FASTER Digital Studios at Hustle Conference 2026 with Liquid Death

“What's the dumbest thing we can do?”

When I heard this last October, it stuck with me because that wasn’t typically where my mind would first go when approaching creativity or thinking outside the box. But getting to hear it again reinforced to me that silly, creative ideas that get our attention can be applied in the work that we create for others.

In October 2025, I was attending the Vimeo conference in New York City, learning about their newest site features, livestream production, and other creative capabilities while listening to Andy Pearson, VP of Creative at Liquid Death, speak about creative marketing. Nearly a year later, those two experiences would come together back home in Omaha.

On September 30, 2026, FASTER Digital Studios had the opportunity to livestream Hustle Conference. This year’s main keynote featured Pearson and Dan Murphy, Liquid Death's SVP of Marketing. This time, instead of sitting in the audience, I was behind our livestream setup, helping bring their conversation to viewers beyond the room.

It was a full-circle moment, and one that brought together a few of my favorite things: creative thinking, video production, and the opportunity to capture conversations worth sharing.

Hustle Conference Brings Big Ideas to Omaha

Hustle Conference, co-created by Eric Gautschi and Curt Drew, is an Omaha-based event that brings together entrepreneurs, business leaders, and creative thinkers to share ideas, challenge conventional thinking, and inspire new approaches to business, marketing, and innovation. This year’s event was held at Creighton University, with a fully packed house at the Heider College of Business.

With a stacked day, attendees got to hear insights and stories from executives from Shazam, GitHub, and local entrepreneurs from the metro area. Dan Murphy, who grew up in Omaha and graduated from Creighton Prep, was a great example of how the conference blends Omaha connections with hard-hitting names from massive companies. All of the keynote speakers have, at minimum, one thing in common—they work hard and love the work they do.

Would I Watch This? Creative Marketing Lessons from Liquid Death

“Would I watch this?”

Such a simple question that really stops you in your tracks. How much media do we consume on a daily basis? This question makes you reflect—at least, it does for me personally—on the type of work I do and the way I go about creating it. Is this something that I would want to watch or give attention to if I wasn’t the one behind the screen editing it?

Because it’s true: no one wants to watch an advertisement whose goal is to get you to buy something or give someone money. The true mark of whether you have someone’s attention is: Are they entertained? Is this something worth sharing with their friends, regardless of the brand or thing being sold?

A lot of questions from the crowd that were lobbed at Andy and Dan after their presentation were along the lines of: How do I make this unsexy, serious thing entertaining? And while they can’t figure out a niche entertainment and marketing strategy for each of those industries, they gave us the answer: “You guys have permission to have fun.”

They reminded us to look at what’s on TV and what’s on our social media. What do we engage with when we’re scrolling? Humor is one of the universal ways humans connect with each other. But they also reminded us that it doesn't have to be their style of humor. It's about finding your own way to make your work interesting and entertaining.

Behind the Scenes: How FASTER Livestreamed Hustle Conference

This day was a busy one. We arrived at Heider early in the morning to set up camera angles and build my control center from the cart at the back of the venue. After setting up, Bill and I both ran to our individual shoots that day and met back up in the early afternoon before the main keynote speakers were scheduled. This is where my prep day really paid off. Having gone through the gear setup a couple of days prior, we were able to get prepped, run off to our other jobs, and come back ready to go live.

We ran two cameras: one with a tighter frame on the speakers, with a transmitter beaming the feed to my control station at the back of the hall, and one with a wide shot of the auditorium, hardwired into the Blackmagic ATEM control board. We also had an XLR hard line from the sound mixer, and we were livestreaming through Vimeo.

These two vastly different camera angles gave us the ability to show the stage and auditorium during Liquid Death’s presentation, while the tight shots gave us the ability to focus on each of the speakers, giving a closer view of their expressions—even closer than someone sitting in the front row. By having both the wide and the tight angles, we were able to give someone watching virtually the feeling of being there in person. Having our entire setup on the cart made for a small-footprint production space in a fully packed room.

Beyond the Livestream: Our Own Stories Are Worth Sharing

Hearing Andy Pearson and Dan Murphy speak at Hustle Conference made us take a closer look at how we approach creativity at FASTER. Andy shared that one of the best compliments he can receive is when people can tell just how much fun his team is having while creating their work. That really stuck with me because we're often so busy creating for our clients that we forget to share our own work, our experiences, and just how much fun we have doing what we do.

Their message was a great reminder that creativity doesn't have to follow a set of rules, and that sometimes the best ideas come from simply having fun with the process. After all, who wouldn't want to work with people who genuinely love what they do?

We came to Hustle Conference to share a conversation with a wider audience. We left reminded that our own stories are worth sharing, too.