Michael Marion has became one of the familiar names in the venue world after starting his career with Triad Artists in the 1980’s and eventually settling into his role as general manager of the Verizon Arena in Little Rock, Ark. Marion’s newest volunteer role commences when he will be voted in as 2nd Vice Chair of the International Association of Venue Managers, a position that will take him to chairman of the association in two years. He is only a nominee until the vote is actually taken at VenueConnect in Minneapolis July 23-26, but it is a safe assumption that Marion will be unanimously voted in by the membership. Marion discussed his upcoming role, the changes at IAVM, within the
industry and much more with Venues Today.
How has the live event business changed over the last few decades?
I remember when I first routed a tour. The South was my territory from Virginia down to Texas. Back then you would route a tour out of Washington, D.C. and you’d go from Richmond, Va., to Charlotte, N.C., to Columbia, S.C., to Atlanta, because that’s where the buildings were. Now, there are buildings everywhere. It’s the same thing with performing arts centers, convention centers, you name it. There is a lot of competition and a lot of choices. When we opened this building in 1999, we said, ‘Can we have a moratorium on building arenas?,’ but they kept building them anyway.
What other major changes have you seen in the industry?
I come from the arena side and would say the consolidation in the industry. I think of the Live Nation and AEG Live juggernaut. I think about in the performing arts world where Broadway Across America controls a good bit of Broadway. Some of the consolidation seems like things got rolled up and got bigger. That changes the business model, and the pressure on the buildings to compete with each other. Another thing that comes to mind is the number of stadium tours. In the last few years whether it was Taylor Swift, U2 or Kenny Chesney, it seems like stadium tours have gotten to be more popular and the stadiums have gotten more aggressive in getting those shows.
What, nothing about technology?
Technology is a given. I can remember sitting with a calendar book and handwriting notes in the book. Now it is all computerized and on the Cloud, on my phone and anywhere I go. That has made it much more productive and also makes us available 24 hours a day. That’s the nature of our business. I always tell our interns we are working while everybody else is having fun. That’s the nature of it.
What are today’s challenges for the association?
Besides serving the members we also need to find our niche. There was a time when the only time building managers got together was at the summer conference and sector conferences. Now there are a lot of things people can do. The Arena Management Conference as something we can offer, which is always operational material you can’t get at any of those other conferences. I think we need to continue to find our niche as to what our offering is to differentiate us from all these other gatherings. We have Oglebay and AVSS and those are excellent offerings that we need to continue with. There are a lot of good things that we’re doing. We need to stay relevant.
You mentioned VenueConnect. Are there any challenges there?
VenueConnect is about bringing together like-minded people. You’ve got this whole group of people who are in a similar business who want to communicate with one another. To me, VenueConnect should be that channel for that communication. We know that attendance is down. I go back to what I said before about the competition. You have so many choices of meetings. I feel real comfortable that the association and staff are working hard to make the VenueConnect meeting a relevant meeting. We know it’s all about the trade show. We have to have decision makers there in order to have all the allied members feeling good about that meeting. We certainly have some challenges but the current staff and leadership is tackling that.
As someone who worked in a booth for Triad at this show many years ago, that has to give you a unique perspective.
It does. I certainly feel like the concept of it is very good. This is not news; people are working on making it better. You think about these sector meetings. There’s no trade show. There’s just people getting together. They’ve been successful and well attended because that’s really what’s driving people. As I mentioned before, it is getting together with peers to talk business. But then you think about the importance of a trade show. I think about the whole magnetometer thing that has come up and the Orlando story. We installed our mags back in January after Paris and San Bernardino and I’ve had two buildings contact me asking if I have a RFP for mags? Yes, I do. Will you send it to me? Yes, I will. That’s what this association is about. But it has to be worthwhile for the vendors.
What are some final thoughts about IAVM?
I’m just a big believer in IAVM. If tomorrow somebody said that we are disbanding IAVM, come the next day it would return as something else because we like to get together and talk about our businesses. In any given city in this town outside of my staff there are probably four people I can talk to about the business. It’s pretty limited. In a larger town you have more of a pool of people you can interact with and talk about the business, whine about the business or whatever. It is still pretty small. That’s the great thing, whether it is VenueConnect, or the sector conferences, we can all get together and talk about business and understand each other.
Was becoming chairman of IAVM something on your bucket list?
I had not really aspired to it. I have been very involved with (Venue Management School) Oglebay and went through the chairs of the school. As I was coming off the chair of the school, I had given some thought to the school, and what was going on with IAVM. Going through the chairs of the school is certainly good training ground for going through the chairs of the association. I thought it was worth throwing my hat in the ring. I’ve always been a big fan of IAVM.
How far back do you go with IAVM?
I became a professional member in 1992. I was with Triad Artists in the 1980’s, which was when I first started going to the annual conference as an allied member. It was probably around 1984 and I remember setting up our booth. I have been on the Board of Regents, Industry Affairs Committee, Arena Sector Committee and VenueConnect Planning Committee.
What will be your role as 2nd Vice Chair?
I will be chair of the Audit Committee. I talked with Doug Booher (current 2nd Vice Chair) and will be learning more about the responsibilities.
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