S7E1: Rebranding

Hello, my favorite people on the internet! Dr. K here and I am so excited to be BACK and bringing you a brand-new podcast: Experience University! This has been in the works for so long and I have many new things to share. It has been quite a year since I last posted a podcast and today we are going to get into all that has changed. 

Today we are discussing:

What has been going on and why this podcast went MIA (0:53)
Rebranding Extraordinary Events to Experience University (1:51)
My journey with Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) (7:30)
My first ever Ted Talk on behavior change design (11:44)
Getting back into the podcast world (12:28)
What we are launching as Experience University (13:12)

Connect with us on our socials!
Facebook: Experience University
TikTok: @DrKDoesParenting @EventswithDrK
Instagram: @kristin.malek

Transcript

Dr. K:

You are listening to the Experience University podcast with Doctor K. Season 7, episode 1.

Speaker 2:

Welcome to Experience University, where we aim to educate, inspire, and empower individuals who wish to design transformational experiences. Now, your host, Dr. Kristin Malek.

Dr. K:

Hello, hello my friends. Oh, my goodness. It has been so long since I have stood in front of the podcast microphone for my own podcast. It has been literally a year since I have released a podcast, and this is simply unacceptable. What has been going on in the past year? What has kept me from all of you, these incredible people? I've actually had so many of you reach out and say, "Are you OK? I've been listening for the podcast. What's going on?" If you're following me on socials or connected to me on LinkedIn, you know, it's been an absolutely insane year, and I'm here to fill you in on all that and to talk about the podcast.

So first, you may have noticed that we are launching season seven. So this is episode 104, I believe. We've gone from individually listing the episodes in the 100, 101, 102 type of format. We have rebranded to be in seasons so that aligns better with certain calendars and making sure that there's some time off, and it just works better in terms of editing and releasing the podcast.

Second, you'll understand we had a major rebrand. If you do listen to last year's episode that was released last August, I talk about that in that podcast. I say we've got exciting things coming up, crazy things, and we're gonna rebrand the podcast. Well, it took a year, but we have done our rebranding. So you'll notice we have a new logo and a new name. Instead of the Extraordinary Events Initiative or the Extraordinary Events Podcast, we are rebranding to Experience University or Experience U. And we have a lot of different offerings that are going with this. We have online courses that have already been developed that we're releasing. We've got additional kind of CEU-type training. We obviously have the podcast. We have a lot of things that I was already doing piecemeal in different areas, and we're just bringing it all together underneath this label of Experience You at Experience University.

So this is the Experience University Podcast, which is all things event and experience design, and that is what we will be focusing on. Second, if you follow anything about me on socials already, you will see that it's been a crazy year, and that crazy year has partially been because I was invited to do a TED talk. And my TED Talk was about my specific niche area in behavior change design.

Now, the first six seasons or the first 102 or 103 episodes of the Extraordinary Events podcast have really been about event basics or event logistics. And interestingly, this podcast was, and still is being used, as supplementary material in some classes all around the world. So there are some universities in London that have reached out, and they're using this in conjunction with their books and in their classes. We've got some in Eastern Asia that have been using it. So, some really incredible things from this logistical standpoint.

And as you all know, if you're in events or experience management or design, then you know, there's only so much you can cover on logistics. We had some cool insights from students, and we had awesome industry interviews. And I really sat there and said, "Okay, this podcast is trying to be all things to everybody, and that's awesome, but it's not effective because we're not reaching specific target markets that really want or need this information."

So I thought about releasing a brand new podcast and kind of letting the Extraordinary Events Podcast sit out there in the universe on its own and creating a whole new separate podcast. But honestly, the target market for these podcasts are still the same people in terms of people that are interested in event and experience design.

But we're gonna really dive in deep here. We're going to sit here and we're gonna talk about aspects that nobody else is talking about. So the first six seasons will still live here. You can still go back and learn all the interesting and fascinating things from purpose, to site selection, to elements of budget, how to customize your LinkedIn, and all of these episodes. We've got incredible industry speakers that came talking about how events are related to emergency management and crisis and things like that. But from episode one and season seven, which is this, going forward, we're really gonna talk about the different layers of events, the differences between event coordinator, event manager, event designer, event strategist, and behavior change design. And I am going to be talking a lot more about behavior change design because that's really where the future, in my personal opinion, Doctor K, at my personal opinion of where we need to be going. And it's a unique perspective.

Hey, I got two LinkedIn messages just the other day like, "Kristin, we wanna learn how to do what you do. Can you please give us some resources?" And I'm like, "That's awesome.” I have four degrees and 27 certifications across eight different industries, and I am a polymath. So I see kind of all these totally different areas, and I see how they overlap and I see how the center parts of those, how they relate, and then how they specifically go into events. So even if I told you the 27 certifications or any of these things, it doesn't mean that you're necessarily going to see the linkages. So I started offering online courses and I did some free master classes, and then I put together a course and it's been such a hit, and I really want to bring that into the podcast and that's what we're gonna be doing. We're gonna be talking about designing for behavior and mindset change, designing events and experiences that specifically focus on this behavior and mindset change. Now, will there be some more quote-unquote elementary concepts? Yeah, there will be because sometimes that stuff is essential to get to that behavior change design. But this is really going to be the focus going forward.

