Amplifying Employee Experience: How T-Mobile Uses Podcasts to Connect and Inspire

Samantha Grandinetti: Hi folks, welcome to the You've Got Comms Podcast. I'm Samantha, an internal communications manager at Staffbase. I'm thrilled today to speak with Blake Aviles, who is a senior communications specialist, employee engagement events at T-Mobile. Today, I'm thrilled that we're going to be speaking to Blake about the "Talking with Trailblazers" internal podcast that she produces for T-Mobile, and the lessons that she's learned about employee comms from this experience. So Blake, welcome to this podcast about a podcast. I know very meta. How are you doing today?

Blake Aviles: Hi, I'm doing great. Just here in sunny Seattle so life's good right now.

Samantha Grandinetti: I know. How often can you say it's sunny Seattle instead of gray and drizzly?

Blake Aviles: Six weeks out of the year, I think.

Samantha Grandinetti: Those glorious six weeks where the sun hits you and you get the only Vitamin D that you're going to get all year.

Blake Aviles: I know.

Samantha Grandinetti: You're just like "Yes!".

Blake Aviles: I could take it every day to survive. Yes.

Samantha Grandinetti: As a fellow, I mean I'm sure that we're like literally 30 minutes away from each other right now. I totally get it. Those sunny days are just magic for sure.

Blake Aviles: Yes. Agreed.

Samantha Grandinetti: So outside of work, Blake, I understand that you're an avid theme park buff and thrift shopper. So I just want to kick things off with a couple of questions, get to know you better. What is it about the theme parks? Are you like a rollercoaster person, or do you just love the theme park environment? Tell me a little bit about this passion.

Blake Aviles: I go for the vibes, but I think it's just because ever since I was a baby, I was feeling those vibes just growing up, and my family working in the theme park industry. And being surrounded by the magic and seeing the experience for those families now as a millennial adult. So it was nice to relive those slash see those memories being created with other families or just people going there without kids, too. But yeah, I really love the ability to go there, and it's well-lit, it's safe. There's lots of food to pick from. There's fireworks and thrilling rides or the chill ones like the PeopleMover and Magic Kingdom in Orlando.

Samantha Grandinetti: Oh, I love that. I am such a theme park ride person. And growing up in Vancouver always went to like Playland and the PNE and loved it. And the last time I went on a ride, I got so sick. And so I think they might be ruined forever and I'm like, "My adult body has betrayed me."

Blake Aviles: Just throw some Dramamine, less drowsy, throw it in your bag, you're good.

Samantha Grandinetti: I think I'll have to try again because I cannot stand

Blake Aviles: Not doing it.

Samantha Grandinetti: the idea that this is ruined forever for me. Yes.

Blake Aviles: No, it's not.

Samantha Grandinetti: And okay, that's very cool that you grew up with family working in theme parks and stuff. And that seems like a very special place to you. Tell me about thrifting. What's like a favorite thrift find that you've had?

Blake Aviles: Well, the favorite one is actually found in Florida. I went to school in a little town called Lakeland, which is between Tampa and Orlando. And I got this white crew neck sweater, and it says Epcot and it says the year 2000 across. And it's very simple design, but it's like my beloved find for $15 or $20, which is expensive in the thrifting world. But if you go to a vintage shop, they would have marked it up to 80 plus dollars, but it's very simple, and it's the year 2000. I know exactly how old it is. It's just something I don't want to get any stains on ever because it's pure white.

Samantha Grandinetti: That's awesome. Oh, I love that. Your little like Y2K swag.

Blake Aviles: Thank goodness those designers are doing it again. The Y2K design. So keeping things simple in the theme park thrifting realm.

Samantha Grandinetti: Yeah, I feel like there's so much cool stuff from that era that I was a child that I couldn't participate in quite everything. That's cool.

Blake Aviles: Exactly. Thank you. I live like right by the world . . . I don't know if it's the world's, but the nation's biggest Goodwill here in Seattle. So I spend a good, if I'm by myself, three hours or so, because there's so much to see. It's like a warehouse. So it's a good time.

Samantha Grandinetti: I need to talk to you about that later because I have questions. That's awesome. Things that I'm learning as a Seattle transplant.

