262. Mike Dias On The Value Of Networking

Veteran audio professional Mike Dias returns in Episode 262 to convince us that networking needn’t be a four-letter word! Whether you’re a sound company owner, a freelance engineer, or full-time staff, networking is an important non-audio tool in the toolbox. This episode is sponsored by Allen & Heath and RCF.

When Mike isn’t selling microphones (as a management coach and consultant for Earthworks) and serving as the executive director of the In-Ear Monitor International Trade Organization, he writes and speaks about “What Entertainers Can Teach Executives” and “Why Nobody Likes Networking.” He offers personalized experiential keynotes and workshops for conference and event attendees.

In fact, Mike is generously offering his “Nobody Likes Networking” workshop — which he’s previously charged $50 per student — for free to Signal to Noise listeners. The online workshop will take place as three short sessions on Monday 8/19, 8/26, and 9/2 at 2 pm U.S. ET. See below for details on the workshop and how to sign up, and we hope to see you there! (Register here)

Episode Links:
Register For The Nobody Likes Networking Workshop
Nobody Likes Networking Website
Networking from Six Feet
Mike Dias Speaks Website (Coming Soon)
Mike On LinkedIn
STN Episode 213 With Mike
Episode 262 Transcript

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The Signal To Noise Podcast on ProSoundWeb is co-hosted by pro audio veterans Andy Leviss and Sean Walker.

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Transcript

Mike Dias On The Value Of Networking

Note: This is an automatically generated transcript, so there might be mistakes--if you have any notes or feedback on it, please send them to us at signal2noise@prosoundweb.com so we can improve the transcripts for those who use them!

Voiceover: You’re listening to Signal to Noise, part of the ProSoundWeb podcast network, proudly brought to you this week by the following sponsors:

Allen & Heath, introducing their new CQ series, a trio of compact digital mixers for musicians, bands, audio engineers, home producers, small venues, and installers that puts ease of use and speed of setup at the heart of the user experience.

RCF, who has just unveiled their new TT+ Audio brand, including the high performance GTX series line arrays and the GTS29 subwoofer. Be sure to check it out at rcf-usa.com. That's rcf-usa.com.

Music: “Break Free” by Mike Green


Andy Leviss: Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Signal and Noise. I'm your host, Andy Leviss, and with me as usual, the Nigel Tufnell to my Derek Smalls, Mr. Sean Walker. What's up, Sean? 

Sean Walker: You're killin me Smalls, you're killin me. 

Andy Leviss: Wrong Smalls, but I'll take it. 

Sean Walker: Ah, fuck. Nobody hired me for my brains, bro, I'm just here for the bad jokes. I'm good, man. I'm a little rough after a long loadout last night, but uh, I'm good. I'm alive. I'll keep sucking this coffee down to try to be a whole person and say something intelligent in this episode. 

I know. I know. I mean, you gotta 

Andy Leviss: That almost went a different place, man. 

Sean Walker: you gotta earn a living somehow, bro. This sound thing ain't working for me. How are things with you? Good? 

Andy Leviss: not too bad. You know, hanging in there was a week of mostly catching up on paperwork and stuff like that, and book and work out for the fall, and trying 

Sean Walker: world, dude. 

Andy Leviss: trying to plan out paternity leave a little bit, 

Sean Walker: Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

Andy Leviss: what counts as paternity leave for a freelancer. 

Sean Walker: AKA not getting paid for weeks. Yeah, I 

Andy Leviss: Yeah, that. That. 

Sean Walker: save it and then don't get paid for a while. And then once you freak out and go, I can't do any more, you go back to work. Yeah, cool, 

Andy Leviss: yep. And, I mean, thankfully, like, Kate's got the, like, you know, steady gig at the studio she works at, so, uh, she's got that and has plenty of maternity leave, so we're kinda just, you know, I'm gonna, we'll both take a couple weeks when the little one comes, and then I'm gonna, I'm gonna kinda go back at least a few days a week and try and slam in a bunch of work in the fall, so that by the time she starts going back to work, I can be home and, you know, put on the apron and, and, you know, cook 

Sean Walker: Yeah, Mr. Mom, dude. I like it. Yeah, 

Andy Leviss: I actually do a lot of the cooking anyway already, so, 

Sean Walker: I don't do any of the cooking, because I'm a lousy cook. I got like, three things I can cook well, and the rest of it is mediocre AF, dude. 

Andy Leviss: And one of those things is SpaghettiOs. 

Sean Walker: no, no, no, no, no, dude. I make a super mean breakfast burrito. I make a great steak, and not like, oh, I make a good steak, but like, I've sorted out how to make a great steak, and Nope, that's it. 

That was it. Two things. I make two things well. 

Andy Leviss: I'm just disappointed about the breakfast burrito. Like I came and stayed at your house the other week and we went somewhere for breakfast. 

Sean Walker: I know. 

Andy Leviss: feel like I missed out now. 

Sean Walker: You did. You did. I was feeling lazy. 

Andy Leviss: Alright, that's fair. That was a long weekend. 

Sean Walker: It was a long weekend. Yeah. Speaking of long loadouts. Jesus. 

Andy Leviss: Yep. 

Sean Walker: That's how they go sometimes, though. We don't always have ballrooms and freaking air conditioning. Although when we do, I'll have you back out so you can, you know, do an easy gig other than having to fly across the country. 

Andy Leviss: Right on. Right on. We'll see if these, if the, yeah, 

Sean Walker: should we get our dude on? 

Should we 

Andy Leviss: we should. So, so we are, 

Sean Walker: I'm gonna use all his tips and tricks in ballrooms and convention centers this 

Andy Leviss: right? So we're actually, uh, we're 

Sean Walker: not even gonna give him credit. I gotta be honest, I'm not even gonna give him credit. I'm gonna steal all those ideas, I'm gonna pass them off as my own and be like, Yeah man, I'm a networking genius now, look at me go. 

Andy Leviss: right on. So, uh, yeah, this is actually a returning guest from before you're in my time on the podcast back on episode 213, uh, Mike Dias, who thankfully gave me the key to pronouncing his name because I would have gotten it. I would have misremembered and gotten it wrong. Had I not. Had he not reminded me and I went back and listened to 2. 

13, which we'll link to in the show notes. Uh, he was back on with Chris, you know, like a year and change ago, uh, talking about a wide range of his history. He, uh, was with JH Audio and then Ultimate Ears for years, runs the in ear monitor international trade organization. He had a multi year stint recently with Earthworks, helping bring some mics that y'all have heard me Rave about till I'm blue in the face lately. 

And he also is a networking guru. So, uh, Mike, uh, networking, why networking?  

MIke Dias: Ah, it's a great story, and I wouldn't use the word networking guru, but I appreciate that. It's more like, I just like to eat and drink and hang out with friends, but 

Sean Walker: Alright, fine, we found some dude who's mediocre at networking who can fill an hour. That's fine, I won't call you a guru, we'll just say, you know, some fucking dude that talks about networking stuff. 

