By Kerry Painter, CVE

In the December 2006 issue of Facility Manager magazine, I wrote the following:

“The story here is not about buildings, moldy carpets, insurance issues or structural integrity. What I’ve come to learn after endless weeks is that the story is about change, adaption, flexibility, human kindness and just plain doing what it takes to keep moving forward.

“It’s the intimate knowledge that your employees are really a part of your family and they have families of their own to consider and nurture. Take turns supporting each other and let everyone be involved in leading the way when necessary. No one always has to be in charge.”

That story was about Hurricane Katrina and how we managed our way through recovery, hosted a shelter for 600 refugees and, day-by-day, figured it out.

Today, we are in similar unknown territory. Until events postponed or canceled, we were walking the line between when and how to encourage the preservation of daily life and believing the show must go on versus cancelling the show altogether to preserve our way of life. This time has certainly been unprecedented for all of us and, once again, there is no best practices or handbook to rely on. It is our job now to create the best practices and write the handbook for those who will come after us in real time. Hindsight is 20/20 and soon, we’ll be able to recognize what we did well and what we should have seen sooner. That wisdom will come later, but for now we must learn to inch our way to better leadership. Just as we are so much better now at setting up a recovery shelter to house and feed people or incident command structures after active shooter emergencies, we will now be better at health, safety and business recovery in times of a pandemic.

What can we control? Our continuous leadership development and response to each day. Remember that what was the best decision yesterday may not work for today, and being unwilling to take in various diverse pieces of input, to admit a change in direction may be necessary or to realize someone else may just have a better plan will cause you to hold on to a decision that becomes a block to the right decisions for today. Be willing to consider information and concerns from diverse sources. Admit that a change in direction may be necessary. Accept that someone else may have a better plan. And, most importantly, don’t surrender yourself to your decisions. If you make a choice and it becomes clear that another path was the better fit, change your course.

Don’t forget that we have been training for this! IAVM’s promotion of inclusion and diversity has put us in a far better place to handle these unknown challenges. According to Diversity + Inclusion = Better Decision Making At Work, posted by Erik Larson on Sep 19, 2017 on CleverPop, decision making drives 95% of business performance and is the most important thing managers do in the execution of their day. Teams make better decisions than individuals 66% of the time and diverse teams make better decisions 87% of the time.

This brings me back to 2006, when I learned by experience that not everyone can see the best solutions all the time. From that experience, I now understand that it’s okay to rotate leadership in times of stress as people’s capacities become taxed and overloaded. Remember that we are all still human with our own personal stories, biases, relationships, and complexities that need to be considered. Everyone in the room is working and seeing the world through their own lens. This is why diversity gives strengths to answers.

All through March, my venues worked hard to help convention planners and theater performances save their events. We explored everything from streaming speakers to China, streaming plays to ticket holders, lessening expenses from the venue, being as flexible as possible with contracts, moving events to other days etc. On Thursday March 12th, after weeks of these efforts, I woke up knowing in my gut that it was time to pivot. Were we really doing our resident performing companies and meetings planners a service by not shutting down and not enacting Force Majeure to allow them to explore insurance targeted at cancellations or business interruption? Were we doing what was best for our guests putting them in crowded rooms together?

This is when leading a business becomes tough; the delicate complexity of a decision between one that helps our venue sustain its budget or helping your clients and partners remain viable for the future of your relationship and their survival is not something anyone is prepared to make lightly. These are hard economic decisions coupled with hard ethical choices. Every expert guide to decision-making will tell you to gather all of the information you have access to so you can make better, informed decisions. On Thursday, March 12th, I made that my task for the day. I pushed myself to ask questions of my clients, promoters and teams, knowing that I might not like what they had to say.

By the end of that day however, the decision was out of my hands. Like many of you, our governor decreed that, beginning on the following day, all events and gatherings of over 100 people must be shut down. I watched this progression happen city-by-city through all of our industry blogs, webinars and social media. Know there were others with you going through the same decisions, but don’t let that stop you from sharing your insight — even if it is only insight from five hours ago. Use the tools in place and at our fingertips to share the load and help others in similar positions, whether now or five years from now.

Throughout this event, our mantra has become “This is what leadership looks like.” Our city manager relayed this to our top-level and we were charged with filtering it down. Remind all of your people that they are leaders in all moments and times throughout every day. Help them say, “This is what leadership looks like” as they go forward. If nothing else, it will give the benefit of a pause as they relate leadership with the potential ramifications of whichever action they are about to take, and how they communicate that action. At the very least, our team has bonded through this experience as we learned to utilize our various strengths, share insights, collaborate, and listen to diversified perspectives.

