Katie McIntyre goes over the latest advancements as well as problems surrounding the operations as well as administration of Titanium security Arena – house to the Adelaide 36ers as well as Adelaide Lightning – with guy Hedderwick, CEO of Arena stadium Management; the location owner/operator.
Guy, as CEO at Arena stadium Management, Adelaide 36ers as well as Adelaide Lightning, what would an typical working week for you entail?
I would like to state I spend most of my time driving the strategic objectives, vision as well as goals of our business, which I do, however in truth the majority of my time is spent on dealing with human resources, WHS as well as meetings. It’s not all poor it’s extremely positive as well as each CEO comes from a different background as well as has more knowledge, experience as well as enthusiasm for different things. Operational demands as well as logistics around running events as well as teams are so important however not my passion, so I utilize great people in these areas. I spend my days establishing as well as working carefully with the industrial team to drive our revenue, game day/event day experience as well as our event purchase team. I try as well as show my deal with at one or two methods a week so I stay in routine touch with the coaching as well as teams staff, particularly when things are not going to well on the court.
I go to many events to network or speak as well as keep tabs on the business with routine meetings with heads of departments. My favourite pastime is going to discover our facilities manager as well as maintenance personnel to ‘rib’ them about their sports team losses or ask the catering manager or his personnel about exactly how things are going in the retail as well as business side of our business. The Camiseta Racing Club de Avellaneda events as well as sports business is testing as well as people work long difficult hours. keeping in touch with them is important for morale.
Shareholders as well as board members need an enormous amount of time to both manage, keep informed, handle the journey as well as establish connections with as well as time is always spent touching base, seeking council as well as sharing thoughts.
Over the last number of years, the focus as well as importance put on the fan experience has grown exponentially. What kinds of products, services as well as options are you employing at the Titanium security Arena to optimise the fan experience?
It is a new world available as well as before perhaps speaking with products as well as services or technology, one should address the fan. For the function of this concern I am only going to focus on the basketball fan however one can extrapolate these thoughts to any type of fan.
Kim Skildum-Reid, a sponsorship guru based in Australia, talks of dividing ones sports fan audience into 4 categories; Traditionalist, Tribalist, Socialite as well as Family. One needs to provide to every of these audiences an experience which brings them back.
Traditionalists come for the game as well as what occurs on court. They’re season ticket holders, somewhat older as well as want to watch the game. They understand as well as comprehend the game, as well as are more pure in their pursuits of seeing their stars play live.
Tribalists come when it’s ‘the thing’ to do. team performance is important, as is adds to a great night out with mates. They like using the colours as well as being part of something. They like to understand the players as well as interact with them. They want inside bits of info as well as want to be part of the group.
Socialites want to be seen at the game, they like the hospitality, the networking as well as the ‘money can’t buy experiences’ that money can buy. They want to sip a drink as well as link with people in the suite, lounge or business facility. The game is almost secondary. The high quality of the food, drink as well as business are what matter.
Families come for great household entertainment. household trips provides parents an chance to be with as well as engage with their children, particularly with their pre-teen as well as teen years. It’s a competitive atmosphere where the trip is in competition with the beach, the movies as well as other family-type events.
Over these groups one overlays the generational groups of the infant Boomer who wants a consistent brand experience, great seats, info as well as recognition for their loyalty. Gen X who are amazingly loyal, want to make a difference as well as modification their neighbourhood (not the world), are into brands as well as want it now. The increase of the millennial or Gen Y who want unique experiences as well as are now the largest working group who like team efforts as well as team sports as well as have gain access to to unrestricted information. finally we have the group termed Gen Z or Gen Now, who have grown up on screens, have entertainment at their fingertips as well as are utilized to having immediate gratification.
Having taken all that into account, right here is what we do as well as have done. The sport is the sport as well as therefore to our traditional market we offer the chance to buy season tickets, keep their seats, as many have for over 30 years. They get in their membership pack the team colours, tee shirts as well as products which show they are members as well as part of the family. the most important thing to them is keeping their seat, recognition of their loyalty as well as having economical season ticket options. Our season ticket as well as membership programme is one of our biggest revenue drivers. satisfying the players as well as interaction is truly important. In order to ensure a excellent game experience we have just recently installed LED lights, which Camiseta TSG 1899 Hoffenheim enable us to have a high level illumination on court with bit light contamination into the stands offering a much better ‘live’ viewing experience, in addition to digital as well as TV experience. An app, which enables you to select as well as watch your team play ‘live’ away from home, is supplied to our members free of charge.
To the tribalist group, including mainly millennials, we offer unique experiences within the venue. We style games as well as utilize a combination of lights (colour wash), our LED Screens, central cube as well as other screens to engage the crowd as well as immerse them in the experience. The utilize of the location to produce areas of engagement, vintage pinball as well as gaming machines for example, in addition to utilizing the exterior for sponsor or other activations.
For our households we offer expense efficient ticketing, household friendly atmosphere as well as player interaction opportunities. Our players walk around the perimeter of the court as well as indication autographs, take selfies as well as chat with the youngsters after the game. The concourses now have household type food, including candy floss as well as popcorn machines. We offer different as well as fun halftime entertainment all geared towards engaging the family. free high speed Wi-Fi enables everybody to upload their latest Facebook, Instagram or Twitter comments or just surf the net.
