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By Eric
Staufer
The
old adage “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know” still holds true.
Without networking, you would be reading an article written by someone else.
Networking has opened up a “global spectrum,” if you will, of opportunities
for me in this field.
Entering the Arena
Way back in 1993, I attended my first professional sports event — the Braves
vs. the Marlins at Dolphins Stadium. The moment I walked into the vom, I saw
a crowd of 44,000, became overrun by goose bumps and knew I wanted to work
in either sports or facility management.
I focused on attending a college that had a sports business curriculum. This
pursuit led me to Gainesville, Fla., where I majored in sport management and
minored in business administration at the University of Florida. I took the
initiative to meet with Lionel Dubay and Darius Dunn at the Stephen C.
O’Connell Center and ask several industry-related questions that were
flooding my mind. At this point, I realized that the hardest part was over:
I had my foot in the door. Now it was up to me where I wanted to go.
Dubay and Dunn insisted that I help around the office. One day during a
staff luncheon, Dubay informed me about the benefits of IAAM — specifically,
what it could offer a future executive such as myself. Moreover, he
encouraged me to apply for a scholarship to attend and volunteer at the
Annual Conference in Los Angeles (2000).
You may remember me; I was the one behind the registration counter wearing
every possible IAAM conference ribbon one could attach to a badge. In Reno
(2004), I had the name badge that said “Graduate Student Seeking Career.”
It’s all about marketing. Each year, at least one person remembers me for
one of those two reasons.
Higher Education
When my undergraduate days were coming to an end, I was in search of
a semester- long internship prior to graduation. Fortunately, my college had
a bulletin board with a U.S. map covered in business cards of alumni who
work in the sports and entertainment industry.
One card that caught my eye was the American Airlines Arena (AAA). I
scheduled a meeting with former general manager and Gator alumnus Alex Diaz.
At the end of my spring break, I interviewed with him, and he cordially
welcomed me as the organization’s latest intern to the event services
department.
Determined to succeed, I was open minded, had a strong work ethic and cross
trained — and the organization took note. As a graduation gift, the AAA
created a fulltime position for me.
After spending a year there, I left Miami with aspirations to obtain my
graduate degree. With my parents residing in Lakeland, I sought an
internship at The Lakeland Center, again turning to Dubay for guidance. He
placed a call to former Lakeland Center director Allen Johnson, and before I
knew it, I had a yearlong paid internship prior to returning to Gainesville
for my masters’ degree. Johnson informed me that Florida had an organization
similar to IAAM called the Florida Facility Managers Association (FFMA),
which was in the process of implementing a Web site for the public and its
members. Knowing that this would be a tremendous networking opportunity for
my career, Johnson encouraged me to put together a proposal for the FFMA Web
site and present it to the FFMA Board of Directors during the IAAM Annual
Conference in New Orleans (2003).
Back in Gainesville, I strove to remain active. I designed and implemented
the FFMA Web site and presented it at the FFMA Annual Conference in Palm
Beach in front of my peers. I received a graduate assistantship to assistant
teach an event management class, which included my class traveling to
Disney’s Wide World of Sports to help with the AAU National Track and Field
Meet; and to Tallahassee to help with Florida Sports Foundation’s Sunshine
State Games. We also coordinated a golf tournament that included soliciting
hole sponsors and players, and I developed and implemented the Sport
Marketing Association’s (SMA) Web site.
The Payoff
After graduating, I moved back to Lakeland and worked 40 hours a week at The
Lakeland Center’s box office while searching for a full-time position.
During those two months, I learned how to sell tickets off of Ticketmaster
and pull audits like the best of them. As fate would have it, an event
coordinator position became available at The Lakeland Center. I applied and
was hired.
Yes, networking matters. Throughout the years, I’ve kept a close
relationship with the IAAM staff. I’ve been blessed to have received
scholarships from both IAAM and District V to attend the annual conferences
from 2000-2005.
Will you see me at the 2006 conference? Absolutely! I’m the photographer for
this year’s conference. If you see me walking around, I encourage you to
stop me and introduce yourself — that is, if I haven’t already introduced
myself to you first.
Eric Staufer is an event
coordinator at The TD Waterhouse Center in Orlando. He can be reached via
email at estaufer@hyperocity.com
or at (352)284-0067. The Florida Facility Managers Association Web site is
www.floridafacilities.com. |
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