Episode 24

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Published on:

17th May 2022

24. Yahoo Me

I am joined this week by Megan Van Petten, Founder of the Esports Trade Association. Megan’s career centers around building successful communities, and she’s taken her expertise into the world of esports. Digressions include the principles of leadership, how to stay current and cool with tech, and what it’s like to be an innovator.

Transcript
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Welcome to the meadow woman podcast. We address the

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issues, opportunities and challenges facing women in the

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development of the metaverse the biggest revolution since the

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internet itself. Every week we bring you conversations with top

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female talent and business executives operating in the

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gaming and crypto industries. Here's your host Lindsey, the

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boss POS, the meta woman podcast starts now.

Lindsay Poss:

Hello, and welcome to the men and women podcast

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part of the holodeck media Podcast Network. I'm your host

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Lindsey, the boss POS struggled to success recovering and all my

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returning listeners. Thank you so much for listening to the

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show week after week. Thank you for sending me your feedback. I

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appreciate you so much. And for the new listeners. Welcome. I

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hope you enjoy the show. And I hope you come back next week.

Lindsay Poss:

Today's guest is someone that I'm so excited to introduce

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because I've known her both in esports capacity and as a friend

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for about a year now. And it's just always so fun for me when I

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can bring someone onto the show that I've gotten to know Megan

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Van Patten is the founder of esports Trade Association, or

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ESDA, an organization that connects folks both in and on

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the precipice of esports industry. So she brings all

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kinds of people together. He has ta does a whole lot within the

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industry, which I will happily let Megan explain. Megan, I

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would love for you to introduce yourself.

Unknown:

Hi, Lindsay, thank you for that introduction. It is a

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pleasure to be here. And as you know, I'm the founder of the

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esports trade association. We promote, protect and advance the

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broader interests of the esports community. I've been working in

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association management for most of my career, and just the love,

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love community building. And I'm just happy to be here today and

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share about some of my passions. Thanks for having me.

Lindsay Poss:

Oh, thank you so much. Okay, well, with that.

Lindsay Poss:

Let's jump right in. All right, previous conversation, you

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talked about how a lot of your experience boils down to

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community building. And you just reiterated that just now. So I

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definitely want to start there. Because that's a term that's

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become much more popular within the industry, and is seen as a

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sustainable and authentic growth strategy. Should Do you think

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it's a bit of a shift in terms of gamers have always done that.

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But I don't know that companies have always done that or thought

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about community building in that way. So what does community

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building mean to you? And why do you think esports companies are

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taking this practice seriously?

Unknown:

Well, yeah, it's a wonderful, it's a wonderful

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shift, isn't it? Community Building is important to me

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because the world has so much disconnection, people are

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yearning to come together to break bread. Sure idea.

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Sometimes people don't even know how to get started, or don't

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have the willpower or the confidence and finding unique

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minds to set your imagination a fire is the goal. But it takes

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effort. If we aren't in community, the world misses out

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on our gifts, which can be heartbreak. Typically people

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don't feel alone, that heal and community. And there's so much

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talent out there just waiting to be asked to have a seat at the

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table. Sometimes you have to create your own and make sure

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it's tailored to what your calling is. But there's a lot of

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established organizations that were built with women in mind

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and this is now changing it is important to me to build a

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welcoming spaces and have benefited from an I've benefited

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from the start of this journey.

Lindsay Poss:

Oh I love that answer mostly because a we have

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been in a pandemic for Lord knows how long at this moment.

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So coming together and breaking bread is something that we just

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haven't been able to do forever. So that's that's wonderful. And

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be obviously being part of the metal woman podcast. I love

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anyone who can who can bring you know women and other minorities

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in give them a seat at a table in a way that really encourages

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them to speak their mind and, you know, get get in those rooms

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where maybe we haven't traditionally been before. So in

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your opinion, what are the core tenants to building that

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thriving community?

Unknown:

Oh, wow. So I know I'm here on this earth to share the

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gift of connection and finding holistic ways to build joyful

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communities that make a difference. To connect with and

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build a community, you need to do your due diligence. Identify

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who could benefit from the vision that you've created. You

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have to really do the quality research as you love.

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Thankfully, there's platforms like LinkedIn, which I really

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enjoy. Allow this research to be pretty streamlined. Once I Are

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you have identified the key people that meet what we're

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looking for. I personally Really love the John Maxwell leadership

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strategies of authentic connection. I even named our

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podcast esports connected after his book, everyone communicates

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to connect, because it defines how I personally like to bring

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people together. To connect with people, we need have our complex

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listening skills, the integrity to deserve the respect and time

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and show faith in people to empower them on their path, how

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quickly then we can act. One thing I would like to say is go

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to your LinkedIn right now. See how many connections you've

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made. I try not all my LinkedIn connection followers, I like to

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call them my friend. And for my podcast, the same technology has

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enabled us to access each other. And I'm determined to facilitate

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relationships with everyone that I can connect with. And that is,

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again, why we call the show esports connected based on one

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weekend, me reading a book, everyone communicates few

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Connect.

