The Orlando Magic announced today that the organization will implement the VenueNext technology platform into the Amway Center, starting with the 2015-2016 seasons. Guests will experience a new version of the Magic’s mobile app with services that include mobile tickets, wayfinding, and the ability to order food and drinks from their seats.

“In continuing the Orlando Magic’s commitment to our fans and their experiences at Amway Center, we are thrilled to partner with VenueNext,” said Magic CEO Alex Martins in a statement. “VenueNext’s revolutionary innovation will give our fans the ability to be mobile-enabled for Magic games in the Amway Center. In essence, we are turning our patrons’ mobile devices into remote controls for the live experience. We are proud to be the first team in the NBA to launch this application in the fall, as we continue to make our patrons’ experience legendary.”

The Magic became the first NBA team to offer Apple Pay in December 2014. The organization also installed iBeacons throughout the venue, and was the first NBA team to sign a deal with FanDuel.com.

“The Orlando Magic is one of the most innovative, forward-thinking and fan-focused in the NBA,” said VenueNext CEO and Founder John Paul in a statement. “We’re excited to collaborate with this team, not only to improve the fan experience, but also to bring new insights to the Magic about the fans attending the technology-enhanced Amway Center.”

(Image: VenueNext)

These are selected news articles that showed up in our inboxes on Monday morning that we want to pass along to you.

Minnesota Vikings to Install Lactation Suites in TCF, U.S. Bank Stadiums (Minneapolis Sun Times)
“The Vikings say they are the first NFL franchise to offer lactation suites in a stadium to fans.”

Donald L. Tucker Civic Center Sound Set for Upgrade (Tallahassee Democrat)
“With 62 new arena sound system speakers being installed along with a state of the art sound board, the improvements come as a birthday present for the Civic Center building, which celebrated its 34th year in operation on Sept. 14.”

John Carmack Wants to Make Virtual Reality eSports Stadiums (PC Gamer)
“Carmack described a virtual crowd in the thousands that attendees can move through to find groups they want to hang out and cheer with.”

New Caterer to Take Over at Kentucky Exposition Center This Week (Louisville Business First)
“Chicago-based Levy Restaurants has been named the exclusive food and beverage caterer of KEC by the Kentucky State Fair Board after a request for proposals was pursued by the Kentucky Finance and Administration Cabinet.”

Venue Q&A: Jacksonville Jaguars’ Larry Rosen (Sports Video Group)
“In his current role since 2014, he leads the Jags Cinema video-production team, which is responsible for creating a dynamic in-game production for EverBank Field’s new 8K video displays.”

With so much great industry news out there, we’re sure we may have missed some articles. If so, please email and share them with us. Thank you.

(Image: Minnesota Vikings)

Every year, committees get new charges and new personnel to help accomplish those goals. This year, however, there is one more committee than there was before. The Young Professional Taskforce is no more! We’ve grown up (not too much), and made the transition to a full-fledged, card-carrying, secret-handshake-having committee. That’s right, folks. You’re stuck with us for good!

As I begin my second cycle as chair of the Young Professionals (YP), I want to take a little more time to curate and share with you the voices of the YP and student membership. The dedication, determination, and vision of all those I met in my building back in August at VenueConnect was so inspiring that I thought it would be a disservice not to share with all of you. I thought there would be no better way to start than by introducing to you the new members of the committee this year and let them tell you why they want to help the YP cause and what IAVM has means to them:

Julie Gomez, 22, N.J. YMCA sports coordinator – “Being a part of the Young Professionals Committee allows me the incredible opportunity to be surrounded by and learn from the future leaders of our industry as we follow the incredible footsteps of those who have accomplished so much before us. IAVM has so many resources for any stage of your career, and I am excited to take advantage of everything this organization has to offer as I continue to grow as a professional in the sports and entertainment industry.

“The 2015 VenueConnect Conference in Baltimore gave me my first real taste of what IAVM has to offer. Whether it be increasing your knowledge on numerous topics to expanding your network or giving you a boost on your job hunt, I was held speechless by all these resources and the opportunities to meet the leaders of our industry who are so eager to send the elevator back down to us. As a member of IAVM, I want to be molded into one of our industry’s top influencers and be an individual that young professionals will want to come to and ask for advice on how they can cultivate their paths. It is not about getting your foot in the door, it is about kicking those doors off their hinges, and that is exactly what I intend to do.”

Kelly Ortiz, 31, assistant general manager of F&B, BOK Center – “Becoming involved in the YP committee was an easy choice for me. As a young professional myself, I did not realize all of the benefits that IAVM had to offer until just a few years ago. IAVM has given me a valuable networking group that has provided me with insight to improve my business methods and create revenue opportunities that otherwise may not exist. I would like to help other young professionals new to our business and show them just how impactful IAVM can be.”

Zach Sloman, 24, booking and sales coordinator, John Paul Jones Arena – “I graduated from the University of Central Florida in 2013 with a degree in event management. During that time, I had the pleasure of interning for Orlando Venues (Amway Center, Florida Citrus Bowl) where I really got my first taste of the industry working in the operations and marketing departments. After graduating, I accepted a full-time position with FELD Entertainment in the routing and tours department until moving to Charlottesville to become the booking and sales coordinator for SMG and John Paul Jones Arena. I chose to be a part of the IAVM Young Professionals Committee because I believe it to be a great first step in getting my feet wet within the IAVM community as well as hopefully making lasting relationships with current Young Professionals who will grow alongside me within the industry. I also believe the Young Professionals group is underutilized and hope to change that in the upcoming year. Helping IAVM is important to me, because the organization and its members have afforded me great opportunities early in my career, which have put me on a successful path. The mentor connector program has also been a favorite of mine, of which I hope to be on the opposite side of in future years.”

