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AttractionPros brings you into the room with the top leaders, executives, and influencers in the attractions industry, to gain the widest possible perspective of all areas of the industry. Most people are only exposed to the practices of their own organization without seeing how the rest of the industry operates. By following AttractionPros, you will gain the skills and knowledge needed to succeed and learn from the best of the best, whether you are the CEO or just beginning your career.
Episodes
Tuesday Feb 13, 2024
Tuesday Feb 13, 2024
Recently, Universal Orlando shared additional details about Epic Universe, scheduled to open in 2025. The news of the upcoming park’s opening sparked a conversation about sustaining guest and employee experience initiatives on a continual basis. Grand openings are often accompanied by fanfare and confetti, but attractions are built for the long term, rather than the initial splash they make. In this episode, Matt and Josh talk about getting past the honeymoon phase, using feedback to drive growth, and moving the goalpost.
Getting past the honeymoon phase
"Every day should be a grand opening."
There is substantial effort that it takes to open a large attraction such as a theme park. From construction to marketing and hiring, the majority of work activity is pointed toward the grand opening. Once the grand opening occurs, the initial novelty eventually wears off, and now the team needs to shift toward long-term operations.
However, when guests visit for the first time - even years after opening, the attraction needs to preserve the grand opening feel. For employees, this includes the first-day feeling that they have on their first day of employment, whether it aligned with the grand opening or not. Sustaining the enthusiasm is critical, particularly as employees become accustomed to their work environment, which for them now feels normal, ordinary, and occasionally even redundant.
How can you treat every day like the grand opening for both guests and employees?
Using feedback to make improvements
"Ask what can improve the experience, not *if* anything could improve it."
You should always stay up-to-date on how you are delivering the experience compared to expectations, for both guests and employee experience. Using multiple streams of feedback, you can determine what friction points there are in the experience, coming from the guests or employees themselves. Then, using an operational lens and recognizing that the solution is not always the opposite of the problem, you can implement solutions very quickly that address the perception of the issue, and continue to measure the data to track improvements.
This also requires leaders to look at their environments with a critical eye and not accept mediocrity. Saying “it’s fine” to minor issues is an indicator that a leader will overlook circumstances that will grow into larger problems in the future. Taking care of them immediately ensures a high standard of quality.
Moving the goalpost
"Use 'wow' moments to make sure the experience has no plateau."
The guest and employee experience have no limit. The more you drive these forward, the more growth opportunities you have for guest loyalty, including repeat visitation and positive word of mouth, as well as employee loyalty, which includes retention and referrals. Even if you are ranked #1 on TripAdvisor, you can create a larger buffer between yourself and the attraction ranked #2.
The concept of the peak-end rule indicates how we remember experiences. We are most likely to remember the beginning, end, and the peaks that occur throughout the experience. If we strategically orchestrate the peaks throughout their day, we can better ensure satisfaction, and we can continue to iterate new ideas for “wow” moments that can push the experience further.
Even if your attraction isn’t brand new, tomorrow is a brand new day. When you focus on the guest experience and the employee experience, the revenue follows.
To connect with AttractionPros:
Tuesday Feb 06, 2024
Tuesday Feb 06, 2024
Amanda Verhoff is the President of the Association of Luxury Suite Directors, an organization dedicated to the premium and luxury seating industry that serves sports arenas, theaters and large-scale event spaces. Amanda studied sports management in college and upon hearing a guest speaker, who happened to be the founder of ALSD, raised her hand for an internship and she has been working in the premium seating industry ever since then. Throughout this fascinating conversation, Amanda gives us insight into the premium sports experience, understanding the buyer, and singing the same song.
The premium sports experience
“Premium is more than the product, it’s the experience.”
When people think of premium seating, they likely think of the hardware… the loge, skybox, or suite that allows an audience member to view a game or performance from a specific vantage point. Amanda assures us that it doesn’t stop there and that there is a whole host of touchpoints that make up the “experience.”
