Creating Rockstar Events With Rasta Ralph

We tend to believe others more about ourselves. For this reason, having the right people around us to help us see what we couldn’t in us is important to how we want to succeed in life. For Mark Yuzuik, one of those people who has inspired him is Rasta Ralph. In this episode, he has him over to share with us all about how he is creating events that make anyone look like a Hollywood star. What does it take to make a Rockstar event? How can you bring the energy of the people attending to it? How can you give everyone the results they want—from the speakers down to the audience? Rasta Ralph takes us into the behind the scenes of rockstar events and more in this discussion.

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Creating Rockstar Events With Rasta Ralph

Welcome to the show. Be sure that you subscribe to be notified of my other shows. We’ve got a lot of great ones coming up and also remember this, GetYourMindsetWithMark.com. Go there, give me your feedback and I want to give you a gift back because your time is worth something. It’s not free, you’re giving me your time, the book Creating the Life You Want. It’s a powerful way to take control of your life. Get to the next level.

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I’ve got a guest and he’s more than a guest. He’s an inspiration to me. He’s somebody that allowed me to grow with my event from a 2-day to a 3-day all because he inspired me to step it up. When you realize how powerful you are and the things you can do, we limit ourselves. When somebody else can see more in you, you start to listen to that. They call these gentlemen sound guys. I don’t call them sound guys. I call them production people. People that can produce a result for you that you’ve never been able to produce before because you get stuck in your way sometimes. When somebody has been working in the business for over two decades, with one of the top speakers in the world, T. Harv Eker, would not do an event without this gentleman I’m about to introduce. What’s that resume worth? Do you think we ought to listen to somebody like that? How do you turn an event into a rockstar event into even more profits?

I want to introduce to you Rasta Ralph, who everyone thinks he’s a sound guy, but he’s not. This guy is an engineer of creating events that make you look like a Hollywood star, but he also turns events into profit for you. A lot of people think, “I need some sound for my event.” If that’s what your limitations and beliefs are, then what are you going to bring and how are you going to bring the energy to the people attending your event? Have you ever been to an event where they were good events, but they weren’t rockstar events, and then you go into another event, all you did was you felt the energy?

That’s what this company, gentlemen and personalities bring to it. Rasta Ralph, the man that makes everything happen. The man that made me step up my own game after ten years, I want to say thank you for taking your time here. What do you think about people that run sound and call themselves sound guys versus some that are a director, an inspiration, or somebody that says, “Behind the scenes, I make things happen for your event so your event gets better, your speakers look better, and your audience get a different result?” That’s what you produce. Thank you for being here and welcome to my show, Ralph.

There are 10,000 of us, but there are few of us who understand how to run your seminar because you could plugin and you could plug out, everything could be plugged in. It’s all about plugging in and out, but how the energy is going to be in the room? If you have to change from one PowerPoint to the other PowerPoint and you got crickets, when it’s time to talk again, you now have the full room. Other people are already in their conversation, mid-conversation and still talking because you have to keep the energy in the room constantly. It’s not about the speech, nor the content, nor what you’re about to say, it’s about what’s going on, so people want more of you. This is what I bring to the table. I’ve been sitting in the back not as the sound engineer, but as a student to learn how to be better and craft my skill to be the best to serve you so you can shine when you’re producing your message. I’m here to serve and make it easy for you to be peace and quiet, write your script, get on stage, and I’ll do the rest of the magic for you because this is how we collaborate together.

If you keep your stuff clean, everything's going to come clean. Share on X

Many times, when I’ve been to events, my wife Yolanda and I were showing you some stages where speakers like Les Brown and high-end speakers where they walked on the stage and it looked dead not because of the speaker, but because of what was the production of it. Nobody realized the little things that you bring to the table. I can get a sound guy for little money and that costs me money because I didn’t bring the energy. I cheated somebody at an experience if I do that. Everyone says, “How much does it cost?” It’s not how much you cost. It’s how much are they going to make by having the right energy and that’s the one thing.

You’re an artist, not a sound guy. Even though you bring total AV, I’ve been to the events and I will not do an event without you. I had an event scheduled and you and your team weren’t able to make it. I changed my dates. That’s how important and valuable are having the key people to your event is. The other thing is you’ve sat down and gone, “We need to do this.” You need to bring more value to your people. “This is how I want you to change it.” By listening, we went from 2 days to 3 days and the value has stepped it up tenfold.

The difference between a sound guy and somebody like yourself, bringing energy to the table, why is that? How much money do you think people are losing by hiring cheap or overpaying? They go to hotels and they buy PSAV, which is not a good sign because they’re dropping off equipment that is not of quality. You have a top-notch company that brings pipe, drapes, screens, cameras, music, intros for the speakers. You learn about each speaker. You do that for a result. People that don’t do that miss out on it. How do you prepare when you get an opportunity or a gig for somebody? What are you looking for in that speaker, event, and that whole transformation so everybody gets a result that you know the audience wants? What does that look like for Rasta Ralph?