We will all tell this story for many years to come and I will likely quote this article in the future for some new, unprecedented challenge I have yet to foresee. Our venue, meetings, or sports and the decisions we make in leading them are political and publicly seen in very broad ways. This is leadership: flexible, changing, imperfect, and messy. Be kind in judging your decisions and use the best available knowledge to make them. Leadership in a crisis is what makes us all better.

Please welcome our newest members who joined IAVM in March 2020. Thank you for being a part of the association! Also, let us get to know you better by participating in the I Am Venue Management series. Please visit http://www.iavm.org/i-am-venue-management-share-your-story to share your story and photo.

Paul Anton, Gogue Performing Arts Center, Auburn, AL, United States

Anthony Ary, Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center, Long Beach, CA, United States

Melissa Barrera, Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center, Long Beach, CA, United States

Bernadette Bascom, Moss Arts Center, Blacksburg, VA, United States

Mike Baxter, Busch Systems, Barrie, ON, Canada

Joshua Beaudoin, Wrightson, Johnson, Haddon & Williams, Inc., Carrollton, TX, United States

Cecily Bednarek, Sarah Belk Gambrell Center, Charlotte, NC, United States

Khouloud Ben Khalifa, The Arena Kuwait by Live Nation, Safat, , Kuwait

Ray Blanton, Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center, Long Beach, CA, United States

James Bullo, Little Caesars Arena, Detroit, MI, United States

Darlene Burgess, Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center, Long Beach, CA, United States

Chris Burke, Gogue Performing Arts Center, Auburn, AL, United States

Melinda Carmichael, 22nd DAA/Del Mar Fairgrounds, Del Mar, CA, United States

Eugene Carr, ALO.ai, New York, NY, United States

Stephen Cassidy, POS Upgrades, Winter Springs, FL, United States

Antoinette Clay, Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, CA, United States

Mellissa Cleveland, Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, CA, United States

Jessica Coale, Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, Decatur, GA, United States

Dawn Collins, Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States

Haley Cornell, Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center, Long Beach, CA, United States

Andrea Crane, Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center, Long Beach, CA, United States

David Douglas, Straz Center for the Performing Arts, Tampa, FL, United States

Michael Dowd, Space Needle, Seattle, WA, United States

Michelle Dunn, Busch Systems, Barrie, ON, Canada

Taylor Dyleski, Gogue Performing Arts Center, Auburn, AL, United States

Deborah Ferree, Straz Center for the Performing Arts, Tampa, FL, United States

Guillermo Flores, Shared Space LA, Los Angeles, CA, United States

Kristen Foster, Edmonton Convention Centre, Edmonton, AB, Canada

Kate Galbraith, Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, CA, United States

Amy Gorbey, Cheyenne Civic Center, Cheyenne, WY, United States

Kandy Grzebyk, Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center, Long Beach, CA, United States

Pauline Houbigand, Brisbane Racing Club Limited, Hamilton Central, QLD, Australia

Crystal Huante, Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, CA, United States

Andrew Jackson, Stadium People By Innovative, Dallas, TX, United States

Tyson Jeffery, Edmonton Convention Centre, Edmonton, AB, Canada

Maureen Jones, PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh, PA, United States

Gaurav Khatale, Brisbane Racing Club Limited, Hamilton Central, QLD, Australia

Andrew Luft, Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, Saint Paul, MN, United States

Emily Macaluso, Harris Theater for Music and Dance, Chicago, IL, United States

Terri Mainprize, Busch Systems, Barrie, ON, Canada

Tom Marcoux, Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center, Long Beach, CA, United States

Paul McKeever, tvsdesign, Atlanta, GA, United States

Rebecca Michaels, Pepsi Center, Denver, CO, United States

Olaf Miede, Edmonton Convention Centre, Edmonton, AB, Canada

Joice Milare, Gogue Performing Arts Center, Auburn, AL, United States

Geordie Miles, Spark Event Group, South Melbourne, VIC, Australia

Amy Miller, Gogue Performing Arts Center, Auburn, AL, United States

Nathan Nguyen, Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center, Long Beach, CA, United States

