Can't Help Falling In Love

By: Katrina Sharpe, Summer 2013 Marketing Intern

Who is a minority owner of the ice hockey team the Vancouver Giants? Who almost gave up on a singing career to become a journalist? Whose grandfather offered plumbing services in exchange for his grandson to sing at different night clubs? Whose newest album debuted at No. 1 on Billboard Magazine’s Top 200 Pop Charts just last month? AND who is coming to The Arena at Gwinnett Center on Oct. 27 of this year? You guessed it! Michael Bublé.

 

It’s amazing how listening to Bublé sing can transport you back into a different time or place. It’s almost like taking a much-needed vacation wherever you are. Imagining what the full experience will be like to not only hear Bublé sing, but to watch his performance as he takes the stage in October is beyond exciting.

Tickets for this event will be going on Fri., MAY 31 at 10:00AM (EST)! They can be purchased at www.gwinnettcenter.com and www.axs.com. 

Bublé’s songs are catchy and enjoyable to sing. As many of us sing in our cars or other places with a limited audience, Bublé’s place to sing is the New York subway. He said in an interview for Community Radio for Northern Colorado KUNC 91.5, “I went out into the subway in New York. And it’s like been a dream of mine…you haven't made it till you sing in the subway in New York.” That takes some confidence!

His combination of fearlessness, strength, and charisma, along with talent, makes for a wonderful entertainer. He really understands how to connect with his audience. Just one example of many is he put his own rendition of “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” from the classic Toy Story movies on this album. Through this song and others, Bublé transports his fans back to their past and even to their childhood.

It is said that tradition is carrying down wisdom from one generation to the next. That is exactly what Bublé continues to do with this new record “To Be Loved.” He has taken songs and inspirations from the past and keeps them alive for generations to come as a reminder of timeless music and lyrics.

How exciting it is that Bublé will be traveling the world to perform for millions of fans all the way from London, England to Duluth, GA! In the words of Bublé, “Oh, what a world, what a life – I’m in love.” 

People all over the world can’t help falling in love with Michael Bublé and his music. We look forward to seeing you in October!  Tell us, what is your favorite Michael Bublé song?

Click HERE to purchase tickets to see Michael Bublé in concert.

"Be the Change You Want to See in the World. Simply Lead."

By: Katrina Sharpe, Summer 2013 Marketing Intern

Chick-fil-A Leadercast is a one-day event that brings together renowned leaders to share their knowledge to inspire and teach audience members to better themselves as leaders in their community, work, and home.

CEO’s and public figures are not the only ones created to be leaders, we learned during the Chick-fil-A Leadercast conference that was held at The Arena at Gwinnett Center earlier this month.

The key speakers, along with countless volunteers and staff, created an environment that day for all attendees to be successful in their everyday lives. As leaders, they all created an environment that empowered the audience to become great leaders and to be successful with the knowledge they gained that day. 

 photo credits: Daley Hake Photography http://ow.ly/l3vEQ

What is the difference between learning to be a great leader and actually becoming one? Two things: what you know and what you do.

A petite 9-year-old boy named Caine and his friend/mentor Nirvan shared Caine’s story of how what you know and what you do can make a difference in the lives of many. This heart-warming story begins one summer when Caine spent his days with his father at the family’s used auto parts shop in East LA. He built his own arcade out of cardboard boxes and anything else he could find to use as parts for his arcade games.

A filmmaker, Nirvan, came across this arcade. He was Caine’s first and only customer. Caine informed him that $1 would buy him two plays, but if he spent $2 and bought a fun pass, well, that would buy him 500 plays. Nirvan of course bought the fun pass.  After Nirvan won his first game, Caine crawled inside the box and manually expelled the winning tickets from a cut-out hole. Touched, Nirvan decided to film a documentary about Caine’s arcade. He surprised Caine by inviting thousands of people to come out and play his arcade via a Facebook group. 

Caine and his father went out for lunch one day, and when they returned to the shop, Caine found a flood of people waiting to play his arcade. The biggest smiled crept upon his little face and out came a laugh of excitement and disbelief.  Nirvan was a leader that day. He put Caine in a position to be successful, and in turn, allowed Caine to learn to become a leader of his own and had been able to inspire children and people of all ages around the word. 

Caine knew what his gifts and talents were and he used them to create this arcade and this experience for his customers, which brings us to the next point from the conference: Focus on your strengths! Learn what your strengths and talents are and grow them. One of the underlying themes for the day was to multiply your strengths and delegate your weaknesses. There is little to no influence in your weaknesses, so developing your strengths will help you successfully lead.

