Event Marketer's Toolbox
Each episode, host Chris Dunn teams up with a leading event professional to explore the tools, tactics, and trends that drive real results.
Event Marketer’s Toolbox is the definitive playbook for corporate event professionals and trade show marketers.
From first-time marketers to seasoned planners, this show delivers practical solutions to make your events memorable and impactful.
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Event Marketer's Toolbox
EMT #30 with Caitlyn Correia - The Exhibit Evolution: Family, Flexibility & Forward Thinking
In this episode of Event Marketer’s Toolbox, Chris Dunn is joined by Caitlyn Correa, President & CEO of BlueHive Exhibits and Continental Woodcraft. Caitlyn, a third-generation business owner, shares her journey of balancing family life with leading a growing business in the ever-evolving events industry. She talks about the challenges, rewards, and the flexibility needed to thrive in today’s business environment.
Caitlyn dives into:
- Running a Family Business: Navigating the demands of managing a third-generation business while staying true to the company’s legacy and adapting to market changes.
- Planning for the Future: Caitlyn’s approach to long-term planning, focusing on one, three, and five-year strategies for sustained growth in uncertain times.
- Work-Life Balance: How Caitlyn balances leading a thriving business with being a mom, and why flexibility is essential for success.
- Diversification: Caitlyn shares how diversifying services—like Continental Woodcraft—has helped BlueHive Exhibits stay competitive and relevant in a constantly changing industry.
This episode offers valuable insights into leadership, flexibility, and forward thinking in business, especially for entrepreneurs managing both family and business.
Running a family business while navigating the complexities of business growth and personal life is no easy feat. But Caitlyn Correa proves it’s possible with flexibility, forward-thinking, and strong support systems.
👉🏼 Join us for more insightful discussions like this by tuning into 'Event Marketer's Toolbox,' where industry leaders share the tools, tactics, and trends driving success in the event world.
This Show is sponsored by Blue Hive
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:00:00
(Chris Dunn)
Hello and welcome. This is Chris Dunn and we're coming to you with the Event Marketers Toolbox. Thanks so much for joining today. We are on episode number 30 and normally have a co-host to introduce, but Dana was going to join us today and unfortunately an emergency came up. So as we do in the event world and the live entertainment world that we're in, we just go with it and we pivot. So I'm actually very proud to be introducing the president or CEO of Blue Hive, Caitlin Correa. She's joining us today as our guest. Hey, Caitlin, how are you?
0:00:35
(Caitlyn Correia)
I'm good. How are you? I'm very excited, a little nervous, but very excited. Thank you.
0:00:39
(Chris Dunn)
Welcome. Welcome to the Event Marketers Toolbox. So this morning I actually did a little promotional post for our show here. And I told a very brief version of the story of kind of how we ultimately got involved in doing a podcast and kind of I painted this picture and I pitched this idea to you back in the fall
0:00:58
(Chris Dunn)
and you finally greenlighted it and ultimately set us off on this amazing journey. We started really the first of the year, so we are here, episode 30, and how apropos that you're joining us on, we're seven months in and getting our good understanding
0:01:17
(Chris Dunn)
of these great conversations we're having in the event forum. So Caitlin, why don't you tell everybody a little bit about your kind of backstory and your history and how you kind of got into this position?
0:01:29
(Caitlyn Correia)
Yeah. So first, um, by blood, um, my grandfather was in trade shows, owned a company, add more in the Worcester area. My father started and sold folio exhibits and, um, blue Blue was created about 20 plus years ago. Started off on 10 bucks under the table when that was a thing. Sleeping floors, learning how to cock, stuff show books and while I was still in high school, college and then graduated college, didn't know what I wanted to do and I'm like, let's try, I'll work for my father, see how it goes. And it just was kind of pure bliss from there. The positives, the negatives, you name it. Started as an account manager for a lot
0:02:16
(Caitlyn Correia)
of years, worked in kind of marketing, operations, and since had two little children. And I remember post my daughter a couple of years back, my dad's like, are you ready? I'm like, ready for what? You're ready to take the next step. President CEO and I'm like, yes, let's do this.
0:02:40
(Caitlyn Correia)
It's in my blood. I love everything about trade shows. I love the people. So it was just, I kind of grew from there. There was a positive, I think, which I'm sure we'll get into,
0:02:53
(Caitlyn Correia)
is my dad had me start from the ground. So I learned all the different facets of the business, which I think really helped me be quite successful as president and now CEO of Blue Hive and our parent company, Continental Woodcraft. So it's just the beginning.
0:03:14
(Chris Dunn)
Fantastic. Fantastic. Speaking of things that happened during your live show is my AirPods just died. So I'm going to have to click a couple buttons right here, but go ahead and keep talking.