Our socialites have the chance to either network in our restaurant, business suites (skyboxes) or be seen sitting courtside or on the huge screens. We have a number of networking events, newsletters as well as business opportunities, even getting our top partners to bring down their business basketball team to play against our staff, including our coaches. The games are refereed (rather terribly I may add) by our players. The personnel team discovers it extremely difficult to win.
The utilize of lights, visuals, noise as well as the latest technologies are utilized to offer a range of experiences to different audiences within the venue, together with some old fashioned genuine interaction with each other as well as players.
Images courtesy: Adelaide 36ers
How do you keep updated regarding all the latest finest practices, technologies as well as innovations, not only in relation to the fan experience, however likewise in terms of managing as well as operating a multi-purpose Arena?
We are extremely lucky in the location market in that we have a amazing association in Australia as well as new Zealand [the VMA] which links with the IAVM in the US. The excellent thing about this market is that people are happy as well as prepared to share both their info as well as time.
I make two sees a year to different conferences or locations as well as see venues, chat with colleagues or even hold people at our venue. The Web groups via the association enable us to ask concerns as well as seek advice from a range of people in the market as well as of program there are publications as well as websites one can see to garner as well as keep updated on the latest information. I have never visited one more location as well as not come away with a piece of truly great info or an idea.
I comprehend the location just recently completed an extensive restoration process. Can you tell us what this involved? as well as does the completed product satisfy or much better your expectations?
Yes, the location has just recently spent a excellent offer of money with a new LED illumination system replacing every light in the entire building. We did extensive work around the capability to have HD high quality TV lighting, colour laundries as well as to be more environmentally friendly, without the upgrade impacting on our bottom line. I am happy to state that the saving in our power expense covers the monthly expense of the lighting. It was a danger to take the concept to the board however provided I am composing these answers, one which paid off.
At the exact same time we altered the lights, we had a large failure of our central cube as well as needed to replace it. In order to get the size, clearness as well as processing speed we wanted, we had to buy directly from the manufacturer. This meant jumping on a airplane as well as flying to China where we purchased, as well as with our connections in Australia provided in a short area of time a splendid as well as extremely expense efficient central cube. The new lights as well as cube would have been lost without sound, so we likewise upgraded the noise system within the venue.
We likewise fitted halfway with the season a high density Wi-Fi system. No question we have had some teething problems however currently have 30% (industry standard) utilize of it during events. The upgrade have satisfied all our expectations, however with anything new, it’s only new for a day as well as next season will need something similarly shiny to catch the interest as well as ‘wow’ the audience.
Moving forward, what type of advancements have you got organized for the Arena for the next 12-48 months?
I have a number of advancements in mind, in specific we are looking at a major upgrade to our female athletes modification spaces as well as an addition to the entrance which enables us to offer more food cart experiences. We are likewise installing an IPTV shipment system.
Longer term, I am keen to look at exactly how we can prolong our restaurant to include a balcony opening to the stadium as well as reconfigure our business suites (sky boxes) as we see the wish for more networking areas rather than private boxes.
As the largest purpose-built basketball arena in Australia, does this location additional pressure on you, as the facility owners, to keep the location at the top of its game?
No not really. We want to ensure fans come as well as watch games as well as enjoy the experience as well as want to find back. The location being particularly developed for basketball is excellent since we run at least 28 house games of expert basketball per season as well as the proximity to the court definitely enables for a excellent online experience.
I do believe venues as well as online sport or entertainment needs venues which caterer across a number of different generations as well as to a number of different fans, as well as that needs constant upgrades to ensure we stay relevant. expert basketball makes up 28 of close to 300 events run per annum.
How do you see the sector evolving over the next decade? as well as the Arena?
The sector will see a number of modifications over the next decade, with the growth of on the internet gaming we will see, as well as are already seeing, the growth of eSports, YouTube stars as well as Camiseta Selección de fútbol de Ghana streaming centres for 3D-based entertainment.
I definitely believe that traditional entertainment will make it through together with “new entertainment” I have pointed out above. Human nature is to connect, our instinct is to gather as well as engage, we may just do it somewhat in a different way in the future as well as venues rather than roll their eyes at a YouTube star who is famous for doing their makeup should welcome them with open arms, since skill is just skill as well as that is what people come to see.
What is the very best piece of advice you’ve ever received? Or desire you had been provided when you started out in this business?
SNIOP: Do not be susceptible to the unfavorable influences of other People. now I just requirement to method stating it quickly.
Which products, services &/or options are on your wish-list as well as why?
My wish-list mainly consists of options which we need, rather than want. When the location was built, it was not developed with shows in mind as well as now we hold them. I would like the capability to repair our packing dock, produce more crush area at the entrance to the location as well as from a innovation point of view, I would like a wireless system to provide more material as well as the screens to accomplish more touch points.
Guy Hedderwick is CEO at Arena stadium Management, the facility owner/manager for the Titanium security Arena in Adelaide, Australia, house to the Adelaide 36ers as well as Adelaide Lightning, in addition to the hold location for many shows as well as other events.
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