We were lucky to catch up with Daniel Gersztyn recently and have shared our conversation below.

Daniel, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard

My company SDHosted constantly challenges the status quo by deviating from how events are traditionally run, focusing more on the emcee aspect to provide a fun and unforgettable experience. For example, our flagship event “Twisted Trivia” is unlike any game of trivia you’ve ever played. When you think of bar trivia you probably think of a monotone host, stale trivia questions, and nothing but trivia.
During our Twisted Trivia events our hosts use comedy and improv to make the game more fun and interactive. We include a minigame, a family feud round and a few other surprises to keep the game feeling fresh and fun. Twisted Trivia is an interactive and hybrid-trivia event, our teams yell out answers, compete for free drinks, and play different kinds of trivia throughout the Twisted Trivia experience. We recently won “Best Trivia Night in San Diego” by SDReader so we must be doing something right! Twisted Trivia isn’t just trivia, it’s an interactive and high-energy experience.

We place a great emphasis on the attendee experience and by constantly getting feedback from our attendees we have successfully challenged how trivia is played and have made fantastic altercations to create a fun-filled experience for our attendees at any of our events.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Daniel, I am a San Diego native who started his emcee career almost accidentally, after emceeing an event for SDSU. In 2015 the program I graduated from at SDSU asked me to emcee their Freshman Graduation, I had never done anything like that. My whole life I’ve been a talker, to quote one of my high school math teachers, “Do you ever shut up?” He didn’t like me very much. I can talk for sure, but in front of a crowd of hundreds of people, NERVERACKING!!
My life’s mantra has always been, “say yes to the things that scare you” because I’m all about those unique life experiences. I’ve swam with whale sharks, lived at a Buddhist Monastery in Thailand for a week, rode a motorcycle across all of Vietnam, despite never driving a motorcycle before that trip. Most humans like to collect things, well I collect experiences, so of course I emceed that Freshman Graduation.
Y’all I’ve never felt so comfortable in my life, standing up there in front of all these strangers staring at me, cracking jokes and just having fun. I wanted to ride that high wherever it would take me, so I started working for the biggest trivia company in San Diego.
About four years into working for them I realized I could do it better, attendees would say the same negative things about their events and you best believe I took notes. I truly don’t think you can experience the life you desire unless you take chances, so I took a chance and using those attendee notes, I started my own emcee business.
Over two years later and SDHosted is thriving. We just won “Best Trivia Night in San Diego” by SDReader, and the business itself is growing so quickly. From bar events, to private events and weddings, to community events like Oktoberfest and Salsa Fest, I’ve emceed a wide array of fun events all around Southern California.

What has been instrumental in the growth of SDHosted is the attention given to the attendee experience as well as added autonomy for our Emcee. If you want a monotone low energy host, SDHosted is not for you. A great event begins with a great emcee and I want to be that great emcee for anyone and everyone. I love having a mic in my hand, I love being able to control the sway of an audience, moving them with words and tones. SDHosted doesn’t strive to be like everyone else, we aspire to be the most unique events company in San Diego.

We are an in-your-face brand, we are loud, we make jokes, we want nothing more than the best for our attendees and for our events. By creating a memorable experience for our attendees we have fostered a fun and addicting atmosphere for them, leading to attendee retention and brand-familiarity. We love you San Diego!

To piggyback on that, what I am most proud of is the amount of people who return to our events week after week, month after month, with some trivia teams not missing a trivia event for years! I am absolutely elated by this fact, people really love what SDHosted offers and to be able to bring that level of joy to other people… I’m just so proud.

How did you build your audience on social media?

We built our social media presence by simply making sure people had the time of their lives with us, I know we have a new social media follower when someone says, “This was the most fun event I’ve attended.” If you can wow the crowd then you’re building your following.
I also hired a social media coordinator who has been on top of making our socials the best they can be. It helps to stay up to date on social media trends, we try to create at least one piece of trending content a week. How can you personalize trending content to make it work for you and your brand? What unique things about your service or product can be highlighted and explained in a short video?
You need to highlight what makes your brand unique and know who your niche audience is. If you sell leggings then what makes you leggings more appealing than Lululemon’s? If you sell leggings to women over 40, what can you include in your posts that will speak to that group of people? What kind of music does that group like? What about aesthetics? If you’re trying to make a funny video then make sure it includes jokes or references your niche audience will understand and enjoy.

I think the best way to market your product or service is to truly understand what is special about that product or service and market the heck out of that special thing. By knowing your product through and through, understanding the problems it solves and knowing what makes it special, you’ll find success.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

Most of our new clients find out about SDHosted from word-of-mouth. In the events industry being good at what you do will take you farther than just about anything. Our returning attendees are our biggest fans and we appreciate them so much. That’s why we give those people Christmas cards every year, SDHosted wouldn’t exist without them.

The stigma toward events like trivia and bingo work against us, “What do you mean you’re going to a high-energy trivia event, how can trivia be high-energy?”
Our events are so unique that people literally can’t comprehend them, you don’t think of humor when you think of a trivia or bingo host, you don’t believe a trivia host could amp a crowd up so much they’re jumping out of their seats at a trivia answer, but that’s what we do. And we are damn good at it.

By being good at what you do, your work will speak for itself, and the people who appreciate what you provide, will reciprocate.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.sd-hosted.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sdhosted
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100094618247551&mibextid=LQQJ4d&mibextid=LQQJ4d
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sdhosted/
• Yelp: https://yelp.to/MREHY_U11v

Image Credits

Jenna Huemoeller