“It’s the holiday season … Santa Claus is coming round … ”
It’s the holiday season friends, and this was our last show of the year. And in so much, I thought I might be a nice time to sit down with the Boss, a.k.a. Ben Costantini and have a chat about Sesamers itself, where it came from, and where it’s going.
Likewise, Ben gives us his view of the Virtual/Hybrid/Live event landscape and what event organizers could and should be doing right now to stay relative and active in the game.
And we also discuss Ben’s murdering of innocent octopuses and spicy cauliflower. All this and more on our James Bond Holiday Special Edition of the Selected Podcast.
Selected – The Sesamers Podcast – Episode 007 Show Notes
[1:08] – The raison d’être. A decidedly French theme.
[2:01] – Monsieur Ben Costantini
[2:50] – Everybody’s wrapping things up. Quite literally.
[4:01] – The status of Ben’s christmas orders.
[4:12] – An Old Monkey Statue.
[5:03] – How LeWeb leveraged time.
[5:55] – The creation of a Unicorn.
[6:38] – Other than work, work, work, work, work.
[9:15] – Chef Ben!
[11:00] – The next time you see Ben, he’ll have cauliflower for you.
[11:43] – The origins of Startup Sesame.
[13:38] – Revenue Models.
[15:45] – The worst three word combo possible.
[16:24] – I get things wrong. Ben sets me straight.
[17:12] – The Pivot.
[18:38] – The tough one.
[19:07] – Repurposing technology to adapt to the times.
[19:24] – But wait … there’s more.
[21:00] – The vision of Sesamers.
[21:30] – Sesamers solves the problem of event management. As an attendee.
[21:40] – The Black Box of Events.
[24:01] – Ben’s Crystal Ball.
[24:45] – Everything you produce disappears after a short amount of time.
[26:44] – People are lost. They are asking for recommendations.
[30:13] – BREAK
[31:10] – When Dan should expect to get the vaccine.
[32:15] – Ben’s take on the event landscape now. Virtual? Hybrid? In person?
[33:38] – Whenever I see people not following the safety instructions, I’m mad.
[33:50] – 300,000 French employees out of work.
[34:40] – What’s exceptional about online events.
[35:25] – Why offline event organizers were reluctant to go digital.
[35:45] – We are in a bubble.
[36:20] – Apple’s betting big on virtual technology.
[37:52] – As an event organizer, what can I be doing now to prepare for the future?
[39:00] – The biggest opportunity for event companies right now.
[42:15] – Don’t mess with the Scots, Ben.
[42:38] – Messing with Birmingham is fine.
[43:37] – What’s in the future for Ben?
[44:30] – I wish everyone else would approach it in a similar way.
[44:45] – Ben goes on holiday in Spain. To work.
[45:12] – If you don’t own the business, don’t overwork.
[45:25] – This has been the Selected podcast, I am your host Dan Taylor, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and all that jizz jazz, I. Am. Outta here.