MIke Dias: Yeah, it's kind of it, but it's kind of the punchline for the whole rest of the show, guys. Thanks for tuning in. 

Sean Walker: Alright, goodnight! 

MIke Dias: So, yeah, so. So this is kind of the origin story, right? Like I had just gone back to Ultimate Ears and, you know, I knew them, I was with them when it was Mindy and Jerry, and I, I still freelanced for them when, you know, during the, the Logitech acquisition and eventually they, they wanted to bring me back, Logitech wanted to kind of move me across the country. 

And so there I am, I'm back at the helm of Ultimate Ears. It's under Logitech. It's totally corporate, so I'm totally petrified. And within the first month. They bring Jackie Joyce Kerner, the former Olympian, in to give a keynote motivational talk. And I, I, I'd never seen anything like this, right? I was loving every minute of it. 

I was hanging on every word. She finishes and I was like, I can't believe I got this job. I get to listen to Olympians. Like, this is great. I call, I call up an old friend, Jason Batty Young, and many of your listeners know him for all of the work that he does with all of your favorite, uh, reality TV shows. 

And I tell him about what I just saw. And he's like, listen, man, you might know me from all the gigs I do on TV. But I actually make my doctor lawyer money for all the corporate keynotes that I do. I don't talk about this, but I work for Microsoft, I work for Intel, I work for Apple. I've done over 400 of these shows and you have no idea how much you just got paid. 

My eyes light up and I'm like, Oh, Jason, this is what I've always wanted to do. But I didn't even know who to talk to or where to start or what any of this means. Like, I have no idea to go from where I am now to over there. And he's like, Oh, that's easy. That's easy. But first you need a book. And on the back of your book, you need a picture of you sitting on a stool. 

He's like, that's, that's your, that's the entry ticket to be at the keynote speaking club. You gotta, you gotta have a book to promote and that's 

Sean Walker: That's like the headshot for keynote speakers, right? 

MIke Dias: It's the whole thing, right? You got to have the, you got to have the 

Sean Walker: Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

MIke Dias: Deep, the deep off into space. And I'm like, okay, okay. All right. What can I write about? 

What am I good at? And I was like, well, I can eat. I can drink. And that, that, that's really, as far as I got, I'm not working with much more here. 

Sean Walker: Attaboy. Well, we're already friends. That's cool. 

MIke Dias: we're good. So, so the more I thought about it, the more I tried to dress it up, I, you know, I'm really trying to. make us come together. I was like, well, I guess I know how to take care of people. 

Like I could do that. I could pick up a bill. Like I'm really good at grabbing a check. And so I go home and I tell my wife and I'm like, baby, baby, baby. When I grow up, I'm going to be a keynote speaker. She, my poor wife, she, she's got the patience of a saint, right? And she just stares at me and she's like, I just bagged this new corporate job, like I'm director level on a multinational company, and I'm telling her like this cockamania idea. 

She looks and she's like, this sounds great, but you're not an Olympian, and you're not a celebrity, and you're kind of not even a mid level manager, and I don't mean to be rude, but you're nobody of note. And I'm like, yes, I know. However, 

Sean Walker: but I have these keys and I shall note 

MIke Dias: yeah, no, no, it gets better. I'm like, however. You are 100 percent right, but when people call for that Olympian and when they call for that celebrity and when they find out how much they cost and their availability, eventually they will climb down the ladder to me and I'll be available. 

Sean Walker: Nice 

MIke Dias: She just stares and she's like, You're telling me you want to leave your corporate secure job to be the bargain bin motivational speaker. And I've been working on that path ever since for the last 10 years and I'm getting closer.  

Sean Walker: nice  

MIke Dias: And so here's, here's how dumb I really am, right? So for work, I write a lot of copy. I'm in marketing. Actually, I'm a lot better at doing the technical writing, the user manuals, the technical guides. There's a running joke in the house. My daughter's like, always like, Dad, can't you write something that doesn't put me to sleep? 

And I'm like, Nope. I kind of specialize in the boring and the minutiae. And so anyway, I thought I, I thought I could crank a book out effortlessly, like I actually thought that I could just put all my notes, you know, transcribe them into a voice recorder and it would self assemble and magically just be a book. 

Yeah, that doesn't really work that way. And the thing is, when I started putting down those loosely formed ideas, you know, fitting, filling those onto paper. I did start to realize that at least there were some kernels of something there, right? Like just trying to understand the process of the way that I worked, the way that my brain worked. 

And some of the things I was looking at, I was like, okay, well, this is kind of worth paying attention to and exploring a little bit more. And the more I thought about the stuff I was doing professionally, you know, where I was finding success and more importantly, like all of my misses, like all the failures that I had had and just trying to understand and dissect why. 

I started becoming my own best student and so the more I paid attention to some of the steps and processes that I was developing, the better I was getting at my actual job and the more effective I was having and the stronger the outcomes were becoming. And, you know, through that I started getting more roles and responsibilities. 

I was getting promoted. My teams were getting bigger. I had to train a lot of people and so I figured I started sneaking my own stuff in into the training programs. And, Then I watched my teams get exponentially better, and I saw them get significantly better results. And just kind of jump into the punchline of all of this. 

I was recently reviewing all of my notes from when I first started, you know, into the scripts that I'm actually doing now, like when I actually do keynotes and workshops on this. And from those humble beginnings, all the essence was there. It just took 10 years of really working out the bits and massaging and getting into a place that matters and that I can actually explain it to people. 

I don't really care about talking about why you should network or the benefits of that because that's, that's just lip service and it's pretty self evident. You're like, Oh yeah, that sounds like a good idea. But I'm much more interested in the practical and the tactical and the concrete steps that anybody can take to do it, right? 

I don't really want to pitch to marketers or sales guys who are already doing this. I'm much more interested in pitching to everybody. who struggles with some of the confidence or struggles with the reasons why I can do this or the ways in which to do it or the ways to do it authentically where it does not feel phony. 

And so that's what I actually specialize in, is in helping people become more confident, more successful, and lead healthier, happier, more fulfilled lives, because networking is really just an adult term for making friends. And life's a lot better with friends. Friends bring you opportunities, and friends make you laugh, and friends make things worth sharing and giving. 

Sean Walker: See now here I thought we were talking about routers and switches and you're talking about hanging out with homies and having cocktails and cigars You know what this episode gets better and better all the time Mike. We're best friends now, dude 

Andy Leviss: right? There's two types of networking we talk about on this show. There's the one, there's the one, um, there's the one I'm smart about, and you're a little bit of a ding dong on, and there's the one that you're smart about, and I'm the ding dong, and it's the latter one today. 

