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Here’s your chance to change the IAAM.

That’s exactly what I am looking to do. When I look at the organization chart, I see a gap and that gap is amphitheatres. There is currently no amphitheatre-specific committee that “monitors events within the industry and with allied associations pertaining to amphitheatres and keeps the membership advised.” As an amphitheatre person myself, I’d like to see an Amphitheatre Committee and an amphitheatre-specific conference. I guess more than adjusting the organization chart, I am really trying to add a committee and I need your help.

How can I help?
Hopefully you’re already a member of the IAAM. If you’re not, hopefully you received this from an IAAM member or via my special mailing.

Regardless of whether or not you are a member, I need you to go to www.iaam.org and fill out the amphitheatre survey. There’s a button to click for whether or not you are a member and a button to click for whether or not you agree with the idea.

Are you going to be tracking me when I come and vote?
Nope. This isn’t some sort of marketing gimmick to drive traffic to the site. You come, you vote, and your vote helps determine whether or not this committee gets formed.

Is this vote all for show? You’re probably just going to form the committee, anyway, right?
No, the IAAM is not even going to consider forming the committee unless you ask for it. To prove it to you, I am going to display the vote results for you once voting has ended. I’ll tell you how many people voted and what percentage of the vote was “for” the idea and what percentage was “against” the idea.

Isn’t an Amphitheatre Committee a little redundant?
No it’s not, at least not in my opinion. There are specific differences in staffing, audiences, and special events bookings (to name a few) for amphitheatres as compared with arenas and stadiums. I think that it’s very worthwhile to have a group of people that all operate and manage amphitheatres to be in communication with each other. The results would be the same as they are in other committees and with the IAAM overall – sharing knowledge and networking. Content would be specifically developed and/or tailored to an amphitheatre-specific point of view, much as content already is tailored for arenas, stadiums, convention centers, performing arts venues and university facilities.

Do we really want to share knowledge with our competitors?
Yes, we do (was that the answer you were expecting?). There are certain facets of our business that, if we were able to share knowledge with each other, would benefit all of us. Are you skeptical about that statement? Have you ever called another amphitheatre, even a competitor’s building, to get information about how a show went from a safety and security standpoint? I have called competitors and never once were any of the people that I called unwilling to give me information that would help the show be more safe or the building operate more effectively. The point of this committee is not to get everyone together to share “company secrets.” The purpose is to share knowledge to improve safety, increase revenues, decrease costs, and benefit the amphitheatre industry overall.

Do I need to be an IAAM member to participate in this committee?
While you will be able to vote for whether or not this committee gets formed and attend conferences without being a member, it is more cost-effective to become a member.

Consider this: registration fees for the conferences are typically $150-$200 more for non-members, and if it is a limited registration conference, members get priority over non-members. The cost of IAAM membership is $450 the first year for an Active Member, so if you attend one amphitheatre specific conference and one national conference, you will have paid for your membership in registration savings.

Members receive the additional benefit of receiving access to online resources like electronic guides written by experts and access to the membership database. Additionally, members receive a subscription to Facility Manager magazine and receive a hard copy of the membership directory.

This is great, but budgets are tight and I’m not sure if I can expense the membership fee.
Here’s my suggestion: sell whoever it is that is concerned about the budget on the fact that this will help you increase revenue and decrease cost.

So, who are you and why should we listen to you?
My name is Ross Hollman and I am the national director of operations for House of Blues Concerts. I started off in the industry in 1996 working as a security guard. In 2000 I took a job as the operations manager for Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre and quickly moved into the general manager position. At the end of 2003 I accepted a position overseeing the operations of all of the HOB amphitheatres in the United States and Canada.

Does my experience in the industry make me an expert? No, not necessarily. Believe me, I know that there are a lot of you reading this that have much more experience than I do . . . but that’s another part of the point of the committee: for you to share your knowledge with those of us that are newer to the business. I think this committee is worthwhile, which is why I asked the IAAM why it didn’t currently exist and why the IAAM gave me an opportunity to write this article and a place where you can vote on the idea.

If you have any questions or want to discuss why you agree or don’t agree with the idea, feel free to call me at (323) 769- 4685 or e-mail me at Ross.Hollman@hobconcerts.com.