Summit Agenda

Note: Agenda may be modified, accurate as of 01/26/2023

Best Practices Summit Sports and Entertainment Fan Journey Agenda

Monday, February 27, 2023

1:00 p.m.

Registration

6:00 p.m.

Reception Mercedes Benz Stadium, Mercedes Benz Club

Tuesday, February 28, 2023

8:00 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.

Registration/Breakfast/Opening/Keynote

Registration/Breakfast Opening/Keynote

Moderator: Gary Gardner, IIFX Distinguished Fellow

Keynote Address: Ryan McConnell, Executive Vice President for Sports, Kantar

Fandom In Focus: Understanding the Modern Fan Mindset Attracting, growing, and retaining a loyal fan base is the central mission of sports and entertainment organizations. As competition for the out-of-home entertainment dollar intensifies and lifestyles center around the home, though, a deeper, more sophisticated, and data-driven approach is required to satisfy modern sports fan.

Sharing the latest findings from a comprehensive annual study on fan engagement, the speaker will kick off the Summit by zeroing in on the modern fan’s inclinations, expectations, and motivations. Attendees can expect insights and data that will inspire new ways of serving fans in a post-pandemic marketplace.

9:45 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.

Rotation 1

Topics:

Culture of Excellence
Game Day
Communications
Safety and Security
Technology & Facility Infrastructure
Crowd Dynamics and Management

Groups:

Group #1 – Falcons Family Room
Group #2 – AMG Lounge
Group #3 – Aux Locker Room 1
Group #4 – Aux Locker Room 2
Group #5 – Falcons Childcare Room
Group #6 – Falcons Interview Room

11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Lunch/Panel

Big Data Strategies for the Sports and Entertainment Industry

Panel Description: The panel experts will discuss the following: eSports, sports betting, integration of data from social media, traditional media, and fan engagement with point of sales data, player, and artist information the fans want and decision support systems for operations, safety, security, guest services, and fans.

Moderator: Peter Evans, CEO, Xtract One

Panelist:

Pierce Nunnery, Director, Fan Experience, AMB Sports & Entertainment
Ajay Prakash, Senior Director, Project Program at NTT Data
Joe Abercrombie, Senior Vice President, Live Experience and Production at Atlanta Hawks
Suzi Alvarez, Director of Fan Data, AMB Sports & Entertainment

1:15 p.m. – 2:45 p.m.

Rotation 2

Topics:

Culture of Excellence
Game Day
Communications
Safety and Security
Technology & Facility Infrastructure
Crowd Dynamics and Management

Groups:

Group #6 – Falcons Family Room
Group #1 – AMG Lounge
Group #2 – Aux Locker Room 1
Group #3 – Aux Locker Room 2
Group #4 – Falcons Childcare Room
Group #5 – Falcons Interview Room

2:45 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Panel and Break (exhibit hall)

Risk Mitigation to Secure the fan journey

Panel Description: The Sports & Entertainment industry is comprised of connected venues that form an ecosystem of people, processes, and technologies that engage fans before they make a purchasing decision pre-event, facilitates their journey from their home to the venue, connects with them throughout the event, and concludes with fan feedback about their experience. Every touchpoint with the fan entails risk. Every venue must systematically reduce its exposure to the various risks they might face, wherever they occur on the fan journey.

These panel experts will explore how venues can assess, identify, evaluate, and prioritize risks, and then develop a strategy to mitigate them and secure the fan journey from brand damaging incidents. Attendees will learn ways to reduce the likelihood of risks through the practical application of people, processes, and technology.

Moderator: John Petrone, President at Petrone Risk

Panelist:

Joe Coomer, Vice President of Security, AMB Sports & Entertainment
Shelli Hatcher, Managing Director, S.A.F.E. Management
Tim Sopha, Business Development Manager – Sports and Entertainment, North America – Motorola Solutions

3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Rotation 3

Topics:

Culture of Excellence
Game Day
Communications
Safety and Security
Technology & Facility Infrastructure
Crowd Dynamics and Management

Groups:

Group #5 – Falcons Family Room
Group #6 – AMG Lounge
Group #1 – Aux Locker Room 1
Group #2 – Aux Locker Room 2
Group #3 – Falcons Childcare Room
Group #4 – Falcons Interview Room

5:00 p.m.

Closing Comments

5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Reception (Exhibit Hall)

Wednesday, March 1, 2023

8:00 a.m. - 9:30 a.m

Breakfast/Keynote

Keynote: Harry Hynekamp Vice President, Guest Experiences, AMB Sports +Entertainment

Passion, Purpose & Profits

The Blank Family of Businesses Core Values are Led by Example, Put People First, Innovate Continuously, Giveback to Others, Listen & Respond, and Include Everyone. These core values are the essential elements that power our people, culture, policy, process, tools, and technology to create and consistently deliver world-class fan, guest and customer experiences every time, everywhere, every opportunity, no exceptions.

9:45 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.

Rotation 4

Topics:

Culture of Excellence
Game Day
Communications
Safety and Security
Technology & Facility Infrastructure
Crowd Dynamics and Management

Groups:

Group #4 – Falcons Family Room
Group #5 – AMG Lounge
Group #6 – Aux Locker Room 1
Group #1 – Aux Locker Room 2
Group #2 – Falcons Childcare Room
Group #3 – Falcons Interview Room

11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Lunch/Panel

Sustainability & Sports: Inspiring Change by Engaging Fans Panel

Description: We know sustainability is important, but what does it mean? This discussion will engage experts and implementors across several Atlanta-based professional sports venues to share their stories, highlight some best practices, and to even discuss challenges. The conversation will highlight each facility’s unique leadership in sustainability and will focus on strategies to engage fans along a sustainability journey.

Moderator: Kristen Fulmer, Senior Director of Sustainability, Oak View Group & Goal

Panelist: Sofi Armenakian, Head of Sustainability, Atlanta Hawks & State Farm Arena

Andrew Bohenko, Sustainability Manager, Mercedes Benz

Tanner Stines, Associate AD – Facility Ops and Capital Projects, University of Georgia

1:15 p.m. - 2:45 p.m.

Rotation 5

Topics:

Culture of Excellence
Game Day
Communications
Safety and Security
Technology & Facility Infrastructure
Crowd Dynamics and Management

Groups:

Group #3 – Falcons Family Room
Group #4 – AMG Lounge
Group #5 – Aux Locker Room 1
Group #6 – Aux Locker Room 2
Group #1 – Falcons Childcare Room
Group #2 – Falcons Interview Room

2:45 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.

Break (exhibit hall)

3:15 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Rotation 6

Topics:

Culture of Excellence
Game Day
Communications
Safety and Security
Technology & Facility Infrastructure
Crowd Dynamics and Management

Groups:

Group #2 – Falcons Family Room
Group #3 – AMG Lounge
Group #4 – Aux Locker Room 1
Group #5 – Aux Locker Room 2
Group #6 – Falcons Childcare Room
Group #1 – Falcons Interview Room