Food and beverage, entertainment options and transportation services are just some of the ways that premium seating directors infuse luxury into the experience. If at a sports arena, the game for many is the main attraction, but for those in premium seating, it can serve as a backdrop to an elevated event.
Understanding the buyer
"It's a tall task to understand the differences between different types of buyers."
Words like premium and luxury are highly subjective. Buyers are judging the level of premium or luxury against their understanding or experience of those situations. From a selling standpoint, it takes skill to understand the buyer's desire for luxury and where it falls on their scale - and it’s not always money-driven.
Part of the tall task of understanding the buyer is the vast difference in opinions and attitudes when it comes to just what luxury looks like. For some, it could be that every detail of the experience is planned and executed by someone else. For others, luxury could mean a decadent dessert presented in an elegant way by the culinary team. It’s the wide-ranging attitudes that keep luxury suite operators on their toes.
Singing the same song
"Ticketing, parking, and food & beverage might be different entities, but they need to be singing off the same song sheet."
A premium experience doesn’t just happen because people are in a loge or skybox, it’s as much about the arrival and departure, navigating the venue, getting through ticketing or security, or the food and beverage offerings. This takes a lot of people working in a coordinated effort to pull it all off.
Amanda reminds us that in most cases, the people working in these various positions are actually working for different companies who have different values or processes. The key, she says, is to find the cooperative elements of service that everyone can adhere to in order to create a seamless experience.
To learn more about ALSD, visit their website. To connect with Amanda, you can find her on LinkedIn or email her at amanda@alsd.com.
This podcast wouldn't be possible without the incredible work of our faaaaaantastic team:
- Scheduling and correspondence by Kristen Karaliunas
To connect with AttractionPros:
Tuesday Jan 30, 2024
Tuesday Jan 30, 2024
Jenny Williams leads attend media, an advertising agency working primarily with cultural and non-profit attractions. As a Media Strategist, Jenny works with zoos, gardens, museums, and aquariums to align their efforts across media strategy and investing in advertising. Jenny began working in media in November of 2007, which is the same time that Facebook launched its advertising platform. Throughout her career, she gravitated toward working with attractions and developed an even deeper niche within non-profit and cultural attractions to help align their advertising around the mission. In this interview, Jenny shares practical advice about putting together an effective media mix, non-profit marketing, and tracking the right metrics.
An effective media mix
“You can’t post the same ad across all channels and expect it to serve the same purpose.”
There are so many channels that need to be considered when placing advertisements based on the audience attractions are looking to target and the message they are seeking to convey. While digital marketing, including social media and online advertising, has accelerated in growth, marketers should continue to leverage traditional channels such as television, radio, and billboards.
Through extensive testing and looking at past performance, marketers should evaluate the success of various campaigns, using the data to drive future campaigns into what works best. In particular, influencer marketing has evolved from finding an influencer with a sizeable following to post content about the brand to seeking larger pools of smaller creators and using their content in the attraction’s ads.
Non-profit marketing
"People are seeking more organic content. They may not trust when it's perfect and polished."
Jenny describes the difference between nonprofit and for-profit attractions as mission-driven or ticket-driven. While both types of attractions need to focus their advertising on driving attendance and ticket sales, non-profit attractions should focus their message around their mission.
Non-profit attractions typically have a wide channel mix and often can spread themselves too thin. Jenny suggests that non-profit attractions should not spend less than 5% of their budget on any channel. This puts constraints on creative teams for developing assets, limits the ability to do proper testing and find insights, and it dilutes the messaging. Additionally, non-profit attractions should spend at least 10% of their budget on paid social.
Tracking the right metrics
“Visitation is the end goal; not a click to the website.”
When you’re building your media strategy and looking at your objectives, it begins with understanding what you’re looking for. It may not be about how many unique households you are reaching, driving traffic to a web page, or even driving online ticket sales.
Depending on ticketing software and advertising channels, attractions may be able to track the performance of their campaigns directly through to ticket sales. However, for channels such as television, radio, and billboard, attractions should align these campaigns to see if website visitation increases or if attendance grows which can be attributed to the campaigns.
