SII is now a part of IU Indianapolis. Same campus, same curriculum, new name.
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Description of the video:
Erica Shonkwiler - So this project, along with a lot of other ones in our department, I think speaks to our commitment to hands-on, real life experiential learning. In our program, you've got text books, you've got exams, and you've got papers, but we recognize that this industry can't be taught from a book and it can't just be taught in a classroom. We have to get out and show you and allow you to experience things so that one, you know what the real world application is; two, you're ready to hit the ground running when you graduate with real-world skills to be successful in your job. I also think we have such a big industry, there's so many different jobs that you can do and I often tell students over the next four years you have got to try everything at the buffet to figure out what you like. It allows you to experience a whole lot of different things and different paths that you could go in when you graduate so that you make sure that you start investing in yourself and building your resume in the right direction for the stuff that really works for you. This program is just one of a lot of programs in our department that I think are focused on this and as a student, if you take advantage of all of those we'll have trouble getting your resume down to one page when you graduate and I think that's our goal.
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David Pierce, Ph.D.: I’m David Pierce, I’m the associate Professor of Sport Management and the Director of the IUPUI Sports Innovation Institute.
Kasey Coler: I’m Kasey Coler, General Manager of Lucas Oil Raceway, Vice President of Track Operations for the National Hotrod Association, the NHRA.
Pierce: Kasey Coler approached me in December of last year and he had some questions on how the Sports Innovation Institute could really help innovate the racer and fan experience here at Lucas Oil Raceway, and really setting up a great context for students to be able to do empathy research by interviewing and observing participants and racers here on site. It really puts the students in a really good spot to innovate creative solutions.
Coler: For a facility that’s been around for close to 70 years, we look at what’s the future of this place, and we certainly recognize that that – a lot of it has to do with what’s on track, but we also recognize as there’s an evolution to motor sports and to creature comforts that we’re all used to, be it at a large sporting event or stadium, or at your local golf course. These are the things that have to evolve and for us, this is something that we look at kind of providing as the trial and kind of the test case that we’re able to roll out to our future facilities.
Pierce: So Kasey took us up into the media center and so the student’s got a bird’s-eye view of the entire property. He really just talked about the history and the context of the NHRA and also Lucas Oil Raceway, then we started to hone into the specific types of events that the students are going to come out and do their research with. And we actually got to walk out then on a tour and really get out on the property and get a sense of the research context the students will be grappling with all semester.
Brandon Dillman: So in the classroom, you know, you’re listening to the professor lecture, you’re reading out of a textbook, doing problems, going over worksheets. Out here in the field, you’re actually, you know, hands on, you know, talking to people who are in this field and talking to people who participate in events in this field and are willing to talk to you and try and figure out problems and solutions.
Coler: So I think through the conversations and learning a little bit more about the opportunities with IUPUI and sports marketing program, and then understanding some of the opportunities here at Lucas Oil Raceway, that’s where we’re able to come together and put this project together for this semester.
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Luke Rasberry: Yeah I think this experience was fantastic. The innovation sprint is just an awesome opportunity. I mean it’s one thing to learn about how to work as a team in a classroom. It's one thing to learn about cross-cultural communication in a classroom. But actually being put in a group with four people you don’t have any idea who they are. All different backgrounds. All different cultures. And then happened to work on the same project the whole time working for the common good. Not just my ideas, not just your ideas, but our ideas as a group making that best option for our presentation is just a fantastic thing that you really can’t get in a classroom.
Barsa Tandukar: It was a wonderful experience I would say. And I think it was more motivating for students like us who are trying to participate even more. And personally I'm motivated even more and I’d like to participate once more in such kind of competitions.
Waleed Al-Hamed: It was just interesting like coming up with the idea within 24 hours or under 24 hours. Putting it onto paper and then making the presentation.
Carter Scales: Having the chance to work with my team outside of the regular school classroom environment was really useful. Because we had not just the major that we have in the school but we had all the majors from a lot of different departments in that school. And we are all working together on the same project.