Sean Walker: and with these powers combined 

MIke Dias: seen the AAS workshop that I gave, like I'm halfway through the first one and somebody raises his hand and he's like, I'm in the wrong fucking shop. Just hopped out. 

Sean Walker: Brother, I think that twice a week, I think. 

MIke Dias: Yeah. 

Sean Walker: Every time I'm double or triple stacking road cases in the truck, I'm like, I'm too old for this shit. I'm in the wrong job. 

MIke Dias: Yeah, so, so the reason that I don't like talking about networking is because it is such a loaded word because most people approach networking as if it is part of sales and marketing, and it is actually neither. There is nothing worse than being cornered from somebody who thinks that they're doing networking and they're just trying to sell you whatever it is they're hacking. 

And the reason that that people don't talk about networking or treat it as a skill or want to be good at it, is because it feels so fake and phony and schmoozy and so used car salesmen are at worst, like, just strip mining or any other resource exploitation, like, hey, Good to meet you. What can you do for me? 

And there is nothing about that that is genuine or authentic or that is actually helpful. Which is why I'd much rather talk about networking in terms of hospitality and service. Because networking is actually, it has nothing to do about what can you do for me. It has everything to do with how can I help you. 

Right. What, what can I do for you to make things easier? How can I help you achieve whatever you're trying to do, achieve your dreams? How can I be there for you when you need something? Not for when, you know, when it's easy to be there for people when they're up, it's much harder to be there for people when they actually need it. 

Networking is really. And it's not only about what you give, it's not anything to do with what you take. And so, you have this really weird dichotomy. You have all these people who think that they are networking but really they're just doing something that they feel like they have to be doing and they're awkward about it and They're trying to make small, boring chitchat and they don't want to do it, and I don't want to hear it. 

There's nothing worse than being stuck into that, right? It's why we avoid it at all costs. We do. We don't make eye contact with people because you don't want to hear their shit. You don't want to hear them come at you like this. And it's why we don't do it either, because we don't want to come across as that guy. 

And so everything that I'm gonna talk about going forward is much more about the steps. To get rid of all of that and to just kind of cut through all of that noise and to just really understand that networking is networking is about working together with people in teams about collaborating. And that is in fact, how you tackle the big things of value and lasting importance in this world. 

Nothing gets done alone. And especially I love this conversation for our industry, because for each and every one of us, when we're doing our job, Sean, with you. We're doing your show last night. When you're doing your beats right, when you're on fire, you are absolutely invisible. And your invisibility, your, your prowess and your, your professionalism shines the light on everybody else on the team, right? 

And that team wouldn't exist without you. Right? That's like what networking is. Networking is the collection of people, your team, your people, working together to really accomplish and change the world to do great things while having a great time along the way and not to get off topic or not to dwell on this. 

But again, I snuck this in in the last time I was on the show, but I happen to think this is the most important part of it. We are in the midst of an epidemic of loneliness. And I don't mean just from the pandemic. I mean, from everything else. And Again, to me, networking is just an adult version of the way of talking about making friends. 

And I think that some of the things that I have to offer and some of the things I have to teach don't just make you better at your job, but make you a healthier, happier person that has a lot more to give and to live for. So, sorry, that was a long, rambling answer to the start, 

Sean Walker: awesome. 

MIke Dias: yeah, let's kind of keep it back and forth with some questions. 

John, I know, uh, as an owner of a sound company, how valuable these skills are for you. And Andy, again, in Broadway, like it's only team, like all of these things are only in place because life really is about who you know, but I'd argue it's, it's more nuanced than that. It's not just who, you know, it's how well you know them, right? 

The degrees of the relationships really matter. Like, how, how do you see networking working within our industry? 

Andy Leviss: I mean, I know as a, as a freelancer and particularly having pivoted back into freelance in the last year, I, I. I think I may even have told this on the show before, like I realized recently how much of my work I can trace back to one single job with two other people I met in like 2008, and just everything ripples out from there. 

MIke Dias: Yeah. 

Andy Leviss: it strikes home to the power. And it's one of those things, like I said, I like I joke that I'm like a ding dong about it. Like I know there's certain things networking wise, I'm good at as a freelancer. But there's certain things that like, just like, The idea of having to do that and maintain and build those relationships, like, what do you have to consciously think about structuring it? 

It's scary, it seems like. And I know it's not, and it shouldn't be, and I think that's one of the reasons I'm excited to talk to you about it, is like, You know, help me and help like a lot of our listeners peel, peel that fear of it's, of, of it away. Cause like you said, it's just making friends. Although I don't know for, for some of us, I don't know that that makes it any less DAH. 

MIke Dias: No, it's petrifying because, because the reason it's petrifying, by the way, is because at the very root of it, you, me, all of us are wondering as we approach somebody like this, like, What if they don't like me? That is, that is the root that prevents all of this from actually happening. Right. And I have a radically different approach to this. 

Sorry. Say 

Sean Walker: No, no, no, I didn't mean to interrupt you. I'm sorry. 

MIke Dias: So I have a radically different way of thinking about this, but, but we'll get to that in a minute, but I really do believe that that's the fear behind it all. Right. It's the, what do I have to offer? And I'll explain that right now. I think it's really easy what you have to offer. 

You have. The ability to offer your time and focused attention to anybody. And that is such a rare commodity right now. Okay. We live in a world where it is all noise. It is noise after noise, after noise, all the time and distraction after distraction, after distraction. And so being able to sit with somebody and to offer them your time, focus and energy and attention, you don't need to offer them more. I know both of your backgrounds and both of you can open doors for anybody and create anything in the world. That's actually irrelevant. It doesn't matter the access that you have and what you can do for somebody. What really matters is your ability to just give anybody the time of day. 

Sean Walker: Totally. 

MIke Dias: Yeah. And so there's a lot more to this if you, if we want to go this way, but now it's kind of a good idea. And I just wanted to just mention this to all the listeners. And I understand this is not typical, you know, we're not just talking audio right here, even though my whole background has been in live sound reinforcement, working for manufacturers, interfacing with the big rock and roll machine, but what I would like to offer to all signal to noise listeners And I have so much respect for what you have created with this podcast and for all of your sponsors and for everybody who has worked to bring this to life and put this together. 

I would like to offer one of my, my networking workshops to all of your guests. And I kind of developed this in conjunction with AES for their membership. This is sort of everything that I talk about and think about and put into place. Offered in three, uh, 20, 30 minute sessions. And I give homework and assignments because what I'm going to be able to do for every listener while we go through this is to help everybody build their, their map of social navigation, who they are, where they are in the world, who they know, and how they can navigate through that. 

Because That I'll refer to that as sort of your contact relate your relationship management system, right? And this is, this is to kind of take away that fear of all of this, right? When you know who you are and when you know where you are and when you know where you're going, the rest of this kind of falls into place. 

