Adventures In Venueland

Adventures abound as we head to Los Angeles to chat with Noelle Scaggs, Founder and President of Diversify The Stage and multi-platinum recording artist and co-front person of Fitz and The Tantrums – indie pop and neo soul band with hits like “Out of My League” and “The Walker.” Noelle walks us through the inception of Diversify The Stage (DTS), and its mission of creating more equal and equitable opportunities among aspiring live music industry professionals from marginalized communities and backgrounds. We discuss steps that companies and venues can take to be intentional in diversifying their own business and staff, and how DTS utilizes a combination of masterclasses, mentorship placements, and apprenticeships to not only help create opportunities but also set up for the future by engaging young people and introducing them to industry careers. We also chat about the current state of the music industry and the mix of challenges, trends, and innovations that artists are presently navigating. Noelle talks about some of her favorite venues, such as Red Rocks Amphitheatre (Denver) and the 9:30 Club (Washington, D.C.), and what makes those and other venues special from the artist's perspective. When Noelle isn’t performing, writing, or working on DTS, she enjoys traveling and spending time with her dogs – including a travel and food website she manages called Adventures with Scaggs. Sit back and enjoy this interesting, informative episode which includes great perspective, wonderful advice, and some fun stories.

Noelle Scaggs: Instagram
Diversify The Stage: Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn
Fitz and The Tantrums: Facebook | Twitter/X | Instagram

––––––

ADVENTURES IN VENUELAND

Follow on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, or X/Twitter
Learn more about Event & Venue Marketing Conference

Meet our team:

Paul Hooper | Co-host, Booking, Branding & Marketing
Dave Redelberger | Co-host & Guest Research
Megan Ebeck | Marketing, Design & Digital Advertising
Samantha Marker | Marketing, Copywriting & Publicity
Camille Faulkner | Audio Editing & Mixing

Have a suggestion for a guest or bonus episode? We'd love to hear it! Send us an email.

Hop aboard the Las Vegas monorail and join us as we circle around Sphere, the newest venue coming to Las Vegas, featuring the largest (and second largest) LED display in the world! 🔮 For this episode we speak with Courtney Payne, Director of Group Ticketing Sales at Sphere, who indulges our venue geekiness and gives us the lowdown on some of the many unique features which have caught the eyes of people around the globe – the unique venue setup, the immersive screen inside which surrounds the audience, haptic seats to give people a 4D experience, revolutionary audio, and so many other innovations that can’t be found at any other venue. We also learn about “Big Dome,” a quarter scale version of the indoor LED screen and Sphere Immersive Sound housed in a studio in Burbank, where digital graphics can be tested and performers can work with designers to conceptualize the experience they offer to attendees. Sphere Entertainment Co., the newest venture from MSG Entertainment, will open on September 29 with a unique performance by U2, followed by The Sphere Experience, featuring Darren Aronofosky's “Postcard from Earth,” opening October 6 – showcasing footage shot with an 18K camera, the first of its kind. Courtney also walks us through her career and talks about what it’s like working in ticketing in Las Vegas, an entertainment Mecca. From selling show tickets on the Vegas Strip in college and working for smaller companies to her career now with Sphere, she tells us important lessons and experiences that helped shape her path and has given her the drive to chase that next big challenge throughout her work journey. Enjoy this fun, venue-nerdy, episode with awesome career advice and awe-inspiring facts about a truly one-of-a-kind facility that is shaking up the live event industry.

Courtney Payne: Instagram | LinkedIn
Sphere: Facebook | Twitter/X | Instagram

––––––

ADVENTURES IN VENUELAND

Follow on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, or X/Twitter
Learn more about Event & Venue Marketing Conference

Meet our team:

Paul Hooper | Co-host, Booking, Branding & Marketing
Dave Redelberger | Co-host & Guest Research
Megan Ebeck | Marketing, Design & Digital Advertising
Samantha Marker | Marketing, Copywriting & Publicity
Camille Faulkner | Audio Editing & Mixing

Have a suggestion for a guest or bonus episode? We'd love to hear it! Send us an email.

