Hey there! We thought you might enjoy a series of blogs from different staff members here at the Iowa Events Center. There are so many moving parts necessary to not only keep our shows running but to keep the thousands that walk through our doors happy and satisfied with their experience. We hope this will give you a better understanding of what it’s like to work at and run one of the premier venues in the Midwest.
The perfect person to start off our Backstage Pass blog series is Brian Puza, guest services manager. When an event comes to the arena, Brian is in control of the overall guest experience.
“I can remember the first time I worked this building it was a sellout – I want to say it was the last time Bon Jovi was here. And just standing down on the floor, looking up, it was a 360 degree show so every seat was sold every seat was full and you’re sitting there and you’re looking at it and kind of saying to yourself ‘ wow, I am the one person that’s kind of in control as far as getting people in the door making sure everyone is safe.’ ”
Brian is responsible for staffing the arena with all the ushers and door guards you see at each corner of our venue. The minute people start lining up at the door is when his job really gets interesting. He describes his main duties as people watching, maximizing the customer experience, and if an incident arises, responding when necessary. The interactions and observations with the guests that walk into our venue is what he says is his favorite part of his job.
“My favorite part of my job is just the people watching. I’ve been here for 4 plus years, going on my 5th year next spring, you start to get to know the people that come for the country concerts, the rock shows, the Energy games, Barnstormers games, season ticket holders, suite holders, you get to know those faces and try to learn a little bit about them.”
Aside from people watching, Brian also plays an integral role in reporting to and responding to incidents should any arrive while people are in one of the venues. A few incidents inparticular will always stick out in his mind as some of the more hectic days on the job.
“There were 10 or 11 thousand people inside the building and a sprinkler head gets broken toward the end of Brad Paisley’s set and water goes everywhere around section 107 and 108. It actually looked like a waterfall underneath, from what I’ve heard from people.
One of the warehouse guys in concessions pushed the portable [concession stand] – we used to have the portable, more decorative tops – and it was just too high so it broke the actual sprinkler head off. So engineering had to come, they had to look and see which sprinkler head it was, they had to go back to wherever they go to turn that stuff off, so it was a 5-10 minute process before that thing had turned off.
I was there from the second it broke, to being the person that moved the portable concession stand in the way to try to block some of the water, to ultimately responding to those guests that called in and complained. That was probably one of the craziest nights.”
And no, as far as he knew, Brad had no idea anything was going on. And then there was the time before Trans-Siberian Orchestra.
“This past year the fire marshal came in and we had to relocate 20-30 people on either side of the stage because there was some pyro that was a little too close to fans. So here it is, 10 minutes to doors, and you’ve got 6 or 8 thousand people coming in and now you’ve got to find a home for 30 people that had the best seats in the house. Now what do you do?
We found everyone good seats and everyone was happy. We worked with the show, put some of them on the floor and got some merch for the show. Pretty much every single person got a program and a CD, or a program and a t-shirt, so they were all pretty happy with that. We certainly didn’t intend for it to happen but we had to move forward and make the best out of that situation.”
And then there are the situations where he finds himself not able to be in control, such as when he talks about the Coldplay concert and an alleged firearm that a staff member alerted him might be in the building. He didn’t know if it was true or not, and regardless of how he wanted to act,he told the on-site police staff because it was the only thing he could do. Or, the time during the Slipknot concert when the band members told the audience to “do something that had never been done” and the entire arena got on their knees and started counting to 3. Asthe only one on the floor still standingBrian had no idea what was about to happen, (the entire crowed ended up jumping in the air while the band went right into song). It is times like that that make Brian the most nervous.
But overall, he says he has a strong sense of composure and calmness that allow him to excel at his job.
“Even going back to the Brad Paisley night, I had people in my face screaming at me and I would think, ‘ok scream all you want, you’re not going to upset me.’ Either you are composed in that situation or you’re not. There’s no way to learn to be composed, so I think it’s just that I’m lucky I’m very laid back. I wouldn’t say easy going by any means for this job, I wouldn’t say you can be easy going, but at times you certainly have to be.”
Stay tuned for more insights from other members of our wonderful staff to what they do every day to keep our venue running.
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