(Editor’s note: This is Part 2 of an interview with Kevin Molloy, Lancaster County Convention Center Authority
Executive Director)

By R.V. Baugus

When Kevin Molloy hears from other venues that they are not eligible to receive assistance on the CARES Act program, he channels his inner Lee Corso, one of the voices on television’s College Football Game Day: Not so fast, my friend!

“I’ve had an education in this,” Molloy noted. “Whether the state gets the money or your county gets the money makes a big difference. When the state gets the money most of those sitations they are using it for hospitals, education, supplement unemployment benefits, so there is nothing left after they do that.

“That’s frustrating because they’re not getting down to the level of Main Street USA. I understand it but this is usually the policy. The second problem is those counties that did get it were pretty much subject to the political whims of that county.

“My slant on this, though, is that means we as an industry have blind spots in educating our local officials to understand what the tax in your community can do. During COVID-19 we volunteered to the state, you need a medical station, we’re here, if you need a testing station, we’re here, if you need a warehouse, we’re here, so we kept ourselves relevant in the conversation in this. Our ability is an economic driver, which is essential and another thing I wanted to point out.”

Indeed, Molloy and his team deserve extra credit for successfully thrusting themselves into the conversation when it comes to “essential” and any of the funding that ties in to those specific needs. Speaking of essential, Molloy said that every public assembly venue must do its own economic impact study to even have an opportunity at getting a piece of the financial pie.

“I have been advocating for the last 20 years that every building has got to do their own economic impact study,” he said. “By doing that, not only can we benchmark how we are doing compared to others and I don’t mean that in a we’re good, you’re bad, but in a way you can evaluate yourselves. Such as, hey, my utility charges are a lot higher than yours, or in my case I don’t have my own F&B or parking, therefore we have to be subsidized because when the city and county gave away parking to a local company and F&B to another, you’ve tied my hands behind my back.

“By doing that we recognized that the convention piece brings $30 million in economic benefits to a community in Lancaster County of 500,000 people. That’s all I’m saying. It doesn’t mean we’re bad, just that our economics does not allow that to happen. That beautiful park you have downtown? Believe it or not, that costs a lot of money. Those quality of life and things you need in a community cost.”

As the advocacy efforts have played out from IAVM to its members, Molloy noted once again that sitting on the sideline does absolutely no good for anyone.

“I’m only treading water when I started this process,” he said. “It wasn’t until I got an email from (IAVM President/CEO) Brad Mayne giving me templates to send out to my senators and my congressmen. Brad turned that around within a day. A few days later (then IAVM Chair) Tammy Koolbeck is reaching out in one of the Town Halls. So when we hear these things sometimes it is like, oh, that doesn’t pertain to me but the truth is they all do. A building manager I recently spoke to was like, oh, we’ll get to it, but then they realize they need CARES Act funding and they’re spinning their wheels trying to get things going and they’re calling me asking how I got my funding and I tell them, hey, your guys were on the phone call with me trying to talk to the senators. You guys should be as far along as I am.

“The thing is they were going through the motions and weren’t really communicating with their own organizations. I’m not besmirching but trying to say that sometimes we miss the big picture. Listen when Tammy is making those calls or Brad is making those statements. Together, that’s how we get things done. We don’t just turn on a switch and be an advocate. We need to be advocates 365 days a year and that’s what Brad and Tammy have been saying, so we need to isten a little better when they say that.”

Molloy said it is especially for smaller venues to speak up, those which correctly make up the majority of the IAVM membership.

“The big name cities are highly recognized,” he said. “I probably have Napoleon’s syndrome. I’ve always said you have more smaller venues than you have buigger venues as members. If the little guys like us can get this done then everyone else can.

“Here’s an interesting side angle on that. There was a meeting in Philadelphia with Destinations International and IAVM to talk about what was the right economic impact study, metholodogies to be done, and when they put out the same data they came out close. I learned a very valuable lesson. The only buildings at the table are those buildings that have staff that they can dedicate to that. Us little guys can’t be at that level because as an executive director I can tell you I was licking envelopes at the conference table yesterday.

“My point is it is hard to really level the surface at the table with them. We’re grateful they have the resources that can help us get along but that’s why we don’t get the attention even though you get the membership dollars from the smaller guys.”

Molloy says this while not complaining about his lot in life working in Lancaster. In fact, he would have it no other way for his own career.

“People will ask why I don’t go to work in a bigger building. To be quite honest, I like to know the name of everybody who works in the building and let them know my name,” he said. “I want to be able to talk to them on eveyy level. It’s those relationships that I really enjoy in this whole thing. I know where my niche is. I don’t need to be in a bigger building to get quality of life. This is where I felt I can make my best difference.”

Molloy has been at his venue now for 12 years and is a true champion for the “little guys” in the venue world. He would have it no other way.

