Press Release:
SIMA’s Event Planning & Management Boot Camp With Speakers From the NFL & Vans Warped Tour
DANA POINT, Calif. (March 29, 2012) – On Wednesday, March 28, more than 30 surf manufacturing companies and retailers reported for duty at SIMA’s Event Planning and Management Boot Camp. The seminar room at the Ocean Institute in Dana Point was filled with the surf industry’s event managers and teams who were engaged in listening to and asking questions of speakers from the Vans Warped Tour (VWT) and National Football League (NFL).
“It’s so gratifying for SIMA to be able to present an opportunity such as today’s Event Management Boot Camp to our membership,” says Doug Palladini, SIMA President and Vans’ Vice President of Marketing. “The combined talent and experience of the Vans Warped Tour’s Kevin Lyman and the NFL’s Erin Casey afforded attendees an unprecedented opportunity to learn.”
The morning kicked off with a candid conversation between Kevin Lyman / President, Vans Warped Tour / 4Fini, and Paul Gomez / CEO, Podium Distribution. Speaking from experience, Lyman founded the VWT 18 years ago and still runs the festival of 46 shows in 52 days with 600,000 people attending each show. A man that truly loves his job, Lyman described all the different roles he plays while running the VWT, from signing the contracts for every band on the tour to working the barbeque to feed the event crew after the show ends each night.
To run a successful event, Lyman spoke about the need to stay relevant and to get to know your audience by talking with them. Lyman practices what he preaches and rides his bike through the crowds of VWT, stopping to speak with the youth that attend the shows. Lyman knows his audience and what they want, so much so that he continually fights to lower water and food prices at the shows. He knows his audience will forgo water and food at the full-day festival to pay for their favorite band t-shirts with the cash they have, and he would rather see them be able to afford both while keeping their health and safety as his main goal.
VWT has a demographic of 13 – 19-year-olds and Lyman consistently talked about the need to keep his hand on the youth market for innovative and new ideas. He promoted internship programs as a way to keep up to date and foster rejuvenation for building your audiences and brands.
Another building technique that Lyman spoke about was the need for event managers to delegate their power on behind the scenes logistics, but advised them to still micromanage the creative end of their events, especially the content that the fans see. The takeaways from Lyman’s talk were limitless, however the learning will continue as Lyman shared with Boot Camp attendees
that the behind the scenes of the VWT will be filmed for a new television show coming soon.
“Take the business seriously, but don’t take yourselves too seriously,” said Lyman in response to a question on how to maintain the longevity of an event.
After Lyman’s talk, speaker Erin Casey / Event Manger, NFL, took the stage for a conversation with Palladini. As an expert on hosting large and international events, Casey started off her talk by touching on the four main things that her team uses as measurements of a successful event, including: merchandise sales, food and beverage sales, ticket sales and attendee information that is collected for their fan database. Casey has used these measurements to prove the validity of both domestic and international events.
Casey shared with the audience that while the NFL has saturated the market in the United States, her job is to keep growing the brand and fan base through events. Casey believes that to keep growing, you must spread out. Leading the charge in executing the annual NFL game at Wembley Stadium in London, Casey is a pro at flexible event planning. Casey shared the example of bringing a $1.5 million tailgate party to London to authenticate the football experience for new fans and incorporating England’s favorite sport, soccer, into their football event.
Casey encouraged Boot Camp attendees to look outside their sport and to make new fans by incorporating other sports. Her example of this tactic was the Pro Bowl in Hawaii. The NFL brought pro surfers such as Bethany Hamilton and Kelly Slater to the football players’ traditional luau before the game and merged the two sports by bringing both types of athletes together.
The surfers taught football players how to surf,they shared their biggest plays on the field and rides in the water with each other, and the NFL even coordinated a product line for NFL team boardshortswith Quiksilver. By bringing in the surfers, Casey broadened her audience pool. Knowing your audience was another key tactic Casey shared with attendees.
Before planning each event, Casey encouraged attendees to take it back to the basics and ask yourself two questions: One, who’s the audience and who am I entertaining, and two, would I want to go to this event?
“I think that there are a lot of people in the (NFL) events department that end up wearing many hats,” said Casey. “And you have to be okay with that. You have to be excited to learn new things. If you are in the events business and you are saying things like ‘this is not my job,’ then you are not in the right business. You have to be willing to get your hands dirty, be willing to learn and open to the experience. Behonest with everyone and respectful of everyone.”
In its fifth year, SIMA Boot Camps are educational and intimate seminars that aim to provide valuable business tips and tools to help SIMA member companies improve a variety of daily business operations. The Boot Camp seminar topics change from Boot Camp to Boot Camp with the goal of reaching a variety of employees and departments within SIMA member companies.
While all levels of employees from any department are welcome, the 2012 SIMA Boot Camp curriculum has been specifically designed with the continued professional development of mid-level managers in mind. Upcoming Boot Camps in 2012 include: Visual Merchandising and Retail Marketing Boot Camp on April 25, Product Innovation Boot Camp on June 12 and New Media Boot Camp on September 25. All half-day Boot camps will be held at the Ocean Institute in Dana Point, Calif. Visit www.sima.com for more information on the upcoming Boot Camps and registration materials as they become available.
To view photos of Event Planning andManagement Boot Camp, please visit www.sima.com/events/sima-boot-camp/boot-camp-gallery.aspx. To receive information on future Boot Camps, please contact kelly@sima.com.
The Surf Industry Manufacturers Association (SIMA) is the official working trade association of more than 300 surf industry suppliers. Founded in 1989, SIMA is a non-profit organization that serves to promote awareness of the surf industry and participation in the sport of surfing through public relations efforts and a variety of services, educational programs and research. In addition, SIMA actively supports oceanic environmental efforts through its 501(c)(3) charitable environmental foundation, the SIMA Environmental Fund. In the past 22 years, SIMA’s Environmental Fund has raised more than $5.8 million for environmental groups seeking to protect the world’s oceans, beaches and waves. The SIMA Humanitarian Fund, also a 501(c)(3) charitable foundation, was established in 2006 to award grants to various surf or boardsport related social and humanitarian non-profit organizations whose efforts are focused on improving the quality of life, health and/or welfare of people. For more information on SIMA, please visit www.sima.com. Follow us at Twitter.com/SIMA_SURF.
