As Miguel de Cervantes once wrote: “To be prepared is half the victory.”
As college football season approaches, venue operations managers need to begin preparing to ensure a smooth and successful experience for fans all season long.
To help you get ready for an incredible season, read on for some tips to streamline college venue operations in 2024 and beyond—delivering unforgettable experiences to your guests along the way.
Know Who’s Involved in Your Venue Operations
Ensuring smooth college venue operations requires tight-knit coordination across your entire team. To make that happen, you first need to understand each of the players involved in putting on events at your college or university.
If your operation is like most, chances are your team is diverse and eclectic, including people from all walks of life. To ensure success, you need to know everyone on your team.
“Here at Ohio State, we have a very collaborative environment,” said Brooks Imhoff, director of event services at the Jerome Schottenstein Center at Ohio State University, in a recent webinar hosted by 24/7 Software. “Between our facilities team, our event management team, and then all of our public safety partners, we have a pretty wide-ranging group.”
Having a who’s-who of everyone on your team is one thing. To get college venue operations to the next level, you also need to be able to communicate with them effectively and ensure everyone’s on the same page.
“We’ve continued to try and find efficiencies in those communications on game day,” Imhoff continued, adding that his team uses text messaging to stay connected, along with 24/7 Software’s real-time communication capabilities. “We’ve continued to try and find different ways to make sure that information is being shared because information can easily get siloed.”
To streamline event management, Imhoff and his team have a dedicated command center that oversees each game from end to end, coordinating staff and incident response.
Navigate the Pre-Season Preparation Process
Before the first kickoff, college venue operations managers need to dedicate enough time and resources to carefully train their staff—particularly students and seasonal or part-time workers. After all, these employees often make up a significant portion of the gameday workforce, so ensuring they are well-trained and ready to rock is essential for success.
To bring your staff up to speed, begin by offering comprehensive onboarding sessions that cover the basics of customer service, safety protocols, and venue-specific procedures. While you’re at it, make sure they know how to use the venue operations software your team relies on. Because many of your staff members are likely new or inexperienced, providing clear, hands-on training and mentorship opportunities is critical for building their confidence.
By communicating with your team regularly, setting clear expectations, and ensuring everyone knows their responsibilities, you can create a cohesive team prepared to handle the demands of game day. By investing in proper onboarding and training of student and part-time staff, venue operations managers can ensure a smooth, efficient operation that delivers strong fan experiences throughout the season.
Overcome the Biggest Event Challenges in College Venue Operations
Although you can’t predict the future, you can look to the past to gain a better understanding of your next game. In this section, we examine three key event challenges and what you can do to overcome them.
1. Understanding the Crowd
Different games attract different crowds. Your main rival might lead to an entirely packed house, whereas teams that have to travel some distance might not draw as many visiting fans. Preparing for different kinds of crowds—some are more rowdy than others—is critical for ensuring a smooth game experience.
“We need to be prepared for everything,” said Imhoff. “There is prior history that we can look at and engage the level of attendance and just what kind of resources are going to be needed.”
2. Planning for What-Ifs
In many ways, college sporting events are all the same. Every football game, for example, has four 15-minute quarters. Despite this, what happens before, during, or after the game can drastically differ from one weekend to the next. To ensure you can navigate whatever comes your way, it’s important to conduct contingency planning exercises to prepare for any scenario that comes your way.
“You’re preparing for what-ifs during all the games,” said Joe Raulerson, director of security and guest services at the University Athletic Association Inc., in the recent 24/7 software webinar. “Whether it’s emergency management, prep, or whatever roles and responsibilities you have for the day, you’re still prepping and preparing.”
3. Cooperating with Local Police
Event success is only possible with hand-in-hand coordination with local police.
“A big challenge is just being able to get cooperation and participation with their local police department,” said Tyra Allen, customer success manager at 24/7 Software, in the company’s recent webinar.
For Raulerson, the key to this cooperation is open communication throughout the season.
“I’m meeting with emergency management weekly now,” he said. “I’m meeting with public safety weekly. Football planning never stops.”
Sharpen Your Communication Skills
To ensure winning event operations, managers need to do everything they can to sharpen their team’s collective communication skills, ensuring everyone can communicate effectively with colleagues, fans, and vendors.
To do this, managers must establish clear, consistent channels with all stakeholders. With the team, schedule regular meetings, use digital platforms, and incorporate real-time messaging tools to ensure everyone is aligned and informed. For fans and guests, leverage social media, email updates, and in-venue announcements to provide timely information and address concerns. As a bonus, engaging with fans directly can also build a stronger community.
Communication with vendors should be streamlined through detailed contracts, regular check-ins, and collaborative planning sessions. Maintaining open, proactive communication with these groups ensures smooth operations and improves the overall experience for everyone involved.
Invest in Mission-Critical Venue Management Tools
Ensuring winning event operations is much easier when you have the right tools. In addition to being able to communicate with all stakeholders in real time, venue managers should also invest in an incident management system (IMS), according to Raulerson.
“I think an IMS is really, really critical for us,” he shared. “I realize how important it is for everything we do.”
The way Raulerson sees it, having an IMS enables his team to collect heaps of data they can use to predict an upcoming game experience.
“Whatever those challenges are, we can get out ahead of them a little bit,” he explained.
Take Your Venue Management Skills to the Next Level
No matter how smooth your venue management operations are, you can always improve. At 24/7 Software, we’re committed to your success.
For even more tips to ensure a winning season this year, watch this on-demand webinar: College Football Season Kickoff for Winning Event Operations
Here’s to a season you won’t forget anytime soon!