By Alyssa Meyer

ExtraMile Arena has gone from hosting Metallica to Boise State classes, transitioning from a live entertainment arena to an expanded classroom. Staff have worked extensively across all departments to get ready for this change, and the collective ExtraMile Arena staff is so excited to play this important role in our campus community!

Highlights from the first day:
2 Classrooms simultaneously hosting distanced classes
792 total students for the first day of class
Classes varied from University Foundations, to Psychology to Business!
All students entered voluntarily wearing facial coverings
Nearly 86% of students opened their emails noting where to enter, how to access the necessary technology for the classroom, how to access their assigned seats, etc.

The Registrar’s Office is sending daily reports of adds and drops to our Box Office team to be able to update enrollment and assigned seating in a timely manner – thank you Registrar’s Office!

The arena has received GREAT support to get the classrooms’ infrastructure setup – thank you OIT!

In total, the arena will play home to a total of 18 classes a week and 2,100+ Boise State weekly Students this semester. While this semester may look different than those in the past, this campus community is coming together in an unprecedented way.

Thank you to everyone in our Boise State Campus Community for helping make the transition from concerts to classrooms so seamless.

Alyssa Meyer is Assistant Director Marketing & Brand Development at ExtraMile Arena.

By Erin Goldmeier

The Virginia Beach Convention Center (VBCC) was recently presented with a 2020 Leadership Award by the U.S. Green Building Council Virginia Chapter (USGBC VA). These prestigious awards recognize Virginia building owners and project teams for their extra effort to accomplish Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification, and celebrate the local leaders who are working to create a healthier, more sustainable and more resilient future for all in the Commonwealth.

As an organization, the VBCC was recognized for its accomplishments in the community and sharing the knowledge

they attained through LEED certification with the hospitality and tourism community. Staff has shared best practices in recycling, composting and energy efficiency, highlighting the economic and environmental benefits of sustainability.

“We are honored to have received this award. It truly is a testament to our ongoing dedication to sustainable practices and good stewardship of public dollars,” said Bryan Miller, Assistant General Manager for the VBCC.

The VBCC was the nation’s first convention center to earn LEED Gold certification as an existing building in 2010. As is required, the VBCC renewed certification in 2015 and is currently seeking certification renewal using the new LEED Arc platform. The VBCC is also an active partner in the Commonwealth’s Virginia Green program, which promotes sustainability in the tourism industry.

Erin Goldmeier is Director of Public Relations for Visit Virginia Beach.

 

Samantha has managed over 200 events including Virginia Beach’s High School Graduations with 30,000+ attendees, and building specific programs for Pharrell Williams’ inaugural Something In the Water Festival. Receiving the supervisory role of the Usher/Ticket Taker and Shuttle Driver staff at just 24 years old was a demanding challenge, but has become one of the most rewarding accomplishments of her position. Innovation and adaptation are Samantha’s top strengths that has aided in her success both professionally and personally. She is a VMS Year 1 graduate slated to attend Year 2 in 2021, and will be celebrating her five year anniversary with the Virginia Beach Convention Center this fall.

When asked what being named to the 30|UNDER|30 Class of 2020 meant to her, Samantha replied, “Receiving the congratulatory email amongst all of the negative emails surrounding COVID was a breath of fresh air! It was not only good news resulting from my dedicated work and efforts, but positive news to share with coworkers, family, and friends and was a change of pace from the somber conversations at that time.”

Join your Foundation in congratulating Samantha on being honored as one of the 30|UNDER|30 Class of 2020! Join us each Thursday as we spotlight each honoree!

By R.V. Baugus

(Editor’s Note: To access the IAVM CARES Act Advocacy Toolkit, click here.)

Kevin Molloy has been an IAVM member for more than 30 years, and has a confession to make.

“I haven’t really used any IAVM advocacy elements,” said the executive director for the Lancaster County Convention Center Authority in Lancaster, Pa. “I did when Turner Madden was the lobbyist and we talked about the online travel companies which were avoiding some of the hotel tax.”

That all changed for Molloy when COVID-19 struck. Like his colleagues in the public assembly venue industry which have been shut down and lacking any significant revenue of any type, Molloy needed financial, and needed it fast. The monies being made available through the CARES Act (Coronavirus Aid Bill) that provides assistance for State, Local, and Tribal Governments established the $150 billion Coronavirus Relief Fund, much of which has been finding its way in recent months to, yes, those in need to keep their businesses afloat, but also to many who did not, shall we say, need the money.

Our industry needs the money and our industry needs to be heard. Molloy needed to be heard, and he knew the financial need he had.

