KICKOFF: Chris Granger delivers opening remarks at VNC 2024. (OVG photo)

PHOENIX, Arizona — VenuesNow Conference got under way at the Arizona Biltmore on Tuesday morning with palpable excitement among attendees and speakers.

In opening remarks, Chris Granger, president of OVG360, said the excitement seen at VenuesNow Conference mirrors that of the overall venue and events industry, where tech, sustainability and inclusion are pushing the business forward.

“This is a very complicated time for operators,” Granger said from the stage at the Arizona Biltmore on Tuesday morning.

SEE:
Brett Yormark Shakes Up College Sports
Women’s Sports Boom More Than A Moment
Security Experts Help Venues Stay Ahead of Evolving Threats

Granger said opportunities are commensurate with the challenges of developing and maintaining live events facilities.

Among the opportunities are women’s sports at large, and Granger’s remarks were followed by a panel on women’s sports that included true trailblazers.

“This is not a moment, this is a movement,” said University of Tennessee Athletic Director Joan Cronan.

Another morning panel covered trends at convention centers, followed by a keynote Q&A with Gardner and Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark.

“We want to have the first Big 12 music festival,” Yormark said as he discussed the changing landscape in college athletics.

The morning sessions concluded with a panel on sustainability, led by Kristen Fulmer, who heads up OVG’s sustainability program. Oak View Group produces VenuesNow Conference and is parent company to VenuesNow and Pollstar.

“Revenue generation and sustainability are not mutually exclusive,” Fulmer said during the panel.

Sara Tomkins of the new Co-op Live arena in Manchester, UK, said the venue has a walking route that has proved to be popular.

Brianna Treat of Climate Pledge Arena said understanding data such as how people are arriving is key.

“You can’t manage what you don’t track,” she said.

Today’s conference program will be followed by an opening night reception at Footprint Center, home of the NBA Phoenix Suns, where VenuesNow Conference will also recognize the 2024 VenuesNow All-Stars.

BOOKING: HOT NEW CONTENT TRENDS

One Tuesday panel discussion focused on hot booking trends and, while there may be many differences between comedy, Latin music and k-pop genres, one reality was clear: it moves a lot faster than it used to.

“The game is a lot quicker now,” said Live Nation president of comedy Geoff Wills, adding that promoters and agencies are leaning on younger staff members with their ears on the ground to keep up. 

“With comedy you have to be curious, and you have to listen to the younger people,” added UTA partner and head of comedy Nick Nuciforo, agreeing that many comics now are playing large venues early in their careers, maybe skipping the club circuit altogether.  “You have (artists) now bypassing four steps, coming out of nowhere. You have to be nimble, be able to read the data to understand how to maneuver. It’s really about how to take a spark and pour gasoline onto it.”

The regular consumer is now finding niche comics on streaming services and podcasts, leading to real tickets being sold early in careers as opposed to in previous decades where most touring comics had become household names and built standup careers over decades.

“You used to have to go and find comedy,” said Nuciforo, who represents major comics including Sebastian Maniscalco, Nikki Glaser and Matt Rife, who seemingly came out of nowhere to selling out arenas in what felt like days. That has changed thanks to social media and the algorithms associated with streaming platforms like Amazon and Netflix. “It suggests things to you based on your consumption habits. So now, for the first time, comedians are finding me. I see it on my screen. There are comedians i may not have been aware of that are surfacing. It gets my attention.”

One aspect that is similar between comedy, k-pop and Latin music is that the community feels under-served and responds strongly to content that speaks to shared cultural experience. 

Likewise, UBS Arena’s Mark Shulman says it’s important to cater to those audiences on show night, with examples being Spanish-language venue staff being prominent and welcoming guests for shows featuring Latin music, or preparing for the early arrival of K-pop fans at the venue, who may appreciate snacks, blankets and fun activities outside the arena as they eagerly await for the show.

“We need to make sure that they understand that we welcome them and we want them,” said Shulman, senior vice president of programming at the arena in Elmont Park, New York, which has found success with k-pop in particular, hosting artists including Ateez, Enhypen, Mamamoo and Suga.  “At UBS Arena in particular we hold what is basically summer camp. We’re doing music play events, we’re doing trivia on the board outside, sidewalk chalk so they can decorate the venue, and we’ll send the information out prior to the event with all the activities that are going to go on that day. That creates a really endearing environment between them and the venue.”

Another constant between hot new genres is the specialization and differentiation between subgenres, with a wide variance between demographics among the Spanish-language music fan base. Drew Gershenson, vice president of content for Acrisure Arena near Palm Springs, said it was important to move to the area well before the arena’s December 2022 opening to learn what the community wanted.

“What we discovered was how big the Latin population was there and how hungry they were, for arena-size production and not traveling over an hour to see a show,” he said. “So we really caught lightning in bottle with the Latin market.” He said 35% of the arena’s shows have involved Latin content.

The final common thread among the hot topic genres is the potential for growth — worldwide.

“It’s kind of validating in a weird way,” Wills said, joking that being “the comedy guy” at a major tour promoter used to not carry a lot of weight. “These are some pretty big tours, and not just North America, it’s Western Europe, Abu Dhabi, Australia. People notice, and that leads to competition, which is a whole other thing, but it’s become a much bigger entity.”