First things first, who’s your client? What age are they? I need to know if it’s over 50. If it’s in between the twenties. What’s your age group that’s coming in? What’s your speaking engagement? Is it about real estate, business, or whatever it is so I can relate music to it, your décor, and knowing where you’re going? If you go to a hotel, how many spaces have we got? What’s the space? I always think prior to going to the event that some people don’t think before they go to the event. They do the event, arrive on-site, not prepared and say, “We forgot that.” “It cost me an extra $10.” “I didn’t talk that.” If you think other stuff before the show that always got in my head, it’s walking the room. I know how to walk the room, what to plugin, how to set up the flow of your room, “You’re going to use this. What are you going to use to make your event better?” I’m always listening to you and bring the magic for your event. I don’t overdo stuff. I’m listening to what you want and we’ll make it happen together as a team.

One thing that I remember talking to you about a story is, was there a speaker that said, “I want you to downplay the room and I want to show you how the shift is?” It was a test. When you did this, you intentionally set up a room how unknowledgeable or inexperienced sound people. You’re not a sound guy. You’re a director that produces results and you happen to bring sound, drapes, pipe, energy, life, into a room. When I walked into my room, I see all these plants, posters and I’m like, “It felt good.” I walked into that room before and I was like, “This is the room we’re in.” You go, “Let me do my magic.”

Creating Rockstar Events: With clean stuff, you’ll have a clean client and a better relationship all the way.

Tell the story about the time when they told you to leave different things out, what the energy was like, and how that transformed without the audience known until you brought it up to them? That story is one that made me think I’ve got to do a show with you. I know you’re busy and taking the time to do this is a pleasure for me, but it’s necessary for people to get and understand what the value is that you’re bringing. The value’s what they’re getting because of the results that you’re producing and the experiences that they’re getting to have for your subjects, for your speakers, and for the attendees. They’re not there to learn information, but to apply and have an experience. What was that like? Who was that? Explain how it happened.

Three-quarters of the time we forgot, we walk around. If you go to a mall and there was a bit of a bunch of garbage as you go into your favorite store, would you stay there or it’s going to be too noisy or you’ll walk somewhere else? It’s the same thing in your room. How clean it’s going to be? Where’s your cabling? All are your stages, everything is because everything has noise. We’re all energy. If I lift all my cable, wrapping around and you could see all my cable, laying there, the drape is whatever it is. It’s not even height level, it’s whatever it is, your stage is too small. I could put one chair. It’s all those little details that nobody thinks prior to this. It’ll be fine to the point that when you send people in the back or they want to invest in you, they won’t because they’ll see how sloppy you are all around. If you keep your stuff clean, like a clean ship, clean thing, everything’s going to come clean and people are going to say, “How can we get more of you?” If you leave stuff dirty around you, stuff will not be the same.

I think that when I see a speaker, I pay attention to details. Isn’t it true that when a speaker leaves out details, even it’s not his fault, it could be the production fault? If they leave out details subconsciously if they’re not willing to produce the best when they got their 60 or 90 or 30 minutes and that’s the time where they’re trying to get you as a customer. If they’re not going to give the full details, then what makes you think they’re going to pay attention to all the small details in the end when it comes to you, you do produce and you give them money? To me, the details are the most critical thing. It’s what you don’t notice but what you feel that makes a difference. When you left all that stuff out because the speaker wanted to test the energy, you went back and clean it with them, but nobody knew what was the transformation, the energy in that room? How did you expose that to the audience? They go, “What you’ve done is you created an event in here that was different because it made sense the way you did it.” What was that experience like?

What I did, I made sure that all my cables were showing and there was nothing clean around. The next day we let the room came in and everybody didn’t feel anything but they felt disturbed for some reason. The next day I cleaned up everything, put some nice piper or some nice drape around the cable, taped the cable where they need to be, tucked them in and next day people came in the rooms and say, “Something’s different.” We said, “Can you tell us what’s different? Walk the room.” People said, “We don’t see the cables anymore. That was the extra energy we felt yesterday?” It’s all those little stuffs that nobody thinks prior to, but with clean stuff, you’ll have a clean client and better relationship all the way because the sloppy thing, you’ll get sloppy whatever it is.

