Welcome to the Live with Sondra podcast where
we dive deep into business, tech, and entrepreneurship.
Hosted by me, Sondra Shannon, CEO of GateMaster
Technology. Each show, we explore the latest
trends in ticketing attractions and guest experience,
helping you stay ahead of the curve in this ever
-evolving world of attractions and events. Whether
you're an industry expert or just getting started,
this show has insights to inspire and empower
you. Today's episode is sponsored by GateMaster
Technology, your trusted partner for ticketing
and attraction management solutions. Let's get
started with the show. Hey everyone, welcome
to the Live with Sondra show and today we're
going to be talking about one of my favorite
topics, growth. If you're an attraction or a
business and you're ready to boost foot traffic
by 30 to 60 percent you're going to want to stay
right here we're joined by somebody who's mastered
the art of target marketing and community connection
and she's going to share the secrets to driving
real measurable foot traffic in your attraction
so grab your coffee settle in and let's roll
the intro To another episode of Live with Sandra,
I'm your host, Sandra Shannon. And today we're
diving deep into the secrets of driving real,
measurable foot traffic growth in your attraction
or business through smarter, more targeted marketing.
Before we jump in, though, I want to talk about
our sponsor, GateMaster Technology. For 30 years,
GateMaster has... been the trusted all -in -one
ticketing and point -of -sale partner for attractions
worldwide. From online sales, season pass and
memberships, mobile ordering, and so much more,
including real -time reporting, GateMaster helps
you run smarter, sell more, and create exceptional
guest experience. So thank you today to GateMaster
for powering today's conversation. Now, I cannot
wait for you to meet today's guest. In fact,
we just had a little conversation backstage.
And so often I go, hey, I can already tell we're
going to be friends. But I'm very excited about
today's show because she is redefining what it
looks like to strategically grow and what that
really looks like. Chelsea Warner, and I'm sorry,
Chelsea, if I got that wrong, I meant to ask
you, so please correct me when you come on here,
is the Director of Key Partnerships at Radius,
and she's a grassroots marketing strategist and
powerhouse. Over the last seven years, she's
helped both corporations and small chains boost
revenue through smarter partnerships and tailored
events. And she's built a reputation for connecting
communities no matter. from nonprofit special
needs families to local moms groups. And here's
something fun when she's not running campaigns
or building partnerships, she's diving into her
newly found passion of call of duty for collaboration
and writing poetry, songs that fuel, all of which
fuel her creativity. So please help me welcome
Chelsea to the show. Chelsea. Today. Hello. Did
I get that right? I always said Werner perfectly.
It's so much better than my last old last name.
I most people say it right. So thank you for
checking. But this is you're in good territory.
Okay, good. I that makes me happy because I you
know what, I'm very sensitive to that because
I have two first names. You sure do. Yes. I mean,
even today I was on calls. I think I got called
Shannon probably 20 times. And if I'm not getting
called Shannon, I get called Sonia. So I always,
you know, that's important to me to make sure
that I get that right. So, yay, I got it right
today. No problem. But we have to start with
a couple of things. One, call of duty. I love
that you use gaming for collaboration and relaxation.
And, you know, I'm curious, you know, how that
teamwork mindset has influenced you to build
real world partnerships. OK, that's such a great
question, Sandra. Every question is so thoughtful
from you. It's a lot. So Call of Duty was a thing
that I figured out when I was. starting off with
radius and we all work net we all work remotely
so we're not anywhere near each other so a lot
of times like I'm on the west coast but most
of them are on the east coast so a lot of what
we do is just trusting each other to have each
other's backs and that's a lot of call of duty
for you so um I I am a level 487 um prestige
master so that's pretty high up there it levels
out of a thousand I've been going pretty hard
since December so I'm on my way there um but
yeah it it definitely reminds me of how much
um other people have to carry to make our what
we do at Radius work and it's it's a really great
partnership and I absolutely adore the people
I work with and I trust them so much with what
we do you know that is such a cool that is so
cool like i thought you were just playing with
friends i didn't even realize you were playing
with your team at work and thank you for answering
that question i do believe in those types of
collaborations with teams in fact during the
pandemic i started playing poker in vr meta oh
okay with and because we couldn't be together
right At least you can't show your poker face
that way because that's why I can't play. So
cool. Well, you know what? I had to learn how
to play poker. Yeah, it's not easy. But you know
what? I've been going to these WWA, there's a
WWA fantasy football league that we've kind of
been a part of for years. And every year at the
World Water Park Association, we do a poker party.
