My wonderful learning
experience from a respected mentor
I had the
most enjoyable and informative conversation today with Robyn Smith,
Entertainment Director and Talent Buyer of Hard Rock Hotel and Casino,
Biloxi. Let me start this blog by
stating a few randoms: I reached out to Robyn Smith for the sake of completing
an assignment for Graduate School but never imagined that she would respond to
me. Smith is a really big deal to the
entertainment world on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Needless to say, I morphed into a ball of
nervous excitement when I realized I would have the opportunity to interview
her. And, I would like my readers to
know that interviewing Smith was as easy as putting socks on in the
morning. We spoke for an hour and
twenty-six minutes. She is filled with
great information that she so graciously shared with me.
Smith’s
background is in Speech, Radio and Corporate Communication, but she was led to
the casino industry by performing as a dancer for the Grand Casino. She quickly discovered the casino industry
was filled with great opportunity as she moved from casino to casino, honing
craft after craft in such positions as Tour and Travel coordinator, Production
Manager, and later Entertainment Manager.
Smith received an entertainment award for the Grand Casino, Tunica of
which promoted her to the Regional Grand Casino Talent Buyer.
Hurricane
Katrina hit and ruined a large portion of the casino industry for the Gulf
Coast, but Smith turned tragedy into opportunity. She owned and operated RL Smith Agency LLC
and became the sole talent buyer for casinos on the coast. This business closed
its doors in January of 2007 when The Hard Rock came knocking and asking Smith
to join their team.
Robyn
Smith’s casino experience has been a rewarding one. She comments that she has become a jack-of-all
trades, but her average day consists of morning meetings, which discuss and
analyze reports on revenue, marketing and future schedules. She spends the rest of the day discussion
offers with agents, contacting tour managers, and confirming acts with the six
different venues of which she schedules the talent – Hard Rock Live,
Afterhours, Detox, Center Bar, Vibe and the Record Company.
Event day
for the larger acts is quite different from her other days. Event day consists of solidifying sound
checks, catering, hotel schedules, reservations, meal vouchers, and any special
requests. Although there is a multitude
of chores to check off the list on event day, Smith says her main goal is to
strategically plan to bring an artist with lots of game playing fans. Legends Doobie Brothers, Styx, Foreigner, and
Stevie Nicks, along with newer acts such as One Republic, Maroon 5, and Zac
Brown Band seem to sure fire satisfy this goal for her.
In order to
score acts as high in demand as these, Smith has protected her negotiation
skills. Smith negotiates dates, price,
hotel rooms, transportation, charity offers and photo options. She also negotiates riders also known as the
artists’ wish lists. She says some of
the more fun riders have included Kid rock’s Reddi Whip request, Stevie Nicks'
treadmill and full-sized refrigerator need, and Pat Benatar's obsession with
having brand new sheets.
Smith dots
her “i’s” and crosses her “t’s” before she involves herself in a negotiating
deal. To ensure a mutual benefit between
Hard Rock and artists she does her research.
She looks at box office reports as well as regional reports in order to
factor in all aspects to foster the most fair deal and offering price. Smith
claims separating the problem from the people can be very difficult. She never lies, remains calm, and negotiates
only in writing when confronted with this kind of challenge. An example of Smith’s best alternative to a
negotiated agreement was when Smith wanted to schedule the group, Heart. She soon found herself on a predicament
because Heart would only play as long as its opening act could also play and be
paid by the Hard Rock. She accepted
Heart’s offer. Low and behold the
contract came back with the band Heart plus a totally different opening artist
other than the one originally negotiated.
Smith said simply, “no way”. She
put the band on the hot seat. The
situation turned out positively for Smith.
She got what she wanted from the beginning and Heart played without any
opening acts.
My Business
Negotiation and Deal Making assignment has turned out to be quite a treat for
me to complete. Thanks to Robyn Smith, I
have discovered a more in depth look into a part of the entertainment world
that I hope to soon be part of. She
filled me with knowledge of her job, explained her negotiation skills and
supported me by leaving me with this advice:
never say no to a job opportunity in this business, take on
responsibility so that I soak up all learning opportunities, and stay
positively persistent.
Robyn, I truly thank you for your valuable time, awesome
kindness, and heartfelt inspiration!
