Building Community Beyond the Conference – Josh Barney, SEAT

This transcript has been transcribed by Riverside.fm, no edits (please excuse any errors)

Sean Callanan (00:01.232)

Very happy to welcome back a good mate of mine. He's been on the podcast a few times and we catch up regularly at SEAT. Josh Barney, CEO of SEAT. Welcome back to the podcast.

Josh Barney (00:14.264)

Hello my friend, I am really glad to be back here. I appreciate you having me on here again.

Sean Callanan (00:18.588)

Not a problem. What I wanted to do is sort of look ahead for what is going to happen with for 2026, but also a bit of looking back. So first of all, before we get into it, for people who might not have, you if you listen to the podcast, you know that I've attended SEAT many, many times, I think 15 or 16 SEAT conferences overall. know, Nashville just wrapped and Charlotte is next, but for someone who's never been.

How do you explain SEAT?

Josh Barney (00:50.094)

The way I approach this conversation is this is a place where the folks who are behind the scenes from the sports and entertainment industry, the venues and the universities get together to talk about stuff. So at its heart.

SEAT is a peer networking group for those that are in this industry. And it's a big part of what the lifeblood of this is, is that these teams compete on the court, the pitch, know, the field, whatever that is. But behind the scenes, all of these people work together for what the industry really needs to keep moving forward. And that's the meeting places SEAT.

Sean Callanan (01:30.012)

Absolutely, and really it is getting everyone involved whether it be the venue and tech side of things to help people get into the venue and make the experience great to you know the digital sponsorship ticketing space that I've been a part of being a part of and then also the very important data geeks in the data and BI space that can analyze all those people coming in and that customer experience that fan experience piece so it is really that whole of fan

And everyone's trying to solve that problem. How do we engage those fans, get them into the stadium and enjoy what we all love, which is game day.

Josh Barney (02:08.546)

Yeah, well, and to what the inception of was, it was a technology conference. But we now are in a state in time where technology for the sake of technology isn't valuable, but the conversations around how do we use this to create better employee and fan experiences, that's where SEAT really leads out in that space. So that's what makes it special.

Sean Callanan (02:33.628)

And for those who don't know, you picked up the bat baton for SEAT in 2023. It was really great to reach a milestone of a thousand sports executives have attended seats that have been under your stewardship. And the last one being at SEAT 2025 in Nashville. What was your, I guess, overall reaction to seat in Nashville last year? As I still kind of try to get my dates right in 2025.

Josh Barney (03:04.044)

Yeah. So the Nashville event for me was really that moment of a graduation from, you know, I, my background is not in event management. I'm just somebody who loves this space. I want to help other people in this space. So there's been lessons learned for me to kind of get to this point. And really Nashville was that graduation piece for me that, you know, we had some time to kick the rust off the car type of thing and

we really kind of got into a groove again of what SEAT was prior to my stewardship. And it was a lot of fun. Nashville is a great city. Like it's hard to not have fun in that town anyway. But it really was bringing together, you know, the sports and entertainment side of it to where we could have really good conversations to see how other folks in the other industries, you know, we had folks from the music industry.

up talking about how they view data and analytics and find those similarities and where we can learn from how they're doing some of those things. So Nashville ended up being a great town. We had a lot of fun. We had great partners that helped us in that to pull off some cool, cool experiences as well.

Sean Callanan (04:19.248)

Yeah, I just want to go through some of the highlights from my point of view. mean, it was great. You know, we'll see it soon. But hearing about, I guess, the technology is involved in the in the new Buffalo Bills stadium that's going to open open soon. They just played their last game at Highmark. But then, yeah, you're sort of talking about that music piece and that country. You can't go to Nashville and not do country music. So, you know, lucky enough to have Michael Ferris on the on the podcast after seat. But, you know,

bringing the Country Music Association in and finding out a little bit about how they go about data, how they go about ticketing and some of the similarities and some of the differences. And that's, to me, that's always been the conversation of SEAT. How does someone else do it in a different league or a different industry? Yeah, and think having that, I guess that mix of sports and entertainment, and you're right, it did sort of feel like…

know, first couple of years, it's great to catch up with everybody that we knew from but it was definitely, there was a lot of SEAT is really back. It had the same vibe of when SEAT was at its best with people connecting across both departments internally, like, you know, having multiple people from the same team turn up and have the conversations you can't have at work, but then also, you know, at the conference.

