One of the live entertainment industry’s biggest professional events, the 39th Annual Event & Arena Marketing Conference, was held recently in Las Vegas, and the SMG staff at Van Andel Arena® in Grand Rapids, Michigan, did not come home empty handed as their “Thank You Cards for the Troops” campaign was named the Publicity Campaign of the Year.

Venue marketers, promoters and publicists from across North America submitted entries in four different categories prior to the conference to be judged by industry experts in hopes of being recognized at the EAMC Awards held at the conference. This is the first time that SMG Grand Rapids has been honored with an EAMC Award and the second time being named as a finalist.

In November of last year, Van Andel Arena asked fans to drop off “thank you” cards at each of their events throughout the month for a chance to win two tickets to Trans-Siberian Orchestra in December. Using email marketing, social media, and mobile app push notifications as well as on-air messaging on 94.5 NASH FM to generate awareness of the campaign, the arena was able to collect over 450 cards from fans to send to the troops. They also collected cards from visitors of the Grand Rapids Children’s Museum and Grand Rapids Civic Theatre. Additionally, they collected cards from local elementary schools, some of which used the opportunity to teach students about the military.

The campaign was inspired by NASH FM’s nationally syndicated Ty, Kelly & Chuck Mornings, which responded with a hand-written “thank you” card. The show also kicked off the arena’s on-sale for Sugarland on August 10 by producing a city-specific video and running a ticket giveaway on air.

SMG employees named in the award submission were Director of Marketing Hilarie Szarowicz, Marketing Manager Alison Goodyke, Promotions and Special Events Manager Rebecca Chesnut, and Digital Marketing Coordinator Mike Klompstra. Szarowicz and Goodyke were in Las Vegas to accept the award.

“We’re so honored in Grand Rapids to be recognized with this industry-wide award. It is an excellent representation of the hard work Hilarie and her team, as well as the rest of the SMG staff in Grand Rapids, put in day in and day out,” said SMG Regional General Manager at Van Andel Arena Richard MacKeigan. “This is not just a reflection of our marketing department and staff here; it is a reflection of the support from the Grand Rapids-Kent County Convention/Arena Authority, SMG corporate, and the West Michigan community that spent the time and effort making the cards, as well as the enthusiasm from NASH’s Ty, Kelly and Chuck. This is not just our achievement, it is their achievement as well. Congratulations to everyone!”

The CenturyLink Center in Omaha is undergoing a naming rights change to CHI Health Center Omaha that becomes effective on September 1. The deal is a 20-year agreement worth $23.6 million and was unanimously approved by the Metropolitan Entertainment and Convention Authority.

CHI Health is part of Catholic Health Initiatives, a national nonprofit health system based in the Denver area. CHI Health has its home headquarters in Omaha and operates the Creighton University Medical Center-Bergan mercy and other hospitals in the area.

The current agreement was initiated as a 15-year, $14.05 million contract that expires in August.

As with most naming rights deals, CHI Health will enjoy additional perks including the use of a corporate suite and four club level seats to all events at the venue, as well as the convention center for company events twice a year.

The name change marks the third for the downtown arena and convention center. The facility opened in 2003 as Qwest Center until 2011 when CenturyLink acquired Qwest.

Venue Coalition announced that it has promoted Jordan Racine and has expanded its booking team with the addition of Teresa Guy.

Jordan Racine has been promoted to booking/operations manager for the venue consulting organization. In his expanded role at Venue Coalition, Racine will focus on business development and new booking opportunities, while continuing to service new and existing Venue Coalition arena clients.

Racine graduated from Lyndon State College in Vermont, where he was actively involved with events on campus and developed experience with talent booking and festival production. In 2014 and again in 2015, while attending college, he interned for James Taylor handling a wide variety of day-to-day responsibilities. He joined Venue Coalition in 2016 and is now actively booking events for Venue Coalition arena members.

“We are so proud to have Jordan on our team. In the time he’s been with us, he has grown tremendously and continues to take on larger projects and greater responsibilities,” said Andrew Prince, executive vice president/managing partner.

“I am beyond happy to be growing as a part of the booking team here at Venue Coalition,” Racine said. “Each day, I come to work motivated and excited about booking shows for our venue members, and I look forward to serving our clients more in this new role.”

Venue Coalition continues to expand its booking team and announced that Teresa Guy has joined the organization as booking manager.

“We’re really pleased to have Teresa join our growing booking team. Her background and experience both with a major concert promoter and also as an agent will be a tremendous asset to our organization and we are confident that her contribution will help us to continue to grow and to offer exceptional service to our venue partners,” said Jeff Apregan, president and founder.

“I’m excited to join the exemplary team at Venue Coalition,” Guy said. “Having worked on the agency and promoter side, it’s great to expand my knowledge base as a venue advocate, working on large-scale events across North America.”

Guy joins Venue Coalition with more than a decade of live music experience across booking agencies, promoter companies, and radio stations. She acted most recently as a booking agent at major booking agencies including APA and The Agency Group. She previously worked in the booking office at Nederlander Concerts and cut her teeth as on-air talent at a CBS Radio affiliate in San Diego.

The Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC) announced the appointment of Carolyn Johnson as director of marketing and communications.

Johnson worked most recently at Hostplus, where she led the marketing efforts. Prior to joining Hostplus, she held a number of senior marketing positions with premium brands including Pacific Brands and Crown Resorts.

Johnson has extensive experience in key areas including customer experience design, development and implementation of business and digital transformation, and communications. She has also worked closely with sales, operations, and technology departments.

MCEC Chief Executive Peter King said he was delighted to have Johnson join the MCEC team in the newly created position. “I have no doubt that Carolyn’s background and wealth of experience will serve our venue well,” he said. “This is an exciting time for MCEC and I’m looking forward to Carolyn joining us in July.”

“It’s great to be a part of such a dynamic and progressive team, particularly at such an inspiring time in MCEC’s journey,” Johnson said.

She will begin her role on July 9.

Taylor Harrison Speegle, director of corporate relations for Walton Arts Center/Walmart AMP, has been named a member of the 2018 Arkansas Business 40 Under 40 class. Each year, Arkansas Business honors 40 intriguing business and political leaders who are under 40 years old.

Speegle graduated from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville with a degree in theater then completed graduate school at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh with focus on production design and management.

Speegle worked for Walton Arts Center from 2008-2010 before leaving for graduate school. He returned to the area and rejoined Walton Arts Center’s team as director of development for the Walmart AMP.

“I’m the business guy behind what’s going on in live entertainment,” Speegle said. “It fits me really, really well. I love talking about production with the team at Walton Arts Center. I also really love the idea of crunching numbers, making sure we’re staying on budget.”

In his current role, Speegle is responsible for all corporate fundraising for both venues including Masquerade Ball and Art of Wine at Walton Arts Center and AMP Fest, the region’s beer, food and tech festival, at the Walmart AMP.

“I have always been a mission-driven kind of guy,” he said. “As a nonprofit, we’re raising money to expose children in northwest Arkansas to the performing arts and art in general. That was afforded to me as a child, and I want to make sure that happens for everybody.”