I think it was two years ago. I'm not gonna be
able to make it this year, but two years ago
I beat the year before it's champion. So I was
pretty happy about that, but, but it is to your
point. It's cool to be, play with people. You,
you work. Yeah. So, um, i i will have to invite
you to the fec operators group they also have
a fantasy football league so we can talk about
that offline but it's i would love to invite
you to that it's really it's pretty big and it
just got started this year so yeah yeah so let's
do it um i love that well let me just say this
today's session is called the secret to 60 more
foot traffic Right. Yes. 50 % foot traffic growth.
I'm like ad libbing this a little bit, but I
know you've helped attract attractions, achieve
this kind of success. And we were talking earlier
about how you started doing that. And I, I know
I'm putting you on the spot again, because I
really loved hearing your story. Yeah. Your story
about how you started in FBCs because. And let
me just tell the audiences why I loved hearing
your story and wanted you to share that. I know
you didn't intend to do that. It's because you're
showing people that path to professional success
that so many of us also have experienced. And
I love hearing these stories. Do you mind sharing
them? Oh, yeah. Oh, I don't mind at all. And
I never really thought about it as being that
cool of a story until we're talking right now.
In high school, I took auto shop and it just
turned into a love of welding where I learned
it at. And then it led me to live in other. States
in the country where I followed my mom. And eventually
I was working locally as a welder, but I had
to take in my nephew as my son. So when I got
him, he started kindergarten at noon and I started
to work at five in the morning. So I had to figure
out, okay, I need to do another industry or something
that I can work with his schedule. So I found
a marketing company that I started working for.
And on Wednesdays, every day in the still is.
true for this school year and it will be forever.
Every Wednesday is a half day in our school district.
So the kids have to go somewhere and I still
have to keep working. Well, I would take my son
to the local FEC, which was at the time Uptown
Jungle in Marietta. And I would work from there.
And eventually I started taking pictures. I got
a good Yelp review up there for them. They reached
out to me and asked me if I wanted to be in this
like outreach group and they hired me as their
sales coordinator after that. I love stories
like this. You know why I love stories like that?
First of all, you touched on something that really
resonates with me because I have three kids and
I can't tell you what a lifesaver having places
that my kids could be entertained and be active
and where they enjoyed to go really helped me,
especially when they were young and I still had
to work. right yeah yeah i became ceo of my company
when i was pregnant with my third kid which is
crazy but it was very you know it it was very
difficult to um yeah to balance that all so i
certainly appreciate that part but i also love
you know because i know one one of the things
that you talk about is grassroots marketing and
there's nothing more grassroots than get getting
the yelp review Yep. Getting the, and then getting
the job and all, you know, and then the rest
is history. And we're going to talk a little
bit more about that today. It's really, it's
really a fun part of how I got into a profession.
I had no idea that was going to lead to that,
you know? So it's absolutely, I love FECs. I
think about them all the time when I was a kid
and where I used to go when my mom would take
us places or if I was on a. visit with my dad.
And like, they really are important to like your
kids' memories, their history. So I love this
industry. I do. I do. The best job ever. We were
talking too, because we, we were both at the
IAPA meetup at Legoland, California. And, you
know, we were, we were mentioning about how like,
we literally had the whole place to ourselves.
What a cool experience that was to, to be able
to, you know, learn about what they're doing
over at Legoland and also, you know, the parade,
learning about the parades and how that came
to be. I mean, it's such an, it's so inspiring,
but also like, I'm not going to lie. I can't
tell you how many times I looked around and was
like, I cannot believe how lucky we are in this.
