Global Spectrum is a company that manages public assembly venues in the United States and Canada, with a growing presence overseas in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. In addition to managing venues, the Philadelphia-based company stages its own sports, entertainment, arts and special events.
“We’re a private management company overseeing about 30 convention centers with multiple venues,” said Shura Garnett, regional vice president for Global Spectrum. “They range in size from Miami Beach, Florida, to smaller cities like Pueblo, Colorado, and Las Cruces, New Mexico.”
Facilities and Events
Global Spectrum manages arenas as small as 1,900 seats to as large as 21,000. Its experience dates back to 1967. The company emphasizes modern technology and environmental management techniques.
Examples of the types of facilities it manages are arenas like the one at Bowling Green State University, stadiums, and convention and exhibition halls like the Atlantic City Convention Center. It oversees theaters, amphitheaters and arts centers such as the Roanoke Performing Arts Center. Ice facilities like the University of Rhode Island Ice Arena, county and state fairgrounds, and even entertainment and retail districts such as Xfinity Live! in Philadelphia come under its management.
Global Spectrum also organizes and promotes its own for-profit and nonprofit shows. It does a free children’s healthy lifestyle event in the summertime in places such as St. Charles, Missouri, and Overland Park, Kansas. “It’s a good, well-rounded day for kids, fun for them and their families,” said Garnett.
The company has also produced dozens of outdoor shows in Niagara Falls, New York, and Enid, Oklahoma. It has staged gun and home shows in Provo, Utah. It helped Des Moines, Iowa, with a food, wine and beer event. Garnett says it all demonstrates that Global Spectrum understands what its venue customers experience “and also what it means to be a planner.”
“We empathize with them.”
‘How You Doin’?’
Companies create marketing slogans all the time, but Global Spectrum has one it believes in. “How you doin’?” is a phrase meant to empower employees to chat and interact with customers, to solve problems on the floor and address concerns promptly.
“We’re proud of it. That’s all about customer service,” said Garnett. “We have ongoing training with our employees about this program during weekly staff meetings and monthly and quarterly employee gatherings. It’s a culture we’ve adopted.”
Global Spectrum uses a top-10 list of principles that accompanies the phrase: Customer First, Golden Rule, Listen, Think “Yes,” Be Professional, Positive Attitude, 24-Hour Rule, Everybody Sells, Enthusiasm and Do It Now. “I think our customer service is top of the line,” said Garnett.
The company proudly informs clients that no issue is too difficult to solve. Global Spectrum can call on experts and resources within its vast regional and national network to fix problems and meet customers’ expectations. Booking a meeting at a Global Spectrum venue is easy.
“We have a toll-free number [888-456-2599] to call or they can email us at nationalsales@global-spectrum.com if they want information about more than one venue,” said Garnett. “That’s the easiest way. Or, they can go to our website, www.global-spectrum.com, which lists all of our venues with the ability to email the general manager at each location.”
What sets Global Spectrum apart from its competitors is a culture of being invested in the success of a client’s meetings and activities.
“We have high retention and repeat business,” Garnett said. “Once a planner visits one of our buildings and interacts with our staff and sees how clean the venue is, they’ll get a sense of how much we invest in their success.”
