Joy & Eddie Johnson Part 2

Summary

Joy Johnson of A Joyous Event and her husband Eddie Johnson, Suns alumni legend and Sirius XM NBA Radio host, walk Rachel through Part 2 of how they actually work together on her event company. The standout stories: their daughter's wedding bookcase used for table seating with named books for each guest, the LaSalle Thompson squirt-bottle prank that sent germophobe Eddie running to a hotel bathroom shower mid-roast, and Eddie quietly heading backstage during a Helping Hands gala when a speaker mic stopped working because if he could see it, others could too.

Key takeaways

1. The spouse who attends is sometimes the spouse who saves the event — Eddie won't usually critique Joy mid-event, but when a speaker mic went out during a Helping Hands gala he walked backstage and told the tech team. If one person notices, others do too, and they sit on it through the rest of the program.
2. The seating-card moment is the photo moment — Joy's daughter's wedding used a bookcase as the table-seating display with named books for every guest. People take pictures of it. The wow factor is when guests can touch what the event was about.
3. Centerpieces always get stolen — Joy and Eddie agree it's the truest signal that a centerpiece worked. When the wow factor is in the table, every guest is going home with something.
4. The most fun is when the event isn't cookie-cutter — Eddie's favorite events are the ones where the path to the ask isn't obvious. Meet, greet, dinner, ask for money is monotony. Helping Hands has stuck because Joy designs the road there to feel like a party first.
5. Build the company so someone wants to buy it, not so you can walk away — Eddie's advice to Joy: keep building A Joyous Event to the point where the equity is in the brand, not in Joy's daily attention. Hard work doesn't get walked away from. It gets sold.

Transcript

00:00 With over 33 years in the mobile bartending and service industry, he is the guy who brings the party and joy wherever he goes. She's a seasoned event planner with more than 20 years of experience. Together we are Hot Mics, Cold Drinks and Untold Disasters.

00:27 This is the Event Talk podcast with Dave and Rachel.

00:31 Hi everybody. Welcome to the Event Talk podcast — part two of the Johnson family. Eddie Johnson, Suns alumni legend joining us today, but more importantly his amazing wife Joy Johnson, A Joyous Event. Obviously we're talking about events. The highlight today is definitely her. But I do have quite a few questions today for Eddie.

01:24 None of your kids have taken on these careers. Daughter is a beautiful talent singer, Justin kills it in the community. We're on a board together — Helping Hands for Single Moms. Joy, have you ever volun-told Eddie to do something to help you in planning an event? He's so helpful. Especially when it comes to lifting boxes and packing my vehicle. If you want to eat dinner you got to help me pack these 100 swag bags.

03:38 Eddie, any volunteer duties you don't like doing? Probably packing the bags. Other than that I'll do anything else. I enjoy that she has events. It keeps her going. When we first got married it's an adjustment — athletes are on different schedules. I'd come home from practice at 12:30, 1:00, tired, and she's ready to start her day.

06:07 As the kids got older, she got the understanding of what I went through. Now when I talk to her, in her event planning company, my basketball wasn't going to be forever and she found her own thing. So yeah, I have to help because I'm the one that encouraged her to do it.

07:25 What's your favorite event you've attended, Eddie? Alcohol-related. Golf events. But the ones with really tremendous guest speakers, polarizing and interesting. Most events are cookie cutter — meet and greet, dinner, ask for money. That's why I love the way Joy designed the Helping Hands for Single Moms events. We have a lot of fun, take the monotony out. The road to asking for the money has to be a little deceptive — you smooth your way into it.

09:09 Joy, favorite events to attend? I love weddings — not so much planning them, just seeing two people pledge themselves. But probably my favorite events are fashion shows. Former model — I love fashion. Anything surrounding a fashion show fundraiser. See the latest fashion. When you have noted designers come to town and you get to meet them. Throw in a nice lunch.