These three come from varying backgrounds, and I came across them in different ways. With Julie, I met her when she reached out to the YP committee prior to VenueConnect after our series of blog posts wanting to know how to get the most out of her membership. I haven’t seen a person work a room like her in my life, and I’m so fortunate to have that kind of enthusiasm on the team.

Kelly Ortiz and I share a special bond as we were the only two Millennials in this past May’s Senior Executive Symposium at Cornell. The conversations that we had with our colleagues about how to manage and incorporate the younger workforce into our industry are the kind of conversations that we hope to promote with the association-at-large at other conferences, chapter meetings, on college campuses, and on social media.

Zach… well…. I just lucked into him. Thanks to the call-for-volunteers each year, Zach made the decision to get involved in an association that he hopes to grow along with. There are many others like him throughout the other committees, and we thank you all for your commitment to serve. You won’t regret it!

The above mentioned three join a committed group of 11 others that have a passion for helping push the dialogue between the generations. If you run into any of the committee members, let us know your thoughts, how we can best serve, and in return, we’ll make sure we put all those “my mom makes my lunch at 25” and “I demand a $70k job out of college,” Millennial myths to bed for good.

The Arena Management Conference (AMC) just wrapped up, and among sessions covering branding lessons from U2 and AC/DC, evacuating 50 guests in wheelchairs, the art of building (and negotiating) a new venue, and handling local civil unrest, attendees also looked at upcoming shifts in POS technology and fraud liability.

Regarding credit card transactions, a major “liability shift” beginning next month is the notable change that venue managers need to understand.

Brandi Kler, senior vice president of product management for Allure Global Solutions, presented to AMC attendees an overview of the upcoming change, which begins in October 2015 and shifts liability for fraudulent credit card charges away from the banks and onto any vendor that swipes a chip card instead of dipping it into a chip reader.

The change, driven by security needs and $8.5 billion of annual credit card fraud in the U.S., requires a close look at current POS systems and potential financial risk, but it also signals (and will likely accelerate) the approaching era of mainstream, mobile payment technology.

The EMV chip cards are slow, require several steps, and as Kler pointed out in her AMC session, introduce a clunky consumer experience that has consumers already asking, “Why can’t I just use my phone?”

And this question is about to be asked by a lot of people.

(Slide: Brandi Kler, Allure Global, 2015 Arena Management Conference)

Not only is the younger population growing, it is growing with mobile technology firmly in-hand. Generation Z (<19 years old, 25.9  percent of the population) has had technology in their hands since birth, and by the end of this year, 33 percent of Millenials (20-37 years old, 24.5 percent of the population) will have an active mobile wallet (increasing the number of mobile payment consumers from 5 percent currently to 18 percent in the coming year).

That means that it will not be long before the majority of your guests will be expecting a mobile payment experience.

As Brian France, CEO of Nascar, states, “Everybody’s ability to manage and figure out the Millennial fan and how that continues to unfold this year and over the long term is the most important issue in sports business.”

For more information on EMV, here is a quick summary.

For more information on mobile payment, learn from the current leader who saw 16 percent of their transactions happen on a mobile phone last year.

Eventbrite U.K. surveyed 1,000 people about their ticket purchasing habits (e.g., last event attended, cost, how far in advance, etc.), and the company came away with some very insightful information.

There are a lot of results, so I’m going to hit some of the highlights. The full results are available on the company’s website.

According to the survey, 45 percent of guests attending a free event will get their tickets on the day of the event. For paid events, 18 percent of people will do this.

“This means if you’re running a paid event, you shouldn’t expect more than 20 percent of your total revenue to come in on the day of the event, including at the door,” wrote Mark Walker, head of content marketing for Eventbrite U.K. “Therefore by the day of your event, you should be at least 80 percent to revenue target.”

Walker wrote that early marketing pushes and long lead times are essential to an event’s success, because inexpensive events follow a pattern closer to free events concerning advance ticket purchases.

“The more expensive your event, the earlier you need it to be live (giving you longer lead times) and the more you need to get that early revenue booked in,” Walker wrote. “For free and cheaper events, while you don’t have to panic should ticket sales be slow until much closer to the event, if you can’t afford that risk, you need to offer compelling incentives to book early. Overall, events need to really focus on incentivising people to register early.”

As I mentioned, there is a lot of information in the report. Let’s bullet point a few takeaways.

• “Men tend to book tickets more last minute while females purchase them much further in advance.”
• “Apart from the very young (16-24 year olds), the older your target audience the earlier they will register for your event.”
• “Those with children are more likely to buy last-minute tickets than those without.”
• “There was trend towards those that are single booking their tickets closer to the time of the event, with 36 percent purchasing them between 1 week and a month before the event (versus 27 percent of those in relationships).”
• “Music festivals and gigs had by far the smallest percentage of people registering last minute. Just 7 percent got a ticket on the door, the same day, or the day before.”

“Know your audience; create a marketing timeline that reflects their purchasing behavior; and find ways to incentive earlier bookings,” Walker wrote. “Do these things and the data suggests you’ll find yourself the proud organizer of a very successful, sold-out event.”

Please visit Eventbrite for the full results and more takeaways.

(Image: Agustín Sánchez Bustos/Creative Commons)