The new Summit company helps companies recruit staff for events despite the labor shortage

Shakey Graves will play a sold out show at the Dillon Amphitheater on Friday 6th August. Innovative Team Partners hired several amphitheater shows throughout the summer.
Photo by Jenise Jensen / City of Dillon

A new event staff startup aims to hire locals to fill the workforce gaps at major events.

The founders of Innovative Team Partners have developed their own “dynamic personnel model” that enables trained employees to meet the various needs of an event organizer. Staff can do everything from scanning tickets to selling goods, bartending to briefing and park management to event cleaning.

Miranda Fisher – manager of marketing, recruiting and business acquisitions at Innovative Team Partners – said the organization’s model aims to make event staffing more cost-effective by hiring fewer people.

“All of our team members are trained in a myriad of different fields, so the idea is that an event could bring together five people working for Innovative Team Partners, which would normally be 15 people who may not be trained in so many different fields. Said Fischer.

While this is the first year the organization was formed, Fisher said the idea had long been on the minds of its four founders: Fisher, Phil Kubiske, Holly Robinson, and Lisa May.

“We were built by event professionals for event professionals, and we realized there had to be a better way to do things from the event planning side,” said Fisher. “Most of our core team, we’ve all already planned events and experienced some lackluster employees from other companies for the event planner, more fun for the team member working on the event, and ultimately just an overall better guest experience.”

The organization’s events include concerts, festivals, conferences, rodeos, and more. The first event was the Western Colorado Outdoor and Sportsman Expo in May. Since then it has provided staff for shows at the Dillon Amphitheater and festivals in Keystone. Fisher estimated the organization holds about three events per week in Summit County.

Fisher said the organization also aims to help residents in mountain communities get extra money. She said Innovative Team Partners isn’t necessarily a full-time job, so working hours are flexible and people can work as little or as much as they want.

There is no minimum number of events or hours that employees need to work; Simply register for an event if you are interested. Salaries range from around $ 15 to $ 25 an hour, depending on the event and the role the employee is playing.

Innovative Team Partners employees work on a position scanning tickets at an event.
Photo of innovative team partners

Krista DeHerrera, event producer for Valley Events, has worked with Innovative Team Partners on two events: the Sportsman Expo in Eagle and the Hot Air Balloon Rodeo in Steamboat Springs. She used the company’s services to fill employment gaps in parking lot management and front-of-house service.

“They’re the boots on the floor and they have great staff for it,” said DeHerrera. “In one last ditch effort, we contacted them about some parking management volunteers for the hot air balloon rodeo at Steamboat, and (Fisher) came out in a pinch and it was so helpful and so great. I couldn’t believe how quickly they brought people together, especially in this climate where manpower is scarce. “

Innovative Team Partners includes a supervisor who coordinates the employees at all events that DeHerrera says have relieved their shoulders.

Sara Skinner works for Innovative Team Partners as one of those supervisors, mostly working events at the Dillon Amphitheater. She started working for the organization while she was still employed full time by the City of Frisco. Now she is changing to her new role as the owner of the Alpine Dance Academy and working with innovative team partners whenever she can.

“I love the idea that I can choose when to work because everyone has a full-time job and a different job and a different one beyond that in Summit County,” Skinner said. “It’s a little different from what I’m used to – I’ve never worked at concerts before – so it’s just fun, new and different.”

Dillon city spokeswoman Kerstin Anderson said the city worked with some of the founders of Innovative Team Partners prior to founding the organization and valued their expertise and experience at events.

“We feel that adding (Innovative Team Partners) to our overall team has been very successful this summer,” said Anderson. “They were always able to meet our needs. The people they bring with them were really great. “

Anderson said the city often needs friendly professionals to run events, but those events aren’t consistent enough to hire someone full-time, making Innovative Team Partners a desirable option. She said it was also beneficial to have paid staff at the event in addition to the volunteers they deploy.

Fisher said the organization has about 200 people on its list who can sign up for performances as they show up. Of these 200 people, more than 60 worked for the organization in the first summer.

“We really didn’t fight like I thought, and I think that’s mostly because of that flexibility,” Fisher said of the staffing. “I thought it would be really hard to find new employees in this current hiring landscape, but it seems that flexibility is what really attracted people.”

Editor’s Note: The Western Colorado Outdoor and Sportsman Expo and Hot Air Balloon Rodeo are produced by Colorado Mountain News Media, which owns Summit Daily News.