Event & Arena Marketing Conference Rebrands With a New Name

On the final day of the 2023 Event & Arena Marketing Conference on Friday (June 9), the organization announced that the annual gathering will be rebranded as the Event & Venue Marketing Conference (EVMC) beginning with the 2024 edition.

“The name change reflects the growth and evolution of the worldwide live event industry, including venues of all sizes,” said conference officials in a press release.

EVMC is the industry’s only marketing-focused conference and a resource to hundreds of event marketers at venues and promoters internationally. The next iteration is scheduled to take place at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver on June 5-7, 2024; registration for next year is now open.

“For over forty years EAMC has brought together professionals from across the world to network and share ideas for the live sports and entertainment industry,” said EVMC president Kim Allen in a statement. “As the conference continues to grow we felt it was time to refresh the brand to reflect the diverse mix of our attendees that represent venues of all sizes with the mission to cultivate education, collaboration, and innovation.”

The EVMC rebrand is aimed at creating a more inclusive conference of event professionals who represent everything from stadiums to amphitheaters to clubs to live events. While the content of the yearly conference spans multiple tracks — including marketing, sales, public relations and social media — it will bring the added lens of multiple venue types in the years to come. 

The conference began in 1980 when 10 arena marketers convened at the Met Center in Minneapolis, Minn., for the first official meeting of what was then called the Arena Sales and Marketing Conference to share ideas and discuss challenges within the industry. In 1999, the conference was formalized into an association and became the Arena Marketing Conference, Inc. In 2001, the organization was recognized as a non-profit, and in 2004, it was renamed the Event & Arena Marketing Conference.

Since then, the conference has toured North America with different venues hosting each year, attracting nearly 500 attendees. Over the years, the conference has added a diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) committee, LEAD mentorship program and awards luncheon and launched a bi-weekly podcast called Adventures In Venueland.

Unlike other conferences, EVMC is entirely organized by volunteers in the industry, with the common goal to network, educate and innovate in the live entertainment industry.

For more information, visit eventvenuemarketing.com.