Josh Barney (05:39.34)

Yeah. And you brought up a couple of the ones I really appreciated the Buffalo Bills session that was in there. Just again, from how they approach this build of Highmark, the new Highmark, and the intentional things that they've been doing in that. And that's one of those pieces that I think more and more in the industry as we learn to be more intentional with this stuff as we're doing it.

we build better employee and better fan experiences because of that. And I really appreciated Sean and Patrick being up there from Legends talking about that kind of approach and how they went through that stuff. Cause I think that really does matter. And then I really, really enjoyed, you brought up Michael Farris from the Country Music Association, him bringing in some few of his colleagues that looked at it that way.

One of the things that I think is incredibly important in this is we can take a view of most of these industries that kind of are on the periphery of where we're at. And I view them as we have a ticketed person in our space and time for a duration of time that we're entertaining and we're interacting with them while they're there. And that's very applicable to a lot of places that, you know, is amusement parks, that's movie theaters and all these things.

And each of those industries has a different perspective on how they go about some of that stuff. And I feel like that's one of the important pieces that we have at Seek is to gain perspectives on maybe potentially a different or better way to go in and do stuff or see, you know, if somebody's using a similar tech stack to what we are in a different industry, how are they using it? That's the same or different. So.

Sean Callanan (07:28.184)

Absolutely. then I guess the other one is a personal one for me was to get what we would call some SEAT OGs up on stage. And I was lucky enough to interview them being, know, Katie Lopoff, Todd Calflisch and Steve Reese and sort of talk and like have a really deep conversation around what their career has been, what their work has meant to them and also what the network and the community they had around them. And so it was a big part of it for all four of us.

For me, was one of the highlights of, I've done a bunch of, moderated a bunch of panels. It was absolute highlight for me and I guess the attention and I guess the leaning forward of the audience was terrific. And it was really like, if I could bottle up, that's it.

Josh Barney (08:17.838)

Yeah, I 100 % agree with you. I think we're both fortunate individuals to count those people among our friends. And when they have that moment of being vulnerable and talking about how they got to where they're at and what those highs and lows are and how to navigate through change, which is always scary. I think that was an incredible session specifically because

those in the audience and even myself, we were able to kind of reflect on our own kind of path that we've taken and seen those moments, you know, and kind of learn and understand from where they came from and how they've done that. Cause I mean, you look at Steve and you know, he's legitimately one of the original technologists in sports and you know, that's a fantastic thing to see. That's pre-internet when you think about it and you know, it's, it's

crazy to wrap your mind around that stuff in the day and age that we live in and of digital tickets and that now so.

Sean Callanan (09:18.232)

Absolutely. And then I think one of things that you have brought to SEAT and you've really been big on is this whole idea of experience and then the total picture of experience and one night in particular in Nashville, you completely knocked it out of the park with the closing night and the concert at the Country Music Hall of Fame. And the people who stayed, you know, when you go to SEAT, don't get the early flight out. That's my tip. Like stay.

Because the people who did stay had an absolute phenomenal night at the Country Music Hall of Fame. What did that night mean to you?

Josh Barney (09:57.24)

Well, that one for me was a special one from the standpoint that it was sponsored in part by the charity that my wife and I started, which is a big deal to us. It's called the Joshua Tree Project. And it's about creating more accessible, a more accessible word world for individuals who experience it different than ourselves. And so we use that night to kind of take that moment to celebrate.

the end of the event and we were lucky enough to find some friends and partners in Nashville that we brought in some Hall of Fame songwriters and they hopped up on stage and performed some of their number one hits. So, you we got to hear some songs from Rascal Flatts and hear some songs from Garth Brooks that were written and we learned the emotion behind those. And then I, for some reason or another, took it upon myself to jump up on stage and sing a duet. So,

It was kind of all of those little fun things together. And then we had Ashton who jumped up at the very end as well and the ad hoc performed a song that he had written for his wife that nobody was expecting. So yeah, there were all these little moments that just kind of made it special. And yeah, forever remember the Country Music Hall of

Sean Callanan (11:20.756)

Absolutely, and it's like you just want to make space for to be able to have those have those moments and I think that's what Cedar Nashville did and so now you take away that success and the success you've had in the previous three iterations in 23 in Salt Lake City and then 24 in Las Vegas and 25 in Nashville. In 2026 you announced or 2026 you've announced that

Charlotte's going to be the host city. June 28 to 30 is when Seek 2026 will be. Why Charlotte?

