Jolene Herz has been named vice-president of booking for the Kia Forum in Inglewood, California.

Her role has been expanded to overseeing all live events at the venue and she will continue to report to Geni Lincoln, general manager and senior vice-president of live events. Herz has worked at the Kia Forum since 2016, when she was named booking manager, and was promoted to booking director in 2018.

“I’m honored to be recognized by my colleagues at the Kia Forum and couldn’t ask for a better team to work with,” Herz said in a statement. “I look forward to continuing to expand the impressive list of artists and events we’ve brought to the venue and build upon the strong community we’ve created thus far.”

Herz started her live entertainment career as a booking assistant in the Los Angeles Live Nation office in 2000 before moving to Nederlander Concerts. She worked at the Kia Forum from 2007 to 2010, then returned to Live Nation before rejoining the Kia Forum in 2016.

“We are thrilled to announce this well-deserved promotion for Jolene as Vice President of Booking for the Kia Forum,” venue GM and SVP/Live Events Geni Lincoln said in a statement. “We are grateful for her many years of hard work and dedication to this iconic venue and are confident that she will bring her continued enthusiasm and diligence to the new role.”

Marquette University in Milwaukee has sold an 11-acre parcel of land to Bear Development, which plans on building a new sports and entertainment district that will be anchored by an 8,000-seat soccer-specific stadium.

Bear Development will serve as the master developer for the project and will work alongside Kacmarcik Enterprises on the plans. The land was purchased by Marquette University in 2014 and 2015 and is located to the northeast of the Marquette Interchange.

The new stadium will serve as the home of a professional soccer club, with Jim Kacmarcik, owner of Kacmarcik Enterprises, planning on launching a team in the city. The stadium will also be used by the University’s soccer and lacrosse teams.

The wider complex will include an indoor concert venue, a full-service hotel, multi-family residential housing, retail spaces, and food and beverage outlets. It is hoped the development will play a key role in linking Marquette University with downtown Milwaukee, with the district projected to create hundreds of new jobs and draw a million annual visitors.

Developers will demolish a vacant hotel building which currently sits on the site. Marquette Today, the university’s student newspaper, said that Marquette would have no financial or controlling interests in the sports and entertainment district, and will instead be a lessee in the stadium.

The indoor arena will have a capacity of 3,500 and will be operated by Pabst Theater Group, which manages a number of local concert halls. Kacmarcik Enterprises said that Pabst Theater Group will be joined by “one of the world’s premier concert promoters”.

Marquette University president, Michael Lovell, said: “This new development reimagines and promises to bring new life into a highly visible strategic corridor, presenting an exceptional opportunity to connect the Marquette University campus and Westown neighborhood with the Downtown Milwaukee renaissance.

“The economic revitalization and community pride this multi-purpose development will catalyze is something I am proud Marquette can help facilitate through the strategic sale of this important parcel of land. I look forward to cheering on our men’s and women’s lacrosse and soccer teams in their new competition venue.”

More details on Milwaukee’s planned soccer team are set to be released soon. Kacmarcik serves as the lead owner of Forward Madison FC, a USL League One franchise based in Madison, Wisconsin.

Kacmarcik added: “Milwaukee is one of the great sports cities in the United States, and we are excited to bring professional outdoor soccer to the community.”

By thestadiumbusiness.com

Global technology company JMA Wireless has acquired naming rights to the Carrier Dome, home of Syracuse University’s sports teams.

The 10-year deal rebrands the stadium as the JMA Wireless Dome, or the JMA Dome for short. It marks the first time the Carrier Dome’s naming rights have changed hands since the venue opened in 1980, with the university’s 40-year partnership with Carrier coming to an end last month.

Syracuse University said that JMA Wireless will support the Dome’s digital infrastructure transformation

by establishing “advanced connectivity offerings” for fans and other guests.

JMA Wireless was recently appointed to provide 5G equipment for SoFi Stadium, home of the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams and Chargers. The company is also opening a new 5G campus in the City of Syracuse.

The university announced last month that it will embark on the next phase of its work to enhance, elevate and expand the experience at the Dome, which has a capacity of around 50,000 for football games.

The latest phase of renovations will build on the recently completed $118 million transformation of the stadium, which was funded entirely by the university and private philanthropy. These renovations included a new fixed roof, the largest vertically hung scoreboard in college sport, the installation of air conditioning and state-of-the-art sound and lighting systems.

The next phase of the renovations includes a complete reseating of the entire venue and the construction of an on-site and publicly accessible event facility.

Syracuse University chancellor Kent Syverud said: “This is an exciting moment for Syracuse University, Syracuse Athletics, and the broader Central New York-community. With JMA Wireless as our new naming partner, our campus community, student-athletes and fans alike can expect a world-class event experience, unlike anything they’ve ever seen before at Syracuse University.

“I am grateful to JMA founder and CEO John Mezzalingua for his partnership and vision. His investment in the City of Syracuse and Central New York will pay dividends for years to come in the form of economic vitality, career opportunities for local residents and cutting-edge technology innovation taking place in our region. We share JMA’s commitment to the City of Syracuse and Central New York and look forward to seeing the positive impact our partnership will have on our local community.”

Mezzalingua added: “Our company’s ties to the city and university run deep. I remember when Syracuse redefined college athletics with the Dome, a unique venue that ushered in a period of unprecedented success for Syracuse sports. With this partnership, we have an opportunity to lead once again.

