By R.V. Baugus

Brad Gessner, CVE, ASM Global’s Senior Vice President, Convention Centers at the Los Angeles Convention Center, bid a retirement adieu to the industry earlier this year after a sparkling 42-year career in public assembly venue management.

Let’s just say before he left the building, he was ushered back in for a curtain call during VenueConnect to be recognized with the 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award as bestowed by IAVM’s Convention Center Committee.

Gessner was surrounded on a Zoom screen by the top individuals at four of the AEG venues that the long-time industry veteran oversaw in Rob Hampton, Palm Springs Convention Center; Teri Orton, Hawaii Convention Center; Jorge Perez, Puerto Rico Convention Center; and Ellen Schwartz, Los Angeles Convention Center; along with Committee Chair Naz Sabripour.

“Although I retired at a great time, I do miss working with you guys and the great teams in LA, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Palm Springs. What I really got out of all this is it sounds like I’ve got a free hotel room in four resort communities,” Gessner said after each of the four gave the boss a standing offer to visit anytime.”

Turning serious, Gessner thanked Stacey Church and the committee for selecting him and placing him in – appropriately named enough – distinguished company.

“Honestly, when you retire you get scratched off the list and you go to the bone yard but when I got Stacey’s call I was surprised and I was flattered and really appreciative to receive this recognition,” Gessner said. “I’m in good company. I remember the first year it was awarded and I’m shocked that I’m in their company. All of them are people that I knew and admired and still do and all have been and are great leaders in our industry.”

Gessner then proceeded to provide a roll call of Who’s Who names who previously were recognized with the award, including Tom Liegler, Don Jewell, Jimmie Fore, Dan Saunders, Cliff Wallace, John Christison, Dick Shaff, Tom Mobley, Peggy Daidakis, Bob Mayer, Carol Wallace, Frank Poe, Steve Schwartz, and Jeff Blosser.

“To be in that company is very humbling and most of you who know me there’s not much humbly about me but it definitely has humbled me,” he said. “I also want to thank Bob Newman and the opportunity he gave me back in 2012 to start a new convention centers department with AEG. Bob is now the president and CEO of ASM Global, a powerhouse company, but it was Bob’s leadership and his support of me really gave me the opportunity for us to do what we were able to do in LA, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Palm Springs. We were four-for-four and for that I am obviously very proud.”

Gessner gave credit to all of the teams assembled at all the venues he has worked and led.

“It has been a great 42-year career and I’m not telling any of you anything you don’t know that we really are in an incredible profession,” he said. “We manage buildings generally, but the folks that we work with means we are really in the people business. Although I am very proud of a lot of the accomplishments that we did and I always say it takes teamwork, I think the one achievement that I’m most proud of is being able to assemble really good people and to be able to see so much character and look at their experience and their work ethic and their content of character.”

Then to be able to get the folks that are on our team to perform incredibly and the things that we accomplished together I really do believe that it is a major teamwork. I want to thank Bob Newman and the whole team from AEG for making us all look good because it was one heck of a deep bench.”

Gessner finished his remarks by acknowledging his decades-long affiliation as an IAVM member and urged individuals to become engaged in the association.

“I was one of those old-school guys that didn’t want to give up the IAAM name (before it was changed to IAVM) just because that’s what it had always been,” Gessner said. “Having been a member for over 30 years and what the association provides to us members through networking opportunities, educational opportunities, advocacy and helping to find a way for us to reopen and get everybody back to work … support IAVM, get active in IAVM.”

Attendees who missed this prerecorded portion of the session 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.

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.