So what's been going on in my life over the last year? And what has led to this rebrand? Well, wow, a lot. So last December, I became certified in Neurolinguistics, NLP, and I became a practitioner, and then later on, I became a master practitioner. And let me tell you, this has kind of changed my life in many ways. Understanding from a neuroscience and in the brain aspect, that 5% is your conscious mind and 95% is your unconscious mind. And so I like to sit there and I give this analogy of when you're a child, when you're growing up in your environment, a lot of seeds are planted in your unconscious mind. And some of those seeds turn out to be beautiful flowers that sprout up through this critical wedge into your conscious mind. And some of those turn into weeds, and those weeds sprout up and they go through your conscious mind, and the more educated you are and the more disciplined you are, you can consistently cut down those weeds, right? You can run that lawnmower and that weed whacker in your conscious mind over and over again to where you think you've really conquered these weeds or this unwanted growth in your conscious mind. But you're never actually digging out the roots and really getting to the deep root because that's in your unconscious mind. 

I found through neurolinguistics that you can talk with, communicate, program, and unravel some of these roots in your unconscious mind, which was really difficult for me as a highly educated, analytical, and highly AD (attention-deficit) or sense-making person. It was challenging for me to accept a lot of this because even though it's well accepted in many other countries, in the United States, it's still considered woo-woo, partly because it has been unethically used in marketing and sales in some cases. It's been considered a bad thing, like, "Oh, you're learning how to manipulate people," but it really hasn't been that at all. 

And, I will say, through the experience of self-coaching and coaching with others, and the coaching certification, I was able to identify a lot of childhood things that had been buried deep and were creating a sense of shame and toxic shame. It wasn't at all what I thought it would be. I made a significant LinkedIn post in the spring about how I had been abused, sexually and emotionally, for many years as a child. It was challenging for me to come out about it, and I initially thought all my shame was wrapped around that, but it actually came from other roots related to my mom and her side of the family, and their reaction and response to that information. It's easy for us to label people based on what we think their issues are, but diving into it and releasing that toxic shame has been incredibly transformative. I've gained confidence, released imposter syndrome, and conquered procrastination. I feel privileged and blessed to help others do the same. I now work with speakers, authors, leaders, anyone who wants to explore their unconscious mind. I can facilitate eight- to ten-hour breakthroughs and have witnessed significant transformations and life changes. I do this on an individual level, but I also integrate concepts from neurolinguistics, psychology, neuroscience, and anthropology into experiences and event design for multiple people, and that's what we'll talk about on the podcast. I'm really, really excited for it.

Then I was asked to do a TED talk, which was about behavior change design. I spoke about a specific series of events within higher education aimed at getting tenured professors to change their behavior without additional incentives and become more innovative. The response to the TED talk has been incredible, leading to keynote speaking engagements at various levels, from high school to event associations and unrelated associations. So, I've been doing a lot of speaking, which is incredible. There's been a lot going on, but none of that excuses the fact that I haven't been making podcasts. I've actually been a guest on many other podcasts, and I love it. Just before recording this, I was on another podcast, and I have four different podcasts coming out within the next month from today, which is in the second week of September. I am just a guest on other people’s podcasts. I want to do that for my own audience. I miss you all, the interactions, comments, and messages. It's great to see the involvement, and I love it. My commitment to you all is that I'm dedicated to posting a podcast once a week. I have three people working with me now, and someone in charge of the podcast that will keep me on track. 

I'm also launching two TikTok accounts. One is @eventswithdrk for event and experience design. By the time this podcast is live, that will have also just been pushed live. So, go like and follow that page on TikTok. I’m also releasing a TikTok called @drkdoesparenting, where I'll share neurolinguistics-based parenting tips. And some of the things that I've done that a lot of other parents are like, oh my God, I have this one. My daughter's friend, her parent, is like, “Can you just take my daughter for like, eight weeks and just like, program her like Bella?” because my daughter is just absolutely incredible. A lot of parents are like, “What do you do? How is your daughter so nice and so disciplined and so, you know, funny and spunky and independent?” So I'm sharing a lot of those kind of hacks from a parenting perspective. I'm re-launching my Instagram and rebranding the Facebook page from Extraordinary Events to Experience University, which is an umbrella term for all our offerings. There's so much launching, and I promise that after taking a year off and getting super focused, I'm back, better than ever, and dedicated to you all. I'm so, so excited for what's to come, and you're all my friends and family. Thank you for following along on this journey with me. Thank you so much for listening, and I'll talk to you in the next episode.

Speaker 2:

Thanks for listening to the Experience University podcast. Stay tuned for our next episode.