Adventures In Venueland

We’re off to the land of Oz as we chat with Christine Pileckas, the Director of Booking & Marketing at INTRUST Bank Arena in Wichita, Kansas. Christine, who recently celebrated her 15 year anniversary with the venue, gives us the lay of the land on the venue’s place in the city, the city’s place in the state, and how she juggles her roles at the arena. Recognized as one of the Top 20 busiest arena...

We’re headed north of the border to Hamilton, Ontario to chat with Nick DeLuco, Senior Vice President & General Manager of TD Coliseum . This is opening week for the venue, which will open after an extensive $300 million renovation by Oak View Group this Friday, November 21, with a kick off concert with Paul McCartney. We chat with Nick about the arena’s place in the Golden Horseshoe market, Oak V...

Just like your favorite venue ghost, we’re back to bring you spine-chilling stories, spooky event info, and harrowing Halloween haunts to make all your nightmares come true! 🦇 For this year’s frightful feature, we learn all about Paramount Theatre in Austin, which in addition to being haunted also presents an annual horror film series – Panic at the Paramount ! 🎬 Our (g)hosts are joined by Javie...

Take a trip to the Queen City as we talk to Tim Murray, Athletic Trainer for the Cincinnati Cyclones , the ECHL pro hockey team that plays at Heritage Bank Center . Tim tells us about the Cyclones, a ECHL minor league hockey team affiliate of the Toronto Maple Leafs (NHL) and Toronto Marlies (AHL), gives us an overview of the roles of an athletic trainer, and what a typical day is for him for home...

On our latest adventure we chat with Ritesh Patel, Co-founder and Co-CEO of Ticket Fairy , an advanced AI-native vertical SaaS platform built specifically for the live entertainment industry. Similar to the show How It’s Made, we talk with Ritesh about what Ticket Fairy is and how it was turned into what it is today, such as: thinking of the concept, coding and developing, testing it on his own gi...

We’re headed to Rock Town for this episode as we chat with Cai Lane, Marketing Specialist for Little Rock Convention & Visitors Bureau . LRCVB, which is a destination marketing organization, also manages venues in the Central Arkansas Region, including Robinson Center , Statehouse Convention Center , First Security Amphitheater , and River Market Pavilions . Cai tells us about the city and about e...

Monster Jam trucks, Disney On Ice skaters, dirt bikes, and even the circus – join us as we dive into all things family shows with Windy Reeves, Senior Director of Event Marketing & Sales for Feld Entertainment , the leading global company of live touring family entertainment. Feld is the powerhouse behind Monster Jam , Supercross , Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus , and Disney On Ice , an...

Rocket off 🚀 to Space City with us as we chat with Alyssa Patani, Arena Marketing Manager at Toyota Center , home of the Houston Rockets . Lyssa gives us the lay of the land – Toyota Center’s place in the market, what her role is at the venue, and what makes Houston such a special place. We chat with her about social strategies, their approach and her recommendations on graphics, and how she bala...

Lace up your sneakers and meet us in the center of the basketball universe as we chat with our friend Jeff Johnson, Associate Director with Pacers Sports & Entertainment and Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana. Jeff, who is celebrating 27 years with the organization, oversees marketing for events as well as traditional advertising for the Indiana Pacers and Indiana Fever . In case you’v...

We’re headed to the Northwest, on the shore of Lake Washington, to chat with Alexa Coyle, Marketing Manager for Seattle Seahawks , Lumen Field , and WAMU Theater + Co-founder of The Female Edge . Alexa oversees event marketing for Lumen Field (concerts, dirt events, WAMU Theater, and conventions), branding and marketing for food and beverage, Seahawks retail marketing, and more. She tells us about...

BONUS EPISODE – We’re excited to launch our latest, ongoing bonus episode series, Breaking In! ✨ This series, consisting of roundtable discussions about breaking into the live event industry, will highlight different perspectives, talk through challenges, and discuss tips for those beginning their careers in venueland. 🆕 For our first episode, we get the perspective of three EVMC conference inte...

We’re headed to “The District” for this episode to talk with Chanelle Grimm, Marketing Director for Monumental Sports & Entertainment ( Capital One Arena , Eagle Bank Arena , and District E ) in Washington D.C. We begin by talking about this year’s EVMC and some of the takeaways from sessions at the conference in Atlanta before diving into an overview of Capital One Arena and Eagle Bank Arena. We...

