NATB Headquarters Organizer
2 hours ago ยท
In Florida, around 50 ticket brokers filled the session room at the Ft. Lauderdale Crown Plaza Hotel on April 15th. The meeting was hosted by the NATB along with Jimmy and Lena Siegendorf of Premium Seats USA and Rick Schefter of A Great Place to Sit. Special guests included representatives of the NATB; Jason Berger (President), myself and NATB PR Consultant Viveca Woods. Jason discussed the far reaching NATB objectives and provided insight on the history of the legislative battle in NY. I talked about the state of the industry and the ways brokers were being impacted by various industry developments. Viveca provided her expert perspectives on how publicity initiatives are being tackled to address and elevate the interests of ticket brokers nationwide. For educational purposes, the meeting included presentations by Ticketmaster Resale (“TicketsNow”) and Cloakify.
A prime focus of the meeting was a discussion on legislative issues affecting ticket brokers in Florida as well as the rest of the country. Nick Larossi, the lobbyist hired by the Florida brokers, gave a detailed account of the vicious legislative battle being played out between all facets of the industry including Ticketmaster, StubHub and Disney. Nick explained how the efforts of the ticket broker community served to protect free market principles in Florida.
Every attendee I spoke with said the meeting was extremely valuable and the content was compelling. The vast majority of attendees agreed to participate by speaking with legislators from a local business perspective, financially contributing or helping in other ways. Numerous brokers eagerly volunteered their time and financial support to address pressing Florida legislative issues. And many vowed to continue these efforts and to attend the upcoming NATB World Ticket Conference on July 18-20, 2013 in Las Vegas. Afterwards, there was a cocktail reception where brokers networked.
In Texas, I, along with Jim Barr and the lobbyists hired by the Texas Ticket Brokers Association, met with a number of legislators and staff. It still amazes me how uneducated legislators are about the secondary market and how much they appreciate learning about what legitimate brokers do. I was quite impressed with the coordination on the local level in Texas and how many brokers have contributed both their time and money to make sure ticket brokers’ interests are protected and ticket brokers’ voices are heard. The Regional Meeting also served as a valuable tool for the NATB’s expert strategic planning consultant, Morrie Warshawski, to meet with brokers and to learn more about the industry.
A compelling positive aspect of the Regional Meetings was that they represented yet one more proactive step taken by the leadership of the NATB to assist its members and to improve communications with the broker community. As you may recall, the NATB Board has created a list of action items to assist in improving the NATB and to create a long term plan for the NATB. One key action item was to hire a planning expert which the NATB did when it retained Morrie. Another was to conduct regional meetings which have now been accomplished. A third was to improve the public recognition of the NATB and its Members. That is also being accomplished. Hopefully you saw that the Better Business Bureau (“BBB”) has issued a press release recommending to consumers that they make sure that when buying tickets in the secondary market to deal with an NATB Member. The BBB joins a growing list of groups who have made that recommendation.
If you feel that a meeting would be beneficial in your region please reach out to me. I expect that we will continue to see legislation that will require ticket brokers to unite in the future.
Gary Adler
Roetzel & Andress
600 14th Street, NW
Suite 400
Washington D.C. 20005
Main Phone No: (202) 625-0600
Direct Phone No: (202) 216-8307
Fax No.: (202) 338-6340
Email: gadler@ralaw.com