Derek Holland
VP & General Counsel
Red Frog Events LLC
Chicago, IL, USA
6:00 am
Roll out of bed and head outside for a run. I try to sneak in before the kids (five, three and one years old) wake up but I'm not successful today.
6:45 am
Eat breakfast and enjoy the craziness of the morning routine.
8:00 am
Bike to work — 10 minutes door to door.
8:15 am
Review emails while enjoying the day's first cup of tea.
8:30 am
Meet with our leadership team. We conduct a post-event review of our recent beer festival, share department updates and explore new business opportunities.
10:00 am
As I head back to my office, an events director catches me to ask a few quick permitting and liquor license questions relating to upcoming Warrior Dash events. I answer one of the questions immediately and jump online to research the other before stopping by her desk with a response.
10:30 am
Respond to emails and finalize a lease for a parcel of property in Ohio relating to a recent acquisition.
12:30 pm
Lunch with our sponsorship director. I typically don't eat until mid-afternoon (unless it's Monday, when the whole company has "Family Lunch" in our mess hall at noon), but I never pass up an opportunity to grab a quick bite out of the office with someone from another team. Over tacos, we chat about pending sponsorship deals and his recent engagement.
12:50 pm
Before returning to our desks, we challenge two web developers to a game of foosball. We quickly lose.
1:00 pm
Meet with the director of EventSprout, our ticketing and registration platform. He shares recent updates and new features so I can assess whether any of our license agreements or online terms need to be amended.
2:15 pm
Attack the growing inbox and respond to the most pressing emails.I take a quick break to discuss event staffing with our VP of people, whose office is next to mine.
3:30 pm
Call with our insurance brokers to discuss a variety of issues, including coverage for upcoming events. I share details about the Firefly Music Festival and the Big Barrel Country Music Festival which we're producing for the first time in 2015.
4:30 pm
Time for another cup of tea (I blame it on my British parents!). I try to keep my late afternoons meeting-free so I can work on projects without interruption.
6:45 pm
Bike home.
7:00 pm
Dinner and the bedtime routine with the kids, which ends with me dozing off before they do while reading stories.
9:00 pm
One last cup of tea with my wife while we catch up, talk logistics for the week and clean up LEGOs. We spend the rest of the night on our laptops with the TV on in the background (tonight it's my favorite — hockey).
11:00 pm
Catch up on news and read a few pages from one of the many books piled on my nightstand.
11:30 pm
Lights out.