To learn more about attend.media, visit their website. Jenny is also co-host of the Marketing Attraction Podcast, which can be found here and on all major podcast platforms.
This podcast wouldn't be possible without the incredible work of our faaaaaantastic team:
- Scheduling and correspondence by Kristen Karaliunas
To connect with AttractionPros:
Tuesday Jan 23, 2024
Tuesday Jan 23, 2024
Dominic Wray is Parks Director for Vectis Ventures and he oversees all aspects of the operation for Blackgang Chine on the Isle Wight. Blackgang is the oldest theme park in the UK, opening in 1843. Dominic began his career in the property market as an estate agent, then transitioned to banking with a position at Lloyds Bank where he split his time between personal banking and commercial banking clients. It was one of those commercial clients, Paula (who happened to be the HR Director at Blackgang Chine) who told Dominic about this wonderful, fun and fanciful place she worked at and that really appealed to Dom. When the Park Manager role was posted, Dom applied for and got it, and thus began his career of selling fun instead of financial products. In this episode, Dom talks about micro businesses, breaking down silos and leaving the island.
Micro businesses
"You've got lots of micro businesses within it. It's not just one business."
Dom recalls that one of the biggest learning curves he encountered when entering into the attractions business was how the park was actually a collection of micro businesses under the umbrella of the larger business.
Food and beverage, Marketing, Guest Experience, Safety and Retail can all be stand-alone businesses in their own right, but in the theme park industry, they must all work together to achieve the overall goals. And as park manager and now Parks Director, it’s critical he has a working understanding of all of those functions, as well as seasoned leaders who can help advise and direct as needed.
Breaking down silos
"It's healthy to challenge each other in a respectful manner."
In the early days at the park, Dom admits being a little naïve about just how separate the various departments were, and how that impacted productivity, morale, and the guest experience. Dom now attempts to structure his day so that he can give the appropriate attention to each area of the operation, knowing that emergencies can pop up at any time that will pull him away from his agenda.
Having a healthy balance of different viewpoints along with a sense of collaboration along the team helps create culture that doesn’t allow emotional walls or silos become a detractor for productivity. This leads to the team being able to effectively pull together when various events require involvement from many different departments across the property.
Leaving the island
"Both internal networking and external networking can be fantastic for development."
The Isle of Wight is a small island just south of mainland England. To access the island, you must take a boat, which does pose some challenges for residents and tourists alike. That also means that leaving the island can pose the same challenge or inconvenience, but Dom says it’s critical.
When Dom first entered the industry, he attended IAAPA Expo in Orlando and was able to gather some very practical knowledge and experience he could apply to his new role. Likewise, he also encourages his team to attend trainings, conferences, or to visit other attractions to make sure they are continuing to expand their knowledge and experience new ways of doing business.
To learn more about Blackgang Chine, visit the park’s website. To connect with Dominic directly, he can be reached at dominic.wray@vectisventures.co.uk or on LinkedIn.
This podcast wouldn't be possible without the incredible work of our faaaaaantastic team:
- Scheduling and correspondence by Kristen Karaliunas
To connect with AttractionPros:
Tuesday Jan 16, 2024
Tuesday Jan 16, 2024
Steve Thomas is the General Manager at Belmont Park in San Diego, CA. Steve’s background includes working in oil fields in West Texas and Eastern New Mexico until he decided to move back to his hometown of San Diego in 2017. At that time, Belmont Park had recently been acquired by a real estate developer who had a new vision for the park, which was falling into disrepair. After identifying the challenges needed to make necessary improvements, he took on the role of Maintenance Manager and immediately implemented enhancements. Not long after, he approached the park’s ownership with the interest of becoming General Manager. Since becoming GM in 2018, Steve’s main focus has been on unification, which included acquiring all of the concessions operators on the property and bringing them all under one roof. In this interview, Steve talks about lessons from the oil field, guest centricity, and no paper signs.
Lessons from the oil field
"Don't be bitter about spending a little more time in a role. Have patience."
