Yoana Obregon & Katya Bravo of Secret Sauce: 5 Things You Need To Know To Successfully Run a Live Virtual Event
When producing your own virtual event, we cannot emphasize this enough, do not skimp on lighting. Investing in the proper ring light with warm tones or LED lighting is absolutely necessary. We have our own warehouse with our go-to ring lights for whenever we need proper lighting for a live virtual event.
As a part of our series about “5 Things You Need To Know To Successfully Run a Live Virtual Event”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Yoana Obregon & Katya Bravo.
Secret Sauce is a creative marketing agency specializing in creative concepts, full-scale event production, influencer marketing, and digital campaigns. Brought to life by two dynamic females — Yoana Obregon and Katya Bravo; Secret Sauce cuts through the noise of traditional advertising, resulting in impactful relationships with clients and consumers.
Yoana is a natural born leader with a unique background focusing on fashion, hospitality, luxury and lifestyle clients. Whether its events, influencer campaigns, brand development or strategy; Yoana uses her marketing savvy and effectiveness to successfully translate a client’s needs to execution.
With over 20 years in the industry, Katya has made a name for herself as a brand development specialist and creative concept pioneer. Her keen awareness of trade and consumers keeps her on the cutting edge of experiential marketing.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a bit about your “childhood backstory”?
Yoana Obregon: I grew up in Miami with my parents and two younger sisters. Both of my parents were born in Cuba, my mother migrated to Miami as a baby, and my father came by way of Spain as a teenager. They are both entrepreneurs, my mother owns an insurance agency, and my father owns a development company. I grew up in a very family-oriented environment, we spent a lot of time together. In high school I was an athlete — played soccer, ran track, and was on the swim team for all four years. I was also very involved in extracurricular activities while I was in school.
Katya Bravo: I am a child of immigrants, my mother is from Cuba and my father is from Chile, they met in Miami Beach in the early 70s. I was raised in a single-parent household with my mother and brother in Miami. I was definitely a tomboy growing up and loved playing out in the neighborhood. In high school, I took up surfing in my free time, anything to spend time outdoors.
Can you tell us the story of what led you to this particular career path?
YO: I started my career in the medical industry as a first responder, which is very different from what I do today, but it gave me all the crisis management tools necessary. Those four years as a first responder for a fire station instilled in me the ability to remain calm under chaos, which is crucial when working in events. The path to get me here stemmed from being a pre-med student at Florida International University. The large-format classes were not the right learning environment for me, so I began looking at smaller schools and came across the Art Institute in Downtown Miami that offered classes for 15–20 students. In life, my two passions were medicine and fashion, so I decided to take the leap and transfer to the Art Institute. I pursued a degree in fashion business because I was looking for a more catered educational experience. I ended up meeting the most amazing people there, some of who I still work with today — vendors, clients, designers. Through the Art Institute, I worked in fashion show production. They partnered with IMG, Funkshion, and several other major fashion shows, and gave students the opportunity to assist in producing these events. I jumped at the opportunity and got my foot in the door by working all these events, and later started my first business, Think Red.
KB: I started bartending and working events at restaurants in Miami Beach and that introduced me to a lot of people in the industry. I ended up meeting an employee for Anheuser Busch and became friends with them, who later offered me a job as a brand rep. I found out that I really loved being a brand rep, no day was ever the same — I enjoyed interacting with the different accounts, coming up with unique ideas for activations, and found my passion for storytelling. It took me a long time to get here, but after I became a mom, I went back to work doing the marketing for Lincoln Road in 2005 and fell back into the hospitality industry. I also worked in the nonprofit world with the Muscular Dystrophy Association. After that, I started my first marketing company, Rock Paper Scissors and was working with Lincoln Road and consulting with Brown Forman — who is now a client today. With the real estate crash in 2008, I lost several clients, but then had the opportunity to interview with the owner of a real estate company for a marketing position. I had no expectations going into this interview, but I met the most relatable female entrepreneur and learned from her for the following four years. Afterwards, I made my way back to the food and beverage industry with Peroni and finally felt like I was exactly where I needed to be. I was with Peroni for seven years, and through sponsoring events for Think Red I met Yoana.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
YO & KB: There are definitely a lot of mistakes that happen when working events and none of them are funny in the moment. Whether a neon sign is breaking in delivery, decor items are missing, or tech issues, there’s always something and we just have to figure it out. There was one time that we sent something to print and had put the request for a 2×3 in feet, however they ended up printing it in inches. We were expecting a banner and received a business card. It wasn’t funny in the moment, but in hindsight we learned that their measurement metrics are in inches. The best part was that it came with grommets because we included that in the request, so it was funny to see that they thought that we were going to hang up this business card. We had to do the event without a banner the first day, but for the last two days we finally had the proper banner we requested.
