By Kerry Painter, CVE, CMP, CEM

Our venues have always been a reflection of the best of our community by providing memorable moments for its citizens, iconic events as well as places of support such as fundraisers, economic impact, or in the recent decade, places of refuge from weather. It was a stretch at first to wrap our arms around how to become a shelter. Think back to the days of Hurricane Katrina when we formed a mega-shelter committee to create best practices and train people in the line of hurricanes.

Since then, earthquakes, tornados, and hurricanes have caused us to sharpen our skills and open our doors to house people and provide them medicine, safety, shelter, animal care, and nutrition. Now, we are struggling with our society’s latest challenge: active shooters and crowd terrorism. While we struggle to train our teams and find the best ways to help our staff feel empowered and safe, once again we can come to the aid of our community.

Recently, our venues in Raleigh engaged IAVM’s Mark Herrera to spend the day teaching us about situational awareness, active shooters, Stop the Bleed and Trained Crowd Manager. This is a day of training that many of us have engaged in other cities or other venues; sadly it’s become a touring training curriculum. We invited all the region’s venues to participate along with our promoter Live Nation, our resident arts companies, related City Departments and PD/Fire. What was different this time, was that among the 300 typical attendees we also included 13 of our community’s churches.

Unfortunately churches are now struggling with the same needs our venues are. How to keep the doors open to unknown guests but keep everyone safe in the instance of an unexpected incident. How to create an emergency plan that adapts to so many situations that are now possible. We invited several places of worship, of every denomination and were honored to have 13 of them take us up on the offer. What has become evident is that these are not subjects people who manage these places are equipped to tackle with either budget or security experience. The comments we received were:

“I took so many notes. We’re just at the beginning stages to figure this out.”

“We get complacent and forget. We learned a lot of information even as a small church.”

“We’ve got so many entrances, and when you sit up front you can’t see what’s behind. We need to figure it all out.”

So perhaps the borders of our venues are once again expanding just a little further as we come to the aid of our faith communities and share our training and security resources. I encourage you to reach out and include those in your area the next time you are working toward improving security studies, manuals, drills, trainings, or table tops. Any and all of these activities are not only prudent for our venues but also needed in churches, schools, or entertainment places. Go ahead, reach out and add a few more people to the room and keep your city just a little safer for everyone.

Kerry Painter CVE, CMP, CEM, is director/general manager of the Raleigh Convention and Performing Arts Complex at City of Raleigh Municipal Government.

By R.V. Baugus

When news came that industry veteran Brad Gessner was retiring, my first thought was that our profession was indeed losing one of its finest.

My second thought was, “Dang, there goes my PR guy!”

Gessner, who got his industry start in 1978 as the assistant director of special facilities for St. Lucie County in Ft. Pierce, Florida, will retire from his most recent position as senior vice president of North American Convention Centers for ASM Global at the end of this year. Like several who enter retirement, Gessner will continue to serve as a consultant with the company.

To me, Brad always epitomized the words of President Theodore Roosevelt’s foreign policy of “speak softly and carry a big stick.” Most people stop the saying at that point, but four key words actually followed: “You will go far.”

Gessner went far in his career as he worked as general manager of the HemisFair Arena and Municipal Auditorium in San Antonio and served as the deputy general manager of the Del Mar Fairgrounds and Racetrack. Prior to joining AEG Facilities in 2012, Gessner worked for 14 years at the San Diego Convention Center, serving as the general manager of the facilities for six years.

In his latest role as senior vice president, Gessner oversaw AEG Facilities’ portfolio of North American convention centers including the Los Angeles Convention Center, Hawaii Convention Center, Puerto Rico Convention Center as well as the recent addition of the Palm Springs Convention Center. Gessner also served as the General Manager of the Los Angeles Convention Center until July 2018.

Professional accolades aside, I will miss Brad the PR guy. He frequently sent me story ideas at the highest level all the way to sharing new hires made at the LA Convention Center. Brad knew well the meaning of sharing news and promoting your venue and your personnel.

It wasn’t always just about his facility, though. Yes, he suggested to me that Estella Flores, his vice president of operations, would be a good person to write about effective ways to identify workplace hazards, which she did in collaboration with convention center HR Manager Kevin McCall in the November/December Facility Manager. Good for his facility to have the exposure? Sure. Just as beneficial, though, is the takeaway other venues will have after reading the story.

Perhaps Brad’s greatest lead for me came when he suggested that there is a venue general manager down at the Puerto Rico Convention Center named Jorge Perez who might be worthy of a feature in FM. On the first anniversary after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, I traveled to San Juan to meet Jorge, to see much of the rebuilding still taking place, and to hear his story of how his venue played such a prominent role at the time of the hurricane as well as going forward, even today.

The more I think about it, even though Brad is soon entering “retirement,” I have a feeling that through both his consulting and his love for the industry that maybe I have not received my last tip to follow through on from my friend.

