By NBA.com

The Delta Center is coming back to Utah. The global airline will assume the naming rights for Utah’s premier sports and entertainment center – which is home to the Utah Jazz and more than 320 evenings of events each year – effective July 2023 as part of a multi-year partnership between the two organizations.

This agreement is a homecoming for Delta, harkening back to the arena’s original opening in 1991 when the airline held the naming rights as part of its first sponsorship with the NBA franchise. Within the long-term agreement, Delta will serve as the Official Airline of the Utah Jazz, adding to its current role as an Official Community Partner of the team. Delta will also hold numerous sponsorship and branding rights with the team, including media, hospitality, and employee engagement extensions.

Delta and the Utah Jazz will continue partnering to support community programs across the state where nearly 5,000 Delta people currently live, work, and serve.

“Today we celebrate a new chapter in the longstanding history between Delta, the Utah Jazz, and the Salt Lake City community,” said Delta CEO Ed Bastian. “The homecoming of the Delta Center represents a continued investment and dedication to Salt Lake City, and together we will provide a leading sports and entertainment experience to the city and Jazz fans worldwide.”

“I have so many amazing memories of the Delta Center as a kid, and I know that countless people throughout Utah and beyond had similar experiences creating core memories there, whether watching the Olympics & Paralympic Winter Games, the NBA Finals, concerts, or other incredible events,” said Ryan Smith, owner of the Utah Jazz and chairman of Smith Entertainment Group. “We are excited to partner with Ed Bastian and the entire Delta team to not only bring back the arena’s original name, but also leverage the amazing work Delta is doing to provide incredible experiences for the people of our state and help show the world how amazing Utah is.”

By Mindy Noonan

The Events Industry Council (EIC), the global voice of the business events industry on advocacy, research, professional recognition and standards, announced the election of officers and directors to its 2023 Board of Directors. IAVM President and CEO Brad Mayne, CVE, will serve on the 2023 Board.

Sherrif Karamat, CAE, President and CEO, PCMA and CEMA transitions to Chair of EIC, having held the role of Chair-Elect in 2022.

“As the global federation that powers the Certified Meeting Professional and Sustainable Event Standards, and provides crucial guidance on sustainability and regeneration, EIC has a unique leadership role in our industry,” Karamat said. “I look forward to working with the EIC team, members and strategic partners on issues that are truly fundamental to our industry’s strength and growth.”

Karamat will be supported by incoming Chair-Elect, Ana María Viscasillas, Federación de Entidades Organizadoras de Congresos y Afines de Latino América, Board Liaison and Immediate Past Vice President for COCAL.

“I look forward to working alongside Sherrif in his role as Chair to support the EIC mission of enriching lives and driving economic growth through the power of events worldwide,” Viscasillas said.

This year, EIC will continue to provide valuable research on industry trends. In the first quarter EIC will release results of its quarterly Global Business Events Barometer and Economic Significance Study. In April, EIC welcomes the in-person return of an event exclusively for the CMP community: CMP Advance and will also host its first EIC Leadership Summit to foster peer-to-peer conversation, connections, and leadership on key issues facing our industry.

“With the support of our members, partners, volunteer leaders, CMP and SEPC community, this is going to be a very exciting year at the Events Industry Council as we continue to lead and engage in global dialogue and collaboration,” said EIC CEO Amy Calvert. “These programmes will unite industry thought leaders from across the globe to engage in dialogue around equity, inclusion, regenerative event practices and building capabilities for our workforce.

“At EIC, we embrace our role catalysing needed change in our sector and sharing our story broadly as events play an essential role as a force for good in our global society – inspiring our current and future workforce.”

EIC board members are nominated members of the overall Events Industry Council that consists of more than 30 organisations in the events industry. These leaders are the governing body for the overall council with fiscal responsibility and strategic direction for all EIC programmes.

The full board is listed below:

2023 Board of Directors Officers:

Chair: Sherrif Karamat, CAE –President & CEO, PCMA and CEMA
Chair-Elect: Ana María Viscasillas, MBA, CDME, DES, CED – Federación de Entidades
Organizadoras de Congresos y Afines de Latino América, Board Liaison and immediate Past Vice President COCAL
Immediate Past Chair: Cathy Breden, CMP, CAE – International Association of Exhibitions and Events, COO and Center for Exhibition Industry Research, CEO

2023 Board of Directors:

Jason Dunn Sr., Executive Director – National Coalition of Black Meeting Professionals
Jennifer Glynn, CIS, CITP – Society for Incentive Travel Excellence
Senthil Gopinath, CEO – International Congress and Convention Association
Stephanie Harris, President – The Incentive Research Foundation
Brad Mayne, CVE, President and CE – International Association of Venue Managers
Tina Wehmeir, CMP, CAE, CEO – AMC Institute

By Karen Caro

Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta recently welcomed the 20th Junior Theater Festival, the world’s biggest and best celebration of young people performing musical theater attended by approximately 6,500 performers from across the United States and beyond.

