Kevin Hubschmann of Laugh.Events: 5 Things You Need To Know To Successfully Run a Live Virtual Event

Give structure and activity: People are burned out from Zoom happy hours and conferences. Change it up and give them something to distract them while also building meaningful relationships in the age of remote work.

As a part of our series about “5 Things You Need To Know To Successfully Run a Live Virtual Event”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Kevin Hubschmann.

Kevin Hubschmann is the founder and host at Laugh.Events. A standup comedian himself, Kevin’s passion lies in creating memorable comedy experiences — both virtual and in-person. Before Laugh.Events, Kevin was a founding team member at SplashThat.com where he began his career, specializing in sales and marketing.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a bit about your “childhood backstory”?

I started my career as part of the founding team at Splash, an event marketing software. An incredibly fun post-work atmosphere that would encourage employees from across departments to hang out — even use the office space as that hang out. I started stand up in 2015 and performed in some “bringer” shows. As one of the 12+ people in the lineup, I had to subject my friends to 90 minutes of subpar comedy with myself slated for 6 of those minutes. That’s when I started throwing my own shows — and I threw my first show at Splash. I thought that if my friends had to watch me do 10 minutes of amateur comedy, they should also watch some actually great comedians.

Can you tell us the story of what led you to this particular career path?

- After the Splash show success, we kept it rolling. Each show, the lineup got better than the one before. In Feb 2020, we had what we didn’t realize to be our last show, with the pandemic canceling our March show and beyond. That said, the Feb 2020 show was our best yet: 200+ seats, strangers asking me where they can find seats, and a lineup that was arguably the best in NYC on that Wednesday night — Judah Friedlander, Mark Normand, Sydnee Washington, Jared Freid, Stavros Halkias, and myself hosting and performing the opening number from Hamilton in full colonial garb. One of the best nights of comedy I’ve ever been a part of.

Once the pandemic hit, we switched gears to entertaining corporate audiences, and so I started working with some incredible comedians to figure out some formats that would work well in the virtual setting. We eventually settled on that personalization as being the key to a successful virtual corporate show, with comics focusing heavily on crowd work and interaction, while also incorporating a personalized trivia game that we created from a pre-event survey submitted by attendees.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I’d say the funniest “mistake” that happened was when I asked one of the comedians we work with, Michael Somerville, if he knew any comics that we could add to the show that would add some more diversity to our lineup. He then introduced me to Marcus Monroe, a comic who does stand up and juggles. He took the diverse request and referred me over to a comic with a diverse set (instead of diversity in the traditional sense) — and it’s now our Juggling and Jokes experience.

Is there a particular book, podcast, or film that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?

When the pandemic started, I started reading Swoosh: Unauthorized Story of Nike and the Men Who Played There. This book details the founding and growth of Nike, but unlike Shoe Dog (Phil Knight’s Autobiography), gives the perspectives of everyone else involved. Each person that worked there was not there as a specialist, but as a generalist looking to solve problems. They attacked every problem with passion and creativity, and continued to build on their success well past their IPO. As an entrepreneur on this journey with Laugh.Events, I’ve certainly been a generalist, looking for people much smarter than me to pick up where my knowledge trails off.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

Conan O’Brien once said “Work hard, be kind, and amazing things will happen.” I love this quote because it’s so simple and true. Additionally, I’ve been lucky enough to work with comics who also embody this quote — so hardworking, kind, and supportive — and is another reason why I’m so drawn to working in this industry.

For the benefit of our readers, can you tell us a bit about your experience organizing events in general?

Laugh Dot Events (Laugh.Events) started as a monthly stand up comedy show based out of New York City. Our monthly shows were set in unique spots throughout New York City, featuring some of the best lineups in New York City on any given evening. However, when the pandemic hit, we were forced to pivot to virtual events given the pandemic restrictions. Before Laugh.Events, I was an event marketing consultant at Splash where I specialized in retail / in-store events.

Can you tell us a bit about your experience organizing live virtual events? Can you share any interesting stories about them?

- Live performance is what comedy is all about. When comedy first went online, it was missing so much of what made it special. Working with a live audience is key, and when it’s removed, you lose something in the experience. We wanted to find the best way to mimic that experience online, and we found that using Zoom helped to get us to “see” reactions and hear feedback like laughter. We found success with corporate events and realized that when workers are enjoying a comedy show, but still around their co-workers and managers (on Zoom), we can create an environment where people can unmute themselves without interrupting the show.

In your opinion, what is an example of a company that has done a fantastic job creating live virtual events? What specifically impresses you? What can one do to replicate that?

