Sixth annual E.H.C. Hockey Business Forum in the books
Everyone who’s ever been involved with hockey has heard how important it is to do the little things right because the many little things done right turn into the big thing getting done right as well. In fact, the saying was referenced in one of the presentations made during the day, in a quote from United States Navy four-star admiral William McRaven’s 2014 commencement speech at the University of Texas, Austin.
Putting together a hockey business forum is no different, and in the case of the sixth annual EHC Business Forum in Tampere, Finland, all pieces – big and small alike – certainly fell into place, starting from a record attendance at the pre-Forum presentations of the Tampere teams’ (Tappara and Ilves) youth programs and a tour of the Nokia Arena, with close to 100 interested participants in the audience.
When the forum itself kicked off the next day, the number of participants had almost doubled.
Just like everywhere in the world, big data, and artificial intelligence, are entering the world of hockey, and hockey business. The emergence of tech was present in several presentations, and it was obvious in the trade show, where there were multiple solutions to gather and analyze game data and package it to be used by coaches and fans.
And as Mikko Simon, the Chief Growth Officer of SprintAI, put it, there’s no point in trying to resist AI. It’s best to embrace it. Simon also showed how his company has worked with the Dallas Stars to monitor their players’ game shape. Last season, Pontus Svensson helped Malmö Redhawks turn around a situation that looked almost hopeless when the team faced relegation from the SHL. His Time and Space approach uses algorithms to capture data and helps people in stressful situations focus on the right things and avoid tunnel vision.
Merav Savir, the head of marketing at Infront Lab, talked about the importance of data collection in getting to know the customers and fans, and using that data to communicate better with them.
“Data is important but if you don't know how to interpret it, it's not valuable,” she said. “Know your fans.”
Finnish Liiga’s Chief Digital Officer Jukka Sundquist’s presentation was a case study of the complexities of the digitalization process of a 15-team strong league trying to get its franchises under the same digital platform. Some teams now have their season tickets in the app, others use it to collect data about the fans as well as for entertainment purposes, such as trivia questions and voting for the player of the game. The next step is to move into monetizing the digital services.
Bobby Sharma, the founder and managing partner of Bluestone Equity Partners, came with the promising message that sports properties are becoming more popular for investors.
Naturally, there was hockey talk as well. Léo Girod talked about the importance of finding the right players and not only for what they do on the ice. That the players line up with the club’s values is also important.
Finally, André Noël Chaker brought the house down with his energetic and very funny talk on the importance of being open-minded and ready for change. And of Arnold Schwarzenegger, accents, nicknames, Santa Claus, how his wife accepted his proposal on one condition, being a foreigner, and how to escape from the town of Stadis Kuo.
But an event like the EHC Hockey Business Forum is about meeting colleagues, exchanging information, and getting inspired by others.
And finding ways to work together.
As Bobby Sharma reminded everyone, “A rising tide lifts all boats.”