Steve became a Floorhand for a drilling company after finding them at a recruiting event and learned the job from the lowest position in the ranks. After being passed up for a promotion to Driller a year later, Steve was initially disappointed, but he took the next seven to eight months to fully prepare himself for the role. When he got it, his proficiency was even higher than those who had been drilling for years. Steve stresses that patience pays off when it comes to growing in your career.
As a Driller, Steve says he gained valuable leadership lessons that translated into his role today at Belmont Park. When he was promoted to Driller, he found that he was doing the majority of the work because he could get it done better and quicker than anyone else, until he realized that this was the wrong approach. Instead, when he began learning more about what his team member’s best skill sets were, coaching, and operating as a team, their productivity went up substantially.
Guest centricity
"Everything that we do is with the guest in mind."
Because of the number of businesses that operated at Belmont Park, Steve said that walking into the park felt more like walking into a strip mall than an amusement park. When your ticket allows you certain attractions but not others, employees are wearing different uniforms, and information is difficult to find, it creates a confusing experience that Steve described as fragmented and broken. By working to acquire all of the concessionaires, not only was it a good business decision, it made for a much smoother guest experience.
When describing his guest experience philosophy, Steve says that his focus is to ask, “What is that extra thing?” at every touchpoint in the park. From purchasing tickets to dining in the restaurants, Steve describes the concept of guest centricity of exceeding expectations and that everything that the park does is with the guest in mind.
No paper signs
"There's a lack of care for the guest when there's a crooked paper sign taped to a window."
When comparing Belmont Park to Disneyland, Steve stresses that they can’t compete on the size of the park or the number of rides, but they can compete on guest experience. And part of the guest experience strategy is that there are no paper signs in the parks due to the lack of care that it shows to the guest.
The standard of no paper signs is literal, but also represents the overarching standard. To be considered world-class, you can’t have paper signs taped to a window. This same standard extends into never walking past a piece of trash without picking it up, which helps to align Belmont Park’s definition of world-class.
Having opened in 1925, Belmont Park will be celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2025. While the plans are still coming together at the time of this interview, Steve is excited to be a part of the centennial celebration and is excited to rally the team and acknowledge this historic milestone.
To learn more about Belmont Park, visit the park’s website and follow the park on Instagram. To connect with Steve directly, he can be reached at steve@belmontpark.com.
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
To connect with AttractionPros:
Tuesday Jan 09, 2024
Tuesday Jan 09, 2024
Jim MacPhee is a retired Disney legend and renowned author of the book Engage, Inspire, Lead. Starting in the watercraft department on the Seven Seas Lagoon, Jim started with an hourly position and grew with the company, and through mentorship and personal growth, became one of the greatest leaders in Disney history. Jim spent 43 years with the Walt Disney Company, serving the company on both coasts as a Vice President of several parks. Later in his career, Jim led the Next Generation Experience movement, leading to the birth of MyMagic+ and other technology that reshaped the attractions industry. In this interview, Jim talks about navigating life, pushing a wet noodle, and emotional and relational intelligence.
Navigating Life
"Define your destination and go. And be nimble and agile along the way."
Jim took many lessons from his first position with Disney and used them throughout his entire career. Reflecting on his experiences in the watercraft department, Jim emphasizes the parallels between navigating watercraft and effective leadership, such as finding the fastest path of travel and working together to create forward momentum.
The most profound lesson Jim learned from his time in watercraft was the skill of navigating life itself. With its various ties to leadership and great lessons in responsibility, Jim’s first position provided a strong foundation for the rest of his career. Watercraft provided a sense of community and allowed Jim to bond with guests and develop a real understanding of the scope and size of the new Disney property.
Pushing A Wet Noodle
"If you don't have great relationships, you've got a tough battle ahead."
Jim compares “horizontal work” to pushing a wet noodle, stating that you can’t get anywhere unless everybody is on the same page. The team dynamic and leadership system is critical to the success of a project, and it’s one of the biggest takeaways Jim found in his time with the Next Generation Experience team.
