David Rae - Figure it Out

David Rae is the President & Co-Founder of 503 Media & Events - an organization that believes in moments, not things.  The 503 team is comprised of creative technologists and plays in the digital, strategy, brand content, and experiential space. David is also the Curator of TEDxPortland which is focused on connecting thinkers and doers committed to "ideas worth spreading" in the Rose City.

Connecting with David

• 503 Media & Events Website
• TEDxPortland Website
• LinkedIn: David Rae

Quotes From This Episode

• "I’m a creative at heart. I love art.  I love experience.  I love storytelling. And a drug for me is creating indelible moments for people to enjoy. For people to collect moments and not things. So I’ve always had a passion for putting people in the room and creating an arena or vessel in which people can connect and get to the core of meaningful relationships. That’s just, that’s the juice for me."
• "We're in this fun office space. And I have pennants all over in the rafters of my office...and one of the pennants is 'figure it out.' So I look at 'figure it out' every day. I look at 'let it go.' I look at 'worry will trap you.' I look right above me is 'give a damn.' I mean,  I just need those kinds of motivational quips and quotes to keep me trucking."
• "I wake up in the morning and ask these questions of myself: 1) Does it serve the team? 2) Does it serve the business? 3) Does it serve the community? and 4) What can I personally do better to help in each of those?"
• "TEDxPortland is a lightning bolt of joy and ideas and inspiration for this town. The city has embraced it from day one."

Resources Mentioned in This Episode

• eCornell - Diversity & Inclusion certificate
• Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey
• Masterclass

About The International Leadership Association (ILA)

• The ILA was created in 1999 to bring together professionals with a keen interest in the study, practice, and teaching of leadership. Today, ILA is the largest worldwide community committed to leadership scholarship, development, and practice. 

Connect with Your Host, Scott Allen

• Scott's other Podcast - The Captovation Podcast

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Transcript

Note: Voice-to-text transcriptions are about 90% accurate. 

Scott Allen  0:00  
Everybody, welcome to the podcast today I have a longtime friend, and I'm really excited about this conversation. He is he's many things, he has many things he is the curator of TEDx Portland has been since 2009. If I'm not mistaken, the founder, he'll correct me or a co-founder, he'll correct me in a moment if I was wrong on that one. And he is also the president and co-founder of 503 Media and Events. If you listen to the word "events," you would know quickly that David's year has been a shift. It's been a leadership challenge, probably like none that he's experienced. And that's really what we're going to talk about today is how an individual leading a media and events company, and TEDx Portland shifted in the last 15-16 months. So he is an avid lover of baseball. He is a family man. He is an all-around probably, I think the coolest guy I know. But why don't you fill in the blanks? Tell us a little bit more about you, sir.

David Rae  1:05  
Don't forget about Canada. I got roots up north - love America have been stateside for 20 years. But maple syrup is in the DNA. And that's where I get the quirky-cool from if there is any sort of cool. It's Canada. And when it when I'm in trouble. You blame Canada too.

Scott Allen  1:24  
So Dave, Ray, tell us about you, sir. 

David Rae  1:27  
I'm a creative at heart. I love art. And I love experience. And I love storytelling. A drug for me is creating experiences-indelible moments for people to enjoy. For people to collect moments and not things. So just I've always had a passion for putting people in the room and creating an arena or a vessel where they can connect and truly get to the core of meaningful relationships. That's the juice for me.

Scott Allen  1:59  
I love that. And you just described yourself so well, Dave, because how you just described yourself that's how I think of you. Since I think we've since I've known you, I think we met maybe what was it like? 20-99? Something like that? Yeah, that has been you gathering people, getting them excited, having a great experience, and creating memories. And that's, and that's like you said a drug for you, isn't it? 

David Rae  2:25  
It's addictive. I was raised in a family where community and being a great neighbor, and it was just how we were raised. And I've carried that through my life. And it's really what gets me out of bed in the morning, truly.

