|
|
By R.V. Baugus
It is the hearty chuckle
before he speaks that tells you to lean in and
listen closely, because Peter Gruber is about to tell a story that will
leave everyone within earshot howling in laughter.
It is the story of how he would leave his career as a product exporter to
begin working in the music publishing business, which in turn would bring
him to the position he still holds as chief executive officer of the Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna, Austria.
Peter’s wife, Maria, a successful travel agent, has likely heard this story
told and retold dozens of times, but even she stops eating her dinner long
enough to listen to her husband’s latest recount for a new audience.
You listen and soon everyone at the table is laughing as hard as the
storyteller himself. You connect the dots to the story and when all is said
and done, conclude that the person who was foremost and instrumental in
helping with the creation of IAAM Europe might never have done that had he
not listened to the voice in his head of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial telling
him to “phone home.”
“I was with a colleague, and we went to the United Nations to try and sell
lead crystal wine dispensers,” Gruber begins. “Well, we did not make the
sell, but as you were allowed to sit and listen to the proceedings, we
decided to do that.
“But as I was walking, I fell down the steps and these dispensers flew
everywhere! The speaker even stopped talking and everyone looked at me. Men
with guns came to me before they could see that I was not a terrorist!”
Gruber pauses long enough to loudly chuckle before continuing his story.
“My ankle was swollen badly when I was back in my hotel room. I had bought
some stuff to help the swelling go down, and so I too k the waste can from
the bathroom and then just put ice in it and soaked my ankle. I was sitting
at the side of my bed doing this and thought to myself, ‘This is a lousy job
I must have!’ I thought to E.T. when he said to phone home, and I decided
then to begin in the music publishing business.”
Happy to Be Here
Peter Gruber leans forward in a chair in his cavernous office and begins
talking about the state of the public assembly facility management industry
in Europe as well as IAAM Europe, now in its third year. It is obvious in
his voice that he is excited about being an ambassador for IAAM when talking
to his European colleagues about how the association can help them become
better managers.
“My question when I first talked to Dexter King and Bob M ayer years ago was,
‘Is IAAM an international organization or not?’ International cannot be
United States and Canada. International cannot be United States, Canada and
maybe Singapore. International must include Europe. The problem is that we
have two other organizations representing Europe in the EAA (European Arenas
Association) and EVVC (European Association of Event Centers), so the
problem is to convince the people in Europe that first of all IAAM is an
international organization and that there are many benefits because of the
networking and other information to receive.
“The problem all over the world is there are differences in the countries,
the laws of different countries. The basic problems are the same. You want
to make good events and make a lot of money, which is diff icult enough.”
But as IAAM Europe vice president, Gruber is on a mission. He is a tireless
campaigner and a visionary who steadfastly believes that one day IAAM Europe
will grow beyond his wildest dreams.
“It’s growing, but it takes years,” Gruber says. “We did establish the
school that was successful last year, European Academy for Venue Management,
and are continuing it this year in September in Innsbruck, Austria. The main
questions always come back to, ‘What benefits do I have? Why do I need IAAM,
because I am already a member of EAA and EVVC?’”
Just as quickly as he asks those questions, Gruber replies with a fast
answer. “The main difference between IAAM and the other organizations in
Europe is that in IAAM, the member is the individual. In all the other
organizations, the venue is the member. This is the main point, to talk to
people about the advantages of a personal membership.”
Gruber believes this is especially important in a country like Austria where
there are not many venues, and the need to network and discover the similar
challenges that other venues throughout the world face is greater. For that
matter, if someone is working in an Austrian venue but looking to move
elsewhere, a worldwide organization like IAAM could open just the right
doors for the opportunistic manager.
Gruber also preaches IAAM’s educational offerings to his European
counterparts, including both the Global Issues Summit and the International
Pavilion that will be available to attendees during this summer’s IAAM
Annual Conference & Trade Show in Anaheim. These offerings are designed to
not only benefit European managers as they look beyond their borders, but
their contemporaries in North America and elsewhere to better sit as an
audience and listen to European facility managers discuss their challenges
as well as their success stories.
In fact, many traditional European countries have dissolved into many
smaller ones, and it seems these days that all of those newer countries are
getting in by building new facilities.
“Austria was once considered the edge of Europe,” Gruber says. “After
Austria was the Iron Curtain. Now Austria is in the middle of Europe.
Yugoslavia is divided into a lot of smaller countries. Russia is divided to
the point where the old Russia is now 10 or 12 smaller countries.
“In every country they are building a venue, they are building an arena, and
these people need education very much. They don’t have the experience. They
need the education, the networking, the connection to other venues to ask
questions. I mean even simple questions. … ‘What kind of rigging do you have
here for this event, because we don’t know? How many spotlights do you need
for this event?’ If you are a member of such an organization as IAAM, you
can ask somebody. You are getting the truth.”
Connecting the Dots
Had it not been for that pratfall at the United Nations, who knows where
Peter Gruber might be today? But that has been about the only slip-up in a
career that has risen to meteoric proportions.
Born in the former Czech Republic but having lived in Vienna since he was
six months old, Gruber’s stamp on the Wiener Stadthalle has been an
impressive one since he took over managing the venue 10 years
 ago.
Two years ago, a new hall was added that offers a comfortable theater
environment. And 2008 also marks the 50th anniversary of the Wiener
Stadthalle, a celebration that is being observed throughout the year in an
understated manner.
