By Mike Santa, CVP
Does your venue staff know how to utilize the basic lifesaving skills of CPR and AEDs? Do they even know where your venue’s AEDs are located? As I sat in a recent training for our venue staff, I was reminded of the importance of these vital lifesaving techniques.
According to the American Heart Association, more than 350,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur each year in the United States, and effective CPR provided can increase the chances of survival by two or three times. Additionally, 90% of cardiac arrest victims who received a shock from an AED device in the first minute ultimately live!
Many of our venues today have ALS or BLS medical personnel on-site ready to assist in medical emergencies, but training our frontline part-time staff can make all the difference. In fact, every minute that a victim does not receive CPR or AED defibrillation, their chance of survival decreases by 7%. If a patron went into cardiac arrest at your next event, how long would it take trained medical personnel to arrive on-scene and diagnose the problem? Having knowledgeable and trained frontline staff can save lives.
Training part-time staff on these skills can be challenging due to the sheer number of topics they need to be trained on within your venue, high turnover, and instructor ratio requirements for CPR certification. Consider the following opportunities for your venue:
• Utilize an outside organization that provides CPR training through the American Heart Association, American Red Cross, or other agency. Most classes require a 1-to-8 instructor-to-participant ratio, so this can be a more expensive option. However, it usually can be paired with basic first aid training and can be great option for a full-time manager level.
• Consider having someone on your team become an official CPR instructor through an agency. Becoming an instructor requires more extensive training and experience, but many of our venues already have people who have past medical backgrounds working for us.
• Put staff through “Hands Only CPR” training. We recently provided this option for our team. While this did not give our staff the option to officially become CPR certified through one of the commonly known agencies, our university was able to provide hands only CPR training and AED training on a large-scale. We now have more than 100 people on our team able to perform basic life saving techniques.
• Work with your team on locations of AED devices within your venue. If your staff can quickly retrieve an AED for someone who is certified, it can save valuable time.
Early recognition and treatment of cardiac arrest can make a life-saving impact for your patrons. Consider getting your entire team trained to make the difference!
Mike Santa, CVP, is general manager of Indiana University Event Services in Bloomington, Indiana.
Populous recently announced the promotion of a significant number of its staff globally, including two new appointments to the firm’s Holdings Board — Senior Principals Shireen Hamdan and Michael Lockwood.
“Our brand is built on the contributions of our staff, and this recognition is in honor of their commitment to making Populous the best design firm in the world at drawing people together,” said Joe Spear, Chairman of Populous’ global Holdings Board. “It’s quite humbling to watch the growth of this company unfold; at 18 offices and nearly 600 employees around the world, it’s an exciting time for Populous.”
Hamdan has lived and studied around the world from Brazil to Libya. A graduate of the Architectural Association in London, Shireen joined Populous in 2008. Since then she has worked on a wide variety of sport, entertainment and convention and exhibition center projects including the redevelopment of Silverstone F1 Circuit, Wimbledon Centre Court, London 2012 Stadium, The Sports Venue Masterplan for the country of Qatar and two World Cup stadium for the Qatar World Cup 2022. Shireen leads the Middle East market for Populous and currently is leading the firm’s work on the Oslo Convention Centre in Norway and a 40,000 seat soccer stadium in Kuwait. Shireen is an architecture graduate of Kingston University, and she also received a graduate diploma in architecture from the Architecture Association.
Based in San Francisco, Lockwood is a design director for Populous’ convention center practice. During his 16 years
with the firm Michael has taken on unique design projects around the world including the expansion of the Qatar
National Convention Centre in Doha, Qatar, the ICC Sydney, and U.S. convention centers in Anaheim, Boston, Los
Angeles, Oklahoma City, Phoenix, Sacramento, San Antonio, and San Jose. He was named to ENR’s 20 under 40 in
2013 as well as KC Business Magazine’s 2013 Rising Star. Michael received a bachelor’s degree in architecture
from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo and participated in the Denmark International Study
Program.
