COVER STORY these divisions and it was rare that you could tap into resources within a particular division for another division that seasonally might have a little more volume,” McCulloch says. The company had already been producing and streaming some events for live audiences, but not in a mass way. When metroConnections does an event, it assigns a show producer and a technical director. The company had several people who could do that but had downsized staff when in-person events closed down. With multiple virtual shows per day and week, it needed both equipment and more managers to support the shows. The company dropped all divisions and it became all hands-on deck. “Could we teach them and make them
EOS Implementor Tamara Prato, CEO of Connect The Dots LLC, says EOS can help companies pivot effectively by ensuring leaders are on the same page and communicating effectively.
adapt to this environment?” McCulloch says. “We had event people and transportation people who were now technically supporting virtual speakers behind the scenes.” The company invested in equipment, stripped out offices, turned them into studios and did whatever it took to keep customers happy. The virtual shows, with the help of its VEX Pro tool that creates realistic virtual offerings and exhibits, kept the company going and, due to declines in travel and other costs associated with in-person shows, actually made bet20
UPSIZE NOVEMBER • DECEMBER 2023
ter margins during COVID. Since conferences and events have largely returned to in-person meetings, metroConnections’ new expertise in digital events is only a small part of the company’s current revenue stream. But some of the improvements that went into making that happen — such as the breaking down of the barriers between business units — have definitely made the company more efficient and collaborative today. “Now, we still have people that specialize in online registration or events, or transportation,” McCulloch says, “but, from a people management perspective, we restructured in a way that allowed our management team to tap into resources when we’re heavy in one area versus another.” Employee loyalty helped There were many low points as the transition kicked off, the worst of which, says David Graves, was realizing COVID was not going to be a 90-day event. “We all thought that’s what it was going to be,” he says. “The thing that got us through that was our pace of new business on the virtual side.” And what got metroConnections through that transition, they say, were a lot of long-term, bought in employees who, even upon hearing that many colleagues were furloughed, plowed forward into new roles and long days of meeting clients’ needs. Ownership had just implemented an Employee Stock Option Plan (ESOP) and the Graves brothers and McCulloch all say that played a significant role in keeping the company afloat in order to make the pivot. “I really think it helped us get them to buy into this new direction and roll up their sleeves and say, ‘whatever you need me to do,’” says Mike Graves, chief financial officer. “People had to change career paths and, in some cases, completely shifted to doing something else. I think the fact that they were employee owners, they took that to heart, saw the business and said, ‘We’ve got to make this work.’” New customer base meets old values Belo Cipriani, blind since 2007 after an attack while living in San Francisco, owns Oleb Media, a company that helps businesses make sure their websites, apps and other technology are accessible to those with disabilities. Before the pandemic, Oleb Media focused on performing these audits for the hospitality industry, particularly hotels and resorts. “During the pandemic, that went away, so we had
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