Jerry Noe, AMK9, Moyock, NC, United States

Robert O’Keefe, tvsdesign, Atlanta, GA, United States

Melissa Orr, Venues Canberra, Jamison, ACT, Australia

Jonathan Osborne, Gogue Performing Arts Center, Auburn, AL, United States

Tim Padgett, Little Caesars Arena, Detroit, MI, United States

Bonnie Jean Paulish, Straz Center for the Performing Arts, Tampa, FL, United States

Doug Peters, Zamboni & Co., Paramount, CA, United States

Nicha Petrakos, Scope Arena, Norfolk, VA, United States

Emma Pietroleonardo, Edmonton Convention Centre, Edmonton, AB, Canada

Zach Pritchard, Durham County Memorial Stadium, Durham, NC, United States

Izzy Randall, Gogue Performing Arts Center, Auburn, AL, United States

Melanie Roehm, Gogue Performing Arts Center, Auburn, AL, United States

Andrew Roesch, Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, CA, United States

Christine Rucker, Scope Arena, Norfolk, VA, United States

Carolyne Savini, Nolan Partners, Philadelphia, PA, United States

Brian Sholty, Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center, Long Beach, CA, United States

Destiny Smith, Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center, Long Beach, CA, United States

Dianny Sobojinski, Hufcor, Inc., Janesville, WI, United States

Mike Soliven, Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, CA, United States

Jessica Sopko, Old Dominion University, Chesapeake, VA, United States

Terri Strozier, The Lone Star Convention & Expo Center, Conroe, TX, United States

Darren Tait, Te Pae The Christchurch Convention Centre, Christchurch, , New Zealand

Marcellaus Taylor, Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center, Long Beach, CA, United States

David Tucker, Edmonds Community College, Gresham, OR, United States

Viju Vasudevan, Edmonton Convention Centre, Edmonton, AB, Canada

Jeremy Vaux, STAPLES Center, Los Angeles, CA, United States

Boris Vortsman, Busch Systems, Barrie, ON, Canada

Zac Vredeveld, Wisconsin Center District, Milwaukee, WI, United States

Karly Watson, Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center, Long Beach, CA, United States

Jessica Williams, FOH, Inc., Miami, FL, United States

Ashley Williams, 22nd DAA/Del Mar Fairgrounds, Del Mar, CA, United States

Bryan Wojcik, Busch Systems, Barrie, ON, Canada

Adam Woodfin, Gogue Performing Arts Center, Auburn, AL, United States

By R.V. Baugus

I first met Neil Campbell back in 1990 or 1991. I take that back, we didn’t actually “meet” but it was through phone calls and likely even a fax or two. I told you it was 1990 or 1991.

Neil oversaw the Kingdome in Seattle, home to the NFL Seahawks and MLB Mariners. Neil was already a giant in the public assembly venue industry and for me just starting as editor of Facility Manager magazine, it was an honor to get to know someone of Neil’s stature. I always remember just how gracious, kind, distinguished, and gentlemanly Neil was. He could immediately put to ease anyone he was meeting or talking to for the first time.

The reason for our visit was that the Kingdome had come up with this very innovative “recycling” plan by utilizing worms as a composting measure for the leftover food at the venue. It was definitely an out-of-the-box story, and I had fun writing it and hearing Neil recount everything that went into this well-hatched plan.

Today, 30 years later, I like all of his friends and colleagues in the industry mourn the passing of Neil Malcolm Campbell, CVE, who passed away on April 5 at the age of 79.

Neil was a fixture in the Seattle area both at the Kingdome and later as vice president of ballpark operations for the Mariners.

“Neil injected a superb level of professionalism into facilities across Canada and the United States,” said long-time friend Warren Buckley. “He had the uncanny ability to read and work with people reacting to situations in a calm and deliberate manner. Neil ‘wrote the book’ on integrity and his soft and gentle demeanor fostered a team approach in the workplace. Those of us who had the pleasure to have worked with Neil will have benefited from the best in our industry. It is hard for me to contemplate life without Neil Campbell. He was a great colleague and dear friend who shall be remembered by many.”

Neil shared his love of the industry with his children, Susan and Colin, who have both gone on to success venue management careers.

“The first time I ever got exposed to (then) IAAM was in 1986 with the national meeting was in Edmonton, said Susan, now executive vice president, general manager, Rogers Place at Oilers Entertainment Group. “He was helping to host that. My little brother and I worked the hospitality suite for the local host committee in Edmonton. Colin was a rink rat and my step-sister and I were both usherettes, which is what they called us back then. My first job was in the Northlands Coliseum at 14. He always said, don’t tell ‘em nothing!”

