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I have a love hate relationship with the US. I love the country, I love the people, and I love the way the US does sport and entertainment. I love flying to the US on Air New Zealand, which must be one of the finest airlines in the world. I hate going through airports in the US. I hate standing in long queues at entry points, I hate the questions asked at immigration control (I visit the US twice a year and have done so for the last 3 years). I hate the TSA screening process. I don’t hate it because I think it’s unnecessary, I hate it because of the way the staff treat you. I know they have a terrible job, but they applied for it, they accepted it and they have a responsibility to carry it out so that people want to come back and visit the US again. They need to take a leaf out of the venues business and how they treat their guests. Yes all those people flying around the US through airports are guests, no different from those attending entrainment events at venues.

I recently visited University of Phoenix stadium, Chase Field and US Airlines Centre in Phoenix. The venues are fantastic and I have good friends at some of them who took their time to show me around. I was, however, particularly impressed with the first person I met at each venue. First impressions are so very important. The security person at the front desks main task is to direct you where you should be going and to stop you going where you should not be going. It’s so often though the start of a good or bad experience.

I have a life philosophy built around the pursuit of great memories. These memories will be moulded by experiences along the way. Those of privileged enough to work in the entertainment industry sell memories to people and that is both an awesome and daunting task. Often it’s the front line people who either make or ruin this experience.

I am pleased to say in Phoenix the three front line people I met made my experience so very pleasant. The friendly greeting, the noticing I had a different accent, the engagement over where I was from and even some knowledge of New Zealand turned a short conversation into a great chat with someone who seemed to genuinely care about my wellbeing at the venue. I was so impressed with the gent at the US Airlines Centre that after my meeting I went and told him how good he was. We had a lovely conversation about his past and how he came to work at the Centre. I walked away from Phoenix with lovely memories of the venues and the people.

People on the front line have a difficult job, they are the first point of call either in person or over the telephone. They can make a great memory or a bad one. They have such an important responsibility as well ensuring our safety. They are abused, teased and maligned. They are our front line and they are really important.

They are often part time, sometimes volunteers and they have to have all the information at their fingertips. They are our brand, our experience and our memory maker. They are the difference between great and average, good and bad, happy or sad. I find it really interesting how so many venues find these wonderful, smiling, excited and passionate people who bravely face the public and make a great memory for our guests. I am equally surprised how airports cannot seem to find enough of them. Maybe one of the prerequisites of working at an airport is that you go through training at a venue.

I look so forward to my next visit to a US venue and hope that no airport security personal read this blog or I won’t be enjoying my next trip through LAX.