One of the key elements of a successful project is top box sponsorship and great relationships. Jim compares poor leadership to the Liberty Bell, where a little crack in the top can lead to a massive fissure and disconnect in the rest of the team. Jim knows that with strong relationships and clear leadership, those fissures are avoidable.
Emotional and Relational Intelligence
"We had to lead with clarity, unity, and agility."
Jim shares that great leaders are built on their emotional and relational intelligence. Being open and vulnerable to feedback contributes not only to the improvement of one’s self, but also to the improvement of the team. Jim also shares that leadership is everywhere, and that leadership can’t exist without the relationships that we build.
Jim shares that much of his success came from the fact that he would get to know people on a granular level, and not just when he needed them to put out fires. By investing in your team and providing an engaging and feedback-based environment, leaders won’t have to worry when they ring the fire bell. Jim boldly shares that good leaders engage and inspire, whereas bad leaders read off the pages and direct, and shares that the four cornerstones to great leadership are relationships, influence, knowledge, and credibility.
You can find Jim’s book Engage, Inspire, Lead on Amazon or at bookstores nationwide. To reach Jim directly, connect with him on LinkedIn.
This podcast wouldn't be possible without the incredible work of our faaaaaantastic team:
- Scheduling and correspondence by Kristen Karaliunas
- Summary written by Mason Nichols
- Audio and video editing by Abby Giganan
To connect with AttractionPros:
Tuesday Jan 02, 2024
Tuesday Jan 02, 2024
Keep connecting with IAAPA in 2024! Join your colleagues and peers at the IAAPA FEC Summit from January 21st to the 23rd in San Antonio, Texas. Or, plan to celebrate the industry’s most significant achievements at the new IAAPA Honors event held in conjunction with the IAAPA North America Summit, March 3rd to the 5th in Las Vegas.
We can’t wait to see you there! Visit IAAPA.org for more information.
As we head into 2024, AttractionPros is proud to present the seventh annual “resolutionary” episode, which sets the stage for the year to come. To go forth, we reflect on 2023 as Matt and Josh discuss not only their personal goals, but goals for the industry as well. As you set your goals for the upcoming year, we hope you discover valuable advice and guidance as we discuss our resolutions, and hope they can provide a great framework to help you achieve your goals for 2024. In this episode, Matt and Josh talk about the power of accountability as they share their goals and resolutions for 2024.
Accountability
One of the most powerful forces in life is accountability. Josh shares that announcing his upcoming book on the podcast served as a motivating factor, propelling him to publish The Hospitality Mentality in 2023 and ensure its successful completion. Additionally, because AttractionPros has a strong and growing audience that keeps us accountable, it has helped ensure that every Tuesday since September 2017, there’s been a new podcast for our listeners to hear.
New Year's resolutions often wane or fall short, but establishing not only internal but also external accountability can significantly enhance the pursuit of those goals. This is also incredibly important in our industry, as making sure we hold ourselves accountable ensures that we can deliver great experiences to guests every day of the year.
Josh’s Resolutions
In 2024, Josh wants to focus more on building partnerships and sustaining guest experience initiatives. Josh shares that throughout his career, he’s often flown out for a temporary time to deliver a workshop, and typically finds himself working in short timeframes. Josh wants to commit more time to growing guest experience initiatives and building more rewarding and long-lasting relationships within the industry.
Josh never expected to become a public speaker, but now finds himself consistently speaking at expos and workshops. Knowing this, Josh wants to commit to becoming a great public speaker in 2024 by taking advantage of the resources around him, such as enrolling in courses at The Second City in Chicago. By finding a unique voice and providing opportunities to laugh, Josh will make sure he’s an even better speaker the next time you hear him.
Josh’s final resolution is that he’d like to hold more in-person events in 2024. After hosting two successful events in 2023 with the AttractionPros meetup and his book launch at IAAPA Expo, Josh has fallen in love with the relaxed environment and opportunities to build relationships and meet people in a setting that doesn't revolve around exchanging business cards. We hope to see you at the AttractionPros meetup in 2024!
