Bant Breen:

Storytech is an incredible company that curates experience events. Tell me a little bit more about what this last year has looked like for Storytech and how the business has evolved.

Lori Schwartz:

March 12th or 13th, when the boom hit and everyone got locked down, was when everyone realized, “Oh my god, things have changed” and a lot of jobs were lost and businesses shut down. I started seeing this in January when I was coming out of CES which is my busiest time so to your point, November and December are not holiday la la land for me. I’m the busiest I am. I never leave my chair and I don’t have a holiday break. I have my little Hanukkah for a couple of days and that’s about it. I’ll go and have some honey-baked ham with my friends who celebrate Christmas, that’s it. I come off of this maddening show, intense, I make a lot of contacts there like a business driver for me, we work hard. I bring around 15 consultants there. It’s amazing. I come off that show. All of a sudden, I have my whole yearbook for the first time, after like four or five years of pounding away at this concept of storytelling. I have the yearbook and I’m like, “Wow, this is the best year ever” and then I start hearing from clients. I don’t know if we’re gonna have a show. We’re wondering if we’re gonna do our show, we’re canceling our show, and all of a sudden, my entire year within February and March got canceled. 

Bant Breen:

As businesses are looking at 2021, what do they have in terms of these events, and these virtual tours? How can storytelling help them? And how is your service relevant this year for businesses?

Lori Schwartz:

I think that the top of everyone’s mind is, “Should I go live this year? What should I do?” There are multiple things. First of all, we can help with the strategy of how you should approach this year. One of the biggest things I’m saying to people is that 2021 is still a weird year. This is not the year that everything’s gonna go back to normal. This is still a learning building. I think this is the year that you build digital infrastructure. Last year, everyone scrambled and zoomed and whatever cobbled together used expensive event companies, whatever it is, this should be the year that you build your digital infrastructure because we’re not coming up. This year is not going to be the money-making year either. This is going to be the year that okay, you’re over the shock, the post-traumatic stress of the initial year of 2020. Now, gather up your boots, sit in your chair, and build that digital infrastructure. Build your site, get with some video producers and figure out how you’re going to do this. Because come 2022, you need to have a virtual solution and a live solution. The two need to work together. I’m just telling everyone this, not everyone’s going to come back to life even in 2022.

Bant Breen:

What are the things that are giving you the most joy from this?

Lori Schwartz:

I love interviewing people like you are doing right now. I had a podcast that I stopped in September, because I was doing so much of this work, and it got hard to do both. I love interviewing people. The reason I love interviewing people is that one, it’s graduate school, right? As you learn so much about expertise by interviewing someone, that it’s wonderful. I leave an interview smarter than I was before. That’s great, too. I love talking to people. I feel like I can talk to them about anything. The way that I think my style is, is fun, informal, and real. It’s not this stuffed shirt, an awkward thing, I’m having a conversation with someone and I enjoy that so much. It makes my heart sing. I would love to be interviewing anybody and all I need is a day to prepare.

Bant Breen:

Lori, thank you so much for being on UNCAGED today and we look forward to having you back. 

To see the full interview on the Uncaged YouTube channel, go to:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhJuwYNcZ2M

 

 

 

E: qstudio@qnary.com