The following people were promoted in recognition of their commitment to excellence in all aspects of their work with the firm:
Promotions to Senior Principal:
• Brett Wightman, Singapore
• Lyle Miller, Kansas City
• Shaun Fernandes, London
• Simon Jordan, London
Promotions to Principal:
• Al Baxter, Sydney
• James Pearce, Brisbane
• James Smith, Brisbane
• Jason Carmello, Kansas City
• Geoff Cheong, Kansas City
• Norman Friedman, Kansas City
• Michelle Nicholls-Shaw, London
Promotions to Associate Principal:
• Andrew Noonan, Brisbane
• Matt Reynolds, Sydney
• Bill Bourne, Kansas City
• Jason Gardner, Kansas City
• Kevin Koch, Kansas City
• Meggan Lux, Tokyo
• Bridget Ott, Denver
• Bobby Sloan, Denver
• Paul Goodall, London
Promotions to Senior Associate:
• Andrew Crutcher, Sydney
• Keith Hudson, Brisbane
• Rohit Garg, Delhi
• Isha Rathee, Delhi
• Zoe Sullivan, Sydney
• Andrew Wallace, Sydney
• Maria Blanco, Kansas City
• Jacob Coburn, Kansas City
• Brooke Craig, Kansas City
• Duart Duff, Kansas City
• Ayesha Husain, New York
• Joshua Johnson, Kansas City
• Kristin Long, Kansas City
• Christopher Meehan, Kansas City
• Ashleigh Rogers, Kansas City
• Ryan Sorby, Kansas City
• Frank Steiner, Kansas City
• Sabrina Tockook, Denver
• Bianca Binder, London
• Charlie Fordham, London
• Matt Grace, London
• Jorge Mendez, London
• Elizabeth Miglierina, London
• Marian Moravek, London
Promotions to Associate:
• Rosario Cho, Brisbane
* Henry Coates, Brisbane
• Nick Fitzgerald, Sydney
• Jack Kato, Singapore
• Alexa Lee, Singapore
• Ashish Shrivastav, Delhi
• Lucas Bergstrom, Kansas City
• Nicholas Caprario, Kansas City
• Daniel Coleman, Kansas City
• Christopher Collins, Kansas City
• Bridget Gramlich, Kansas City
• Michael Hoelscher, Kansas City
* Aaron Jones, Kansas City
• Michael Kinard, Denver
• Patrick Knight, Kansas City
• Nicholas Malyon, Kansas City
• Leo Mangimelli, Kansas City
* Elizabeth Martinez, Denver
• Daniel Molina, Kansas City
• Ana Paz, Kansas City
• Megan Rand, Kansas City
• Ashley Simpson, Kansas City
• Danielle Whitelaw, Denver
• Fabiano D’Amato, London
• Tao Jiang, London
• Beth McCarey, London
• Andrew Rieper, London
• Scott Rogers, London
• Maria Vlcakova, London
• Sin Jae Yoo, London
Visit Seattle announced the promotion of Kelly Saling to vice president, convention sales and services, a position that will include significant additional responsibilities. In this expanded role, Saling will now lead Visit Seattle’s Convention Services team, in addition to continued leadership of Convention Sales efforts.
“Kelly’s tremendous contributions over the last several years have been critical in helping form Visit Seattle’s selling strategies for two convention centers,” said Tom Norwalk, President and CEO of Visit Seattle. “Her high energy, creativity, and credibility are a vital asset to our team, and I look forward to her expanded role in leadership over both our sales and services efforts.”
Saling’s efforts have included the redeployment of Visit Seattle’s sales team to better address Seattle’s hotel supply growth and the need for additional hotel-direct business development. In this new role, Saling will continue to lead both citywide and short-term business development strategies for the Washington State Convention Center (WSCC). In August 2018, the WSCC also broke ground on an exciting additional facility, the Summit, which will be open for business in 2022.
Saling he Visit Seattle Convention Sales team in 2009 and has worked selling a variety of market segments. She was promoted to Director of Sales in 2014 and most recently to VP, Convention Sales in 2017. Previously, Kelly worked in Seattle for Columbia Hospitality, a management company, selling a variety of hotel and venue properties. Saling is a graduate of the University of Colorado with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication, Spanish Literature and Business Administration. She lives in Seattle with her husband and young son.
Photo by Jean Marcus Strole Photography.
North Island Credit Union has taken on naming rights to a leading amphitheater in Chula Vista, California, through a multi-year agreement with Live Nation.
