AM: You’re known as someone who does these large scale events. What is your role as an Events Vice President as I know you must have 80 hands going!
JW: I have a lot going on. As the Events Vice President, I do a little bit of everything. I oversee the strategy down to the execution I do have a large team and they are excellent at what they do, right? We have a Registration Manager, a couple of Operation Managers, a Marketing team, and it’s about keeping it together and organized and being able to function as a well run machine. So there is a lot going on and there is a lot going on in my brain at all times. My notebooks are always constantly full. It’s a little bit of everything that I touch.
AM: We can only imagine.
What is an average week like in terms of getting this event together. What is it like when you’re a year out planning the next event, what’s in that month, and what’s that week of life?
JW: Yeah, so – one of the things that I love about doing events is that we don't do the same thing everyday and we don’t do the same thing every week which kind of makes it exciting!
So we actually start more than a year before the next event.
AM: Really?
JW: Yeah, so right now, we’re pretty far down on the logistical side of 2025, we have our dates, we’re finalizing our floorplan, setting up our systems so we’re ready to sell booth space for 2025. We’re working on what our event creative for ’25 is going to look like and we’re zhuzhing it up for what it’s going to look like then.
Immediately following the event is when we get into strategy. We’re looking at the post event surveys that we sent out, doing group conversations with our vendors and our partners, and internally we talk about what we can improve upon. We talk about what went well and we always want to continue to do what we went well on. We also look at where we fell short. How can we come together collectively and make the event better? Whether the registration line was too long and we needed to add more tables – we need to increase our registration space or if people want to see more food offerings – how can we get some more food trucks into the mix? Those kinds of things, every single survey, I read every single word of it. So do a lot of the other members of our team as well. So that year out, we’re looking at diving in to see how we can improve on those things. We continue that as we start selling, hitting the road and talking to customers.
I would say at 4 months out, that’s when things get really crazy! That’s because that is when registration is opening and we’re trying to get all of the logistics for the exhibitor manual, move in time, compliance information, the Certificate of Insurance they need. At this point, it's about finalizing all of the education.
As we get closer, it’s about answering all of the questions whether it’s a customer or someone internal coming up with new ideas or experiences. Right now we’re about a month out and I don’t really sleep much at this point! I just want to be there for our customers and the ramp up to the event and to support our internal team. At this point, I’m just trying to get through all of those emails and phone calls.
A week out, we get to the event and we start building it up from laying down the turf, marking the floorplan, building the registration tent, working with our General Contractor on when we will accept freight, when the floral goes out – our production schedule is an Event Planner’s dream. It’s long, color coordinated, very detailed, but I have an amazing team to help and they are the ones that really deserve all of the credit for their hard work.
AM: Wow it’s intense!
Why was this show created and what was the decision to have it in Brooklyn?
JW: BCB started in Berlin many years ago and it was very small and a couple of bartenders and brands got together and Bar Convent Berlin has really grown to be the largest international beverage event which is amazing. If you haven’ gone, I suggest you do!
AM: It has been on our list.
JW: It’s a very impressive event! So we brought BCB to Brooklyn in 2018. We were working with our counterparts in Berlin to see if this made sense. Do people want this? We had those conversations with our brands and the exhibitors. We spent a lot of time talking with bartenders, owners, influencers, and navigated the landscape of the bar and bev scene in the US. Brooklyn felt like a natural fit, right? NY is an easy place to get to in terms of the States and globally as well. The heart and soul of Brooklyn, the creativity and the culture that is Brooklyn made it make sense for it to be in Brooklyn. So that's where it landed. We were at the Brooklyn Expo Center in 2018 to 2021 which was our last event there and then we moved to Industry City in 2022 and this was just an amazing place! We have been able to grow and connect with the folks that have their businesses there and it’s been a cool vibe!
AM: We’re excited as attending the first 2 years left such an amazing impression. So we can’t wait to check it out this year!
Last Dec, we did an interview with Lynnette Marrero who we know is your Head Educator at BCB.
JW: Oh I love Lynnette! She is amazing!
AM: It was so exciting to be able to talk with her as she’s such an OG in the space and we talked about a number of the places she worked at which was a bit of nostalgia for us as we were going to those spots so it’s interesting how things happen within a period of time.
In her interview in addition to other projects she is involved in, she really drove home the education component of BCB. What are the different things that take place that attendees should be aware of?
JW: For education, we have 4 different stages and they run all day, both days of the event. Our Main Stage is curated by our Education Committee which Lynnette is our Head of Communication, there are 14 sessions on our Main Stage over the course of the 2 days. 13 of them come with your badge and are free and is first-come-first-serve. The 14th one focuses on leadership and that is our Lunch & Learn. That happens on Wed, Alison Anne is hosting that session and it is a separately paid ticket. With that comes access to the session, lunch, as well as gift bags. So we’re really excited to introduce that this year.
We then have 2 other stages called our Liquid Lounges. These are really our brand stages where our brands get up and speak on different topics. But it allows our visitors to have an opportunity to sample. So as XY exhibitor is up there talking about their product, you will get a sample of up to 6 products that you can taste, smell, and see as they’re speaking. So it’s like being able to put liquid to lips during the education. Our last stage is Park Street University which our partners at Park Street, they curate it, they run it, and that stage is located in Building 8 on the 2nd floor and again it runs both days and those sessions are really geared towards the brands, exhibitors, and marketing. So that’s awesome in terms of education.
But we do have other activations that are going on throughout the course of the 2 days. William Grant and Sons is sponsoring our Opening Night Party on Tues night. We have our Welcome Cocktails so as soon as you walk in, Zamora Brand is sponsoring that so that’s the first opportunity once you get through registration. We have our courtyard bars and our new bar on 34th Street. For the 1st time we are also doing an event from 5-7 on Tues that will be located on 34th Street and it’s the BCB Street Party so we will have some live music. There will be some entertainment and an opportunity to sample, mingle, and network with other visitors on Tues.