I was recently at an event filled with friends-turned-coworkers when someone asked, "Michael, do all these people work for you?" That question felt strange for two reasons. Firstly, I have been blessed to create long-lasting friendships with coworkers ever...

I have held management positions within a half dozen companies over the last 20 years and no matter how large or small my team was, I have always struggled to communicate efficiently. I have tried weekly staff meetings, daily huddles, and quarterly retreats, but no matter how many calls I made to “check in,” my team members were continually sharing their desire to connect more.

I can’t leap tall buildings in a single bound, but I do have an equally unique superpower that allows me to bring groups of seemingly unconnected people together to work towards a common goal. I can teach truck drivers to talk to developers and sales guys to communicate with laborers. I have always been able to connect with people quickly and simply take for granted the fact that that everyone cannot get to know the elevator operator or the forklift driver—even if they want to.

Did you know that this weekend is the craziest NASCAR race of the year? Saturday night is the NASCAR Monster Energy All Star Race—as a true NASCAR OG—something I prefer to refer to as The Winston. The Winston is a non-points event (it doesn’t count for or against a team’s yearly accumulation of championship points), where competitors are handsomely rewarded for winning and nothing else.

Fresh off a music tour last fall, I was asked to assemble a team capable of building the first national advertising network at Minor League Baseball stadiums around the country. Now, shortly after Opening Day 2019, all I can say is, “Play Ball!”

Earlier this year, I was tasked to fill our ISM Connect bus with highly qualified and motivated operations team members that would assist us in building a best-in-class media network at a ridiculously fast rate. Before I started interviewing, I needed to slow down and identify what made a perfect teammate.

I catch myself saying "Time Flies When You Are Having Fun." Furthermore, I know that I have had a lot of fun over the past 12 months—I feel like I should start saying, "Time moves at warp speed when you are at a start-up." My...

The team at ISM Connect has recently landed an amazing opportunity that has led to us touring with the largest pop star on the planet. As you might imagine, this project is filled with stress, ego, and performance risk. These variables exist in every project, of...

Sitting on this plane that is headed to Sonoma Raceway, I found a picture of Jeff Gordon’s 1998 victory lane celebration. At that time, I was working on behalf of NASCAR and it had just dawned on me that I had been playing this game at the highest level in motorsports...

Don’t call me Nostradamus. I don’t claim to be able to predict the future—but it seems like a perfect time, on the eve of the Daytona 500, to give my 2018 NASCAR predictions. Since I don’t understand downforce, aero push, or shock rebound, I am going to keep these...

25,000 miles behind the wheel 59 flights 36 different hotels 48 events #EventLife   If you just look at the numbers, 2017 should have been a train wreck of a year; but it might just have been the most emotionally rewarding year of my career, too. So, what changed? At...

Just 12 short months ago, I was sitting at this very same desk writing a prediction that 2017 was going to be a Monster Year (man was that an understatement!). Well, that is certainly true. The year quickly started off feeling like a scene out of the Great American...

Do You Believe in Luck? Or Are You a Believer Like I Am That We Make Our Own Luck? It was just three days before load in when my favorite client (and wife) called to ask if I had the bandwidth to assist a new NASCAR partner by integrating their high-definition mobile...

If you are from the West Coast and have spent any time in the NASCAR industry, you are sure to know the name Ken Clapp. Ken is the part of the old guard, he was a longtime friend and confidant of Bill France Jr., and for the last 50 years has been a major player in...

You spent your entire marketing budget to plan, design, and finally construct your dream mobile marketing asset. It’s the perfect embodiment of how you want your brand to be perceived, and now it’s time to roll to your first event when you suddenly ask yourself, “Do...

Have you ever changed your behavior in such a significant way that it spurs you to reflect and search for the catalyst that encouraged the change? In July 2014, I accepted a new job with the American Greetings company at their Forrest City, North Carolina office. This...

Confetti-covered Victory Lane still smelled of champagne on the Monday morning after the 2001 Daytona 500 — it was then that my longtime friend and the former Director of the NASCAR Series Marketing department, Steve O’Donnell, called my apartment in Northern...

Since I was 16-years-old, I have always had some version of a full-time job—and most of these jobs involved working directly for a small business owner. Throughout all of this, I have watched closely as these business owners acquired assets, hired new staff, and...

Here we are again, days away from the Daytona 500, and the one thing that keeps going through my head is that “2017 IS GOING TO BE A MONSTER YEAR.”  The past two years have provided amazing learning opportunities—but it’s time to graduate to the big leagues. I started...

Goal setting shouldn’t be a once a year thing but rather, a never-ending process that is constantly reviewed, measured, and tweaked for optimized results. This New Year’s, I won’t be making sweeping resolutions that only last weeks before fizzing out. Instead, I...

Last week, I was in Asheville, North Carolina, working on a project with Matt Mondek, one of the owners of Nineyards Design & Manufacturing and a legit car guy—and he said something that immediately resonated with me. He told me that we need “LESS TALK AND MORE...

I remember the meeting as if it were yesterday—the September NASCAR race at the Richmond International Raceway when two Nextel representatives came to visit my boss and I, they wanted to take a backstage look at our operation. It was here that we gave Steve Gaffney...