0:03:29
(Caitlyn Correia)
Yeah, so I know we're gonna talk about kind of the, running a family business, the positives, the negatives. And the first thing I will always say is, I'm so incredibly blessed. I'm blessed for the opportunity, but also I've worked incredibly hard to kind of be
0:03:48
(Caitlyn Correia)
where we're at. I think talking about rewards in running a family business is one thing my father said is that, and I know my grandfather said the same, is the one thing I can provide you is my reputation. I have zero skeletons in the closet so a big reward is that I have a great legacy that has was already created so then the challenge is obviously maintaining that. Reputation is
0:04:19
(Caitlyn Correia)
incredibly important. I spoke to the entire company just last week about the way you show up first and the way you, some circumstances have to end, say a relationship, you need to put your best foot forward. I think other kind of rewards is I do have flexibility but then also challenges is I'm always expected to show up. I have to but I also want to. So it's that that balance is there's the goods but also it comes with the with the challenges but I think it makes it really really easy because I I love what I do and I have an amazing support system,
0:05:06
(Caitlyn Correia)
team members here, I have an amazing support system outside, a wonderful husband, parents, child care, you name it, in order for me to be here, present, available. So it's exciting and my journey's really just kind of starting. I'm inching closer and closer to 40 every day now, but things are great.
0:05:37
(Chris Dunn)
Awesome, awesome. So yeah, I apologize for that. I lost my audio for a hot second there. So real quick, before we kind of jump into the meat and potatoes of the conversation, obviously, Bluehive is a sponsor. And we're going to talk a lot about Bluehive today, really, from, you know, your, your lens. So I'll jump past that, because we'll get into the details of who we are and
0:05:59
(Chris Dunn)
what we do. But Fistbump is, is the agency, our agency partner who helps us with putting on the podcast. And the brief story there is that a couple years ago, I got involved with this group. From a LinkedIn standpoint, they were offering kind of coaching for, you know, leadership and so forth. And it was a goal of mine to kind of get better on the platform. And after about a year or so working with them on coaching, they, being Brandon Lee, the founder, and a couple of the other folks talked about the benefits of doing a podcast.
0:06:33
(Chris Dunn)
And so kind of brought this idea to Caitlin's attention. Hey, in this day and age, people don't wanna just be, have brochures and pitch slap thrown at them. And they want to learn, they want to, you know, have organic conversations. They want to ingest information
0:06:52
(Chris Dunn)
in the way that they want to do that. So by having a podcast, we're able to become kind of thought leaders in the industry to create conversations with folks from all over, trade shows and events and other areas within our, you know, this live event forum.
0:07:07
(Chris Dunn)
And it's allowed us to kind of create some amazing content, have some great conversations and hopefully be more visible, right? Build our reputation, which will eventually and has already yielded opportunities. So anyways, thank you so much to Fist Bump,
0:07:23
(Chris Dunn)
Juana's behind the scenes. This is a live show today. So absolutely weigh in, let us know where you're where you're hanging out. And then feel free to drop any questions into the into the comments. We'll do our best to get at them. So thanks very much for that. All right, Caitlin, you're you're a young you're a mother of young children, and I know you just kind of put all this together, but just some of the challenges that you're, that you're facing with taking over this family business. You mentioned that your,
0:07:57
(Chris Dunn)
that your dad first, you know, had a company and, and then, sorry, your grandfather, then your father. Your father actually hired me 20 years ago. And you were, you came along shortly thereafter, as far as working in the, in the business. So it's been amazing to really kind of watch you do all the jobs inside the company, and then step into this leadership position. you know, in thinking back on that, you know, the the training ground for you to do those different positions and not just jump to a leadership situation, right, to understand what it takes to be an account manager, to kind of, you know, do all of the behind-the-scenes hard work.
0:08:40
(Chris Dunn)
That must have been super valuable for you to kind of lay that foundation and appreciation for everybody's jobs and how different they are but how important they are to be connected together. Yeah and I mean I would say
0:08:53
(Caitlyn Correia)
first off is I wouldn't be here without the support of everyone. Obviously coming in as kind of the bosses, kids, children, it's there, obviously I put a lot of extra pressure on myself because I have to prove myself. I was always in the beginning, especially before kids. First one in and the last one out. I accepted every challenge. I would travel if I needed to. I would stay up late if I needed to. I would take on extra projects. I mean anything, again would stay up late if I needed to, I would take on extra projects.
0:09:25
(Caitlyn Correia)
I mean, anything again, that's my, my own kind of philosophy is, um, that I had to do more, um, in order to kind of gain people's trust that I was, I wasn't just going to kind of come in again as, as the boss's daughter, obviously that opportunity to be hired was given to me. Um, but I feel very confident that me sitting in the seat, I worked incredibly hard for that. But having the support and even again, a lot of people have seen me when I was little is allowing me for that opportunity.
0:09:59
(Caitlyn Correia)
So obviously me working hard, but the team provides me the confidence that everyone's on board with all of this, but it comes with plenty of struggles. I think, yeah, it's the balance. And again, I always took as being the boss's daughter and a woman as an opportunity. Being on the trade show floor with a lot of majority of men working on installing our booths and whatnot is, that could be intimidating. I took it as an opportunity.
0:10:42
(Caitlyn Correia)
And really any thing that has come along, I've taken as an opportunity and just continue to have confidence in myself that I'm here for a reason and I love what I do.
0:10:56
(Chris Dunn)
Yeah, no, that's awesome. I will say you are unique in that you come from a trade show family. And within my family, even after 20 years of doing this work with Blue Hive, I think kind of know what I do, but maybe not exactly, right?
0:11:10
(Caitlyn Correia)
I still have to tell all of my friends and even my cousins, like what I do.
0:11:15
(Speaker 10)
Yeah, right.
0:11:16
(Chris Dunn)
They think you just travel around and you get to go to all the great places and do it.
