Simplifying the Fan Journey with Technology – Bianca Gonzalez-Schulte, NASCAR

This transcript has been transcribed by Riverside.fm, no edits (please excuse any errors)

Sean Callanan (00:01.725)
Very happy to welcome Bianca Gonzales-Schulte, who is the Director of Interactive Applications at NASCAR. Bianca, welcome to the podcast.

Bianca González-Schulte (00:12.034)
Thank you. Thanks for having me. I'm excited.

Sean Callanan (00:13.981)
And you can grade the way that I've said your name because I… It's always a good start. don't want to fumble the first thing. So the first thing I normally do in the podcast, other than get the name right, is actually ask people how they got into the world of sports and sports business. What about yourself? How did you find your way into the world of sport?

Bianca González-Schulte (00:16.514)
You did good. I was going to give you that thumbs up.

Bianca González-Schulte (00:37.548)
I wasn't expecting it. wasn't, it wasn't, I hate to say this. It wasn't my goal. It wasn't my dream. My dream, I guess if you were to call it a dream or a goal, it would be tech. But I had a professor from Full Sail University when I was getting my master's degree who had worked with our former president, Stephen Phelps. And he was like, hey, it would be a great fit. You should apply. And I actually said no the first time.

Sean Callanan (01:07.327)
So where were you working prior to sports? What was your first job?

Bianca González-Schulte (01:07.392)
And then.

I am a dais. So I was working for Emma dais, which is a solution. They provide booking platform and website solutions for hotels across the globe. And I really liked it, but I was commuting really far. I lived an hour and a half away and he thought he was local as well. And he thought that, Hey, you should try NASCAR. But I said no the first time, second time.

His former employee was hiring. It worked out really well. And I took the plunge and I did it. So I started with them in 2019.

Sean Callanan (01:49.395)
So what was your role? What did your role entail before NASCAR? What was the skillset you were bringing? Because it wasn't from a sports point of view.

Bianca González-Schulte (01:56.398)
It's ironic that skill set that I brought in has been extremely valuable. was kind of a client services or product specialist, client services rep for these hotels and they were using our CMSs or booking platforms. We did all the analytics for them. So my role was to

it work on enhancing the product with dev teams in Sri Lanka or France or to also teach these hotel, you know, receptionists or whatever it may be, how to use our website manager. So it, a lot of it has transferred to this role from the CMS standpoint and understanding, you know, how things work with a website, what the

Sean Callanan (02:34.749)
Yep.

Bianca González-Schulte (02:51.694)
WCAG standards are etc. etc. So it's process over.

Sean Callanan (02:55.026)
I mean, that's the thing. Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of people who want to get into sport because they have the love of the sport and they like what's on the pitch or what's on the track, that kind of thing. But there is obviously a whole bunch of work that needs to be done in getting websites ready, digital marketing, marketing events that applies. just your customers are motorsport fans. That's the difference. It's a very different customer group than

Bianca González-Schulte (03:20.767)
Exactly.

Sean Callanan (03:24.498)
you know, people who go to hotels or travel customers. So what was your…

Bianca González-Schulte (03:28.32)
It's still hospitality. We still do all of it. So we're still, you know, we're still trying to sell a product and provide an experience. And I think it crosses over really well with the hospitality world.

Sean Callanan (03:40.262)
So your first role at NASCAR, what was that?

Bianca González-Schulte (03:44.27)
It was a marketing specialist, but that quickly changed because of COVID. So I started right before the end of the season and then in 2019, which fall 2019, had my first day, 2,500 for speed weeks, for super cross, which is another event we host here, Rolex 24, all of those, and then COVID happened. So.

Sean Callanan (03:51.741)
Mm-hmm.

Bianca González-Schulte (04:13.466)
I actually was laid off in May after COVID. I survived our merger because the company I was with was purchased by NASCAR, which they were still owned by the same owners. COVID, most of my team was laid off. And thankfully, I was brought back on two months later as a event experience and client services manager.

Sean Callanan (04:26.568)
Yep.

Bianca González-Schulte (04:41.804)
Different roles, different responsibilities, but similar when it came to event time.

Sean Callanan (04:48.836)
And I mean, it's really a good point. It's not just sport, but like the ability to adapt and what's, but also sport really excels in if you're a doer. Like if you're like, throw me something and I will do it. It might not be in my skillset or it might be outside my comfort zone, but hey, I will build the checklist and I will tick those checklists off. that?

I guess the way you've been tackled, guess, tackled those roles as you've, I guess, your role has evolved.