Toss on your Pats jersey and head with us to Foxborough as we hear all about New England’s largest venue from Kassie Epstein, Manager of Business Development & External Affairs for Gillette Stadium (Kraft Sports + Entertainment). Kassie and her team oversee every full stadium ticketed event that doesn’t fall under New England Patriots football or New England Revolution soccer - such as motorsports, collegiate events, and their concert series. Hear about their responsibilities with promotions, marketing, and being a tour liaison, and how that has changed as more and more tours are playing stadiums. We talk about what makes good stadium shows and how artists are challenged even more to make the shows interactive and fun for all attendees – especially the ones seated far away. Hosting three nights of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, Kassie takes us through that experience and how Taylor has really set the bar for a stadium show experience. We dive into social media platforms and when to adopt/drop them, the current challenges venues face with music licensing, and the importance for venues to create original content for their feeds to balance out push-down content from artists. Enjoy this wicked pissah of an episode with a born and bred Boston girl that’s sure to inspire new ideas and perhaps a visit to New England in the Fall.

Kassie Epstein: Twitter | Instagram | Threads | LinkedIn
Gillette Stadium: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | TikTok

––––––

ADVENTURES IN VENUELAND

Follow on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, or X/Twitter
Learn more about Event & Venue Marketing Conference

Meet our team:

Paul Hooper | Co-host, Booking, Branding & Marketing
Dave Redelberger | Co-host & Guest Research
Megan Ebeck | Marketing, Design & Digital Advertising
Samantha Marker | Marketing, Copywriting & Publicity
Camille Faulkner | Audio Editing & Mixing

Have a suggestion for a guest or bonus episode? We'd love to hear it! Send us an email.

Saddle up as we head down to Fort Worth, Texas, and talk with Becca Berger, Senior Sports Marketing Manager for Fort Worth Sports Commission. Becca tells us what it’s like to work for a sports commission, explaining the many aspects of what she’s involved in for events coming to the city – from hospitality to marketing to hosting and execution. She talks about what it’s like working with national governing bodies and things that makes it different than working for a pro sports team, such as planning events multiple years out. With Becca getting her start working in athletics at KU to stints with different teams and venues, she has good perspective on all the marketing people involved with executing successful events and how the sports commission side is often the glue bringing so many groups together for the overall experience and event hospitality. Hear about Fort Worth’s unique position in a busy market, and how they often collaborate with nearby Dallas. Becca tells us about her food blog she started during the pandemic, The Confident Kitchen, which focuses on healthy eating using dairy-free (and often gluten-free) ingredients, and how experimenting with marketing a personal food blog has helped her grow in her main career. Enjoy this interesting, informative episode with great perspective on career path options, a look inside sports commission life, and mouth-drooling talk about amazing recipes. Dinner is served!

Becca Berger: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn
Fort Worth Sports Commission: Twitter | Instagram
The Confident Kitchen: Instagram | Website

––––––

ADVENTURES IN VENUELAND

Follow on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, or X/Twitter
Learn more about Event & Venue Marketing Conference

Meet our team:

Paul Hooper | Co-host, Booking, Branding & Marketing
Dave Redelberger | Co-host & Guest Research
Megan Ebeck | Marketing, Design & Digital Advertising
Samantha Marker | Marketing, Copywriting & Publicity
Camille Faulkner | Audio Editing & Mixing

Have a suggestion for a guest or bonus episode? We'd love to hear it! Send us an email.

Journey with us up north to the “Golden Heart of Alaska” as we chat with Terrell Echols, General Manager of the Carlson Center in Fairbanks, Alaska. As you can imagine, there are many differences and exciting challenges with running a venue in Alaska. Terrell tells us about the venue’s place in the city and what they aim to provide. In addition to hosting touring events, the Carlson Center also serves as a community center, recreational skating rink, and even home to an indoor playground – which is great on short, cold, winter days, which at one point in the year is only two hours of daylight. Hear how Fairbanks, located in the Tanana Valley, between the hills and the Alaska Range, works closely with Anchorage to make routing shows more attractive to promoters, which is sometimes their biggest challenge. Terrell talks about his history, from growing up in Chicago to following different interests to ultimately getting into sports management at Columbia College. He tells us about his experience with community engagement and how his time working with students who had behavioral issues taught him so much about communication, the importance of listening to people, and how that experience has helped him in his work of making sure their venue is open for everyone, no matter their interests. Enjoy this informative, fun, episode that may inspire you to follow that interesting career opportunity to a new and exciting job.

Terrell Echols: LinkedIn | Email
FNSB Carlson Center: Facebook

––––––

ADVENTURES IN VENUELAND

Follow on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, or X/Twitter
Learn more about Event & Venue Marketing Conference

Meet our team:

Paul Hooper | Co-host, Booking, Branding & Marketing
Dave Redelberger | Co-host & Guest Research
Megan Ebeck | Marketing, Design & Digital Advertising
Samantha Marker | Marketing, Copywriting & Publicity
Camille Faulkner | Audio Editing & Mixing

Have a suggestion for a guest or bonus episode? We'd love to hear it! Send us an email.

