Creator Day 2024
// What is it?
For those of you who don’t even know what I’m talking about - let me explain..
Creator Day is an annual event held at the Lighthouse Theatre in Poole and it’s run by You Are the Media - a community group which was created and is headed up by my good friend Mark Masters.
It’s a community focused around marketing but that’s not all - it’s a community which is built around the people who participate in it. Don’t think of it as solely a marketing community as there are people in the group who deal with Wire & Cable, those who freelance, the Bournemouth and Poole college students who want to learn how to be ‘in business’ and then there are the marketing people.
The group evolves, it leans into things, it experiments but ultimately - it’s a safe space to try things out with other people.
Last year, the company I worked for sponsored the event and on the back of the relationships built at the event - we managed to secure a weekend turnaround with Bournemouth University to carry out some 3D printing for a client - this year, I sponsored elements of the event and it meant so much to have a part in it.
The reason why the group is so special to me is that it all started from a dark place (this was the opening talk from last years Creator Day) - Mark was in a bad place, he wanted to create something and he started a weekly newsletter - called ‘You Are the Media’. He’s built his newsletter over the course of 10 years - consistently delivering week on week and what started as a conference is now something completely different - it’s Creator Day.
// 1. What is that picture? 👆🏻
Its one of the standout moments for me from the day (you can call this point number one) and I don’t want you to think that the day was one big excuse to go drinking because thats not what it’s all about (more on that in a moment) but the afterparty or the ‘Pi Pizza’ experience is where people come alive.
After the event, and yes I’m starting at the end, everyone moved on from the Lighthouse theatre to spend some time together at a pizza restaurant on Poole Quay. Now, this isn’t just any pizza restaraunt as it also happens to be the home of the lunch clubs - an event which is a huge part of the You Are the Media community and where the 20 inch pizzas just happen to be incredible.
The thing about the ‘After Party’ is that we all have something in common - we’ve all just been to an event and we’re all buzzing with ideas and enthusiasm about what we’ve heard so we all want to share something which makes for excellent conversation.
There are always people who make it to the end of a day, regardless of how long that day is and this event is no exception - Jackie (back left), myself, Liam Toms (left hand side in the black) and Christophe (second in from the right) all made it to the end of Creator Day 2023 and whilst it’s not a competition to stay to the end - it shows the commitment to the day and we just love being around each other.
But what’s my point here? Well, the day isn’t just about the speakers - these are excellent and well thought out but the day is also about the people and you get to ‘network’ in the sense that you get to speak to people you wouldn’t normally speak to but there is no hard sell, there is no business card waving and there is no pitching - it’s just chatting to people who have the same interests as you.
Oh, and the pizza - thats a huge bonus.
// 2. The folklore.
It would be extremely hard for me to describe the event in a paragraph as there is a lot that goes into organizing something that resonates with so many people so I’m going to try and break it down into different areas. The event itself has a charm about it - there are conferences and events that you go to that seem like they are thrown together because of some grant or funding and there isn’t really a soul to the place. People are coming along because they want to know about something or they have a specific purpose (like learning about the best software for your business) but this day is different.
There is a secret moment for fans of the TV show LOST in the new Netflix show called ‘Baby Reindeer’ as Martha’s email address is, what appears to be, a completely made up string of numbers followed by various letters but eagle eyed LOST fans will see that the email address is actually made from a piece of folklore from the tv series LOST - the numbers.
The ‘numbers’ are 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 42 and these were the numbers that the LOST crew had to enter into the computer they found in the vault or the world would end - it’s all a little heavy on the fandom but bear with me.
There are touches and moments at Creator Day that you’ll only know if you’ve been with You are The Media since the beginning but it absolutely does not detract from the day if you’re a newbie.
Let me give you an example - Oli Perron was the guy who prepared all the food, the morning sausage rolls and was there on hand doing all the tea and coffee. Now, if you’re a newbie - you think that Oli is just another part of the day but if you’re a seasoned pro - you’ll know that Oli always does the food and drinks and he’s a part of it. Oli has been a part of You are The Media since day one and is a part of that folklore.
You’ll have also been a part of singing Bon Jovi at the end of the day with Justin Cohen (live on a piano on stage) which sounds crazy and like an experiment in the theatre which Mark wanted to try but no, the singing element was actually a thing which happened back in 2020 when we all shifted to Zoom and it was a fun thing to do - again, if you’d been a part of it back then, then this would all have resonated with you but if you weren’t then it’s just a bit of fun on the day.
It’s this longevity and history for the people that make the day so special - from the outside (for the newbie) it looks like fun and as if the event has a vibe which is eclectic but when you step into the space, it feels like home because the people have set the stage in that way and made the space a place where you want to stay.
// 3. The People.
I arrived in the theatre with Mark at 0830 - the event didn’t start until 0930 and during that hour there was a steady stream of people who arrived to the theatre through the artists entrance (the back door) and who didn’t have to queue outside. I don’t say this to ‘brag’ about being a part of something or having special access to everything but I want you to know that the people who joined us early were there to help.
These hardcore members of You are the Media had their moment to say their ‘hellos’ to each other - it meant we didn’t all form a Clique when the rest of the audience arrived and leave the rest of the audience on the sidelines. We’d had our moment to say hello and now it was our job to be a part of the day with everyone else.
This year (for the first time) we had 'CHO’s’ waiting for people to arrive - Chief Hello Officers - whose sole job was to greet people, wear a pink t-shirt to be clearly visible and to be a beacon for someone who might not have someone to talk to. These people were volunteers, they didn’t have the honour bestowed upon them, but they took the opportunity and everytime I looked around in those early moments, they were still greeting and smiling and shuffling people into groups so that no-one stood alone.
