Full Court Pitch
Location: Chicago, IL
Audience: 250 athletes, venture capitalist, startups, advisors, and entrepreneurs
Background
The Players' Impact (TPI) hosted the Full Court Pitch competition during NBA All-Star 2020 weekend in Chicago to engage their audience and demonstrate what the company does. TPI connects reputable VCs and advisors to athlete founders and connects startups with athlete investors.
Full Court Pitch would be the first significant activation for the company since Super Bowl LIV weekend and required more engaging programming given the premise of the competition and need to grow this particular group's participation.
Problem
Full Court Pitch in Chicago was two weeks after The Impact Brunch in Miami. The abrupt turnaround time required simultaneous planning of the two events. It also limited the time I had available to make site visits to the space to map build-outs.
Solution
I know you're going to get tired of hearing this, but relationships, Relationships, RELATIONSHIPS! They are so clutch. Another advisor suggested the use of a brand manager in the area. She was familiar with our line of work. Graciously, she agreed to go in person and connect with the director of the venue to get the information I needed.
No, of course, this is not the same as being in the space myself. I like to get to feel the physical area, but this was a great start. The brand manager photographed the specific things I needed. And was able to gain insight into the venue's team and what to expect while working with them.
I also had to leave straight from Miami to another event. My layover stop in Chicago gave me time to run through the venue space with specific follow-ups provided the background information I had already received.
Evaluation
I cannot stress enough the value of relationships. There is no way I would have been able to get information in advance to do my job without them.
Planning also had to become very tedious. I made sure meetings and conference calls stayed separate based on the topic even though I was planning for the same company. Because there was some overlap-- the use of materials, signage, participants-- meetings needed to remain concise and specific as possible.
I also had to make sure that shared resources were transported and transitioned seamlessly.