Events are all about the impact you want to give to people, so they could come back and talk to it to their friend. Share on X

I remember how many events that I’ve been where you’ve been the sound engineer, the production guy, the director of everything. It reminds me of when we were in Canada, we walked in and go, “This doesn’t feel right.” Rasta says, “Don’t worry about that. I’m changing all around.” We’re like, “Did you talk to the producer?” He goes, “I am the producer. It’s my job to make sure they get a great result. Let me make the changes so they feel the difference instead of trying to explain logically.” I remember you sitting down with my wife and I going, “For a reason, it looks like they’re at a movie theater and they’re not engaged with the audience. Turn your chairs this way, put the drapes this way, use these colors, create this atmosphere.” I’m thinking, “Are you thinking all that stuff?” As a speaker, we go up there and our job is to get the information from us to the audience. It’s your job to create the right energy so they connect. We have to connect, but if it’s not set upright, it’s like we’re in a pair of shoes that don’t fit. It’s not going to feel right. When I saw that and you transformed that room, you have a picture of before and after, but the amazing transformation created deals.

It’s all about what to know before the show. As a trainer, concentrate on your training and get the best production company that can help you and understand what we have. Wizard Audio, we’re here for you to help you out from A1, A to V. I’ll use it A to V because we are the audio and video, everything concrete, nothing sweat. You come in, you do what you have to do, we bring your magic. There are some tweaks to be done. What you don’t see, I see. You don’t have eyes in the back, I’m your eyes in the back, on your side. Whatever needs to be done, I’m always there for you before and after the show.

You even know the dead time. When a speaker’s dead time is 30 seconds, that’s an eternity and that translates to negative energy, loss of sales and the experience of the investor. Even if they’re not buying something, they can there for a reason.

They always come for an experience that they want to bring back later on. It’s not about, “Have fun,” and the next two days, “I don’t remember what I learned.” “No, I’m here about the experience, whatever you throw at them, the message you want them to understand, handing it, ingraining it so they could go to the next day and the next level in their life.” That’s what I’m bringing into the magic to your room.

Your resume speaks for itself, many years with T. Harv Eker, he would not go anywhere without you guys because it produced results. They’ve tried it without you, he lost sales. Imagine the difference in your business. I look at PSAV, when you’re renting hotels and union houses, all that makes a difference and you can solve with the client way before. Are you willing to invest in your event and don’t shortchange yourself on the sound, the AV and the most important thing? If they can’t hear you right or the energy is wrong, then you spent a whole lot of money and time in getting people there not to have the greatest experience in life. You’re like the Walt Disney of sound when it comes to that, the Steven Spielberg of movies, and you create that energy, that passion that allows people to have an experience forever.

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I know the rates are way cheaper than most events out there, but it’s not how much they’re saving, it’s how much more they’re going to make by having you there. How does somebody get a hold of the world-famous Rasta Ralph, Wizard Audio, Tony, if they say, “I’ve got an event coming up, but it’s not a lot of people. It’s only 50 people.” You don’t turn anybody down too because you want everybody to have the experience. You’ve done big events and small events. It’s not the size of the events. It’s the experience that makes a difference. How does somebody get a hold of you? Is there a place they could follow you? Some tips you can give them? Some ways that you can help them so they can get a hold of you?

You can find me on Facebook, Rasta Ralph Tondreau, on Instagram. Enjoy until we see next time, I’m always there to help you out.

Make sure no matter what your event is, how big or how small it is, what you want is the result. The result comes from having your team together. I will not do an event without these guys because they’ve helped me grow. They spend my mind. Not only that, they know what they’re fricking doing. You get your team together and when you have a tight team like that, all you do is you grow and have results. It’s not how much money you’re saving. It’s how much can you create with the experience and how much are you investing in yourself? Don’t put all this money into all the details and forget about the most important thing. The information will be forgotten, but the experience will be a memory forever.

We are all both here together to make something great. Let’s work together to make it great. Your names keep walking around and say, “You remember that event? That was awesome. We need to go back to that event.” Otherwise, it’s another the event that they’ll not talk about it unless they get a real gem, but you want them to have an impact. It’s all about the impact you want to give to them. It’s not about your talk, but they want the impact so they could come back and talk to it to their friend. Like in a good restaurant, if it’s good, I’ll send my friend. If it’s not that great, “There’s some good stuff. It’s all dependent view.” Something to think about, Rasta Ralph always got you back. What to do before the show? Love you all.

Thank you for being a guest here. We appreciate it. Remember, for any of your needs, make sure you get ahold of Rasta Ralph at Facebook, Instagram. He’s even doing podcasts. He’s got this thing going on. He’s the first person I know that’s out there teaching, educating because he’s passionate at one thing, getting your results for you that you want. Thanks for reading. Subscribe to be notified of another show. Do you want to get my free book? GetYourMindsetWithMark.com, Creating the Life You Want. God bless you. I’ll see you at the next show. Rock on.