“We did [Gruber says he likes to use the English word did because its
inclusion can make just about any sentence in English make sense] have some
brainstorming about celebrating 50 years and thought about what we should
do,” he explains. “Should we do a single mega-event to celebrate 50 years?
We didn’t want to do that because this is a problem. If you are doing one
event, it costs a lot of money because you have to have a big star in the
range of Céline Dion, Madonna, whatever. You have to invite almost the whole
city!”
“We said that this year all the events are under the umbrella of 50 years.
It’s on every ticket, on every poster, every flyer. We are not really
driving this 50 years. We don’t always want to push the people about these
50 years, because they’ll think, ‘Well, it looks quite good for 50 years.’”
Gruber’s career and realm of influence is also looking quite good the last
several years. He studied the exporting business while attending an economy
and science university in Vienna called Wirtschafts.
During his youth, Gruber would often go to his father’s sound recording
studio. Gruber’s father was a musician, and the young son developed an early
interest in the technical side of music recording.
Following his university days and his dalliance in the exporting business,
Gruber worked for a music publishing affiliate of Time-Warner that was later
sold to Warner Communications. When the Wiener Stad thalle beckoned, Gruber
accepted and now oversees a sprawling complex that hosts some 400 events
every year.
Challenges? He’s Had a Few
Walk the hallways of the administrative offices of the Wiener Stadthalle,
and you can imagine just as easily that you are in, say, the Pepsi Center in
Denver. Posters everywhere tell you who has played and who is coming.
Holiday on Ice has just finished an extensive run. World Wrestling
Entertainment will be coming later in the year. The Smashing Pumpkins will
be performing tonight, and tomorrow night’s feature is The Rat Pack,
showcasing impersonators of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr.
Just like in Anywhere, USA, the challenges include finding sponsors and
keeping ticket prices affordable for guests, Gruber says.
“When you are making bigger events, you need sponsors,” he says. “You cannot
raise the ticket prices to where nobody can afford them. In everything you
do, you need sponsors to cover the additional costs.”
Gruber says that there is “a group of sponsors who are like the friends of
Wiener Stadthalle. They are paying a certain amount of money every year and
getting benefits like VIP catering or premium seats or free cloakroom.” Big
names like Coca- Cola, Visa and some local banks also dot the sponsor
roster.
Unlike several other venues in Europe, Gruber’s facility does not have a
local sports team to occupy several dates on the calendar.
“We don’t have a home sport, and that’s very important,” he says. “To give
an example, Hartwell Arena in Helsinki (Finland) has two ice hockey teams,
which means that every week, they have one ice hockey match with 12,000
people. They have a fixed attendance that we don’t have because we have no
home sport.”
Gruber says this is not a complaint because of the difficulty he would have
in managing such a team or teams for a venue that is already very busy. In
all, he says that among a total of 12 venues that he manages throughout the
city, all owned by the City of Vienna, an estimated 1.2 million people
attend the facilities every year.
Competition for events and shows is another challenge that Gruber faces,
even in a country where his is the major venue.
“More facilities will be built in Eastern Europe, not Western Europe,” he
says. “There is an area of Germany that is as big as Austria that has a lot
of big cities like Cologne and Düsseldorf. In relatively small distances,
like one hour of driving, every one of these cities has a big venue.
“The competition is still there. Budapest is 240 miles away, or about three
hours of driving … because you can drive faster in Europe! But it is not
necessary for an international tour to come to Austria if they don’t get
proper service or proper prices. They can go to Munich, they can go to
Budapest. It is our duty to give events to the city, to give people the
possibility to see the events and not drive to Budapest or Munich.”
All about Team
As he discusses his leadership role within IAAM Europe and the dozen
facilities with 500 people he oversees in Vienna, Gruber cites the
importance of teamwork. “You cannot do anything as one,” he says. “I am not
the business card of the company. The business cards of the company are the
people who open the doors, the people answering the telephones on incoming
calls. These are the people who are direct lines for our guests. They
reflect on the company.
“I believe in the old Walt Disney concept of everybody picks up the paper.
That’s very important. Everybody has to be responsible for everything. I
know it’s not possible, but you get the idea behind it. When I walk through
the venue and see a lamp not burning, I don’t have to replace the lamp
myself. But I have to take care that somebody is replacing it. Everyone has
to have open eyes to see what we can do better. The main point is we are a
service company. We are here to serve the people.”
It is no surprise to learn that a man so visible on an international stage
is one who travels internationally. When he is not attending IAAM functions
or those of his European affiliations, Gruber might be in China to acquire
shows or in another part of the world working on contracts.
Back at dinner, the man who has seen it all and done it all offers up one
more story. Much as this vast world of public assembly management offers up
the same challenges whether in Beijing, Berlin or Boston, Gruber’s story
proves that men, well, will be men.
“We were in the Florida Ever - glades, and Maria said, ‘Look, there on the
boat ramp is an alligator,’” Gruber recounts. “I said, ‘No, that is not an
alligator, it is a tree.’”
Gruber stopped his vehicle and got out to go and inspect the object resting
on the boat ramp. And?
“Oh, it was an alligator,” he says. “I did not know I could run so fast!”
Gruber is still running fast, only these days it is in a forward position as
he leads the European public assembly facility community to greater and
greater heights.
fm
R.V. Baugus is editor for Facility Manager magazine.
|
|
Back to Facility Manager
Contents