Luke Rasberry: And the presentation I think went really well. I think that the board and the judges who were listening to our presentations had some great feedback for us. We were able to really take those and kind of apply them and do better ideas and work on them after the fact. Which is something I think is a great opportunity to know what you presented and also get that feedback to be able to have that opportunity to improve. Sports major program at IUPUI has so many opportunities about how you can really get involved and I think as a student at IUPUI to not take those opportunities is just a missed chance for you. I mean tt is a great opportunity to grow yourself as a person, individual, and professionally. I highly recommend you take advantage of that shot.
Description of the video:
David Pierce, Ph.D.: So what we’re really trying to do with the Sport Innovation Institute Speaker Series is really bring stories of innovation from our local sports community here in Indianapolis.
Jeremy Hochstedler: I was a former college baseball coach, and I saw a need for automated scouting. Scouting our opponents every week saved coached 15-20 hours a week, and the company’s just grown from there.
Anthony Treash: What I enjoyed most about Jeremy and what he had to say was how his companies have evolved, and their graphs and everything, just, it went from really basic to more elaborate using just every single statistic available.
Pierce: Students will have an educational opportunity here that’s kind of outside the classroom setting to take a deep dive into an area of innovation that we usually don’t have time to cover in a typical class setting.
Hochstedler: IUPUI specifically is centered obviously right here in downtown Indianapolis. I’ve met some awesome students and professors here, you know, just been fantastic to work with.
Treash: I love IUPUI because of the connections you can make with the city and the resources made available.
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Rafael Bahamonde: The institutes are important because what they do is they put a group of faculty together and those faculty work with community partners or it could be with other people outside the university which help bring the student in developing research projects and activities. In many locations that doesn't happen because everything stays within the university, but now you go into the outside and you bring in the expertise from people from the outside. You give the students real life experience.
Kasey Coler: We probably take it for granted in the Indianapolis market that we have such a great University here to be able to partner with, but it is critical for our business as well as many other businesses organizations throughout the community. For us and for the other organizations that are out there, it's bringing a young group of folks into the workforce that already have a step ahead of those that may not be getting those real-world experiences.
William Knox: Typically when we get involved in projects like this the courses kind of breeze over the subject and give us a one or two-page synopsis of what they've done. Just briefly going through some of the binders that were produced forms some of these programs, they went through great lengths to provide very detailed informations based off the project that they research which will be extremely valuable for us. Really the depth that they went through for these different projects was really impressive.
John Gullion: We've done numerous project with IUPUI but the one thing I really enjoy most about it is that they're always being proactive and coming to us with different projects and things that could help our business grow. At the same time it's helping their students as well. With my team of 3 current full-time managers that were all interns at one time.
Kasey Coler: If we were asked about IUPUI and our experience I mean it was nothing but positive. Not only do you get a great product at the end but you also have inquisitive, well rounded students that are not looking just to work on a class project, but really looking to try to find a solution for your company. Being able to work with Dr. Pierce and his team was nothing but first class well-prepared. It was very easy to work with them but also very self-sufficient, so it's really turnkey and they do a really good job of getting their students to execute across the various disciplines of the challenge.
Rafael Bahamonde: We don't have to go very far away for students to go and do an experience in sports venues and we have the National Institute for Fitness [and Sport] here on campus. We have all these venues within walking distance with tremendous amount of opportunities for them to do the real-life experience that the need to do when they get a job.
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Gerry: well we aren’t far from hearing “play ball!” at least for youth sports in Indiana. State guidelines now allow practices, and games and tournaments are just two weeks away for hoosier kids. But game time will look different. Business of health reporter Kylie Veleta tells us about a new study that’s shedding light on what changes people care about the most.
Kylie: Thanks Gerry. Grand Park in Westfield, one of the largest youth sports complexes in the country, and the IUPUI Sports Innovation Institute are partnering on a nationwide survey that asked parents, coaches, players and administrators what changes need to be made at facilities for them to feel safe. Should grandparents be allowed to come in? Should teams sit in dugouts? Would you answer a health screen to enter the park? The results are in from more than 10,000 respondents. Here to tell us more are William Knox, the director of Grand Park, and Dr. David Pierce, the director of the IUPUI Sports Innovation Institute, thank you both for being here today.