Bianca González-Schulte (05:23.424)
Yes, I say this to every mentee when I do mentorships or I just brought on a coordinator in this business. If you are willing to collaborate, help on projects that are unrelated to what you do, just try new things, not afraid to.

to step outside of that role that you're in and do something completely unrelated. An example is I got this role because I used to do the translations for the chat bot for my former director. And so I was working with her even though we were no longer technically connected in any way, or form. So it's about building those relationships internally and just

Sean Callanan (06:05.245)
Mm-hmm.

Bianca González-Schulte (06:18.764)
Yeah, being a doer, it's execution, not just ideas. So it's how you execute the ideas.

Sean Callanan (06:22.117)
Yep. And also it gives you a wider view of the overall business when you do get that opportunity to be in the event space and understand the event experience. Because now in your current role in that interactive applications team, it's a really big part of it. And having those boots on the ground and seeing one of my first jobs was at a museum installing

Bianca González-Schulte (06:29.582)
Absolutely.

Sean Callanan (06:49.007)
installing touchscreens for the exhibits and watching children punch these touchscreens because they weren't working. But it's like you learn so much watching the flow of people and, my technology where I always press the right space, it always worked, doesn't work when someone punches it. Did that sort of you give you that, I guess, that grounded experience for what you're doing in the interactive application space?

Bianca González-Schulte (07:07.99)
Exactly.

Bianca González-Schulte (07:14.274)
Yeah, I mean, when I was with Daytona and then the Southeast, so Daytona Talladega and Homestead, I was at first managing the Daytona Rewards program at Daytona. And one of the responsibilities was taking fans to wave the green flag, the winners, the winners of the rewards. We would do like watch fireworks from the World Center Racing Tower or

be at the bus stop for M-style races so you could watch all these cars slow down into the turn. But all of that gave me this access to fan feedback that I don't get anymore unless I really go out there and try. So I'm at an event, I sit at a shuttle, I'm sitting next to somebody and you hear all of it.

Sean Callanan (07:45.095)
Yep.

Sean Callanan (08:03.719)
Yep.

Bianca González-Schulte (08:04.43)
It's amazing how much you learn from being next to somebody. I mean, we actually had this happen during the Daytona 500. I was taking a partner of ours from Satisfy Labs around, he came to the 500 and we were heading to their hospitality area and we came across a couple and they were asking everybody like, excuse me, like, can you help? And everybody was just leaving. So I can't do that. I'm customer service first. So I stopped and I was like,

Hey, what's going on? How can I help you? And I realized we have this huge dead zone and a specific area of the track. So even though we have maps, we have there's an there's something I need to solve for. So they they stopped too early in the tram and their walk was going to be like half a mile to where they needed to go. So I was just like, let me help you get there. I won't specify how I helped them, but we did help them get there and they were happy, but she was frustrated.

Sean Callanan (08:57.115)
Yep.

Bianca González-Schulte (09:04.052)
And that's not what we want.

Sean Callanan (09:04.443)
Yeah. No, and that's some of those things you can't see until race day, right? And, you know, things like, you know, you've got all your Wi-Fi mesh networks up and you're like, can't, it doesn't work in that spot. It's like, well, how can we fit it? Like, you know, and then it's like, can we put a repeater in the right spot or, you know, how do we do it? And then, and it's a really important thing to, I guess, get your staff to have that.

Bianca González-Schulte (09:10.464)
Until you're there.

Bianca González-Schulte (09:25.87)
Exactly.

Sean Callanan (09:32.903)
customer service mentality, even if they're not in the yellow jackets, they're meant to be customer service, because you can learn so much for what you're trying to do for the overall day.

Bianca González-Schulte (09:40.632)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, it's it's crucial. I've always been a people person and I think it's one of those things where it has helped so much because I know even in I mean, I'm in middle management at this point in my career, but I don't see I have seen executive leadership. Step up and ask those questions, ask the hard questions, help fans. This is a very actionable group, so I would say.

In general at NASCAR, you'll find that a lot of people are just willing to step in, whether they're the president, whether they're the BP, whatever that may be. We tend to be that group that's always kind of trying to help that fan out or get involved. Sometimes it's scanning tickets at the gates if there's been a postponement. we try to, yeah, I think nourish that kind of culture here. And I really love that about this company.

Sean Callanan (10:31.195)
Yep. Yeah.

Bianca González-Schulte (10:42.286)
But it's crucial.

Sean Callanan (10:45.085)
Absolutely, absolutely. Now I've mentioned a couple of times you are the director of interactive applications. That can mean a lot of things to a lot of different people. I come from a geek background, interactive applications, like I can notice, I could make up a couple of assumptions. We won't make assumptions. What is the remit of that department? What do you work on?

Bianca González-Schulte (10:54.134)
I can.