0:11:19
(Caitlyn Correia)
Well, and I think that's been a positive is because I remember and got my thought, my grandfather has passed since, but me starting in, I remember calling him on McCormick place floor and talking to him what I'm seeing. And then he would tell me stories back in what 70s,
0:11:37
(Caitlyn Correia)
80s
0:11:41
(Caitlyn Correia)
of how like tough the union was. Great to have that connection. I'm very blessed for that I can share those connections with my father, obviously, and with my grandfather. So it's been great from that standpoint. They understand what I'm going through.
0:11:57
(Chris Dunn)
Yeah, absolutely. You don't need to do too deep of a dive. They get it right from the-
0:12:01
(Chris Dunn)
Yep, been there.
0:12:01
(Caitlyn Correia)
This is how I've handled it.
0:12:03
(Chris Dunn)
And now your son and your daughter, what are they like they're four and two five and three somewhere in that ballpark or are we grooming them?
0:12:09
(Caitlyn Correia)
Yes. Oh, yes. Yeah
0:12:12
(Chris Dunn)
I'm prepared for you know, either Marcus or Noel to be my boss. Yes. We're already talking about the lingo there
0:12:20
(Caitlyn Correia)
Unfortunate but both my husband's in large format graphics and is part of the family business as well. So they get it from both angles. God bless my, my children. Um, but, um, but yeah, they, hopefully that would be my goal is in 10 years when my son's 16, he started to sweep floors here, maybe even earlier.
0:12:43
(Chris Dunn)
There we go. He may be, you know, he'll roll into his first class, kindergarten, first grade, and tell people about SEGs, backlit graphics, maybe what dreyage is, things of that nature.
0:12:53
(Caitlyn Correia)
Yeah, exactly. So start him young. And I think that's part of kind of where we're, what we're talking about is balancing. I think, again, I have have it's so incredibly important I am blessed to have the best support system. My husband and I again him running a family
0:13:11
(Caitlyn Correia)
business being in the same sort of fast-paced world understanding salaries layoffs or hiring is can't get jobs. We've got last minute things on jobs. I am able to bounce a lot of stuff off of him. So the balance is, it's a challenge. I'm being the mom, I'm the one that have to take them to doctor's appointments. I'm the one that if their home sick or if my nanny or support system sick, my children come to the office. So balancing is it's a blessing, but it's a challenge. As they've said, even when you have little
0:13:56
(Caitlyn Correia)
kids, the days, the weeks are really long, but the years are short. Yeah, the years are short. So in the day to day, there are very tough days. But if you look back a few months ago,
0:14:12
(Chris Dunn)
absolutely, absolutely. So my son was actually the first baby born when blue hive existed. So I was hired in April of Oh, five Brady was born in June and now he's 20. He's going to be a junior in college. So I can verify absolutely that the time does in fact fly. And I think back to the early days of the Blue Hive organization, we were, you know, in this mill building over in, you know, over in Millbury and we got our start there and
0:14:42
(Chris Dunn)
then we moved to, to our current location in Worcester. So it's been quite a ride and it's been absolutely a pleasure to be along on this trail with you.
0:14:55
(Caitlyn Correia)
Yeah, it's been, I think that's, obviously as we've been around for 20 years and everyone's seen in their other companies, there's now that kind of new generation. There's a lot of challenges that I've now being faced with retirements.
0:15:11
(Caitlyn Correia)
There's a lot of people that worked with my father for a long time that are now starting to retire. I learned a couple years ago about flex-tirement was the terminology. Then we've got the new people coming in. We were talking, we've got two hivers that are about to have babies this week. So they're, they are now in what shoes that you were in 20 years ago.
0:15:33
(Caitlyn Correia)
So kind of balancing again, talking about challenges is just the different dynamics of generations.
0:15:41
(Chris Dunn)
Right. And you manage those, you manage people in different generations in a different fashion, right? So we're in this workforce right now where we're literally, we have baby boomers, Gen Xers, Millennials, Gen Z, and then Generation Alpha, whatever, or whatever's next, right there, they're literally
0:15:58
(Chris Dunn)
like, right, right around the bend. So it's, it's very cool that we've got folks in their upper 60s and 70s who are mentoring and working with people in their early 20s. It doesn't make it easy, but it's a wonderful blend of people with all this really deep, rich history
0:16:19
(Chris Dunn)
and experience in the event industry. And at the same time, we're the ones who are hunting and pecking around our computers. And we're calling the young kids over and be like, I don't know what's going on with this. Can you get in there?
0:16:30
(Chris Dunn)
Like, oh, you just have the wrong screen open. I'm like, oh, OK, good. So we work well together in that fashion.
0:16:36
(Chris Dunn)
Yes, yes.
0:16:37
(Chris Dunn)
Absolutely. You mentioned managing this multi generational, um, you know, group and, and we're all kind of, we all view things. We work, we work in different ways. Um, you yourself have seen kind of this trend towards, um, you know, in office versus a hybrid and so forth. And we build stuff, right?
