Have you ever attended an event, like a concert, festival, or football game and wondered: “How did they plan all this stuff out anyway?”

The little things that aren’t at the top of your mind, but still go into making the event an incredible experience for everyone. That’s where the hospitality industry can really shine.

From buying your tickets, to finding your parking, the walk into the venue, and every touchpoint in between — for major events, these are essential parts of the planning process.

Those touchpoints and more are what Chambers senior Nick Albright learned all about when he got the chance to visit Pittsburgh’s Acrisure Stadium for the Steelers Student Summit.

The annual student summit hosted by the Steelers invited students from all over the U.S. and three foreign countries to learn about careers with professional sports teams.

This time the Steelers went even further than in past years, letting students pick a session to learn about communications, marketing and sales, or gameday experience. The goal was to share what the staff members do on the day-to-day and guide students as they plan out their future in the industry.

Nick, who has a major in Organizational Leadership and a minor in Hospitality & Tourism Management, signed up for the gameday experience session. Passionate about hospitality, he was eager to learn how the industry could apply to a gameday experience.

“You may not consider the Steelers to be in the hospitality industry, but they still have a lot of that stuff implemented,” Nick said. “A lot of the stuff I learned in my classes I could see playing out in real time.”

Conducting research, building relationships with consumers, and appealing to multiple audiences are just a few business and hospitality concepts involved in the sports industry.

“What all goes into making that experience for people and what are some things that they do that make you want to come back? Because in the sports industry, you have people who have been lifelong fans for 60 years and then you have people where it might be their first game. So how do you appeal to that?”

The process begins well before the game does, and the little things do matter, such as the email you get after you buy your ticket.

“I got to meet the person who sends out all the emails for it. So he sends out all the live emails, once you have your ticket, to prepare people for when they get there. They talked about how it’s about the experience that you build and how it’s important to make that stuff seamless.”

New innovations in the industry are always trying to improve how seamless the process can be. One idea talked about at the summit was facial recognition.

“People can come and their face will be their ticket. Or at the concession stand, you scan your face and that’s how you pay. So it gets to a point where you don’t even need to bring your wallet to a sporting event.”

At the summit, students didn’t just learn about the planning process, but also a little on how organizations will work together when a major event comes to Pittsburgh in late April — the NFL Draft. The massive three-day event is just as much about business as it is about sports, and it involves collaboration between the city, the Steelers, and the NFL.

“Planning, organizing, and helping lead the biggest event in the history of Pittsburgh is no easy feat, and it was inspiring to listen to how they are using their management experience to work with the city to execute the Draft.”

Pittsburgh officials have been working for months to improve the city ahead of the Draft, along with several other changes to make the event as impressive as possible. According to Nick, putting that thought and care of hospitality into your event is how you truly see success.

“When you begin to implement hospitality into what you do, you create loyal fans. Fans who will always come back, not just because of the outcome, but because of how you made them feel every step of the way.”

Those same hospitality concepts also apply to Nick when he’s working at his job at Chick-fil-A, a company well-known for its customer service. He sees plenty of parallels with his job, course work, and what he saw at the summit.

“A lot of the stuff I heard was the same stuff I learned in my classes, or the stuff that I’ve learned through work. It’s knowing your audience and knowing it’s not one size fits all, it’s one size fits one. I think for me that was the coolest thing, learning that not everything is black and white, and crafting that experience for individuals.”

And when he’s not working, Nick likes to be proactive when it comes to getting involved, which is why he was thrilled at the opportunity to attend the Steelers Student Summit. With a plan to graduate early, Nick wants to experience as much as he can while he’s at Chambers.

Nick was one of 300 students who got to visit Acrisure Stadium for the summit, while hundreds of others attended virtually. With hundreds of attendees from across the country, it was a good opportunity for students to network. Nick said he was thankful that the Chambers College prepared him for such a large event.

“My time at Chambers helped me be more equipped to handle that atmosphere. You have all these people from completely different backgrounds. Overall it was a very big networking event. Probably the class that helped me most was the Business Communication class. That class taught me a lot about speed networking, elevator pitches, and other things that we can do to set ourselves apart.”

Many people Nick met at the summit were in Sports Management or similar majors, but he said he believes the summit would be a good opportunity for any business student to learn from.

“I think it would be really good for business students, particularly those interested in hospitality.”

While the Steelers Student Summit is only once a year, plenty of events hosted by Chambers will offer opportunities for students to get involved and learn more about various industries. And 20 different student organizations also provide opportunities to grow.