Bianca González-Schulte (11:08.972)
So it's interesting because we have just moved into the performance marketing space as well. before I would say we were more kind of product, well, my role was more as a product manager and ensuring that we're staying as innovative as possible with what our track sites are doing or widgets, making sure we're

Sean Callanan (11:22.834)
Mm-hmm.

Bianca González-Schulte (11:36.974)
We're making things UX UI friendly. We're talking to our consumer insights team. So it's it was more product. Yes. Yes.

Sean Callanan (11:44.667)
And so is that all the consumer facing, consumer facing assets like websites and app and those kinds of things that your team leads the charge?

Bianca González-Schulte (11:55.276)
Yeah, basically our vendor landscape also. just how we who we select as our vendors and how we we built that to we have great partners and they're always willing to kind of take it to the level that we need them to or or adjust and be flexible with with changes. And so it's a little bit of that. Now it's really turned into a very every touch point. So we're we're on the performance marketing team, which means we're

really conscientious of every channel, whether it's email, which is in our purview, paid media, but how our products interact with all of those. this year it's really focused around personalization and just getting websites to meet the buyer where they are in their journey. we have a great, I mean, you spoke with Damien, I know before during a podcast.

Sean Callanan (12:33.083)
Mm-hmm.

Sean Callanan (12:41.04)
Mm-hmm.

Sean Callanan (12:51.91)
Yep.

Bianca González-Schulte (12:53.194)
Amazing data warehouse. There's a lot of insights we have on our fans that we can use then to make their purchase decisions easier, their pre-event knowledge easier, their post-event nourishment. There's a lot we're trying to do now that we've really gotten into having AJO and Adobe products very heavily integrated.

Sean Callanan (13:18.524)
And that was going to be my next question. Integrated is a really great way of putting it like multiple vendors, multiple platforms, multiple products, both front end and back end, and then integrating with track technology. Your job must be the connector of pipes and making sure vendor one and vendor two connect seamlessly. Is that a big…

both, I guess, pain point, but also a challenge to get all of those pieces working together.

Bianca González-Schulte (13:52.078)
I would say, well, I would say as far as getting it to work together, the hardest thing is when we bring something new in. That is always very challenging. It's time consuming and we're very selective about who we bring in because of that. I'll say the relationship we have with our vendors, I treat like to me, they're our team. We are

very, we have very good relationships. are able to be very honest with each other about what our role is, what their role is, what we need help with, what they can enhance for us on the product side. But then we are also managing all the day to day things. So we have 14 plus websites, 13 tracks, and each one of those is our client. And we do all of the

Content management, so we get requests from the tracks, but all of the strategy around like that personification of the site that comes from me, that comes from my team, all of the on sales, pre-sales, I have our senior manager who manages those communications with ticketing, with track marketing, it's a lot, but in a good way.

Sean Callanan (15:20.336)
Yep.

Bianca González-Schulte (15:22.52)
But yeah, I would say because of that, we are very selective about who we bring into our vendor landscape and our ecosystem.

Sean Callanan (15:32.093)
But also success comes with vendors that can be adaptable and understand your requirements and understand that certain things are needed that are vital for the way you do your business. And it's those ones that have success, because they're not bringing the full suite of everything you need. They're bringing something that's very specific for what they do. They do that very well. The integration pieces.

Like that is the success fail piece of when you've got a big landscape like you do.

Bianca González-Schulte (16:05.399)
Absolutely.

No, it's a key and we've seen a lot of different vendors. think that's what drove me to really, because this role wasn't, it was a role I applied for when I was on the more marketing and experience side, even though at one point our team might've had more of like a say around like which vendors we would work with, it then became centralized during COVID.

Sean Callanan (16:35.078)
Yep.

Bianca González-Schulte (16:37.752)
So I really wanted to move into a role where I could have more, at least more, even as a manager, I think I had enough input that it was valued and we made a lot of decisions around changes. And we had a wayfinding part or vendor at one point that it was just very heavy on the, and I know wayfinding is a big topic for a lot of leagues now, but it can be really heavy on the management side, especially for one person.

so, you know, finding somebody like say, Pam interactive who they're, they're just, they, they build all the routes. They build all the, it's a huge difference. And if you don't know to look for that, you might go to somebody who, who requires so much work upfront from your end. That it just makes it a lot more challenging. So thinking from, from the user side, I think, and the backend is really important for my team because.

We're small team. There's four of us now, but we were three for a while. Bye.

Sean Callanan (17:40.511)
Yep. So that's the thing with a small team, you really have to like pick, like pick your battles, pick the pick the initiatives that you want to go, we want to move the needle on this, we would love to fix or, you know, solve all of these things, but we've only got four people. So what are some of the things, you know, what are some of the levers that you've pulled recently, that you've gone, we put some effort into this area, and this is the success we've had.