The outdoor music venue, which has a capacity of 20,500, and previously had a naming rights deal with Mattress Firm, will now be known as North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre.
The venue hosts 30-plus concerts per year and welcomes more than 300,000 live music fans annually. Live Nation said the deal with North Island Credit Union further underlines a commitment to provide an extraordinary experience for both credit union members and music fans in the San Diego area.
The two parties will seek to enhance the fan experience at the venue, with the North Island Credit Union team to work on-site throughout the concert season to engage with eventgoers, provide giveaways and prizes, and offer information on credit union benefits and services.
As part of the agreement, North Island Credit Union members will be given a dedicated entrance, discounted ticket pricing, and promotions for tickets and exclusive fan experiences.
Steve O’Connell, president and chief executive of California Credit Union, said: “As we were exploring new avenues to support our community, bring more benefits to our members, and extend our brand awareness, the incredible opportunity to partner with Live Nation at this local venue proved to be a natural fit for both of our brands. North Island Credit Union’s vision for our member experience aligned seamlessly with Live Nation’s commitment to the fan experience.
“Together, we will combine our resources to bring a truly unique Southern California concert experience to North Island Credit Union members and all fans. We think fans will be excited about all that North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre will have to offer when the new season kicks off.”
Andy Peikon, senior vice-president of Live Nation venue sales, added: “North Island Credit Union is dedicated to enriching relationships within their community, so they were a natural fit as a like-minded, long-term partner for this classic amphitheater. Together, through the power of live music, we will integrate their brand in authentic ways throughout the venue so they can establish even more meaningful connections with members who have an affinity for live music.”
The amphitheater opened its doors in 1998 and is the first and largest venue of its kind in the San Diego area. It features top-tier concert tours from April through October and has hosted the likes of Depeche Mode, Jason Aldean, Kendrick Lamar, Weezer, Luis Miguel and Chris Stapleton.
–thestadiumbusiness.com
SMG Tulsa hosted a day of educational training at the Cox Business Center on October 30. Focused on risk mitigation and emergency preparedness for a variety of venues and crowd sizes, the training was attended by over 250 event professionals and first responders. The event featured representatives from the International Association of Venue Managers (IAVM), Department of Homeland Security, BOK Center, Tulsa Police Department, the National Fire Protection Association, and the Cox Business Center.
“Preventing terrorism, enhancing security, and ensuring resilience from disasters has been the goal of the International Association of Venue Manager’s security initiatives,” said Mark Herrera, IAVM Director of Education | Life Safety. ” It is imperative that we continue to find innovative ways protect all venues and raise our baseline security posture such as the most recent emergency preparedness training held at Cox Business Center in Tulsa Oklahoma.”
The event began with an overview of safety concerns and measures unique to the city and its Arena District. The “Safety of the City” presentation featured SMG Tulsa General Manager Nickler and Assistant General Manager Kerry Painter, CVE, CEM, CMP, in a sit-down interview Tulsa Police Chief Chuck Jordan.
“It’s tempting to think it won’t happen here or it can never happen in Tulsa, but that’s not the case,” stated SMG Tulsa General Manager Jeff Nickler. “We’re being proactive as a community and coming together to train and learn so Tulsa is prepared.”
“The dynamic threat environment involving potential vehicle ramming, knife attacks, small arms attacks and Improvised explosive attacks has prompted venues to look beyond the physical security measures and focus on increasing observational capabilities,” noted Herrera. “Venues today, like COX Business Center, understand the importance of coordinated training with key stakeholders and other organizations within their respective community. It is the goal of IAVM, through it’s Academy for Venue Safety and Security (AVSS), Venue Safety & Security Committees, and the live training programs to provide every venue and organization with exceptional focus, performance, and control in extreme situations.”
The event’s sessions included “Situational Awareness (Risk Mitigation through Guest Service Interjection),” “Active Threat / Active Shooter Overview,” and “Trained Crowd Manager” and featured Herrera, Paul Villotti, PE, Director of Life Safety, Henderson Engineering, and Glenn Moore, U.S. Department of Homeland Security. IAVM provided a live-stream of the three training session on its Facebook page.
For more information on how you can offer live safety and security training at your venue, click here.