Scott Allen  2:43  
Yeah. Well, Dave, talk, we'll get to TEDx Portland in a little bit, but I want you to talk about just leading 503 in the last year. Take me back to March 2020. Yeah, I imagine you had an epic, summer lined up of events and gatherings and all of that. And all of a sudden, March 2020 hits, and we're shut down. Talk to me and take me through your year, how you shifted how you lead the organization through the transition, and what it looks like in the future.

David Rae  3:15  
Yeah, certainly a bit of context. So I was at Nike for a while, had a great experience there but left on my own terms to start my own agency to focus on events and we were positioned, so 503 has been around for six years, six-plus years. You know, building it, scrapping it putting it together. Entrepreneurial journey. And we were positioned for our biggest year ever going into 2020, staffed, retained relationships, massive projects, festivals, you name it, we were going to do it. So I was walking on water, to be honest, I was like, "Alright, we finally kind of arrived! We have incredible work to get after and look forward to" and then boom, pandemic, everything's upside down. Everything went out the window in a matter of moments. The moment we saw South by Southwest canceled, March Madness gone, writing was on the wall, we knew we were in real trouble. So it was you know 20 hour days, almost sleeping over in the office with my staff and figuring out how we were going to flex the "struggle muscle," aka resiliency, and pivot to lead with branded content, strategy, video work and pour culture and experience through a virtual means and mediums, you know, with not being able to gather and we were always dangerous in that space - we've done apps, we've done websites, we've done video, but we never led with that work. We would throw the 5000 person something, have a big band on stage and then follow up with the highlight reel or the tick-tock - whatever we were doing those were supportive accessory things, but COVID now being able to step back, and we're still standing COVID flipped that completely - Yin/Yang. So we now lead with branded strategies, we went back to our client base and said, "Hey, we were going to do this, we have your trust, let us lean into and pour our work into this space." And they said, "let's go. We can't not talk to our people." Like one client, for example, I had 14,000 employees, and we were going to do music festivals for them all summer. Yeah. And they couldn't go dark on their 14,000 people. So we went inward and created microsites and apps and learning universities and push notifications, and all this lovely storytelling about their people to create a virtual community. And it worked. And it actually opened new doors and new opportunities with other clients once we had proof of concept.

Scott Allen  5:44  
and I love that mindset, the mindset of what's the opportunity in this struggle? In this challenge that we're in right now? What's the opportunity here? How can we grow? How can we shift? I struggled with some of that in my own work, whether that's teaching, or consulting, or I co-founded a leadership competition, and we had to shift on a dime - and it opened up some opportunities, it opened up some doors. Would you talk a little bit more about that? Like, as you reflect on it, obviously, we wouldn't want to go through that again. But what doors did it open? I mean, it obviously this new line of business leading with this line of business. Can you think of any others?

David Rae  6:23  
Absolutely. And I'll go double-click down even further. I, yeah. Because at the core of it, my huge realization, all of that Scotty was pressure, right? Pressure can crush people. It can also create a diamond. So I think pressure is a really, really great thing. Right? And how are you going to manifest through that pressure, you can fold. Or you can absolutely pick yourself up off the mat. And that's where true innovation comes from. It's this Darwinian, adapt or die. And that's what we were up against. So being a competitive person, and also being a provider for my staff, you know, an agency of 20-30 people, how could we provide for people? Because I didn't want to furlough I didn't want to lay people off it just there was this insane pressure. So I think work ethic no matter how talented or non-talented you are, I think work ethic and time can solve a lot of things. And if you're committed to problem-solving, if you understand pressure, and are willing to push through that COVID I think history will show us a lot of stuff. And I think my biggest takeaway is pressure is a good thing. Yeah, how can you meet the moment and let it all go? And see what stays is another thing that I've been speaking out loud a lot right now just let it all go, see what stays and then you really know where you can focus your attention and, and work and evolve your company or people

Scott Allen  7:47  
say more about that, Dave? Let it all go. Does that mean just like put a lot out there? Try a lot, see what sticks. Or say more about that.