Added IAVM member John Christison, CVE, another long-time Seattle venue leader at the Washington State Convention Center: “There are a lot of members who knew Neil pretty well. He wasn’t real outspoken and never really sort of stood out or looked for accolades, but he was always one of those guys that was there if you needed something or you could call and he would go out of his way to try to help you. That’s just the kind of guy Neil was. People will remember him as being a good friend and someone you could always count on if you needed something.”

Christison noted that when his son graduated from college “unbeknownst to me went and had an interview with Neil and Neil hired him as an event coordinator. About a year before that I ended up hiring Neil’s daughter, Susan, and she worked for us as an event coordinator. We never talked about it, but that was pretty interesting.”

Indeed, the family affair took on even more interesting dimensions throughout the Pacific Northwest and Canada.

He wanted to be remembered for the daredevil he was, Susan said. “In addition to being my father, he was my mentor, 100% my mentor. Because we had different last names, I’m Darrington and he’s Campbell, I ended up working at the Seahawks across the street and they didn’t know for six months that we were related when we were both running buildings across the street from each other. I ended up getting the job to open up Rogers Place. It was the day of the press conference and my dad was so excited and they said, so what did your dad do? I said, well, he opened up Northlands Coliseum.”

Susan thought about her dad’s impact and shared that it went far beyond just family ties, but how everyone in his venue became extended family.

“I think the hallmark for me of who he was and what I learned is everything in that building is important,” she said. “He knew people from the parking entrance gates to the housekeepers to the ushers. Those were his family and when he opened a building and had an event that was your home and you treated people like guests in your home. That’s how I always modeled my career. You just knew everybody.”

Much about Neil was interesting, and, yes, daredevilish. Christison also remember the experiment with the worms.

“They had a great big old contraption back behind the Kingdome where they were throwing old hot dogs and stuff and letting the worms have at it,” he said with a laugh. “I think I had just got to Seattle in 1990. I remember Neil calling me and saying, ‘we’ve got this really cool idea.’ But a lot of people came and looked at that and tried to replicate it.”

Whether it is replicating or imitated, there is the old saying of “often imitated, never duplicated.” Indeed, there is only one Neil Campbell, and he will be missed by so many.

Neil is survived by wife, Loree; daughter, Susan; son, Colin; and his adoring family.

“That is the hardest part of this pandemic right now is my mom so wants to be able to honor him,” Susan said. “He will go back to Canada but we just aren’t able to do anything right now. Hopefully in the summer we might be able to do something.”

Pictured: With daughter, Susan Darrington, on the ice of the Edmonton Oilers.

By R.V. Baugus

If you know Robyn Williams, CVE, first, you should consider yourself fortunate. If you do not know the past IAVM President (Chair) and her great work leading the Portland’5 Centers for the Arts, trust us when we say there is no more compassionate person not just in the industry but walking the face of the earth.

With leadership comes difficult decisions as well, none greater than what many venue executives around the world have been facing in the loss of event income as it relates to staffing. Some creatively manage to keep staffs intact, but numerous must deal with the aspect of either fully terminating employees or furloughing them with the expectancy to return them to their position once the pandemic has run its course.

The trick, of course, is no one can point to a day or date on the calendar and say that all is 100% well. There is the “ramp up” process that has to come into play as well for venues. With all that in mind, and herself having to make decisions that have brought Robyn to tears, we were fortunate to get a minute of her time to talk about such decisions along with other aspects of working through COVID-19.

As a leader over so many people, what is the most difficult aspect of the job when you have to share “bad news” about a furlough or full-time job loss for employees?

It can be crushingly emotional and personal. One of the things I’ve realized over the years is how close venue managers are to their staff. They are family as well as friends to us. I haven’t found this to be as true in other lines of work I’ve been involved with. Maybe it’s because we often spend more time with them than we do with our family and friends.

People think it must be great to be the leader, but what types of stress can these decisions put leaders under?

I really believe the buck stops with me. I’ve been going over and over in my head about what I could have done differently that would have made us less vulnerable to such catastrophic business loss. I should have built a bigger reserve that would have allowed us to weather this storm. I feel personally responsible for these layoffs.

How far out do you project with this virus when it comes to if further difficult decisions have to be made?

The problem is not knowing when we can expect to reopen. I’m a numbers person and I have a really excellent budget analyst. The operations team is doing everything possible to shed costs at the venues. We’ll keep watching the numbers and make decisions as time progresses.

Is there anything you are doing to help in any way with those you have had to release?

