My guest today is Simon Weber, Co-Founder of Vivenu!  We had a great talk. It was really nice to get to know Simon.  We covered:  The importance of controlling your brand.  Data. The power of market research.   I pushed back on Simon's talk of Vivenu being "product oriented" because the amount of research they did into developing the product says that they are market focused.  www.vivenu.com Check out my friends at Booking Protect. Hayley and Joe will be at the Ticketing Professionals Conference in Parramatta on 1-2 November. Give them a quick hello and check out what they are up to.  www.bookingprotect.com I'm running my annual NPS survey to help me create the next year's newsletter and podcast. 4 questions and it helps a lot. The 4th question: drop any guests you might like to hear from in the box. Thanks for checking this out.  https://forms.gle/pCG1ZCY8gHaPWwjG8 https://talkingtickets.substack.com 

Simon Weber talks about how your fans don't wear a Ticketmaster jersey.

When you work in entertainment, you are in the business of fun. This podcast will focus on the challenges and opportunities associated with helping your customers create memories and special moments. We will talk about sports, theatre, performing arts, and other forms of entertainment, highlighting the best ideas in marketing live experiences, creating long-term customers, and growing revenues.

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My guest today is Chris Pantani.  Chris is the GM of the NY Mavericks of the Professional Bull Riders.  We talk about bull riding and why there is now a professional bull riding team representing New York City.  I find out that there is a long history of professional bull riding in NYC.  We also talk about the makeup of bullriding, the history of the sport, and the ambition going forward.  Chris shares how his experience at Goodyear has helped him be in a good position to lead a team in PBR.  We talk about sponsorships and activations. We hit on rooting for a sport that has a history of being individually driven...and a lot more.  Make sure you join me in NYC on September 4th for 'Fans For Life: Creating and Keeping Today's Fans!' Re-invented for 2024.  We will talk about things like:  Lifetime Fan Value Brand Codes Strategy Before Tactics Discounts are for Dummies Feeding the Content Funnel   And, more.  Get my newsletters, find my store, and read my blogs at my website: www.DaveWakeman.com  Make sure you rate and review the podcast on your favorite platform. And, share this episode with someone that will benefit!  Thank you for spending time with me and don't hesitate to send me a note to say hello at Dave@DaveWakeman.com     

Chris Pantani teaches us that brand activations still matter

Today is the 200th episode of 'The Business of Fun' podcast! You didn't think I would not have something special prepared, did you?  I will share some lessons learned and some things I'm thinking about and paying attention to.  You can come work with me in  NYC on September 4th, 2024...I've recreated 'Fans For Life' for the current world we live in. Find out what I'm up to by visiting my website at www.DaveWakeman.com Please, share the podcast and review it. These things help.  Talking Tickets: https://talkingtickets.substack.com  The Business of Value: https://businessofvalue.substack.com     

Let's celebrate the 200th episode of 'The Business of Fun'

My guest today is Solene Jimenez. She is Head of International Development for arenametrix. www.arenametrix.com This is Solene's first podcast appearance and we had a good time.  Of course, she didn't tell me it was her first podcast until we'd finished recording. I like to make the first podcast appearance fun and easy for folks.  We talked about culture especially from Solene's unique experience of being from France living abroad, working for a French company, returning to France, and now focusing a lot on North America.  She offers up some unique takes on how you have to understand different cultures to build relationships, develop a sales pipeline, and grow a business.  All of them are relevant as my business is more global and you might have a similar situation.  We discuss how Solene approaches bringing a personal touch to a tech business and a lot more.  Visit my website where I am going to be posting some upcoming workshops, happy hours, and events in:  London on 2 July NYC in September Melbourne and Sydney in November  If you are this far and you haven't signed up for 'Talking Tickets' what's going on with that? You can get that newsletter here: https://talkingtickets.substack.com Yesterday, I had a guest post from Bryan Ralston on group sales and I want to know what else you would find valuable.  You can let me know by sending me an email at dave@davewakeman.com   

Solene Jimenez teaches us about the culture of sales in the arts...

I have a good conversation for you today with Alasdair Crawley from FanBase.  We had a great time talking about sports business including:  Why sports business is at a crossroads. The challenge of getting the basics right.  Data v. research Balancing the short term and long term in fanbase building.  The power of experience...  And, much more.  I'm going to be on tour this year... On sales will be available on my website in a few days, but you are a listener of the podcast so I want to let you know first.  I've rebuilt 'Fans for Life' for 2024 and it is better than ever.  I'll be hosting two sessions:  Wednesday, September 4, 2024 in NYC.  Tuesday, 19 November 2024 in Melbourne.   Obviously, these sessions coincide with the 2024 Pearl Jam world tour...but if they didn't, what would I even be doing?  I'll get the full details up in the next few days, but we are going to cover things like:  Developing insights and understanding of the market using free and publicly available data.  How to balance pricing, brand, and sales to achieve the maximum impact of your fan building efforts.  Establishing your brand so that your fans have an identity to latch onto.  The fan lifecycle and how to understand that so you can maintain a relationship with your fans, even in down times.   And, more... Send me a note with the city you are interested in and I'll do a pre-sale for 'The Business of Fun' listeners... Dave@DaveWakeman.com  I'll also be in London from 28 June to 8 July... A mix of business and pleasure with the Pearl Jam concert at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, The National at Crystal Palace Park, and, hopefully, Wimbledon.  But I also want to set up a time for us to get together and have a pint or a drink. Let's tentatively schedule it for 2 July, Tuesday.  Thank you for being here and listening.  I want your voice to be a bigger part of the podcast going forward. So send me your questions, ideas, guest suggestions, and other feedback...on social media,  in the Slack Channel, or via email.  Get 'Talking Tickets' if you don't already at: http://TalkingTickets.Substack.com    

Alasdair Crawley says sports business is at a crossroads...

I haven't always been a champion sleeper.  Like a lot of my friends, I haven't always had a regular bedtime due to work, school, social life, whatever.  In college, at the University of Alabama, I couldn't be torn from the things going on in my dorm. I was so excited to see everything...I didn't want to miss a thing.  Later on, I was working 3 or more jobs to pay for school including working nights at several nightclubs.  During those years, I'd catch sleep whenever I could.  Including underneath the desk in the recreation center or the tennis courts that I worked at.  To say that my sleep schedule was screwed up would be doing a disservice to the term "screwed up".  Eventually, I got my sleep in order.  I'm often in bed right at 11PM and I'm out of bed sometime around 645AM.  You'll learn that this fits right into the natural sleep rhythm our bodies have.  Dr. John teaches us about things we can do to sleep better.  He also covers where we might be having problems sleeping.  And, he goes over his SLEEP NOW formula. --- You can follow Dr. John:  Twitter LinkedIn Instagram  Visit Dr. Sleep Fix:  'Nobody's Sleeping' Dr. John's new book. The Sleep Assessment Get Dr. John's newsletter and be the first to know when his sleep course drops!   --- Keep up with me at my website: www.DaveWakeman.com  You can find all of my stuff like newsletters and more at my Linktree.  Do me a favor and rate this episode on your favorite podcast platform. Share it with your friends and colleagues as well. Okay, that's two favors!  --- I want to get your voice into the podcast this year: so send me your questions about strategy especially around overcoming complacency in your business... Or, if you have a guest suggestion, let me know what you want to learn more about and from whom by sending me an email at Dave@DaveWakeman.com  -- Thanks for being here today!  I appreciate you! 

Simon Weber talks about how your fans don't wear a Ticketmaster jersey.

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