Matt’s Resolutions
Matt’s first resolution for 2024 is that he’d like to keep building POC (Performance Optimist Consulting) YOUniversity by getting more help. So far, Matt has ventured on this journey primarily alone, and looks forward to bringing new perspectives not only to execute the next steps, but also create them.
Matt’s second resolution for 2024 is more personal, as he wants to keep committing to his health after receiving open heart surgery. Although several factors are out of his control, Matt realizes there’s still plenty he can do to ensure his well-being. Since surgery, Matt’s been exercising, avoiding fried foods, and working to build great habits that lead to positive lifestyle changes.
Matt’s final resolution for 2024 is that he’d like to make sure he can tell his story when it will make a positive impact on somebody. Matt wants to make sure that this story is a chapter in his life, and not the whole book. By using the story in the right moments, Matt can continue to make an incredible impact on people’s lives.
Resolutions for the Industry
Our first 2024 resolution for the industry is to take care of your people. There are far too many people who feel guilty about taking time off, and too many people who feel like they can’t take care of themselves. By taking the proper steps, Leadership can hold themselves accountable to improving their employee well-being.
Our next resolution is to make exceeding expectations part of the standard operating procedure. When we, as leadership, focus our energy in the right place, we can make sure guests have incredible experiences by training our frontline staff to consistently exceed the expectations our guests have developed.
Another resolution, as shared by Jenn Whitmer in Episode 322, is to not avoid conflict. So many negative aspects of culture, guest experience, and employee experience occur when we avoid conflict. While conversations can be difficult, handling that conflict and acknowledging the issues can help remedy many negative experiences in the workplace.
Our last resolution for the industry is to eliminate the phrase “Let me get my manager.” So many people don’t include complaint resolution/recovery in their standard operation procedure. By allowing frontline staff to resolve complaints and provide a service recovery, the guest and employee can both walk away as winners.
If you have been inspired by our guests to achieve your goals, we would love to hear about it. Please connect with us via Facebook, Linkedin, X, Instagram, or send us an email.
We wish you a happy, healthy, and successful year ahead, and we look forward to bringing you many more amazing guests in 2024!
This podcast wouldn't be possible without the incredible work of our faaaaaantastic team:
- Scheduling and correspondence by Kristen Karaliunas
- Summary written by Mason Nichols
To connect with AttractionPros:
Tuesday Dec 26, 2023
Tuesday Dec 26, 2023
Keep connecting with IAAPA in 2024! Join your colleagues and peers at the IAAPA FEC Summit from January 21st to the 23rd in San Antonio, Texas. Or, plan to celebrate the industry’s most significant achievements at the new IAAPA Honors event held in conjunction with the IAAPA North America Summit, March 3rd to the 5th in Las Vegas.
We can’t wait to see you there! Visit IAAPA.org for more information.
Jamie Flaherty is the VP of Business Development and Marketing for Netserv Applications and oversees Tatvam Analytics. As a self-proclaimed “Attractions Ninja,” Jamie has been passionate about guest experience technology since early on in his career when he worked with a startup in college. After selling the startup, he joined the team with Gateway Ticketing Systems, where he was able to work with attractions all over the world for more than a decade. More recently, he joined Netserv to oversee Tatvam Analytics, which helps attractions compile guest feedback to make ongoing improvements to the experience and the organization. In this interview, Jamie talks about using technology to impact the guest experience, making feedback-based improvements, and riding the ride.
Using technology to impact the guest experience
"There is so much more technology that impacts the experience than most people realize."
When people share stories of their experience visiting attractions, they usually don’t talk about the technology like the ticketing platform or other tools that they use to help manage the venue or deliver the experience. In most cases, if people talk about technology, it’s usually because something wasn’t working.
Technology, specifically the tools that impact the guest experience, should be woven in so seamlessly that the guest doesn’t know how they work or that they even exist. Attractions leaders should view technology as a means of removing friction from the guest experience as the core purpose.
Making feedback-based improvements
"The things you're doing wrong are what you need to fix, and the things you're doing right are what you can charge more for."