“The Dome will have the most advanced 5G network of any collegiate stadium, connecting fans as never before. It will also enable powerful new augmented reality training systems, advanced coaching tools and sensor-based performance optimization to attract elite athletes and help Syracuse win. The JMA Dome has an incredibly bright future ahead, and we are thrilled to be a part of it.”

IAVM has added two new tier levels to our existing discount structure for Professional Group Membership. The two new tiers are:

Tier 1 – 5 employees, $2,150 – new!
Tier 2 – 10 employees, $2,750 – new!
Tier 3 – 20 employees, $3,150* — original program that was introduced in 2014

All current venue types are eligible to participate. One individual shall be designated the Primary Member/Representative for the Group Membership. Eligibility requirements may be viewed by clicking here. Note: The criteria are the same for all tier levels.

These new options will be of particular interest to venues in smaller markets and for those with smaller budgets but need training and professional development options for their employees. To apply, complete the online Group Membership Application.

Membership renewals are invoiced annually. The billing goes to the principal contact who may make changes to the roster as needed.

This program is a great way to involve your staff in IAVM, to be volunteers and attend national, regional and chapter events. Check IAVM’s event calendar to see the upcoming lineup for 2022. Contact membership@iavm.org with questions.

*Perks for Tier 3 Group Members: three job posts annually, $250 value each; two VDS research reports annually, $299 value each; and five VP magazine print issues once they are resumed, digital copies are now available. These extra benefits will be available to Tier 3 Group Members. The primary will make the requests for these services.

By R.V. Baugus

Samir Bitar, Principal with The Art of Consulting in Los Angeles, will headline the Performing Arts Centers keynote at VenueConnect when he speaks on Guest Journey Mapping. The session is Thursday, July 21 from 11:00-11:45 am. A highly sought thought leader, Samir and his company serve as an authority on audience and service design strategies. But before we give you more on the company, let’s allow Samir to take it from here in an interview that we conducted with him to discuss customer journey maps and provide a glimpse of what this exciting presentation has in store for participants.

RV: Share with our readers something about your background and then bring us up to speed on your current role.

SB: I started my exploration of customer journey mapping (CJM) as a student at Carnegie Mellon University, where I focused my studies on novel techniques in the marketing and service design sectors to increase participation in the Arts. But I really got religious about CJM after assuming the directorship of the Smithsonian Institution’s central office of Visitor Experience. With over 30 million annual visits across 19 museums and the National Zoo, it fell to my team and I to research, develop, and advocate for improvements to a 21st-Century museum experience. After leaving the Smithsonian, I opened a consulting firm (The Art of Consulting) to assist nonprofit, public service, and mission-driven organizations improve their engagement with existing audiences and acquire new ones. I’ve helped the City of Riyad better understand stakeholders of their national museums, Brooklyn Navy Yard appeal to a broader base of DIY entrepreneurs, and several museums develop engaging exhibitions. In 2020, I began guest-lecturing on the techniques and use of customer journey mapping. In 2022, I co-developed and began co-teaching a graduate-level course on Customer Journey Mapping at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School.

RV: Give us some detail and insights about your PAC presentation. Without giving away the kitchen, what will be some of the things you will share with your audience?

SB: In this fun, interactive session participants will get a crash course in Customer Journey Mapping. I’ll pull from a case study of a digital product I developed at the Smithsonian, Trip Planner, a first-in-class content aggregator for arts and cultural organizations. We’ll explore both what a customer journey map is and how it can be used for managers of performing arts centers, theaters, arenas, convention centers, amphitheaters, stadiums, and the like. Next, I’ll coach participants through the key steps of mapping their own customers’ journey. We’ll conclude with an overview of how to use a finished CJM to advance business objectives. Participants will leave the session with a CJM outline for their business.

Session objectives:
· Participants will understand what a customer journey map is and how it applies to their business setting.
· Participants will be able to identify the various component pieces of a customer journey map and outline one from end-to-end.

RV: How about a main takeaway you would like people to leave with and take back to the venue where they work?

SB: Why has mapping customers’ journey become a critical step in the development of successful products and services, across all sectors of the economy? Because doing so has proven to be a remarkably effective method of transforming organizations’ relationship to their customer vis-à-vis business objectives. From Apple to the federal government organizations use customer journey maps ultimately develop more responsive and more profitable products and services to current and future customers.
So, why journey map? For many reasons, but for brevity I’ve summarized into four reasons:
• CJMs works to develop a firm’s empathy for its customer. Analyzing customers’ needs and behaviors from the customer’s perspective is the first step in establishing a true customer-oriented business ethos. Further, the iterative process of constructing customer journeys works to ventilate teams’ thinking around the products/services they develop and the people who use them.
• CJMs provide a qualitative dimension to quantitative data. Most businesses today have reams of quantitative data like point of sale, and transaction, along with demographic, geographic and now web analytic data. This type of data is great, in fact critical. Keep it. Use it. But it’s not enough. Quantitative data presents a one-dimensional view of customers through the eyes of the firm. Customer journey maps offer a critical qualitative companion to quantitative customer data, like customer’s needs, expectations, behaviors, challenges, and sentiments, from the customer’s perspective.
• CJMs reveal opportunities for increased revenue. In revealing highlights (what’s working) and paint points (what’s not) of a firm’s product/service offering, constructing a customer journey map provides the time and space to identify opportunities for improvements to the customer experience, which often translates to new revenue opportunities.
• CJMs increase leadership buy-in. Customer journey maps presents critical business data as an accessible and compelling visual infographic that earns buy-in from key decision makers, far more so that typical written reports – Far more.