David Rae  7:56  
I think there's a lot of layers of unnecessary stuff in our lives. And it made me realize what's essential? what's critical, where should I be focusing time and effort. And it made me overanalyze, OCD, analyze, what is going to help, P&L, what's gonna help really move the needle with the company or my, our work, and not anything that didn't help with a first down and forward progress. I didn't focus any time on it, I literally let it go. And I just helped me reprioritize everything in my life and our company's kind of vision. And from that came true work product that was battle-tested, and tried and true. And then we could replicate and then scale it to other B2B clients, or whatever it was. But I think there's a lot of ancillary, layered crap in our lives. And if you really have self-awareness and practice self-awareness, what's working and what's not, and walk away from the things that are not working. That's what COVID I think, has been a lovely mirror to hold up in front of us and be like, wow,

Scott Allen  9:04  
let me assess. Well, I was saying to a friend on the phone this morning, that the whole experience brought us back to like the base, right, there were five of us in a house looking at each other. We're like, Okay, here we are, right. And from there, you can then create an incredible experience, a wonderful experience. I mean, obviously, people are truly struggling. So I can't I'm not diminishing that in any way, shape, or form. But that mindset of "Okay, here we are, what do we do? How do we get through this? And how do we maybe learn, innovate, create and go somewhere new?" And I'm sure you loved some of the learning that actually occurred for you in that new work, doubling down on some of those new strategies. I'm sure you learned a ton about yourself as a leader but then also just even that content area right?

David Rae  10:00  
100% back to some of our old professional experiences. I remember it stuck with me in the early 2000s. When I'm uncomfortable, I know I'm growing. I learned that on staff together with you. Yeah. And COVID absolutely amplified that, like there was discomfort every day. But if you approach it from "Okay, there are new problems to solve." Versus "I'm defeated. And I'm going to throw a pity party for myself." How are you going to mentally prepare to challenge and pivot and go in a different direction I so I was motivated by that. And I, I agree with you not to diminish people's struggle and challenges. It's intense out there. But I think there's real beauty in the discomfort. And if you can embrace it versus run away from it, go towards the pressure. That's where you're gonna see breakthroughs.

Scott Allen  10:50  
Tell us a little bit about you. What did you learn about yourself as a leader in the last year? Are there any reflections that kind of stand out other than maybe what we've said? Is there anything else that stood out for you?

David Rae  11:02  
Gosh, yeah, I lonely I was very lonely. A lot of days I felt I was going into a fire and had had a shield and kind of tip of the spear stuff you know, in a vulnerable state multiple times in my office by myself like waterworks crying, just trying to literally pull my keep myself together. How is this gonna, you know...the uncertainty. Loneliness was a real thing. 

Scott Allen  11:28  
Being...was it? Because you thrive off of being with others, right? And you thrive off that energy, wasn't that? Or was it? The feeling of sometimes we hear senior-level executives and CEOs say, look, it's the work is lonely, because the burdens on my shoulders and I don't necessarily feel like I have anyone that I can speak with that I can talk to that's in my same position. Yeah. Was it a blend of those are both of those are one of those are something totally else, right?

David Rae  11:57  
I mean, nail on the head, I'm actually a social creature. I thrive off energy and people. I like my quiet time. But I absolutely. When I can be with people that that's my happy place. See COVID put us all in our corner. And it was like, how can we find light in those dark corners? So I've never, I was never a FaceTime person. I was never a Skype person. Zoom for me has been amazing. I love it. And I thrive in that environment now. So productivity is way up. I think that was another silver lining with COVID. It's Google Hangouts or Zooms or whatever. Screen connectivity, crazy, right? I mean, we're, I've never had more meetings in a day when you're in Zoom jail in back to back to back to back to back. Right. So but...

Scott Allen  12:46  
I haven't heard the term "Zoom jail."

