Notes From 3 Talks In Australia...
Hey!
I dug out some notes from my trip to Australia in 2019 and wanted to put them down in a form that folks could see how the thinking of my talks went.
This isn’t a formal note or anything, but a bunch of notes. I find them interesting to look at in regards to what we have been dealing with since I took that trip. The first time I heard about Coronavirus was in the Melbourne airport at the same time I was finding out that Jose Mourinho was replacing Pochettino as coach of Tottenham…what a time to be alive?!
In 2019, I went to Australia for 2 weeks to give 2 keynotes and host a workshop. Tonight, I found the notebooks with all of my notes for the three events and wanted to note what was still interesting after dealing with the pandemic for over 2 years.
Before I knew what the next few years would look like, this was a career highlight giving 2 keynotes in Australia and bringing 30 people to a workshop in a foreign market.
In looking back at these, they are less sports business focused than marketing focused, strategy focused, and just good sense.
Let's take a look:
First up, "The Courage to Change" from the Ticketing Professionals Conference in Parramatta, outside of Sydney.
Change is always happening.
Change is the art of making something different, but it needs to be more than that you want to be part of the process of making positive, proactive change.
Most change that sticks isn't this huge event but a series of small actions, done consistently over time.
Pat Riley: "Change, when she rears her beautiful face, you embrace her."
Nick Saban: talent, habits, but started small with not throwing garbage all over the sideline.
Set a standard, change patterns and habits.
Small changes usually support bigger outcomes.
Vision matters in creating change. This happens in good and bad cases.
JFK: vision of putting a man on the moon.
This matters because we are storytelling creatures. Stories make us move. Emotion drives action.
Vision and consistency aren't enough because you also need courage. Change doesn't happen in a straight line.
Most change fails and change never goes exactly as planned.
We falter because 3 things stop change: complacency, overwhelm, and inertia.
We defeat complacency with paying attention to it, calling it out, and pushing against it with action.
Overwhelm is beaten by breaking things down into smaller steps.
Inertia is destroyed with action. The logic of "one rep" like in working out. Or, "one breath" in meditation.
We embrace change by creating a vision for the future, starting where you are, by challenging your thinking.
Second, "Fans for Life" at the Australian Football League's League Day event.
5 key ideas to grow fans for life.
Focus on relationships that last a lifetime.
"Diehards" but we lost our thread due to an over reliance on managing brands and relationships based on what is easy to measure.
The way things have always been.
This matters though.
Fans don't follow a straight line in their fandom.
Fans today are different because life is different.
Picking a team is different than buying toothpaste.
Look to examples of this done well Tottenham, Man City with their memberships.
Map out your touchpoints for each step in the process.
Caps baby pack
Spurs birthday card
Mets email once a year on your birthday with a discount that you can't even use if your birthday is in November.
Put customer/fan at the center of everything and ask, "What will this mean to them?"
Principles: relationships, communities, storytelling, marketing 365, and commit to a fan focus.
All begins with the fan.
Do you know what being a fan looks like through the eyes of your fans?
Go to a game like a fan?
Ask yourself if this was your mom or nan if this would be okay?
We are social animals. We look to connect with people.
Relationships are fluid.
Build relationships online and off.
Great thing in sports is you have communities.
If we don't nurture these communities, we are always starting at zero.
Finally, "Fans For Life" workshop in Melbourne:
Focus on putting in the effort: talk, engage, contribute.
Block one: define value
Block two: customers
Block three: marketing
Block four: action items, next steps, and ideas from around the world
Fan lifecycles isn't straight line
Young fans into the stadiums early
Encouraging fans to join with you in a journey
Corkscrew thinking to look at things differently
1 in 24 people in Australia have an AFL membership
Exercise: why do people come to your venue?
Fans have more demands on their time than ever.
Doing things the way we've always done them isn't a good strategy.
Change is constant. Challenge conventional wisdom.
Fans 4 Life: relationships, stories, and communities.
Fans aren't static.
What do I think after reviewing these notes?
One, I'm remarkably consistent. These things still matter. Maybe even more after the last few years.
Two, the notes from the keynotes make me think that these talks were stronger than I might have remembered them being.
Three, still need to update my Australian points of reference. Probably better go back and drink some beers with the Aussies.