0:17:00
(Chris Dunn)
We, we are designing, we're building, we really need to be in the building, not every single person every day. But for the most part, we're not a tech company that can operate completely remotely. So this has been a challenge, right? And there's this ongoing conversation out there in the, in the on the internets, and the and so forth about, you know, in in office and at home and all
0:17:21
(Chris Dunn)
of that kind of stuff. There's some great benefits that come with having a remote workforce, you can cast a wider net find talent that's not necessarily in your local geography. And you can, you can also leverage time zones and everything. And at the same time, being you know, having people in the office and having that synergy of that, that hallway conversation like,
0:17:45
(Chris Dunn)
oh, hey, boom, I was just thinking about this thing, right? Give us a little peek into what your philosophies are and your thoughts on how you're managing these days, flexibility versus the need for in-office and that kind of stuff.
0:17:59
(Caitlyn Correia)
Yeah. I mean, I think you have to be flexible and adaptable. One thing we did two years ago may not work this year. I think open, so obviously the hybrid in office, it's just the way that the environment is. It's the way post COVID, as you mentioned,
0:18:20
(Caitlyn Correia)
and bringing in additional talent. I really wanna hire somebody with a lot of experience. They may be coming from Chicago or California or whatnot. Even the new business deal that we just completed, that team's based in Texas. So you have to be open to it.
0:18:40
(Caitlyn Correia)
Key is communication. I too, I'm an in-office person. So that is just how I work. Obviously managing the business, I need to, my first thing I do when I come into the office is I make a loop around the facility. I stop at our warehouse first, then come up here and just talk with people.
0:19:00
(Caitlyn Correia)
I get a better sense of like, okay, if somebody's feeling good today, if they're struggling with something and just that face to face, you can't beat it. Naturally, that's our business. So I think it's important and it's important for me. But again, retaining talent when talking about new generations, me being a mom and I'm already a little anxious about next year, Mark is starting kindergarten, Noelle is still in preschool, it's like, okay,
0:19:31
(Caitlyn Correia)
I got to drop them off at the bus, I have to do this sort of stuff. So having that flexibility, whether it is some people are starting to retire, they don't want to make the long commute any longer, and then the flip opposite of the young people having to deal with their children or again they are living a further distance, communication is key. And making sure that we're talking about culture. So one of the things that we do here, I've been doing it for maybe almost two years is Hive Time.
0:20:09
(Caitlyn Correia)
So it's a quarterly, not mandatory, but everyone does show up. Meeting. Does you feed them? Yeah, I do feed them. Everyone loves free food. Kind of meeting of the minds is what's happening.
0:20:25
(Caitlyn Correia)
I know a lot of people are always, I wanna know what happens behind closed doors. I'm like, well, I will obviously will share a lot. Some of the stuff obviously has to stay behind closed doors partially because that's my job to protect people. But talking about culture is getting people involved. These are the new things
0:20:46
(Caitlyn Correia)
that my new work company is doing that our kind of graphic department's doing. These are the new people we've hired. Again, everyone being all over the place, seeing faces, knowing what their role is. We do Hiver of the Quarters, where our employees nominate the people that they work with on what good things that they've been doing in the past quarter or past year. So finding opportunities to bring the remote people
0:21:20
(Caitlyn Correia)
within this building, because naturally as you're walking through the building and even our meeting earlier, everyone's laughing and joking and but it's it's sometimes hard to replace that in person because again the I've had so many different meetings and conversations in the kitchen that talking about their kids or a project that they're struggling with that maybe somebody
0:21:42
(Caitlyn Correia)
wouldn't call me to tell me that but But if you're walking in, um, in the building, I'm like, something seems off. I'm going to pull that person aside later. Um, and see, Hey, is it, is it something personal? Is it something work related? How, how can I help? Um, so again, it's just the way that the world is. It's just finding that balance of keeping people engaged is key.
0:22:09
(Chris Dunn)
Yeah, no, that's great. If there's so much in there that you just spoke about that I want to kind of follow up on and try dumbed down to a simple statement of like, walking by managing, or I'm sorry, managing by walking around. So the importance of just, people wanna be heard, right? They wanna be understood,
0:22:35
(Chris Dunn)
and they just wanna make sure that they have a voice. So the fact that you take the time to kind of go around the office to touch base. And granted, it's not every single person every single day, but you're touching base with them and just checking in and then how are you doing, right?
0:22:53
(Chris Dunn)
And to your point, if you see that something seems a little bit off, the ability to kind of maybe grab them a little bit later on and just do a check-in. Maybe it's, I got a toothache, but maybe it's like my kid's sick, or maybe it's, the project I'm working on right now
0:23:09
(Chris Dunn)
is stressing the heck out of me. So it could be an awful lot of things. So I applaud you for being so approachable.
0:23:19
(Speaker 9)
And that's really-
0:23:20
(Caitlyn Correia)
Yeah, well I think a thought that came to my brain, and not saying that, obviously I'm a thought that came to my brain and not saying that obviously I'm a woman that's how I was born and But I do think there my dad is very charismatic But being a woman and being a mom I can we can talk a little bit more about some maybe more intimate things I remember helping on board a shop professional
0:23:45
(Caitlyn Correia)
and he was sharing pictures of his kids and talking about he's having struggled of sleep regressions and whatnot. I'm like, you need this, I'm blanking on what the name is, but essentially some type of snuggy thing
0:24:01
(Caitlyn Correia)
to help them sleep. So naturally my father wouldn't talk about that sort of thing. Having again a different generation, I am a woman and I'm a mom, there's maybe a bit more of a different type of connection. No worse or better, but I think that's just the culture that we have and that I try to make myself approachable, but I've been learning about boundaries.