Welcome to Miami, by way of Seattle! For this episode, which we recorded in-person while at EVMC in Seattle, we talk with Liz Roca, Director of Tour Marketing at United Talent Agency (UTA). She tells us what it means to work for an agency, and how that role varies and compliments venue and promoter marketing. Liz, who previously has worked on the promoter and venue sides, goes through tips and discusses challenges having worked on all sides of the live event industry. We talk about the rapid growth of Latin music and how tours for Bad Bunny and Karol G, two artists UTA represents, have expanded to stadiums dates, and how the connections fans have with the artists and their work ethic has lead to their continued success at that level. Liz talks about the start of her career, doing advertising for the Miami Herald, and how she transitioned into marketing at the newly opened American Airlines Arena (now Kaseya Center), where she worked for close to 20 years. Hear about her decision to leave and explore the promoter side, challenges during the pandemic, and ultimately her currently role with United Talent Agency. Liz, who is known by her friends as someone who lives life to its fullest, talks about the importance of prioritizing experiences, family, and friends, and not taking anything for granted. Enjoy this informative, fun episode all about the many sides of live events and why it’s important to live with intent.

Liz Roca: Instagram | LinkedIn
United Talent Agency: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

––––––

ADVENTURES IN VENUELAND

Follow on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, or X/Twitter
Learn more about Event & Venue Marketing Conference

Meet our team:

Paul Hooper | Co-host, Booking, Branding & Marketing
Dave Redelberger | Co-host & Guest Research
Megan Ebeck | Marketing, Design & Digital Advertising
Samantha Marker | Marketing, Copywriting & Publicity
Camille Faulkner | Audio Editing & Mixing

Have a suggestion for a guest or bonus episode? We'd love to hear it! Send us an email.

Live from the Emerald City, we interview Joe Paganelli, CEO of New Rising Sun, producers of the Pacific Northwest's iconic Bumbershoot Arts & Music Festival, which is celebrating its 50 anniversary this year. Joe joins us at the Event & Venue Marketing Conference for our second live episode of Adventures In Venueland. We learn all about his start in live events with legendary promoter Bill Graham Presents, his time with The Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco, his work as a Music Supervisor with Sony Pictures television, his work on the ticketing side with EDM artists and festivals, and his time with Seattle's McCaw Hall. Joe has seen all sides of the industry and has plenty of interesting stories about his career path, including lots of tips for people wanting to break into the industry. Hear about this year’s Bumbershoot and what he and his team are focusing on with the festival – including more community engagement, artist showcases, and a workforce development program supporting LGBTQ+ and BIPOC individuals. If you missed the conference, enjoy this fun way of listening in on a live, unfiltered episode of the podcast featuring audience reactions and questions, and great stories chock full of interesting career advice. Grab some coffee, dust off your favorite grunge rock album, and join us in Seattle.

Joe Paganelli: LinkedIn | Email
Bumbershoot Arts & Music Festival: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

––––––

ADVENTURES IN VENUELAND

Follow on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, or X/Twitter
Learn more about Event & Venue Marketing Conference

Meet our team:

Paul Hooper | Co-host, Booking, Branding & Marketing
Dave Redelberger | Co-host & Guest Research
Megan Ebeck | Marketing, Design & Digital Advertising
Samantha Marker | Marketing, Copywriting & Publicity
Camille Faulkner | Audio Editing & Mixing

Have a suggestion for a guest or bonus episode? We'd love to hear it! Send us an email.

All aboard to Beantown as we take the “T” to downtown Boston and visit New England’s largest sports and entertainment arena, TD Garden, and chat with Tricia McCorkle, Senior Director of Marketing & Communications. As home to the Boston Celtics and Boston Bruins, the venue lays claim to the most championship banners in the country, but it’s much more than a hallowed ground for sports. This year TD Garden will host over 50 concerts, a record for the 27 year old venue which replaced the legendary Boston Garden in 1995. Tricia tells us about one of the newest additions to the district around the venue, The Hub on Causeway, which features 18+ vendors, a hotel, office tower, and the largest grocery store in Boston. We tag along on her career journey, from graduating at Emerson College to her first job in the news room at Channel 5, and how running a PR and marketing team is often similar to working a newsroom floor. Hear about some of the fun promotions and gifts the arena does that celebrate their history and how there’s a great synergy between the teams and venue staff. When she doesn’t slay the parquet, Tricia dabbles in a fun clothing business she started with her sister, Sunshine & Seaweed, which celebrates a neighborhood and provides a fun creative side project. Listen in on this joyful episode which is chock full of career tips, Boston love, and a hot take on who’s the best member of NKOTB. We’ll see you in the GAHden!