It's sort of like if I gave you a jigsaw puzzle and I just gave you a bag of all the 500, 000 pieces, but without the box, without the cover, and I'm like, Andy, put this together. And you're like, Uh, where, like, where am I going to start? Like, yeah, you'll see, you'll muddle through it and you'll build the borders and you'll get some edges and you'll group a couple of like colors, but you're not going to, you're not going to kill it. 

It's going to be a lot more work than it needs to be. If you have the picture of what you're trying to create, then you know how to mimic and how to map and what, where pieces fit and go, and life is really like that too, right? And so. The workshop helps anybody build these pieces out, and what's great about it is that these pieces grow with you, evolve with you. 

And the sooner that you start doing them, the better, because this is a really long term investment in your future, your future career and your future happiness. And so if there's any interest, again, we'll, we don't need to go over all the concretes and all the specifics in our talk today. We can really just know that that's happening at a very later date, whenever it makes sense for you and your team, but we'll put together this workshop and we'll make it free for everybody to hop in on. 

And everybody, my hope is that everybody gets these tools because the more people that operate under this assumption and idea of giving and creating together, the more powerful this becomes for everybody, for all of us. 

Andy Leviss: That's awesome. I, I appreciate that. I'm sure the listeners will. And yeah, we'll, we'll hook up after, uh, after the recording and, and figure out the logistics and link folks to it so they can sign up once we get it all scheduled up. 

Sean Walker: Yeah, that's awesome. Thank you. I'm, I'm 

MIke Dias: Yeah. I'd love 

Sean Walker: come, I'm gonna come check that out. That's great. 

MIke Dias: I think you, you end up getting a lot more out of it than you even think you will. Right. And so I I'm biased, but I really like it. And it gives me a good chance to share this and to give back to the community that has given my family and myself so much. And it helps me get better at this because again, I'm, this is not what I do professionally, but this is where I'm tacking towards and where I'm getting better at, right? 

I sell gear in the pro audio world. I just happen to have spent a lot of time thinking about this and watching and learning and understanding how all the pieces come together and what actually makes things move. And what makes things move is people. People are at the heart of everything, right? And I'm going to blow your mind for a second, but I'm going to just kind of try to break this down like the matrix. 

There is no such thing as a company. There is no such thing as an organization. All of these things are just simply collections of people. It is snapshot and point in time, but people move and people change, right? And so what is Clare? What is Apple? What is Logitech, what is X, Y, Z, right? 

Sean Walker: It's a bunch of people trying to push the ball in the same direction. 

MIke Dias: They're just people, right? 

And there are people who have the same shared belief and going in the same direction. And so what is your connection to Claire? Like this goes for all of your listeners, right? Well, your connection to Claire is the person that you know, your account manager, the person that you interface with, and maybe one or two or three more people. 

And when your account manager or any of those other people move on to somewhere else. Your relationship diminishes, right? But it doesn't need to, right? Because when you start to recognize that entities are just constructions of people, and then you realize that people are at the heart of everything and people and relationships are what enable things to get done, then you're able to kind of circumvent all the, Oh, I can't call them or, Oh, they won't want to talk to me. 

Or I don't know. And you just call up the person that you know, and you're like, Hey, this is what I want to do. Here's what I'm thinking, here's what a wind looks like for me, and here's what I think is successful, and I think we could put this together and structure it like this. And of course the answer is yes, because you are talking to the right person, and you are making it easy for everybody to get on board. And what I love about talking and thinking about this is that, is that we always think that networking is something that I need to do when I need to go get my next job. Like, Oh, I gotta, I gotta go meet somebody to get hired, or, Oh, 80 percent of all your jobs come from people you know. And while all that is true I will actually argue that networking is something that you do to become better at your actual job that you do today. 

Networking impacts your ability to produce and to create and to collaborate and to generate. And so rather than thinking about networking as something that you will do at a later point, networking is what you do now to be better and to perform. Like we all, all of us make our living working behind the scenes and helping other people shine. 

And by nature, that means none of us really want to be on, on the stage or on the spotlight or in the front and putting ourselves out there, but we are all trying to be the best at what we do. And we all understand what performing means and we all want to perform our best. And I truly believe that the things I talk about in the keynotes that I give and in the workshops that I do, I think of it much more like performance coaching for introverts than anything else. 

Andy Leviss: Sold. 

MIke Dias: Yeah. Yeah. I, I really like it. And so kind of let's just go over just like a little bit of a preview of what the workshop would be in that way. Because again, I don't want to talk about the hypothetical or the, you know, all the reasons why. Like I really do like going over concrete steps. We are all people who like to get things done and are all results oriented. 

And all understand the mechanics rather than the abstract. And so this big picture question, like how do you make more friends? How do you, how do you do networking? Right? And there's really five simple steps. And this is if, if you don't take the workshop, if you don't get anything else out of your time spent listening, if you've listened this far already. 

There are just five steps that you need to worry about to kind of do anything in life. And I try to teach this to my kid. I try to teach this to myself. I try to live this way, or really to anyone who will listen. And the first step for anything is to say yes. And man, has this landed me in a lot of hot water and some great times. 

And I recommend this for everybody. And 

Sean Walker: Man, I still can't go back to Vegas after that one. 

MIke Dias: not touching that, but yeah, say yes to everything. Like, The next time someone invites you somewhere, you say yes. The next time you get asked to do a new project with a new team member, you say yes. If it feels awkward and uncomfortable, if you feel like something is a stretch or out of your comfort zone, then that is an absolute telltale sign to say yes. 

I'm not kidding. Advocating for anybody to put themselves into a dangerous spot or to do something that is unhealthy. Like that's, I shouldn't have to make that disclaimer, but I don't want to get canceled. You guys, please. So say yes. Step number two is in fact much harder than step number one. Okay. It is easy to run your lip and say yes. 

Step number two is showing up. And step number two, this is where, this is where the anxiety kicks in and where all the resistance will always come up. Your inner voice is going to kick in and be like, what are you doing here? You're wasting your time. You show up to a place where you know nobody and you're about to walk in the door. 

You're like, I should just, I should just go home. And I see this happen all the time. I run into this and I know I'm, I'm here talking about this and this is the hardest one for me. Okay. This, this is not easy. Just saying it isn't easy. It doesn't make it any easier, but. At least if you understand that this is just part of the process, it kind of helps you have enough courage to move through it. 

I saw this with my daughter and her friend. They, um, they were supposed to show up to this birthday party and it was paintball out in the woods and they were super excited about it. They're talking, they're laughing, they're having such a good time and the whole drive over, we pull up. And the panic sets in and they're like, oh, we made a stupid, stupid choice. 

What are we doing here? And they're like, quick, quick. No one saw us. Let's turn around. I was like, nope. Like, like showing up is the hardest part, right? But it puts everything else into motion. You can't go to the next phase until you show up. And step three is suiting up. And here's what I mean by that. 