Blake Aviles: Heck, yeah.

Samantha Grandinetti: Okay, so let's dive into this podcast because I'm so, so curious. And not a lot of internal communicators get the kind of creative freedom or leeway or budget and things like that, buy in, to create a podcast like this. But I think it's such a cool idea. I think there's pieces of this that people can embrace regardless of what your team looks like. So let's just start at the very beginning. What inspired this idea of starting an internal podcast?

Blake Aviles: So the "Talking with Trailblazers" series started as a in-person live event series back in 2018 for employees. And it's all about bringing these really inspirational leaders that are outside of the company, that are influential in some way. Whether they're celebrities or they're just moving things along to make the world a better place. And we've been seeing that the attendance rates have been going down. So we're like, "What's going on?" So we did surveys and focus groups and we just need to meet people where they are essentially. So they don't have time to sit down in Bellevue, Washington when we're literally a giant brand across the nation. So we had to travel around. We went to different locations, had events there. Those were great because they were more curated, but just the general employee can't attend. So we made it more of a virtual thing. We're still going to have some live podcasts on the road events, but we have mainly prerecorded ones now. So that gives the ability and the flexibility, not just for the talent, but the person that's interviewing them. It's like a fireside chat, is what we like to do. It's like an intimate setting. So it's just like on a stage, usually two people side by side, but with the podcast, it's the person, let's just say Jon M. Chu, joining from his apartment with nice lighting, a good mic, which I'm sure he's a pro at. And then we have a senior leadership member or VP plus employee interviewing them. And it's all stuff that we put together for them so they feel well-prepared and not just showing up to talk to this amazing person that may seem intimidating, but he's not, he's great.

Samantha Grandinetti: I'm definitely going to have to come back to Jon Chu. That's amazing. So it started off as this in-person series. You were like, "Listen, people can't just like close up shop at a T-Mobile store. Or hop on over from their desk. It's not possible for that many people to join in person. And let's really think about how we maximize the effectiveness of this sort of event." Right? So it moved to a podcast. Can I ask you a little bit about talking with these really big names and we'll go into the cast of characters that you had on this podcast. What kind of need are you serving for your employees with these conversations? Can you tell me a little bit about that?

Blake Aviles: Yeah. I'll go into like the need of it, but also how we were able to get there for the employees. So did a ton of research on other companies doing podcasts just because, you, your parents, your grandparents, children, anybody can listen to a podcast or find something that's appealing to them because it's a different type of media to where you can be on the go. You don't have to be watching something. It's more accessible too for people that focus on hearing or need to see the subtitles. It meets everybody where they're able to listen to it. But the reason we do these is because people come to work, yes, but we want them to be happy to come to work and be like, "Wow, I get to listen to X, Y, and Z person." And they're really inspiring to me and this is how it's contributing to my work. Because we always tie it back into the brand in some way as to what the theme is. So I usually, as I mentioned, focus groups and surveys, after every single event or podcast, we do a survey, and I ask them like, "Was it valuable?"

And then they can go into why or why not, and then what they want from the next one, and so on. So that's how we kind of pick the topics. But like I was saying, they are courageous conversations. Sometimes the topics are hard, and we are living in a world where we don't know what tomorrow will be like. So just creating a community and being like, "We see what you're going through, we're going through it with you, may not be the same storyline, same exact way, but we are trying our best along with you to make the best of what we got right now."

Samantha Grandinetti: Yeah,so it's about belonging and creating that community and just enhancing the employee experience at work. Very cool. You mentioned that these are courageous conversations, and a lot of what your staff might be going through is influencing some of the topics. Can you give me some examples of some topics that you've covered?

Blake Aviles: Yeah so, some of the recent ones were standing up for impact, which like we had a Magenta Giving Month, so time for volunteering, so creating direct impact and then betting on yourself. We had some about building winning teams and winning together. Some of them are sports focused, but some are not. So if there's a big company move happening or a collaboration like All-Star Week, we try to find where we can fit that in if possible. But those are the recent ones. And then another one, similar to how T-Mobile and Sprint merged back in the day, not too long ago, but it feels like a long time ago. We are reimagining a classic. So Sprint is this brand that we had very loyal followers, employees, and customers. So bringing those along with us with the Magenta side now. That's how we formed the Jon M. Chu conversation was reimagining a classic, and how he reimagined the Wicked Broadway musical into my favorite movie ever. Very important.