David Rae  12:51  
Just looking for, you know, "$200 Pass, Go" get me out. Chance Card. Where's Community Chest? Yeah, I would, but the humanity, right, like, Where can I find the humanity? So I probably seven, eight months into the height of the pandemic, I'd realized that with a couple of my business partners, we were crushing 17-18 hour days, but I literally hadn't seen them in months, hadn't press the flesh for them hadn't sat around a fire pit, hadn't socially distance. And that was like, crazy to me, right outside of my family who I see in the house every day even though I'm doing like a lot of workload, the humanity that was really shocking and terrifying. It also helped - it intensified the loneliness. So we're connected but disconnected. Nothing you don't know already. But I learned about that. But I also learned to my focus has never been sharper. So COVID has helped me back to kind of "let it go, see what stays" it's like I wake up in the morning asked myself these questions every day. Does it serve the team? Does it serve the business? Does it serve the community? And what can I personally do to help in all of those things?

Scott Allen  14:02  
So that frames it up for you? Let's talk about TEDx. So again, I'd seen you what I think it was summer 2019 if I'm not mistaken. My family was out in Oregon, and we're about to head to Crater Lake. We were in Portland for a couple of days, and you had - it was gonna be the largest TEDx in the world, locked ready to go talk about that shift. Dave.

David Rae  14:29  
We've been doing TEDx for them for 12 plus years. We got the lessons back in oh nine. We've been doing it in the Keller auditorium, which is a 3000 person, lovely performance facility here in town. Had it there six years. We moved to the Moda Center, where the Blazers play basketball, they cut it in half. They call it the theater of the clouds. 7000 people 7500 once you factor in our staff and volunteers, and it's going to be our 10 year anniversary. So we've been doing TEDx Portland for 12 years, but this will be the 10th event because it took two years to get the first year off the ground if that makes sense. A lot of planning. Anyway largest TEDx indoor event in the world, from small, little fiercely independent, Portland. COVID hits. This town also protested for 100 straight days, which also resulted in rioting, shuttered businesses. This town has been really kicked in this in the stomach, but I'm proud of the work here of what we do. TEDx Portland is a lightning bolt of joy and ideas and inspiration for this town. The city has embraced it from day one. And we thought TEDx one was a one-and-done thing way back in 2010 2011. And there was never a goal to do an annual event and to scale it and if he would have told me then that we'd be doing a 7000 person Moda Center globally Livestream million people thing. No way. So for those that don't know, your "Big Ted" why called Big Ted, the mothership there in New York, but they have an annual week-long conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, my hometown, and that's the big leagues, right? It's 85 speakers, it's $10,000 bucks to get in, you got to apply. You get a lottery ticket, boom, boom, boom. TEDx came out in 2009. It says, essentially, it's a franchise model. We were one of the first cities to get the license. And here we are. I think we have so many amazing volunteers and people committed to the city and that event, we were never going to let it die on the vine. But hey, we've rescheduled it twice. It was supposed to happen on June 6, 2020. We then planted to May 29, 2021. This was to happen last week. We were not in a position to put 7000 people in a building a week ago. So we've now bumped it to December 31, New Year's Eve day it's a Friday and it's a nine to five o'clock the full-day event - 15 speakers, five performances, and we're gonna do an after-party a big, kick the doors down on 2022, and have a TEDster kind of New Year's Eve party.

Scott Allen  17:00  
So that'll probably be the first Tedster party. Right is that