Bianca González-Schulte (18:08.829)
Well, it's a actually I would say this is more in progress and then successful yet We do have a new event this year. I don't know if you might have not heard about it, but it's a race at a Navy base the Coronado base in San Diego and I mean a hundred percent of fans will never have been to that event and It is a massive. I mean, it's it's gonna be our largest track. It's three and a half miles. I believe it's 3.4

Sean Callanan (18:24.301)
Mm-hmm. Yep.

Bianca González-Schulte (18:37.23)
Um, and the challenge that was, was given to me is I, we want this to be a Disney experience where it's smooth going in. I know I'm like, okay, it's going to be challenging. Um, I think the biggest thing with this event is, is really that storytelling for any. So.

Sean Callanan (18:48.843)
Thank you for setting the bar high. Just call it a Disney experience and straight away you're like, okay, the bar's here.

Bianca González-Schulte (19:01.836)
If you're a new fan, you, it's really hard to understand that NASCAR starts the moment the gates open until green flag. You're not getting there before the first, like you're getting there early so that you can experience the whole event because there's a lot going on. And if you get there on time for the race start, you're missing out on everything that comes before. So our challenge is how do we communicate that to a race that has such a large percentage of new fans on a venue that nobody has been to? So.

Sean Callanan (19:19.674)
Yep.

Bianca González-Schulte (19:31.372)
We are working through a project that we're hoping it's, the idea is digital signage, but in a very specific way. So we're going to use a lot of crowd flow analytics to determine like the efficacy of where we've chosen to place certain key signs. We're going to have a mixture of LED, e-paper, e-paper,

I can't remember if it's E. It's brand new. We saw a lot of it in ISC recently. But it's simple signage. So that would be very specific content that would be important. But then we'll have more content around, hey, shuttles. say this shuttle takes two minutes to go this direction. We're highlighting key moments like.

Sean Callanan (20:08.921)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Bianca González-Schulte (20:27.95)
race is going to start, make sure you get back to your area. We have 45 minutes. this is happening at the carrier zone. Don't miss out or little, just cues, that will potentially save a fan who's not looking at an app, who isn't looking at a website because there's service issues, things that they need and must know that they don't need a app for. So bringing partners like

Pam into the mix where their digital signage will help fans understand where they are and where they need to go without having to use an app or a phone. So.

Sean Callanan (21:07.139)
Yep. I mean, it definitely is an evolution of the space in like the connection of, you know, the advancements in digital signage and then changing based on the event, based on the timing of the event, based on what's happening at the event, being in concert with the app and with the website when, you know, we often talk about silos in sport, like they would be just separate things.

you know, someone was running the signage and someone was running the app. And to get that connectedness, because you're right, like some people will be in their phones and go, where are we meant to go? And other people go, well, hang on, look up, there's a sign that tells us where to go. And then there'll be another spot where it's like, I can scan the QR code and it will pop up and tell us where to go. Like that piece, and yeah, Damien did speak about the race in San Diego, like it's new. So you don't have the…

Bianca González-Schulte (21:34.944)
Exactly, that's the opposite of what we want.

Bianca González-Schulte (21:47.662)
Absolutely.

Bianca González-Schulte (21:52.267)
Exactly.

Sean Callanan (22:00.527)
You don't have the history and the heritage of I'm going to Daytona and I know where I go and I know where is a good spot to see and I know where the bar is. you you don't have that familiarity of the standard fans. So it's a big challenge. And, yeah, I look forward to seeing, you know, it is an in-progress thing, but you've got to you've got to think of all of those scenarios. And, yeah, new tech comes on, whether it's, you know, the ink and the paper that cause that they're effectively more screens that you've got to figure out how to fill.

and integrate. So that's the opportunity for you.

Bianca González-Schulte (22:34.678)
It'll be fun. think it's, I really enjoy storytelling and I think, this is just a version of that. It's, it's just very specific to the race. know we have the support internally to make it happen. and we're also going to potentially use it as like consumer insights or just, it'll be a great experience for us to kind of figure out a playbook for these kinds of events, because ideally they're happening in the future. And, and we always have a reason to have.

this kind of use case, so.

Sean Callanan (23:06.541)
Absolutely. And then the other part of, I guess, your role in, you know, that technology and fan engagement is, you know, we've just been talking a lot about on track experience and wayfinding and making sure people don't miss out on the action. But there will be a whole, there'll be millions of people that aren't in San Diego. And so you still have to provide an experience for them, you know, through the app, which is augmenting the TV experience. So is that something that's also

you know, one of the things that you have to attack in your role.

