Stylehawk Event Services President, Cameron Ungar taught a graduate level sports management course at the University of San Francisco about event management and venue operations. The objective of the course was to have students "job ready" if pursuing a career in event management and venue operations. The first session introduces the course, defines what event venues are and discusses developing a mission statement. Cameron Ungar has a athletic venue background. Stylehawk Event Services manages the largest sports event venue directory in San Diego. This directory is a powerful resource for streamlining the venue sourcing process. This directory, combined with a diverse marketplace of premium event service providers and highly trained Concierge staff creates efficiencies that will result in cost savings, safer and better executed events and more profit from event revenue streams. For more sports event planning resources, visit us at: https://sportspaces.io/resources/

1. Stylehawk Event Services owner Cameron Ungar recently finished teaching a course for graduate-level students enrolled in the Sport
Management Master’s Program at the University of San Francisco. The class, titled “A Practitioner’s Guide to Event & Venue Management,”
was designed to give students a practical understanding of event and venue management from a professional who has worked in the
industry for many years.
Cameron used his real-world professional experience and his years of training in event and venue management to help give his students an
idea of the breadth of knowledge and the diversity of skills required to be an effective event and venue manager. Cameron was uniquely
qualified to teach this course, given that he has been both an event manager as well as a venue manager at several different facilities in
Long Beach and San Diego. He has planned hundreds of events, and also knows a good deal about operations from the event venue side of
things.
During the course, Cameron tasked his students with producing a complete event plan for a hypothetical event (including cost estimates,
production schedules, diagrams, staffing models, and service provider instructions). Students were also required to develop a Venue
Operations Handbook that was to include policies and procedures to guide decision-making with regard to the use of the facility, and deliver
an event briefing to the class, as if they were giving a pre-event staff briefing.

2. Course topics, which were taught by Cameron and the guest speakers he brought in, included “Booking & Scheduling,” “Crowd Management &
Emergency Response,” “Event Production,” and “Facilities Management.”
As we know all too well at Stylehawk, event management and event coordination requires a delicate mix of art and science, which is something
Cameron made sure to impart to his students. Event managers, as well as venue managers, must be extremely detailed and organized, but they
must also be able to come up with creative solutions to complex problems and maintain some level of flexibility for when the unexpected occurs.
Event and venue management isn’t for everyone. And it takes a team of dedicated professionals to do the job well. Here at Stylehawk, we’ve
assembled a team that has many years of experience running successful events throughout San Diego, Los Angeles, and Orange County. We can
use that experience to make your next event a success as well!
It’s great to have someone like Cameron at the helm of Stylehawk. He is a recognized expert in the area of event management and event
coordination and is now able to add the title of “Professor” to his resume.
If you’re looking for a highly experienced team of event services professionals in Long Beach, San Diego, and other Southern California areas,
contact us at Stylehawk. We’d love to talk with you about how we can help make your next event a successful one.

3. A PRACTITIONER'S GUIDE TO
EVENT & VENUE MANAGEMENT
SESSION #1: VENUE DEVELOPMENT

4. SESSION PLAN
• Introductions
• Syllabus Review
• Class Discussion
• Venue Definition
• Core Function
• Mission Statement & Statement of Common Purpose
• Guest Speaker: Greg Jamison
• Group Work

5. WHY AM I TEACHING THIS CLASS?
• Event and Venue Management is a mix of science and art. Only a little of this comes
from academia. I hope we can develop some tangible skills, add general perspective
and additional assets to add to your resume. In working through the class focus on:
• Creating functional deliverables that demonstrate a general understanding and a high
level of competency for potential employers.
• Obtain skills, certificates and licenses that add value to your resume.
• Develop a high value professional network and sharpen your networking skills

6. VENUE DEFINITION & CORE
FUNCTION

7. WHAT IS A PUBLIC ASSEMBLY VENUE
• Public Assembly Venue (Venues)- All public and private structures designed to
accommodate people who assemble for a common purpose. Including…
• Amphitheatre
• Arena/ Coliseum
• Auditorium
• Complex
• Conference Center
• Convention Center
• Performing Arts Venue/ Theatre
• Special Event Venue
• Stadium
Public Assembly Venue Management: Sports, Entertainment, Meeting and Convention Venues (IAVM)

8. VENUE OWNERSHIP
• Private Ownership
• Often owned by professional franchise that owns major tenant.
• Often still receive some financial assistance from local government sources.
• Tend to focus more on financial returns.
• Public Ownership
• Government entities finance, construct and manage the majority of public assembly venues.
• Though financial stability is important, these venues often ”make it clear that their existence is important to the
community as a quality of life enhancement and an economic generator.”
• Owned by Academic Institutions
• Administrative responsibilities may fall under various departments (student affairs, athletics, theatre, etc).
• Owned by Non- Profit
• Often applicable for performing arts centers.
• Non- profit really only refers to a tax status. The nature of the venue is still to serve as an organization dedicated to
contributing to the overall quality of life in a community.