And to be here right now. Nobody gets to have
those kinds of experiences. Yeah. Like I felt
very proud of my job at that moment. I was like,
what a cool park this is, you know? I can't tell
you how many times during the year I say, do
we not have the best job ever? Yes. Yes. It's
such a fun place to be all the time, even with
its challenges, but let's talk about those. Yeah.
Let's talk about them. So I'm curious if you
can tell the audience, you know, how can attractions
Or I'm just diving right in the cage that 30
to 60 percent foot traffic increase. And I believe
you do that using mobile ID targeting. Yes, it's
super interesting and it's very powerful stuff.
So it's targeting your mobile phone. It's actually
working off some of the apps that you already
give locations to. Let's just say when your flashlight
turns on and ask you if you want to turn on your
location. It's mobile ID tracking to that actual.
So it's very accurate data that we're getting.
Okay, cool. I was going to ask you about mobile
ID targeting. I wasn't quite sure. I would say
I knew that that was something you're going to
surprise us with on the show, but I wasn't quite
sure how we were using that ID targeting. But,
you know, beyond kind of the raw numbers. How
should operators measure the ROI compared to
like broader digital advertising? And I think
before you kind of answer that, you know, what
I would love to know is like with that mobile
ID targeting, how does it work? Like you kind
of explained how we get the data. Yeah. Right.
But. You know, how do we measure or how do we,
you know what, let's just tell us how it works.
Cause I'm needing help. No, it's really interesting.
So basically every brick and mortar place has
two problems and it's, they don't know where
the people are coming from and they don't know
if they have a reliable marketing because they
have no way to measure that ROI. So by using
this tracking system that we have through mobile
ID tracking, we can. pinpoint where people are
coming from, see their visitor impact in your
store, and see that they're coming from these
zip codes. But we can also see your competitors
too. There's a few things that you can do to
use that. Competitor data, that's going to be
a lot of work if you're going to have to do that
all on your own. We use a program called Placer.
place for AI. And it's very, very valuable. It
partnered with all these separate third -party
data apps to get us this information, including
census data. And it's really accurate, like I
said. So let me start over. We are able to tell
them where the visitors are coming from and are
able to measure the ROI. Because we only work
with family entertainment centers, we're able
to innovate like our own kind of strategy and
we call it the visitor generation system and
it has three key parts and one of them is visitors
the second one is strategy and the third one
is impact visitors is where we start to uncover
high opportunity and underperforming areas by
reviewing where the guests and your competitors
guests are coming from this program will show
us zip codes down to I don't know, less than
a thousand people and all the way up to, I've
seen 2 .5 million visits from one zip code alone.
That's where we're talking about California,
you know, stuff like that. So, um, we are able
to show you guys that. So visitors is where we.
show you all that information. Okay. We layer
in the demographic that you're looking to get
into and then growth data to identify where the
strongest marketing opportunities are. Then using
a strategy where those areas are identified,
we deploy a mix of digital and local like boots
on the ground stuff where it's more grassroots
like what I do. Everything from meta event ads
to local sponsorships and awareness and and campaign
stuff like that so and the last one is impact
um we measure the visitor growth by going over
your numbers year over year campaign performances
and roi by tracking whether those targeted regions
that we reached out to are actually starting
to show up in your visitor data so once we find
and identify those zip codes we are going to
want to target our marketing to those zip codes
that are showing the most potential visits okay
so if anyone was going online and saying hey
i want to go Okay. Like family entertainment
near me. I do that constantly, especially when
I'm on the road and traveling. Cause I want to
see what's around me. And I, it's just like,
you know, if I could go on a world tour, I would,
but I always look up family entertainment centers
near me and it's going to come up with bowling.
It's going to come up laser tag. It's going to
come up with movie theaters. It's going to come
up with eat entertainment, you know, eat entertainment
or those newer kind of let's say mini golf places
with a. with a theme but it's also a restaurant
stuff like that so any of those potential visits
if we want to see where those visitors are coming
from for them too so that we can target to their
audience as well because they're looking for
something to do and you're one of those things
to do very cool well i'm curious and you might
have already answered this a little bit you know
of all of those trends which one kind of gives
the fecs or attractions a clear forecast of visitor
trends okay so we can look at online bookings
and ticket sales all right you're that's one
way that you can look into it um but Other than
that, we have walk -in ticket, like forecasting
what you've had in the past. You need to look
at your seasonality calendar and stuff like that.