Have you ever been hosted somewhere that you will never forget?  Think of your favorite sporting event, a concert, or that bed and breakfast where the experience was second-to-none.  You simply cannot stop telling your friends about it, right? Do me a favor and take a...

While in the process of building this business, I consistently study other successful organizations and look for areas where I can enhance my knowledge and then apply the key learnings into my daily practice. The best example of a company that I look up to and one day...

The people at Darlington Raceway aren’t the only ones that can celebrate motorsports from the 80’s. In 1984, I was a six-year-old kid who had full permission to spend my entire day running around random racetracks like a crazy man while my dad was working. For those...

I am sure that you remember the epic stories that emerged from Hill Valley, California, during the 1980’s. This was the hometown of renowned inventor and scientist, Dr. Emmett L. Brown, who had a vision to create a machine that possessed the ability to transport the...

In-between meetings, over lunch, and even while relaxing at a company outing, Chris Epperly and I obsessively discuss one singular topic. It’s a question that most event producers think about regularly and a query that the team at Awesome is committed to answering....

Charlotte, NC -- Charlotte-Based Traction Event Labs is proud to announce a new joint venture with award-winning event design firm IM Creative called AWESOME.   “AWESOME is poised to take the world of experiential marketing by storm,” says Michael Verlatti, CEO of...

The U.S. Military debriefs each operation with an After Action Report (AAR). Even though producing an event isn’t as stressful as a raid on a terrorist compound, we also implement a recap report for every event we produce at Traction. In an earlier blog (4 Questions),...

I have been fortunate to work with and for quality people that enjoy the hard work required to achieve success and know how to slow down long enough to celebrate it.   This February, I watched as our five-person team accomplished the monumental task of producing one...

NASCAR Fuel for Business unites an exclusive group of 50+ Council Members who interact to foster business partnerships delivering unmatched ROI. The NASCAR Fuel for Business E Connector was designed in 2011 and has consistently evolved to ensure that participating...

Have you ever met someone that spoke a different language … maybe one that you didn’t think was human? Was it a form of code that was faster to type than speak? If they said things like CMS, SMS and PMS that caused you to send out an SOS, I might have just the...

For the 15th consecutive year, I watched the green flag drop at Daytona International Speedway in February, signifying not only the start of the Great American Race but also the beginning of my Great American Dream. This year was even more special because I am living...

Business leaders and managers often talk about company culture and its importance in creating a healthy workplace environment. But how often do they slow down to ask themselves what their culture really stands for? What are they doing to emphasize the importance of...

I have always had a special place in my heart for events that offer the audience a glimpse behind the curtain, events where celebrities take down their guard—events like NASCAR After the Lap. NASCAR After the Lap is billed as a driver-tell-all where NASCAR’s top...

As a tech lover, I feel the need to use technology to solve most of life’s challenges. So when I learned that a friend was starting a SAS (software as a service) company to introduce Charlotte residents to local nonprofits, I immediately asked myself the age old...

When a client calls and says that they have a tight budget and an even tighter timeline, the first reaction provided by most event producers is to simply hang up the phone (I would be lying if I said that the thought had not passed through my head, too).  However, I...

Most of you have heard about the Pareto Principle or as it is most commonly referred to as the 80/20 rule. The 80/20 rule states that 80 percent of your time or effort is spent on the tasks that only generate 20 percent of the return. This has been proven to be true...

I have been fortunate to work with and for quality people that enjoy the hard work required to achieve success and know how to slow down long enough to celebrate it.   This February, I watched as our five-person team accomplished the monumental task of producing one...

It’s the first weekend of February and if you work in motorsports, I know what you are doing… shopping.   This weekend is your last opportunity to buy more khaki pants, polo shirts and the ever elusive “perfect” track shoe. This has been a consistent tradition in my...

Many smart entrepreneurs have philosophies that assist them in achieving their vision. One of my former employers coined the phrase “People, Product and Profit” meaning if you get the people right, they will create a great product that will generate lots of profit....

After 10 years of marriage, we have grown to know each other's strengths and weaknesses. Our processes are different but we still work together to produce amazing events and build quality friendships. Follow our #SheSaid_HeSaid blog to get two different perspectives...

I recently wrote a blog about Keith Ferrazzi’s relationship building tips from his book “Never Eat Alone and Other Secrets to Success One Relationship at a Time.” Another great take away from this book was a unique way to negotiate with someone important.   Toward the...

As you might have caught on to by now, I am obsessed with Audiobooks! I find them to be the best way for me to consistently learn while on the move. I recently finished listening to “Never Eat Alone and Other Secrets to Success One Relationship at a Time” by Keith...

For the second year in a row I attended the Intersport Activation Summit where the strongest marketers in the U.S. get together to discuss best practices in the activation arena. I have very few opportunities to get out from our day-to-day business and learn from...

I have a confession to make… I am a high school dropout that should, by traditional thinking, be asking if you would like fries with your order not providing business insight. However, hard work, continued education and surrounding myself with inspirational...

The definition of balance is “a condition in which different elements are equal or in the correct proportions.”It is something that is easy to understand but almost impossible to achieve.   I have been challenged with a personality that struggles to find balance in...