IAVM’s 99th VenueConnect Annual Conference and Trade Show is in Portland, Oregon this year – a vibrant city full of good food, coffee, and iconic sights.

As part of VC24, attendees can register to attend the Willamette Valley Vineyard tour or join us for venue tours throughout the city.

If you find you have time outside of the conference to explore our host city, we’ve found great options nearby. Read on to discover what you can look forward to near the Oregon Convention Center (OCC).

Getting Around

There’s plenty to do within walking distance of the OCC. However, Portland does have the following public transportation options:

• Metropolitan Area Express (MAX) Light Rail
  IAVM is providing all VC24 attendees with [#] passes for the MAX Light Rail to help with your travel while in town.
• Portland Streetcar
• Biketown Bike-Share

Food and Coffee

According to WalletHub, Portland is both the second-best foodie city AND coffee city in the US.

With hundreds of coffee shops to choose from, there are tons of great options to enjoy your favorite cup of joe. In fact, travelportland.com has a plan mapped out for a Portland Coffee Crawl to maximize your caffeine intake experience!

Visitors also have their pick of restaurants, farmer’s markets, and food carts. (Note: This helpful map shows restaurants near the OCC.) Below is just a small sample of their offerings.

• Award-Winning Dining
  OX Restaurant (5-min ride) boasts a James Beard award-winning chef.
• Food Cart Pod
  Lil’ America (at Fracture Brewing) (4-min ride) is your stop for the Portland food cart experience.
• Farmer’s Market
  Take the MAX Light Rail to the Skidmore Fountain station to visit the Portland Saturday Market.

Bookstores

One of the top 10 literary cities in the world, Portland has an impressive amount of bookstores to peruse.

• Powell’s City of Books
  With over a million books housed in an entire city block, it is the largest independent bookstore in the world.
• Third Eye Books Accessories & Gifts
• Rose City Book Pub
• Floating World Comics

Attractions

• Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI)
  Planetarium, science playground, movies, and exhibits
• Lan Su Chinese Garden
  An authentic Ming Dynasty-style Garden in Portland’s Chinatown district
• Governor Tom McCall Waterfront Park
  River views, family fun, and hiking opportunities
• Portland Aerial Tram
  Views of Portland from 500 feet above the city
• Washington Park
  Oregon Zoo, International Rose Test Garden, museums, and more

No matter your interest, Portland is sure to have something for you. We look forward to seeing you there at VenueConnect24!

Not yet registered? Visit venueconnect.iavm.org to learn more and sign up!

Mike McGee, CVE, attended his first IAAM (now IAVM) meeting at the age of 22 as AGM of the Monroe (La.) Civic Center. When he returned home he found out he was the new GM.

The connections he made while at IAAM in San Diego in 1971 became invaluable in his new role and in his future career. Among that initial group of professional and soon personal friends was Ray Ward, who he met at the 1972 convention.

That’s among the many reasons McGee is honored to be receiving the 2024 Ray Ward Award during Venue Management School (VMS) on June 8-14 at Saddlebrook Resort in Wesley Chapel, Fla.

McGee taught private and public management, contract negotiation, and merchandising at VMS for six years and was on the Board of Regents for five. At the time, he was CEO of the Houston Summit, where he launched several enterprises, including being founder and owner of Leisure Management International, one of the early providers of contract/private sector management to public assembly facilities. LMI was later bought by Spectacor Management Group.

Though he will not be teaching while at VMS this time, he’ll be on site all day Sunday, June 9, to visit with old friends and make new ones. His wealth of knowledge extends well beyond managing venues and founding companies, having worked for several allied members, including Clear Channel, Ticketmaster and Aramark.

McGee recalled he first learned about IAVM from Neal Gunn, who was manager of the Monroe building, when he came on board as marketing manager. “I wanted to go to IAAM because I wanted to meet people I had heard about, get to better know producers of ice shows, the circus, Disney on Parade, Globetrotters, and Longhorn Rodeo, who were very high profile there. I needed to get to know those people, because I kind of liked the business and thought I could do okay in it,” McGee said of his early days as a venue professional.

From Monroe, McGee moved to Lakeland (Fla.) Civic Center, because “Neal [Gunn] campaigned for me to be his assistant. People said, ‘you don’t want to go from manager to assistant manager,’ but I thought there was more opportunity, and I was right.”