Lindsay Poss:

I love that, that you brought up LinkedIn, it has

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been a personal New Year's resolution of mine to be more

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active on there, which I know that we are, we're recording

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this now in late April. And I have still not necessarily held

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up my end of that resolution. But it is a really good

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platform, particularly for the esports audience I found. So

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that was a really good little call out there. And I know that

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you're super active on there. So everyone out there go find

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Meghan Van Patten on LinkedIn, she, she posts a lot of good

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stuff. But getting back to the ESDA. In particular, I think

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with a lot of organizations, you when you touch on so many areas

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that have so many different interests. And as I said, you

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bring in a whole bunch of people from different backgrounds and

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communities and lines of work. And it can be hard to maintain

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that balance and building a strong and cohesive overall

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community. So how do you bring together and pull on so many

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different threads and kind of bring cohesion into the

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community bring everyone together?

Unknown:

That is such a great question. First of all, I will

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say this, again, that es que promotes protects in advance the

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broader industry, the broader interests of the esports

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community. And really, we accomplish this by finding

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incredible leaders. Our committees are fast, we have

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our, our obviously our chair, and our Vice Chair. And then,

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um, that's called an our treasurer, and our governance,

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and that is called the executive committee. So they really steer

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the ship. And then some other committees we have our the

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business development, our education, our events, our

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marketing and communications, membership, regulation, research

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and data. And what I always thought if I were to ever get

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the opportunity in creating an association was really

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empowering our leaders with development. And I truly live by

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the leadership 2.0 by John Maxwell and the workbook. So one

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of the things that we do first is we send our leaders when we

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appoint them to the board, workbook, and we have training

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and development for the leaders. And that I've I've seen to be an

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incredible resource. Oftentimes, the how, as much as you can

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structure your volunteers to make it easier for them to lead,

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the better off the mission and the vision and the values of the

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organization will be be utilized.

Lindsay Poss:

Yeah, I think that's a great point. I think

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that sort of giving empowering people to take responsibility

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for their different portions of this helps bring helps bring

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back cohesion right now you have leaders at all levels that are

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passionate about what they're doing. Certainly much easier to

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bring in people from different facets and to work with that

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leader.

Unknown:

Yeah. Perfect.

Lindsay Poss:

So I want to back up for a second because we've

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been talking all about the sports trade association in the

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gaming industry, but we haven't talked about what got you into

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the industry and what excites you about it. So what brought

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you into esports? You

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know, Um, and, you know, being a meta woman podcast

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that it's a perfect question because, um, when I was in the

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fantasy sports sector, I mean, I will never forget in New York

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when we had our first esports. Panel, and who was on the panel.

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And I've always just had a passion and interest in what's

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next. I've appreciated the now. But the what's next is always

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very intriguing. And I think being comfortable in the

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uncomfortable, you know, and just being open to what is next.

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As has gently led me to the industry, it was a natural,

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natural transition. And I had a lot of support in the early days

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to launch the esports trade association. And when we

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launched, there wasn't a trade association. So being that I'm a

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die hard believer in trade association, and what they are

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still, it was just a perfect fit. And it was, it was it took

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me about a year of thinking about it and asking around and

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doing my due diligence before we launched in September of 2017.

Unknown:

Wow, it

Lindsay Poss:

just also goes to show how rapid the growth has

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been 2017 was only five years ago, some other industries had

Lindsay Poss:

trade associations that are 50 6070 years old. That's wild.

Lindsay Poss:

Yeah, things have really changed so quickly.

Unknown:

And they really have like, There's one story, I'll

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tell you that I I noticed, when we had our conference last year,

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we led our production committee, which ended up being like 20

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volunteers. Now, if I fast forward or rewind, 10 years ago,

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when I had a conference here in Chicago, when I was looking for

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the AV department, honest to God, I couldn't find them. They

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were like, we're downstairs, under the staircase, and I kept

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walking around the staircase. And I, and I'm on the phone with

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the guy and I'm like, I'm sorry, I can't find you. Do you know,

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truth be told, he was in a broom closet. I never opened the door

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of the broom closet, and he couldn't leave a station. Right?

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I didn't think that he would, his office would be in a broom

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closet. And I'm not going to name them out. But what's really

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nice about that, is now it's like the golden table to sit at,

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you know, the technology table. So that's just one like, little

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difference that I see is not only are we putting our AV

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professionals forward, even better, we're getting we have a

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waiting list, you know, a volunteers that want to be part

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of this movement. That's such a,

Lindsay Poss:

that reminds me of the headlines in the 90s. That

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said, this internet thing is a fad. It's like all the AV person

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used to be in the broom closet while the suits kind of took the

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symbols. And now we're having whole conferences based on those

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AV people that developed really cool technologies. That's right.