Okay. Look, showing up is hard and I know you'd rather not do it, but you did it. You like, you went there, you got there. Suiting up is actually being there and giving yourself the chance to succeed, right? If you show up to something, but then you spend your whole time on your phone or your whole time In a corner, you didn't really suit up to win or to play, right? 

You're faking it to yourself and you're not giving your chance yourself the chance to succeed more than anything. You're not giving yourself the chance to help somebody else or to be of service to somebody else. That's, that's why you're there, right? When you remember that, When you remember that the idea of, of authentically networking is, is being there to enable and to help and to be of service rather than for taking, it makes it a little bit easier. 

It's a little bit of a fuel and fire to kind of work through these harder pieces. Right. And so when you show, show up and when you suit up, do not be that negative bummer self, like always talking about the end of the world and oh, you're like, just be there. Like don't sabotage your chances of what comes next. 

Gone half the way and done the hardest parts. 

Sean Walker: for God's sake, don't talk about politics and religion. Just don't do it. 

MIke Dias: no. And so I want to give, I want to give the listeners a couple of my tricks, right? Because all of these are just really methodical, well thought out tricks. Like I grew up in Vegas. I love magic. Penn and Teller are my heroes. And I try to emulate. The way that they perform into a lot of my teaching here. 

And so I'm going to anybody who knows me well and hears this is going to laugh because I'm going to deconstruct the trick and I'm going to keep doing this in front of you. And it's still just going to be as amazing each time. It is not lost on me, the irony and how funny this is. I am not an outgoing person. 

I do not like to put myself out there. I do not, this is not me, right? Like, like, like anybody else. I like the little things that I do. I like spending the time with my friends and talking trash and playing games and being with my family, right? But I actually know this, you The process is to follow and kind of, you know, put it all into practice. 

And so what I do to be able to suit up professionally and to have a good time and to enjoy myself and to try to bring joy, this idea of hospitality and service to everybody else's who's there is I bring other people and I try really hard to bring people who are not from the industry and whose company I genuinely enjoy, like I happen to have one of the most beautiful, funny wives. 

And so she gets dragged along with me all the time is like my cover. Nobody wants to talk to me, but they definitely want to talk to my wife. Okay. But whether it's my wife or whether it's a friend from another industry or anywhere else, it doesn't matter. I bring one person, two people, three is better. 

Like three is the magic number. And so I bring a group of people with me and I try to mix it up and I don't ask permission because I don't need it. And I want to ensure that I'm having a good time, especially if I'm going to show up someplace and suit up for someplace that is probably not going to be that exciting. 

Life's short and I want to kind of stack the deck in my favor. So I'm going to take people who I want to spend time with anyway, and then I can't lose, right? I'm spreading joy. I'm making people laugh. I'm having a good time and I've done it. I showed up and I suited up. Okay. I bring my own party. Like that's kind of, kind of the title of that little last bit. 

Right. And so. Step four is to follow up. And this is where this gets good. Okay. Now we've gotten through the hard part and now we're getting much easier. And this one's kind of my favorite, right? This is where the intentionality of it comes in. And in any social interaction, there there's inevitably an exchange of energetic bonds of traded stories of, of laughter and of commitments, commitments you make to other people and commitments you make to yourself. 

When we are talking in a group, inevitably we code shift and we find something of common that we want to talk about. Something that we want to share. And you mentioned like, Oh yeah, I could do that for you. Or, Oh, I know somebody here, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But if you don't follow up, if you don't close the loop, then your three first steps were wasted anyway. 

Right. And this is where most people fall short, right? Like, and there's a million excuses of, Oh, I didn't follow up. Oh, it's too late. I should have followed up sooner, but now I can't because too much time has elapsed. And this is where we get stuck in our head. And none of this is real. And when we understand that this is how everybody feels, right, because so far we've only been talking about this from our perspective, like we know it's hard for us to show up and say yes and to suit up. 

But the truth is, is it is hard for every single person in that group who is there. And if we think about that and we say, okay, again, going back to this idea of hosting and hospitality and you say, I know that you want to follow up too. And I know that you want to have the same energetic bond because you went through all the process. 

So let me take the lead of the dance, and I'll do this, and I'll make this easy for all of us. Like, when you're playing ping pong with somebody, you want to win, and you want to get a great volley, and you want to smash it, but really you just want to have fun and play, and go back and forth, right? And so, following up, sets the stage for everything else, and it allows you to kind of have some control over creating your own destiny and creating all the pieces that you want to put into place. 

And so just reach out, close that loop, because if you don't close the loop, you can never go and move it forward. And you will always feel anxious the next time that you run into that person. You will trigger a whole inner loop and inner dialogue with, Oh, I met him, but now they don't like me because I said I was going to do this. 

None of that's real, but we all go through this in our own iterations in any way, shape or form. And so by closing the loop, by following up, it's clean, it's left, it's like a little seed in the ground that's going to sprout later. Again, that brings us to step five of moving forward, you just keep the momentum and you figure out ways that you can help or be of service later on, right? 

Life is very long, worlds and ecosystems are intricately interconnected, and you will either never see that person again, or you will bump into them later. And you will have the chance to do a project together and to create energetic bonds. And Andy, this is probably a good way to just kind of talk like, I know that I was a guest on the show before, but how are you and I even here and connected, right? 

If you think about that, it's because we just went through all of these steps. 

Andy Leviss: Mm hmm. 

MIke Dias: Was it Chris who introduced us? 

Andy Leviss: Yep. Yeah, that's what I put out. I had a show when you were at Earthworks and I literally put out to my community on Facebook, hey, random, but does anybody know anybody at Earthworks? Got a question. And Chris was like, yep, talk to Mike, here's his info. 

MIke Dias: And, and Andy, I'm the first to wave my hand and say, I dropped some balls. I did not close the loop or follow up as quickly as I normally do or move everything forward, but I didn't, I didn't leave the energetic loops open either. I got to them when I got to them because life is complex and complicated, and there's always a million external factors. 

And we're here today getting to have this great conversation and getting to be of service to the listeners. And to me, I think this is actually proof of the pudding. If you dissect everything that we have been talking about, it's it right here in those five steps. And so with a little bit of more time, I'll, I'll give you one more piece of advice and one other way that I kind of approach this and do this. 

And Andy, you'll laugh because you'll be like, Oh yeah, that is exactly what he did. so again, to me, it's just like this, these Penn and Teller tricks. I know who I am. I know that I'm not naturally like really outgoing. And I know that if I can make myself comfortable, then I can make other people comfortable. 

But if I am uncomfortable, I will project that and radiate that out as well. Like that's, that's life, right? And so how do I make myself comfortable? Well, like anybody else, it's really hard to meet a stranger. And to think of something to talk about, I'll digress and kind of loop back in a second. So Karen Dunn has these wonderful master class sessions of speed mentoring or speed networking. 

