Date challenges in a university setting require communication. By Jim Wynkoop, CFE UNIVERSITIES:
HOW ABOUT A DATE?
I was speaking to a colleague this week who has taken over my position month is on hold pending the Men’s and Women’s Basketball Con- ference schedule. That schedule will not be out until mid-September, process with Athletics, where they would go back to the conference employee turnover on both sides which has clouded the process. A meeting is now scheduled to revisit the process and hopefully clear up the date one way or the other. So how do you keep a full calendar when you aren’t allowed to
- - age through the process, or give up on booking other events until the schedule comes out. Since no one wants to be passive about booking, I believe there are three keys to working through this challenge. These are developing relationships with your booking stakeholders, obtaining complete knowledge of the booking and scheduling policy, and learn- Venue management is a business that has always been about rela- tionships. We develop relationships with our tenant teams, the coach- es, our contract administrators, promoters, and agents. We build these being transparent about our abilities and challenges. Of course, not everyone is going to be your advocate, and not everyone is going to be able to help you when you need it, but good relationships help you there. If the only time you talk about anything with your Athletics sched-
uler is when you ask for dates back, then they are not going to be very interested in helping you. This is a critical relationship since you are often depending on them to negotiate dates with the conference for - highlighting wins, milestones by players, etc. Use this to have a brief conversation during games when you catch them walking around the building. It is an easy conversation and something that shows you are interested. It’s an old observation that you make a lot more friends by being interested rather than interesting, but it still rings true. - for them because they are dealing with lots of venue managers clam-
50 Facility Manager Magazine
oring for attention, but it is still an opportunity. Follow up with a thank you when you get back. Also, a hand-written note after an event will help you stand out a little. If you get information about their family, hobby or favorite college football team, then occasionally follow up with a link to an article they might be interested in. Finally, if you They will have more time to visit with you and will be in a better posi- tion to share their insights about your market and their artists. It does cost a little more but is well worth the cost. yourself needing to come back to a promoter or agent with bad news an easier conversation. Being honest is the best way to operate and keep you from being skipped over for the next opportunity. Don’t hide the fact that the dates are blacked out for the team, and be able to tell them when that schedule is likely to come out. Also, suggest any dates or times that will be available near the date they’ve asked for. These can be tough conversations, but having them is part of the business, and handled well can help further the development of your relation- ship.
In addition to good relationships, you must fully understand the uni-
versity’s policy on booking their venue. If the agreement is you cannot book events the day before conference games and that is a hard and fast rule, then you almost never come asking for one of those dates. If least one of them at home, then you don’t come back looking for one of them back unless it is a major event opportunity. In addition to the written policy, you want to be clear on what the
exceptions are, if any. Are there events that take priority over practic- Consider having a joint meeting with your contract administrator
before the season when you anticipate issues. Discuss the process and - al Valentine’s Day show which does well. When the booking policy changed, we were at risk of losing an annual event that usually sells to 80 percent capacity, and often sells out completely. While we could not that each weekend either Friday or Saturday would be available. This was enough for us to place holds, and the show has remained a con- sistent annual event. Finally, after you clearly understand the policy you need to learn
how to pick your spot, and be sure the show you ask for is the one you want to win. You can only go once or twice, so you want to make sure if the promoter is ready to challenge a date, or is just feeling you out giving a heads-up to your athletics scheduler is helpful to get them ready for a possible challenge later. Again, this helps build the relation-
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