Lindsay Poss:

Yeah, that's a really cool little anecdote. That's so

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funny. I want to push I want to you know it. That's a little

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retrospective, but I want to push on the future a little

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more. You do a lot of different work and leadership and dei

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principles, and in general on improving the space for

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different folks. When we look to the future, what are the changes

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you're excited to see? And how do you think we'll get there?

Lindsay Poss:

When it comes mostly to dei strategy and inclusion? You

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know, we we got everyone out of the broom closet. Now. How do we

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get every every person to voice at the table?

Unknown:

Right, right? Yeah, so I've heard a lot about how

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emerging tech offers completely different opportunities to folks

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in this space who may not feel they have representation and I'd

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love to get your thoughts on that possibility. I'm all about

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creating comfort, accessibility to as many people as possible.

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Good hospitality, again, comes from research, what people need

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without having to ask them creating clear channels so

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people know where to report challenges they might be having

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or something when something does come up. We you know, at the

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esports trade association, do as many polls as possible, we don't

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want to you know, overdo our polls, um, you know, and ask our

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members what they need to succeed in our virtual and in

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person environments. Um, you know, it's obvious that there's,

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you know, a lot of people in the room, but who can shine that

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hasn't in the past. And as you know, I am a big advocate and in

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coaching. So I'm really, really trying to see and include, and

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we also teach our leaders, like, when we have a happy hour or we

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have a coffee, we were teaching our leaders to ask questions to

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the quiet, you know, the quiet ones that aren't speaking as

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much and, you know, try to try to bring them more forward. You

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know? And, you know, I guess it also takes discipline, you know,

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we're looking at, like, our agenda, or looking at our board,

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um, you know, what's not represented, that could be, you

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know, who should be here? That's not, I mean, it just takes

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something to really think overthink, you know, extend,

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extend a warm welcome, you know, where, where it's needed. I

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think, going from good to great, is something that I just strive

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for, like, Okay, this is good. Is this is this great, you know,

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who could, who else would make this greater? You know, it's not

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like, it's not easy, it sometimes takes extra time. But

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it certainly is well worth it. That's where

Lindsay Poss:

the comfortable being uncomfortable comes in as

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well. I do get nervous that people are putting a little bit

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too much into emerging tech, the whole tech industry was built,

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and just wrought with a lot of different inclusion and

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diversity issues. And so I think that there's a lot of hype

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around newer technologies, and I am truly excited for what people

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can do. But I'm also very, I tend to be a little bit more

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wary of this is going to solve the problem, it's not going to

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solve the problem unless we really get comfortable being

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uncomfortable and pushing people forward and filling our own gaps

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and knowledge. And like you said, looking around and saying

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who's not represented? And being very cognizant of doing that. So

Lindsay Poss:

I yeah, I like you have a lot of hope for future tech. But I also

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have a a bit of a weariness when it comes to it being the be all

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end all. And also say someone who used to run events, I

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remember doing those polls. Oh, if I could just get the right

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amount of responses, it would be so helpful, but I don't want to

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bother people and

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gotten more challenging. Um, you know, and I

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think I think what I like, I like that, I've noticed one way

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when we just give something. And I feel like it really comes from

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respect like, hey, we give you a gift card, Starbucks, will you

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give us 510, you know, a cup of coffee of your time. And you

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know, these are just like, so small, simple things. And I

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think that's, you know, what our society is demanding, like,

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respect me, Jeremy, um, I can tell you that I talk fast.

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Because when I was at the table with mostly all men, most of my

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career, oh, yeah, I had to get what I had to get in pretty

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quickly. And I had to go, and I'd really run my sentence

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longer. Because I might not be asked meeting after meeting

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after meeting anything, you know, so it really took

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something and my coach says, slow down, people will listen

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now. And it's not that they weren't like, I'm not here to

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cause a bad, you know, a bad vibe. But um, first off, just

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the simplicity of respect. Help us out, we value you to take a

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cup of coffee and fill this out. Thank you in advance.

Lindsay Poss:

Definitely. Well, I think to your point to people

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aren't looking for massive grand gestures. They're looking for

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little everyday things that say, I don't just see you when you're

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on stage. I see you when you're sitting at your desk and working

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hard or, you know, it's those. I totally agree with you that it's

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actually those smaller things that mean more to me than the

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Grand appreciations. Oh, those aren't nice, but the smaller

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regular things, and I'm also a fast talker for the same reason.

Lindsay Poss:

That's something that I think is that so pertinent for a lot of

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women and minority folks in the room. Building on that and as we

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look forward, how do we build the metaverse with dei

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principles in mind? I know we talked about a lot of different

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strategies already. From small gestures to Giving people a seat

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to being cognizant of your own shortcomings. But for you, does

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it start with companies in the creation of new companies,

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nonprofit work at the Education stage with all of them,

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instruction about how to do it. But now where do we kind of do

Lindsay Poss:

it?