And then your event performances. So have you
been boosting certain things on your Facebook,
on your meta? Are you boosting these opportunities?
Are you seeing an increase in these events? And
then again, like I mentioned, seasonality, because
it is, we have somewhat of a season. You can
prepare for it with grassroots marketing. That's
my favorite thing. But that's how you produce
your own seasons without having to depend on
what a normal yearly seasonality trend would
be. That's why I come in with, you know, let's
make a Halloween. costume swap event I did that
with one of my mom groups and that was where
we set up a time a few different time frames
where age group of kids came in and dropped off
their used Halloween costume and then they could
swap with other kids and it was really successful
and super fun and we also like did arts and crafts
and stuff so those are the type of events that
you can bring in additional things sorry I got
off topic a little no no actually I love that
because I know that so many of these family entertainment
centers and attractions and and i and i will
say that like that's why so many of them do offer
halloween uh like yeah seeing things like they're
moving into halloween attractions or christmas
attractions but what i love about what you suggested
is you're using community outreach to also create
you know, the visitation and you're doing something
really great for people, which is awesome. Yeah.
And I, and I, and I really love and appreciate
that because I think that that's something that's
really important for our industry to not only
give people these great experiences, but also
pour into our communities. Yeah. It's so easy.
If you just, if, if they're open, if you're.
a FEC and you're open with your community about
opportunities to work with them, they will come
screaming to you, you know, and those are all
potential visits. Okay. So let's get those potential
visits in the door. Yeah. I love that. And it
does sound like you've been amazing at building
bridges between attractions and community organizations.
Is that, is that Chuck? That's the man. That's
Chuck. That's awesome. Chuck's on our YouTube
watching, so we had to give a shout out. But
I know you've been amazing at building these
bridges, and I'm curious how attractions can
integrate that into more nonprofits or special
needs families and still have a profitable. sales
strategy around that and i know you kind of mentioned
the event but i'm curious you know how does that
impact the attractions that's just one event
you know there's so many things you can do so
um basically i i do have a passion for special
needs families it's something that i've come
to love with this industry they're really looking
for a safe space to be at um so let's just start
from the top community involvement and profitability
are not mutually exclusive in fact they strengthen
each other um and i wish everyone had that mindset
um because i truly believe that rising tides
raise all ships i have it on my linkedin i truly
mean it um so if If you want to start with that,
let's start there. And then we want to be present.
We want to attend chamber mixers. We want to
go and be a part and know those people, okay?
That's one way that you guys can get in with
your community. The chamber is such a wealth
of knowledge. There's so many people that want
to work with you. And for the most part, it's
not that expensive. And for FEC owners, they
count one employee. as a part -time employee,
you don't count them. Anyway, sorry, I'm getting
off track. Well, you know what I love about you
mentioning the, the, um, the chamber, the chamber
is that especially because in my FEC, we used
to host the chamber events. Like it was such
a great opportunity to have coming out. Yeah.
And it was a laser tag place, but I'll tell you,
it was the funnest event they got to do all year.
Yeah, heck yeah, it was. And they always want
to come back, huh? Yes, they want to come back.
And it was such a great way for us to meet people.
The other thing that I like that you mentioned
about the chamber is, you know, these are all
businesses. So it's very business focused. They
don't mind if you're pitching your business.
And a lot of people are afraid of that pitch.
No, they shouldn't be. Not at a chamber mixer.
We're all there to talk business. Literally,
we're all there to talk shop. So that's one way.
But then you want to get involved with nonprofits.
You want to identify nonprofits in your area
that align with what you maybe. Align with what
you feel. That's what I did because I am a foster
mom. I met a foster company that a nonprofit
company that assists with any additional needs
that foster kids might need, like, like shoes
for soccer games or stuff like that. And they
would do Christmas events. So I met with them
and I got them to do this special event where
it was. we brought reptiles in and we brought
the reptiles in and we had two show times and
the first show time would go on with the reptiles.