Josh Barney (11:58.989)

From my time in the NBA working for a small market club, I'm a sucker for small market towns. And Charlotte, I think, is one of those that's in that period of time of kind of turning from the smaller market into a larger market. The amount of people who are moving there and just in general the culture that exists there.

I was very interested in it and there's some great organizations that are based out of the greater Charlotte area. And then North Carolina is spoiled for top tier universities as well. So we went out and kind of did our site visit for it and I immediately was impressed with how walkable the city was and all of those things from an event side of it matter. And so us being able to go through and see how

we could go in and build this event, it just kind of was the touch point for sports, music, and not just sports, was stick and ball sports, motor sports, and music, and Charlotte's just kind of a great place for that.

Sean Callanan (13:06.63)

Terrific, so yeah, we're really looking forward to Charlotte, but one of the other things that you've always had conversation with me and what your vision was for was to be more than the annual conference. SEAT, we've been really deliberate in calling it SEAT and the SEAT community and not always putting the word conference at the end because it is a community and it is something that you do reach out to people that you met and you follow up with their.

Josh Barney (13:08.045)

you

Sean Callanan (13:36.924)

you know, questions and find out what the case studies, you know, speaking to Cameron Coughlin from the Salt Lake, B's, he was like, I had a Rolodex of all these people that I wanted to follow up with. So a big part of it was really developing the community. But and so that sort of started to form, I guess, formalizing that by launching seat membership and sort of making seat more than the

Josh Barney (14:03.948)

Yeah.

Sean Callanan (14:06.042)

the annual conference. Do you want to sort of explain, I guess, your feelings behind it?

Josh Barney (14:10.892)

Yeah, one of the reasons why I felt that this was a good idea to do was it's nice to have the event where we get together and we, you know, it's the family reunion. We all get to kind of share in being in each other's space. And we do learn a little bit in that moment of time, but you know, there's 362 other days out of the year that we're trying to do all of this stuff. And for me, education is important. Mentorship is important.

And I felt that one of the things that we could do from the seat side of this is create a space where we give more opportunities throughout the year for people to communicate and for people to learn and have opportunities that way. And in the membership side of this, we're going in and placing some things in action where you'll have better opportunities to communicate with the folks from seat, not just.

from the same league that you're working in potentially, or from the same conference if you're in the university, but across all the leagues. And again, it's just as Kam had said, all of these people are trying to solve the same type of problem you're trying to solve, maybe just a little bit differently. And so the membership side of this is really to give those opportunities throughout the year. We've been fortunate enough that as we've launched this, we've had a few that have jumped in immediately.

out of the gate. We've had the Portland Timbers, we've had Texas Tech Athletics, we've had Oakview Group, we've had University of Kentucky, we've got the Tepper Entertainment Group, and we've got the folks over at the Hornets as well. Like we've had some of these folks immediately jump in because again, there's value in being able to expose their employees to all of these other folks that they can network with throughout the year. And that's, I think that that's huge.

from somebody who was on the team side, that's a huge piece of this.

Sean Callanan (16:05.55)

Absolutely, and I guess the challenge and is getting the message out, which is what we're doing now, is that a team or an organization, you're the one, if you're a team, venue side, you're the one that can sign up as a member. That's signing up your organization as a member. And then as you sign up as a member, you get one complimentary registration for that. if you work on the team side or venue side and you're planning to go, the smartest thing to do is to have your team become a member.