Unknown:

Yeah, that's, that's a great question. We're looking at

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the next big paradigm shift. As the metaverse becomes fully

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fleshed out, I love to think how could provide access to

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education and entertainment culture and how it could have

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power to advance us. Those who have not been, you know,

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historically included men to make sure that they're not left

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out of the mission, problem solving, invention and design

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conflict, people living in the world, they know, not made for

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them. So to create it themselves with, you know, stoplights, and

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elevators, and internet, we want to be able to include everyone,

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like, come go and spell, I don't know, there's just so much to

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how we will, you know, get the rich stories of these astounding

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people that haven't had a voice for, you know, cold history of

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of time. So this is just a whole new world that we're breaking

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into, um, you know, it's going to take, it's going to take all

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of us getting together and having that voice. That's so

Lindsay Poss:

that's such a wonderful thing to highlight

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actually just listened to podcast recently about, and I'll

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put it in the show notes. But I it was a podcast about the woman

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who invented the first security system, and she was the black

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woman. And she's the one who figured out how to connect all

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her cameras and put it on close captioned TV and do all of that

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for her own house. And she wound up selling the technology for

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some completely menial amount of money. It was, of course, I

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struggled to say menial, because to her, it meant something, so I

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don't want to take away from that. But in the scheme of

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things, she deserved so much more. So I think that I love

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this note about how invention and innovation come from people

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who are living in a world not designed for them. I think that

Lindsay Poss:

that's extremely an extremely apt description of where a lot

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of innovation comes from, which is sad. But I also am just so

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amazed by how people can flower out of their circumstances.

Unknown:

And we can, we really can't, um, you know, I can

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remember when I was married, and my husband bought a car, and I

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didn't fit in it. I literally couldn't drive it was a big car.

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And it you know, just thinking to myself, this, you know, how

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do we make this work? He was like, six, five, and I was, you

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know, five, five? And how do we make things more comfortable for

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everyone, you know, in the most simple ways to the greatest way.

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And yeah, it's just, it's just, it's just interesting how

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there's missings in thought, from design concept to

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production, you know, which 90 a woman you know, like, and a

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woman will be driving this car, perhaps, and it was a sedan,

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there's a family sedan, but there was it was just never

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comfortable for me to drive. And I should have test drive. driven

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it but I love that story. Because, um, there we were, with

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a car that wasn't practical for me to drive.

Lindsay Poss:

I was actually watching a commercial last

Lindsay Poss:

night. And I don't know if you've seen the Google

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commercial. It's a very sweet commercial, where they talk

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about how they've changed. It's a family who were it's a

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children of deaf, or a child of deaf adults. And they have the

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sweet commercial, where they show their their grandbaby and

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how they can communicate with technology with the pandemic and

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closed captioning also. And my husband looked at me and said,

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How much sugar do you think we would have gotten that

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technology if there was a deaf person in the room when phones

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were being made? And I was like, Holy crap. That's a great claim.

Lindsay Poss:

And that's not to say that that technology isn't amazing. And

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I'm very glad that it has been developed. But you just invite

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so much more opportunity for innovation by including people

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who have different stories and backgrounds and ability sets and

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superpowers and all kinds of things. That was kind of an eye

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popping thought for me. And read along those lines and staying up

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with tech. How do you stay current with emerging

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technologies as we start seeing more, more tech development and

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all kinds of now we have FaceTime and zoom, we're good He

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is in effects. And we're starting to live in the

Lindsay Poss:

metaverse, and you can go try it on your Nikes and Nikes

Lindsay Poss:

metaverse. How do you stay up to date? With all of that? I know

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you mentioned it's a passion of yours to stay current with

Lindsay Poss:

technology.

Unknown:

You know, I think that when I was a very young man, I

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loved hanging out with my grandfather, he was just

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literally one of the most consistent people in my life.

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And I just appreciated that so much that I saw him regularly,

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almost daily. And, um, this was my grandfather on my dad's side.

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Now, my grandparents on my mom's side were immigrants. So we

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would, they would come stay with us the whole summer. My

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grandfather on my dad's side, was really interested in helping

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me create a mindset, you know, toward success. So, you know, he

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taught me how to play chess. And he, you know, I told him that I

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wanted to start running marathons. So we would go to the

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library, read about whatever it was that I would bring up, we

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would end up with the library, and we would end up studying it.

Unknown:

So I'm going to answer that by saying mindset. He, the very

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last thing he ever said to me when I was going on a business

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trip, was, yeah, he was so cute, because he was trying to go with

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the Google me, you know, but he was saying, email me. And that

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was his he figured email would be called Yahoo, because Yahoo

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was his email. And it's just a cute example of trying to stay

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ahead of what you think might become. Next, be comfortable. If

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you're wrong, it doesn't matter. Yet, no one knows. You know,

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there's no really definitive, there's no losing, losing, is

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just not trying. Losing is just that pulling out a chair, and

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sitting at a table and being in community. I mean, that's an I

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digress. USDA is built by members, you know, for members,

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for our industry. immunity is, you know, what we're all about?

