How to resolve AdBlock issue? Festivals can work well for business – but they require hard work says FlowJam’s Meredith Walsh
By Leon Gettler, Talking Business >>
YOUNGER PEOPLE are increasingly turning away from alcohol.
This is one of the insights of Meredith Walsh, the organiser of the popular FlowJam Healing Arts Festival in the US. The festival takes place annually around the July 4 weekend. It features music genres like jam bands, bluegrass, deep house, and reggae, focusing on soulful connection and spontaneous jamming.
Ms Walsh is a serial entrepreneur, online business strategist, and multi-day festival founder on a mission to help powerful women turn their signature offers into in-person experiences their clients are obsessed with – and that keeps them coming back for years. 
She also offers businesses yearly experiences in East Africa, Tanzania, Zanzibar and an African safari. The safari is happening from August 2-12, this year.
Serving Australian markets too
Ms Walsh has also spent time in Australia, getting to know the market here.
She said one of the issues in the US was that the pharmaceutical companies were going “pretty crazy” and a lot of opioids were entering the market – which resulted in “a lot of people” overdosing and getting sick.
“Since I’ve been producing, there’s been as huge shift of people moving towards healing,” Ms Walsh told Talking Business.
“I think the party of getting trashed is moving out with the younger generation,” she said.
“They really want to solve the global issues.
“It’s a generational shift. It’s happening slow.”
Taking the alcohol out can work better
Ms Walsh said she and her teams have also seen businesses making a lot of money from smaller scale festivals that are not serving alcohol.
“A lot of event producers think you need tons of people to make it profitable, but it’s realty not the case,” she said.
“Smaller micro events can be more profitable, especially focusing on healing instead of serving alcohol, especially if you’re marketing towards the younger generation.
“It can be pretty profitable.”
It is also important for the older generation as they face health issues.
Helping businesses host better events
Ms Walsh also helps organisations and businesses who are hosting events. This is important for brand building for all businesses, she said.
However, she said, hosting events had a whole lot of hidden costs.
“Events is a risky business,” she said.
“It’s not for the faint of heart, that’s for sure. It’s for the ones who are super passionate and it’s a great thing to add on to what you’re already doing in business.
“But as far as scaling events, there are so many coats – which is why I recommend not scaling quickly.”
“I’ve scaled my event over 12 years and I’ve done it really slowly, which is one of the reasons why I’m still around.”
Ms Walsh said COVID had been the big game changer for these sorts of events, because people became more aware of health issues.
“A lot of people woke up and a lot of people shifted their consciousness not only to health but also (about) how they were working,” she said. 
www.facebook.com/meredith.wyman.5
Hear the complete interview and catch up with other topical business news on Leon Gettler’s Talking Business podcast, released every Friday at www.acast.com/talkingbusiness
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