Samantha Grandinetti: That's really interesting. So you take a concept like reimagining a classic. It's something that ties in very intrinsically to something that's happening with your brand. Do you then just brainstorm like who would be a good speaker and make that happen?

Blake Aviles: Yes.

Samantha Grandinetti: You're like, "Let's shoot for the stars here."

Blake Aviles: I know. We shoot for the stars. We have really great entertainment marketing friends here at T-Mobile. And then, if you don't have entertainment marketing team, that's totally fine. There are so many websites that are talent agencies, essentially. There's one called AAE, which we use pretty often. So you can go on there and look for specific topics. Again, they might not be as niche as what I just said, but if you're looking for like a, I don't want to say trouble in the workplace, but working through things in the workplace . . . Oh okay. Work of change.

Samantha Grandinetti: I was just going to say change or transformation.

Blake Aviles: Yes. So you can look at that. If you're like, I want a person that works in this field, like sports, then it'll give you a full list and their pricing. And then you can work through contracting there just because there are a lot of ins and outs and there can be some things you miss. So I'm not a legal person, but we work with our legal partners or the AAE people will help you with that.

Samantha Grandinetti: I think that's a really great tip that, for anyone who wants to establish something like this, or even just work with professional speakers for different topics. Not everybody in your company is an expert at every topic that you want to do. Sometimes you have to find some people who are external and professionals at this. I think that's a really great tip to just, find agencies and work with them. And this is what people do for a living.

Blake Aviles: I know.

Samantha Grandinetti: So you can find some great speakers that way. You've mentioned Jon M. Chu, and talking about re-imagining a classic. Do you want to talk a little bit about that episode, a little bit about what that was like?

Blake Aviles: Yes. He's such a people person, and I'm a visual storyteller. So usually, like verbal, I'm like, "Okay, I need something to go along with it." But I was there for the full ride because he was spelling things out beautifully with everything he said. From like starting in his father's restaurant in California, which is still open to this day and his dad's still working, even though he definitely doesn't have to. Especially with his older age, but it's just a very sweet family story, and what his family had taught him growing up as an immigrant family. And working through that and letting him try things like picking up a camera as a teenager. Hearing how that transpired and how he'd make family videos and would show them with some music in the background, and make his family cry because it was really sweet and cute. And that he picks the, I don't want to say underdog potentially, but also people that were like, "Why would you pick them? That's not a good fit for that role." And it turns out it was the best fit of them all. Or people that don't have much experience acting and puts them as the lead role in like "Crazy Rich Asians," or hearing how he changed scenes last minute just because it didn't feel right.Or someone called something out and they do a whole different scene and makes it a more impact like in "Crazy Rich Asians" when she says, "You'll never be enough," to the girl that's engaged to his or her son. That part was in it, I think, but there was a scene before it to show build up to that. That wasn't there, and they were like, "We got to redo it and do it now." So just hearing that and that was one of the most impactful scenes for me seeing, and I was like, "Well, and that was a last-minute decision? That's crazy."

Samantha Grandinetti: I feel like knowing what's improv and what's not is always such a crazy peek behind the veil of . . . there are some professionals out there who really can improv and it's amazing. But I also think that this story of what you learned from Jon M. Chu, he seems like such a proponent of the kill your darlings. Don't be afraid to kill your darlings. It's sometimes even, the things that you think are going to work really well or your favorite lines or your favorite pieces of writing, you can't be afraid to cut them if they just don't work, right? You have to be flexible.

Blake Aviles: Exactly. And I love that. And he said like the Yellow Brick Road, maybe that wasn't the path for you, or something like that. And I was like, "You're right." About a lot of things in life you're right. Big fan.

Samantha Grandinetti: Wow. No, that must have been a really cool conversation. And I'm curious, who have some of the other guests been? Can you tell me a little bit about that?

Blake Aviles: It was before my time, which hasn't been that long. I've been with T-Mobile for a little over two years, but they had Karamo Brown from "Queer Eye."

Samantha Grandinetti: Oh, awesome.