And then when they were done, they would go out
for the next hour and play. And then while that
group was playing, the next group would come
in and watch the reptiles and then they would
go on to play for another hour. And I sold out
one of those time slots all to her foster children.
So then we got a group event out of that. And
then from there, we had this sponsored. tree
in our facility where people could grab a tag
and adopt one of the foster kids to shop for
for Christmas so that was just yeah it was amazing
it was my favorite ever and we did such good
numbers that year like with their organization
like how many kids we got adopted that's what
I was the most proud of we got a couple groups
out of it too but you know it was that relationship
that we built and I really cherish it. And it's
followed me to all the different places I've
worked. They've always kept wanting to work with
me. So it's really all about the relationships.
I want all these business owners to know that
you can make a difference when you connect with
these people. It will make a difference in who
comes in because it's organic. It's organic.
Chelsea, I love everything you're saying. And
I want to go back a little bit to what you said
about families. of who have family members with
disabilities. Yes. You know, that's something
that I'm very passionate about too. Have you
been to Morgan's Wonderland? No. Where is that?
It's in San Antonio, Texas. And it's a park that
was built by a man who had a daughter with special
needs. And it's just the most magical place because
not only is it run by people who may have special
needs or disabilities, but it's also. designed
where every inch of that place is accessible
to everyone. And it is such a, I got to say,
I was like one of the best experiences I've had
in a park. You just knew you were in a really
special place and that everyone was being included,
which I think is really a project that I'm a
part of at outlier. Really what our goal is,
is to get people to be together. Yeah. You know,
a lot of times if it's, if you have somebody
who can't ride a certain ride, you know, you're
not together. And that's always what, what we're
looking for. But in addition to that, there is
a, there is a economic reason to address this,
right? Because they're looking, they need safe
places. So, okay. For example, what I did was
I had started a Thursday morning in the summer,
9 a .m. to 11 a .m., only special needs families.
And I only advertised to mom groups and the special
needs groups on Facebook. We had like flyers
in the location, but I mean, it was all grassroots.
I did everything on Canva as much as we all hate
Canva and love Canva at the same time. I was
able to reach an entire group. that slowly over
summer built up to be this really large following
of special needs families that look forward to
thursday morning every week and then and it ended
right when summer ended and i didn't get to see
it move forward but that was a really successful
group that i got to start and i was super proud
of it like we started with um a sensory room
so that if the kids got overwhelmed they could
go into one of the party rooms where I had a
lot of toys and stuff like that for them to calm
down and be in a dark more inclusive space for
them and then out there it was just a little
bit more you know balls to the wall. Yeah, no,
I love this. I hope the FEC is listening. See
not only what it, what, what it can do to get
the foot traffic. Like you've been talking about,
like, how do we get more foot traffic in there?
Because now you're, you're exposing yourself
in terms of the business to other people that
maybe wouldn't think that your place is a place
for them. Yeah. And you did that because you
reached out to. directly to groups on facebook
which i promise you there's a lot of fvcs out
there not even thinking about the mom's groups
on facebook that's brilliant yep by the way always
It's brilliant. Be involved. They want to be
heard. They're our biggest advocates. They're
our little micro -influencers. Mom groups are
where it's at. When we opened our park in Hemet,
it was two years ago, the first event that I
had was a mom group only event. Before we opened
our doors, even to the normal public, we had
them come in. We had a line that wrapped around
the building. It was out of control. It was a
really great opening day. for us it was like
our not our technical opening day but it was
our first group event and it was outrageous it
was an amazing event yeah I love this I love
this and I think these are actionable steps that
people can take right take right now absolutely
absolutely your mom your local mom groups guys
that is like so easy It's so easy and fun too.
And then you're the coolest mom in the whole
group. You really are. Cause you're the guy that
knows the guys that run that place. You know
what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. That's pretty cool.
Well, you know, I'm curious, just kind of going
back to innovation and events and growth, you
know, what are, you know, managers use these
strategic partnerships with local organizations
to build sustainable growth over time? And you've
given us some really great examples, but I also
want to add that, you know, what is the one messaging
that they can use to maybe, you know, how would
you approach this, I guess, is what I'm asking.
