While spending part of his career as director of business development for Nationwide Medical/Surgical, Peter Secord had an up-close look at the world of group purchasing, a process that can be described as buying facility essentials in bulk at discounted prices.

“I basically recognized that in the world of professional sports and within venues that these events take place that there was not a group purchasing program,” said Secord, who took a leap by starting his own company, RedZone Group Purchasing, in January 2012. “Now, I have a third of the NFL signed up. I started focusing on stadiums, arenas, performing arts centers, and convention centers. Because IAVM has such a presence in that world, I came to Dallas a couple of months ago and sat down to discuss how this could benefit even IAVM. We talked about how my company could fit in to the IAVM community.

“I spent most of my career in sales, and although I don’t have anything I’m selling, I’m selling a free program.”

It is a program that continues expanding as more venues become members of RedZone Group and take advantage of cost savings from 25 percent to 60 percent in purchasing buys. In short, the program reduces expenditures for great financial performance at no cost.

RedZone Group Purchasing offers directors and managers of arenas, stadiums and convention centers access to a nationwide group purchasing program. The purchasing program brings buying power to all members though procurement agreements focused on sports medicine, food and beverage, facility maintenance, office supplies and equipment rentals.

Brian Liivak, director of operations at the SMG-managed Tucson Convention Center, said that he was able to identify multiple projects that could be completed in a more cost-effective manner through RedZone.

“One was an AED purchase for the Dominion Arts Theater,” he said. “If we used our current provider it would have cost over $8,500 to purchase four new AEDs, but by leveraging the purchasing power of the GPO we were able to get a reduced price directly from the equipment provider, Phillips. We had a cost savings of over $4,000. Another project we looked at was the LED bulb replacement of all the marquee lights at the same building. Unfortunately, this project was completed prior to us establishing the relationship with RedZone but had we used their pricing advantage we would have saved over $3,000 on this project.”

Secord likes to point out other examples, including the purchase of Herman Miller Chairs for executives at the Spectrum Center, home to the NBA Charlotte Hornets.

“They called and said they wanted to buy some chairs for their executives,” Secord said. “I told them that we had a contract with Herman Miller Chairs and to just let me know what kind of chair they wanted to buy. They gave me a description and name and we put them in touch with a local furniture dealer in Charlotte. They bought the chairs and saved 58 percent.”

Secord said that purchasing often gets overlooked at public assembly venues.

“The fact is that purchasing is a really big deal,” he said. “There is an assumption that you do your best, negotiate with your vendors as best you can. You do that and there’s no reason to mention purchasing. I say timeout here! Purchasing is a big deal. It is something that can be improved upon. When we can save the SAP Center arena in San Jose 28 percent and they are using the same user name, password and vendor, to me that screams opportunity. The folks in Charlotte saved 58 percent on Herman Miller Chairs, and they don’t pay anything to be a member.

“I have been in sales so I don’t ever like to use the term no-brainer or if it sounds too good to be true it usually is. That is true. RedZone gets paid by the manufacturers, who pay a fee to the group purchasing organization.”

Secord noted that some of the name companies that are part of RedZone include Cintas, Grainger, Best Buy, Orkin, Tennant, SupplyWorks, Office Depot, Staples, US Foods, Johnson Controls, SimplexGrinnell, Sears, Tyco, and more. In other words, businesses that provide products that those in the public assembly venue world use.

Liivak cited an example with Grainger that was obviously received favorably by his bosses in Tucson.

“We were able to get discounts with Grainger and initiate a relationship with our local rep,” he said. “After working in Richmond for over two years, we had never met our Grainger rep, but as soon as I associated our local account with the RedZone account he set up a meeting with us to discuss our options moving forward.

“The rep gave us an across-the-board discount, additional categorized discounts for items we frequently purchased as well as informed us of all the safety and service audits they could provide or coordinate for us as a valued customer. It was an amazing turnaround for a company that we only used in worst-case scenarios due to their high pricing.”

By John Platillero

Our first week on the Road to VenueConnect was hilariously described by my colleagues as “The Griswolds Meet The Office” road trip. I must admit, covering 6,000-plus miles in three weeks and visiting as many venues as possible on our way to the IAVM VenueConnect conference is a bit crazy. We’re meeting with venue professionals in multiple cities to ask, “How can venue technology evolve to make your job easier?” Then we listen.