Hey, a guy can hope, right? Enjoy that deserved downtime with the family, Brad!

By R.V. Baugus

We are on the fast track toward two of the biggest family holidays of the year in Thanksgiving and Christmas. I know this because as a leader at our church of a 13-week Grief Share class designed to help people through the grief of having a loved one die, we will have a two-hour class on November 17 called Surviving the Holidays, which as the name implies is equipped to help people through the often lonely and depressing holiday season that so many suffer through.

It is also a time of season when stories abound from our member venues about what they are doing to help those less fortunate. For example, the Saint Charles (MO) Convention Center and a local Chick-fil-A are partnering to host a collection drive for those in need.

The premise is simple for donors: Earn a free Chick-fil-A menu item when you donate winter clothing or personal care items at the O’Fallon restaurant on November 16. Winter clothing and personal care items collected at the restaurant are then distributed on December 12 at the convention center at the 12th annual Helping Hands for the Holidays event.

The venue shared the story of Tracy, who attended the event last year and went on to make a phone call to thank all of the staff and volunteers who helped organize the event.

“I felt so welcome,” Tracy said. “Everyone who was there was so pleasant and showed that they were really there because they cared. It really touched my heart that the convention center is so willing to share with the community. Sometimes people think that everyone that lives in St. Charles is rich, when that is not the case. Thank you so much.”

Helping Hands for the Holidays, produced by the St. Charles Convention Center and We Love St. Charles, exists to assist those in need by providing a FREE unforgettable holiday experience. More than 1,600 men, women and children gather each year to receive a warm holiday meal, winter clothing and personal care item giveaways, access to community resources, health services and screenings, activities for children, photos with Santa and more.

We know this is but one example of what our members do to serve their community during the holiday season. If you have a story to share about the difference you are making in your community, please let us know so we can share the good news.

Rosalie Mortillaro has been named Director of Marketing and Communications at the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center – the sixth largest convention center in the nation. Mortillaro is a 16-year veteran of the Convention Center, having previously served for 12 years as the Communications Manager, and for four years as a Communications Specialist.

In her new role, Mortillaro will helm the Creative Services Unit and oversee the planning, development, design, and production of all marketing strategies for internal and external customers. Mortillaro will play a key role in developing marketing and communications strategies as the Center continues with a $557 million improvement plan for a mixed-use upriver development, pedestrian park, transportation center, plus interior and exterior building upgrades. A new headquarters hotel is also planned for the development area.

Mortillaro holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Communications from the University of New Orleans, and is a past Vice President of Communications for the International Association of Business Communicators – New Orleans Chapter.

By R.V. Baugus

Sherron Washington, M.A. is a marketing and communication (marcom) professional who has imparted her wisdom and expertise for over two decades and understands well the often nebulous world of communication and engaging employees and clients. It is that knowledge she will bring to GuestX in San Diego on February 17-19 to share with attendees in an Opening Session titled “Learn How to Network Through Authentic Engagement!”

Washington has been called “The Marketing Whisperer” by many due to her uncanny ability to assist businesses in an innovative, solution-driven, fusion of communication and marketing efforts that increase growth opportunities. She wowed the crowd this past July at VenueConnect in Chicago with a presentation on effective communication for leaders and was a natural fit to return to IAVM once again at GuestX.

She is also one of the busiest presenters around and much in demand. We caught up with Sherron to give her an opportunity to talk some about her upcoming session and more.

Why should folks plan to attend GuestX?

To get an immersive conference that teaches attendees skillsets in how to align your venue’s performance against guest expectations in order to deliver an exceptional guest experience.

Help some of our attendees out who may not know you about your professional experience in this field of guest experience.

I have 20+ years in facilitating and developing events and meetings that have created fun, educational, and professional experiences. I am also often referred to as a global connector/networker who has an uncanny ability to execute memorable experiences for guests and attendees.

What are just a few of the things you can share as a “sneak preview” for what you expect to speak about at the opening session?

Creating an authentic interaction can go a long way when it comes to engaging guests. It is pivotal to remain authentic in your networking efforts in order to facilitate interest and engagement, utilizing communication tactics that are direct and complementary in order to build better business relationships and guest experiences. Attendees will learn how to create more meaningful interactions and how to leverage relationships with guests to create exceptional experiences with your organizations brand and build loyalty.

Speaking of guest experience, what do you see as the biggest change in that area today as far as what guests expect when they go to a venue?

The biggest change in guest expectations I would say is the notion of wanting to have a seamless experience that is expeditious yet personalized. As a guest myself, I want to be able to visit a venue without issue and still made to feel that I am being catered to. Which is a big challenge for venues because each guest has individual needs and requirements.

Any takeaways you hope to leave attendees with for them to go back home and implement or execute?

Attendees should walk away from my opening session with tactics that will help them to leverage and build relationships internally as well as externally. They will also learn how to create and continue their brand’s exemplary venue experience online in order to build guest loyalty.