William: Thanks for having us.
Dr. Pierce: Thanks
Kylie: William, I would like to start with you. This survey focused on 12 modifications that facilities are considering as youth sports start to ramp back up. Can you give us an idea of what people were asked and why their answers are so important?
William: We were very fortunate to work with Dr. Pierce and the Sports Innovation Institute to conduct This research and what we found. We looked at reopening plans for many facilities and events throughout the country and there were a lot of questions being asked to parents as to what would make them feel safe when they return to sports. So we looked at the 12 that were compiled about those reopening plans and we asked our own questions, like what would make you feel safe once you return to our facility or once you return to playing in events at different venues. Were they looking for questions related to event staff wearing masks and or dugouts being available and we went to the point to even ask questions about responding to a questionnaire or subject yourself to temperature checks when you return to the games.
Kylie: Okay, David I understand you are still going through the results with a fine-tooth comb. Can you give us a sort of a high-level picture or first impression of what respondents are saying, which interestingly 91% of the respondents were parents. So tell us what you were seeing in these early results.
Dr. Pierce: Yeah so some of the big ones that are fundamentally important and really classify things as the more of this that people see the better they feel that would be visible would be the increase in sanitization factors. This includes lobbies, common areas. and high-touch areas. On the event operator side of things the sanitization practices of playing areas in equipment. Both of those things were ranked 1 and 2 in terms of the more that people see this the more comfortable they feel. Not too far behind that was seeing people engaging in Social distance practices. On a related note scoring very highly was treating event staff that was enforcing social distancing with respect.
Kylie: Okay, very good, I thought that it was interesting that they were strongly against no Spectators being allowed. so William let's go back to you and talk just about the business side of things. Two big issues here, one is this is costing facilities a lot of money to make these changes but also consumer confidence, so to speak, where you have to keep your customer happy. Can you share your thoughts on us about those two points?
William: Absolutely there is a significant cost associated with these enhancements as we continue to evaluate exactly what we do. For some facilities it may not be as much, but we are a 400 acre campus with a multitude of fields, and this amplifies that. From our standpoint we have already put ourselves in a position where we have forecasted a lot of our projections to your point this is going to be tough for us because we want to have confidence instilled into our consumer that we have provided a safe environment where they can play. These features will rise to the top and from our standpoint we will need to look at these and not only look at it for this year but for years to come.
Kylie: Okay, David we talked a little bit about this off camera about how these results are so important for huge venues like Grand Park all the way down to small town little leagues all throughout the small cities and areas in Indiana. How do you get these results out there far and wide so everyone can see them and make these decisions about what to do?
Dr. Pierce: Yeah absolutely, we are going to work with our PR team in Indiana University and also in conjunction with Williams team up there with the city of Westfield and hopefully the indication of the number of respondents, with over 10,000, hopefully we are getting this out into the hands of facility operators. We are really here trying to provide this as a service so those folks really understand how parents are going to respond and how to react to these different adaptations before they arrive.
Kylie: And David, we don't want to get too far into the weeds here but you also just mentioned just a minute ago that you teased out some more data with recreational league parents versus people involved in travel leagues. What can you tell us about that?
Dr. Pierce: Generally speaking the recreational parents, so the ones that are not engaging in travel competition, see all 12 of the adaptations as much more important and much more fundamental to the experience. They want to see those on a much larger scale in order to feel safe, whereas the travel parents had a different profile, so to speak, and they were much more willing 2 quickly get things back to normal. It wasn't that they don't think that those adaptations should occur, they just aren't as strong in their belief before they feel safe in engaging in that activity.
Kylie: Okay, and William, with just a few seconds left do you have some closing thoughts with the practices underway at Grand Park, kind of a soft launch of these adaptations. What are you seeing on the fields there right now? How are people responding?
William: We started back practices late last week and next week we will add a few more. People are being very cautious, they understand that we are going to roll this out slow as we get to the point where we can get back to tournaments but it's good to have activity back on the campus. I think the kids are enjoying it but everybody has been a little cautious staying away from each other and a lot of our Main areas are still closed so we will evaluate those as we go through this process.