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So, um, so my answer for that is mindset. I love that. I love

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that

Lindsay Poss:

story about your grandfather. And I think that he

Lindsay Poss:

was onto something when he said stay current, even if he wasn't

Lindsay Poss:

necessarily on to something when it comes to Yeah.

Unknown:

Yeah, that's a category. And it wasn't until,

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you know, that was one from him. And it wasn't until a few

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minutes, I'm like, Oh, my dad gave me an email. That's funny.

Lindsay Poss:

Yeah, that's great, though. Yeah. staying up

Lindsay Poss:

to date, keeping that open mind as we age, the open versus

Lindsay Poss:

crystallized mind. And open mind. Yeah. Fourth, what's

Lindsay Poss:

coming? is really fun. And, and I certainly hope that more

Lindsay Poss:

people can a lot of bad news swirling about the metaverse,

Lindsay Poss:

but I hope that people can keep an open mind and get excited

Lindsay Poss:

about some of the technologies that are coming.

Unknown:

Or that are already here. Mmm, yeah. And you know,

Unknown:

and that, I think, is where I'm, I, I ended up in industries

Unknown:

where there is play, you know, and I grew up where it was fun

Unknown:

to discover, you know, I, when I went to do the triathlon, I

Unknown:

remember he gave me the three books, and I was thinking, Oh,

Unknown:

God, I didn't realize this complicated you want to try now.

Unknown:

But I'm having fun, really, you know, being playful, about

Unknown:

whatever it is you want to talk about? Sure, there's got to be

Unknown:

some anchors of, you know, educate, you know, motivate, you

Unknown:

know, come with something, but it's okay to not know, it's okay

Unknown:

to just have it be a conversation. Like, you know,

Unknown:

who really knows that at first. And if they say they know, you

Unknown:

know, that's even scarier.

Lindsay Poss:

That's such a good point. That's one of the things

Lindsay Poss:

that I'm definitely trying to do with this podcast, as we develop

Lindsay Poss:

further technologies. And as we get in there, you know, women

Lindsay Poss:

and a lot of other folks weren't involved in the growth of social

Lindsay Poss:

media. And that's been a huge technology that's completely

Lindsay Poss:

changed the way we've we've lived in our world and connected

Lindsay Poss:

with people, and it really has hurt what we've been able to do

Lindsay Poss:

in that space. And I don't want that to happen with the next

Lindsay Poss:

iteration of technologies that comes out. And I think it's

Lindsay Poss:

important to to be like you said uncomfortable not knowing but to

Lindsay Poss:

still take a seat at the table and to talk through issues and

Lindsay Poss:

to realize it's okay to not have the answers, but that your

Lindsay Poss:

opinion still matters. And, and that's I'm very passionate about

Lindsay Poss:

doing that, because I didn't do that for myself. For a long

Lindsay Poss:

time, I thought I had to know that everyone else knew

Lindsay Poss:

everything, and I was the one that was behind. So I really

Lindsay Poss:

appreciate you saying that and bringing attention to that,

Lindsay Poss:

because I do think it's so important, like, get out there

Lindsay Poss:

and talk about it, even if you're not sure. And a way to

Lindsay Poss:

talk about it, which I'm so excited. This is a perfect

Lindsay Poss:

transition to the last little segment I had, because one of

Lindsay Poss:

the ways to talk about it is through podcasting. I want to

Lindsay Poss:

get your opinion on podcasting because your podcast hosts and

Lindsay Poss:

you've mentioned esports connected. I have a podcast host

Lindsay Poss:

we're currently on a podcast seems like a good platform to

Lindsay Poss:

talk about podcasting. So what do you like about putting

Lindsay Poss:

content in podcast form?

Unknown:

Okay, so when we first started the association, we had

Unknown:

a podcast that we were working on. And I wanted to be behind

Unknown:

the scenes, as much as I'm not in association management, which

Unknown:

is what I was born and bred to do, in my opinion, trade, trade

Unknown:

association management. We're more servant leaders, or behind

Unknown:

the scenes people we help bring, you know, the industry leaders

Unknown:

forward. So I wouldn't call myself a esports. Expert, right.

Unknown:

It's my job to create the community to bring the experts

Unknown:

forward. Okay, that's my mission. So when the podcast

Unknown:

came on my desk, that I had to be the host, it wasn't my idea.