How should they approach the conversation with,
let's say, moms groups or charitable groups that
they want to partner with? I'm such an open person.
I'm just really honest with them and say, hey,
look, I'm looking to connect us so that we can
be friendly with each other. You guys have a
safe place to have your events. I've got consistent
groups coming in. I've always been very transparent
with what my intentions are so that it's not
coming off as like. a one -way because this is
a relationship i'm building i'd like to build
this relationship with you and i know what we
can come out of it but it's for your benefit
as well i i honestly come to them knowing that
the benefit is they have a safe place to come
play and socialize and just not have to clean
you know what i mean yeah hi yes You know, with
other people, I think it's such a great thing
that you're offering when you do something like
this. Yeah. You know, yeah. And you've answered
so many of the questions that I have with regards
to this. You know, I'm curious what I want to
just know a little bit more about Radius. okay
so what radius does is really cool there's nothing
like it that i've ever seen we are able to use
targeted marketing um to directly influence roi
to bring those dollars back from your marketing
um so we're able to use a targeted um software
that's able to come up with the zip codes where
you're seeing less traffic where you're seeing
more traffic and your competitors traffic data
it's really interesting i wish i could everyone
listening i wish i could show you what we do
physically right now just so you all know this
um so what that means is you guys need to get
a call in with chelsea so you can see this Because
I can pull it up for anybody. Give me at the
most five days and I can get your report back
to you. But it's absolutely incredible. We offer
them for free to all FEC locations in the country.
This is just something that we do to add value
because even if you don't work with us, there
are actionable things that you can do with the
data. We're going to give you those zip codes
that are going to tell you where. The visitors
are coming from where they're down. And we're
going to tell you where the most potential visits
were for that entire year. Over an entire year,
we're going to show you how many visitors came
from those zip codes and then where else they
went over those times. And where they could have
gone is another opportunity where they could
have gone to you. So that's why we want to target
to that demographic as well. And then after that,
we... plug it into you know different strategies
social media meta google ads seo um targeted
marketing through sms and email campaigns uh
and then grassroots stuff like what i was talking
about yeah that is all a part of what we do and
we encourage every owner to think like an owner
that loves what they do you know if this is an
industry for fun let's make it fun radius has
um A tagline of we want a billion smiles. We,
we truly want a billion smiles. It's something
that we've been working on for a few years and
it's a little bit of a teasing point for me and
my boss when I take in group sales and they want
to. bargain with us. And I have to go back to
my boss, Chuck, and say, Hey, Chuck, what about
those billion smiles we talked about? And then
they win their budget. That's something that
we truly believe because it's not, we're here
for the numbers, but we're here for the smiles
too. Yeah, no, that is, I love that. I love that
purpose that you guys have a billion smiles on
people's faces. And, you know, this has been
such a fun and insightful conversation. I really
love how you're blending these strategies, the
data and the heart, right? You drive for real
growth in attractions, which is really, really
cool. And I can tell you love what you do. And
that is like why I love this industry. It's very
rare. I run into somebody who does not love what
they do. And in fact, not love what we do. So,
you know, that's, that's, that's always such
a fun part of, this show for me is getting to
meet people like you. And I see so much value
in what you are talking about for FECs, especially
as an FEC operator. That's how I got my start.
I don't know if you know that about me. No, I
operated a Cusar in Santa Clarita, California.
Oh, I, I, I, back in the late nineties, I know
this is going to make me sound old. It doesn't
feel like it was that long ago for me. But I
know there are people probably listening that
weren't even around in the 90s. So it does sound
a long time ago. Oh, no, I hope they're not that
young. But I did. I did. I ran an FEC. And to
your point, you know, even back then I had families.
There was an old 80s actor, C. Thomas Howell,
I think was his name. I loved him. It's definitely
dating me, but he would bring his kids to every
Thursday because he, you know, he was at the
time he was still a famous actor. I mean, I'm
sure he's older now. He was in soul man, like
the eighties movie. Do you know what I'm talking
about? But he would bring his kid every Thursday
and I would open up the facility for him so he
could have it. And, you know, I do recognize
how often. Parents need our family, you know,
family entertainment centers. And it's a part
of their families like weekly or monthly activities.