Is there a particular book, podcast, or film that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?
YO: The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell is a book that has had an impact on me ever since I read it in college. I had always been someone who gets frustrated when things don’t move quickly, I had short patience and needed instant gratification. The Tipping Point taught me that you need to dedicate 10,000 hours to something before you become a master at it. I learned that if you put in the work on any subject, you can master that specific thing. It helped me come back and reassess situations where I now think, okay I haven’t put in my 10,000 hours yet, I can relax and navigate my patience. This has been a huge improvement in my life, especially working in events. When you are working with multiple vendors to produce events, you have to be patient and understanding, that everyone’s hard work will come together with time and the end result will make it all worth it.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
YO & KB: “Luck favors the prepared,” is our favorite quote. It kind of speaks for itself, but it has always resonated with us. If we could choose any superpower, it would be luck. Secret Sauce was built on luck, it was luck that brought us together, it was a coincidence that we both were looking for an office independently and then decided to merge our companies to build Secret Sauce four years ago. We never take away from our hard work, but we definitely feel like we have a guardian angel. There are times where things will absolutely go left and then everything is fine two minutes later, things will happen independently of each other and realign the whole situation to be back on track. Luck has brought us here and sometimes we question how we got here, but we know we are exactly where we need to be. Partnerships are a beautiful thing, and we are lucky to have met each other, another like-minded female entrepreneur with similar goals. This quote is so relevant to us, it’s even on our website.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. For the benefit of our readers, can you tell us a bit about your experience organizing events in general?
YO & KB: Every event is different, between the both of us we have done every single type of event, and even played every role in producing events — janitor, production assistant, security, talent wrangler, seamstress, all of it. We have never been scared to say no, we have a yes attitude and always figure out a way to make it work. We have learned that you can be the most successful in this industry if you have a good relationship with your vendors. You need your vendors to care to help you deliver, so it is always important to prioritize those relationships and go out of your way to thank them for their work. We have a great relationship with all our vendors and have been able to rely heavily on them when we are in a pinch and get last minute client requests.
Can you tell us a bit about your experience organizing live virtual events? Can you share any interesting stories about them?
YO & KB: Live virtual events have been amazing for us, we have taken our experiential footprint from a traditional 20×20 space, to a 10×10 screen. In terms of pressure, that has been lifted off. When it comes to creative output, we have a smaller area to work with and can really think outside the box and add digital components to the mix. A lot of companies have benefited from these virtual experiences and 2020 definitely forced them to have a stronger digital presence, ourselves included. Moving forward, we believe there will be a virtual component with a majority of in-person events, like with concerts, production companies will invest heavily in using the proper technical equipment to stream the shows online. It allows companies and events to have a wider reach and engage with consumers globally.
For our client Chambord, we partnered with Liz Hernandez, host of Access Hollywood and founder of Wordaful for Galentine’s Day to celebrate and gather women virtually from around the country. Wordaful is a platform that was created to empower women through their words, promote the importance of understanding how words carry weight, and the importance of women supporting one another. The virtual webinar opened with a digital happy hour to welcome guests and introduce them to Chambord. We also had a bartender on-screen to demonstrate how to make the delicious Chambord cocktails.
Timing is interesting when producing a virtual event, what is typically a four hour live event, is reduced to a 30-minute or one-hour virtual event. We have had to learn how to keep attendees engaged and create personality through these virtual events. With the Galentine’s Day cocktail kits, we provided guests with a bottle of Chambord, the necessary equipment, ingredients and instructions to create three different cocktails, Galentine’s greeting cards to share with friends, and chocolate truffles from a local female chocolatier. The women loved the kits and were very engaged during the webinar and posted a lot of their own content on social media.
In your opinion, what is an example of a company that has done a fantastic job creating live virtual events? What specifically impresses you? What can one do to replicate that?
YO & KB: Create & Cultivate is absolutely killing it. The quality of people that they are collaborating with is amazing, while still staying true to their brand and their signature conferences. They were able to transition to virtual experiences seamlessly while still staying on-brand and creating original content. They have been so successful and will definitely continue to host virtual conferences because they have gone from having 500 attendees to now 10,000 — and are able to target women globally, which is unrealistic for a traditional conference.
Companies and personalities that are engaging with viewers on Tik Tok and Instagram Lives are also building a strong digital presence. It’s interesting to see how virtual accessibility on these online platforms is changing the industry. The diversity of content is important when creating your own virtual event, you are not just limited to Zoom. We are in a society that is hungry for content and there are companies and influencers that are churning content 24/7, but that does not mean that it is top quality. People are now looking for quality over quantity, they want substance in their content as we’ve evolved through the pandemic. Early in the pandemic, viewers were looking to escape and shut their brains off, but now one year later, quality content is rising to the top.