Unknown:

And it was very fortunate that I just read the book, everyone

Unknown:

communicates few connect, because it was such a great book

Unknown:

about genuinely connecting with people. And right away, what

Unknown:

went through my head was, boy, I hear from all these members

Unknown:

about what they're doing, and what they're up to. And it's

Unknown:

really such a great day, to hear two to four member stories. Why

Unknown:

do you want to join? Tell me what you're doing? Let's see if

Unknown:

it's a fit. And then I thought, well, if I can, so for about a

Unknown:

month, I asked members, would you tell me that on a show if I

Unknown:

asked you doing like my own little research? And they were

Unknown:

like, well, yeah, of course. And then I thought, well, we can

Unknown:

reach more people. And this could be around when I'm, I knew

Unknown:

nothing about broadcasting, nothing about podcasting. But

Unknown:

what I did know, is I wanted to connect with people. I wanted to

Unknown:

highlight and spotlight our members, and have them share

Unknown:

their stories. And that is trade association, community

Unknown:

management right there, really. And that first year, I must have

Unknown:

grown 10 15,000 subscribers or followers in my LinkedIn. And

Unknown:

then when I was like, Oh, my God, look at all of these new

Unknown:

friends I have that are like listening to this. It was my it

Unknown:

was it was 1000s of people that were appreciating learning about

Unknown:

our member stories. And that's it. So we have this wonderful

Unknown:

network. And the these wonderful people that that assured me that

Unknown:

it would be okay. That supported me in areas that I could never

Unknown:

do. And it was one of the best things you know I've ever done.

Unknown:

And we we record it, the network does their magic and the current

Unknown:

content goes out in record time. It allows us to stay as relevant

Unknown:

as possible in our ever changing world. And it's allowed me to

Unknown:

challenge myself and to grow in the broadcast realm and help the

Unknown:

industry shine. Being in the spotlight as a woman was not

Unknown:

only necessarily my goal, it isn't always easy, especially

Unknown:

for video and an audio product. But we're in a niche industry.

Unknown:

And I'm proud to represent women who like to break into this

Unknown:

industry and or whatever industry they're in. I say go

Unknown:

for it.

Lindsay Poss:

It's funny that you say that because I was

Lindsay Poss:

thinking back maybe about a We'd go after a day of recording and

Lindsay Poss:

I thought, I really thought I'd be hosting Brian a podcast. But

Lindsay Poss:

I actually realized when I was in, in middle school, I decided

Lindsay Poss:

that as the profession, I wanted to be a news anchor. And I had

Lindsay Poss:

forgotten about that. My my interests sort of changed over

Lindsay Poss:

time. But I don't think that ever went away fully either.

Lindsay Poss:

Other things might have gotten pushed to the top of the list as

Lindsay Poss:

what are what do I want to be when I grow up, but I think

Lindsay Poss:

broadcast journalism was always kind of there for me. So it's

Lindsay Poss:

been fun to circle back to that in some form.

Unknown:

Isn't that interesting? John Maxwell always says, you

Unknown:

know, work in the area that your strengths are. And when you hear

Unknown:

you were, you know, a young lady thinking that you liked, or

Unknown:

you're inspired by music anchors, I was to very early on,

Unknown:

someone said to me, I was on a business trip in Indianapolis.

Unknown:

And someone said to me, you sound like a news anchor on

Unknown:

television. I was, you know, Indiana is one state away from

Unknown:

Chicago formula. And I said, Well, what do you think I sound

Unknown:

different than you? And then I thought, Ah, right, shortly

Unknown:

after that someone wanted me to do a broadcast there. And I

Unknown:

said, No, no, I'm, I'm a behind the scenes. And, you know, and

Unknown:

here we are, like, what your purpose? Is it, you know, find

Unknown:

it or it will find you. That's right.

Lindsay Poss:

That's, I feel like it found me you but I'm

Lindsay Poss:

happy to be here, that's the same. What would you recommend

Lindsay Poss:

for people who are looking to start their own podcasts,

Lindsay Poss:

especially in the esports space,

Unknown:

that's, you know, that's something I wish I had a

Unknown:

little bit more time for her. I know, you'll love this, like,

Unknown:

you know, do your research, study the types of podcasts you

Unknown:

like to consume, you know, create something that would be

Unknown:

your way, your style, you can get started with very little

Unknown:

overhead, and in equipment, stir practice, practicing, you know,

Unknown:

actively start to talk to people, create your templates

Unknown:

that allow you to grow organically, find editors and

Unknown:

producers that support your vision. There's nothing better

Unknown:

than working in collaboration. And when you find your team, you

Unknown:

know, build tiny little community. Um, I, you know,

Unknown:

personally, I love mapping out content, you know, for six

Unknown:

months, 12 months, three months, and you know, just see how how

Unknown:

it can be supportive together. And oh, my gosh, I also strongly

Unknown:

I love Oh, post, it's so fun. I love taking my show on the road,

Unknown:

you know, because if you really know, like, my vision is to

Unknown:

truly bring the community, you know, to the podcast, right? And

Unknown:

whether it's to me, a co host, live, relax, you know, we're all

Unknown:

on a journey together. And so I play around with it. I love

Unknown:

that. That's

Lindsay Poss:

so fun. And podcasting really has been fun.