Bianca González-Schulte (23:40.686)
So this is where I think we're evaluating the need of having two apps, I would say. And this is nothing that has been decided yet, but I will say that we brought this app in to play because we did not have mobile responsive sites back in 2016. There were things that you needed an app for, but there's also the value of having one.

considered the kind of bringing that and the NASCAR mobile together because that one would fit both needs, whether you're at home or at track. Ours is specifically for at track and it's hard because it's, you know, what is the lifetime value for a user? mean, I personally am the person who like downloads her tickets and then deletes the app. So.

Sean Callanan (24:21.018)
Mm-hmm.

Sean Callanan (24:24.932)
Yep.

Bianca González-Schulte (24:38.958)
I know I'm very proud of how far the app has come. think it's, we have great onsite product. We have WSC highlight reels. have a great timeline notes. have great video feeds and scanners, but at the end of the day, when you think about the use, like I just want to make everything simple for our fans. So that's where.

Sean Callanan (24:49.422)
Yep.

Bianca González-Schulte (25:07.63)
where I think at this point within the performance marketing group and working really closely, we have a new partner next league, well, not a new partner, they're a new partner to us, but they've been working with NASCAR for many years, is figuring out what that strategy looks like as we evolve these products and potentially combine and them helping figure out the best next steps there. But I will say like to me,

My goal has always been simplify and make it smooth. So now I'm in a position where can, you know, I'm no longer, I'm the director of the team and I think, you know, that we have enough good reasons to do that now. So.

Sean Callanan (25:38.873)
Yep.

Sean Callanan (25:51.085)
Absolutely. it is, and what you have to do when you're in that role is watch how customers are behaving with other apps, with other services, what's expected. Obviously, Uber coming along and just hitting a button and a car turns up change people's behavior. And now we're seeing the same with AI and people just going to voice like I was having a debate with a friend of mine that's

built websites for 30 years. He's like, our website's dead. Are we just going to build stuff that… Yeah, we're just going to provide infrastructure for the matrix and then you could just ask it and it would be answered. And there's a case for it. But it's like, well, then do we need to make sure our websites can be consumed? But also, should we be providing that interface if that is the interface that people are going to be asking?

Bianca González-Schulte (26:24.622)
I've heard that argument that it's like the new website is a chatbot.

Bianca González-Schulte (26:34.062)
Yeah, I've heard that.

Bianca González-Schulte (26:40.61)
Balance.

Bianca González-Schulte (26:47.854)
Mm-hmm.

Sean Callanan (26:48.824)
And so that's where I think it is exciting because the one thing that you have is you do have a lot of information that fans want to get to and maybe don't know what it is. I spoke at a CX event at the Australian Open and I joked, I joked, but it wasn't really a joke. was like, most major events are run with 15 PDFs, right? That have all the information. And it's just a case that…

Bianca González-Schulte (26:58.787)
Mm-hmm.

Bianca González-Schulte (27:04.814)
Have a nice

Bianca González-Schulte (27:14.615)
Yes.

Sean Callanan (27:16.204)
not everyone has access to the PDF that they need at the time that they need it. So what if they did? And so it's like, it's some of those things of like, how do we give a better way for that information to flow through, whether it's internally to your customer service staff and that kind of, but then what does that, what does it then look like from the fan point of view? And it comes back to your point of how can we make it as simple as possible? So like the, like the fact that the interfaces are changing is

Bianca González-Schulte (27:21.166)
Absolutely.

Sean Callanan (27:45.998)
you know, quite exciting.

Bianca González-Schulte (27:48.002)
Yeah, and I think that's where you do want to think, OK, so if websites are leaning towards chatbot and I know search, what is it? And that is a GEO.

Sean Callanan (28:01.753)
Yeah, it's SEO for chat bots is what we'll call it. So make sure your website is consumable for LLMs is effectively it.

Bianca González-Schulte (28:05.418)
Yes, yes, generative, generative.

Bianca González-Schulte (28:12.532)
Exactly. Yeah, and I mean, it's important to think about those things because I'm I mean, I've become more of a cloud user now that I started moving into that. But I mean, I was chat GPT for a long time. And just I've we've done projects with AWS we've done. We have our chat bot partner Satisfy Labs, who's come next. I mean, they're fantastic when it comes to LLM. And so I think it's

Sean Callanan (28:20.76)
Yep.

Bianca González-Schulte (28:40.972)
It's one of those things where we are trying to move the needle in that sense, but also that we actually will have a project here in Phoenix where we're just exploring how fans use it at track using just the QRS. We'll see how it goes. It's coming up soon and the idea is to provide either we have a ticket upgrade new chatbot that we've

Sean Callanan (28:57.784)
Yep.

Bianca González-Schulte (29:10.414)
recently rolled out and we're constantly evolving. And then I also have our LLM and that just, has all the information you need. Now there are limitations obviously with service and Wi-Fi, that's always going to be our biggest challenge. So what we did with the app, we do have it so that if you have visited the pages, now you have them cached into your app and you can access them when you're offline with an offline version. we're trying to,

Sean Callanan (29:19.16)
Yep.

