Mike Dickinson offers insight into the planning, execution and social media domination of Exxxotica at the Admiral Theatre in Chicago.
Written by Mike Dickinson
As I sat there and watched, it was like a movie. The music played perfectly. The staff carried themselves perfectly. The dancers performed perfectly. I felt like a coach standing on the sidelines watching the final seconds tick off the Super Bowl championship game clock, knowing that their team had just played the game of their lives on the biggest stage.
That was us at the Admiral Theatre in Chicago, IL, during Exxxotica. It was a moment I won’t ever forget, one that made me look back at all the mistakes I’ve made throughout my career that ultimately led to one of my biggest successes and think about how exactly I got here.
Tyrant turned leader
I’ve been in this industry for a long time, and for a long time, I thought that being a leader or a captain meant yelling at everybody, ruling by fear and threatening people’s jobs. I thought I essentially had to be Michael Jordan every single day and do everything myself. I treated people like they were disposable, less focused on building long-lasting teams and more focused on “do it my way or else.” I fired people all the time, even on Christmas Eve.
It wasn’t until I came to The Pony that I realized no one person can do everything. Success requires a team. You have to treat that team like family and be willing to delegate and trust other people to take on important tasks. In doing so, you also have to give them the freedom to find the answers on their own. We as coaches can have the big vision and the direction we want everyone to move in, but you can’t expect someone to cook the perfect meal if you’re telling them which ingredients they can and can’t use.
When building the team for Exxxotica weekend at The Admiral Theatre, I helped shape the vision and ideas, but as the General Manager, I was in the skybox overlooking the team on the field. It was the managers on the floor coaching from the sidelines who actually ran and executed the plays.
Envisioning the future
The playbook for special events has remained the same for the last 50 years: book an event, create a flyer, open the door, turn on the music and hope people show up.
At The Admiral Theatre, we have progressed beyond these outdated practices. During Exxxotica weekend, we really wanted to push the envelope with a new offense. It was essentially the same thing Billy Beane and the Oakland A’s did with Moneyball that everyone does now: find ways to do things differently.
Social media is the new celebrity. Influencers have a direct reach of millions, and tapping into this is one sure way to bring guests into your club.
We brought in social media influencer Charm Daze, who has a reach in the multiple millions. We brought in porn actress Alexis Texas to do her first-ever DJ set. We brought in our Pony Brand Ambassador and adult star, Lauren Phillips. We even brought in the legendary Ember Snow to make a guest appearance.
Then, instead of relying on traditional stage shows, we flipped the script and innovated a new vision—one designed to create epic viral moments we knew would make people talk. Upstairs, we had Lauren Phillips playing video games with Gen Z before her stage set. We had local DJs filling the venue with the hottest music. We had Charm Daze popping up and doing random stage sets. We had Alexis Texas DJing the twerk contest of the year.
We also created an unforgettable moment featuring two generational legends, Alexis Texas and Lauren Phillips. The duo performed together, Lauren on stage with Alexis DJing and on the microphone—something never before done. This was a once-in-a-lifetime moment on par with John Cena and The Rock being in the ring together at WrestleMania. It was just another facet that made the event memorable.
We also brought in 50 of the best entertainers throughout Pony Nation to lead the way in the club and on the floor, promoting the event, but more importantly, dominating social media. If you followed anyone in the strip club community, you couldn’t go 30 seconds without seeing an Instagram Story or TikTok posted from our party at The Admiral Theatre in Chicago. We had an army pumping out content all weekend, dominating views and impressions.
Instead of relying on traditional stage shows, we flipped the script and innovated a new vision—one designed to create epic viral moments we knew would make people talk.
— Mike Dickinson
Perception is reality
Julius Caesar once said, “It’s not how big your army is, it’s how big THEY think it is.” That holds true today with the image our clubs present.
At The Admiral Theatre, we threw the hottest party in Chicago, pushing out videos of lines wrapped around the block, standing-room-only crowds inside the club and Alexis Texas’ wild DJ set with dancers twerking all over. This was all strategically done so that people would view our brand as in-demand and fun. Every photo, caption and video we posted was done with a deliberate purpose.
In 2026, getting attention is hard. Converting that attention into guests walking through the door is even harder. The real goal is exposure.
Because once you get a guest inside and give them an unforgettable experience, you create the opportunity for repeat business. If a guest leaves saying they had the best night of their life, they will come back.
Generating national headlines
To ensure EXXXOTICA got the attention it deserved, we also needed that one person, that one key free agent capable of generating national headlines.
Lightning struck when we saw that Honey Boo Boo reality television star Pumpkin Lauryn Efird was launching her OnlyFans. We immediately offered her $10,000 to do her debut stage show at The Admiral Theatre, and she accepted, immediately catapulting us into mainstream national news cycles.
Throughout the weekend, the team executed our vision flawlessly. Everybody stepped up at some point. This included our Assistant Manager, Enrique Luna, making an emergency trip to pick up furniture, and Chelsea Grizzle and Nathan Dodd from Oklahoma providing security for Pumpkin. Everybody had a signature moment when they stepped up in the big game.
Building something bigger than myself
Years ago, one of my biggest flaws was that I would go out of my way to seek attention and glorify myself. Since then, I’ve evolved that flaw into a skill. While I still seek attention, my current strategy is to grab the spotlight and redirect it toward the people and events we’re involved with.
Leadership in this industry is not just about operations; it’s about development. I often model my approach after legendary football coach Nick Saban.
Saban’s greatest accomplishment will not be the many national titles he’s won, but the many head coaches he has mentored and taught over the years who will influence college football for the next two decades.
Everyone from the University of Georgia’s Kirby Smart, Oregon’s Dan Lanning, Ole Miss’ Pete Golding and Georgia Tech’s Brett Key spent time learning from him and are now coaching leaders throughout the sport. Perhaps Saban’s greatest accomplishment, though, is giving people second chances.
When Lane Kiffin and Steve Sarkisian showed up at Alabama, they were damaged goods who had failed spectacularly and publicly. Saban took them under his wing and now they, too, are among the best head coaches in the country.
There has been much written about leadership, and everybody has an opinion. For me, the biggest difference between a boss and a leader, and the biggest change in my personal evolution, is understanding the value of investing in employees.
Often, my conversations with team members focus less on business and more on helping them through problems by sharing my 20 years of business wisdom. I have had many public failures and a few public successes, so when people ask me questions, I can often speak from experience about how to handle something.
I always like to give the people of Pony Nation an inspiring quote each month or before a big event, hoping it elicits the same reaction in them as it does in me. Anytime we are working toward something, planning or executing, we should be ALL IN. It should be personal. It should mean something. That’s why we’re all here.
At the end of the day, we love this industry. We love Pony Nation, and we have an unreal desire to be the best.
Mike Dickinson is the Regional Manager for Pony Clubs and ED’s 2025 Progressive Leader of the Year. For more information, follow him on Instagram @iammrmiked or email him at Mike@ponyclubs.com.