0:24:29
(Chris Dunn)
Right.
0:24:30
(Chris Dunn)
There is a balance. Well, much like you've established a balance with your husband and your family, it's like we talk about a lot of stuff and at the same time, let's draw a line somewhere like we have to have where it's actually just me and my husband as a couple versus like two business owners who are, or just griping about their day.
0:24:53
(Caitlyn Correia)
Let's talk about something or hike and go on or whatnot. Yeah. Yeah. Too much business talk, unfortunately.
0:25:00
(Chris Dunn)
Yeah. I can imagine. I can imagine. All right. Um, so let me circle back. So I have got some questions that we put together here. All Caitlyn approved. But obviously planning, right? You're running a company. You mentioned actually, you mentioned our other divisions. So one of your philosophies, one of your dad's philosophies has been about diversification. Right? We have Blue Hive exhibits, which is a custom exhibit agency, we're 60 to 70 people strong. Blue Hive
0:25:32
(Chris Dunn)
group as a whole is 110 or so, right. So we have these other business units that live under the umbrella. Tell us a little bit about, I guess, the different parts of our business. And then also, you know, why that's important to kind of have these diversification, much like a stock portfolio.
0:25:49
(Caitlyn Correia)
Yeah. Cashflow, cashflow. I think as, especially as we learned during COVID, I mean, trade shows completely shut down. No one was getting on flights. I, we were blessed. So continental we purchased in 2008 and Essentially, they cut wood just like blue hive does But they are they were deemed essential. So we're building out hospitals in the Bronx
0:26:18
(Caitlyn Correia)
So machines were continuing to run So again reason for diversification We know you don't want to go too far out there of things that don't mesh well with your business, know what you're good at, but what other ways can we, what opportunities can we take advantage because we have this machine. So Continental, they've been around for many, many, many years, but we've had them under
0:26:47
(Caitlyn Correia)
our roof for about 15, and they are doing my beautiful office, as you can see.
0:26:54
(Chris Dunn)
Lucky guy.
0:26:55
(Caitlyn Correia)
Municipalities, so a lot of universities, police station, fire stations, hospitals, you name it. Other thing, again, kind of during the pandemic is we have graphic machines that were just sitting. Is there an opportunity to print things? So looking at kind of a be ready graphics,
0:27:18
(Caitlyn Correia)
a DBA is with fast signs. So we've been actually wrapping a lot of vans.
0:27:24
(Speaker 8)
So we did some
0:27:25
(Caitlyn Correia)
work with Veterans Inc, a plumbing company, our own vans. So again a way to bring in some extra money and keep the guys busy. The last thing I want is people sweeping floors. Lime. so we launched in during the pandemic our own labor division. So essentially it's an offshoot of Blue Hive. They support all of our Blue Hive clients from beginning to end when it comes to labor management installation.
0:28:02
(Caitlyn Correia)
And so we've got a now growing crew. But I think it's talking about diversification. It's really important to make sure you have a lot of opportunities. That's my one of my biggest responsibilities is having opportunities. So I may have say five to ten things that I'm working on knowing that maybe five of them Won't come to fruition But because I have a handful of things that I'm kind of working Towards and making sure that it makes sense for our business and makes sense financially
0:28:39
(Caitlyn Correia)
It's it's it's key you can't in this world and in all industries, you cannot stay stagnant. So what other opportunities can we bring in-house to support our clients? At the end of the day, that is what it is. I mean, naturally, making sure that there's
0:28:58
(Caitlyn Correia)
good cash in the bank. I don't have my banks cutting my credit line. You name it, but it's how best or how better can we serve our clients. So adding kind of little nuggets that that makes sense, digital, talking about experiential, we do all that in house. I have a few other kind of things and the fire of other opportunities that make sense for us.
0:29:27
(Chris Dunn)
Right. And, you know, thinking back to when Blue Hive really kind of brought in or purchased, you know, Continental and then looking at how far they've come. So as an architectural millwork firm, the synergies, as you mentioned, are in the shop, right?
0:29:43
(Chris Dunn)
Our front end businesses are very different. On the Blue Hive side, we're out hunting. We've got sales people who are consultative sellers who are constantly reaching out and trying to find new business. On the Millwork side, those are relationships
0:29:58
(Chris Dunn)
with GCs and architectural firms and so forth, and the business pretty much comes to them, but they have to earn it. They have to put enough tentacles out there, feelers out there, so that they're involved in opportunities.