Live from Atlanta – sit in with us as we talk with J Carter, the visionary Founder & Managing Partner behind ONE Musicfest , as we chat in front of a live audience at the 2025 Event & Venue Marketing Conference . We talk with J about what makes Atlanta special as he tells us about ONE Musicfest, the Southeast’s largest multi-day urban progressive music festival, which has helped shape Atlanta’s ri...

We’re headed out west to the stepping stone to the Central Valley – Escalon, California – to chat with Cassie Gause, Co-founder & Partner at C&K Media Solutions . Cassie tells us all about her company, which offers marketing, sponsorship, and management support for venues, promoters, tours, and artists - from one-off events to entire tours. We learn about her focus, on the marketing side, supporti...

BONUS EPISODE – Peace up ✌️ A-Town down 🅰️ – the 2025 Event & Venue Marketing Conference (EVMC) is just around the corner and we have everything you need to know as you pack and prepare for this year’s SOLD OUT conference in Atlanta, Georgia. Hosts Paul and Dave are joined by a trio of guests which help craft this podcast version of a KBYG: Kim Allen (EVMC President, Director of Arena Marketing at...

We’re back in the city that’s so nice they named it twice, the financial capital of the world – New York City. On this episode we chat with Joyce Leveston, CEO of New York Convention Center Operation Corporation (NYCCOC), which oversees the Javits Center , one of the busiest convention centers in the world. Resting right on the Hudson River, on the west side of Manhattan, Joyce tells us about nume...

Music City welcomes us back as we head to Nashville to chat with Dustin Turner, Music Marketing Executive at Creative Artists Agency (CAA). Dustin walks us through his day to day, and explains how CAA often functions as a bridge between promoters and management teams, working with the artist teams to figure out what the creative is going to look like, and strategizing on ways they can work with ve...

We’re headed to Edmonton for this episode, home of the Oilers, to catch up with Chris Ng-Muk-Yuen, Marketing Manager for Rogers Place and ICE District . Chris tells us about the venue and surrounding district, and its place in the city and approach to engaging with fans. Fresh off the Edmonton Oilers ’ run to the Stanley Cup Finals last season, learn how the team and venue are capitalizing on the...

Let’s talk premium! On this episode of Adventures In Venueland we head back to California and chat with Michele Kajiwara, Senior Vice President, Premium Business & Events at Crypto.com Arena and AEG , and the 2024 WISE Woman of the Year. Michele oversees the sales and service of premium seats, suites, lounges, and hospitality spaces - supporting the various tenant teams ( Los Angeles Lakers , Los...

Put on your shades and pull back that convertible top because we’re headed to Los Angeles for this episode where we chat with Alex Hodges, Chief Executive Officer of Nederlander Concerts . Alex, who is in the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, recipient of the T.J. Martell Foundation’s “Spirit of Excellence” Award, and recipient of the SEVT Lifetime Achievement Award, has decades of experience in all asp...

We’re headed to the Garden State for this episode and talking with Michelle McCarthy, Founder & CEO of MCC Marketing Group . Michelle, who is based in Jersey City in the New York City market, tells us about her experience with launching her business and the excitement and challenges that come along with it. She emphasizes the importance of a strong network and tells us about some of her recent cli...

Right on the edge of the Chesapeake Bay, join us for a visit to wonderful Baltimore as we chat with Aly Katz, Brand Manager for CFG Bank Arena , an Oak View Group facility. Aly talks about her role at the venue, where she oversees three key areas: back of house (artist gifting, crew activities, promoter relations), front of house (fan activations, photo ops), and social media (branding, aesthetic,...

It’s Episode 100 and we’re running it all the way back to Episode 1 by having back on our first return guest – Nina Jackson, Director of Marketing & Public Relations at NRG Park , an ASM Global managed property in Houston, TX. Nina oversees marketing and PR at NRG Park, a 300 acre sports and entertainment complex that hosts over 500 events and over 5.5 million people a year – which includes NRG St...

Put on your party hat, grab some champagne, and meet us in The Big Apple! For this special episode we ring in 2025 by taking a look at the most viewed event worldwide – New Years Eve in Times Square, New York City. We talk with Damian Santucci, SVP of Production & Operations at Times Square Alliance , a non-profit business improvement district (BID) that works in partnership with the city and surr...

Happy New Year Venuelanders! 🎊 As we kick off 2025 and look ahead to our official Episode 100, we decided to get our team together to look back at episodes one through ninety nine (as well as our variety of bonus episodes) and talk about some of our favorite movements. This isn’t your normal clip show though! Join us for some interesting behind the scenes stories and other great memories with our...