EchoStar

National Sales Meeting, The Gaylord Texan, Dallas, TX. May, 2007

FTM was in good company at this event. Not only were we an integral part of a conference for 250 EchoStar sales representatives, but HBO was also a participating sponsor. Our program for EchoStar was “Rock the House” different from our well-known Blues Interactive option in that we use the music and tradition of rock ‘n’ roll to help the participants to express themselves and think outside the box. The writing theme was “Songs of Success”—what had they gotten out of their time together, and how were they going to move forward to manifest their success? This event came through BI Worldwide, so we were fortunate enough to have an on-site producer to support us.

Part One: We came in with a burning six-piece band, which was warmly greeted by the crowd. We started off with a few songs and set the participants up for the afternoon’s song writing; after which 250 people split up into six groups, each going to breakout rooms and writing a song that was to incorporate Steven Little’s 7 rules—the “irrefutable rules of small business growth.” The conference was running late so FTM had to engage the teams as quickly as possible. We all made it to the finish line of our writing time, with the groups totally engaged and owning the process.

Part Two: Next was a quick bite to eat and then back to the main room to play a dinner set. Our client song “Simply Better” went over so well in part one of our session that the client requested it again. It was great; the band really knew it this time!

Part Three: After a brief speech by the VP, who actually made a disparaging comment about Steven Little’s 7 Rules (which the crowd loved), it was show time! The six groups were about to encounter Andy Warhol’s predication that everyone will have 15 minutes of fame—or maybe 5—as in this case. The songs were funny, mostly about outselling competitors and reaching 14 million. One of my favorite lines was written by one of the groups, all men:

“The road we travel is simply better
This time my roommate’s name is Heather!”

The energy was hot! And the crowd loved it. After the main show there was an awards ceremony for best use of the 7 rules, among other categories. At this point the participants were growing weary and a private viewing of the upcoming episode of HBO’s hit series Entourage was up next to cap off the evening. The room cleared and about 20 people stayed to watch. They had left it all on the stage, and so had we.