History
The Arena Marketing Conference held its first meeting over 25 years ago in 1980 at the Met Center in Minneapolis. Over ten arena marketing directors attended this meeting and thus started the annual conference known then as the Arena Sales and Marketing Conference. The purpose of that initial conference was to share ideas and talk about common problems. Today, the conference exists for that purpose and attracts over 350 participants annually.
The idea of our Founders was to educate, network and facilitate a process of information sharing. They also wanted an opportunity to talk with the various touring shows. Much of the success of this organization is attributable to the dedication of people like Gigi Pilhofer, Gerry Couch-Croon, Robbie Braesler, Steve Greenberg, Steve Nazro, Ray Ward, Brad Walsh, Rob Franklin, Karen Swan and Charlie Mancuso. Most importantly, building managers and show producers supported the concept of this conference. Three conferences in St. Louis followed that initial conference in Minneapolis. In 1985, the conference began its own tour and moved to Houston. Each year since, a different arena has served as its host. Unlike other professional organizations, this conference has been planned entirely by volunteers.
In 1999, the name of the conference was changed to reflect the overall attendance of marketing departments which today include group sales, publicity, promotions, advertising and marketing professionals. Also, the organization was formalized into an association and became the Arena Marketing Conference, Inc. In 2001, we were recognized by the IRS as a non-profit organization. In 2004, the name was again changed to reflect the nature of the live entertainment industry, Event and Arena Marketing Conference.
The vision of our founders and early volunteers to keep this conference independent, affordable and open to as many people as possible still holds true today.