“It’s like COVID hit and it seemed like the following Monday we’re on the phone with (IAVM President/CEO) Brad Mayne and I sent letters then to U.S. senators and to our congressman and touched base with our state senator and county commissioners,” Molloy said. “We started on day one doing because we’re funded through the hotel tax and we were going to be doomed financially. It was going to be a $7.1 million problem, and no one wanted to hear that from me. I would rather start at 7.1 than whittle it down than start at 3.3 and have to go up. From a credibility point of view asking for more after you’re already (provided) is like mom making the cookies and I’m taking three. If I come back each time she’s going to think I’m eating all the cookies.”

“So we told everyone $7.1 million and it got attention. We talked about it during the Convention Center Town Hall and I told everyone we had a compelling story. The story was that to elected officials we were just one dot, one convention center.

“(Then IAVM Chair) Tammy Koolbeck reached out and wanted to know who wanted to get onto conference calls with their elected officials and talk to their staff about our problems. We went from being the pest that they couldn’t validate but it resonated when our lobbyists (TwinLogic Solutions), Tammy, and other venues, got us validation as being more than just that one building. Are they only trying to save convention centers or are there going to be others?”

Trust us, there are others, and Molloy said that now — or really, yesterday — is the time for venues to get busy to get the help they need.

“I was talking with (Boise Centre Executive Director) Pat Rice and we said we need to be advocates — our own advocates — with our own politicians,” Molloy said. “He clearly had some good communication with his elected officials. I’ve never had to do this before … I had to call a U.S. senator’s office and a congressman’s office … I had to make introductions; yeah, we may have had them in the building and we tell them which meeting room and their dressing room, but that’s it. I don’t have the experience of working with this stuff.

“That was the other good thing. The lobbyists really teed up the phone calls. We would get on the phone a couple of minutes early and talk about what we were going to do. There was good organization there, too, in having a lobbyist who prepared us so we are efficient with our time, we can state what we need, and we each have about two minutes.

“TwinLogic clearly knows how to prepare people for doing these sorts of things. I’m forever grateful, because I’m in that world where I always have to have an elevator speech in my mindset. But it’s two minutes, so, OK, going into elevator speech fast and we moved it right down. I felt that we had a compelling conversation.”

Molloy said that being persistent and not getting defeated is also important when dealing with elected officials, especially if one is a relative novice in such dealings as was Molloy.

“The funny thing is we find out by writing to everybody, emailing every elected official, and most of them gave me the generic ‘we’re going to look into it,’ so I was kind of worried. But one of them, (Democrat) U.S. Senator Bob Casey’s office, made a recommendation to our county commissioner with guidance and how to correspond to Title V CARES Act funding. I was so elated when that came back to me and then (Republication Senator) Pat Toomey’s office gave the same and said, don’t forget the convention center. We had the Republicans and Democrats saying the same thing!”

When the smoke cleared, Molloy presented the dire numbers from March 12 when the country essentially shut down through December 31 of this year to cover costs associated with those event losses. Molloy said he learned a valuable lesson in the process in that this is not revenue replacement, but rather to cover all expense costs associated with COVID-19.

“That was the open door we were given, so I said, ok, if I look at all my financing from March 12 to December 31 you’ll cover those costs? To a point, $2,945,000 (LCCCA’s request for bond and financing expenses), so I said ok, great. They said, don’t forget, all your expenses associated with COVID. We have a third party operator so I sat down with the GM and said, ok, let’s think about all the expenses. We said, we can make this the cleanest building on the planet, we can do all that we need to do but if no one knows about it we’re not doing anything. We also put in communications in our ask so we could put it on our website, we could promote to all of our customers that we’ve done this, we’re going GBAC and doing all these things. The county commissioner said, you know what, you’re right, if they don’t know it you’re not going to get them, so they also gave us funding for promoting all the things we’re doing to make it a safe venue for everyone.”

Molloy said it helps to have a supportive board and county commissioners, as he is blessed to have in Lancaster.

“My board was phenomenal,” he said. “In our Zoom meetings we really felt we were ready to have meetings and still do them publicly, so we held them in the middle of the lobby instead of any room so you literally just walk in, don’t have to grab a handle or anything, and you can sit down and watch our public meeting.

“We put before our boards and public authority that we wanted the Lancaster County Convention Center Authority refund COVID-19 through June 2020. This is like a page and a half of whereas’s. They gave the authority to negotiate with the county, with Wells Fargo, to amend our bond documents and also gave authority to go after GBAC and also gave us authority to buy the capital items needed to implement GBAC. It was the ideal of who are our constituents? Was it Lancaster County? Meeting planners? Event planners? County commissioners and elected officials understand that during COVID-19 this is what we’re doing. They did a nice job with it. That meeting went rather quickly. They all knew it and they had a role to make sure we covered everything.”

Kevin Molloy is Executive Director for the Lancaster County Convention Center Authority in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.