And it's so important that we be able as businesses
to find those people. Which is what's really
cool about what Radius is doing. And I do want
to encourage our audience who's either watching
today or listening to get in touch with you.
And if they are looking to get in touch with
you, Chelsea, what is the best way they can do
that? Oh, gosh. I mean, I'm on LinkedIn as Chelsea
Werner. I would love for you to reach out to
me on LinkedIn. Do I put my phone number out
there? That's up to you. I don't mind. Hey, if
you want the calls, put it out there. Yeah, please
call me. My number is 951 -801 - 0 2 6 2. I would
love to talk to you about it. And I can, like
I said, I can generate a report within five days.
So just give me a little bit of information.
I can even tell me your favorite competitor or
your favorite frenemy in the industry. And let's
look up their numbers too, and give you a better
idea of where visitors are coming from. I love
that. Well, Hey, I've got some people for you.
I need to say, Oh, do you? I do. Especially after
this conversation, I'm like, okay. This, this,
this, and this gate master client might need
to contact you because this is great information.
And we can, we integrate with a lot of different
companies and that's how we track your ROI and
make it very, very accurate. So I'm, I would
love to talk to you about integration just to
interrupt you. I'm so sorry. No, no, you got
it. I love that. I, Hey, listen, I love when
we get to like make these kinds of connections
on this show. That's why. Yeah. Partially why
I do it. I mean, I do it because I love the information
that's being shared. And I think that the more
that we share with each other, our industry just
rises, right? I've been in this industry for
a very long time. You know, not a lot of people
have been here since the late nineties, but I've
seen the full evolution of it. And it always
goes back to relationship and people being innovative.
And I love the grassroots stuff. I think that
that is like, everyone should take advantage
of what they can do right now. I agree. I really
hope that if anyone takes anything from this,
it's community involvement pays off more than
you'll ever have to put out. I promise you. Let
those people ask you for a donation. Let those
people ask you to set up a booth in your location
just to advertise their nonprofit, something
like that. They will come back to you when they
need a group event. It's so amazing to see what
connections can bring. yeah there we go thank
you maria well hey well i do so appreciate you
being here today and like i said i really love
this conversation and i love how open and transparent
you were about all the information that you've
been successful at and not a lot of people will
share that and That's what this show is about,
is about transparency and people who are doing
big things and telling their stories. And I really
appreciate you telling your story. Thank you,
Maria. I mean it when I said I was like, the
first five minutes we were talking, I knew we
were going to be friends. If there's ever anything
I can do for you, you let me know. But in the
meantime, I will see you maybe on a future show
or an event. Oh, I will. I'll see you at IAAPA,
yeah. yeah i'm gonna see what i have yeah okay
i'm gonna see what i after then all right well
thank you chelsea i appreciate you i'll see you
then bye everyone well i uh have to just give
my final thoughts here because i think chelsea
is uh Absolutely lovely. And the things that
she shared, I think can translate across even
adjacent industries to the FEC. So I hope you
really appreciated that information as well as,
you know, just her thoughts on how we can reach
out to our communities, pour into our communities.
And, you know, the thing is, is if you are, I
have a saying, like my job is to make sure everyone
around me is successful. And if. You are an FEC
organization that can host these events or collaborate
with your community. What a cool thing to do.
And you're also making the people in your community.
more successful right which is should be the
goal and uh love the billion smiles with radius
and uh the cool innovative stuff that they're
doing i'm really excited to learn more about
that myself so of course a big thank you again
to our sponsor game master technology for making
today's show possible if you're ready to grow
your attraction smarter and create seamless guest
experiences from ticketing to the turnstile,
visit gatemaster .com and see how they can help
you power your attraction successfully. Thank
you for tuning in to the Live with Sondra show.
And until next time, keep innovating, keep connecting,
keep building experiences that guests will never
forget. Billions of smiles. And I will see you.
next time.