Coach Mike Krzyzewski, better known as “Coach K,” who served as the head coach for the Duke Blue Devils and for the USA men’s national 2008 and 2010 teams gave other examples of successful leading. A big takeaway from his talk was don’t have rules, have standards. He reiterated rules can be restrictive while standards can empower. Standards help create that environment of success, which is the leader’s job to create. With standards, each person under them owns them; they are internal. Each team, however defined, agrees on a set of standards and holds their members accountable.

photo credits: Daley Hake Photography http://ow.ly/l3vEQ

Do you feel inspired to be a leader yet? Are you still a little nervous to lead the people in your life because you think it may be too difficult? Well here’s some good news for you from the speakers at Chick-fil-A Leadercast: simplicity is better than complexity when it comes to leading.

You might be wondering exactly how simplicity is better than complexity when we live in a world that is so complex. To answer that question: complexity is the enemy of clarity. Dr. Henry Cloud said, “Great leaders lead people in ways that people’s brains can follow.” Makes sense, right? Leading in a complicated way won’t be as effective as leading simply. Once you understand what being a leader means and begin to show others what you’ve learned, you’re well on your way to becoming a great leader. 

Lastly, another word of advice from the conference: intentionally add value to people every day, whether it is your employees, coworkers, family, friends, etc. Adding value to them will increase your influence level in their lives to help them become better leaders and it shows them you care about them as an individual.

CEO of Herschend Family Entertainment Joel Manby said, “Leadership comes alive when you give it away.” Show people around you how they can be successful and how they can become great leaders by sharing what you have discovered. Be what you want to see in this world.

How do you become what you want to see in the world? Simply lead.

To see more photos of the event, please click here. 

The Arena Goes All AXS with MUSE!

As some of you may have discovered, or are discovering now, Gwinnett Center has incorporated a new ticketing system called AXS Ticketing.  I’m sure many of you are wondering why?  What’s the difference?  Well, let's start by explaining what it is.  

AXS (pronounced "Access") Ticketing was introduced by AEG in 2011.  Since its inception, many venues known worldwide have switched to this system including the STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, Sprint Center in Kansas City, the Target Center in Minneapolis and The O2 Arena in London.  Along with its ease of use, AXS has many features that can really make the ticket purchasing process less of a headache.  Two personal favorites are the AXS Invite and AXS Waiting Room feature.

Every bought a ticket for a friend (or friends) and they bail on you at the last minute, forcing you to go through the trouble of selling the ticket or finding somebody to take their spot?  AXS Invite can eliminate this hassle.  It gives you the ability to invite your friends to an event without having to purchase all of their tickets at the same time.  You can hold the extra seats and send a link via Facebook or email that will allow them to purchase their own ticket.  They can either log on to AXS.com to purchase their saved ticket(s) or decline the invite.  You won’t have to worry about hearing “I’ll pay you back when you get them” or “Just get me a ticket and I’ll try to make it.” 

The AXS Waiting Room is another feature that will help, especially when there is a show you know will sell out in the blink of an eye.  AXS Waiting Room allows you to view event details, ticket pricing and enter your credit card information in before the on-sale goes live.  What does that mean?  In one click of a button, you can purchase your tickets right when the tickets go on sale.  You don’t have to worry about typing in your information faster than the speed of light or wondering if the seats you want are already sold.

Is that all?  No, other great features:

• My AXS where you can create a profile and receive notifications on upcoming events based on your interests and location (which can also be created through Facebook).

• AXS Premium which allows you to purchase premium ticketing packages.

• AXS Facebook which does various promotions and ticket giveaways.

•  Print your tickets out at home…with no per order fees.

• In the future, they will also be rolling out such as mobile ticketing (you never leave home without your phone, so you won’t leave your ticket). 

So how do we start this transition with a bang?  MUSE!  That’s right, the English trio will be returning to The Arena at Gwinnett Center on September 4^th to amaze once again. 

How do you buy all of your tickets?  www.gwinnettcenter.com, The Arena at Gwinnett Center Box Office, or by calling 1-888-9-AXS-TIX.

Other Upcoming Events on AXS:

• TNA Impact Wrestling LIVE! - June 6
• Carlos Vives - July 17
• American Idol LIVE! 2013 - August 4
• MUSE - September 4
• His Holiness the Dalai Lama - October 8
• Michael Buble - October 27
  
  Click HERE for a full listing of events.