David Rae  17:05  
I mean, and you know, I love are the staff in New York have been unconditionally supportive. A lot of TEDx is has dissolved, right? They just Yeah, yeah, it's been a wrecking ball for the TEDx community. Because most TEDx is are in like libraries and high school gymnasiums. They're not in the basketball arena around the corner. Yeah. So yeah, so TEDx Portland is a unique unicorn in North America. I've used a freighter analogy, right TEDx. Paul has this massive freighter kind of listing out in the ocean. It's running on fumes. And we're just trying to bring it into port. Yeah, literally Portland, like we're proud to bring it into the land of the port the harbor. I feel we're now back with a GPS system. Yeah, there's an adult in the White House, we have a plan 70% of the country's vaccinated. So all signs are pointing to we bought ourselves seven months more time. And the blazers had 10,000 people in the arena last night. So everything is looking positive to land the freighter in the winter. And we've never held a winter event. It's always been in the Spring. But hey, again, we innovate and figure it out. And we're gonna make it work. And if you can be out here for it. It's the most educational and inspirational day of the year for us in this town. I believe I'm biased, obviously. But it's this town that needs it. There are like 10 events that used to be on the calendar that people would circle TEDx Portland is one of them. We have an obligation to this town to make sure the event happens so we can see joy. So we have something to look forward to the end of the day. 

Scott Allen  18:42  
Well, then I imagine, again, back to some of what the community has faced in recent months. I imagine there's a lot of learning and dots that can be connected and reflection that can occur, that it's going to be powerful for many, many reasons. Right. But you all did something you will pivot and did something on television, didn't you?

David Rae  19:04  
We did yeah, thanks for bringing that up. We couldn't go dark. So what do we do in a year, 14 months time to keep our 1000s of people that are connected to the brand, the experience the event, whether it's social or the email they get or the community planning we've always done because TEDx is not just the one event, the Superbowl event thing we do every year. We do more we do high school programming, we do 6k run around the city, we do salons which are 300 person kind of more intimate experiences. But we have a lovely relationship with the NBC affiliate here called KGW Channel, Channel eight. The leadership there is tremendous. And they approached us and said, hey, what if we gave you an hour of primetime TV and you created a broadcast special a TEDx Portland broadcast special for us and this was right in the height of social justice, BLM, George Floyd, 10,000 people marching over this bridge I'm looking out my window here on the Burnside Bridge - 10,000 people going over the bridge. Again 100 nights of protests here, national news. And we put together a vignette an hour-long broadcast special dedicated to that. It's on www.tedxportland.com if you have the time to check it out.

Scott Allen  20:16  
I'll put it in the show notes.

David Rae  20:17  
Yeah, please do. And we've never done anything like that before. And it was an intense journey. We so that episode for context, if people don't understand TV, because I didn't, I'd never done a broadcast special before. It took 32 pieces of unique content that were stitched together to create for it to look and feel like TV, TV feels different than podcasts, all the things right, it's fast. It moves. It's got to be peppy. You change pace. There's palate, cleansers, all the things. So it was a real steep learning curve for us. But KGW held our hand. They coached us we had the filmmakers, the videographers, the content, all that the alumni, all the speakers. So we had the bench. But stretching into this new medium was lovely. And it worked out so well. The viewership was insane. That one was called History and Hope. And then we did Kindness and Community. We did a second installment. So we actually did really two KGW episodes. 

Scott Allen  21:14  
TEDx branded TEDx Portland branded.

David Rae  21:16  
Yeah, yeah. I love TV. And you know, I love 1000s of eyeballs on them. And then it was also a case study for the bigger TEDx global community. Like, how do you go to market, right, because we all have zoom fatigue and run at screens all day? So how do you actually engage and keep people's attention? Right? Yeah, to captivation. Right. I mean, how are you literally keeping eyeballs on screens? So they're not multitasking? And so TV does that because you're, we literally we produced it handed over the drive. And it was lovely. A week later, we sat down with my family with popcorn, and watch this special to me. Like it was a movie. So it was a way that I'm used to going 100 miles an hour. Live things go wrong. Theater, like a live performance, right? So it's really weird to hand over the drive of the hour-long piece, and then just kind of like, okay, we're just gonna relax and watch this thing. But you can make a case that it had the same reach as the live event, but I know it didn't have to feel. Because when you're in the seat, you feel the juice.  But hey for a stopgap to do something for the community in between. It's been a saving grace, and we're gonna do a third, we're gonna do a third episode probably in the fall, just because I think good things come in three. And so that'll be a nice bridge to the live event in December with KGW again, so...

