We just concluded the Arenas Management Conference in Toronto, and received very positive feedback on the quality of the event. Kudos to Todd Hunt, CFE, the committee chair, and all the committee members for their excellent work. A special thank you goes to our local host, Bob Hunter, CFE, with Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, for his support. He and Maple Leaf Sports helped make the event truly special, and their sponsorship contributed to the achievement of our financial goals as well.
As to our overall financials, we are tracking slightly behind goal with about a $45K shortfall coming out of VenueConnect, but do expect to make up much of the gap with expense reductions to some of our overhead and operating costs. We are tracking well so far with our upcoming events, and look forward to a successful ICCC and ICMC in the next couple of months. We also see some good news in our pre-sales for next year’s VenueConnect, as we have confirmed $438K in booth sales vs. $387K coming out of last year’s meeting. Karen Totaro, CFE and the VenueConnect Program Planning Committee are already hard at work building an exceptional program in Portland.
We have continued to vette the new membership model with the membership committee, and are getting close to a final draft we can share with the board on our conference call in October. The response from membership so far has been extremely positive, and we hope this change will enable us to bring IAVM to more industry professionals than ever before.
Last but not least, we have opened the comments period regarding the IAVM Board of Directors’ proposed bylaws changes. See attached for FAQs and a statement from the Chairman of the Board regarding this proposal.
