Earlier this year, Exhibitor Media Group, which produces both EXHIBITOR magazine and Find It – Marketplace, the buyer’s guide to trade show products and services, announced the 30 venues that qualified for its second annual Centers of Excellence list, which recognizes North America’s best convention centers for trade shows and events. Small, medium, and large convention centers located anywhere in North America were invited to apply, and entrants were evaluated using an objective algorithm weighted to reflect how EXHIBITOR magazine readers value a variety of variables. In addition to being named among the 2021 Centers of Excellence, a number of facilities qualified for special awards in the following categories.

“Being named among our Centers of Excellence is a huge accomplishment,” said Travis Stanton, editor of EXHIBITOR magazine. “But to further acknowledge the best of the best, these special awards recognize the exhibitor-friendly venues that consistently exceed expectations and collectively raise the bar with regard to what a convention center is and should be.”

The finalists for each special award are listed below, and the winners will be announced during a ceremony held in conjunction with IAEE’s Expo! Expo!

Best Convention Center (over 1 million square feet of exhibit space)
Anaheim Convention Center
McCormick Place
Orange County Convention Center

Best Convention Center (500,000 – 1 million square feet of exhibit space)
Enercare Centre
Los Angeles Convention Center
Walter E. Washington Convention Center

Best Convention Center (100,000 – 500,000 square feet of exhibit space)
Greater Columbus Convention Center
Minneapolis Convention Center
Vancouver Convention Centre

Best Convention Center (under 100,000 square feet of exhibit space)
Edmonton Convention Centre
Greater Tacoma Convention Center
Overland Park Convention Center

Best New or Improved Convention Center
Caesars Forum
Cox Business Convention Center
The Broadmoor Event Center

Best Customer Service & On-Site Support
Cobb Galleria Centre
Mohegan Sun
Overland Park Convention Center

By R.V. Baugus

Lisa Harrington, CEO & Founder of Abiding Strategy, kicked off IAVM’s virtual VenueConnect as the Opening Keynote speaker with a presentation titled “Leadership in a Crisis” before an engaged audience of 610.

So, just what exactly is this crisis, you ask? Tsk, tsk, we all know that answer, and Harrington had all the right suggestions in a session that was encouraging and uplifting while at the same time dealing with the realities in which we live.

The session is best summed up with a quote Harrington gave that said it all: “We’re all in the same storm even if we’re not all in the same boat.”

This holds true even in the public assembly venue industry, where indeed while people work in the same industry (storm), no two members are likely at the same place as it regards to health, employment and more (boat) in regards to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Leaders are not immune to these issues, either, but being able to maintain leadership in these turbulent times is more critical than ever.

“Stress is important to us but we have to manage stress, particularly in a crisis,” Harrington said. “But if we didn’t have some stress in our lives, we’d be jelly. We would be too relaxed. We would never get anything done and would have not motivation.”

You might be thinking “give me the jelly,” but pause for a moment to seriously reflect on Harrington’s comment and you will see the sense that it makes. There is the notion that all stress is bad, but that too is a falsehood.

“It is important to understand the difference between good stress and bad stress,” she said., “Getting married, having children, taking a vacation, those are all good stresses. A bad is obviously a pandemic and other crisis. The key is to manage all of them to help you grow and get better. This too will pass. All are temporary, which is why they are called crisis.”

Harrington noted that stress is not a one-time event, even though there are one-time events that cause stress. There are often ongoing and relentless stresses, she said. Sometimes we don’t recognize them as sources of stress and therefore we do not take the action we need to deal with them.

“The first stage we had with the pandemic was anticipatory grief,” she said. “We anticipated but didn’t know how long it would take or be handled. We still don’t really know but have made some progress, even we’re a long way from being through it.”

Harrington said that how all of this is seen through the lens of leaders is crucial as it relates to employees and keeping them motivated and happy.

“The first is to not be an ostrich and ignore it and pretend it will go way,” she said. “Your industry is so critical to the recovery of this country. The idea of having a place to gather to see that coming in the future and being able to talk to people and hug people is going to cure us, going to heal us of what we are experiencing. You are the ones that will have those places available.

“The thing is to recognize the problem. What does it look like for you and others? Is there shock, denial, difficulty concentrating, even feeling guilty if you are continuing to work while others aren’t, which is survivor’s guilt. People can see that in you and you can see that in your employees.”

Indeed, difficulty concentrating is currently a major problem. Harrington talked about how the human brain works and the importance of knowing you are not alone. “You have your peers here at IAVM and others in the industry. We literally all are going through these phases of stress,” she said.

