Hosting Cocktail Parties, Building Relationships, Museum Hacks and Friends Newsletters

#68: Entrepreneur and author, Nick Gray joins Chris to discuss his mission to get people to host more parties, make connections, build friendships, and live a richer life. They delve into why Nick thinks name tags and icebreakers are non-negotiable for parties and get a complete run-through of everything you need to do to make your next cocktail party easy and effortless. Nick also shares all the museum tricks and tips he picked up while running Museum Hack, the multi-million dollar renegade museum tour company he founded and recently sold.

Nick Gray (@nickgraynews) is an entrepreneur, investor, author, and founder of Museum Hack. His new book is “The 2-Hour Cocktail Party” How to Build Big Relationships with Small Gatherings.” 

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Selected Links From The Episode

Connect with Nick Gray: Website | Blog | Twitter

Nick’s Resources:

• How to Host a Party Website
• The 2-Hour Cocktail Party: Website
• The 2-Hour Cocktail Party: Amazon
• How to Host a Clothing Swap
• How to Plan a Networking Event
• How to Host a Happy Hour
• If I Had $10 Million Dollars, How Would I Live Differently?
• Music Playlist for Cocktail Parties

Resources Mentioned: 

• The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters
• Mixily
• Partiful
• Chris’ go-to lemon ricotta pancake recipe
• Capital One Cultivist Deal 
• Academy of Sciences
• The Apollo Circle
• Metropolitan Museum of Art's Young Patron’s Program 
• Bank of America Museum Deal
• deYoung Museum
• AirBnb Experiences
• How Nick Gray Sold Museum Hack Podcast

Nick’s Favorite:

• Museums
  • Metropolitan Museum of Art (Take the entrance on 81st St to skip the lines)
  • Legion of Honor 
  • National Gallery of Art 
• New York City Recommendations
  • New York City's Central Park (Picnic at Sheep Meadow)
  • Washington Square Park 
  • Scott's Pizza Tour

Full Show Notes

Nick Gray, author of “The 2-Hour Cocktail Party” How to Build Big Relationships with Small Gatherings”  explains the benefits of regularly hosting events [2:02]

Advice about the best day of the week to host your cocktail party, the ideal duration, and who to invite [3:02]

How to get 80% of the benefit with only 20% of the work of a dinner party and ideal number of guests to invite [5:42]

Nick gives step-by-step invitation information and tips about hosting a party with kids  [8:01]

Information to put on your event page and two unique features Nick includes for all of his parties [18:55]

What to serve at your cocktail party, the NICK party formula [20:47]

How to get people to leave when the party is over [21:55]

Choosing the perfect music streaming channel and types of cocktails to serve [23:11] 

The reason Nick doesn’t serve beer [25:11] 

Three parts of an icebreaker, examples, and how to use them during your cocktail party [29:08]

The schedule and formula to use when sending reminder messages to your guests [37:08]

Asking for feedback after your cocktail party [36:56]

Advanced level party planning: Organizing a book or clothing swap [39:34]

How to run a good icebreaker [40:55]

Leading a party with generous authority [42:33]

What people come away with after a successful cocktail party [43:34]

Nick’s Museum Hack business [44:35]

How to experience a museum for the first time and avoid gallery fatigue [46:42]

Nick’s museum recommendations [50:55]

Tips for getting good deals at museums [51:42]

How to find a tour when visiting new locations [1:00:42]

Selling a business using seller financing [1:01:54]

Writing a quarterly newsletter (Life Updates) to your friends [1:04:01]

Nick’s favorite New York City recommendations [1:06:04]

Where to find Nick Gray online [1:07:44]

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