9. CORE FUNCTIONS OF A PUBLIC ASSEMBLY
FACILITY
• Administrative/ Management
• Business & Financial Management
• Booking the Venue
• Marketing & Sales
• Ticketing & Access Management
• Management of Event and Ancillary Revenue Sources
• Venue Operations Management
• Event Management
• Safety & Security
Public Assembly Venue Management: Sports, Entertainment, Meeting and Convention Venues (IAVM)

10. ADMINISTRATION/ MANAGEMENT
• Prepares reports/ Presentations for
ownership
• Monitor operating budget
• Oversee daily building activities
• Service contracts and tenant leasing
issues
• Staff recruitment and training
• Performance Evaluations
• Enforce employment policies and
procedures
• Recordkeeping
• Negotiating labor agreements
• Negotiation and oversite of 3rd party
vendor agreements

11. BUSINESS & FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
• Prepare/ monitor operating
and capital budgets
• Financial Reporting
• Internal Audits
• Inventory Control/ Records
• Bookkeeping & accounts
payable/ receivable
• Tax payments/ reporting
• Purchasing
• Payroll
• Human Resources
• Risk Management &
Insurance
• Cash Handling policies/
procedures
• Event Settlement

12. BOOKING THE VENUE
• Master Calendaring
• Venue Management Software
• Rental Rate Schedules
• Developing User Priorities
Booking is a process designed to maximize yet safeguard the venue’s two most important
commodities: Time and Space. Calendar space is a perishable resource.
• Negotiating Tenant Leases
• Negotiating individual event leases
• Booking events
• Promoting & Co- Promoting shows.

13. TICKETING & ACCESS MANAGEMENT
• Ticket Inventory & distribution
issues
• Occupancy & Seating Configuration
• Financial Accounting & controls
• Staff, training & supervision
• Ticketing policies & procedures
• Tax collection & remittance
• Secondary market issues

14. MARKETING & SALES
• Market venue to prospective tenants
• Market venue to promoters &
prospective events
• Market venue to general public &
businesses
• Marketing of events
• Advertising signage sales
• Group ticket sales
• Sponsorships
• Promotions
• Public Relations
• Media Relations

15. ANCILLARY SERVICES & REVENUE STREAMS
• Food and Beverage Service/ Concessions
• Catering Sales
• Merchandise Sales
• Parking
• Equipment Rental
• Premium Services

16. VENUE OPERATIONS (FACILITY MANAGEMENT)
• Physical Plant Repair & maintenance
• Venue equipment maintenance
• Housekeeping
• Utility Management
• Sustainability Initiatives
• Capital Improvements
• Repair & Replacement
• Information technology
• Shipping & Receiving

17. SAFETY & SECURITY
• Crowd Management
• Event Safety & Security
• Building Safety & Security
• Customer/ employee Safety & Security
• Emergency Preparedness

18. EVENT MANAGEMENT
• Event Coordination
• Conversions/ change- overs
• Staging, lighting, sound- production
• Guest Services
• Front of House Staff Management

19. ROLE OF THE EVENT
COORDINATOR

20. ROLE OF THE EVENT COORDINATOR
• Understand event promoter’s vision and translate into an actionable plan.
• Serve as the primary conduit of information to communicate event needs to facility
service providers and contractors while also guiding the event promoter through
the facility’s policies and procedures.
• Manage client budget with the needs of a safe and well- executed event that
represents the image of the venue.
• Often functions as a “one- stop shop” to facilitate event services.

21. MISSION STATEMENT, STATEMENT
OF COMMON PURPOSE & VISION
STATEMENT

22. MISSION STATEMENT
• Mission Statement- Identify the purpose of the venue and provide a basis for making
policy decisions regarding issues of scheduling, booking priorities, tenant oversight,
reporting and budget development.
• Collaborative process
• Purpose is to produce an accurate and complete description of the venue’s reason
for being.
• Describes what the venue does and its overall intention. The mission statement
supports the vision and serves to communicate purpose and direction to employees,
customers, vendors and other stakeholders.
• The mission can change to reflect the venue’s priorities and methods to accomplish
its vision.

23. STATEMENT OF COMMON PURPOSE
• An inspirational and motivational tool used to set up short- term and long term
service goals.
• Serves 3 goals
• Defines the organization’s purpose
• Aligns that purpose with its customers’ expectations
• Communicates that alignment to its employees
• Venue must be able to deliver upon the common purpose.

24. VISION STATEMENT
• Describes the organization as it would appear in a future, successful state. If the
organization were to achieve all of its strategic goals, what would it look like 10
years from now?
• Inspirational and aspirational. It creates a mental image of the future state that the
organization wishes to achieve. It should challenge and inspire employees.

25. ASSIGNMENT

26. ASSIGNMENT
• In pairs, select a small to mid- sized event venue to work for as an event coordinator.
Select carefully as you will keep this venue for the duration of the class.
• Define Venue:
• Venue Name & Description
• Size
• Ownership model
• Organizational Structure
• Primary tenants/ scheduling priorities
• Write Mission Statement
• Write Statement of Common Purpose