A company that has done a fantastic job creating live virtual events is Daybreaker — a global wellness community that was famous pre-pandemic for their 6AM in-person dance parties. The thing that was most impressive was their commitment to the virtual experience, instead of treating virtual events as a bandaid on their in-person events business. Their commitment to the virtual form allowed Daybreaker to grow their audience, and talent, to a global scale. Not to mention, their audience also completely bought into the virtual experience. Their events ask their audiences to be engaged through movement and participation, and that is the key to success in the virtual world. Replication of this success depends on the offering of your events, but the less you ask from your audience, the more likely their attention is being taken from your event.

What are the common mistakes you have seen people make when they try to run a live virtual event? What can be done to avoid those errors?

A common mistake that I’ve seen people make when running a live virtual event is not participating or engaging with the audience. Initially the world was doing Zoom happy hours — which meant nothing more than drinking and hanging out, virtually. It didn’t work out, and helped usher in, “Zoom fatigue.” With our events, we wanted to find activities and things for people to do to build relationships seamlessly and not make it forced. Our activities like trivia or bingo are activities that encourage bonding. We took it another step further by making it customized, making it more meaningful to the group. Together, this creates a much more cohesive group and team that can operate better and increase morale, and productivity. We also trust our audience, so we have everyone unmuted to make it possible to hear laughs, see live feedback, and perform the truest comedy possible in a virtual setting.

Which virtual platform have you found to be most effective to be able to bring everyone together virtually?

- I’ve been on all the platforms and have to say I really like Zoom the best. It’s easy to use, everyone has it and is familiar with it at this point, and it makes sense for what we want to do. While “Zoom Fatigue” became popular, Zoom isn’t the problem — the problem lies in the lack of structure, which is why our activities are so beneficial.

Are there any essential tools or software that you think an event organizer needs to know about?

Zoom is really all that you’ll need — it really comes down to organization, and pre-show planning over any type of software.

An in-person event can have a certain electric energy. How do you create an engaging and memorable event when everyone is separated and in their own homes? What are the “Five Things You Need To Know To Successfully Run a Live Virtual Event” and why? (Please share a story or example for each.)

1. Give structure and activity: People are burned out from Zoom happy hours and conferences. Change it up and give them something to distract them while also building meaningful relationships in the age of remote work.
2. Customize it: Based on a short questionnaire by the attendees ahead of the event, Laugh.Events team creates a customized activity with your team. Some crowd favorites include Team Trivia, Workplace Bingo, and Workday Update. It makes it a show for the audience, by the audience. Customization can take a role in any event, and going that extra mile makes a huge difference for a takeaway.
3. Give it a Theme: Given the time of year you’re throwing your event, you can make an event surrounding a holiday or celebration. Getting the audience excited ahead of the event is key to building anticipation for the event. We could call our events “Comedy Show”, but that doesn’t really give the audience any idea of what they’re about to do. That’s why we call our main activities Laughing and Bonding and Sit Back and Laugh.
4. Not one size fits all: In our corporate shows, we ask event organizers to tell us if they want the show to be PG, PG:13, or R, which allows us to pick comedians and segments based on that distinction. We understand that not every show can be one size fits all, so we do our best to put on the best show for the audience given the information we are given ahead of time.
5. Be Real and Honest: We’ve all been in this pandemic for a year now, and it’s been tough. It’s okay to be human, and it will help everyone feel more comfortable and relaxed.

Let’s imagine that someone reading this interview has an idea for a live virtual event that they would like to develop. What are the first few steps that you would recommend that they take?

Just like any event, the most important thing to do is PLAN. This means that each aspect of an event (Pre, During, and Post) is thoughtfully mapped out and each person involved knows their role and what is expected of them. From there, doing a run through / rehearsal to ensure all of the tech and cues are in a good place will ensure success. Few realize that SNL does a show before they tape their 11:30pm show — rehearsal is key to making sure the magic trick of live comedy is pulled off.

If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

- Find Time to Laugh. A Laugh.Events advisor, Dr. Natalie Datillo, Director of Psychology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital says, “Laughter may be one of the best tools we have when it comes to promoting health and well-being for people, teams and organizations, but it is so often overlooked”. There are many times when people feel it isn’t appropriate to share a laugh, especially during the tumultuous year(s) we’ve had, but laughter can have a huge impact on turning someone’s day around.

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.

Lorne Michaels. When thinking about this, a lot of people came to mind, but the thing they all had in common was that they’ve worked for Lorrne Michaels. I’ve been a fan of SNL since I can remember and I have tried to model our live stand up comedy shows to SNL’s by incorporating a band and (eventually) a musical guest to accompany the night of comedy. What’s most inspiring to me is his ability to create an incredible comedy experience with the best talent in the world on a consistent basis. It’s easy to create a great night of comedy, but to do it for nearly 50 years is just impossible.