11:48 Concerts for me. I have a feeling behind the scenes — the whole idea of putting a concert together. We just went to Kenny Chesney at The Sphere. You said the video doesn't work, the whole thing is gone. Amazing. You don't watch the concert — my wife kept staring at the screen the whole time. You definitely want to go and see a concert there.

14:31 Eddie, do you ever give Joy feedback right after the event? Quite honestly they're so small sometimes I don't say anything. If things come across like "say something," of course. I won't go up to her in the middle of an event. One event the speaker wasn't working — I'm not going to take that chance, I'll get up out of my seat and go back and tell her. Because if I'm seeing it, somebody else is too, and they're going to hold it and eat it until it's over. So I want to fix it. Certain people that show up at events — they're not coming to have fun per se, they're coming to look and see what they can find wrong.

16:56 Joy, are you happy to hear the critiques? Absolutely. Especially for Helping Hands for Single Moms — "honey, what do you think? How did it go? What could we have done better?" One time something was going on with the Wi-Fi at registration, the lines were long, and we had to have our VIPs in line. He came in — "honey, what's going on with the Wi-Fi?" — and we had to get the tech team to fix it quickly.

17:54 The first roast we did — Mike Woodson came. Eddie's a germophobe. LaSalle Thompson — former NBA player, worked for him in New York — walked past him, acted like he sneezed, but he had a squirt bottle. Squirted him on the back of the head. Eddie ran out of the room, took a shower in the bathroom. That was a memorable story.

20:13 Something that has wowed you at one of Joy's events? Her weddings are the ones that get me. I know how special that is for the bride and groom. If she's given the budget to do it — I would love for somebody to just give her a crazy budget. The Oliver wedding at the Phoenix Art Museum — they rented out all these awards. Just being creative.

22:11 My daughter just got married in March. To get your table seat — a bookcase with books with everybody's name on them. So creative. Wow. That you take a picture of. The technology now is amazing for events. Trends — anything coming that hasn't been done? We did Cool Off in Style and they took linens and made a waterfall with projectors. That kind of effect.

24:14 The wow factor with events is when all the guests know what the event is about. They steal the table setting. Centerpieces. Everyone steals the centerpieces.

26:13 Do you like seeing each other in action? Eddie: I'm very proud when I see her accomplish something. I'm the one that really got her into the space. Just let her find herself. Now when I see what she's done, we talked the other day about how many events she's done and the transition away from her company eventually here in the near future. Build it up to the point where people would want to come in and purchase the company instead of walking away. All the hard work is in it now — no one walks away from their house after they paid it all off.

28:51 Joy, seeing Eddie? Hardest working man in show business. Very proud of his accomplishments. Impressed by his knowledge of the game and how he conveys it so eloquently. People texting me, "oh my God, he's so knowledgeable, he should be a coach." He's probably more popular in this space now than when he played. We can't walk through the arena without people yelling his name. Kids who know him from listening to him on TV or Sirius XM.

30:31 He just wrote another book — a thriller. He woke up from a dream one night. Joy, are you going to write a book? People always tell me I should. Idea: ask every planner one story and write a book — favorite event, least favorite, untold disasters. We should do a coffee table book.

31:25 When are you going to retire? I've worked since I was 14, I don't know if I could sit down. Three hours a day, I do my radio show from home. I don't have to get in the car. Talk about something that I can talk about in my sleep for three hours a day. But the Suns situation — traveling is what gets you. My days are coming to an end. I don't think three years from now I'll be doing it, maybe two.

33:51 When you both retire, where? TBD. Mexico. We're leaving for our anniversary July 2nd. Going there right after the last event.

34:34 Thank you guys so much for joining us today. I appreciate your knowledge. We have great stuff happening. Like, subscribe, all that fun stuff.

36:56 Thanks for tuning in to the Event Talk podcast — Hot Mics, Cold Drinks and Untold Disasters where every event has a story. Until next time.