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.
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