Kylie: William and David, thank you for being on the show today. Full results are coming within a few days so we will certainly be following up and sharing those results as they become available. Thanks guys for being on the show.
William: Thank you
Dr. Pierce: Thank you, Kylie
Kylie: Gerry, back to you.
Gerry: All right Kylie thanks. Interesting data indeed, thanks very much.
Description of the video:
Transcription of Video: Student Engagement with the IUPUI Sports Innovation Institute
(Music In the Background)
(Writing on the bottom of the screen)
The IUPUI Sports Innovation Institute blends academic know-how with an entrepreneurial spirit.
Collaborate with industry partners
Experience life outside the classroom
Research - Create - Innovate
The future of the sports industry is here today!
Description of the video:
Garrett Rosh: We’re up here on our newly renovated impact networking suite level at Victory Field, where we have the IUPUI sales class, 40 kids strong, making outbound sales calls to our internet buyers from the 2017 season, trying to upgrade them into packages and to come out to more games in 2018.
David Pierce, Ph.D.: So we’ve developed a really solid partnership with the Indianapolis Indians, and they’ve seen value in our students coming out and generating additional revenue for the organization.
Brendan Wright: When I graduate, I hope to go into sales. I actually clearly enjoy it and this is kind of the first time I’ve ever done it, so I’m getting my first experience but I actually enjoy how it’s going.
Pierce: So each student has a sales goal that they’re focused on. We have a goal as a class and last year we actually set a record with over $20,000 in new revenue generated for the Indians.
Rosh: This is about the fourth year, I believe, working with Dr. Pierce. It’s been great every single year, but it’s gotten better and better each year as he continues to hone his craft. He came out with the first ever sports sales textbook, and the kids seem to be loving it and they’ve grown by leaps and bounds from year to year.
Pierce: There’s only really a handful of others Sport Management programs in the United States that have an outbound experiential sales center like the one we have set up here that really gives students that real world inside sales experience.
Wright: Through this experience, I’ve definitely gained respect for the Indians organization. It helps to sell the product when it’s a great product to sell, so it’s been good.
Description of the video:
David Pierce, Ph.D.: So from the capstone showcase, our goal is to have students just have the opportunity to kind of tell their story about what they’ve worked on all semester.
Student 1: One of the projects for the class was to redesign the youth sport experience for Grand Park up in Westfield, Indiana.
Student 2: We were partnered with Grand Park to bring a new kind of experience.
Pierce: Their ears are open to the innovative ideas that the students are creating.
Student 3: We went to Grand Park and observed the soccer fields and the baseball diamonds.
Student 1: The backstop was brick and it was like 49 inches high and so if you set on the first or second row of the bleachers you can’t see.
Student 3: Basically what we came up with was a catwalk.
Student 1: People can walk up on the catwalk, look at this game, look at that game.
Student 2: So Capture is a app that lets you have mini highlight reel of your son or daughter playing. We want to give a quality product to users to enhance their experience and it’s great because it gives families memories that they can hold on to.
Student 1: William Knox, who’s the facility director at Grand Park, he’s come today, so we’re going to kind of pitch our idea to him so we wanted to make sure we had our ducks in a row.
Student 2: It’s cool to see the progression from the slow build up all the way up to our projects that we are presenting today to Grand Park.
Student 1: Basically the whole semesters we’ve been building up to this day.
Student 3: It was a lot of work but we enjoyed it and I love my group.
Student 2: Being in the IUPUI Sports Management field, being downtown in Indianapolis, it’s just a great opportunity to have access to all these local teams.
Student 1: You’re not just another student, you’re going to get that one-on-one.
Student 3: Our program emphasizes volunteering with different sport organizations, and by that I’ve been able to work with the Indy Fuel and the Indianapolis Colts.
Student 1: They’re really big on getting out in the local community and getting our name out there.
Student 3: IUPUI has been great.
Student 1: IUPUI’s faculty for the Sports Management department, in my opinion, is awesome.
