HELLO SEATTLE!

The carbonhouse team touched down in the Pacific Northwest on Tuesday, ready to meet and mingle with clients and industry professionals, explore hot topics in the event and venue space, and experience the sights, sounds (and many, many Starbucks) of Seattle, Washington.

As an EAMC newbie, Project Manager Stephanie is taking advantage of all the activities planned each year for first-timers, including the First Time Attendees Welcome Wednesday morning. Highlights included: “network, network, network!” and “don’t forget to hydrate!”. 

 

FIRST GENERAL SESSION: “EAMC SOUNDCHECK - STATE OF THE INDUSTRY"
 

After lunch, the conference’s first general session got underway. Derrick Christian, Director of Marketing & Brand Innovation at Chicago’s United Center (and spoken word poetry extraordinaire) led the session, in which four speakers – each representing a different industry sector – provided updates concerning their respective areas of expertise. 

 

First up was Kim Allen, Director of Arena Marketing for Sacramento’s Golden 1 Center and the Sacramento Kings, as well as current EAMC Board President. Allen mentioned that this year’s conference is the highest attended since its inception in 1980, with more than 450 attendees. So exciting!

 

The remaining panelists provided yearly recaps pertaining to ticketing, venue development and booking, and international business. Highlights included: 


Kurt Schwartzkopf, EVP/Co-Head of Sports, NBA & NHL Arenas, Ticketmaster

  • 2023 is on pace to be the biggest year yet in live music, with live events surpassing dining, shopping and travel as the largest draw to consumers.
  • Ticketmaster continues to work towards offering concert and sporting event attendees a fully optimized mobile experience, following the success of their SafeTix technology, the Verified Fan program and more.
  • Look out for general news and developments regarding no scalper laws, speculative selling, possible mandates on "all-in" pricing, etc. 

Eric Gardner, Vice President, Booking, OVG

  • Oak View Group undertook its first major venue project with the Climate Pledge Arena here in Seattle, and continues its commitment to being in the “venue business” and utilizing music as an anchor tenant in their facilities.
  • Artists are driving 80 to 95 percent of their revenue on the road from touring.

Wesley Cullen, Vice President, International Business Development, OVG

  • Believe it or not, São Paolo, Brazil, which has a population of 22 million people, currently has no indoor concert arena! OVG is working from scratch to build a 20,000-seat arena there.
  • The Middle East is a region to watch in terms of the event industry; just in 2019, Coca-Cola Arena – the first air-conditioned arena in the Middle East – opened in Dubai.

To conclude the first general session, Christian presented a special surprise to the panelists and audience of attendees – a proclamation from the Mayor of the City of Seattle officially declaring June 7-9, 2023 “EAMC Day(s)”!

 

AFTERNOON ACTIVITY: SCAVENGER HUNT FUN 

Next up was another annual EAMC tradition, the team building Ultimate City Scavenger Hunt activity. Participants split into small teams to go head-to-head in a mobile app-led adventure filled with various social challenges that provide both a great opportunity to get to know the host city and a little friendly competition.

 

IMG_5495.jpgThe challenges tasked EAMC-ers with things like shooting a “forced perspective” photo of team members holding up the Seattle Great Wheel at Pier 57, filming a video of a team member telling a stranger a bad joke (with bonus points awarded if you got a genuine laugh!); or searching for a particular Seattle landmark or statue and answering a related trivia question. Teams were awarded varying numbers of points based on their overall creativity when completing challenges. 

 

We won’t know which team came out on top until Friday, however one thing is certain - we definitely got in our steps for the day! 
 

 

EVENING ACTIVITY: DINNER, DRINKS & TOURS AT CLIMATE PLEDGE ARENA


IMG_5591.jpgTo conclude a successful first day in Seattle, we headed to one of its crown jewels - the brand new, first-of-its-kind Climate Pledge Arena, which aims to be the most progressive, responsible and sustainable arena in the world. We arrived via the city’s monorail, which dropped us off at the stunning Space Needle, located just a hop, skip and a jump from the venue. 

 

By far, the highlight of the evening was the private tours of the arena. Some fun facts we learned during the guided tours that we just had to share include: 

 

  • The venue was constructed under its historic landmarked roof, originally built for the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair. For more than a year, the original roof hovered over the new construction until it could be permanently put into place.
  • Its “Rain to Rink” system harvests water off the roof, collects it into a 15,000 gallon cistern, and turns it into the greenest ice in the NHL. The venue even has a low-carbon, all electric Zamboni!
  • The arena was built partially underground - 80 feet to be exact!
  • There are 12,500 plants and trees on-site, including The Climate Pledge Living Wall.

And that’s a wrap on day one! Make sure to check back tomorrow for a recap of day two!