We’ve sent them a lot of information on resources they can tap into. I also stay in touch with them to let them know they haven’t been forgotten.

How difficult is it working from home, or do you occasionally get to the office?

We have a policy that only the most essential folk-custodians, security, and engineers are in the venue at the smallest number possible. If everyone was coming and going at will there is no way we could keep up with sanitizing everything. Plus I’m a huge believer in what the CDC is saying in terms of what you need to do to slow the virus. I have only been out in public once in the past three weeks. I’m a social person by nature so I feel very isolated working at home. Thank heavens for video conferencing, though. It allows us to at least see each other. And I’ve participated in IAVM’s virtual happy hour for performing arts centers recently and it felt really good to see my venue friends.

There has to be some good that one day will come out of all this. You are an optimistic person, so what is the good that you foresee?

I have been very guilty of saying things like “Hey, let’s get together soon” or “Let’s go do (whatever) soon, I’ll call you” and then six months or a year goes by and I never did anything. I’m trying to call friends, family, and colleagues out of the blue now. I think I’ll do more to stay connected to everyone after this is all over. I’ve started to realize how short life really is and how precious people are. So, if you don’t get a call from me, call me!!

By Maren Dougherty

“The Convention Center is a centerpiece of San Diego’s economy. During this pandemic, it will be a centerpiece of our fight against the coronavirus.” – San Diego Mayor Kevin L. Faulconer, 3/23/2020

This Spring our San Diego Convention Center went from serving as a bustling economic engine for our region to becoming a temporary homeless shelter for more than 800 individuals through a collaborative San Diego regional effort referred to as Operation Shelter to Home.

This transformation began in March, when our team coordinated with customers on the cancellation or postponement of more than 30 events, with total attendance exceeding 100,000 and a regional economic impact in the hundreds of millions. Like many of our IAVM colleagues, we soon realized we would probably not host a single event in late March or April, and possibly longer.

All the while, our President and CEO Rip Rippetoe, CVE, had been in discussion with San Diego leaders regarding the potential repurposing of our Center as a temporary shelter for individuals experiencing homelessness. We had space, staffing, expertise in planning large-scale operations and outdoor areas that could accommodate equipment such as trailers with showers and laundry facilities. Opening our building for this purpose would allow for greater physical distancing within existing shelters and ensure that more homeless individuals in our region would have access to health services, mental health support and reliable food sources during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We are taking everything we know and everything we’ve learned to pivot into a shelter operation—an urgent, large-scale effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19 among our unsheltered neighbors.” – San Diego Convention Center President & CEO Clifford “Rip” Rippetoe, 4/1/2020

Our operations staff worked closely with leaders and staff from the City, County, San Diego Housing Commission, Regional Task Force on the Homeless and homeless service providers to create diagrams, staffing plans, policies and procedures for this initiative. Clients and staff would be screened daily by temperature check and verbal questionnaires by homeless service providers or San Diego Public Health Nurses. Everyone would also be instructed to wash and sanitize their hands upon each re-entry into the facility.

The teams decided to move in clients using a phased approach, beginning with groups that were previously living in close quarters at City shelters and then, after assessing capacity, expanding operations to include unsheltered San Diegans. Over one week, April 1 to 7, groups of 150-350 moved in at a time, eventually bringing the total number of clients to more than 800 people across five exhibit halls. Clients are living in exhibit halls C, D, F, G, and H, with Hall E serving as a centralized medical facility.

As you can imagine, uprooting yourself and your belongings from the place you have come to know as your home can be difficult. With the great nonprofit teams, who have created a community and family-like atmosphere within their shelters, the move went smoothly and clients have been adjusting nicely to the new space given these unusual circumstances. Now three homeless service providers—Alpha Project, Veterans Village of San Diego, and Father Joe’s Villages—are operating shelters side-by-side in our facility, working closely with the City, County and SDCC on logistics, including meals, most of which are prepared by our food and beverage partner, Centerplate. All clients have access to Wi-Fi, outdoor spaces and projection TVs.

“The Convention Center intervention demonstrates the true impact we can have when innovation, leadership and compassion come together.” – Father Joe’s Villages President & CEO Deacon Jim Vargas, 4/7/2020

One of the most important pieces to this entire project is the emphasis the operations team will be putting on finding and connecting individuals to permanent housing. The team has identified a number of exit strategies to quickly transition people into permanent housing solutions—ultimately reducing the number of people experiencing homelessness in San Diego.

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