Reminisce With Us About the First-Ever SEGD Sports + Entertainment Event!
Last week, SEGD hosted our inaugural SEGD Sports + Entertainment event in Las Vegas. This two-day event was dedicated to the art and design of brand activations within the world of sports and entertainment. We heard from experts on fandom, stadium design, immersive exhibitions, brand experiences, and the impactful power of art and design. We are still processing everything we learned from the incredible keynotes, panels, and tours, and look forward to hearing from you about your experience at the event!
The speakers were extremely well curated! The program content was extraordinarily well planned. There is a huge sense of community! My knowledge base on sports has grown tremendously.
Day One
On Wednesday, we heard from a dynamic group of professionals in the sports and entertainment arena. The day started off with an energetic panel of local Las Vegas powerhouses Aaron Berger, Drew DiCostanzo, and Mark Shunock discussing how Vegas is being redefined as the vanguard of sports, entertainment and innovation. Their panel was accompanied by live art from Pretty Done (a.k.a. Adam Rellah), who interpreted each speaker’s topic as they were presenting! After a break, we heard from Nate Cherry, Brian Earley, Derek O’Hara, Amy Pratt, and Michelle Stevenson as they discussed entertainment and retail districts in a panel moderated by Mike McCarthy.
In the afternoon, Maya Guice, Edward Hodge and Brad Shelton of BRC Imagination Arts and Brad Phinney of the Las Vegas Raiders discussed the creative process behind the new Allegiant Stadium. Then, Peter Beck walked us through how to revolutionize recruitment through brand-activated spaces, and Kelly Holton gave us behind-the-scenes details about the creation of the Climate Pledge Arena.
Wrapping up Day One, Brian Murphy talked about the incredible diversity of sports events, and how to create truly adaptable venues. And Claudia Calderon of the LA Clippers, Ariana Rae Diverio of B. Partners, and Sébastien Tessier of Moment Factory discussed how digital media can serve the evolving aims of sports and entertainment venues.
Day One officially concluded with our opening night party, hosted by Daktronics, on the 60th floor of the Circa Resort.
It was an amazing event and I’m excited to see SEGD entering with such a strong presence in the sports and entertainment spaces.
Day Two
Thursday kicked off with a lively panel discussion between Mike Kress, Ashley Loch, Amedea Tassinari, and Ryan Whitacre about the role of design, branding and signature experiences in women’s soccer. Then we heard from Mia Abigail Baxter about the powerful symbiosis between art curation and impactful placemaking. After a quick break, Nasya Kamrat and Stephanie Riggs enlivened the crowd with an impromptu “wave” before delivering a presentation on cultivating community through brand experiences.
After lunch, Cybelle Jones moderated a discussion between Cheryl Catterall and Josh Gallagher about how stadiums can curate community. Amanda Zaitchik of Gensler then gave an inspiring look behind the creation of the Jackie Robinson Museum, and spoke to how designers can help craft immersive exhibits that celebrate the legacy of incredible individuals. In a similar vein, Ronnie Younts talked about the design of the new Dodgers stadium and how designing soulful spaces can take cues from history.
Jonny Greco of Shine Entertainment, then closed out the event with an energetic and impactful presentation on designing live experiences.
What a wonderful gift to join this creative force of artists and designers and experience makers. Truly filled the inspiration bucket in a very brief time.
Friday Tours
On Friday, many of our event participants attended tours of Allegiant Stadium, sponsored by Dimensional Innovations, and Meow Wolf Omega Mart, sponsored by Comet by Stratus. These tours offered an exclusive look behind the scenes of these experiential venues, and gave us an insider’s perspective on how these venues came together through intentional collaboration.
Such an amazing and relevant experience. Thank you to SEGD and its speakers for the amazing insights and for focussing such a variety of lenses on the complex challenges related to sports and entertainment activation and storytelling.
Thank you all for making our inaugural SEGD Sports + Entertainment event so successful! It was great to see so many new and familiar faces last week, and we are so grateful to all of our speakers for sharing their knowledge and time with us. We also want to extend a special thank you to our incredible co-chairs Kris Helmick, Corey Mintz and Darlene van Uden, for conceiving of this event and helping us plan and organize this inaugural experience!
About SEGD
We are designers of experiences connecting people to place. SEGD is a multidisciplinary community collectively shaping the future of experience design. We are a thought leader and an amplifier in the practice of experience design. Learn more at segd.org.