Ticketbud Tidbits - for Event Organizers

In this episode we talk to Mark Kwiatkowski who has owned and managed bars and venues for the past 25 years. Mark owns Replay Lincoln Park, a barcade venue in Chicago that’s both a bar and arcade.

Mark has had a lot of success running themed pop-up event promotions as part of their promotional strategy. The venue gets converted with a new theme, such as their recent highly successful Game of Thrones experience, that received significant media attention.

Mark has a lot of experience working in hospitality and has great advice for venue and event managers.

In this episode we talk to Teri Smart, the Vice President of Marketing at Forefront Networks. Forefront is an experiential and entertainment agency designing events that build connections between brands and their audiences.

Teri shares how Forefront Networks utilizes the CRM platform Salesforce as a key part of their strategy to maximize the success and profitability of events. She discusses the different ways organizations can utilize events for various goals and audiences. She emphasizes the importance of having thorough research and data backing your sponsorship valuations. As well as diving into event marketing, visual direction and creative design, ticket pricing, programming, promotions and gaining traction in the media. As well as assessing the financial sustainability of your event.

In this episode we chat to Scott Shepard from SDG Events, who talks about coordinating the multi-city food festival Wing-A-Rama. Scott discusses the importance of ensuring the event offers value to his three key stakeholder groups; restaurant vendors, sponsors and event attendees. He also shares his experience growing from a single city to multi-city event, and the challenges of expanding into new markets.

Gerry Brooks is a social media star and an elementary school principal. Through his popular youtube videos focused on real-world educational experiences, Gerry has amassed a social media following of over 1 million people. His most popular viral video this year was viewed by over 10 million, and received national media coverage.

Gerry’s relatable stories and tell it like it is style, combined with his passion for education, has proven to be a winning formula, which now sees him booking speaking engagements across the country, and hosting a sell out event series called Celebrate Educators.

We invited Gerry to the podcast to talk about his rise to internet stardom and what it’s like to be both the talent and the event organizer for a traveling one man show.

In this episode we talk to Jimmy Carilo the Creative Marketing Director for World Of Light, an immersive art installation pop-up event debuting in Los Angeles next month. Jimmy shares the challenges and learnings from putting an event of this nature together - working with artists from around the world and transforming a space into an experience that people haven't seen before. Jimmy talks about the need to schedule bookings for an experience like this to ensure everyone can enjoy it. He shares some unique marketing tactics for getting the word out about the event. He also talks about his experiences working with different ticketing companies and why Ticketbud's approach made all the difference to his team.

Gain a deeper insight on event planning for a large Chamber of Commerce membership based organization.  Lacy Roesler, Manager of Partner Events and Engagement at the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce, talks about the wide range of events and initiatives she manages for the Chamber. She shares insights from years of event management experience including working at the Long Center for the Performing Arts.

Abby Sandlin is the Vice President of Marketing and Communications and Forefront Networks in Austin, TX. Forefront Networks has years of experience in live and proprietary events, brand enhancement, and sponsorships.

"Speed dating for live music", as Paul Schomer puts it, embodies the nature of Microsessions. A former NPR musical digital producer, Paul was inspired into action by a musical act that went on way too long because musicians kept being added. The resulting Microsessions has proved to be a great success, with shows in Austin, New York, and soon other locales. In this podcast, we discuss everything from building audiences and retargeting, to how to improve your event through feedback.

Bruce Willenzik absolutely exudes the spirit of Austin. It makes sense - he used to work at the venue responsible for Austin being named the "Live Music Capital Of The World": The Armadillo World Headquarters. With decades of experience running successful events and concerts, Bruce is a great mentor to learn from. Enjoy the history, as well as tried and true lessons of organizing and running successful shows.

Clint Kaulfas is a professional gate manager residing in Austin, who loves working in the festival space. Clint has worked with big event production companies and managed the biggest festivals in Austin. In this episode, we talk about (you guessed it) gate management and managing attendees.