What Growing Up on a Farm Taught Me About Producing Events

I grew up in western Nebraska.

Six, maybe seven generations of my family have worked the same kind of ground out there.

It’s not a glamorous land.

It’s not an easy country.

The wind blows hard.

The winters bite.

The summers test you. And yet my family has continued to do the same thing for over a century - plant, tend, harvest, repeat.

When you grow up around that, it shapes you.

And whether people realize it or not, that upbringing has everything to do with how we produce events at Stratum.

You Don’t Rush the Harvest

When you put a piece of corn in the ground, you expect it to grow in nine months.

Not tomorrow.

Not next week.

Nine months.

And during those nine months, you don’t stand over it and yell at it to grow faster. You respect the cycle. You understand that growth takes time. But you prepare for harvest long before harvest season ever shows up.

Events are no different.

A lot of people treat events like they just “happen” in a few days. But if you’ve ever planned something meaningful. A national sales meeting, a franchise conference, a leadership summit -  you know the truth.

The real work happens months and sometimes years before the doors open.

The decisions you make early determine whether you’re scrambling later. Planning cycles matter. Timelines matter. Structure matters.

If you try to rush the harvest, you lose yield.

If you rush event planning, you lose impact.

Good Outcomes Aren’t Luck

From the outside, farming can look like luck.

But anyone who’s actually farmed knows better.

Farmers mitigate risk constantly:

• Soil testing.

• Equipment maintenance.

• Crop rotation.

• Insurance.

• Irrigation systems.

• Watching markets.

• Planning inputs months in advance.

Yes, there's a mountain of risk. But there’s also preparation.

The same is true in event production.

When we design a show, we’re thinking about:

• Redundancy in show critical systems.

• Backup cable paths for critical signal flow.

• Load calculations for safety.

• Crew coverage for guest and speaker experience.

• Rehearsal time.

• Contingency plans.

When something goes wrong onsite and eventually something always does, you don’t panic. You execute the plan.

From the audience’s perspective, it looks seamless.

That’s not luck.

That’s discipline.

Precision Replaced Guesswork

Agriculture isn’t what it was 50 years ago.

It’s not gravity-fed planters dropping grain randomly into the ground anymore. Today you can tell a planter to drop a seed every six inches.

GPS-guided tractors.

Yield mapping.

Data-backed decisions.

It’s precision.

You manage inputs to control outputs.

Event production is the same way.

The old methods worked but they weren't repeatable to the level we need them to be in high stakes programs. Today we use tools like CAD to anticipate issues, registration software to give us the data we need to make changes, surveys to enhance guests experience. Everything is intentionally and meticulously through through to ensure that each guests experience is unique - in a positive way.

Every detail affects the yield of the experience.

Great events aren’t built on vibes.

They’re built on precision and desired outcomes.

You Don’t Plant and Walk Away

Planting is easy.

Management is everything.

On a farm, you don’t just put seed in the ground and disappear. You monitor growth. You adjust nutrients. You manage pests. You respond to weather shifts.

You stay close to what you planted.

In our world, that means:

• Ongoing planning calls.

• Speaker prep.

• Show flow refinement.

• Onsite adjustments in real time.

• Constant communication between vendors & departments.

Once we commit to a project, we don’t drift. We stay engaged all the way through.

Because planting is the beginning.

Stewardship determines the outcome.

Grit Is a Strategy

Western Nebraska isn’t forgiving.

You deal with drought years. You deal with broken equipment. You deal with markets that don’t do what you expect them to do. You deal with early mornings and late nights whether you feel like it or not.

My time in the military reinforced the same thing at a different scale, logistics under pressure, high-stakes coordination, operating when conditions aren’t ideal.

Both environments teach you something simple:

You don’t quit mid-season.

You don’t fold when the pressure hits.

In live events, pressure is part of the job. Timelines compress. Speakers change slides at the last minute. Freight runs late. People get sick, Weather shifts.

When that happens, you don’t need theatrics.

You need steady, reliable hands.

And steady hands are built long before the moment demands them.

This Is Who We Are

I don’t share this to romanticize farming or production for that fact. 

I share it because it’s our roots.

Six or seven generations of my family have built lives in less-than-ideal conditions by doing the work consistently. Not flashy. Not loud. Just disciplined.

That shaped me.

And it continues to shape Stratum.

We don’t just show up with equipment.

We think in cycles. We mitigate risk. We operate with precision. We steward what we start. We stay steady under pressure.

Because good outcomes aren’t accidental.

They’re planted. They’re planned. They’re protected. And they’re harvested with intention.

If you’re planning a franchise or association conference that matters, maybe something you can’t afford to leave to chance. Let’s build it the right way from the beginning.

Let’s plant it well.