One of my first professional experiences in the events industry was with Rogers Hometown Hockey—a nationwide tour bringing together communities and celebrating Canada’s love for hockey. For two winters, I was part of a team that traveled to 57 cities across the country, setting up and managing a full hockey festival in each location. It was a chance to work on an incredibly fun project that combined live broadcasting with on-site community events, creating a unique blend of sports and entertainment that truly brought people together for 8 years.
As an AV event tech on the tour, I was responsible for setting up the audiovisual components that powered the entire festival, ensuring everything from sound systems to video screens ran smoothly. The role was fast-paced, challenging, and hugely rewarding. This experience gave me hands-on exposure to the technical side of large-scale events, and I quickly learned how crucial every detail is when building out an activation for live TV.
During my time on the tour, I also started taking on more senior responsibilities, such as overseeing some production elements. This included designing festival layouts in AutoCAD to optimize space and flow at each location, making sure everything was set up for the best possible experience for fans and festival-goers. This role became a valuable learning experience, helping me transition from a hands-on tech role to understanding the bigger picture of event production.
Rogers Hometown Hockey was more than just a job; I got to travel across Canada, experience first hand some remote cities all while being immersed in the excitement of celebrating the love for hockey. Looking back, I’m grateful for how this role shaped my career in experiential marketing—it was an incredible introduction to the industry and the perfect launchpad for my career in event production. Here’s a video I made 8 years ago:
