As the president of NACMA for 2017-18, Ayo Taylor-Dixon comes on the podcast to present the 2020 strategic plan for the marketing arm of college athletics administration. Taylor-Dixon discusses how the organization has taken a deep-dive into understand what its membership want, both at convention as attendees and as non-attending members in their athletic departments. Taylor-Dixon talks about the role of networking and the power it has to help increase job opportunities by attending the annual NACDA convention. Twitter: @AyoTaylorDixon
Rick Horrow has a media sports business legacy that spans over two decades, along with a sports consultancy firm which has amassed a portfolio of clients ranging from major leagues to individual sports stars. Horrow discusses his approach to the industry, interviewing well-known and unknown front office personalities, and working with inside information without divulging everything to the viewing public. Horrow talks about the role of sports education since his days co-teaching a sports law class at his alma mater Harvard, and where sports business is headed in the next two decades. Twitter: @RickHorrow
John Barrows represents a new type of sales training with old school skills, focused on technology companies and building relationships through workflows. Barrows discusses the process of creating a dynamic relationship within the sales team, and initiating it into a formidable strategy. Twitter: @JohnMBarrows
Richard Harris is known as one of the top sales trainers in the country and has come on the podcast to take on the tactics and acumen applied to sports ticket sales. Harris goes through scenarios of how to engage with a prospect, as well as to transition the conversation into a buying experience. Harris refers to his thoughts on management and improving the sales pipeline for a sales team. Twitter: @rharris415
The Vodafone Warriors may sit one of the rugby hotbeds of the world, but that doesn't mean that the National Rugby League team doesn't have to fight for attention, especially given that one of the top rugby squads internationally, The All-Blacks, is nearby. Glenn Critchley discusses the challenges for the Vodafone Warriors, which do not designate their brand with a city name, but instead a corporate sponsorship. Critchley shares his insight into making the brand successful off of the field, despite the on-field struggles of the squad. Twitter: @glenncritchley
Kenneth "Ziggy" Siegfried was on the podcast back in 2013 (Ep. 15), as the Sr. Associate Athletic Director of Major Gifts for CSU Bakersfield. Now serving in the Athletic Director's chair, Siegfried gets to announce a move for the athletic department to the Big West Conference from the WAC. This is a long time coming for CSUB, as Siegfried explains, and helps bolster the expectations for the school and the community overall. Twitter: @CSUBZiggy
Tibor Shanto has honed his B2B sales training in Toronto over the last 25 years. Shanto discusses how he works with business development teams to get them focused on improving their pipelines from prospecting to actual closing. Shanto presents the argument that sometimes, the best sales people aren't your future managers. Twitter: @TiborShanto
Few NHL journeymen can claim to have an amazing second career like Kevin Westgarth, who won a Stanley Cup with the LA Kings and now transitioning to developing the game of hockey in China for the NHL with an eye on the 2022 Olympics. Westgarth talks about growing the game the right way in Asia along with how other countries are embracing the sport. Westgarth also talks about his role as an enforcer in the NHL and how that feature of the game is being phased out overall. Twitter: @KWesty19
Malcolm Bordelon represents a 20-year legacy with the San Jose Sharks (1993-2013) where the NHL franchise was one of the highest revenue drivers in all of professional hockey. Bordelon discusses his tenure with the club, which created waves in Silicon Valley and the tech industry, stemming from the birth of building naming rights to the secondary market. Bordelon chats about leaving the Sharks to work at various tech start-ups, then the Silicon Valley Business Journal and now as president of the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center in San Diego. Twitter: @SVBizMalcolm
Charlie Kaufman launched Ticket Talk on WLINY Radio in Brooklyn in 2017, and asked me to come on the show Nov. 9. We chatted about the secondary market, the issue of whether a closed market is about protecting the consumer or locking the consumer into a limited option system. You can listen to the other Ticket Talk episodes here, which are also video livestreamed.