1. Kimberly Cole
Interviewee: Nicole Anderson of The Sanford Center
*As Managed by VenuWorks
INFORMATIONAL INTERVIEW

2. ABOUT THE SANFORD CENTER
➤ Officially opening to the public in October of 2010, The Sanford Center is not only the home of the
Bemidji State University men’s and women’s hockey teams, but as well as the main hub for major events
around northern Minnesota.
➤ Attached to the Sanford Center arena is the George W. Neilson convention center which includes three
large sized meeting rooms, smaller meeting rooms with a view of the lake and is a town favorite for
hosting wedding receptions and other major gatherings.
➤ The venue is managed by VenuWorks, a venue management company located out of Iowa. Along with
The Sanford Center, VenuWorks also manages larger sized arenas such as the Ford Center in Evansville,
Indiana and the Denny PREMIER Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
➤ Major events that the facility has held in the past
decade include: Country names such as Brad
Paisley, Luke Bryan, Blake Shelton, Old Dominion
and Dwight Yoakam. Well known pop and rock
groups such as ZZ Top, Australian Pink Floyd,
and Alice Cooper have also performed at the
arena along with comedy acts such as Ron White
and Jeff Dunham.

3. ABOUT NICOLE | SCHOOLING AND THE WHY
Q: Why did you choose this industry? At what point did
you know you wanted to build your career in it?
A: I stumbled into this industry when choosing a major for
college and ended up at the Dedman School of Hospitality
orientation for Florida State University. I fell in love with
the culture and the flexibility that the major brought
because the hospitality industry encompasses so much!
I love working with people and I felt like I belonged in the
industry. My sophomore year of college, I got a job as an
event planner in the University Relations office of Florida
State University where I got to be a part of planning events
for the President of the University - private dinners for 15
people to large welcome event for the incoming freshman
class for 5,000 people and I knew that event planning was
what I wanted to do. I added an emphasis in Event Planning
to my Hospitality Management major and here we are!
Q&A with Nicole Anderson
Accounting Manager and
Ticket Office Manger

4. ABOUT NICOLE | FROM THEN TO NOW
Q: From starting at an entry level position, what steps did
you take to get into your current role as a manager?
A: I joined the Sanford Center’s Food & Beverage department
in a part-time capacity and worked with that department for 6
months knowing when a full-time position became available,
that I would apply for it.
A position opened up in their sales department and I applied and
interviewed for that position. In each position I have held with
the Sanford Center, I have made sure to give my best effort, ask
questions when I have had them, and to take the time to figure
out a problem I may have before moving on.
Not being afraid of long hours, last-minute changes to a set
plan, and working until the job is done, have been decisions
that have led to promotion opportunities in my career.
Q&A with Nicole Anderson
Accounting Manager and
Ticket Office Manger

5. ABOUT NICOLE | ACCOUNTING & TICKET OFFICE MANAGER RESPONSIBILITIES
Q: What responsibilities do you have under your title as
Accounting Manager and Ticket Office Manager?
A: As the Accounting Manager I am responsible for 4 (four) main
categories of the Sanford Center’s operations which include Ticket
Office, Accounting, HR, and Administration.
In the Ticket Office, I oversee the day-to-day operations and what
are considered to be the “Customer facing” duties.
In Accounting and HR, I work directly with our Director of
Finance to ensure all records are up to date and handle all new
hires for the facility.
For Administration, I directly oversee the Administrative Assistant
to maintain the booking calendar, concert contracting, and office
management.
Q&A with Nicole Anderson
Accounting Manager and
Ticket Office Manger

6. INTERVIEW | MANAGEMENT STYLE
Q: What does your management style look like?
A: I am very new in my management role, so I am still
learning what my style is and figuring out how to implement
it. I like to create a fun environment where my employees
look forward to being.
I consider myself a macro-manager - the opposite of a
micro-manager. Once I have trained my employees on the
tasks at hand, I have all the faith in the world that they will
be able to accomplish them. I like to check in, see if help is
needed but if not, then we all can get our tasks done.
While I don’t like to hover or micro-manage, I try to make
sure my employees know that if ever they have a question or
need something from me that I am always available.
Q&A with Nicole Anderson
Accounting Manager and
Ticket Office Manger

7. INTERVIEW | EMPLOYEE STYLE
Q: What does your ideal
employee style look like?
A: My ideal employee is one that
shows initiative and is not afraid to ask
questions. Someone who is consistent
and accountable for their work and
their actions.
Q&A with Nicole Anderson
Accounting Manager and
Ticket Office Manger

8. INTERVIEW | THE CHALLENGES
Q: What has been your most challenging
situation involving an employee?
A: My most challenging situations involving my
employees has definitely been the COVID-19
pandemic and how it abruptly ended an event
season and therefore caused me to be separated
from my employees too soon without a proper
farewell party or ending. That is something that
no training had prepared me for.
My staff call me the Ticket Office Mom which I
am honored to have earned that title.
Q&A with Nicole Anderson
Accounting Manager and
Ticket Office Manger