There's other benefits in that, you know, more of your colleagues can get discounted registrations. You'll be doing, you know, first-in-count, first served in getting hotel room up to grades. But one of the things I'm excited about from the membership point of view is the expansion of some of the favourite sessions we have at Seat of the Conference, which is the round tables, which, you know, if you have never attended Seat and never attended a round table, and it is always…

a little bit confusing for a first timer, but it's you're going into a room with all of your colleagues and you're discussing what's working and what's not. And it's not a panel, it doesn't have a big title and an agenda. It's like, hey, what's working for you? I'm struggling with this. And so we're gonna try our best to replicate that online. I know I've done it in the past. For those of you who attended the SportsBiz Zooms during the years that we no longer talk about that got deleted from our existence.

but like I would have 70 people on those Zooms all talking about the problems and solutions. I think the Roundtables Online will be that. So there'll be links in this podcast for the schedule. So we'll have the full 12 month schedule of all the roundtables that you can attend as a Seat member. And that is anybody in your organization, as long as your team signed up. So if multiple people from the Timbers want to turn up or multiple people from Texas Tech want to turn up.

that's exactly what it's for. So it's really good from a staff development point of view. It starts some of those conversations and or pre-conversation like, I really want to catch up with, you know, with Brian when I get to Charlotte because we had a good conversation or I was really interested in that. So even if you're not a one that jumps into the conversation, you can lurk like crazy and make notes and get ready and really, you know, be really prepared when you, when you come to Charlotte. So I'm really looking forward to those, looking forward to those sessions. I think the other thing

Sean Callanan (18:31.804)

was and you can probably share it is I guess is the the accounting hack that that is there's been discovered because seat is in a membership do you want to take us through that

Josh Barney (18:42.401)

Yeah, so one of the things that we wanted to make aware to folks is they're oftentimes in their accounting budgets, different pools of money for subscriptions and then for events. And since there is a membership, which effectively works like a subscription, it can go from a different pool of money potentially depending on the accounting in your organization.

that you might be able to draw from, which will allow you to bring, you know, more people to the event that we're doing and to participate with us throughout the year. I wanted to throw in a couple other things that Sean was talking about in there, is we're planning on some extra activities that are only for, it's a VIP type of thing for the membership people that will sit a little bit outside of the conference.

So we are trying to do things as well to provide, yeah.

Sean Callanan (19:38.246)

So that's the thing, the special perks and upgrades and the like.

Sean Callanan (19:51.324)

You there?

Sean Callanan (19:55.768)

So yeah, so I think the roundtables will be great. I'm really looking forward to seeing more teams sign up. And then the other thing is a really big part of SEAT, and I think it's something that has evolved in your tenure is the steering committee. I think over the three years, I guess the execution of that, the feedback, how much they set the agenda. Again, if you want to say, know, the golden locks on the roof.

Three Bears, I think it was just right in Nashville. You opened up the applications for people to apply to be on the steering committee in late December. What's been the response so far and what are you looking for from steering committee members?

Josh Barney (20:41.259)

Yeah, we've had a great response for that being put out. One of the things that I wanted to achieve with that is being that we are members of a community, I wanted to give opportunities for those who want to put their name forward to be able to be helpful in those things and not just have it be people who are there all the time doing the same thing. It's, you know, for me,

important for those contributions to be able to exist that way. So we put that out there. We've had a great response on that so far. One of the things that we're doing with this is the steering committee is effectively responsible for all of the track content that we put out. I announced this before, but I really don't do paid speaking engagements because I want all of the content at the event.

to be as honest and genuine as it can be. And so we rely on the steering committees to help us to put that content forward. So if there are case studies out there that people are interested in getting in, those can all be submitted for the steering committee to kind of look over and have that opportunity to put that in front of the seat community at the event. So we'll be doing about six meetings with the steering committee.

Sean Callanan (22:26.94)

Yeah, absolutely. As someone that's been on the steering committee in the past, forged some really good friendships and partnerships and seen some really great sessions come out. From my point of view, if someone says, what do you want? I was like, attendance. Like, you'll be there. And also you turn up to those six meetings. It's always good. It's 45 minutes. It's really real if you keep it on track. And it's like, hey, what are the things you want to hear about?

That's pretty much we open every steering committee. Like if there's a topic that's been done too much, we don't need to do that. We all know that thing. We all know we really wanna talk about this. That's what it is. So you really do get to shape, come to the steering committee with your biggest problem. Guess what? That will be a panel and a discussion and you'll come back with a bunch of solutions. So that attendance piece and then just bring your passion and knowledge. I wanna give back to the industry and I wanna share my knowledge.

you know, it's super valuable for people. And like I said, for, you know, a six hour commitment over six months, it's pretty good. And then on the piece of that case study, I think one of the improvements we're planning for 2026 is actually submit, we want to hear your wins. Hey, this is what we did well. We rolled out a new stadium, we built a new facility, or we rolled out a new CRM, or here's a campaign that did really well.

