The Oak View Group has announced the speaker lineup for their first ever VenuesNow conference, set for July 12-14 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in L.A.
Produced by Oak View Group's Tim Leiweke and former Billboard veteran Ray Waddell, VenuesNow is being described as a "game-changing, forward-looking gathering for the sports, entertainment and venue industry geared toward recognizing and inspiring innovation in the dynamic live event space through candid discussion of the challenges and opportunities the industry is currently facing," according to a statement from OVG.
Organizers expect 300 industry professionals to attend the invitation-only event -- open registration for VenuesNow will begin in 2018 -- including OVG's Arena Alliance group of major market arenas, which host 70 million fans per year.
"The concept of VenuesNow is to host a conference unlike any other in our space, an elite forum focusing on the epicenter of where sports and live entertainment events and fans converge: the venue," explains Waddell, OVG's president of publications and conferences, who is spearheading programming for VenuesNow. "Our speakers reflect our emphasis on innovation and positive disruption at all levels around the venue space."
VenuesNow has confirmed an impressive list of speakers in both sports and music. Music executives booked at VenuesNow include mega-managers Irving Azoff, Red Light Management founder Coran Capshaw, KISS manager Doc McGhee, Metallica agent Adam Kornfeld with Artist Group International and Rob Beckham who serves as WME co-head of the Nashville office.
Covering the concert side is Live Nation Global Touring COO Gerry Barad, Live Nation Co-President of North American Concerts Bob Roux, Red Light COO Bruce Eskowitz and country concert promoter Louis Messina. Taking on issues in the ticketing world will be Jared Smith, president of Ticketmaster in North America; Scott Cutler, president of StubHub; and Andrew Dreskin, co-founder/CEO of Ticketfly.
VenuesNow will include a significant focus on technology with speakers that include Chris Wagner, EVP of marketplace strategy for Neulion; Jed Corenthal, CMO of PhoenixP2P; Brad Allen, executive chairman of NextVR; Nate Parienti, president of Live Alliance; Tobias Sherman, global head of e-sports for WME IMG; Paul Ward, CEO of e-Sports Arenas, Rick Fox, founder of e-sports powerhouse Echo Fox; Michal Lorenc, head of industry, ticketing and live events for Google; Pete Vlastelica, CEO of Major League Gaming; and Stratton Sclavos, founding partner (with Fox) in Vision Venture Partners.
Safety and security at live events is another area of focus for VenuesNow, which will be addressed in a panel moderated by CNN counter-terrorism analyst/former CIA official Phil Mudd and include Prevent Advisors counter-terrorism experts Michael Downing and Bill Bratton, along with Cathy Lanier, head of security for the National Football League, and Abacode CEO Michael Ferris.
From the branding/sponsorship world, VenuesNow has confirmed Justin Toman, director of sports marketing for Pepsi; Joe Belliotti, head of global music marketing for Coca-Cola, Mark Weinstein, senior VP/global head of customer engagement, loyalty and partnerships for Hilton; Andrew Georgescu, Lincoln marketing communications manager for Ford Motor Company; Aaron Simon, director of licensed products for Harman Industries; and Marcie Allen, president of MAC Presents.
From the industry investments world, VenuesNow will host Jay Kapoor of MSG Ventures and Deepen Parikh of Courtside Ventures. Other confirmed speakers include Los Angeles Dodgers CFO Tucker Kain; Tim Romani, CEO of ICON Venue Group; Bruce Miller, senior principle of Populous; Christopher Lamberth, VP of sport development for HOK; Al Guido, president of the San Francisco 49ers; Justin Dragoo of Latitude 38 Entertainment; Tim Zulawski, senior VP/chief commercial officer at AMB Sports + Entertainment; and Dan Berkowitz, founder/CEO of CID Entertainment, among many other industry leaders.
For more information on VenuesNow 2017, visit venuesnowconference.com.