Jamie boldly states, “Don’t trust your guest experience team” when it comes to understanding what the largest areas of concern are. Instead, focus on collecting feedback from well-rounded sources to see the holistic view of the guest experience and understand what the largest complaints and friction points are. This includes internal feedback, as well as social media, online reviews, and anywhere else that guests can share their perception of the experience.
When you identify what the largest issue is, you can allocate your resources and attention toward resolving the largest issue. It’s also important to note that the solution is not the opposite of the problem. Jamie shares a story where an attraction noted that their largest complaint had to do with crowds. Instead of reducing crowds by limiting attendance, they pulled back to identify when and where the perception of crowds were the heaviest, and focused efforts on shifting people throughout the building as well as spreading attendance toward slower time periods. In turn, their attendance went up, along with guest satisfaction, creating a win-win outcome.
Riding the ride
"The more you experience as a guest, the more you can help other people."
In addition to working in the industry, Jamie is an avid consumer of the product as well, as he regularly visits parks and attractions with his family. This helps to influence his perception of the experience as he is regularly on the lookout for ways that parks are incorporating technology. His children have also changed the way he views the operation by gaining their perception.
This mindset extends into how industry professionals experience attractions while attending networking events, expos, or visiting clients. Jamie shares the importance of “riding the ride” or experiencing the attraction as a guest, because it helps to enhance how we are able to help those we serve, whether it is guests visiting our attraction or the clients and partners we make in the industry.
To learn more about Tatvam, visit https://tatvaminsights.com. To reach Jamie directly, connect with him on LinkedIn.
This podcast wouldn't be possible without the incredible work of our faaaaaantastic team:
- Scheduling and correspondence by Kristen Karaliunas
To connect with AttractionPros:
Tuesday Dec 19, 2023
Tuesday Dec 19, 2023
Keep connecting with IAAPA in 2024! Join your colleagues and peers at the IAAPA FEC Summit from January 21st to the 23rd in San Antonio, Texas. Or, plan to celebrate the industry’s most significant achievements at the new IAAPA Honors event held in conjunction with the IAAPA North America Summit, March 3rd to the 5th in Las Vegas.
We can’t wait to see you there! Visit IAAPA.org for more information.
Reggie Williams is a lifelong athlete and community leader who spent 14 years in the NFL with the Cincinnati Bengals before being hired as Director of Sports Development for Disney on April 19, 1993. In the mid-1990s, he oversaw the creation of Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex, a state-of-the-art 220-acre multi-sport facility that hosts more than 180 athletic events annually in some 30 sports. By 1998, he had become Vice President of Disney Sports Attractions, where he oversaw a newly created sports and recreation division that merged Walt Disney World Resort Recreation, Water Parks, and Disney Sports Attractions. In this interview, Reggie talks about being thrust into leadership, parallels between sports and business and listening to the pain.
Being thrust into leadership
"In leadership, everyone is watching you."
Reggie tells the story about how in college he was put in the position of leading calisthenics for the football team. He didn’t know much about leadership at that point, but was about to learn on the fly.
The first lesson is that everyone is watching you. That’s as true on the football field as it is in the community or a board room. Remembering that helps leaders hold themselves accountable, positively influence those around them and make a lasting impression they can be proud of.
Parallels between sports and business
"The similarity between teams in sports and business is how you get better."
To win games, teams in sports will study their opponent, the conditions, the players, the strategies and schemes to prepare mentally for doing battle on any given day. They will also prepare physically by working out, running plays, and doing drills so they are ready for any situation.
Winning in business is a little harder to measure, but the process for business teams involves understanding the competitive landscape, adjusting your product or offering and working together to be innovative.
In both of these cases, it is the process of being a team that helps individuals improve.
Listening to the pain
"Listening is a skillset."
The ability to listen is one of the most critical skills of any athlete, leader, community member or human being! Listening validates people and builds relational bridges that are required to accomplish great things for your sports team, community or business.
To solve meaningful problems, leaders must listen for the pain that others are experiencing. This way you can work toward meaningful solutions that help everybody, even members of rivals city gangs.