William Knox: This project that they’re working on on behalf of Grand Park is the first step of many to getting them down the path where they’re successful in this industry.
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Listen to John Gullion, General Manager at Incrediplex, talk about the project and results this semester.
Question: What challenge did you want students to attack this semester?
John Gullion: Yes, I wanted them to be able to come in and create some type of a WOW factor in or lobby. As you come into incrediplex we’re wanting to add that experience of a customer to be just over the top as they first walk into our facility.
Q: What were your initial reactions to what was presented today?
John: WOW, it was amazing collaboration and we couldn’t have been more thrilled of the results that we saw today. Amazing work.
Q: What from the presentation excited you the most?
John: I think some of the things as far as the split entrance and as far as coming in as a clear entrance and exit. Also some of the creativity versus social media components in the lobby. A lot of different pictures and different things that highlight the people who have actually come into our facility and the different things that we offer within our facility.
Q: What benefits do you see to having sports management and interior design students collaborate on a challenge like this?
John: You’re getting the best of both worlds. You’re getting the top students in the sports industry to kind of see what we’re all about here at incrediplex but then you get the expertise of the people from the design to come through and put the fine components in as far as all the detail work whether it be the lighting or flooring. There’s a lot of amazing work and room for them to work hand-in-hand. It greatly benefits us as a business.
Q: What would you say the others in the industry who are considering working with IUPUI Sports Innovation Institute?
John: They need to do it. It’s amazing and the benefits that help your business is flat amazing. We were presented today with what was beyond expectation and it’s amazing work and I would say don’t hesitate at all. Get involved today.
Description of the video:
Adrian Kirchner: The format was a lot different just because we did spend a lot of time out at the raceway rather than, in other projects, just looking stuff up online or through books. I would say we probably spent more time out at the raceway than what most people do in a year.
David Pierce, Ph.D.: Lucas Oil Raceway was the absolute perfect partner for this capstone class, you know, with human-centered design is kind of the central method that framed the course. You know, they were a facility that has, you know, been around for quite a while and it needed a fresh coat of paint, so to speak, and so it really provided the perfect canvas for our students to go in and use human-centered design.
Kasey Coler: So the challenge that we presented to the students was, let’s look, emerge yourself in the various forms of Motorsports that come out here and participate and understand, what are the pain points, what are the areas that we can improve, short-term and long-term, and then what are the assets and the investments that we’re going to have to make? So that team, the overall seven groups that emerge themselves in this project looked at various forms, got face to face with each of the customers, understood the pain points with them, and then expanded on those.
Brittany Penn: Instead of us thinking of a problem and then just trying to find data to support it, it’s kind of reversed. So we really went out, did our research, and then kind of moved forward from that.
Samuel Thomas: When you are presenting in front of a professor, it feels like they’re looking for reasons to trip you up. When you’re presenting in front of these industry professionals, they’re looking for ways to help. They’re looking for ways to push you forward and not take your idea and put it down or whatever it might be, so it’s very helpful to have Kasey there to help out in terms of pushing our idea forward, and they had questions but it was questions to help you out, not questions to say oh, you didn’t know this.
Coler: My thoughts for students that think that maybe they want to pursue hospitality, sports management, look for programs, look for opportunities, that really allow you to emerge yourself in various forms of sports and athletics and organizations because I think it makes you a much more well-rounded student when it’s all said and done.
Pierce: With the exception of Kasey Coler, the general manager, there’s really nobody that’s more of an expert on that facility and the weekend warriors that race out there than our students. And so in most classes, you’re coming in and just regurgitating information that you found in other sources, but what we’re really challenging students to do here, is create new knowledge.
Description of the video:
David Pierce, Ph.D.: One of the things that’s fundamentally different about this class that separates it from all the other undergraduate sport management classes is that students really create their own knowledge. So they really become the subject matter experts, and with the exception of Kasey Coler, the general manager, there’s really nobody that’s more of an expert on that facility and the weekend warriors that race out there than our students. And so in most classes, you’re coming in and just regurgitating information that you found in other sources, but what we’re really challenging students to do here, is create new knowledge.