Okay. And she pairs a whole group of strangers up and then she breaks them off into zoom groups for five minutes. They're random people in rooms and they have to talk for five minutes. And there's nothing that sounds more awful for me, somebody who does this and speaks about this professionally. That sounds miserable, right? 

And it is miserable until you do it. And you were like, Oh, this is actually, this is kind of fun. And it's really practiced for, you know, people think about this, but I get into one and the guy looks at me and he doesn't know what to say, and I don't know what to say. And so he gives me the best cold opener I've ever heard. 

He's like, Yeah, man, you look like Kenny Loggins before the surgery. 

Sean Walker: Nailed it. 

MIke Dias: Nailed it. And I still don't know what that means, but 

Sean Walker: Oh my God. 

MIke Dias: he's right, sadly. 

Andy Leviss: So the funny thing about you mentioning Penn and Teller is it comes back around two different times to the episode, because one thing is I almost said, like, when I first saw a head shot of Mike. I'm like, he sort of looks like a slightly beefier teller with a little more hair. 

MIke Dias: I look like a cross between Penn and Teller. 

Andy Leviss: Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's, yeah, that's 

Sean Walker: God. That's funny. 

Andy Leviss: And, and, and I actually, and but the, the spinal tap intro to this, and I, and I'm kicking myself 'cause I'm now probably making it that I can't use this as an intro later, , but I, that spinal tap was a last minute moment of inspiration pivot. The note I have on my dry erase was Sean Walker the pen to my teller. 

Sean Walker: That's funny. 

MIke Dias: The Penn to my Teller. 

Sean Walker: Oh my God. That's funny. 

Andy Leviss: Now I'm like, I should have done it 

MIke Dias: I love it. I love it. It's so, so, what that guy did with that cold opener is he just broke the ice so great and so naturally, right? And so that was his trick. That was his Penn and Teller. What I do is I just go right into it. Like I already know the guy or the girl, right? I've met enough people and enough people have met enough people. 

That I think half of it is I just confuse them and the first 30 seconds, a minute, they're like, do I know this guy? He kind of looks like a fat teller. I think I know him. But I just go in like I already have known them, not a little bit, but a very long time. Like 

Sean Walker: Absolutely. 

MIke Dias: for anybody I meet, and this goes for the top pop stars and engineers in the world to my neighbor. 

It doesn't really matter. If I put on airs, and if I'm going to build artificial walls between us, and now I have to do this, and then we have relationship paths to progress to here before I can say da da da or that, it never progresses, and it never goes anywhere. So I skip all that, and I just go like, we grew up as kids together, and I can tell you all my dirty jokes, and it's gonna be okay. 

And actually, I think that's so much better because, At that point in time, if you don't like me, and by the time I walk away, you're like, that guy, all he does is talk trash, want to play dominoes, and he doesn't really have that much more to contribute. I'm like, okay, you're right, you're 

Sean Walker: But then you're, but then you're building authentic relationships and authentic connections so that those are going to be lasting, lasting, helpful relationships from. All parties involved, rather than, hey, I put on this, this facade that I can do this, that, or the other thing, and then you're trying to keep up that facade, right? 

If you're just you, then you don't have to remember who you did what with or how or what, you're just, you're just you, you know what I mean? And that's easy, and then people just call you and they're like, oh yeah, Mike's the guy, he'll sort this out for me, or, oh man, blah, blah, blah, and you're just like, you all the time, and you'll build this. 

This network or this, this circle of, uh, friends or trust, or depending on who's telling you how it's called, right? You can just be you and, and you're always comfortable and they're always comfortable. You know what I mean? 

MIke Dias: yes, and it, when I go into it, and I've de escalated the social anxiety situation, then the people I'm approaching don't have to put on ears or be worried either. And it becomes much more meaningful, much more laughter and much more enjoyable for everybody. And like you said, and for when it doesn't work, and we're just like, okay, and that's okay too. 

Cause the very last thing I'll say before we get into the rest of the, of the, uh, you know, really working through this in the workshop is. We talked about how life is about who you know, but it's really the degree of the relationship that matters, right? And then in a very small sense, you could kind of think about this as a game. 

The initial meeting is just the opening salvo, right? And so when you're building out your Map when you're building out your system, when you haven't met somebody, they're just zeros like on level zero. Right. And everybody's on everywhere. Like you guys are on LinkedIn and Twitter and everybody else. 

You're just data. Like, hi, my name is Sean. Hi, I'm Andy, but that's irrelevant. That's just, that's irrelevant. That's nothing. That's data. That's not even, it's, there's no energetic bond. And then if you move up, like this conversation that we're having today, us getting to share and us getting to talk and trade jokes to each other, like we move up from no energetic bonds and no connections to some kind of thick ones, because we're actually doing some heavy work and some real energetic, emotional bonding over things that we don't usually talk about. 

And then when you ask somebody for help or when you invite them into something, it's That increases the energetic bonds as well. And whether you're doing it with one person or with a group and all these things go, and so not only are you trying to move your own life forward, but if you think of networking or making friends as a game of bringing your level zeros to level fives, like the top, your people, you realize that most people that you meet are not going to make it to your level five. 

But if you don't try, most people will never go past your level one or level two. And so when most people think that they're like, Oh, I'm really connected. I've, I know a lot of people. What they're actually saying is I've collected a lot of business cards. I've collected a lot of people's names. I'm sitting on a whole bunch of number ones and number twos who barely know my face to my name to a story. 

And so the way that I really think about it, and I think everything that we've talked and covered today is really this idea that networking is how you show up for people, how you help and how you help move relationships forward over time into something that is meaningful and enjoyable and helpful. And the last thing I will say in all of this is Rather than this just being a system for life, we've been talking about this from the vantage point of ourselves, right? 

Like, how do people show up in my relationship management? Like, who are the people that I know? What are our overlapping interests? And you know, what level is our degree of relationship? What excites me about this? And what I really, really can get on a soapbox forever is thinking about, I wonder how I show up on other people's landscapes? 

Like, how many puzzles Do I get to show up in like, am I, where's Waldo? Right. Today I get to be more in your puzzle, Andy, and more in your puzzle, Sean, like of the people that you know in the maps that you both have. And I would like to make it easy for people that I work with and interact with, and that I can potentially or future collaborate with for them to be like, yeah, that guy is approachable. 

I know who he is. I can find him and I can work with him. Like he is on my map. But not just as a number one or as a number two, I try to make it easy for people to move me up to a level three, four, five, if they want me and if they'll have me and if our personalities overlap and work together. And I guess that it's wrong to say if people like me, because that's, that's, that's a stupid way to look at it. 

Because Energetic bonds are not about like or not like, like they're just more about respect and trust and, uh, consistency and familiarity, especially your number threes in life. Like you don't really need to like your number threes. It just has to be consistent. Like the guy at the office that you don't like is probably your number three, if that makes sense. 