9. INTERVIEW | TEAM MOTIVATION
Q: How do you motivate your team to
continue to work hard?
A: We are all in this together. We are a team
and we live and die as a team.
Creating ownership in the company and
product is a great motivator. When the
employee loves what they do and the
people they work with, it is a lot easier to
work harder without realizing it.
Q&A with Nicole Anderson
Accounting Manager and
Ticket Office Manger

10. INTERVIEW | ADVICE
Q4: What is the best advice you have been given OR what advice
would you give to someone looking to be in a similar management
role as you?
A: The best advice I was given while pursuing my career was: “Do
everything with 100% honesty. If you do not know how to do something -
a project, task, whatever - take the time to be honest with yourself - ‘Do I
have the resources to figure out how to do this on my own?’if so, do it. If
not, do not be afraid to be honest that you need help. Bosses like
trainable people with gumption. But if you are one of those ‘I can’t do
this, you do it for me while I watch’people, after I have shown you how
to figure it out a hundred times, well, you won’t last long here child.”
Ask for help yes, but only after you have truly proven you couldn’t do it
alone. And that has served me well. Did my boss give me all of the
necessary information to complete the task? Yes? Great, done. Did my
boss forget to tell me the date of the event that goes on the invitation?
Well that is not something I can just go google - a question is asked.
Q&A with Nicole Anderson
Accounting Manager and
Ticket Office Manger

11. INTERVIEW | MENTORING
Q6: Have you had the opportunity to mentor anyone on
your team? If so, how did they grow in their role and what
steps did you take towards mentoring them?
A few titles back, I had the opportunity to take on a summer
intern who was interested in the industry. The best way I could
mentor her was answer all her questions and give her the
industry’s finest test of “Baptism by Fire” and she dove right
into events with the knowledge she had learned and had to
prove to herself what she had learned.
She ended up being hired on full time and working with the
company for 2 years with a promotion in the middle. Over the
course of her time with us, I continued to make myself available
as a resource for questions and as a confidence boost as she
presented her ideas.
Q&A with Nicole Anderson
Accounting Manager and
Ticket Office Manger

12. A LESSON LEARNED - PEOPLE MANAGEMENT
What have I learned from Nicole:
➤ As a team, you are all in this together even if you are the one in
charge. You all ride this together.
➤ Micro-management is not effective in every job situation. The idea
of using a Macro management type management style and the idea
of managing from afar help to create confidence in an employee and
teach them to be independent in their own job position.
➤ This industry is very diverse in ways you can succeed in it and it
does not give to those who are not willing to put in the work.
➤ Motivate your team by creating ownership and lead them to dl the
same in their work.

13. COULD I BE NICOLE?
When looking at all of the responsibilities Nicole takes on over a wide variety of departments and
individuals, if I were to ever take on a job similar to hers, I would want her to mentor me. With her
background of experience in different roles and her management style, I think this makes her very
successful in her position.
When it comes to my own strengths and weaknesses, I have the determination and drive to want to
become a leader in this industry in some shape or form. I have experience with training and leading
individuals and when you add that task under something I am very passionate about, I can succeed very
well at the task.
A weakness I can think of right away however, is my passion can also drive me to want to take on full
responsibility over a task or department, rather than work as a team and delegate it. I want to be the
best I can be and do the best I can do without involving others at times when I should, so this then
diminished learning opportunities for my team and adds to stressing me out.
When it comes to Nicole’s position specifically, I would be interested in a position similar to hers one
day in the future. Her job allows her to be vary knowledgeable in many different areas of the venue and
it allows her to have a diverse work setting of days where she’s on her own in her office doing HR,
Accounting and other Administrative work and also have days where she gets to work directly with her
team in the Ticket Office. With these two main ideas, this alone makes me interested in the position.

14. REFERENCES
Information:
About the Venue. (2019, January 07). Retrieved from https://www.thesanfordcenter.net/
guest-services/about-the-arena/
Meet the Team. (2020, May 21). Retrieved from https://www.thesanfordcenter.net/contact/
meet-the-team/
Venue Management Company. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.venuworks.com/
Photos:
Slide 1: Rink Photo (Taken by me, BSU Hockey Season 2020.)
Slide 2: Sanford Center Building Photo
Bemidji's Regional Event Center. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.ci.bemidji.mn.us/?
SEC=439EBC08-82ED-4FF1-9395-68B8CA0C4906
Slides 3-11: Nicole Anderson’s Headshot
Meet the Team. (2020, May 21). Retrieved from https://www.thesanfordcenter.net/contact/
meet-the-team/