Blake Aviles: And if you're a baseball person, Ken Griffey Jr., who's a star here in Seattle. It was on All-Star Week, as I was saying earlier, but that was like a perfect fit just because we had it at T-Mobile Park and it was a totally different setting versus at HQ in Bellevue, Washington.

Samantha Grandinetti: Wow.

Blake Aviles: And we went to the game after, not us with Ken, but the employees got to go. It was sweet.

Samantha Grandinetti: Oh, you didn't play?

Blake Aviles: I know, right? What? You're busy. Yeah, with All-Star Week, it was a good time. Then we also had Padma Lakshmi from Food Network.

Samantha Grandinetti: She's very interesting. Wow.

Blake Aviles: And she was just so elegant. And same with Misty Copeland, also elegant. She's a famous ballerina. Love her work. And she started at the Boys & Girls Club, which was our partner for Magenta Giving Month, when she came to speak. So she started when she was like a teenager, and they're like, "We see potential in this girl that's doing ballet in the gym just for fun." That's how she started. So just like the most perfect fit. But those are my most memorable slash recent ones as of now.

Samantha Grandinetti: I really love, it's very obvious in the way that you described this, that you're looking at the topic and the person, but you're also marrying the form and the function. You're having this All-Star game, you're doing it at T-Mobile Park. I mean like not everyone can do that, but what a cool way to bridge that gap. And I think that's something that we can all be thinking about when we're talking about any video project. It's what's meaningful that's on screen. What's adding context? What's adding layers? How can you make it meaningful? How can you tie it into other messaging or values, things that already exist, right? You're working with partners and you're using that to help inform the stories that you're telling as well. I think that's very impactful for storytelling.

Blake Aviles: Yeah. Super impactful. And if you're like, I don't have a "T-Mobile budget" or anything like that, look within because you have so many talented employees. You could do a panel, you could have a special topic about a certain employee, and have them go on stage and talk about it. Again, there is prep work for people that have spoken in front of a camera a thousand times and somebody that has spoken in front of a camera, zero. So there's so many ways you can do it, and they could be just as impactful. It's just about the content at the end of the day. It doesn't matter on the name.

Samantha Grandinetti: So and we're talking about what you do with this podcast, which it's so cool. I'm so jealous right now. This sounds like such an amazing project. But if we're thinking about people who are listening to this, who are like, "Ooh, I've been thinking about wanting to do some creative project like this," maybe it's a podcast, maybe it's a video series. Let's say you have the idea of what you want to do, you have this project scope, something you really want to do? What's the next step? Like how do you get leadership buy-in or how do you kick off logistics planning? Can you tell us a little bit about maybe what you do for that?

Blake Aviles: Yeah. So I think a good place to start, as you said, you have the idea I would start a deck, and it could be however many sides you want. You can move things to the appendix and just hide the signs, but just so you can get all your thoughts out as to what is the goal. What are we trying to accomplish here? Who are we trying to get it in front of, and how will they access it? Just think of all the FAQs that could come up from either employees or the people you're presenting to, and come with the data that will help you build your story. So if you're going to be presenting a podcast, again, if you're presenting something else come with data regardless. We came with the data and the power of podcasts essentially, and just showed the number as to how many people are listening to it, and when they're listening to it where they're listening to it. That helped build up the why. Then we showed how we would do it. So if you are going to be doing it, just like not with a fancy editing team or anything like that, there are so many other ways you can do it. Like we have Riverside, there are programs or platforms like Riverside, SquadCast, or StreamYard just to kind of help you. Plus, there are AI tools within those, too. If you're like, I don't have an editing team, I know for sure Riverside, the AI side, can pick out the ums, the breaths, the coughs, and pick out the highlights for you. So in other words, those could be the resources you could present that are less costly. And then you can create your way of getting it out to people, present that as well. So how they will be notified about, whether it's an email, an article on our intranet, a Viva Engage or Slack message to folks.And then you can show how you would measure success from there. So as I mentioned, like surveys or focus groups are my thing, but you could do like a little QR code or just a Qualtrics if you do Qualtrics survey link. And it's anonymous, but you can see who's listening from what orgs, what they're getting from it, what they want from the next ones. When they'd like it to come to their ears or their eyes. Whether that's like a Monday morning or Friday at 3:00 PM. But not saying you can appease everybody, but at least you can see the trends from there.

