Happy Friday facility manager friends!
Hope you get a little bit of a break going into the holiday weekend. Labor Day Weekend in San Diego is an amazing time of year. I am certainly missing the beach, but am excited for my family to establish new traditions in Carolina!
It has been a busy week in the Stylehawk office. We have been working closely with our hotel site selection partner to provide concierge services to professional teams traveling for training camps. It is exciting to be able to provide one- stop solutions for venues, housing accommodations, meals and transportation. Team Operation Directors have their hands full attending to the needs of their players and coaching staff, so it is great to provide them direct support.
As mentioned in last week’s Stylehawk Streamer, this is a weekly post where I consolidate a few of the readings I have come across that are interesting and relevant for sport event venue operators and event promoters. I will include posts based on topics consistent with my guest services decision matrix:
- Security
- Courtesy
- Efficiency
plus
- Entrepreneurship
- Featured Venue
Security:
Stress, Security at Forefront as Esports Ponders Future
Unfortunately, the week started with another mass shooting at a public event. A sad reality, but crisis events like these are reminders that we must always be situationally aware. Venue operators and event promoters have a responsibility to make their best efforts to secure event venues. Ultimately though, individual survival comes down to individual action… so accept personal accountability.
The article here discusses the reality that esports are experiencing tremendous growth. This growth is evident in the dollars and high value investors getting involved in the sport, the massive participation numbers, the incredible media exposure and the rapid development of live esport events with insane attendance and per cap numbers. With growth comes challenges. Esport event promoters and venues must consider adopting industry best practices with regard to safety and security in addition to understanding esport specific risks. Things like participant health (both mental and physical) must be accounted for and play a role in the event security design moving forward.
Courtesy:
Are You Getting the Best From Your Guest Services Staff?
This is the second article in a four- part series on developing an effective guest services program for sport event venues. The first article discussed the importance of a powerful Statement of Common Purpose. This article starts to shift the conversation from theoretical to applicable. In short, it is important for sport event venues to hire front- of- house- staff who possess the personality traits essential for executing on the service promise defined by the Statement of Common Purpose. Beyond hiring the right staff, guest services managers must articulate why those traits are important, convey to staff that they are uniquely talented and then train staff on how to utilize those skills to effectively deliver on the service promise. Training should be on- going and within the context of job task. The training goal is to develop thought processes consistent with the venue’s service philosophy. This forms the basis of an empowered and motivated services team.
Efficiency:
2 Truths to Maximize The Effectiveness of Event Managers
I have been pretty vocal about how influential The 4- Hour Workweek has been in my decision to build Stylehawk Event Services. I believe in hard work, but I also believe in effective work. To that end, it is important for event managers to understand Pareto’s Law… or more commonly known as the 80/20 Rule. This basically says that 80% of your results will come from 20% of your efforts. So, in order to increase effectiveness, we need to identify what those 20% of result- causing actions are and focus on them. This means, work hard on the things you are good at to yield the greatest returns and delegate the other actions to teammates and contractors who excel in those particular areas. The second truth event managers must accept is Parkinson’s Law… the power of an imminent deadline. “Task will swell in (perceived) importance and complexity in relation to the time allotted for its completion.” So, we need to focus on the task at hand, prioritize as appropriate and not be afraid to take on challenges.
Entrepreneurship:
Stop Sacrificing Your Future by Clinging to Your Past
This is really an article about self- doubt. Sometimes our past successes work as anchors keeping us from future opportunities. The anxiety of an unknown future may cause us to attribute past accomplishments to circumstance or luck while failing to accept our actual role in creating that success. When we understand that circumstance and luck likely played a conditional role in past experiences but success was driven by internal mechanism; we garner the strength to take on new endeavors. Value is inherent to us, not the environment from which it was borne.
Featured Venue:
The Momentous Sports Center in Irvine, California is a spectacular space. As one of the newer Southern California sports complexes, Momentous is massive. 22 basketball/ volleyball/ futsal courts and a 400 seat on- site restaurant fills the 136,000 square foot space. The center was built to be the premiere sports complex in Southern California and it does not disappoint. Beyond basketball, volleyball and futsal, the Momentous Sports Complex could be a great site for cheerleading, martial arts, indoor soccer and more!
Please share any interesting articles you come across in the comments section or send them to cungar@stylehawkevents.com. I would also love to hear your feedback or help with any of your San Diego and Southern California event management and venue sourcing needs.
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