By Elisa “Putt” Putman
The Music City Center had the privilege of hosting Mark Herrera, Director of Education for the International Association of Venue Managers on Dec. 11 to discuss situational awareness and crisis management to its entire team as well local law enforcement and other venue teams from across the state.
The training focused on risk mitigation which included enhancing your physical security measures in which the 
Music City Center has done with the addition of perimeter K12 bollards, increasing awareness, and mitigating risks through guest service interjection. Herrera stressed the importance of looking beyond the traditional security measures and identifying any suspicious behavioral patterns that are not conducive to the environment.
“This training is just another example of our constant commitment to enhance our safety and security measures at the Music City Center for our guests, our team members, and the hundreds of vendors that attend events and work in the facility each and every day,” said Charles Starks, President/CEO of Music City Center. “Mark Herrera provided a remarkable presentation, engaging with all attendees while offering invaluable tools to mitigate risk.”
Attendees left the session much better prepared to recognize behavior out of the ordinary and how to most effectively and quickly handle situations that may arise to help ensure the safety of all our guests and team members.
Elisa “Putt” Putman is Senior Vice President/Chief Operating Officer of the Music City Center in Nashville, Tennessee.