0:30:12
(Chris Dunn)
And then as one of the really cool things that obviously I've noticed is that their business kind of picks up in the summer, right? Especially for university work and other schools as a for instance, when there's not students there, that's when universities and schools will do all of their,
0:30:29
(Chris Dunn)
most of their work or at least a lot of the install work. So as, um, as our industry does, we get super busy in the spring, you know, January to June, we are literally, you know, putting out fires and chasing, chasing everything. And then there's a bit of a break. The summer's a little bit of a slower time
0:30:47
(Chris Dunn)
in the exhibit world as we get ready for an onslaught in the fall. But to see our continental team kind of fill in that summer with increased amounts of production and obviously revenue that follows that, as a business owner, right, that's what you're preaching
0:31:03
(Chris Dunn)
is that by being diverse and having multiple kind of pistons pumping is that you don't have the dramatic porpoising of of your your revenue kind of you know Speaking but then dropping. Yep
0:31:15
(Caitlyn Correia)
Yeah, and naturally you can only plan so much as I think I said earlier or yesterday is man plans and God laughs
0:31:27
(Caitlyn Correia)
Yes
0:31:28
(Caitlyn Correia)
but again having Looking at opportunities that make sense. I think the synergy between continental and Blue Hive in particular We've we've worked incredibly hard at it, again, reputation, but I'm able to pull some of our shop guys at the lower shop to the upper shop, knowing that in springtime,
0:31:50
(Caitlyn Correia)
when we talk about people working over Easter and whatnot, I'm able to add. So again, talking about cashflow, not over hiring. You wanna be careful of bringing on too many people just for seasonals. We've never had kind of seasonal layoffs. Again, being able to bounce off the two separate companies has been a huge, huge success for us,
0:32:11
(Caitlyn Correia)
especially after the pandemic. Right, yeah, absolutely. So we've alluded to the planning, right?
0:32:18
(Chris Dunn)
So as the person who's responsible for this organization, you sit on top and you've got this 10,000 people that are working on the project. And you're the we've alluded to the planning, right? So, as the person who's responsible for this organization, you sit on top, and you've got this 10,000-foot view of things, and you have very intimate views as well, within certain areas. How do you kind of look at the strategic planning for, let's say, 1, 3, five years, right? So we've got to do what we need to do this year, right? We're getting into Q3, Q4 of 2026.
0:32:53
(Chris Dunn)
We had a really good first two quarters. But what's the second half of this year hold, right? So you're looking at short term. But then like, OK, so beyond that, what are we doing to make sure that in three years we're growing and we're viable,
0:33:07
(Chris Dunn)
and five years and even beyond that, what does that kind of look like from your lens?
0:33:12
(Caitlyn Correia)
Yeah, I mean, there's so many things. I think making sure that I'm up to date in industry news is going to networking events, hearing about what other companies are learning, are experiencing. Obviously our nature of our business is different, but it all plays to one another. So it's keep trying to keep my head above water
0:33:41
(Caitlyn Correia)
in a sense of just making sure I have the time and opportunity to again go to networking events, EDPA access, anything that's within our industry and talking with our clients. It's hard I mean a lot of the times too a little bit back to diversification and planning stuff is a lot of the opportunities like Lime, Labor, and other Be Ready, those ideas have come from employees. So again, back to diversification, communication. If we didn't have kind of an open door policy that every idea is an idea to be heard, and then if it's a good one, you capitalize on it. Lime wasn't necessarily part of my one, three, five year plan, but because I'm communicating with people that this is a need, this is things that we're seeing on the floor. This is what I think will get us a step ahead
0:34:46
(Caitlyn Correia)
of our competitors. Things like that is just being out there and talking about, again, and then my role, looking at financials. So we started our, we opened up our own facility in Las Vegas just shy of two years ago. We're already outgrowing it. So looking at other
0:35:11
(Caitlyn Correia)
facilities, knowing that I have a certain amount of lease left is, okay, what are my opportunities? I fly out there, check with the team, do you think we can manage this? And then looking at numbers to see, okay, yeah, this makes sense. We see this stuff coming down the pipeline. It's hard.
0:35:32
(Caitlyn Correia)
I mean, there's a lot of things that are kind of high in the sky in my brain, and this is what I want to do. And these are my ideal goals for that. But then knowing that as things happen and change, okay, that now can't happen, but this can happen instead. So I don't know if I answered that.
0:35:58
(Caitlyn Correia)
It's a hard question to answer.
0:36:02
(Speaker 7)
Right.
0:36:02
(Chris Dunn)
Well, you have, we'll call it a famous saying that your dad used to say and that I've heard you say as well with regards to just having faith, right? So what is that? Can you share that statement?
0:36:18
(Caitlyn Correia)
You will have to remind me, having faith.
0:36:20
(Chris Dunn)
Oh, yeah.
0:36:21
(Chris Dunn)
Just don't lose...
0:36:22
(Caitlyn Correia)
Yes. So talking about the people and naturally I'm one of those people, I like instant gratification. I want things to happen now. I wanted them to happen yesterday. I don't have patience for things. But again, talking about culture and people's trusting. You can lose patience with me, but don't lose faith in me. I've said this many, many times of, if I am promising you something, it will happen. You just may have to have patience with me.
0:36:59
(Caitlyn Correia)
I will never promise something if I know I can't keep it. And sometimes it's a struggle to get people to know to be on board. I mean, naturally you've known me for a long time. A lot of people here have known me for a long time, but it's the new people, like just trust me
0:37:18
(Caitlyn Correia)
as I will take care of you. It just may take some time.
0:37:23
(Speaker 6)
It's huge.
0:37:24
(Chris Dunn)
Absolutely. And yesterday we were chatting about a whole bunch of things, one of which being this conversation coming up. And I mentioned how my wife in particular, she's the type of person that's just like, she likes transparency and communication.
0:37:38
(Chris Dunn)
She wants to be communicated with. And if that's not happening, she feels a little put out, like, why aren't they telling me these things? And as I shared that with you, you had a really interesting reply to me.