Gunn soon moved to New Orleans to manage the Louisiana Superdome, and McGee became director of Lakeland Civic Center. In Lakeland, McGee wrote the specs on every piece of furniture, fixtures, and equipment (FF&E) that went into the building. “I didn’t have the background to do that, had never done it, but I learned from the people at the IAAM trade show that sold stages and spotlights and food and beverage and drapery.”

Over the years, he has been involved in over $2 billion worth of construction of facilities [including but not limited to the first Miami Arena, Amerant Arena in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Marval Stadium in Melbourne, Australia, and Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney] and probably $500 million of FF&E. “You never stop growing. Learn what everybody else does and how it relates to the whole,” he recommends to anyone starting out in this business.

When McGee came to the Houston Summit, the operation was very siloed — Ticketing, operations, marketing all did their thing. He changed that because “we all depend on each other.” The Summit hosted 210 events a year, and he had a full-time staff of 30. There has to be crossover and collaboration.

LMI was the third company McGee formed while managing the Summit. The first was John Crow Television, which did point-to-point broadcasts for the Summit, Houston Astros, Texas Rangers, San Antonio Spurs, Houston Rockets, Dallas Mavericks, Kansas City Royals, and all Southwest Conference sports. “We built a 47-foot TV production truck initially, and we ended up with so much business I had seven of those running all over the U.S.”

John Crow Television, founded in 1980, made the Summit one of the first buildings to do in-house TV production simultaneous to producing the event. McGee recalled he only got into the business because the company that had been doing it, Mobil Color Inc., closed, and he didn’t want to lose that piece of business. “At the time, we had no fixed signage in the Summit; it was all electronically generated, so if we turned off the projectors for the screens, it didn’t look like there was any advertising in the building, so the building stayed clean. We had $750,000 worth of advertising generated in the building, and I needed that inventory, so I felt it was incumbent on us to go into that business if he was going out.”

“We built our own first truck for $1.3 million in 90 days and took it to the National Broadcasting Assn. show in California and got all kinds of awards. Two insurance companies and private investors said we needed to get in the truck-building business, but I said there aren’t a lot of people needing trucks, let’s stay focused.”

Century Sports was the second company McGee and associates founded. That firm promoted all of the Harlem Globetrotters dates in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana, plus a few in Florida. When Vince McMahon decided to expand what was then World Wrestling Federation, Century Sports did the marketing and promotion in Texas. They also promoted Sesame Street and CCTV dates in Texas.

So, McGee was going to all these buildings to cut deals for events and closed circuit and saw another opportunity. “I felt we could operate venues better than the public sector could and save municipalities some money,” McGee said. There wasn’t a big private management push at the time, just a few like Denzil Skinner who had the New Orleans’ Superdome, San Francisco’s Moscone Center and Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y. Mostly, the other private building operations were one-offs.

The Summit partnered with the Houston Astrodome to propose private management to city-owned venues. “I would like to think I was one of the pioneers in that business,” McGee said. “All I did was take advantage of opportunities when I saw a need and figure out a way to make it work.”

Private management is a whole different dynamic today, but it behooves everyone in the business to remember its roots. “You’ve got to bring something to the party. How do you make things better. Back then, I could say, ‘last year you lost $700,000. I could operate this building for you and cut that deficit to $500,000.’ To me that’s showing a profit.”

When McGee taught public vs. private management at VMS, he would ask his students to put their pencils down and cross their arms. “Now some of you have your left arm over your right, some right over left. Which is right? That’s how private versus public works.”

There is no substitute for seeing the big picture. McGee has seen all sides worldwide. In addition to his venue management, TV, and promoting experience, he served as EVP of North American Business Operations for Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc. and Chief Administrative Officer of Clear Channel Entertainment, which became Live Nation. Prior to joining Clear Channel, McGee served as SVP of Aramark, overseeing strategic initiatives and other business development areas for the Sports and Entertainment Services Division, which in addition to the domestic market also included Germany, Spain, England, and other western European countries.

It all started with a career in radio and entrée into venues as marketing director in Monroe. “I was a young man in a hurry,” he said of his career, probably not unlike most attendees at VMS 2024.

Today is the last day to register and receive the Early Bird discount for VenueConnect 2024!

IAVM’s 99^th VenueConnect Annual Conference and Trade Show is fast-approaching! Are you ready?

