Summit Highlights

As lights illuminated the stage at indigo at The O2, ALSD drew the curtain on a harmony of hundreds of premium seating and venue professionals from all over the world.  Sharing best practices, the 6th Annual Global Premium Summit of 2024 was an act for the ages. Here are a few takeaways that left the audience applauding. 

Sustainability in Staffing 

While environmental processes are typically most recognizable with respect to sustainability, Thierry Diagaradjou and James Buckley of Levy UK+Ireland contend that the people also make a significant impact; that if we keep the passionate people in the proper positions, the energies to hire, train, and retain decrease and efficiencies increase. 

Storytell Your Seating 

Gone are the days of standard suites and loges. The current era of arena design necessitates storytelling as a lynchpin to the creation of new premium products, asserts Jon Lee of 20.20 Ltd. A growing variety of premium seating products needs new semantic forms, as much as they need new physical constructs. Suites become living rooms with furnishings fitting of a luxury home; loges are aptly named opera boxes in music venues, field suites are now pitch boxes as they mirror the eyesight of the players. 

Recipe for Residual Effect

As sustainability repeatedly appeared in remarks, we learned simple yet effective solutions. In F&B, what’s left in the kitchen one day is the next day’s banquet. The colorful carrots and cabbage that didn’t make today’s salad become accouterments in tomorrow’s vegan wraps. 

Repetition Required

Newsflash: people don’t read. Revealed during the Experience Creators panel, one team’s clients didn’t know about 50% of the benefits afforded to season ticket holders. While we know what we offer, our clients need to be reminded (if not told for the first time) via varied lines of communication. Within your region’s communication regulations, try all the above in order to over-communicate: email, text, phone calls, personal meetings. We hear gift giving works wonders to get attention too. 

Music Makers 

Even if Willy Wonka’s fantasy that “We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams” occurred only on screen, the magic we make cannot be overstated in reality. Forward Associates’ Samara Mezher recounted a 2023 StubHub survey where 26% of respondents said their first concert was their most memorable life event. This was compared to first jobs, first kiss, and traveling internationally. Imagine that; a significant portion of your fan pool is in utter awe of the events you produce. 

Reassuringly Expensive 

KOKO London and Windstar Cruises joined the ALSD stage to share why it’s okay to remain “reassuringly expensive.” Important is the perception of premium, which price integrity has a direct impact on. For brands, not coming off of a reassuringly expensive price gives guests confidence in the product’s value. 

Tweaks & Touches 

As Victoria Matthews of the European Arena Association pointed out, less than 5% of us are opening new venues year over year. Thus, it’s incumbent to continue tweaking and touching up our premium offerings, lest they become undesirable, or worse, obsolete. What Cap X can be directed at premium? How do you use it and with whom do you consult? Sodexo Live! and Brighton & Hove Albion FC’s holistic partnership enhanced hospitality with a new tunnel club, creating one of football’s most immersive hospitality experiences. Madison Square Garden, a legacy venue opened in the late 1960s, created the Captains Club with discovered space. Within our existing venues, we must remain curious about the next best premium opportunity. 

Frictionless Facts

Amazon delivered a statistic sure to make us all sing: throughput in Just Walk Out stores is up. Yes, frictionless technology is now a proven solution driving value to venues by reducing queues, increasing revenue, and reducing operating costs. Moreover, higher levels of accuracy by analyzing sensor data and inputs such as cameras and weight help determine proper varieties and quantities offered and consumed. And it’s not just F&B making moves. Frictionless merchandise options are on the rise with the use of Just Walk Out and RFID, and more opportunities for frictionless formats are opening up by evaluating existing concessions and underutilized spaces.

Unmistakably Ours 

As Matt Botten, tenured leader at The O2, explained during the exclusive behind-the-scenes tour, you must make a venue unmistakably yours. Botten and ALSD’s Rich Krezwick highlighted unmistakable features of The O2, such as the rugs in the Amex Lounge which — when viewed from above — illustrate the faces of the first guests to frequent the space and the rope wall, paying homage to the raising of the curtains in the famed music arena. 

See It from Somewhere Else 

While familiarity with a venue improves operational efficiency, we must heed a warning that it can also stifle creativity. Remain open to partnerships with F&B providers, brand consultancies, and designers, as they can pull back the curtain on underlying opportunities we may have missed. Ideas for underutilized spaces, elevated F&B for an existing club, year-round member benefits that other clubs are having success with are just a start to the expert inspiration our strategic partners can provide. 

Simplifying Solutions 

Venue innovations exist to satisfy a need. From digital views of seats that help with selling, to the availability of menstrual products that help alleviate worry, and next gen audience engagement that eliminate the need for additional infrastructure, solutions exist if we know the questions to ask and what help to seek. 

Provocative Revenue Possibilities 

AI virtual assistants exponentially increase bandwidth for prospecting. Pop-up experiences, seasonal attractions, and temporary premium offerings elongate our brand and fans’ loyalty to it. Dynamically (and transparently) priced premium tickets result in more revenue and more data for the team. The list of revenue enhancement tools and techniques goes on. Where are you turning?