0:37:50
(Chris Dunn)
And I think you've already kind of touched on it. But just to circle back, you have to find that balance. Yes, I can be transparent. We can talk about a lot of different things. But there are certain things that you as the CEO of this company
0:38:06
(Chris Dunn)
You're you are not at liberty to share nor do you want to kind of put that out there and set false Expectations or get people riled up for no reason right so you're doing a great job of walking that line And finding the balance of like yes, I can I can share some things There's other things I need to play closer to the vest. You will hear about these things when the time is right.
0:38:28
(Caitlyn Correia)
Yeah, and I think the big thing, so depending on what it is, is I mean, part of my philosophy or just the way that my role is, I never wanna burden somebody with something that that's my that's my responsibility
0:38:45
(Caitlyn Correia)
it's my my I'm Naturally, everyone has sleepless nights. I there's a handful maybe more because it is it's my response. It's my responsibility I don't want to burden one of my managers with something or one of their People that they manage with something because it's that's my responsibility to to manage. So it's it's a part of protecting them too. So it is it's that it is that fine balance. Sometimes I want to be like on top of the mountain and
0:39:18
(Caitlyn Correia)
be like this is what's going on. But but everyone interprets things different, whether it's, okay, I'm super excited, or ooh, what does that mean? And the last thing I want is to, again, put that burden on anyone else. There's a lot of times, and a little bit off subject, but my, because I have a lot of philosophies and mottoes,
0:39:46
(Caitlyn Correia)
but I try and lead with kind of positivity. And somebody mentioned to me is whether some situation, like, how do you stay so positive? I'm like, well, because my energy feeds off of my employees. If they see that I'm shaken up by something or whatnot, then that's going to go on to them and then potentially on to their family.
0:40:15
(Caitlyn Correia)
I've said this many times. I not only hire my employees, but I also hire their families. So if their wife or significant other other partner, whatever it may be, if they're worried, naturally they're going to get worried. And it's, it's kind of a domino effect. So staying positive is part of my thing, but I shared, I was like, I have a door that I can close and I can say what I want to say in private or drive home in silence. But when I come in here, I
0:40:49
(Caitlyn Correia)
try to be as positive as possible, because again, everyone feeds off of everyone's energy.
0:40:55
(Chris Dunn)
Jim Collison, Los Angeles, LA — Yeah, yeah, agreed. All right, before we start wrapping up, I got, I've got one more question. And I'm going to, I'm going to also plug our next week next week show so next week's guest is Chris Griffin. Chris is currently the president of EDPA Exhibit Producers and Designers Association. It's an awesome industry you know group that we're part of and you know so so Chris is in this leadership position. You actually served as a leader on the EDPA Northeast so that's basically our own Northeast corridor subversion
0:41:28
(Chris Dunn)
or subset, subcommittee of the greater whole. What are some of the things that you, I guess, learned in that leadership position? Do you get to meet other people in similar circumstances? They are, yeah, they are competitors, but at the same time, I feel like our industry has done a pretty good job of, of working together.
0:41:48
(Chris Dunn)
Like we saw what it looked like when there was no shows and it sucked. Right. So at least we have this common experience. Anybody who's not brand new since COVID saw what this looks like. So I think the industry has done a really great job of pulling together. Examples of that are like the Randy Smith fundraiser and other things that the EDPA regionals are doing.
0:42:13
(Chris Dunn)
Tell us a little bit about some of the things that you kind of have been able to take away from these, sitting on these boards and sitting on these industry kind of platforms and seeing the industry as a whole versus just Caitlin as the owner of Blue Hive.
0:42:28
(Chris Dunn)
Yeah.
0:42:29
(Caitlyn Correia)
I mean, I think going again, sitting at tables with other competitors, I mean, naturally there's things that you'll hold to your chest, but otherwise we all do roughly the same, same sort of thing. So there's a huge camaraderie from that. Understand things, long hours, you name it. I think from one of the things I've developed, I guess, is just better partners,
0:42:57
(Caitlyn Correia)
especially when it comes to vendors is going to EPA access or even the EDPA Northeast. There's a lot of shipping and SUG fabric vendors, I think just you have to be open and open to networking and getting to know one another. But I think that's the biggest thing is just the camaraderie and the connection that we're in the same. And we all love trade shows. That's the goal is to make sure that our industry does not go anywhere.
0:43:32
(Caitlyn Correia)
We only continue to evolve it and get better for the greater. If we all have each other kind of fighting naturally, it's friendly competition. But it's, yeah, I mean, it's just, it's networking is being open and rubbing shoulders with somebody that maybe you didn't think you would, but you have a lot of things that are in common,
0:43:57
(Caitlyn Correia)
especially if other people that run their family businesses, there's a lot of trade show families in our, in our industry. So,
0:44:05
(Chris Dunn)
right now, absolutely. Absolutely. So, uh, Keith Geier, one of our, our awesome sales guy, sales folks is weighed in with a couple of comments here. So KG, we see you out there. Thanks for supporting us. We appreciate it. And now your name is indelibly tied to this show forever and ever. Absolutely. And Zadia, thanks so much for being here. She's one of our stellar listenees.
0:44:32
(Chris Dunn)
You're right, it's all about community. And your comment from earlier about, you know, being in person in an office is a different vibe than being remote. So we're all, you know, kind of working through all of these things all at the same time.