That's kind of all I got guys. I could go on and on and on, but again, until we're actually giving your listeners something that they can take home and use and apply to their own lives, I don't want to, I don't want to waste your listeners time. 

Sean Walker: Man, that, that's awesome. And I will, I will, uh, I will add to that, that doing what we do for a living, whether that's owning a sound company or being a freelancer or working for manufacturers. You must always be networking or you will have no jobs, right? Whether you realize it or not, whether you're intentional about it or not, whether you want to do it or not, if nobody knows who you are, they don't know who to call to solve their problem. 

People only buy things to solve problems. And you can only solve one or maybe two problems in somebody's mind. And that's what they call you for. So, you know, figure out who you are or what it is that you do, whatever, whether you're, you know, A1 or LD or, you know, whatever C programmer, that's what people will call you for. 

And that's, that's what they'll know you for. And you have to go, as you say, put yourself out there or go meet people. So they know to call you if they've got that problem, right? 

MIke Dias: calls me for microbiology help. 

Sean Walker: nobody has ever called me to chef dinner form, you know what I'm saying? Nobody. Uh, but the other thing is is I would say, you know, when you say, Oh, I can do this or I can do that, or we can do this, or here's how I can help you, right? Looking at it, like how you can help people. One of the, one of the couple of, I read a couple of books that I thought were awesome. And one of them was called Unreasonable Hospitality. 

And it was about a restaurant owner in New York, down the street from Andy there, 11 Madison Park, and how they absolutely went above and beyond In the customer service department, right? And how you can do that as you're making those relationships. And then once you have those relationships, those are the things that people will remember about you is not like, Hey, they did a good job, but like how they, how you wow your customers or your clients or your individuals, right? 

That will really help to take those. Like you said, number twos and threes to be fives, right? Once you've got what you, what you've been talking about today so far is. How to get them onto your map and how to get, you know, from zeros to ones and twos or whatever, once you get those, get them to fives, I think is You know, and I'm sure you go over in your, in your more in depth thing, but when you go above and beyond and you wow them rather than just like, well, they did the job and they went home, you know what I mean? 

But like in this book they talked about, you know, it's about restaurants and whatnot. So people came in to dine. It was a fine dining restaurant and he overheard them talking about as he was, you know, bussing tables or something. And this is the owner of the joint. Heard them talking about how they'd, they'd eaten everywhere in New York and they were had their bags on the way to the airport except they didn't get a hot dog or whatever. 

So he, without saying a word, goes out, grabs a hot dog, has his chef like chop it up all fancy style, it's a fancy restaurant, delivers it up to the table, not a, not a word, just literally just goes and gets it done, they freaked the fuck out, and thought it was the coolest thing they've ever thought in their lives, and, and he was like, what I didn't know at the time, was that each of those were CEOs of different multinational corporations and have now all brought their clients and their businesses here for our stuff and so by wowing all of your current clients, whether they're the clients you want or not or whatever, they start talking to their clients, they talk to other people and that starts to grow organically where people go, this place or this person or whatever is freaking amazing, right? 

We can all think about at least one person in our In our network that knocks it out of the fucking park every time and you're like, how do they do it? Like every time they literally just Babe Ruth point and home run this motherfucker every time what is going on? You want to be that 

MIke Dias: That's reputation. 

Sean Walker: right? 

That's your reputation. 

MIke Dias: reputation. And you cannot build your reputation. Yeah, you cannot build your reputation if you do not do all the things we just talked about. You don't close a loop. You do not get to close to build a reputation. Mm hmm, mm 

Sean Walker: other thing the other book I read that I thought was great was business made simple and marketing make simple by Donald Miller and the part about those that were great We're the way that they look at business and it's it's also very applicable to networking what we're talking about Which is we are the guide not the hero of the story, right? 

How can we help you not how can we be the stars, right? So he in this in these books they're talking about You know, how to, how to build your business. Right. And it's not about me. Like you said, we're behind the scenes. Nobody gives a shit about us. Right. They're not like, Oh my God, nice black shirt, dude. 

You know what I mean? Our, our job is to make the concert promoter or the event planner. Look like superstars to their clients, right? They are the heroes of this story, not us. We, we are Miyagi, they are Daniel Senn, we are Yoda, they are Luke Skywalker, right? So, help, how can you help, right? That's, that was the key you started with today that is absolutely on point. 

It's not, hey man, can I have a gig? It's, hey, what do you got going on in your life? And how can I help you solve the problems you've got? And if you can help, do help, and Keep true to your word. If you say you're going to do something, do it, and do it to the best of your ability. And if you can't help, that is also just fine and almost as beneficial if you tell somebody, I can't do that, but what I can do is this, right? 

Hey, I need an LD. Oh man, the only thing I know about lights is they're pretty. But if you need an audio guy, let me know. Or I do have an LD you can call, or whatever, right? To tie it into what we're doing, right? Oh man, you gotta call so and so, they're a killer LD. Rather than saying, Oh yeah, man, I messed with lights a few times. 

I can figure it out. And then you fall on your face and now you look like a ding dong, right? Don't, don't follow my footsteps, kids. Don't be a ding dong. It's way easier to be smart. Uh, but, but those things I think kind of tie into what you're saying, where like, if you think about it, how you can help people like you were saying, or that they are the star of this, this journey, right, which is easy for us to do music because obviously we are not the stars, the stars are on the stage, right? 

How can we help them continue to look like superstars? And the clients are the same thing, right? The cost promoters, the event planners, the whoever, they want to look like superstars to their client. Just make them look great and they will love you for it, you know? 

MIke Dias: That's it. Life doesn't have to be more complicated than that. 

Sean Walker: I mean, there has to be sparkly water and cigars. There has to be or I won't show up. 

MIke Dias: There has to be. 

Andy Leviss: Sean's a cheap date. 

Sean Walker: That's right. Totally. Totally. Oh 

MIke Dias: Life is good. Life is good. But that's really it. Like, 

Sean Walker: good. 

MIke Dias: it, it, and again, I don't mean to make it sound so simple, because everybody's going through difficult things at one phase or another. And that's what actually brings us together. That's what makes us human. That's what gives us empathy to be able to reach out for people in those times. 

Sean Walker: Absolutely. 

MIke Dias: if anyone is still listening, that's the take home point. Don't, don't just be there for people when they're on their up, be there for when somebody has their bags and they're talking about a hot dog and go do that. And again, do it all the time. It's don't try to build your reputation when you think that somebody's going to do something for you. 

Are you looking at their card or your title or their title? Do it all the 

Sean Walker: the time. Yeah, just be 

MIke Dias: Yeah. Be awesome all the time. 

Sean Walker: It really, like, it really boils down to just being a fucking good person. 

MIke Dias: That's it. 