Samantha Grandinetti: I love that. Yes, get that pitch deck together, right? Get your ideas on paper. I love that you're thinking about the technology and you're saying like, "Listen, you don't need a fancy studio. You can do this a lot more DIY." And I think that's where a lot of people are going to start if they want to do a project like this, right? Yeah, you talk a lot about access, which I think is so key, how people are going to watch what you're presenting, where they're going to watch it, how they're going to be notified of it. I really love that. But I think you work in such an interesting industry that you have a different angle to consider. Of course, you have desk employees and you have non-desk employees. Can you tell me a little bit about how moving to a podcast instead of this live event, how it's improved the experience for, let's say, your deskless employees who work in T-Mobile stores?

Blake Aviles: Yeah, so we still do a few on the road. So we can go to those people that are deskless. Those that are in the stores, signature stores, which is like a fancy store with extra things. Or people that do have a desk, but still are really busy, like those in the customer experience centers or the call centers, where they're glued to the screen and phones for a certain amount of time and they don't have access to go out. So with it being virtual as of now, just due to contracting, we have the episodes go out on Viva Engage and our intranet. We'd love for the future for them to be on an app, whether that's like an employee focused app or Spotify or something like that. I just don't think Spotify as of now allows you to have private podcasts as in only a certain amount of people or certain folks can listen to it, just due to contracting. Again, that's something you can bake into a contract later on like this will be accessible on LinkedIn or Spotify, Apple Music, something like that. But that's our focus right now, is trying to get it to be more accessible, but people can still listen to it on their phone or in their back office. That way, people aren't feeling like, well, they get this versus me. It's more of a level playing field now.

Samantha Grandinetti: Yes, like your C-suite employees are probably just watching it on their phone or at their desktop, and your employees in the call centers are probably doing that in the break room. It's a lot more level.

Blake Aviles: Yes.

Samantha Grandinetti: That's very cool. And yeah, that's the big benefit of not having this be that big live event. Definitely creates different levels of access.

Blake Aviles: Yes, definitely. It makes the ones in person a little bit bigger because we can invite a more curated list. Whether it's one at a call center or a customer experience center where we can have 500 people in the room versus like an HQ where it's about 100 to 150 plus. So it just depends on where we're going, but either way, the talent can be a little bit bigger for those moments, just more splashy to be like, "Wow, we were chosen for this occasion," kind of thing.

Samantha Grandinetti: Oh, and I really love that too, because we've seen . . . I don't know if you've seen this, I'm not plugging anything. I would be remiss if I didn't mention the employee comms impact survey that we just did through Staffbase, it was a study that we funded, and it talks a lot about how non-desk workers feel undervalued. They don't feel part of communications, they don't feel like they get a lot of communications. And here you're saying, we saved the splashiest events, the biggest speakers for when we can get 500 people at our call center, people who are not sitting at HQ, who are on the phones all day. You're saying that we save those really big fish for that. I think that's really special.

Blake Aviles: We'll take them off the phones. That way it feels like almost like field day when you're in elementary school. It just feels like a party all day. So it's a cool moment. People will bring flowers for the guests and like, have interactions like we did with Dawn Staley or Erin Brockovich, where people are getting to interact with them. So it's just like it means more. Those moments are when I see the interactions, like I was mentioning about the theme parks. But it just makes my heart melt because it shows what the impact is, or what I have contributed or what my experience has been so far. It's all worth it.

Samantha Grandinetti: A big community-building moment for sure. And so I think whether you're watching this now and thinking like, "Oh, I really want to do my own podcast. It's going to be all virtual, all recorded, and things like that." There's still ways to make it special. There's still ways that you can add some other experiential component. I love this. That sounds like such a cool moment. And I'm curious, so like, how I feel about it now, obviously. What feedback have you received from employees about this?