Lindsay Poss:

But there is, to your point about do research, there is more

Lindsay Poss:

to it than first appears. So I don't know what you're getting

Lindsay Poss:

into. The one thing I do really love about it is it's made me a

Lindsay Poss:

much better listener. I find myself in real life asking

Lindsay Poss:

questions as I would if I were hosting a podcast, follow ups

Lindsay Poss:

and stuff, do you? Oh, thank you. Do you ever find yourself

Lindsay Poss:

in real life thinking like, Oh, can you tell me about that a

Lindsay Poss:

little more. I do that all the time. Now. Before we get to our

Lindsay Poss:

last little segment that I like to do in every show, I want to

Lindsay Poss:

just give a short summary of what we talked about. We started

Lindsay Poss:

with a discussion, discussion on community, how people really

Lindsay Poss:

want to be together, especially after two years we've had and

Lindsay Poss:

that it's important to create a welcoming space to bring

Lindsay Poss:

everyone into those in bringing everyone actually together. One

Lindsay Poss:

of the core tenants that you mentioned that I thought was

Lindsay Poss:

really important in building a piece of community was

Lindsay Poss:

empowering leaders to create teams that they're passionate

Lindsay Poss:

about and bringing people that that could share that passion

Lindsay Poss:

with them. That also then worked under the overall mission. So I

Lindsay Poss:

thought it was really clever the way you kind of go down, you

Lindsay Poss:

break up the levels a little bit. Get everyone on the bottom

Lindsay Poss:

tier of the pyramid excited and then as you work your way up,

Lindsay Poss:

everyone kind of comes together. Um, you mentioned a lot about

Lindsay Poss:

John Maxwell strategy and Everyone communicates few

Lindsay Poss:

Connect for how to do that. We also talked about what excites

Lindsay Poss:

you about esports. And what brought you into the gaming

Lindsay Poss:

industry, a great anecdote about how the AV folks used to be in

Lindsay Poss:

the broom closet. Now they're the ones hosting and running the

Lindsay Poss:

conferences, which I think is really a good anecdote for how

Lindsay Poss:

how much Tech has grown and what an industry it's become, and how

Lindsay Poss:

it's become respected. And that's

Unknown:

really, really relevant.

Lindsay Poss:

He talked a bit about the future, how we're

Lindsay Poss:

going to incorporate dei principles and what those

Lindsay Poss:

changes are going to look like. One of the points that you

Lindsay Poss:

brought up that I just loved was that people who live in a world

Lindsay Poss:

that's not built for them are the ones who tend to innovate.

Lindsay Poss:

And so finding those folks looking at their voices,

Lindsay Poss:

providing channels so that people can actually report

Lindsay Poss:

problems and come up with ideas and share their own experiences

Lindsay Poss:

is really important. When we talk about building the

Lindsay Poss:

metaverse and bringing in those dei principles, we have the

Lindsay Poss:

power to advance or hold ourselves back. So we talked a

Lindsay Poss:

lot about that. And it's important to weave inclusion

Lindsay Poss:

into all of these sectors is important to be cognizant of

Lindsay Poss:

where you fall short, and how you can actually make up for

Lindsay Poss:

those shortcomings. We talked about how you stay current with

Lindsay Poss:

emerging technologies, which a wonderful story about your, your

Lindsay Poss:

grandfather, and yeah, who me, which I think is probably gonna

Lindsay Poss:

wind up being the title of this episode. But that's just a

Lindsay Poss:

wonderful, wonderful way of reminding yourself that you're

Lindsay Poss:

never too old to learn something new, you're never too old to be

Lindsay Poss:

excited for what's to come. You're never too old to play,

Lindsay Poss:

and to learn what's out there. And I think that that's just so

Lindsay Poss:

important. And we ended with a little discussion on podcasting,

Lindsay Poss:

where it's important to do your own research, build a small

Lindsay Poss:

network around you that supports it, and share with everyone you

Lindsay Poss:

possibly can about what you're doing that helps grow your own

Lindsay Poss:

audience. It's the last little segment that I like to do with

Lindsay Poss:

everyone who comes on the show, the moment of reflection, it's a

Lindsay Poss:

chance for you to look back and offer advice to other people who

Lindsay Poss:

are listening. So what is one thing you would like to tell

Lindsay Poss:

your younger self about getting into the gaming industry and

Lindsay Poss:

being successful?