Bianca González-Schulte (29:40.426)
react to those scenarios, but I think it's important to give them an easy, digestible way to understand what they need to do. And if I showed you the project that we're doing, you would see that that's kind of the goal is to make the signage, the signs that we're going to have look more like a phone, so more simple. Like I know what that is. That looks like my notification on my phone. So it's a quick like, this must be important.

Sean Callanan (30:08.142)
Yep.

Bianca González-Schulte (30:10.712)
So things like that just make it easy.

Sean Callanan (30:16.025)
Absolutely. the good thing is that as an industry, we're not doing it alone. we were both in seat in Nashville where conversations like this were happening and they're obviously just going to be more advanced in Charlotte this year where it'll be, how are you setting up LLMs? What are you doing? Tell us a little bit about…

Bianca González-Schulte (30:30.316)
wonderful event.

Bianca González-Schulte (30:39.672)
by your office.

Sean Callanan (30:44.171)
Your experience in Nashville, I believe it was your first time at sea.

Bianca González-Schulte (30:47.136)
It was. I loved it. thought, I mean, just who I met out of there, the businesses involved in this, all the panels and the learnings and just listening to other people who attended and the projects that they're working on. And it's just, it's incredible how, I mean, in the panel I was on, these guys are, I'm like, why?

Why, why was I on this panel? I'm like the baby. have no, they have so much experience. mean, it was incredible to learn from experts in venue tech and just how different series and how they're pushing things forward and what we could do differently. I mean, I don't know how many ideas or conversations on things that I'm currently working on came from that event. It was fantastic.

Sean Callanan (31:41.697)
Yeah. Yeah, it is a case that because you are coming from it from different perspectives, like you're like, Oh, I didn't realize that because that's a different venue and it has a different type of flow through different customers. And then they start talking to you and you're like, Oh, you just have 300,000 people turn up to a racetrack and these are the things and they're just as blown away talking to you. like, that's the that's the best bit. And then you say, How did you solve this problem? I'm sorry. Oh, we did it this way. Oh, wow. We did this way.

Bianca González-Schulte (31:42.68)
So highly recommend it.

Bianca González-Schulte (32:03.478)
It's interesting, yeah.

Sean Callanan (32:09.667)
we use this vendor with this vendor, that's to me is the secret source. like, to your panels and stuff like that when you're on a panel, when you're learning from your fellow panelists is amazing, but then you're also learning from other sessions.

Bianca González-Schulte (32:13.934)
Absolutely.

Bianca González-Schulte (32:19.79)
I love that. I would prefer not to be on the panel to be on it just because of the whole like being on the panel situation. I'm still learning, but I did. I thought it was fantastic to sit next to these guys and just, I mean, just hear about their experiences and just seeing how even though we've been in, you know, I've been in, like I said, since 2019, there guys who've been there 30 years and it's like, but you've, you're still.

finding solutions, you're still working on finding solutions to the challenges I'm facing today. It's just, sports is a very interesting, it's a small world, motor sports, doesn't, know, ball sports. I think we all have very similar challenges and I think that's the benefit of just talking about it and sitting next to somebody who might, you know, have a solution for something you've been trying to figure out for a long time, so.

Sean Callanan (33:15.033)
Absolutely. Now, we can't have this conversation and not talk about Daytona 500. We're recording this and it just happened quite recently. It's great that you've booked in. Normally people like I know people in the Australian Open, the Australian Open finishes and for a week they just go and sleep and take the week off. then I just came back from the Super Bowl and you can't get anyone from the NFL. So, I mean, it's still fresh in the memory. Like what were some of the wins from this year's Daytona 500?

Bianca González-Schulte (33:30.07)
No, it's our Q1. We just started.

Bianca González-Schulte (33:43.276)
I would say the wins were definitely, so, I mean, there are a couple that I probably shouldn't, like, I probably can't mention, but I would say for me, it's really, it's been kind of an interesting transition period for a lot of teams in the company. There's been a lot of changes to how we're structured. And I mean, all good changes, we're just adjusting. And it's amazing how same,

Sean Callanan (33:52.153)
Yep.

Bianca González-Schulte (34:13.166)
post COVID and 20 or when in 2021, when we went from a 14 team to like three people executing an event, it's amazing how when you're there in the moment and things are going the way that you're expecting or hoping, it just, that's a huge win. It might not be the most innovative win, it might not be, but we got through the event successfully. We had a sold out event. We…

Sean Callanan (34:29.11)
Yep.

