Hosting games for the men’s NCAA Tournament is a big job for any city. Des Moines, Iowa took on that job for a second time. The city hosted several games during the first round the men’s NCAA Tournament. It’s a job Des Moines did three years before, and were ready to do it again in 2019, learning from their 2016 experience. The Des Moines Register laid out a few things the city did to make this year’s experience a bit more polished.
Don’t count on the weather
There are no guarantees on the weather in the midwest especially in March, which is why the Wells Fargo Arena has connectivity to skywalks.
The more concessions, the better
After receiving negative comments in 2016 about long lines for food and drink, the arena increased staff along with adding portable grab-and-go stands and six vending machines.
Improving the ‘fan experience’
Between improving WiFi service in the arena, to adding charging stations, and sh...
As I’ve gained more “experience” (another way of stating that I’m getting older) in this industry, I tend to be more straight forward about the positives and negatives of the sports events industry. No need to sugar coat anything. And that’s what I’d like to comment on here, to hopefully save those of you just getting started, a lot of potential headaches.
So, here’s the scenario - you’ve just started your career at your local sports commission or CVB as the new sports events’ sales manager. As the new person, you’re fired up because you get to work in sports, and you think you have the sports facilities in your area to do big things. And you want to get out there and get that first big event for your area, a real home run, as soon as possible. You attend your first NASC Symposium and meet with numerous event-owners and they all sound great. You think to yourself, wow we could do ALL these events in our destination &n...
Knowledge is power and in the fast pace work environment that is sport tourism, the more you know, the better. As the current Director of Sports Development for Visit Greenville, North Carolina, Gray Workman knew this and wanted to elevate her knowledge to grow Greenville from a smaller destination to a high-level competitive sports destination. She enrolled in the Certified Sports Event Executive (CSEE) program and gained invaluable information.
From being in the CSEE program, Workman saw this program as a way to further her education after college, with more focus on event planning. The classes focus on all aspects of the event, and why every single detail is important, and show how each aspect is a vital piece of sales and marketing materials. “As a destination, sometimes we forget all the minute details tournament directors have to focus on. Now I am able to be a resource to them.” Workman said.
The classes offered also gives students the chance to grow ...
A mentor is someone that will guide you along the path you have chosen, someone that will help you overcome challenges and build your character, while being motivated to support you and being a positive influence on your journey.
Have you identified important individuals that have had a positive impact on your life? These individuals could be friends or advisers that you haven’t talked to in years, but they are still mentors to you. Reach out to them, thank them and start up that new dialogue. For me, it was a college professor at Ohio State in 2003, and I never realized how important he was to helping create who I am today and why I ended up in the sports tourism industry in 2012.
After nine years of working in a variety of roles in professional sports – from interning and working full-time for a Minor League Baseball team, to spending time selling sponsorships for a PGA golf tournament and then moving into event operations for a golf contractor, then finally landing...
Our members, pse Event Housing, take care of all the housing details for their clients. From contract & staff room negotiation, real-time room tracking & reporting, to commission & rebate processing, they do it all! Whether you’re looking to start your very first tournament or event, or you’ve been in the game for years, check out these 4 essential questions you should be asking your event housing provider:
1. Is your booking system optimized for mobile users?
In 2018, 57% of all Internet traffic came from mobile users, and that number is only expected to keep growing. With this number on the rise and customers increasingly using their mobile devices to get things done online, offering a mobile-friendly experience is no longer just a nice-to-have feature – it’s a necessity.
What to look for:
Responsive Design:
Most sites are now viewable on mobile devices, but there’s a big difference between just being viewable on mobile an...
When you begin to plan for your event, something that is a driving force of how you plan is the event’s branding strategy. Everything is centered around what colors you associate with your brand, the logo, the tagline, and the name of your event. Beyond that, how your event goes will affect the future of your brand and can change it forever. Keeping this in mind, here are some tips from ‘Wild Apricot’ for keeping your branding strong throughout the event planning process.
Name your event.
The name of your event is the first thing your future consumers will see. It can easily be a make or break if someone decides to participate in it so you need to make sure your tagline is eye catching and easily explains the event. With naming your event, think about how your event is different from others in your area and what are you wanting the message that your consumers read is.
Create a tagline.
Once you have the name, think of a short and m...
Among the numerous segments comprising a destination’s tourism portfolio, often exists sports and event tourism. These efforts may reside in any number of organizational structures from within a destination marketing organization (DMO), a government entity or stand-alone organization. The growth of sports and event tourism has been undeniable. The industry’s professional association originated with merely a dozen communities gathering to share ideas more than 25 years ago. Today, what would become the National Association of Sports Commissions (NASC), serves more than 840 members from across the country and beyond.
As the go-to resource for the robust sports and events tourism industry, the NASC serves not only destination representatives, but just as importantly, sports and event rights holders looking for host destinations that can accommodate their events, venue and facility operators, and a plethora of industry suppliers. Destinations ranging in population from less ...
When you plan an event, there are many hurdles to jump over to make sure your event goes perfectly. With that being said, preparing for these obstacles and going in with a strong strategy to get things done is key. Here are five tips from “MeetingsNet” to help make your event go off without a hitch.
Set clear goals and objectives
While this might sound like an easy task, this task puts your team on the same page. You need to have an initial meeting to decide what the end goal is, how you will reach it, and when you will reach it. In this meeting, you can determine due dates and when check-ins will happen.
2. Prepare for the “what-if” scenarios
You get one chance to deal with an unexpected situation. MeetingsNet suggests thinking of them early on so you can create a crisis management plan. The plan should have wiggle room for the surprise situations, but should also have something for each team member to work with.&n...
Soccer, volleyball, gymnastics, destination management organization… what do all of these have in common?
Competition.
Each one is competing to win the tournament, to win the meet, to win the event. Parents are spending an exorbitant amount of money on trainers, coaches, and advanced leagues to help their children excel in hopes of winning and future scholarships. Destination management organizations are investing hundreds of thousands (sometimes millions) of dollars to renovate and/or build the best sporting venues to attract large multi-day tournaments for multiple year contracts.
As destinations look to sports tourism as an option to increase overnight visitation, resulting in additional tax revenues for the destination, the question is often asked “should we invest in our current infrastructure or build new sports facilities?” If the answer is yes, then the question of “how do we pay for those infrastructure improvements” usually follows.
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Really? Another article or blog about leadership from someone? Yep – I know. It seems as if we are constantly exposed to blogs, articles, stories, books, podcasts, etc. about leadership. Why is this?
My guess is because everyone has an opinion or idea about what leadership should look like. In my humble opinion, there is no textbook formula, or perfect blueprint that says if you do A, B, and C you will become a “leader.” A quick search on Google provided a multitude of options to review when it comes to leadership traits; Forbes listed 10, Inc.com 9, CNN 23, Leadership toolbox 7. Wow, so many choices – which one is right?
Please do not get me wrong – there are some very good resources that each of us can take bits and pieces of information from to add to our arsenal, and implement into what we do, or how we lead – if it “fits” the person, we are. I believe you can develop leadership tr...