Dave Wakeman's The Business of Fun Podcast
When you work in entertainment, you are in the business of fun. This podcast will focus on the challenges and opportunities associated with helping your customers create memories and special moments. We will talk about sports, theatre, performing arts, and other forms of entertainment, highlighting the best ideas in marketing live experiences, creating long-term customers, and growing revenues.
- Update frequency
- every 13 days
- Average duration
- 48 minutes
- Episodes
- 227
- Years Active
- 2018 - 2025
Jakob Eliason brings 'Pickleball as a Service' to Venues Around the Country
My guest today is Jakob Eliason.
He's one of the co-founders of Pickleball Pop Ups. 'Pickelball as a service' as Jakob describes the concept.
This one was fun because that's the foundation of what …
Jacob Hicks has a different approach to the sales process
Great episode today...
Jacob Hicks is my guest on the podcast.
Find him here: https://jacobhickscoach.com
We got into the sales process.
We discuss:
- Awareness
- Persusasion's role in selling
- Insight…
Hannah Grannemann comes back to talk the opportunity in arts' emergencies.
My guest today is my friend, Hannah Grannemann.
She is working on a book and had more ideas than she knew what to do with...so she came to share them with us.
We hit on tons of topics:
- The Kenned…
Albert Bramante talks anxiety, actors, and NPL
Hi!
Fun one today with Albert Bramante.
We went in a bunch of different directions that I didn't expect.
We talked about:
- Anxiety
- Mental loops
- Mindsets
- Psychology
And, more all through the lens …
Dan Galpern is bringing dance to the world
My guest today is Dan Galpern.
Dan is CEO of DanceOne.
What a great conversation this is.
We discussed how dance impacts every aspect of our lives, even if we don't recognize it.
Dan humors me an…
Simon Severino teaches us about the $80K webinar
My buddy, Simon Severino, is back.
I wanted to have him come teach us how he turned one webinar into $80,000.
Why?
Because it applies to all of us.
We go through Simon's plan for coming up with th…
Faisal Hoque tells me AI might steal my job...or, it might not.
My guest today is Faisal Hoque.
He has a new book, Transcend: Unlocking Humanity in the Age of AI.
This is a very hopeful conversation because Faisal definitely knows that there are always going to…
Jimi Gibson says we all have magic within us...
My guest today is Jimi Gibson.
Jimi is a trained magician.
He's used his magic skills to help us understand marketing and strategy a little bit better.
This is a fun conversation.
We talk about J…
Lawrence Armstrong teaches us about leadership, creativity, and strategy.
My guest today is Lawrence Amstrong.
He's written a new book, Layered Leadership: Drive Double Digit Growth and Dominate Your Competition With Creative Strategies and Execution.
This conversation i…
Jill Schulman is a bad ass! She teaches us about being brave!
My guest today is Jill Schulman!
A total badass.
She is a Marine that focuses on teaching people the power of positive psychology so that they can be braver.
This was a conversation I was excited …
John Reider is 'The Bubble Man'
My guest today is John Reider!
He is 'The Bubble Man'.
Seriously, it says so on his Teams' handle!
We had a great time talking about John's businesses. He is the king of bubbles and has a number o…
Steven Burchard owns a smile factory!
This is amazing!
Happy 2025 to you all!
My guest today is the owner of Magical Memories Entertainment, Steven Burchard.
We had a great talk about relationships and creating experiences for folks.
…
Zack Sugarman & Superplastic Bring a New Experience to Area 15 in Las Vegas
Love this episode!
A great conversation with Zack Sugarman.
Zack is the Chief Strategy Officer at Superplastic.
Superplast just opened a brand new IRL space in Las Vegas at Area 15 called Dopeamem…
John Kinsner has walked a diverse road in the world of entertainment
I love this conversation with John Kinsner because John has done so many things as he has made his way to becoming CEO of Black Ink Presents that I can't call our conversation anything less than a lo…
Key Performance Indicators: Why Are You Using the KPIs you are using?
This is a special conversation that comes from a LinkedIn Live I did with Bruce Eckfelt and William Lieberman.
We discuss KPIs.
You can find me at www.DaveWakeman.com
Sign up for my newsletters on …
Jon Allen teaches me how to approach a new market
My guest today is Jon Allen from TKT.com.
We had a good time talking about TKT's move to the European market.
Jon teaches me about taking a US tech focused approach to the hospitality ticket market …
Andrew Recinos
I've got Andrew Recinos on the podcast today!
Andrew is the CEO of Tessitura.
He came to me with a great idea: we have our podcast conversation built around the ideas I share with folks in 'The Fan…
Dr. Persuasion joins me to talk about marketing and building buzz
What a fun episode!
Yaniv Zaid is my guest today. We had a great time!
Yaniv's new book is called 'The 21st Century Sales Bible' and it will help you sell more tickets, services, and products of al…
Steve Cook teaches me how to view current trends in tickets...(Republish)
I'm reposting my conversation with Steve.
The original show notes didn't publish only my bulleted notes about what I wanted to say.
I had some bad weather in my area and the disruption in internet …
Strategy 101: Foundations of Strategy
Hi!
I'm creating a class called "Markets and Competition: Strategy for Modern Times" and as I'm putting it together, I want to share the journey with you.
Today, I recorded a quick webinar called "…