Live Events Review

            I had the opportunity this month to attend two events in the Orlando area, one of them being a jazz competition.  This competition was held at the Timucua White House, located on South Summerlin Avenue.  The most interesting part of the experience was that the competition was not held in a big venue, rather it actually being in a house that was turned into a venue.  You would never know concerts were held at this location until you actually go in and see that there is a stage and three levels of seating in this house. As far as the event itself, you can tell that the individuals who planned the even have been doing it for a while- it was very organized. The artists were also a big hit in that they played music very well; it was a good experience.  There are three things I would change about it, though, one of them being the marketing of their events.  This is one of those word-of-mouth places, and if you do not know someone who has been here then you might never know about the place.  It would be a shame to have these great artists play, and only a select few actually know to go to Timucua to see them.  The second thing I would change is getting a sign in front of the house.  I do not know if they are going for the whole low key feel, but those that were there for the first time were shocked to find out it was in a house. With a sign that said Timucua, it would help those trying to find the venue as well as get some interest from those driving past.  Last, the last thing I would change would be the setup.  The chairs were somewhat uncomfortable, but the music offset that so you really do not feel the effects until the end.  There was also a potluck in that you bring food to share.  If there is more marketing of Timucua, they should also market that more so that more people bring food.

            The second event I attended was the Orlando City vs Toronto FC game.  Orlando City might be, or is, the hottest ticket in town right now.  You cannot go anywhere in Orlando without seeing a OCSC magnet on someone’s car, so with that the team has done a tremendous job at marketing.  This also translates to tickets sold, as the capacity was originally set at 19,000 at the Citrus Bowl, but because of demand the average attendance of the games is above 30,000.  The whole gameday experience was amazing, from the tailgate event with the supporter groups to Mane Street (the street parallel to the stadium has family-friendly events and games) to the game itself.  Even though the team lost, it was still an experience.  There are three things I would change, one of them being the vendors (or lack there of).  There are not that many vendors at the stadium, which translates to long lines.  Many people missed part of the game because they were standing in line for a long time; if there were more vendors, there would be shorter lines.  The second and third thing has to do with the section I sat in, which is called the Supporters Section.  How the section works is you buy a ticket but you do not have a claimed seat, kind of like a theater; you sit anywhere you want too within the section, which leads to my second change.  There were many people who did not realize you pick your own seat, which led to lots of confusion and arguing with stadium officials.  The third thing is because you can pick your own seat, there were many individual seats that went unused because many left a seat open just for space.  This caused many people to not have a seat because it would mean they would be separated from the group they came with.  If there were some sort of system that the stadium had to fix this, then many people would get their moneys worth.

Product & Artist Management TED Talk

              For my Product & Artist Management class I was required to watch a TED Talk featuring the presenter Simon Sinek.  The topic of his presentation was a model that the successful companies use to garner and inspire customers.  He called it the Golden Circle, and the model featured three circles within each other and the words why, how and what.  Simon stated that most companies know what they do as a company and how they run themselves, but the successful companies are the ones who know why they do what they do.  Simon compared the circle to the brain, as most people think with their outer most brain, the neo-cortex, and can process the what, but those that are unique think with the inner most brain, the limbic brain, to find out the how and why.  For example, I think Marvel Studios fits this model due to how successful they have become.  What they sell is movies featuring character from Marvel comics.  How they sell the idea of good Marvel movies is combining all the characters into one cinematic universe, which comes the why.  Marvel made this cinematic universe because nothing like this has ever been done to this great length in movie history.  When comic book movies were starting to become popular, they were one-dimensional; they only featured one movie.  What Marvel Studios does in one movie could potentially affect another one set in the same universe.  That is why Marvel Studios is successful- they are doing groundbreaking things. 

            Simon also talked about the law of diffusion of innovation.  Based on spending habits of the population, he broke down the population into five levels- innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority and laggards.  When the iPhone first came out, not many people bought it.  Since the early adopters believe in the iPhone, the bought it which caught the eyes of the early adopters, so on and so forth.  To examine this law, I will compare my last two purchases with it. The first purchase, FIFA 15, came out last September but I still paid full price for it, so because of that I believe I am a late majority for the product.  I bought the game because it was the newest version of the FIFA video game series.  I could have easily bought a later edition of the game but I wanted the newer version.  My second most recent purchase was Orlando City Soccer tickets.  The tickets I bought are for their third home game in their first season in the MLS, so I believe that makes me an early majority.  I buy tickets because 1.)  I believe in the team and 2.) I believe in supporting the home team.  Overall, Simon Sinek’s TED Talk was great and well worth the watch.

Link for the TED Talk:

http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action

One Million Cups Orlando

           For this month’s blog, I will be talking about a video I watched on Youtube that centered on the idea of entrepreneurs in the community.  One Million Cups is a movement that helps entrepreneurs from cities across the country present their company’s ideas to an audience; each week two entrepreneurs get this chance to present.  One Million Cups helps push the companies out into the public, which could be vital to the success of these companies.  The presentations I watched were for two companies named Grind Time Now and Studio 18.  Grind Time Now is, essentially, a league based on Rap Battles.  These battles were quite popular in the 90’s with YO! MTV Raps, but have been an intricate piece for the genre since. The biggest thing the company has is their huge potential on Youtube, where they are bringing in most of their revenue.  The strength of the presentation was the motivation that the presenter had, which in turn made the league sound more fun.  The weakness that I saw was the presenter looking at the screen quite a few times, which made it seem as though he tried making the videos and pictures become the center of attention.  If the presenter had more eye contact with the audience, then the presentation would be improved.  As far as tips for improving the business concept, I believe that in order to further the brand, the company should do more marketing on Youtube and get more people to watch the battles.

            The second presentation I watched was about Studio 18, a studio based out of Studio 18. According to the presenter, the studio is making music for a various amount of genres, including rap and bluegrass.  Similar to the presenter of Grind Time Now, the presenter for Studio 18’s strength was the motivation and passion he had while presenting made the presentation a lot of fun to watch.  The weakness had nothing to do with how it was presented, but with how the studio could differentiate itself with the other studios in Orlando.  The presenter did not really go into specifics about that, which made it seem like the studio was just another studio.  A tip for the business concept and the presentation is to both elaborate on what makes this studio the best in Orlando, and if they do not really know, then find a way to fix that.  Make the studio more than it is and what it was set out to be.  If you want to watch the video, the link is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhzUTMt5FUk.