MADE FOR THIS: Live Events

In the fifth volume of our MADE FOR THIS series, we dive into live event production with SG’s Senior Producer, Victoria Sumrall!

Like many Solomon Group employees Victoria’s journey began in the theater. Victoria and our Co-Founder and CEO, Gary Solomon, followed similar paths in their youth, honing their talent at NOCCA (New Orleans Center for Creative Arts) before graduating from NYU’s prestigious Tisch School of the Arts.

At NYU, Victoria studied Directing for Stage Theater at Playwrights Horizons Theater School within TSOA, where she continued to develop her skill set that was easily transferable to a career in event production. Her process takes a creative concept, dream, or big idea from a client and molds it into reality. Victoria’s directorial leadership stands out on our show sites where she is responsible for leading, managing and working with hundreds of vendors, freelancers, sponsors, artist teams and other stakeholders to ensure that the vision of the client is executed seamlessly.

Victoria has shaped our biggest live events from the RFP (request for proposal) phase to project closeout, including:

• College Football Playoff’s AT&T Playoff Playlist Live!
• MLB Draft & Red Carpet Show
• NHL All-Star Weekend Events including All-Star Skills, All-Star Game Entertainment and more
• NHL Stadium Series
• Gary Vee’s VeeCon
• MLS All-Star Skills Challenge
• Voodoo Music & Arts Festival

Victoria believes one of the most important parts of her job is keeping a level head through the chaos and remaining clear on the client's goals when making decisions onsite. By keeping the client’s goals front of mind through every decision, she maintains lasting relationships with her clients. When our clients are deep in the trenches of show planning & execution, Victoria is who they want by their side getting them through it.

Not only does she shine on a show site, but Victoria is also deeply involved throughout the entire lifecycle of a project, including early planning with concept and creative, design, budgeting, procurement, execution, and closeout. As she has developed lasting relationships with her clients, her involvement in the planning for future events has also evolved. As she understands their goals and events, she often is involved in helping determine the final venue selection for upcoming events — scouting multiple locations to create those early concepts for the environment and using her logistics and operations expertise to identify the various pros and cons of the potential spaces.

Her experience and background in theatrical production serves her well in this role as she is often blending creative aesthetic and vision with logistical practicality when bringing sensory elements into the designs for her events. Working in close collaboration with her design team, she helps refine what the visual and sensory aesthetic for the event will be and works with them to hone that vision into tangible visuals for her clients. As many of her events travel to different cities each year, she and her design team are often imagining up sets that capture the essence of those environments so that fans from around the world who tune in for the broadcasts get a chance to feel as if they are experiencing it live. This was particularly true of the design for the 2023 MLB Draft in Seattle, WA where Victoria and her team adorned the Draft set with 72 live trees, immersing viewers in the lush ambiance of the Pacific Northwest.

At Solomon Group, we believe firmly that live experiences are only going to grow in popularity and diversity and the world will always need skilled people who can create unforgettable moments from unshakable ideas. Victoria recommends that people looking to get into the industry should always be curious and should try to be a sponge — soaking up as much information as possible because you never know what will be useful to you in the future.

Victoria remains sponge-like herself when keeping up with industry trends. When on event sites throughout the United States and Canada, she always has her eyes wide open, observing what other client partners are doing outside of her scope. Victoria makes sure to take the time to look around the event, taking note of what's working and what's not, and identifying what solutions she can bring to her next event.

What makes Solomon Group special for Victoria is the diversity of the experiences we create and manage — whether in themed entertainment, experiential technology, or live events. With a team with varied backgrounds and histories, Solomon Group has a unique brain trust of experience and perspective which allows the team to stay agile and think outside the box.

Video: MLB Draft 2021