When I started EventBooking in 1997, no one had heard of “web-based software” or “software as a service.” Google calendar didn’t exist and a few lucky venue employees had an AOL dial-up account. A lot has changed since then and expectations are high for venue tech companies to be in touch with the needs of the industry, if not ahead of the game. Fortunately, speaking with event professionals face-to-face is a great way to do just that.

Our first workshop was just down the road from our office, graciously hosted by the Knoxville Convention Center. From there, we’ve made our way to Chicago, Davenport, Des Moines, Lincoln, and Topeka. The venues represented in each discussion always vary in size and type, but face similar challenges and seem to enjoy learning a few tips from each other.

One of the interesting unknowns in all of this is whether or not we will actually make it to Nashville. You see, I borrowed a 10-year-old RV that has seen better days. In our first week, we have already pulled some incredible MacGyver moves—complete with three small nails, duct tape, and some prayerful pleas. There was also span of time which convinced us that the AC and electricity was indefinitely broken, but thanks to a mysterious, unlabeled button we pressed as a last-ditch effort, we are back in business.

If we make it, we will be excited to present our findings at this year’s VenueConnect annual conference. Hope to see you along the way!

View EventBooking’s Week 1 video experience here.

To join us at one of our stops, click here.

John Platillero is founder & CEO of EventBooking

Venue Coalition announced that it has promoted Andrew Saunders to Director of Booking. In his expanded role, Saunders will focus on business development while continuing to service new and existing Venue Coalition arena clients.

Saunders started his career with Venue Coalition in 2012 after graduating from USC’s Music Industry and Business Entrepreneurship programs. After working at Venue Coalition for two years, he was recruited by Gelfand, Rennert & Feldman, one of the industry’s most prestigious business management firms, to work in their tour accounting office. While at the firm, Saunders worked on a number of projects, including North American and European tours for James Taylor. In 2015, Saunders returned to Venue Coalition as the company’s Booking Manager.

“I’m looking forward to this opportunity to service both new and existing clients and to book and develop incremental content for our arena members” Saunders said.

“Andrew has a thorough understanding of our client’s needs and he has done an outstanding job of servicing our members,” added Jeff Apregan, President. “He has accomplished so much in such a short time. Wwe are excited for this new chapter to begin.”

Venue Coalition is a live entertainment consulting company that provides strategic planning, project management and talent booking services for arenas, theaters and public assembly venues. On behalf of their venue clients, Venue Coalition actively reaches out to key decision makers in the live entertainment and touring industries to influence routing decisions and ultimately increase event days in each of its participating member arenas.

We have all had that moment when an Instagram post or a Snapchat story of our friend makes us feel like we are not quite as cool or included as we should be. FoMO, or the Fear of Missing Out, refers to the feeling of “fear of not being included in something (such as an interesting or enjoyable activity) that others are experiencing.” It was added to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary in 2016. Following this current trend, millennials and people in general prefer to spend money on experiences instead of goods, and this new emphasis on experiences is changing the role of the modern-day arena.

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The Tacoma (WA) City Council has approved an amended agreement with Yareton Investment and Management (Washington) L.L.C., as well as property conveyance for a hotel project for the Greater Tacoma Convention Center. Conducted without public subsidy, the development represents one of the first major foreign direct investments in a commercial project on publicly-owned land in Tacoma. It is also the largest privately funded development downtown in the city’s history.

The project, estimated to cost approximately $150 million, will be completed in two phases.

The first phase, projected to cost at least $85 million, will involve the construction of a 4-star, 300-room hotel with a 10,000 square foot grand ballroom, retail and other function rooms. The hotel operator is Interstate Hotels & Resorts in Alexandria, VA, the leading U.S.-based global hotel management company, operating branded full- and select-service hotels and resorts, convention centers and independent hotels worldwide. The brand is Marriott International in Bethesda, MD, which encompasses a portfolio of more than 6,100 properties in 30 leading hotel brands spanning 124 countries and territories.

The second phase, estimated to cost approximately $65 million, will involve the construction of approximately 200 apartments/condominiums based on market demand, with retail, after the hotel is operational.

The development is projected to boost utilization of the Greater Tacoma Convention Center, and generate substantial revenue through property, sales, B&O, utility and hotel-motel taxes. It is also projected to create approximately 1,000 construction jobs and 200 full-time hotel-related jobs.

The development is scheduled to break ground on August 8, 2017.