“You know what? Sometimes showing a little vulnerability and letting the team know that you’re feeling the stress … I don’t like this either, I’m struggling a little bit, too, is OK,” she added. “Let’s have a round-robin via Zoom or a phone call to talk to each other. As the leader you can show that stress affects everyone and that they are not alone either, but you can lead them through. It is important they understand that.”

Consider the notion, according to Harrington, that our brains have not had an opportunity to catch up to the warp speed in which we have moved since the advent of technology.

“Life moves too fast,” she said. “Just from the last 200 years vs. all time, you understand why our brains haven’t totally evolved yet and why instincts keep taking over. We used to live in tribes of 20-40 people. We weren’t going around the world with 8 billion people. The evolution in our body didn’t keep up with evolution in technology. And so … our brains couldn’t keep up with that.

“Good managers know that healthy people will perform better. We know when we are stressed, we need to keep healthy and keep moving. The No. 1 thing we are seeing is the idea of continuing to move when we are at home. People say they will just sit on the couch until this is over. That might be OK for two to four weeks, but we are now into the seventh month.”

Effective leaders don’t even have to always bear the responsibility of doing healthy and fun things for employees to keep employees healthy in mind.

“Have some structured play,” Harrington said. “Why not gather with your colleagues around some coffee 15 minutes before you begin your day. These types of things are so easy to do and help promote a good and positive environment even before you begin your tasks.”

A robust Q&A session followed with attendees starved to learn more from Harrington about several facets of leadership, stress, and pandemic-related topics.

Among those topics included the notion of hybrid teams and schedules as the future of the industry and understanding that communication is key when staff does not know what is going on and will always assume the worst.

As for what that workplace of the future will look like, Harrington said that studies have shown that 6% of companies under $20 million in revenue will not return to an office.

Attendees who missed the prerecorded opening keynote can still view it by clicking HERE.  The full conference recordings, even those held live this week, will be available beginning November 3rd through the conference platform.

It is not too late to participate in VenueConnect. To get registered, click here.

By R.V. Baugus

With a panel comprised of leaders of the Division I, II, and III ranks of the NCAA and representing various sports, it is safe to say that Bobby Goldwater, himself an across-the-board leader at Georgetown University Sports Industry Management Master’s Program Adjunct Professor; The Goldwater Group, President; and IAVM Academic Committee, Chair and Board of Directors, Universities Sector, has an all-star roster for the VenueConnect Universities keynote session Monday, October 26 from 1:15-2:30 (Central time).

Before the session kicks off, Goldwater wanted to share some further highlights about what attendees can expect in an interview with IAVM.

Give attendees an overview of the panel session that you will be moderating on October 26.

In recent years, the Universities sector’s VenueConnect keynote session has featured a conversation with an industry leader. Joining us virtually in 2020 will be a group of executives from the NCAA who cover an array of topics of interest to venue managers: Randy Buhr, who oversees Division I Baseball College World Series and water polo; Morgan DeSpain, Division II women’s soccer, women’s gymnastics and Division II softball; Laura Peterson, Division III track and field (indoor and out) and Division III cross country; and Niko Roberts, who handles aspects of the Division I men’s basketball championship. I will moderate the panel discussion as the Universities representative on the Board of Directors and as Academic Committee chair. Questions will be welcomed from the VenueConnect audience.

You have an outstanding panel of individuals representing NCAA Division I, Division II, and Division III. Was it important to have such a mix as we know that the three divisions are quite different from each other in how they operate?

IAVM and the Universities Committee are grateful to have established our collaborative relationship with the NCAA. The Universities sector consists of venues that host men’s and women’s intercollegiate athletic events in all three NCAA divisions, so having engaged executives representing that mix certainly is highly desirable and they will have illuminating insights for venue managers in our sector and for anyone interested in the inner workings of college sports.

If there is a good Bobby Goldwater sales pitch to draw in attendees, what would that be?

In the last several years, the Universities keynote sessions at VenueConnect have been informative interviews in which each guest has shared perspectives and experiences that have offered a depth of understanding and detail we don’t usually have access to. With four top NCAA executives joining us, we hope this year’s conversation will provide four times the value, which will benefit our IAVM audience.

Will attendees have an opportunity to ask some questions following the panel? You are likely to get quite a few with the ever-evolving environment in college athletics at this time.

VenueConnect attendees in the Zoom audience will definitely have the opportunity to ask questions of the panelists.

Is there a main takeaway that attendees can use when returning to their venues?

It’s hard to predict what a “main” takeaway for attendees will be but the Universities Committee, led by Chair David Bennett and Vice Chair Zakiya Smith-Dore, anticipates everyone will take from the keynote conversation an appreciation of how the NCAA operates, how the NCAA is handling the challenges related to the pandemic and how IAVM venues and the NCAA can work even more closely together going forward.