To connect with Reggie, you can find him on Facebook. Reggie’s book, Resilient by Nature: Reflections from a Life of Winning On and Off the Football Field is available on Amazon.
This podcast wouldn't be possible without the incredible work of our faaaaaantastic team:
- Scheduling and correspondence by Kristen Karaliunas
To connect with AttractionPros:
Tuesday Dec 12, 2023
Tuesday Dec 12, 2023
Keep connecting with IAAPA in 2024! Join your colleagues and peers at the IAAPA FEC Summit from January 21st to the 23rd in San Antonio, Texas. Or, plan to celebrate the industry’s most significant achievements at the new IAAPA Honors event held in conjunction with the IAAPA North America Summit, March 3rd to the 5th in Las Vegas.
We can’t wait to see you there! Visit IAAPA.org for more information.
The 2023 IAAPA expo proved to be nothing short of incredible. From mesmerizing drone shows to jam-packed education sessions, this expo was a standout event. As attendance continues to grow each year since the pandemic,, the 2023 expo provided something meaningful for everyone and helped catapult our industry into the coming year. In this episode, Matt and Josh talk about their key takeaways from IAAPA’s 2023 convention from their on-the-floor and bird’s eye perspectives.
IAAPA Expo is one of the best indicators of the overall health of the attractions industry.
With a crowded show floor and people lining every corner, IAAPA proved to be an exciting and energetic environment. Since its beginning, IAAPA has consistently served as a strong indicator of the health of the industry, showing the progress from concern and caution in the pandemic to the excitement and risk-taking that we’re seeing again today.
Our industry provides so many avenues to be passionate about.
IAAPA encapsulates so many avenues of our industry under one roof, and provides a great opportunity not only to specialize in an avenue, but also to learn about different tracks and take great nuggets of information to apply elsewhere. Valuable lessons transcend boundaries; even individuals in HR can glean insights from the more imaginative, and vice versa. By allowing for these avenues to learn from each other, innovation can be born and our industry can go even further.
Guest service training for frontline staff should include service recovery and complaint resolution.
Josh shared that throughout his expo experience, the number one issue he found is that not enough employers train their frontline staff on service recovery and complaint resolution. Service failures and guest complaints are part of the standard operation, and thus should be incorporated into our frontline staff’s training. Everybody loses when the manager gets involved, and our frontline staff should be well-equipped to get dissatisfied guests back on track to being satisfied.
IAAPA Expo provides ample opportunities to overcome fears and expand your professional development.
Many people accomplished something for the first time at this year's expo. So many people struggle with getting on the stage and sharing their knowledge, and many others struggle with imposter syndrome and confidence. IAAPA provides a safe and exciting place to overcome these fears, and it helps expand people’s confidence and skills like networking and sales that can boost their professional development.
Investing in your team's professional development pays off substantially in the long run.
Providing an investment in a young leader’s future can pay off substantially in the long run, and experiential learning is a priceless way to grow and develop a team. The offerings in Orlando are endless, and people can learn from their experiences at parks like Disney, Universal, and LEGOLAND in addition to their time at IAAPA. Young leaders in the industry are just as hungry as they are impressionable, and that investment will be priceless.
This year's IAAPA Expo shows that the industry embraces creativity, innovation, and risk-taking.
The reveals and announcements at this year’s expo were far beyond anything that the exhibitors at IAAPA have previously offered. This year, we saw the industry not just follow the standard path, but take chances and go outside of its comfort zone. From gravy trains to brand-new coaster styles, we saw the industry saying “Why Not?” more than ever this year, generating even more excitement and energy on the show floor.
Were you at IAAPA Expo 2023? Tell us your biggest takeaway! Click here to leave us a voice message in the Speakpipe. To learn more about IAAPA, including events they host throughout the year all over the world, click here.
This podcast wouldn't be possible without the incredible work of our faaaaaantastic team:
- Scheduling and correspondence by Kristen Karaliunas
- A/V editing by Abby Giganan
- Summary written by Mason Nichols
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