Sean Walker: a good person and try to help people. And the more people you can help, the more work you will have and the more friends you will have without really trying that hard. 

You know? 

MIke Dias: Yes. Yes. 

Sean Walker: I'm an, I'm an average ass engineer compared to most of the people in this Discord server. And I got a banging sound company because I'm not an asshole to people. You know what I mean? Like, there, there are people that mix circles around me listening to this podcast right now. But I got a rippin sound company, cause I'm just fuckin nice to people, and I try to help people the best I can. 

You know what I mean? Like, that's it. Just try to help people and be cool. 

MIke Dias: that's it. 

Sean Walker: And we're all, like you said, dude, we're all going through it in different, in different stages or facets, whatever, even the like presidents, CEOs, executives, rock stars, whatever. Like they all got their ass handed to them today about something. 

You know what I mean? They all are going through something, whether that's, you know, money stuff or travel stuff or not feeling well today. Cause they ate some funky food or whatever. You know what I mean? Can I get your water? Can I get you some Tums, man? You need to Advil. What do you know? How can I help? 

It's just little 

MIke Dias: said something stupid to their loved ones got in a fight over nothing all of it 

Sean Walker: are you following me around? God, I say stupid shit all the time and she's like, son of a bitch. Stop peeking in my window, Mike. I told you we had this talk. No more. Andy, 

MIke Dias: Just trying to get the 

Andy Leviss: one who's in the industry and listens to our podcast. 

MIke Dias: So so I will put this one out there again because I do think that asking people for help is one of the greatest ways of turbo charging the energetic bonds and of Being collective and being together. Again, I'm, I'm decent at placing product and helping manufacturers. This is all new for me. I think that I might have something and I might have a good run. 

And I think that talking about networking at trade shows, especially like how to network of confidence at trade shows. Gives a lot to the exhibitors who are there and to the attendees that are there. And so for any of the event planners that are listening to the show and follow regularly or people who work in the event side of things and not the live sound, uh, not the touring side of it. 

If you heard anything that you think is a value and you realize that I have plenty of workshops and keynotes on this topic. I think that what I offer really does help the events and the conferences, uh, create experiential components, more in person networking components, and Really makes everything better. 

Then I could really use some help and guidance and coaching on what my next steps look like. And so if any listeners are like, Oh, Oh, you need to do is this and this and this, or, Hey, yeah, you're good on this, but this is shit. Uh, anybody just please get in touch with me. I'd really appreciate it. 

Sean Walker: I believe that was the invitation for us to sit in the back of the room and heckle his ass through the whole show. I'm so excited. We're going to go attend 

MIke Dias: whole shit. That's why, that's why. That's why I didn't lead with that. I waited. I chucked it at the very end. 

Sean Walker: Oh my god, like Marley and Marley and the Muppets just fucking heckling in the back, like, just cackling and 

Andy Leviss: say, are you Statler or are you Waldorf? 

Sean Walker: Oh my god, that's awesome. Well, 

MIke Dias: Well, I can't hear this. I'm having a problem with this signal. What? 

Sean Walker: yeah, it's a Would you like some bad sir Well, I have a, I have a bunch of Event Planner friends that I will invite to the, the workshop you do so that they can all get the experience and then they'll pass it along to the paid people. Event planner, things that you do and we'll fricking, you know, we'll send it out. Cause I think it's a lot of great stuff, man. 

That's awesome. And I love the way that you're thinking about it. I love the way that you're talking about it. And, uh, you know, thanks. Thanks for making me a zero to a three in one fricking hour, dude. Maybe a four and a half, maybe a four and a half. I'll make steaks, dude. Four and a half. 

MIke Dias: You guys, thank you so much for all your help, for inviting me into the community, for letting me share this with everybody. And, and again, if I could be of help to anybody, or if anybody has a question who's listening, or just needs a cheerleader, a fat, hairy cheerleader, I'm your guy. I'm easy to get in touch with and just let, drop me a line. 

Andy Leviss: It's usually Sean's job, but he'll share the 

Sean Walker: That's right. Tillie, Tillie, Tillie. I'm not that hairy. Wait, what? 

Andy Leviss: I love that that's the one you 

Sean Walker: I mean, 

MIke Dias: Yeah, I was 

Sean Walker: I'm in shape, bro. Round is a 

Andy Leviss: Round is the shape, round is the 

Sean Walker: Round is a shape. Totally. 

MIke Dias: okay. So here's my, here's my last favor and request. 

Sean Walker: Alright, yeah, yeah, yeah. 

MIke Dias: Sean, I was joking with Andy and I was like, God, these headshots are just getting worse and worse and worse. And I pulled my wife aside. I was like, baby, I need some professional headshots. And she's like, there's not much we're working with guys. So she, she hits up ai, she finds, she finds somebody headshot service. That's, you know, for 30 bucks it's gonna give you 400 pictures. And every 

Sean Walker: has time to sort through 400 pictures? 

MIke Dias: No, that's my point, accept it. Every one of the pictures is worse than the next. It's like a Yanni hairstyle, John Stamos style, me with a shirt, me without a shirt, me with a turtleneck, me looking like Mr. 

Rogers. I don't know what the fuck prompts she was using, but they're funnier than the next. So, for the headshot that you guys are requesting, can I just give you one of the screenshots 

Andy Leviss: Oh, 

MIke Dias: you know, six or seven of them? LAUGHING I don't 

Sean Walker: awesome. Pants optional. Like, the funnier the better, bro. 

MIke Dias: the DM20. LAUGHING Every one of those is there. 

Sean Walker: Oh my 

MIke Dias: As I was telling Andy, then the AI, the AI clearly has a sense of humor because On a couple of the shots that look good, like my face looks good, I look younger, I look a little thinner, and I look closer and there's six fucking fingers. I'm like, what? I can't use that one. 

Another one, I got a good smile. I was like, okay, and I look closer. There's an extra row of teeth. I'm like, what? 

Sean Walker: on, man. You know? 

MIke Dias: More the better. 

Sean Walker: Yeah. Right. That's awesome. 

MIke Dias: All right, so I'm gonna, that's what I'm gonna send you guys over. It's, 

Sean Walker: Oh, please do 

MIke Dias: and funnier and funnier. Please use it. 

Sean Walker: Maybe we should all do AI shots for this one. Just have like all goofy photos. Like when you get those caricatures made and we're just all looking like. Ding Dongs, you know, I'm like my normal state of status, but you guys can join me. 

MIke Dias: Yeah. you guys want to talk microphones for a while?

Andy Leviss: You know, we're right around the hour mark, so why don't we wrap this up on networking with a nice little bow, and then let's have Mike back for next week to talk IEMS and mics? Which I guess means it's Sean's cue... 

Sean Walker: Thanks to RCF and Allen and Heath for letting us, you know, keep yapping away with cool people and that's the pod y'all. See you next week!

Music: “Break Free” by Mike Green