Tricia McCorkle: LinkedIn | Email
TD Garden: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

––––––

ADVENTURES IN VENUELAND

Follow on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, or X/Twitter
Learn more about Event & Venue Marketing Conference

Meet our team:

Paul Hooper | Co-host, Booking, Branding & Marketing
Dave Redelberger | Co-host & Guest Research
Megan Ebeck | Marketing, Design & Digital Advertising
Samantha Marker | Marketing, Copywriting & Publicity
Camille Faulkner | Audio Editing & Mixing

Have a suggestion for a guest or bonus episode? We'd love to hear it! Send us an email.

Grab your passport and join us for a little globetrotting as we chat with Brian Kabatznick, Executive Vice President, Business Development & Facilities for Oak View Group International. We catch up with Brian in London, and hear about Oak View Group’s developments internationally, including the upcoming Co-op Live in Manchester, Cardiff Arena in Wales, a new arena coming soon to São Paulo, as well as potential future developments in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Australasia. Hear how developing internationally provides exciting challenges and opportunities, and how understanding the markets, venue landscape, and purchasing habits are critical elements to knowing whether a new venue would work in that city and what features and hospitality it would benefit from. As Oak View Group continues to prioritize venue sustainability, hear how they are leveraging their success with Climate Pledge Arena and pushing sustainability as one of their pillars when developing venues in other countries around the world. Brian walks us through his career in live events, and how his passion for concerts led to his first role with Ticketron (now Ticketmaster), and careers with SMG and AEG before his current role with Oak View Group. Enjoy this fun, informative episode which includes great nuggets of career advice as well as a look at what it’s like traveling and working internationally for your career.

Brian Kabatznick: LinkedIn | Email
Oak View Group: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

––––––

ADVENTURES IN VENUELAND

Follow on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, or X/Twitter
Learn more about Event & Venue Marketing Conference

Meet our team:

Paul Hooper | Co-host, Booking, Branding & Marketing
Dave Redelberger | Co-host & Guest Research
Megan Ebeck | Marketing, Design & Digital Advertising
Samantha Marker | Marketing, Copywriting & Publicity
Camille Faulkner | Audio Editing & Mixing

Have a suggestion for a guest or bonus episode? We'd love to hear it! Send us an email.

Beautiful, sandy beaches meet jaw-dropping mountains and forests as we travel to the “Marvelous City,” Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, to talk with Silvia Albuquerque, Regional Director of Rio de Janeiro Venues for GL events. Silvia gives us an overview of the three venues she oversees – Jeunesse Arena (largest arena in Brazil and main location for events in Rio), Riocentro (biggest convention center in Latin America), and Lagune Barra Hotel (306 room hotel). We talk about her start with GL events right before the Rio Olympics, what it was like hosting Olympic games, and how her role within the company has evolved over time. Ever wondered how the pandemic affected live events in Brazil? She shares how they adapted during the pandemic and have found new ways to expand their business, including supporting more local and regional acts and hosting different sizes of events, and how that forced flexibility led to their most successful year ever in 2022. Silvia tells us about her career journey, from her first job out of college with Sony Music to time with a publisher and GroupOn to her current role in live events, and how collaborations and unique events made her fall in love with the live events industry. Enjoy this informative, fun episode that takes you inside what makes Rio de Janeiro such a special city that artists look forward to visiting and locals love to call home.

Silvia Albuquerque: LinkedIn | Email
GL events: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

––––––

ADVENTURES IN VENUELAND

Follow on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, or X/Twitter
Learn more about Event & Venue Marketing Conference

Meet our team:

Paul Hooper | Co-host, Booking, Branding & Marketing
Dave Redelberger | Co-host & Guest Research
Megan Ebeck | Marketing, Design & Digital Advertising
Samantha Marker | Marketing, Copywriting & Publicity
Camille Faulkner | Audio Editing & Mixing

Have a suggestion for a guest or bonus episode? We'd love to hear it! Send us an email.