The Handshake Test

Dawna Howe is Director of Production Technology at Canucks Sports & Entertainment, where she oversees broadcast, audio, video, lighting, and digital display systems across Rogers Arena. She joined the Vancouver Canucks organization in September 2010 and has spent over fifteen years building and leading the technical teams behind live game and event production. She has project managed the venue’s scoreboard installation, a full broadcast control room overhaul, and a digital signage platform refresh. She is currently designing a new arena audio system unlike anything else currently running in the NHL. Before moving into venue technology, Dawna spent fifteen years as a touring audio engineer, one of the only women on most crews she worked, learning systems by necessity in an industry that offered little formal support at the time. That background shapes how she leads today: she has built out her department’s full technical and leadership structure at CSE and continues to mentor the next generation of engineers and technicians in the building. Dawna has spoken twice at the SEAT conference, first on rethinking technology to open new revenue paths, and the following year on leveraging digital signage for fan engagement and financial impact. She was also profiled in Creative Realities’ “Sit down with Dawna Howe,” discussing her path into sound engineering and her approach to stadium and arena technology. She brings more than two decades of experience across touring, live sports, and broadcast production to how she talks about the technical and cultural sides of this industry.