Scott Allen  22:44  
what an awesome opportunity to celebrate in December. And what a gift to the community to, again, I love the mindset of "let's figure it out." Figure it out. What are we gonna do? Yeah, here we are. Let's go. Right?

David Rae  22:58  
Yeah, I wish you could see what I'm looking at brother. We're in this fun office space. And I have tenants all over in the rafters of my office because there's a really cool pennant company out of Buffalo, New York that I randomly stumbled on. And one of the pennants is "figure it out." So I look at "figure it out" every day. I look at "let it go." I look at "worry will trap you." I look right above me is "give a damn." I mean, just I just need those kinds of motivational quips and quotes to like, keep me trucking. 

Scott Allen  23:35  
I love it. Dave, what I would love to do is we kind of begin to wind down our time together. What are some things that you have enjoyed in the last year? Maybe some things you've read some things you've been watching? or streaming or listening to? What? What are some sources of light for you? Other than the pennants?

David Rae  24:03  
Yeah, podcasts for sure. I mean, I thought they had kind of come and gone and had their moment. But through COVID I feel like everybody andtheir neighbor has a podcast now. I think.

Scott Allen  24:16  
Yes, you are on one of those! 

David Rae  24:18  
You're doing great work. Like I'm happy and proud to be in this conversation with you. 

Scott Allen  24:22  
But you know what? Yeah, I know, I know exactly what you mean. And we were like March 2020. And I was like, I need some to do cuz I'm feeling a little anxious. And so I'm like, Well, I want to start this. Yeah. And then I start the second one. And so it's been fun. I've loved it.

David Rae  24:35  
Yeah, I know. I know truly. And it just comes down to engagement. How can we be lifelong learners and grow and podcasts are lovely. I took up a Masterclass subscription, I devour those. They're very Ted-like but they're more prescriptive. And that's a lovely platform. You know, voraciously reading I've got five or six books on the bed, side table. I don't finish a lot of books, but I pick them up and read and whatever inspires me. I'm reading this book called The 48 Laws of Power, fascinating. McConaughey's Greenlights book is amazing. A lot of books on feminism. I've been reading a lot of books on D&I, I signed up for more school, I went back to school and I'm halfway through an e-Cornell DEI program that I'll finish up probably early '22. So just I was truly inspired by all of the social unrest here in this town and around the world, after George Floyd, and so I knew I could be a better ally, a better advocate. So I've actually focused a lot of my time and attention when it's not gotten gobbled up with the kids and the new puppy to grow in that space. 

Scott Allen  25:48  
Well, Dave, thank you so much for the great work that you do. I love how you framed who you are and what you do at the beginning, I'm going to hold that out as a quote in the show notes and bringing joy to people through those experiences that cannot be underestimated. And like I said to you, before we started, I imagine just like, dog, doggy hotels, I think are going to be a good business to be in helping people gather and build new memories is going to be a great business to be in as well. Because there's going to be a lot of people who are very, very excited about gathering getting together and you as a host of that. I can think of no one better. No one better than Dave Rae.

David Rae  26:33  
Yeah, it's a thing. The roaring 22s is the thing. Spring, Summer, Fall 22, I think is going to be amazing, remarkable times globally, from revenge trips, to "what are we doing to gather?" I think we've got a lot of time to make up for. 

Scott Allen  26:52  
Well, Dave, thanks for being with us. We appreciate it. You do incredible work, you are doing the work. And I absolutely have incredible respect for that. And so Thank you, sir. Thanks for being with us.

David Rae  27:07  
I just wanted to say thank you, Scott, because I've always appreciated - my first round of grad school was inspired by you and so you've always been a mentor and a friend and a master communicator in the space so whether it's podcasts or your articles, your books, you're always out in front. And so thank you for having me because it's great to reconnect on this level.

Scott Allen  27:27  
So much fun. Take care, be well, sir. 

David Rae  27:29  
Yep, Love you. Bye.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai