By Jonathan Carroll

College Park Center at The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) has achieved Global Biorisk Advisory Council® (GBAC) STAR™ accreditation, the gold standard for prepared facilities. Under the guidance of GBAC, a Division of ISSA, the worldwide cleaning industry association, College Park Center has implemented the most stringent protocols for cleaning, disinfection and infectious disease prevention in its facility.

“Having the GBAC accreditation helps us create a safe environment for our patrons, employees and vendors,” said Nick Patton, director of facility operations and safety for College Park Center. “It shows we’ve established and implemented step-by-step processes to provide that safety, and we’re committed to maintaining these best practices in our day-to-day operations.”

As the cleaning industry’s only outbreak prevention, response and recovery accreditation, GBAC STAR™ helps organizations establish protocols and procedures, offers expert-led training and assesses a facility’s readiness for biorisk situations. The program has verified that College Park Center has implemented best practices to prepare for, respond to and recover from outbreaks and pandemics. The accreditation represents a crucial piece of the arena’s plan for a safe reopening for spectator events in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“When the COVID-19 pandemic prompted the suspension of event operations at College Park Center last March, our team immediately began focusing on developing plans and operational procedures that would allow for the return of events in a safe manner,” said Jeff Davis, CVP, CVE, executive director for College Park Center. “In the fall we took our first steps in reopening for events without spectators, and later added limited attendance for our basketball season in a safe manner. The achievement of the GBAC STAR accreditation speaks to the ongoing dedication our entire team has for creating safe and enjoyable experiences for our guests.”

To achieve GBAC STAR™ accreditation, College Park Center has demonstrated compliance with the program’s 20 core elements, which range from standard operating procedures and risk assessment strategies to personal protective equipment and emergency preparedness and response measures. Learn more about GBAC STAR accreditation at www.gbac.org.

IAVM members seeking to apply for accreditation through GBAC, please use the link https://gbac.issa.com/iavm/!

Jonathan Carroll is Assistant Director, Event and Venue Marketing, Special Event Facilities at College Park Center – Texas Hall – UTATickets at The University of Texas at Arlington.

By Ashley Dabb

The Pennsylvania Convention Center announced that it has partnered with Daon, a global leader in biometric identity technology, to deploy VeriFLY, an app-based digital health passport, to expedite a safe return to work for its employees and contractors.

Throughout the Pennsylvania Convention Center facility, VeriFLY now enables building access via multiple entry points. Using the VeriFLY app, employees are asked to complete a self-certified health questionnaire that collects real-time wellness information. Depending on the information collected, the employee receives either a unique Digital Pass (QR code) or a notice of non-authorization.

The Pennsylvania Convention Center will eventually reopen under its Reactivation Operating Framework developed under ASM Global’s Venue Shield program. The Reactivation Operating Framework includes the deployment of strict cleaning, disinfection and staff-training protocols. Venue Shield and the Reactivation Operating Framework helped the Center achieve the GBAC STAR accreditation.

“The utilization of VeriFLY continues to reflect our commitment to safely reopening and provides another significant layer in our already robust COVID-prevention capital improvements and Reactivation Operating Framework. When customers return to our venue, they can do so with confidence,” said John J. McNichol, President & CEO of the Pennsylvania Convention Center Authority.

VeriFLY is a complete testing, vetting and risk-based authentication solution and is currently being used by airlines, airports and higher education. VeriFLY is built on Daon’s proven IdentityX® technology that successfully performs 100M+ authentications each day for iconic companies around the world protecting individual’s life savings, banking accounts and other consequential transactions.

“In almost any industry and workspace design, mobile device-based identity and health credentials – secured with biometric authentication technology – can enable businesses to re-establish customer trust and safely welcome back their employees,” said Tom Grissen, CEO, Daon. “This is particularly true in the hospitality and tourism industry, and we are proud to work with innovators like the Pennsylvania Convention Authority as it fulfills its commitment to a safe reopening and a healthy environment for employees and patrons.”

Ashley Dabb is Senior Communications Manager at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia.

By Jessica Beckmann

As I scroll through my LinkedIn newsfeed, I am devastated to see the amount of industry colleagues who are experiencing layoffs and furloughs. I have been fortunate to remain working as COVID-19 has continued to wreak havoc on the events industry, but was recently asked, “How in the world are you still open and hosting events?” I attribute our current building status to our survival methods. We dabbled in cancelling and postponing events, but found the most success in flexing and pivoting to remain open.

Every year, event industry professionals are pitched new trends that are anticipated to completely change the industry. We have all witnessed significant changes that have revolutionized approaches to event production and venue management, but none quite like we had experienced in 2020. Not every trend proves to have quite the impact promised, but COVID-19 sure did force new processes to emerge. Staying ahead of the curve in the events industry is essential if you want to remain competitive, or in this case simply open.

Initially my venue cancelled events and hunkered down hoping for a brief pause. When the temporary eluded to more permanent closures, we chose to pivot. When government mandated shutdowns were extended, we pivoted from event production to physical improvements. Anticipating that we were trending towards months of dark days followed by a crammed and consolidated event season, we prepared to adapt and evolve in order to succeed in a post-pandemic world. Beginning in the summer of COVID-19, we demolished a 72-year-old stage, expanded and resurfaced the parking lot, transitioned the entire arena to LED lighting, remodeled restrooms, refinished the basketball court, and finished a fresh layer of paint throughout the interior. While we had to shift all of these projects forward to the months of closures, it prevented scheduling complications in the months immediately following.

As summer wound down, the Governor of Kentucky approved socially distanced limited capacities. The facility wrapped up the physical building improvements and pivoted to sanitizing, safety, and executing socially distanced ticketing strategies to accommodate guests. As event professionals, we chose to adopt a flexible mindset. We discovered that even our “same as last year” clients were ready to adapt and adjust to new event strategies in order to keep their events on the books. Our clients are relying on our expertise and guidance more than ever before to adjust event strategies and adopt new ways of thinking.

Advancements in technology have shaped all aspects of our lives and have had a profound effect on the events industry. We are all familiar with technology advancements in ticketing, security screening, production, and continued development of automated services. The pandemic has radically changed the way we do things in terms of contact free interactions and pivoting from in-person events to virtual ones. Events that have survived our new norm are providing attendees with virtual options for presentations, streaming, contact free interactions, and mobile communications.

Like many other venues that have remained open or are currently in the process, we took this opportunity to implement building policies and infrastructure that, had we not experienced the pandemic, may have taken another decade to implement. In the fall and winter of COVID-19, we physically marked off 3,500 seats, and built walls of plexiglass at every in-person point of contact. We’ve transitioned our tenants and new bookings to offering a fully mobile ticketing experience. Pivoting to limited capacities and eliminating physical tickets has encouraged a new trend in our guests’ behavior. Advance mobile ticketing has provided guests with a much smoother welcome as well as provided an avenue for communicating updates and managing event attendee requirements. With quarantines from both our tenants and their opponents and varying mandates from the state, KHSAA, and NCAA, schedules have altered nearly daily. Staying in constant contact with our tenants, guests, and clients at this time has been key in reopening to the public.

We have had our share of difficulties. We hoped to see our first indoor socially distanced concert in December with Chase Rice. The on-sale was going well when the state decided to restrict capacities again for two weeks. We were unable to reschedule, but utilized our Chase Rice plans to pull a plan together quickly for Travis Tritt in February. We have experienced some temporary and permanent staff vacancies. With projections to miss our gross revenues, we are attempting to cut cost at every corner. Even with a concert on the horizon and both basketball tenants allowing fans up to 15% last month, we were unfortunately not able to bring all of our staff back at this time. Our current full-time staff has pivoted their roles to not only cover their standard responsibilities, but also participate in the daily event operations such as ticket sales, guest services, and housekeeping.

As many of us are taking our first steps towards recovering, we are finding we are forced to adapt and evolve in order to survive this dreadful time for our industry. If there is one thing that is certain that I have learned from all of this is that you have to be open to change and ready to pivot.

Jessica Beckmann is Assistant General Manager of Owensboro (KY) Sportscenter and a member of the Young Professionals Committee.

Therese Spaseff is the Director of Entertainment and Programming at the Charleston Gaillard Center in Charleston, SC. She joined the team in May 2014 prior to the Gaillard Center’s reopening and now leads the Programming Department. In her tenure, she has worked to secure artists and events for the Charleston community; her most memorable events include Little Big Town, Reese Witherspoon’s Whiskey in a Teacup book tour, Tony Bennett, and CBS News 2020 Democratic Debate.

I was ecstatic to be named a recipient of the 30 Under 30 Award this year. While I was grateful that my boss, Steve Bedard, had the confidence in my abilities to nominate me for this honor, I was also grateful to IAVM for announcing the awards and injecting a small slice of normalcy in the midst of the current pandemic. These are trying times for our industry with many organizations in turmoil due to cancellations and associated cutbacks that could serve to reduce the opportunities available to young managers in the short-term future. I look forward to a time when the Class of 2020 can together grow the skills needed to help our industry weather these times and thrive in the future.

Join your Foundation in congratulating Therese on being honored as one of the 30|UNDER|30 Class of 2020 and don’t forget to come back each Thursday as we spotlight another honoree!

Elliott Ferguson, Chairman of the Board for Tourism Diversity Matters (TDM) and President and CEO, Destination DC, and Mike Gamble, TDM’s Founder and President and CEO of SearchWide Global announced the collective impact model to inspire authenticity and inclusive leadership throughout the tourism and events industry. TDM’s mission is to be a resource to foster diversity, equity and inclusion practices that will educate, advocate, engage and empower in collaboration and cooperation with all industry initiatives.

Founding partners include ConferenceDirect Foundation, Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau (PHLCVB), and SearchWide Global.

Ferguson, one of the few Black leaders in destination marketing, has been a long-time advocate for repairing diversity deficiencies and misrepresentations in the corporate environment.

“Addressing racism should impact how you lead – it’s an American issue,” said Ferguson. “As many are confronting these issues for the first time, we can’t turn a blind eye and we can’t turn back. The pandemic has forced us to slow down and focus on being human. We need to be comfortable with uncomfortable conversations and having these discussions not only at home, but also in the workplace.”

TDM’s four guiding pillars include Apprenticeship Programs; Workforce Development; Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), and Research and Data. The goal is to sustain and expand the platform by collaborating with associated organizations and industries and notable research institutions to develop impactful solutions for all involved.

“Tourism Diversity Matters is a dedicated resource focused solely on creating long-term solutions through complete industry engagement and participation,” said Gamble. “The intention is to not replace existing good work happening in this area, but rather to shine a light on it, and add value and insight where needed.”

Greg DeShields, CDE, CHE, a respected leader on behalf of DEI and regarded for initiatives to raise Philadelphia’s image as a multicultural visitor destination, has been named Executive Director. In addition to this new leadership role, he will continue to lead PHL Diversity, a division of PHLCVB.

The inaugural Board of Directors includes:
• Dr. Brandi Baldwin, CEO, Millennial Ventures Holdings
• Debra Blair, Director of Organizational Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Temple University School of
Sport, Tourism and Hospitality Management
• Ray Bloom, Chairman, IMEX
• Cathy Breden, CAE, CMP, CEM, EVP & COO, International Association of Exhibitions & Events
(IAEE); Chair-Elect, Events Industry Council (EIC)
• Amy Calvert, CEO, Events Industry Council (EIC)
• Gregg Caren, President and CEO, PHLCVB
• Mark Cooper, CEO, International Association of Conference Centers (IACC); Chairman, Events
Industry Council (EIC)
• Melissa Cherry, COO, Destinations International
• Roger Dow, President and CEO, US Travel Association
• Christine Duffy, President, Carnival Cruise Line
• Mike Gamble, President and CEO, SearchWide Global
• Al Hutchinson, President and CEO, Visit Baltimore
• Sherrif Karamat, President and CEO, PCMA
• Michelle Mason, FASAE, CAE, CQIA, President and CEO, Association Forum
• Brad Mayne, President and CEO, International Association of Venue Managers (IAVM)
• Lynette Montoya, President and CEO, Latino Hotel Association
• Carrie Freeman Parsons, Chair, Freeman
• Leah Smiley, President, Society for Diversity, Inc.
• Brian Stevens, CEO, ConferenceDirect
• Paul M. VanDeventer, President and CEO, Meeting Professionals International (MPI)
• Telesa Via, VP, Sales, Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants
• Carl Winston, Director of the L. Robert Payne School of Hospitality & Tourism Management, San
Diego State University

“Tourism Diversity Matters offers the opportunity to reset and heal from a year filled with the most challenging moments in modern history,” said Carrie Freeman Parsons. “I am honored to be part of this
important collaboration moving all toward an inclusive environment with equitable access and participation.”