Meeting planners need all the help they can get. It usually comes from the staff at the venue they use for their gathering. Imagine if that venue’s management team had access to the vast resources of its corporate parent, a company with national, even international, reach in the fields of communications, marketing services, food-and-beverage services, and ticketing. That might help draw greater numbers of attendees to a meeting or event.
Global Spectrum manages public assembly facilities such as convention centers, arenas, stadiums and exhibit halls. It has a wide network of talented public relations and marketing professionals to help build attendance at meetings and events.
Global Spectrum is owned by Comcast-Spectacor, one of the world’s biggest entertainment and sports companies. Meeting and event planners should take note: Comcast-Spectacor also owns Ovations Food Services, a food and beverage services provider; Paciolan, an expert in venue ticketing, fundraising and marketing technology solutions; and Front Row Marketing Services, a commercial rights sales company, among other holdings.
‘Super-Parent Company’
John Page, president of Global Spectrum, calls Comcast “our super-parent company.”
“It’s been a fantastic relationship,” he said. “Back when we started, we managed five buildings. Today we have 125. A lot of the markets we’re in represent secondary-tertiary markets, or they are facilities that are right outside of larger metropolitan centers.”
Page said the Global Spectrum-Comcast relationship has allowed his company to thrive as a sales and marketing firm.
“That’s how we differentiate ourselves from the competition. When we manage facilities in a market, we look at the available resources and leverage all the media opportunities that come along with it. If a meeting planner is looking to buy additional advertising or public relations touch points, those are things we can do through our Comcast relationship to make sure we assist them and they have a successful meeting.”
Page believes that it is important for a meeting manager to know what resources are available to them through Global Spectrum-Comcast. The needs will be meeting driven, but may also include data touch points or customer access.
“We want to be sure the knowledge and intent of the meetings is well publicized and marketed,” he said.
The company is “not a cookie-cutter type of organization,” according to Page. Some strategies may work in certain parts of the country but not everywhere.
“We try to replicate ideas and share among our buildings,” Page said. “We are a full-resource, full-service company that offers solutions to make meetings successful no matter what part of the country they go to,” said Page. “There’s a lot of daily information sharing and lead sharing that works to the client’s benefit. We assist meeting planners by being nimble, responsive and proactive.”
Serving Communities
Global Spectrum’s venue managers are urged to do community service in their markets. “Think about what these venues mean to their communities; they’re real assets,” said Page. “We encourage our GMs to be involved in any way possible. Comcast has done a tremendous job over the years. The most publicized venture is Comcast Cares Day.”
Comcast Cares Day, staged each spring, is said to be the biggest one-day corporate volunteer day in the United States. Thousands of Comcast employees at all affiliations, their family members and friends, and other local volunteers donate more than a half-million hours to improve schools, parks, senior citizens centers and more. Occasionally, meeting attendees prearrange to work with Global Spectrum employees on a charitable project. Employees provide charitable work in their communities throughout the year.
“We’re very active to make sure that [the sites] generate dollars so they can be a charitable arm and give back,” said Page. “Whether they are employee fundraising vehicles or a food drive or blood drive, those are things we encourage general managers and staff to participate in.”
