To celebrate VenuesNow’s 20th anniversary, we invited industry leaders, colleagues and supporters to reminiscence.
Maureen Andersen, CEO, INTIX
INTIX, on behalf of the ticketing professional community, sends our sincere congratulations and gratitude to VenuesNow. In a time where in depth stories, coverage, interviews and showcases have been overshadowed by “news” in 140 to 280 characters it is a testament to the leadership of founder Linda Deckard and on through today and Oak View Group. This magazine has hallmarked the standard for inclusivity but also set the tone that successful venues are the result of the teamwork and the totality of venue operations and that all of the pieces work together to make live events. Linda in her commitment to ‘people first’ had created and instituted wonderful spotlights of various facets of venue operations and ticketing was included in that. Early in the VenuesNow trajectory. Linda approached INTIX with a partnership to showcase live entertainment ticketing with stories, interviews and live entertainment content with the INTIX Quarterly. We are thrilled that this partnership continues to thrive to this day with timely and important content on trends, technology and people! Linda and VenuesNow didn’t stop there, and they came back to us with the annual Ticketing Star awards which is the invaluable heralding of the pros that make ticketing work in venues around the world.
On a personal note, I would be remiss not to mention my gratitude for the creation of the Women of Influence annual awards (now Women of Live). Thank you to the glass breaking creation in 2007 to this program. I will be forever honored to have been a part of the class of 2019!
One of the best features of the magazine, in the earlier days, was the back page people showcase with four venue pros and surprising personal tidbits of their industry journey. It was a great way to get to know the people in a quick fun way. Then the magazine took those and made them into laminated bookmarks that they gave to you if you were lucky enough to be featured. I cherish mine!
VenuesNow has been a balanced partner that includes all the verticals under its tent and that is a rare thing to balance between sports, performing arts, festivals, music and tech. Then throw in a commitment to regionality of coverage and you get balance and impact. Thank you VenuesNow for your commitment to all of us and for your deep impact on the industry. We are grateful to the magazine in all its forms for continuing to support all of the people and business units that are integral to live events.
Steve Kirsner, Vice President Booking & Events, SAP Center
Congratulations to the team at VenuesNow on the 20th Anniversary of the publication. I have been reading the magazine for the past 20 years and find the articles as well as the advertising to be of value to me in my position as VP of Booking & Events at SAP Center. Looking forward to the next 20 years!!
Tammy Koolbeck, CVS Executive Director Stephens Auditorium
This publication became critical to the live entertainment and venue management industry when Amusement Business decided to step away from reporting on venues. By founding VenuesToday, Linda Deckard carried on and improved coverage of venues by telling the stories of our people and their work. VenuesToday pioneered several industry awards that honored outstanding contributions in our industry and VenuesNow has expanded these awards. VenuesNow continues to share important industry stories in a variety of digital and print formats helping to keep venue managers informed and up to date. For me, reading these stories over the years has given me insight from industry leaders and ideas from other venues.
Michael Marion, General Manager Simmons Bank Arena
Linda was the consummate venue person. She knew the concert business was a four-legged stool; Agents, Managers, Promoters and Venues supported the touring artists. Providing a magazine for venue professionals, but interesting to all in the business was her success. Ray has carried on that tradition with Venues Now. It is a great resource for building folks and gives good details on what goes on behind the curtain at all types of venues. Here’s to another 20 years.
Brad Mayne, CVE, IAVM President/CEO
Congratulations to VenuesNow on 20 years of outstanding coverage of the public assembly venue management industry. You have seen the industry go through numerous changes in these last two decades and have reported with the utmost professionalism to keep your readers ahead of the many curves that have been thrown our way. IAVM congratulates you on this milestone and looks forward to your many communication platforms keeping the industry educated and informed through your outstanding coverage.
Bill Powell, Former Feld Entertainment VP Marketing and Sales/Current Chair and CO Circus Ring of Fame Foundation
Any historical reminiscences about VenuesToday/Now cannot happen without mentioning its founder, Linda Deckerd. Linda was the driving force in getting the publication off the ground and established. I recall meeting with Linda 20 years ago at an IAVM function and her pitching me on subscribing to her yet to be published magazine. I signed up and gave her my money and she said, “Bill you are my first subscriber.” Looking back I bet she said that to many in those formative years. She was an excellent salesperson as well as a gifted writer.
I watched the magazine grow and become the voice of the industry. It seems like VenuesToday was always on the forefront of news about our industry. More importantly Linda’s team was a group of top-notch professionals with a passion for venues and the live event industry. They were always fair and respectful while getting the story right. The results of their coverage was to bring a sense of community to the profession. Praise to Linda and her team and to VenuesNow for keeping the flame alive!
Ike Richman – Richman Communications
It’s hard to believe VenuesNow is celebrating its 20th anniversary. It feels like yesterday when Linda Deckard first shared her vision for the publication long before its debut. VenuesNow provides the in-depth coverage of what it takes to build an arena, stadium, theater or convention center; interviews the key personnel behind the decisions; and takes readers on an all-access tour of a venue. I look forward to the weekly Pulse and monthly digital and print editions to read from cover to cover the insight from the industry’s best writers on trends, happenings, personnel, charts and news of the live event industry. I also enjoy the details in the city profiles that highlight the history of live events in that region with inside knowledge from those on the ground who built that legacy in their hometowns. Congratulations to Ray Waddell, Don Muret, Ryan Borba and the rest of the team. A special acknowledgment to Linda Deckard for her contributions in getting VenuesNow off the ground and helping it become a must-read in our business today.
Craig Ricks, Chief Marketing Officer, Paciolan
Congratulations to VenuesNow on their 20-year anniversary! One of the staples at Paciolan is our annual PACnet community conference. VenuesNow (Formerly VenuesToday) has been covering our conference for the last 15+ years. I remember going to lunch with Rich DiGiacomo and coming up with the plan to have a conference “in-depth” feature many years ago. And we continue the tradition to this day. We look forward to celebrating another 20 years!
Russ Simons
VenuesNow and its forbearer VenuesToday have been a critically important component of the public assembly facility management industry. Without this publication, critical information, that we all need in order to be aware of what is going on in our industry, would be absent. VenuesNow not only lets us know what the major issues are and how they are being addressed in real time, but also provides a forum to identify and recognize industry leaders in facilities of all shapes and sizes. There has never been a time in our industries history that the information provided by VenuesNow has been more important.