I couldn’t walk through the theatre foyer without being greeted by people I knew asking me how my broken leg was or how the skateboarding was going - it was nice to see so many smiley faces and it didn’t just happen from people I knew. There were instances in that first 90 mins where I was talking to people I had never even met before, I could recognise the face but I couldn’t quite recall the name but that didn’t matter as everyone I spoke to was there to be friendly and to be a part of the day.
This is my favourite part of being with You Are the Media - the people.
Whether you’re a shy introvert who is scared of large crowds or you’re a shouty loud peacock who relishes the opportunity to show off - you have a space here and when you know a lot of the people in the place, you can find your people very easily. If you don’t know your people then you have the opportunity to ask and be directed to those types. It sounds like a cliche but there is a space for everyone.
// 4. The Talks.
I didn’t want to make my blog post about giving feedback on the talks and tell you what resonated and what didn’t because it’s unfair on the presenters as every single one of them gave their absolute best efforts on the day.
Don’t get me wrong - the stage was not filled with slick seasoned presenters like Gary Vaynerchuk or Grant Cardone - they are not there to sell you access to their Mastermind retreat for $999 but they are real people who you can resonate with and get behind who have a story to tell.
I don’t know how Mark selects the speakers to be a part of the day but as with 2023, there was an eclectic mix and I took away something from every single one of them.
Without disparaging the other speakers I didn’t mention - I had two particular favourites on the day.
Dodge Woodall (Bournemouth 7’s) opening talk of the day was a highlight for me - not because I know the guy but because he spoke about taking risks. He risked everything in the early days of the Bournemouth 7’s - literally betting his house on a ‘party in a field’ as he calls it and almost 20 years on, he’s still making the festival a success. He also took a gamble and a risk on his podcast ‘Eventful Lives’ back in 2020 during the lockdown and just 4 years on, he’s chalked up over 100m views on Youtube and his podcast has charted as high as No2 in the charts (just behind Steven Bartlett) - again, this resonated as I started my podcast back in 2020 and if I’d kept it going, who knows?
The other talk which was powerful for me was a lady called Shelley Rostlund - now, before the event I’d seen Shelley on the fringes of You are the Media but I’d never listened to her or paid any attention really but her talk was powerful, emotional and one that I kept thinking about during the day.
I think it resonated with me for two reasons - the first being that when she was on stage, Shelley was vulnerable and emotional, a precursor to her talk and it showed that she was connected to her speaking material. The second being that her story was not about ‘business’ specifically but it was about vulnerability and that resonates.
You see, Shelley suffers from alopecia (which I didn't actually know when she was up on stage) and she began to find herself and find comfort in being herself when she stepped into accepting that fact and sharing her true self.
Powerful.
Shelley recounted the time when she posted an online video of her getting her ‘face on’ in the morning and the courage that must have taken at the time but the overwhelming sense of acceptance she received, the overwhelming support she felt and most importantly, the support that gave to others who were going through the same thing - thats what she got - not the ridicule and silence that she expected.
I applauded hard for that. It resonated.
We’re all going through something - whether that be in business or in our personal lives and all too often, we try to shut it away as to not frighten away our potential clients or friends when we should be stepping into the space and talking about it.
Other talks which I loved included Rosie Sherry’s talk on community and how care should be the go-to strategy when marketing - caring about your people and your audience will lead to community and then there was Ben and Dave at the end - I could see so much opportunity that could come from being in a business partnership… I would just need a dance partner.
// 5. New Characters.
Finally, and crazily this should be number one on the list but I’ll leave it as a headline act - the support around the place is incredible.
This point kind of sums up the entire blog because whether you’re selling a physical product or you’re a SAAS business, there's something you can take away from the day to make you and your business just a little better and that’s down to the people around the place.
The people around the show, the core group, are people that I can truly call friends but I met others at Creator Day this year who have now stepped into my network (I hate that word - I wish there was another word to describe it because business has hijacked that word for the worse) that I am excited to get to know.
The whole You are the Media experience is exactly how Liam Toms described it on stage - it’s a TV show which you’ve started to watch on Episode 5 and you’re slowly catching up on the characters and who does what. Using this analogy and to take it back to the LOST reference - I am on Season 3/4 and I am just being introduced to new characters - those who crashed in the ‘tail’ part of the plane.
In Lost - in the early seasons, they focused on the people who crashed in the front part of the plane. Jack, Kate, Sawyer and Locke were the main characters and they drove the story forwards but as Creator Day gets bigger and the whole You Are the Media experience grows - new characters are needed to step in and give totally new story arcs.
Slowly but surely, there are new faces being introduced - Ben Eggington has been a driving force in supporting Mark work with the students at Bournemouth University as part of the YATM Business Class, Ben Franklin has been a new character in the show - building his podcast and interviewing members of You are the Media to get it all off the ground. Ella Crossen-White stepped up and was chatting to both Jon Burkhart and I in Pi Pizza about marketing and how she should approach certain situations and all the while, the main characters continue on their journeys and they continue to build the story around the folklore and continue to add to the overall experience.
I’ve said it to Mark Masters many times but I truly believe that the Creator Day experience, You are the Media and the event’s that are created as part of this will soon become the biggest marketing conference in the south and in the future, it will be the biggest in the country.
Bold words but with the people, the stories and the folklore around this community, anything is possible.
Want to come to next years event? You can book now - click here.