Join us in Portland for four exciting days of learning from industry leaders and making valuable connections with other professionals and venue partners. Believe us, you will not want to miss this!

Need more information?
Please visit our website to learn more about VC24.

Save $200 with the Early Bird rate when you register TODAY!

Join us at VC24 in Portland, OR July 28^th to the 31^st.
Register today!

Planning to attend VenueConnect 2024? Register before Tuesday, May 28 to receive the Early Bird discount!

Not your typical conference, VenueConnect is the only industry conference that inspires industry leaders, provides targeted education, and brings attendees together to create relationships that last a lifetime.

What You Can Expect from VC24:

• Targeted Education
  Gain access to current trends and topics for industry professionals today from top industry leaders.
• Amazing Speakers
  Learn more about venue safety and security, sales and marketing trends, leadership, guest services, diversity and inclusion, and more! With speakers like Karina LeBlanc, Portland Thorns General Manager and President of Soccer Operations, prepare to be inspired!
• Connections for Life
  Make valuable professional connections, explore new and innovative ideas in the venue management industry, and learn from leaders in the field.
• Venue Partners and Suppliers
  Meet and greet more than 150 exhibitors and indulge in networking opportunities with venue industry professionals.
• Fun
  Enjoy venue tours, Foundation TopGolf, the DILC Celebration for a Cause receptions, and the Closing Night Party.

For more information on VC24, please visit our website.

Don’t miss your chance to save!

Join us to celebrate 100 years of IAVM at VC24 in Portland, OR July 28th to the 31st.
Register today!

The New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center (NOENMCC) is proud to announce its Senior Director of Sales and Event Services, Elaine Williams, CMP, CEM-AP, will serve on the Board of Directors for the International Association of Exhibitions and Events (IAEE). IAEE is the largest association in the exhibitions and events industry, with its membership organizing and hosting more than 20,000 exhibitions worldwide.
 
Williams joins 16 other board members and nine ex-officio members comprised of international business executives, entrepreneurs, top event directors and the leaders of multiple associations.
 

Williams’ 25 years of experience at the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center leads to governance role at International Association of Exhibitions and Events.

“Elaine’s appointment to the IAEE Board of Directors puts her talents right where they belong – alongside international events innovators and business leaders,” said Michael J. Sawaya, Convention Center President and CEO. “This group defines the future of our industry and delivers thoughtful guidance to usher its members forward. Elaine’s experience of over 25 years in the Convention Center industry has prepared her to represent this international organization with the distinct leadership, operational and sales insight, and events expertise this post demands.”
 
“Elaine’s industry experience and knowledge is highly valued by the IAEE Board,” said IAEE President and CEO Marsha Flanagan, M.Ed., CEM. “Her longstanding commitment to enhancing our industry is admirable and we look forward to the contributions she will make as IAEE embraces the new technologies and practices currently transforming our industry.”
 
Williams began her career at the NOENMCC in 1996 as a sales manager for ARAMARK and joined the Convention Center’s sales team in 2007 as a national sales manager. Promoted to her current role as director of sales in 2013, Williams drives business growth, oversees revenue generation and ensures successful event experiences through every stage, from planning to execution.
 
Williams continuously seeks out opportunities to explore new aspects of the industry and advance her professional development, becoming a well-known and respected industry leader. She was awarded the Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) designation from the Events Industry Council in 2005, earned a Certification in Exhibition Management (CEM) in 2015, completed her CEM-AP (Advanced Professional) in 2021, and was nominated for the Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) Supplier of the Year award in 2022. With her impressive background, Williams was asked to contribute to the 2018 book “Professional Sales and Selling, a Guide for the Hospitality Industry.”
 
As a member of IAEE’s Board of Directors, Williams will use her vast experience to help the association evaluate new technologies and practices that will guide positive change in the global meetings and events industry.
 
“As I humbly step into this new position, I look forward to embracing the opportunity to help shape experiences, ignite connections, drive positive change, and inspire innovation on a grand stage,” added Williams. “It is an honor to be part of something with such accomplished leaders and for a vital organization that is leading the way in shaping this industry.”
 
In addition to her newly elected position on IAEE’s Board of Directors, Williams also serves on the Board of Governors for the International Association of Venue Managers’ (IAVM) Senior Executive Symposium.
Elaine Williams Appointed to IAEE Board