Blake Aviles: Oh yes. So employees have said that they love this. This is something that they wish we had more time for, whether it's like day of more time, like more time for Q&A to interact or to send pre-submitted ones, which we are doing. That way if it's pre-recorded, people can listen to it and be like, "Oh, my question was answered towards the end." And so people are enjoying that. People wish that they could have it come to their office or their call center, or store. So we're trying to come there, but it's just like so many people, and it's just hard to get everybody on board as in like the town slash the person interviewing, and the stage space or the event space. Because not every place is built for an event, so we really have to be picky. But people love it and see it as a program that impacts their life. And they go back and listen to things when they're having a hard day, or they listen to the highlights that are applicable to them. We try to find some that are applicable to different types of employees. It's like when you're scrolling, I want it to feel like you're scrolling on social media when you're on Viva Engage personally. That way you're seeing all the quick reels or things like that. But it's also on the intranet, too so if you're like really wanting to see a certain part, it's all there. I got the golden nuggets ready for them, and I think they really appreciate those just because they don't to have the full 20 to 60 minutes, depending on what type of episode it is.

Samantha Grandinetti: That's awesome feedback. I love that it feels like a really big, positive part of their job and their day, and that they watch the recording and refer back to it later. And I feel like that does tie back into how you do make it accessible by either recording at stores or recording at the call centers, things like that. Shaking it up so that it's not just a privileged thing that only happens in the HQ. I think that really speaks volumes to how people also feel involved. And you said that people submit questions as well for the guests?

Blake Aviles: Yeah, so pre-submitted ones, and then we also sometimes occasionally will like get the . . . For other events too, not just for "Talking with Trailblazers", but all-employee meetings or town halls. We'll get the questions, and if we didn't get to yours, we can do a follow-up potentially. Not every single time, but if there's a trend of questions that we didn't get to, we'll like put something out there that way it's covered.

Samantha Grandinetti: That's awesome. So, my next question, I feel like you've spoken to a little bit, like you've taught me a little bit about the different audiences and angles that you consider. When you are planning your topics, how do you make sure that you are providing topics that are really interesting to a really diverse mix of people because it really sounds like you have people in the HQ at the store, at the call centers. Those are people from all over the place, different walks of life, different backgrounds, different interests. How do you make sure that you're really having a good balanced content mix for all of them?

Blake Aviles: So I'm like chronically online. In other words, I see what's happening in the world and trying to see what's going on in the media landscape as well. Not so much like always the negative things, but also what's happening and what people are watching in movies and TV shows. And what's happening, even if it's just an influencer on social media, like those people are still making an impact. So I try to gather those folks into my brain slash topics, and then I'll pair it with these surveys and focus groups or what's going on in the business. And I'll kind of marry those two together, and we'll have a list of topics. Again, it could change, so if I plan one right now for July, I don't know, 10th, it could change just because the world or media landscape keeps spinning around and changing. So just constantly being timely or finding topics that are neutral enough to be like, this will be happening in this month no matter what. Like we're going to be doing this as a general topic like teamwork or something like that, like win together. And just making sure that it's an impactful conversation for all and not just a certain type of group is so vital because we want to make sure employees feel included and brought to the table no matter what's being discussed.

Samantha Grandinetti: Oh, absolutely. I love that you remember to tie things into what's going on in the business as well. I feel like I've heard a lot of communications professionals ask questions about, how do I really show that what the work I do matters and is impactful in the business. How do I make sure I'm getting a seat at the table? Things like that. And I think when you tie it into your rhythm of business, your business objectives, your overall goals or values, things like that, you tie it into these things that already exist, then the value of the content you're producing is really just intrinsically linked now.

And I love that you're practicing . . .  So it's a term that I learned recently at the IABC World Conference "horizon scanning," where you're constantly looking on the horizon and thinking about like, you're not just reacting to trends or moments. It's like what are these bigger patterns that I can see?

Blake Aviles: Just be like Simba, constantly looking over the land, what could be happening or coming to make it the best thing for your people.

Samantha Grandinetti: I love that. Everything the light touches. Some other stuff, too. You know what? Let's dive into . . . we've talked about like how to build your concepts, how to pitch something like this, how to think about form, function, guests, topics, tying it into your business needs and goals. I think we've covered quite a bit. What other just advice do you have for a communications professional who wants to dip their toe into podcasting?