Unknown:

Boy, you know, I think if there's one thing that I do

Unknown:

tell myself, is that everything happens perfectly. If you ever

Unknown:

watch that movie, Slumdog Millionaire, and he wins, and

Unknown:

it's an impossible journey to win, they set up this, this

Unknown:

movie, so no one could win. But when you really sit back, and

Unknown:

you look at your life, or even one day, and you look at the

Unknown:

miracles that happen all day long for you to have, support

Unknown:

the universe to do your gift. And relax, that you wouldn't be

Unknown:

who you are, if you didn't do what you did, and what you're

Unknown:

doing. So I think that, you know, when I was growing up, you

Unknown:

know, I had a very traumatic upbringing with the loss of my

Unknown:

father. And I couldn't understand, you know, why things

Unknown:

would be so hard at such a tender age. And but it really

Unknown:

made me a very sensitive young girl, a very deep young girl.

Unknown:

And then I had this incredible bond with stone, many people in

Unknown:

my community that went above and beyond, to help raise me. You

Unknown:

know, I was raised in a community that I devoted people

Unknown:

that knew our mom needed help. And here I am this, you know,

Unknown:

leader that really believes most of all, and healing together,

Unknown:

because it's, it is much harder and much more challenging to

Unknown:

heal alone. So my advice is, sit back, relax, take a deep breath.

Unknown:

And just take one day at a time, one hour at a time, one podcast

Unknown:

at a time, one book at a time. If you sell read the hardcover

Unknown:

books, which I do. And trust, trust your own, trust your

Unknown:

journey, because you already really special and you have a

Unknown:

mission in this earth.

Lindsay Poss:

Oh, well, that was just the warmest way to end it

Lindsay Poss:

that made my heart so happy. Megan, thank you so much for

Lindsay Poss:

coming on. I know we already talked where people can find

Lindsay Poss:

you. And I know that's on LinkedIn. But is there any other

Lindsay Poss:

resources you want to share or plug? Well, you

Unknown:

know, I would love for anyone that's interested in

Unknown:

esports and the industry of esports to check out our

Unknown:

website. It's the sports trade association if you Google it,

Unknown:

and if you'd like to Type it in it's esports taa.org. And I

Unknown:

would be happy to jump on a call with anyone that is

Unknown:

contemplating joining or coming to our event, we have an

Unknown:

incredible opportunity that you know, thank you, Lindsey for

Unknown:

speaking on our panel in August here in Chicago, brought to you

Unknown:

by Morgan Stanley. It's going to be a wonderful day and a half

Unknown:

where we're inviting people to Chicago, we're starting with a

Unknown:

Wrigley baseball game. And we have a wonderful networking

Unknown:

event. The next day, we're doing power speed networking, we have

Unknown:

an elevator pitch, which is similar to shark thing. And then

Unknown:

we have a full day of sessions, where you can really truly, you

Unknown:

know, pick and choose what you'd like to, to, to watch and learn

Unknown:

about. And we hope to see you all there August 22 through the

Unknown:

25th. And our event is titled esports. Next, brought to you by

Unknown:

Morgan Stanley. And everyone should

Lindsay Poss:

go because August 22 is my birthday.

Unknown:

Are you gonna go to the Cubs game? I'm hoping so. But

Lindsay Poss:

if not esports trade association is throwing me

Lindsay Poss:

like the biggest longest birthday party for her

Unknown:

and I guess if we're going to the game, let me know

Unknown:

because I think that they you know, they do special things for

Unknown:

birthdays like on a big screen.

Lindsay Poss:

That's okay, we if we go I'm telling you. You just

Lindsay Poss:

bag Lindsey. Oh my gosh. Oh, well. Megan, thank you so much.

Lindsay Poss:

For all of our listeners out there. Be sure to leave those

Lindsay Poss:

five star ratings and reviews that helps other people find the

Lindsay Poss:

show. Also, it just warms my heart. So that's good to be sure

Lindsay Poss:

to check out other holodeck media podcasts, including better

Lindsay Poss:

business for all the metaverse, finance stories you could ever

Lindsay Poss:

want in business esports for interviews with industry

Lindsay Poss:

leaders, I'm on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn Lindsey

Lindsay Poss:

pass. You can catch me Wednesday nights on the business of

Lindsay Poss:

esports live after show and you can catch this podcast in your

Lindsay Poss:

feed every week. We'll see you next week.

Unknown:

Thank you, Lindsay.

Unknown:

Thanks for joining us here on meta woman. Make sure to

Unknown:

subscribe to this podcast everywhere you get your

Unknown:

podcasts, leave a five star review and tell your friends

Unknown:

family and colleagues all about us. Also, make sure to follow

Unknown:

meta TV on all socials to get more of the best Metaverse

Unknown:

content anywhere. Tune in every week for another episode of

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About the Podcast

META Woman
Weekly metaverse content - for women, by women
Meta Woman will focus on addressing the issues, opportunities, and challenges facing women in the development of the Metaverse. Top female executives and business people operating within the gaming and crypto industries bring a wide range of perspectives through regular guest appearances.