By Larry Solters, Sam Threadgill, and Erik Stein

Oak View Group (OVG), the global venue development, advisory, and investment company for the sports and live entertainment industries, announced respected venue management executive John Bolton, CVE, has joined the company as Senior Vice President of Entertainment and General Manager of the new arena at Agua Caliente in Palm Springs. Based in Palm Springs, Bolton assumes his new role effective immediately.

Reporting to Stephen Collins, Chief Operating Officer, OVG, Bolton will be part of the company’s senior leadership team and will support all OVG venues in driving entertainment and programming content. Bolton will assist in developing grand opening and entertainment plans for OVG’s eight new arena projects as well as working with OVG’s current venues under management.

“John brings decades of industry expertise, and throughout his career, has played an integral role in building world-class successful venues. We are very pleased to welcome him to our team,” said Tim Leiweke, CEO of Oak View Group. “As General Manager, John will bring passion, energy, and vision to the arena in Palm Springs, and I look forward to his contributions in the years to come.”

As General Manager of the Palm Springs arena, Bolton will oversee the development and opening of Southern California’s newest arena. The Palm Springs arena will be home to the recently announced American Hockey League (AHL) expansion team, an owned-and-operated affiliate of the Seattle NHL team that also begins play during the 2021-22 NHL season. Groundbreaking and construction on the $250 million arena in downtown Palm Springs will begin in February 2020 with completion in the fall of 2021.

“Nothing could be more exciting to me than being part of OVG’s unprecedented number of new arena projects both nationally and internationally,” commented Bolton. “To have a role in developing the new arena in Palm Springs is a dream come true as I have always loved Palm Springs. I can’t wait to become involved in the community there and develop another unique and iconic arena,” added Bolton.

“We’re thrilled to have John playing a key role in our business development efforts as we aspire to partner with the best facilities around the world. John will also play a crucial role in our event and content innovation strategy, said Peter Luukko, Co-Chairman of OVG Facilities and Alliances.

“Bolton is a key ingredient to building a top-notch team for this world-class facility,” said Chairman Jeff L. Grubbe, of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians. “We are excited about the energy this new arena will bring to the revitalization efforts in Downtown Palm Springs.”

Prior to his role with OVG, Bolton served as Vice President of Entertainment for ASM Global. As part of the corporate team at SMG Entertainment, Bolton worked with stadiums and arenas across the country to present over 32,000 live events annually. Bolton supervised a national network of regional marketing directors who were responsible for some 140 arena marketing professionals.

In addition to his previous role as General Manager for SMG in Tulsa, where he was entrusted to oversee the final phases of construction and grand opening of one of SMG’s premier arenas – Tulsa’s BOK Center, Bolton acted as Regional Vice President for SMG for its venues in Puerto Rico and the West Coast. Bolton was responsible for creating five new festivals and events in Tulsa that attract more than 200,000 people per year, and through his vision, this previously underserved market became a “must play” stop for national touring artists and family shows. His effort led to a nomination for Pollstar’s “Best New Major Concert Venue” and subsequent nominations for Pollstar’s “Arena of the Year” every year he was General Manager. Bolton and the BOK Center were awarded the prestigious IAVM (International Association of Venue Managers) Venue Excellence Award recognizing the Top Arena in the World.

Bolton earned “Venue Executive of the Year” recognition from the International Entertainment Buyers Association (IEBA) in 2011 and from Pollstar in 2012, as well the “Venue Excellence Award” from IAVM in 2011. He is also a three-time winner of Venues Today Hall of Headlines Award (2008, 2013, and 2015).

Bolton recently served as Chair of the Board of Directors (2013-14) for the IAVM. Bolton also serves on the Executive Committee and Board of IEBA as well as on the Board of Directors of the Country Music Association (CMA) located in Nashville.

In the past 24 months, OVG has announced the redevelopment and operations of the New Arena at Seattle Center as well as leading arena development projects in Belmont, NY, Austin, TX, and Milan, Italy. OVG is the largest developer of new arenas in the history of the industry.

Larry Solters, Sam Threadgill, and Erik Stein are with Scoop Marketing.

By R.V. Baugus

With your permission, please allow me if only for a minute to play the seasonal role of the Grinch with regards to the following:

According to a study by Bizzabo, the world’s leading event success platform, almost two-thirds of all event speakers are male.

Bah, humbug!

In its global analysis annual release on Gender Diversity & Inclusion in Events Report that analyzed the gender diversity of more than 60,000 event speakers over a seven-year period from 2013-2019, and spanned 58 countries across five continents, 45 industries and thousands of the world’s largest professional events, the final report is enough to make Cindy Lou Who look up with those doleful eyes and ask, “why?” And who could blame the little princess from Whoville? Not us, not in what is approaching 2020.

In its release Bizzabo CEO and co-founder Eran Ben-Shushan said: “Forward thinking business leaders, and marketers intuitively know that gender balance is important to the overall success of an event. We’re releasing this data to help more leaders and organizations realize that the gender gap is still large, and unfortunately, closing all too slowly.”

According to Bizzabo’s global analysis, on average more than two-thirds (66%) of all speakers between 2013 and 2019 were male, while just one-third (33%) were female. This is a three percent jump from last year’s analysis, which showed 69 percent of speakers to be male, and only 31 percent to be female.

Call it a jump if you must, but it still produces numbers that are far from flattering when a talent pool of speakers is more diverse and expert than ever.