0:44:44
(Chris Dunn)
So as we start to wrap up, we have a signature type of a thing that we do here. It's very unique. No one else has ever done this. Give us, if you would, three takeaway. I'm totally fibbing, of course.
0:44:57
(Chris Dunn)
Three takeaways for our audience, things that we can either put a bow on, things you've talked about or add to anything that you might want to end with takeaways that people can kind of put into action or really kind of latch on to.
0:45:10
(Caitlyn Correia)
Yeah. I mean, we talked a lot, a lot of stuff. I think, I think the one thing, if anyone's looking to get into a family business or maybe start their business and if they're a woman or a mom, you have to have two feet in. It is relentless. There's certain days that are awesome.
0:45:33
(Caitlyn Correia)
There's other days that are not awesome. So having two feet in and committed and patience with yourself, I think's really, really key. Again again all the other stuff of support systems and whatnot everyone not everyone has a good support system, but if you if you have a goal and in a dream and Go for it, but you got to be two feet in that's the only way that it'll work. Again, talking about diversification is, again,
0:46:08
(Caitlyn Correia)
being a leader or even managers is making sure that you're thinking about plan A, B, C, D, because you know, okay, maybe A, B, C don't work, but you've got D and E, whether it's hiring people or if you want to make this decision, but you already think maybe this is the route that decision will go, well then, okay, being flexible and adaptable to shift quickly because you already pre-planned what either an answer would be or an outcome would be. And maybe other stuff is, again, just being confident in yourself, blocking out the noise. I think those are the big things. There's so much we talked about.
0:46:55
(Chris Dunn)
No, those are great. And I really like the last one. That's the haters are going to hate, right? It's like there will always be critics. There'll always be people who tell you that you're stupid for trying that, or that's never gonna work, or.
0:47:08
(Caitlyn Correia)
I, one, one comment is always sticking in my mind is somebody mentioned, again, I've got a reputation, my father and grandfather said, Caitlin's not gonna succeed in his other terms. And it's stuck in my brain forever. And I'm like, I will prove you wrong.
0:47:28
(Chris Dunn)
That's a nice little chip on your shoulder to have right there. Fantastic. And that goes to believing in yourself and putting your blinders on and just working through it. So this has been a tremendous conversation.
0:47:44
(Chris Dunn)
It's been great. Obviously, we talk all the time, but it's, I think it's so cool to be able to kind of open up the, you know, the pullback, the curtains a little bit. Anne Lingafelter 1.15 Yeah, a little bit more personal. but we're, we're going to be a different company, you know, in the next 10 years than we were the last 10 years. So we're always changing and evolving. And having young, you know, forward-thinking, positive leadership is, is a game-changer. It makes this company that, that I'm loved and I bleed blue for the last 20 years, it makes it a great place to come.
0:48:31
(Chris Dunn)
It's a great industry. It's, to your point, there's good days and there's shitty days for sure, like any other business. But what we get to do for our clients, I think is amazing. And the friendships and the camaraderie that's formed facing outward, right, to our clients and how we help them
0:48:48
(Chris Dunn)
and also facing inward to the relationships that we build within Blue Hive. And it's just, it's been really great. So I know most folks who listen to and watch this show are related to the industry in some fashion, right? And we're building, we're doing our best on the toolbox here
0:49:09
(Chris Dunn)
to build a community of kind of like-minded event people. So whether you come from the agency side or corporate events or trade shows or festivals, or if you're on the customer side and you're the event manager, like pulling all of these folks together to kind of have
0:49:28
(Chris Dunn)
wonderful conversations that people can learn from and hopefully take things away. That's our goal here. So Caitlin, thank you so much for contributing to that. And certainly your lens and perspective as a business owner and a mother are just fantastic.
0:49:45
(Chris Dunn)
It's not a conversation we've had yet on the toolbox. So this has been a wonderful, wonderful episode. I think there'll be a lot of great takeaways from here.
0:49:54
(Caitlyn Correia)
Yeah, it was a lot of fun. Thank you so much.
0:49:56
(Chris Dunn)
Excellent. So, all right, last thing, how do people get a hold of you? Should they want to talk to you?
0:50:01
(Caitlyn Correia)
LinkedIn, I already get too many emails and phone calls. Okay. you. LinkedIn, I already get too many emails and phone calls. So LinkedIn, please. Yes.
0:50:08
(Chris Dunn)
Just my name, Katelyn Correa. There you go. Katelyn Correa. Okay. Awesome. Well, we're wrapping it up. We are 50 minutes in. This has been a great episode. Thank you all for participating. Again, you'll be able to watch this recording here on LinkedIn and also YouTube. And then within a couple of days, it'll be up on your favorite podcast platform. That's my favorite way of consuming podcasts.
0:50:33
(Chris Dunn)
I like to listen when I'm driving or walking the dog. So it's a great way to kind of just, you know, take things in and learn as you're doing other stuff, right, multitasking at its best.
0:50:47
(Chris Dunn)
All right.
0:50:48
(Chris Dunn)
All right, we're wrapping. Take care, everybody. Thanks so much, Caitlin, and see you guys around. Everybody have a good rest of your week.
0:50:55
(Chris Dunn)
Cheers. Cheers.
0:50:56
(Caitlyn Correia)
Bye.