What are the common mistakes you have seen people make when they try to run a live virtual event? What can be done to avoid those errors?
YO & KB: Technical issues have been the most popular mistake when hosting a live virtual event. Having a tech team on-hand is absolutely necessary when hosting a large-scale event. Having someone monitor that the person speaking is the one on screen is extremely helpful, while muting everyone else. Lighting is also very important, using a blue light when participating in a live virtual event can be very unflattering. It is necessary to do a trial run before the virtual event to make sure the tech and lighting is on-point before going live.
Which virtual platform have you found to be most effective to be able to bring everyone together virtually?
YO & KB: Zoom is better for large format events; it is much more user friendly than Google Hangouts and Skype. Zoom’s webinar capabilities have been successful with our virtual panels, since it allows us to control who is speaking and who is appearing on-screen.
Are there any essential tools or software that you think an event organizer needs to know about?
YO & KB: Social Tables is super important for floor planning, being able to lay out how much space you have, how many tables, chairs and people you can accommodate. Social Tables has played an integral part in mapping out our event space while still adhering to CDC guidelines and practicing social distancing. You plug in the dimensions of the space you are working with and can play around and see how to best layout your live event.
Ok. Thank you for all that. Here is the main question of our discussion. An in-person event can have a certain electric energy. How do you create an engaging and memorable event when everyone is separated and in their own homes? What are the “Five Things You Need To Know To Successfully Run a Live Virtual Event” and why? (Please share a story or example for each.)
YO & KB:
- Having something tangible or some sort of interactive activity to create engagement during a virtual event is very important. For our Galentine’s Day virtual event with Chambord, we created cocktail kits that included a bottle of Chambord, the necessary equipment, ingredients and instructions to create three different cocktails, Galentine’s greeting cards to share with friends, and chocolate truffles from a local female chocolatier.
- Having a person interesting and of influence involved in the event is also very beneficial when producing a successful virtual event. Guests are more interested in participating when there is someone who brings something of value to the table, and/or is coveted in the industry relevant to the brand and event. For Galentine’s Day, we partnered with Liz Hernandez, host of Access Hollywood and founder of Wordaful, a platform that was created to empower women through their words, promote the importance of understanding how words carry weight, and the importance of women supporting one another. We also had Jenn Kalil, a Chambord representative, demo each of the cocktails with Liz during the virtual event, and talked the women through each cocktail recipe and provided insight on the raspberry liqueur during the virtual event.
- It is also very important to follow up with the attendees of your virtual event. After the Chambord event for Galentine’s Day, we sent out a thank you email to all guests who had RSVP’d for the event along with a video recap of the event and recipes guests can make with the leftover ingredients from the cocktail kit.
- When producing your own virtual event, we cannot emphasize this enough, do not skimp on lighting. Investing in the proper ring light with warm tones or LED lighting is absolutely necessary. We have our own warehouse with our go-to ring lights for whenever we need proper lighting for a live virtual event.
- Decor is also a must when setting up for a virtual event. Even a small detail like flowers, adds dimension to the screen to make the viewers feel like they are in the room with you. Branding is also necessary if you have any sponsorship partners for your virtual event. With our Galentine’s Day virtual event, we had a Chambord branded bar with bottle displays, brand colored florals, cocktail ingredients on display. We wanted to bring the bar to life as if the viewers were attending an in-person event and create an aesthetic aspect that has been missing from several of the live virtual events we have seen.
Let’s imagine that someone reading this interview has an idea for a live virtual event that they would like to develop. What are the first few steps that you would recommend that they take?
YO & KB: When planning a live virtual event, it is very important to know your audience and keep that in mind when strategizing the event. Finding the proper partnerships that are on-brand with your client and coming up with an activity is also necessary for viewer engagement. Investing in the proper tech and lighting equipment and also doing a rehearsal before the live event is also something we highly recommend.
Super. We are nearly done. Here are our final questions. You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
YO & KB: We would like to change the stigma behind cannabis consumption and empower the women in the cannabis industry. Especially the legalization and imprisonment in the cannabis industry. We are currently working on an e-commerce website that will offer a carefully curated and thoughtful selection of accessories catered towards the aesthetically minded cannabis consumer and sex positive individuals. The site will also feature a virtual educational component to empower women and to normalize conscious consumption and pleasure.
We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.
YO & KB: We would love to share a meal with Emily Weiss, Sophia Amoruso, Alexandra Wilkis Wilson, and Whitney Wolfe Herd. They are all female pioneers and entrepreneurs that started with a small business and grew into national and global brands.
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
Yoana Obregon & Katya Bravo of Secret Sauce: 5 Things You Need To Know To Successfully Run a Live… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.