“This year’s analysis has shown progress, when compared to last year’s study but, unfortunately, not enough,” added Alon Alroy, Co-Founder of Bizzabo. “The narrow three percent bump, even with taking into account the smaller dataset used last year, shows that we still have a long way to go before there is greater gender balance within events.”

This comes at a time when IAVM takes serious the notion of being “intentional” as it seeks speakers for its events. It is the same intentionality that our member venues are demonstrating in the hiring and promotion process. It is long, long, overdue, and a process that will not change overnight, nor really should it just for the sake of change.

But the time to move beyond talking about it to doing something about starts now, so going forward within our corner of the industry results can be demonstrated.

The analysis showed that when comparing the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, the U.S. and Canada tied for most diverse, with 64 percent male versus 36 percent female, respectively. In the U.K, 69 percent of all speakers were male, while 31 percent were female, making it the least diverse of the three.

Of the 55 other countries studied, 19 came in last with almost zero percent of speakers being female. Those 19 countries included: Turkey, Czech Republic, South Korea, Philippines, Cote D’Ivoire, Macau, Norway, Malta, Qatar, Indonesia, Poland, Bahamas, Austria, Malaysia, Finland, Uruguay, Peru and Slovakia.

The deep dive also found that the country with the highest number of female speakers was Kenya, at 40 percent versus 60 percent. Right behind Kenya was Mexico (38 percent female), followed by both the U.S. and Canada, which tied for third place at 36 percent female.

The year 2020 is around the corner, and so are some fantastic opportunities. This is one that should not only be embraced, but executed to demonstrate it is more than just us guys capable of being speakers and presenters.

And with that we now carve the roast beast …

By Elisa “Putt” Putman

The Music City Center had the privilege of hosting Mark Herrera, Director of Education for the International Association of Venue Managers on Dec. 11 to discuss situational awareness and crisis management to its entire team as well local law enforcement and other venue teams from across the state.

The training focused on risk mitigation which included enhancing your physical security measures in which the Music City Center has done with the addition of perimeter K12 bollards, increasing awareness, and mitigating risks through guest service interjection. Herrera stressed the importance of looking beyond the traditional security measures and identifying any suspicious behavioral patterns that are not conducive to the environment.

“This training is just another example of our constant commitment to enhance our safety and security measures at the Music City Center for our guests, our team members, and the hundreds of vendors that attend events and work in the facility each and every day,” said Charles Starks, President/CEO of Music City Center. “Mark Herrera provided a remarkable presentation, engaging with all attendees while offering invaluable tools to mitigate risk.”

Attendees left the session much better prepared to recognize behavior out of the ordinary and how to most effectively and quickly handle situations that may arise to help ensure the safety of all our guests and team members.

Elisa “Putt” Putman is Senior Vice President/Chief Operating Officer of the Music City Center in Nashville, Tennessee.

By Terry Charles

PMI Entertainment Group Chief Operating Officer Brendan Bruss announced the following promotions:

Paula Kirchman has been promoted to Senior VP of Administration and Organizational Resources. Kirchman oversees finance, information technology, human resources, and PMI’s Lambeau Field operations.

Kathie Mickle has been promoted to Senior VP of Marketing and Strategic Communications. Mickle oversees marketing, ticketing, and strategic communications.

Brad Foytik has been promoted to Senior VP of Revenue and Operations. Foytik oversees food and beverage services, facilities, conversion, housekeeping operations, and security.

Through its mission, PMI Entertainment Group generates economic impact and enhances the entertainment offerings in Northeastern Wisconsin. PMI Entertainment Group manages the Meyer Theatre, Resch Center, and owns the Green Bay Gamblers hockey team. PMI Entertainment Group also produces several shows and events including Nicolet Bank Tall Ships, The Wedding Show, WBAY Home & Garden Show, Boat Show, RV & Camping Expo and Pet Expo. PMI Entertainment Group will also manage the new $91M Brown County Expo Center upon completion in January of 2021.

Terry Charles is senior corporate communications manager for PMI Entertainment Group.

By Ian Cox

Kentucky Venues announced Carrie Bauer was hired as the organization’s General Counsel.

Bauer brings years of experience to the role. In her most recent position, she spent more than five years as the Associate General Counsel for Farm Credit Mid-America. There she worked with various business partners, from agricultural lending to facilities and real estate management to government relations, advising the organization on a broad range of business and legal matters.

Since graduating from the University of Kentucky School of Law, Carrie has worked in the Louisville community as an associate attorney then as a partner at Adams Law Group before joining Farm Credit Mid-America.

With her experience as a lawyer and business partner, Bauer will be able to guide Kentucky Venues in building collaborative relationships, improving processes and enhancing the customer experience. During her tenure at Farm Credit Mid-America, Bauer developed a passion for agriculture that will serve her at Kentucky Venues.

“With our many clients, exhibitors and guests, it’s important to have someone with the knowledge and experience that Carrie brings to our organization. We’re excited to have her on board,” said David S. Beck, President and CEO of Kentucky Venues.

With two different facilities, the Kentucky International Convention Center and Kentucky Exposition Center, Kentucky Venues hosts more than 280 events, all leasing space, each year. Those shows generate $360 million in estimated economic impact for Louisville and the surrounding area.

“I am excited to join the Kentucky Venues team to serve Kentucky and the local Louisville community. I’ve loved working as part of a team and look forward to working with everyone,” Bauer said.

Ian Cox is assistant director Of communications at Kentucky Venues.