Sean Callanan (34:40.696)
I mean, that's it. So I want to stop you. That's the win in itself. Like, again, you're such in you're such in the grind of, of, you know, rolling out different technology and making it. It's like we got through the event and to be able to like a lot of people in sport, like we are very privileged to be, you know, look around and we're at a massive sports event. But like to be able to, did you at least take some time to go, oh, wow, I've ticked off another one. And, you know, it, you know, the things which work, we worked on worked.

Bianca González-Schulte (34:44.344)
Yes, that's a huge one.

Sean Callanan (35:10.049)
And like that, success.

Bianca González-Schulte (35:10.83)
Yeah. No, I, and yes, I did this time. Last year I left with an eye infection. It was a very stressful year. So if that tells you anything, no, I, I, it was, I mean, just, just hearing from, from our partners and how, how happy they were. We were able to host Yahoo Sports learning from them and how their businesses have evolved. And it just, felt like

really great momentum. So, and at times, depending on how stressful how much it last year was, to be completely frank, very stressful. It felt really good to leave with that momentum at the end of the day and just be excited for what's to come this year. I think we have a great team. We have a great, we have great partners. I'm really excited about the projects that

Sean Callanan (35:50.146)
Yep.

Bianca González-Schulte (36:07.288)
that I'm going to be focused on. And I felt that more coming out of the event because now it's go time. Like this is grind it out and.

Sean Callanan (36:18.742)
And that is the best way to finish a tournament. To finish a tournament, like I said, a little bit less stress. It's like, well, hang on, that means we're on top of things here. But then also to come out of it with, all right, let's send it now. We've got this momentum. This is what we wanna tackle. So I really appreciate you taking the time today, Bianca. I wanna get to the sports geek closing five. Do you remember the first sports event you ever attended?

Bianca González-Schulte (36:31.342)
Exactly.

Bianca González-Schulte (36:44.706)
I do. I grew up in Puerto Rico, so small Island with major love for baseball. So my first sporting event was with a friend whose dad was super involved in like the municipal tournaments. and it was, it was pretty fun. I, was one of those things where it was the whole town was there. I, weren't from that city by Puerto Rico's tiny, so it doesn't matter. And just seeing the excitement and the passion and

Sean Callanan (37:10.658)
Mm-hmm.

Bianca González-Schulte (37:14.166)
I mean, Puerto Ricans are in Hispanics in general, when they're passionate about a sport, they're passionate. So it doesn't matter who's playing, they're going to come and support a hundred that there's no MTC. was, that was pretty interesting. So I would say that was all those times I went with them, whether it was to baseball or they would do horse shows, things like that. was those things really stuck with like the experience people were having. so that, yeah.

Sean Callanan (37:44.33)
Absolutely, terrific memory. You would have been a lot of sports events in your time. Do you have a favorite food or a go-to food at a sports event?

Bianca González-Schulte (37:53.134)
Um, it's more of a liquid. It's coffee. So depends. That's what powers me. I'll say if I'm going to eat it'll it's NASCAR. Do you have a hot dog at every, like literally every track they have a hot dog because that's the thing. Um, so I'll have a hot dog, but for the most part, if there's a good barista or latte, I, I, that's my go-to.

Sean Callanan (37:57.4)
That's all right. Whatever powers you through the event, is fine.

Sean Callanan (38:18.647)
Yep.

You're talking to someone from Melbourne and we love our coffee. So like you're talking to converted here. What's the first app you open in the morning?

Bianca González-Schulte (38:23.586)
Yeah.

Bianca González-Schulte (38:29.198)
it's usually threads now, believe it or not. I just, I find it easy to digest. and, and second, I would say would be, would be Instagram. So I guess kind of connected there.

Sean Callanan (38:33.313)
Okay.

Sean Callanan (38:42.668)
Yep. Okay. Is there someone that you follow that the listeners should give a follow to and why? might be someone you follow on socials, it might be an author or someone you've worked with.

Bianca González-Schulte (38:55.534)
I really like, I believe it's females in motorsport. I follow them on Instagram, but also sub stack. And I think it's really interesting. My coordinator recently started and it's amazing when you go into NASCAR and you see that a lot of women in positions, decision-making positions, sorry, there's a lot of women.

Sean Callanan (39:02.187)
Okay.

Bianca González-Schulte (39:21.984)
in decision making roles, you wouldn't think of it. think we have this taboo of being this male dominated. But really, there's equal respect here, I would say. And I like seeing the variety of sports and how many. I do think women in motor sports are becoming more. There's more women in motor sports than before in every capacity. So it's very exciting.

Sean Callanan (39:22.072)
Mmm.

Sean Callanan (39:47.796)
Absolutely.

Sean Callanan (39:51.585)
Terrific. And lastly, I ask people what social media platform is your MVP? So you can answer it both personally and if you want to put a NASCAR hat on, you're more than welcome to.

