Episode 398: Brian Stovall talks about operational design consulting, visualizing what doesn’t exist, and lessons from 30 years in the industry

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This episode of AttractionPros is brought to you by our friend Eric Fluet at Get it Done Marketing. With 30 years of experience in the attractions industry, Get it Done Marketing offers freelance marketing insight, strategy, and execution—at a fraction of the cost of a full-time hire. Partnering with over 30 parks and resorts from family water parks to large multi-location organizations, Get it Done Marketing fills leadership voids on property and corporate marketing teams, assists with resource allocation and supports emerging marketing professionals. Learn more at getitdonemarketing.com.

Brian Stovall is the Founder and Managing Partner of Icon Leisure Services. With a career spanning more than three decades, Brian’s experience runs the gamut from theme parks and amphitheaters to live concerts and water attractions. He began his journey at Schlitterbahn Waterpark and later worked with House of Blues and Universal, gaining hands-on experience in both operations and entertainment production. Today, Icon Leisure Services is focused on bringing leisure-based multi-use developments to life, offering a unique blend of operational insight and creative design support. In this interview, Brian talks about operational design consulting, visualizing what doesn’t exist, and lessons from 30 years in the industry.

Operational Design Consulting

“Let’s start when we can do it with a pencil and eraser rather than a jackhammer.”

Brian explains that operational design consulting is about influencing the layout and structure of a facility before construction begins. Traditional operators are often brought in after a venue is built, which leads to costly retrofits and inefficient guest or staff flow. Instead, Brian advocates for embedding operators into the planning phase early on—working alongside architects, engineers, and developers to build spaces that function seamlessly from day one.

He shared examples such as walking freezers being placed on the wrong side of a kitchen, which would disrupt workflow, or facilities being designed with no thought for trash removal or vendor access. By introducing an operator’s perspective before any concrete is poured, Brian and his team can help prevent these logistical headaches. This approach has led Icon Leisure Services to become a trusted sub-consultant for numerous architecture and engineering firms across the country.

Visualizing What Doesn’t Exist

“You basically have to mentally walk through the park.”

When it comes to designing new attractions or multi-use developments, Brian notes the importance—and difficulty—of visualizing something that hasn’t been built yet. It’s a skill developed over years of experience. He explains that he mentally walks through a future facility, applying all the lessons he's learned across operations, entertainment, and hospitality to anticipate needs for things like power access, water drainage, and guest circulation.

He emphasized that this process is not done in isolation. Design teams collaborate and troubleshoot together, adjusting based on feedback and constraints. While budget limitations always factor in, Brian focuses on programming the space first—understanding how it will function—so that infrastructure needs naturally follow.

Lessons from 30 Years in the Industry

“It really made you appreciate where you are if you know where you’ve been.”

Reflecting on a career that began with picking up tubes and trash at Schlitterbahn, Brian credits early mentors for instilling a strong work ethic and ownership mentality. He explained how those early experiences shaped his current approach to designing operationally efficient facilities, down to minimizing the dreaded “trash trails” from leaking liners.

From overseeing massive entertainment venues to running 20-hour-a-day operations in Las Vegas, Brian described how every role added to his understanding of how people move through spaces and how teams function behind the scenes. Today, he takes pride not just in building guest-friendly environments, but also in creating workplaces where staff feel empowered and supported—a key factor, he says, in long-term success.

 

To learn more about Icon Leisure Services or to get in touch with Brian directly, visit iconls.com or connect via the Icon Leisure LinkedIn page.

This podcast wouldn't be possible without the incredible work of our faaaaaantastic team:

 

• Scheduling and correspondence by Kristen Karaliunas
• Audio and Video editing by Abby Giganan

 

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