By Maren Dougherty

The San Diego Convention Center (SDCC) is the first of Centerplate’s North American venues to achieve the Rise SAFE hygiene verification label for food and beverage services. Rise SAFE is managed by Centerplate’s parent company, Sodexo, and Bureau Veritas, an independent world leader in testing, inspection, and certification.

To earn the label, General Manager Bobby Ramirez and his team passed a site audit and protocol review covering 36 checkpoints in four core areas: process, people/training, facilities, and hygiene/cleaning. The team demonstrated 100% compliance across these areas.

“We’ve been preparing and serving food seven days a week throughout the pandemic to support Operation Shelter to Home. Through this steady operation, we have fine-tuned our measures for staff training, physical distancing, cleaning, and PPE. Consequently, we had all necessary requirements in place well before going through the Rise SAFE review and site inspection,” Ramirez said. “We are confident in our ability to safely cater corporate and private events as soon as that activity resumes.”

The Rise SAFE label follows an accreditation SDCC received in July from the Global Biorisk Advisory Council (GBAC). SDCC was among the first convention centers in the United States to achieve the GBAC STAR Facility Accreditation, which requires a stringent program for cleaning, disinfection and infectious disease prevention. Centerplate’s protocols also contributed to this third-party process.

“Centerplate has been an incredible partner throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Their success in meeting or exceeding all standards of this Rise SAFE program is just one more demonstration of their thorough and careful commitment to safety,” said Clifford “Rip” Rippetoe, CVE, SDCC’s President and CEO.

Maren Dougherty is Director, Marketing & Communications for the San Diego Convention Center Corporation.

By Kristi Mexia

Willow, the world’s leading provider of digital twin technology, is partnering with Hollywood Park, a new, nearly 300-acre sports and entertainment destination in Inglewood, California, being developed by Rams Owner/Chairman E. Stanley Kroenke. The agreement stretches across SoFi Stadium, which will be the first major stadium to implement digital twin technology in the U.S. Using big data gathered from every aspect of the stadium and surrounding development, Willow will create a virtual copy of the facility to deliver an unprecedented level of analytical insight to create a truly world-class fan, resident and guest experience along with optimized levels of sustainability and future-proofing.

Digital twins, first developed by NASA for space exploration, are a bleeding-edge technology that converts all quantifiable aspects of physical buildings into living, learning and evolving virtual replicas. It is the most intuitive way to store, organize and access the incredible amount of data generated by complex smart buildings, allowing owners, facility managers and built environment professionals real-time insights to strategize and optimize every aspect of a building’s operations. Importantly, the system becomes more robust over time with the addition of new data.

“Our goal is to deliver a new type of fan and visitor experience, and to do that, we need a comprehensive, data-driven view into how all the pieces of this project connect,” said Jason Gannon, managing director, SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park. “For such a large-scale and complex asset like a stadium, this is a pivotal undertaking. Willow’s Digital Twin will enable us to collect and analyze real-time big data across the lifecycle of the development, from construction to ongoing operations.”

SoFi Stadium is setting a new bar for smart buildings in the sports and entertainment sector. Designed to be a sustainable, future-forward facility for years to come, the venue is the new, joint home of the NFL’s Los Angeles Chargers and Los Angeles Rams and will also host a variety of events throughout the year. Willow’s comprehensive solution, used by some of the world’s most prominent real estate owners, will enable SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park’s operators to gain complete transparency and a single source of truth on data from across the facility’s complex systems. By accessing this data, SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park will be able to solve problems before they happen, manage risk and identify previously impossible integrated strategies.

“By accessing data that was once lost between project phases or in multiple systems, Willow can assist SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park in identifying opportunities they never knew they had,” said Shaun Klann, President and Global Head of Real Estate at Willow. “Stadiums are an amazing opportunity to apply the lessons we have learned in commercial real estate, but on a much larger scale. It’s an incredibly exciting project and we are honored to partner with the ambitious and innovative team at SoFi Stadium.”

At present, SoFi Stadium is slated to host Super Bowl LVI in 2022, the College Football Championship Game in 2023 and the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the 2028 Summer Olympics. Located on the site of a former racetrack, the approximately 70,000-seat stadium will serve as the centerpiece of the state-of-the-art, reimagined Hollywood Park, featuring a full live-work-play experience, from retail, offices, hospitality, residential units and outdoor park spaces.

SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park was represented by Legends Global Partnerships division, which sourced, negotiated and represented SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park in securing this partnership.

Kristi Mexia is Director, Corporate Communications for SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.