Bianca González-Schulte (40:03.534)
Well, I'm old, well, 34, so millennial. Facebook was first. know, sorry. No, no, sorry. I mean, in terms of social media, I'm sorry, in terms of social media, that is the original. Okay, well, okay, I will say because I've been using Facebook since 2007, that's a long time. I do kind of tend to go, but I,

Sean Callanan (40:09.047)
Sorry, sorry Bianca, I'm not gonna allow you to say that you're old at 34. Not on this podcast.

Not it, sorry Bianca, in no terms. In no terms is that old.

Sean Callanan (40:29.695)
Yep.

Bianca González-Schulte (40:33.546)
And as a NASCAR hat, both Facebook and Reddit, ironically, well, if you know anything about our demographic, we have a mix, but Facebook groups are interesting because we have campus groups. There's yes. And you get a lot of information. No, yeah, like it's so useful. Nobody talks about it, but they're.

Sean Callanan (40:42.56)
Yeah.

Sean Callanan (40:46.571)
Facebook groups are still, they are still an absolute thing. Cause people aren't, sorry.

Bianca González-Schulte (41:01.198)
constantly picking out every single thing that's wrong and you can fix it. Yeah.

Sean Callanan (41:04.363)
But that's where people are posting now. Like they don't post on their feed. They post in a group of their fandom or their family friends. And that's where people are still engaged. And it's, yeah, I agree. And then the other one that you mentioned there, Reddit, like it is still, it's still, I can't believe it's still underrated, but there's just so much fandom there. But it's because it's also hard to.

Bianca González-Schulte (41:08.632)
Yes, yeah.

Bianca González-Schulte (41:14.926)
Mm-hmm.

Bianca González-Schulte (41:25.494)
I know. I know.

Sean Callanan (41:30.241)
harness and be there as a brand. Like it's an awkward space to be there as a brand. You don't go, hey, where the NASCAR account in Reddit doesn't work. Like whether it's Real Madrid, Collingwood, absolutely.

Bianca González-Schulte (41:37.774)
But I think that's why it works for us because that's where fans feel very comfortable sharing. And honestly, at the end of the day, I thrive off of reading the challenges because it's like, okay, what we need to fix this. And obviously we have our germ surveys. have, but this is a quick, easy way to know, Daytona camping group is popping off with.

like a major issue of what is going on. Like we need to address it. So.

Sean Callanan (42:07.957)
Yeah, and there's real, like you don't need a Kevin Durant burner account to go check it out, right? But you'll get unfiltered feedback on what's working, what's not working, but then you get overindex kudos if you come in and say, they're reading it, they fixed it. And it's like, you get a lot of Reddit karma, if I put it that way.

Bianca González-Schulte (42:26.304)
Exactly.

Bianca González-Schulte (42:31.316)
Yeah, no, it's definitely a it's they're good great resources, especially during the weekend or leading in sometimes they call out things like a dead ticket link. I mean, it's amazing. But those are great. I have if somebody listening has not used these, I highly recommend looking into that.

Sean Callanan (42:51.027)
Absolutely, absolutely. Well, Bianca, I really do thank you for grabbing your time and coming on. I really enjoyed the chat. I always ask people if you want to reach out to the guests and say thank you, please do. What's the best platform for people to reach out to you?

Bianca González-Schulte (43:04.43)
I would say I would lie if I was saying LinkedIn because even though it's a great, it will be a very delayed response. I should be more active, I just don't, it's time is challenging, but I will say I eventually respond. It's just delayed. My email on the other hand is a lot.

Sean Callanan (43:16.459)
That's all right, LinkedIn, mean, LinkedIn is where I will post it and I will tag you and if people can reach out.

Bianca González-Schulte (43:33.752)
quicker. Usually my goal is always within 24 hours. So it would be my name. I don't know if there's somewhere I can send it to you, but be Gonzalez Schulte at NASCAR.com.

Sean Callanan (43:46.775)
There you go, I leave it in the podcast and people can write it down, they can. I won't put it on the internet, because I don't want you to get a whole bunch of junk. But, no, exactly. Exactly. Well, thank you very much, Bianca. I really do appreciate it. As I said to Damien, getting to a NASCAR race is on my list and hopefully it will happen sooner rather than later. But hopefully we can reconnect in Charlotte for Seat.

Bianca González-Schulte (43:54.606)
I get it anyways, but so I'm totally fine.

Bianca González-Schulte (44:07.5)
Let us know.

Bianca González-Schulte (44:13.152)
Absolutely, and let us know. We always have a ticket open or available. Take care. Thank you for having me.

Sean Callanan (44:18.775)
Thank you very much.