That kind of content is the content that really works well at SEAT. And so we want to be able to get people putting their hand up saying, hey, I want to talk about what I did. I want to talk about looking at GM talking about an amazing ticketing campaign that the Ducks did. You want to be able to hear those kind of things. Because people who turn up to SEAT are the people who like the nuts and bolts. They like getting in the weeds.

And so hearing about on the stage is great, but then it moves into the networking sessions or the late night chats around it. yeah, like I can completely vouch for being on the steering committee and the opportunity that it offers, but also yeah, don't be shy in saying, hey, this is what I did in the last 12 months and I'm really proud of it because the community will want to hear that.

Sean Callanan (25:29.148)

Absolutely. So looking ahead to Seat 2026, know, plans are still in flux, but you're planning certain things. What are some of the things you can expect in Charlotte?

Sean Callanan (27:18.89)

cool.

Sean Callanan (27:32.988)

Absolutely.

Sean Callanan (27:50.554)

Yeah, and I guess part of it also is that the conference will be at the conference center, effectively across the road in the hotel. We have that, you what you described as Seat City, which will be like an upgraded lobby bar. We all know we've been to a seat and eventually the lobby bar becomes quite packed with everybody. And what we'll be doing is having that Seat City back at the hotel at the Hilton so people know, hey, where am I going after I've been out to dinner or after the event?

That's where it'll be and the fun will continue because you know that networking after a kid is sometimes just as important and just as fun as the rest of the day.

Sean Callanan (29:03.9)

Absolutely. We've talked a lot about people attending as members and coming from the team side and the venue side, but a big part of why Seat works is the vendors and partners that get involved and become part of the community and become more than just vendors. They become true partners in the sense of the world and they bring solutions to the conference and to the community.

Why should partners get involved with SEAT in 2026?

Sean Callanan (31:38.596)

And also I think part of it's also the introductions. A lot of the times it's people who part of the community, they work on TeamSite, whether it be on the venue or data or BI or in the digital space. And they're like, we work really well with this partner. you should really be coming to Seat and meet other people that are in my sport or in another industry. So a lot of the introductions actually come from TeamSite. So if you're attending Seat and you've got, you know what your tech stack is.

who should be turning up to see it because they bring value to you. And sometimes that's just as valuable for them. it is quite, it does have that community feel on how the partners get involved.

Sean Callanan (32:31.548)

So for those, so a lot of it, you know, once you're part of the community, you sort of use the term family reunion, you just want to come back to, you know, catch up with people. We see that in the steering committee applications, you know, I've been to three seats, I love it. I love coming back every year. What about people who've never been? Why should 26 be their first seat?

Sean Callanan (33:52.142)

Absolutely. And

Sean Callanan (34:45.596)

Absolutely. And, you know, so people do know if they're listening now, you can go to SEATConference.com. There will be prompts there to either get your team signed up. So you can get your team signed up for $9.99. And like I said, that gives you the first complimentary registration. So it's the most effective way for you to attend if you're looking from a price point of view. But then early bird pricing for attendees closes.

when the Super Bowl happens. So if you're listening to this and you plan to go to seat and you want to get it at an early bird price, now is the time. And also, like as we publish this, we'll be taking those late last minute applications for the steering committee to get things kicked off. And as we discussed before, the roundtables will be kicking off Jan 26.

And a few of the roundtables will open up to previous attendees and people interested, but eventually those roundtables, they're too valuable for everyone to go. It'll be members only. So go to SeatConference.com. That's where all the info is. If you've got a question, please reach out to Josh. Josh at SeatConference.com is his email. I'm just freely handing it out into the internet, but please reach out to him.

I wanted to finish with a final question for you, Josh. If SEAT didn't exist, what would the industry be missing?

Sean Callanan (37:46.428)

Absolutely, and I'm one very thankful and grateful that you did reboot Seat. It was missed. There definitely was a gap in the connectivity of the industry and the sharing of solutions. So it is great that Seat is back. I will see you in Charlotte 2026. I'll obviously see you on the emails and everything else prior to them, but I'm looking forward to seeing you again in real life. Josh, thanks for coming on.

the podcast again and I look forward to seeing you and listeners of the podcast and former alumni, a lot of them have been at seat in Charlotte in June 2026.