Blake Aviles: Yeah, so I would say do your homework and listen to a variety of podcasts. Not just the ones that you want to listen to laugh. I love you Brittany Broski, but I don't know if you're going to teach me that much. Just dig into things that are a little more impactful in the space that you are working in and see what they're talking about, how they're hitting things. And even if it's not the same exact like, okay, we're looking at our . . . I don't want to say competitor, but other brands similar to yours and they're doing this, this, and this. You don't copy them.Have the free will to do what you think would be best for your employees. And aside from doing homework, just be willing to take a risk just because nobody knows what the answer is, whether it be right or wrong, but the stats are there as far as what success could look like. It's just a matter of building it. And it won't happen tomorrow, like you're going to have 100,000 views or something like that. But just know that it takes some time, but life's what you make it. Just make it rock, essentially.

Samantha Grandinetti: Yeah, take the risk. Just try it out. As long as you can build your pitch deck and convince the people with the knowledge, accordingly.

Blake Aviles: I know. 110 slides later, I brought it down to eight, and that was hard because that's all I had time to present for that day. So l was like, "How can I break this down until 10 or less slides, months and months in advance?" So just because you think everything's important, I was that kid in college highlighting everything because I'm like, highlighting everything because I'm like, "Is this helpful information?" But you have different types of leaders, so whoever you're presenting to just make a note to be like . . . or ask the people that have presented to them, like, "What kind of person is this? How do they want to be presented to?"Some people when you walk into a room, I recommend if they're like the "gimme the meat or the data of it" kind of folks, just be like, "Okay, I'm going to go over eight slides with you today. Here's what we're going to go over. At the end of this conversation, I'd love to walk out of here with this knowledge and then fill in the blank there." That way the next steps are written out and they're not like, "Okay, it's the second slide. I have questions." Like yes, let them answer the questions. But that way some expectations are set for both sides.

Samantha Grandinetti: Yeah. You tell them how it can run to really benefit all of you, and make sure that the information is shared. I love that you're like, know your leaders, and think about how they want to be presented to. And I might add, figure out like if you have 110 slides, that's obviously not going to fly, but what do they need to say yes? What is the bottom line that they need to say yes to this, and what do you need, too? Because you need to tell them right off the bat, today I'm looking for the green light to begin X, Y, and Z. Maybe it's the time for research, maybe it's the budget to get software. You know, what do you actually need from them as well?

Blake Aviles: Totally.

Samantha Grandinetti: What do they need to say yes to, and what do you need from them? And I love what you've said about doing your homework, too. You kind of have to have a blueprint in mind here of what you want to do. You can't be like, "I've never heard a podcast. Let's do a podcast." I think it was . . . I think it was Stephen King who said it really well. If you want to be a great author, you have to read. You really have to read books, and I think this is exactly relevant here, right? If you want to do a podcast, do your research, listen to podcasts. Not just for the hehes and hahas, but for the other stuff, too.

Blake Aviles: I know. I love the hehe and haha though, but yes. And I love Stephen King, too, just because he is such a classic in the horror industry. I'm also a horror buff aside from theme park buff. So I'm glad you mentioned his name.

Samantha Grandinetti: I feel like there's a Venn diagram of people who love horror and then people who like theme parks. I feel like the Venn diagram has some crossover.

Blake Aviles: It does, yes. For sure it does.

Samantha Grandinetti: You touched on this a little bit, too. We've talked about surveys, we've talked about focus groups and things like that. Can you give us some other ideas of how you measure success for an initiative like this? Just kind of beyond, we got X bodies in the room when we were filming or what.

Blake Aviles: Yeah, so depending where you're posting it, I think if you're also posting it publicly, you can see how many people have listened to it, liked it, or commented. So personally, we look at Viva Engage, too, to see what likes and comments like engagement there. And aside from the viewership too, we could see those numbers. But I also like to verbally ask folks too, whether they're on my team or not. And I have mentees that I mentor outside of my team that work in some of the stores or work from home. And they do sign language for events. So I try to touch different bases and just see what was your experience like listening to this or what was your experience like signing for this? Because for every single event at T-Mobile, we have somebody doing ASL unless it's prerecorded to where we have closed captions, but if it's live event like this kind of deal, we would have somebody in the corner just doing the ASL to go along with us. So I try to see what their experience is like and how we can make it better for them for next time. I know it's not going to be a script, but they can kind of see here's the direction of the conversation and then go from there. But just getting that verbal feedback is so helpful. And sometimes I don't even have to ask for people just come up to me or I talk in a meeting and we do a postmortem is what we call it. But I like that because it's spooky sounding postmortem. But we talk about what went well, what didn't, and with all different team members and just see what we could improve on next time. And if nothing, cool, but just like, what can we keep doing next time?

