that booth or that table or that time, but having a smaller size event, and I'm calling this one smaller because it's not a 10,000...
THR: Right.
Adam: 15,000 type person event. But, it's not so private where also the prices are high. This does give those start-ups the chance to talk to people and see what those issues are because, ultimately, as someone who is in district, it's about what are our paying points? Don't sell me a product that I don't need. It's about finding out what my issues are, and is there a product out there that meets that need or I already have this product, let me talk to the vendor and see what is coming down the pipe, or how can we make this product better-
THR: Yeah.
Adam: ...For our students, and the rest of our stakeholders.
THR: Well, the one thing is certain is that you also need to have the cheap Merlot and cheese cubes in the room.
Carl: Artisan bread. Don't forget the Artisan bread.
THR: Right.
Carl: I mean, I'm just here for the charcuterie.
Speaker 1: Charcuterie. Exactly.
THR: Well gentlemen, thank you so much for this, and we'll see you in the reception hall.
Roberts, Hooker, and Phyall on the Future of EdTech Shows