Samantha Grandinetti: That's awesome. I love that accessibility that you've really woven into this. I'm such an avid user of captions in my life, so I really appreciate that. And yeah, there's lots of ways to get feedback, and sometimes that qualitative stuff can really mean a lot.

Blake Aviles: So impactful. I have like whole sides of that versus the quantitative and sometimes that makes more of a . . . you know pull strings on the heart, just because it shows that we're doing it for that reason or for that person that really needed to hear this.

Samantha Grandinetti: Yeah. When the message has really landed, and it's really touched somebody's day or life, yeah. Oh, I love that. Is there anything else that you want to just tell listeners about this project? Do you think it's worth it for a lot of people to do it after doing this for the time that you have been a part of this project. Would you recommend a project like this?

Blake Aviles: Yeah, definitely recommend it. Not just because it's fun and you get to interact with some really cool people and influential folks. But I think it's a good way to test your right and left brain. And the data side slash creative side and the ability to create these documents that seem so lengthy, but just from a PR background and influencer work from my previous life, I think that this is a good mix of that. And I think it's a fun time for anybody wanting to try this.I think that the briefing docs, as I mentioned, it goes through the bio, the questions, not red flags, but just things that might come up that we need to be mindful of. And like what potentially answers just in case, if it's a live event, you don't ever know what somebody is going to say when they walk up to a Q&A mic. So having those questions prepared, and again, we're not going to read it from the book, but if it's something we're still figuring out, then that's transparency we need to put forth. And the talk track's fun. But I think another cool part of it is the . . . similar to like the YouTube series now, show "Hot Ones," just having those questions. I'm not throwing a bowl of wings in front of everybody, but just having them talk about questions that are a little bit off-kilter or things that aren't directly tied to the conversation. So that was something that we did for every single podcast slash event that I've been a part of since I started. I'm like, "Why don't we do this?" And the leadership was like, "Cool, do it." So again, it's another moment, a small little thing that makes a big impact. So similar to how you asked me about theme parks and thrifting, that kind of helps warm me up. But also, if we're talking about the actual events and podcasts that helps warm the guests and the listeners up and be like, "Oh, I'm intrigued to listen to more."

Samantha Grandinetti: I think that there's always something in a person's life that when they start . . . when they're asked a question about that, for example, it could be their family, their favorite sports team, whatever. When you kick something off like that,  something that they're really passionate about, and they could just speak off the cuff about it. However nervous they felt about doing this live recording, however guarded they might feel about, revealing certain things or trying to get everything so perfectly. I think some of that falls away a little bit, and then it's just like a person-to-person thing.

Blake Aviles: Totally.

Samantha Grandinetti: Not trying to like go ahead and psychoanalyze, how I talk to you about the theme parks. I'm genuinely curious about that stuff as well. But you're right. It is a really great point.

Blake Aviles: It's a good way, but also it's very personable, which says a lot about like the host. It's very appreciated.

Samantha Grandinetti: Yeah and that's another great point, too. For the hosts you've talked about, can you bring these personal bits in as well? Are there any other tips that you would give a podcast host?

Blake Aviles: Oh yes. I create two different docs. For the hosts, it's different than the talent, but for the hosts, I also bake in at the bottom, like what are some things that you and this person have in common, whether it's being a parent or liking the same sport, or say music or movies or things like that. And if you're really having a hard time, just look at like what their workmanship is like, what kind of leadership qualities they both share, and then dive into that. And then you can share it with the talent too being like, Mike Katz from the marketing team here at T-Mobile has done X, Y, and Z. He was the one that like was posting our last one, but just for example, just to show what's going on in the business too for the talent. That way the host and talent both feel like they're on the same page as to what's happening in both industries slash with this person individually.