The festival, held Jan. 13-15, featured 125 youth theater groups for an incredible weekend of fellowship, singing, dancing, acting, and learning. Original Mean Girls Broadway cast members, along with Pasek & Paul (songwriters/producers of Dear Evan Hansen and The Greatest Showman), and Thomas Schumacher, president & producer of Disney Theatrical Productions, highlighted the weekend.

What started 20 years ago as an event with 650 attendees has grown through the years to have a tremendous economic impact on the area, with attendees and their families filling up an estimated 7,000 hotel room nights throughout the three-day event. Cobb Galleria Centre’s exhibition halls are transformed into a 6,000-seat Broadway theater for the weekend.

“These students and teachers are not just the future of musical theatre, they are musical theatre. Their positive impact is huge. They chart cast albums, they sell out shows. They introduce so many to musical theatre through their own productions and they continually evolve this art form through their storytelling,” said Timothy Allen McDonald, founder and CEO of iTheatrics and the Junior Theater Group, which produces the international Junior Theater Festivals. “After 20 years of this festival, we’ve seen what prioritizing the arts can do for individuals, communities, and musical theatre itself, and we understand the importance of giving theatre kids the opportunity to be in the company of thousands of other people who care just as much about this art form as they do,”

Karen Caro is Marketing Manager for Cobb Galleria Centre and Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre in Atlanta.

The New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, always forward-looking to how it conducts its business, announced the creation of a new initiative called the Innovation Team. As a division of the People Services Department, the Innovation Team will focus on developing creative approaches to optimize, streamline, and transform convention center operations to assist the venue in delivering on its mission to advance innovation in its organization.

The Convention Center also named new leadership positions for the Innovation Team, promoting Tim Tumminello to Senior Director of People Services & Innovation, and Kelli Zohar-Davis to Assistant Director of Talent Development & Innovation. The Convention Center will also add an Innovation Manager to the team in the near future.

In July 2021, the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center engaged local consulting firm trepwise to enhance and improve its already award-winning employee culture. Through inclusive employee engagement and collaborative ideation, trepwise led Center employees through a design process to create a culture that rewards creativity, accountability, and risk-taking. That work resulted in what the Convention Center called the “Innovation Lab” – an employee-owned project where staff members held town hall meetings and workshops about how to best move their workplace into the future. Convention Center leadership took the feedback from the Innovation Lab and used it to pinpoint the need for the creation of an innovation-focused division within the ranks of the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.

“Without the valuable insight garnered from the Innovation Lab from our employees, who we consider internal customers in the success of our business, we may have never considered creating a team like this,” said Michael J. Sawaya, Convention Center President. “We believe that consistent iteration of innovative concepts will improve customer satisfaction and will support our vision of being a leading-edge organization.”

Tumminello joined the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in 2002 and most recently served as the Director of People Services. Over the course of his career, he has dedicated himself to creating cultures that provide continuous growth by empowering and motivating employees to realize their full potential and bring their best to the job. Tumminello is a results-focused leader who delivers talent acquisition, retention, and talent development solutions that has helped the Convention Center harness the full power of one of their most valuable assets – its people.

Before assuming her role as the Assistant Director of Talent Development & Innovation, Zohar-Davis honed her skills as a high school teacher and university lecturer. She then joined the hospitality industry where she garnered an extensive background training professionals in the food service sector. She developed training programs and provided guidance on operating standards and systems for some of the most popular fast food and fast casual restaurants in America, such as Sonic Drive-Ins, Chili’s Bar and Grill, and McDonalds. Zohar-Davis joined the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in 2010 as the Talent Development Manager where she developed employee training programs and managed culture initiatives like the Innovation Lab. She is currently the President of the New Orleans Chapter of the Association for Talent Development.

“This is an exciting, first-of-its-kind initiative focused on getting Convention Center employees involved in the decision-making process of some of the most major aspects of our business,” Tumminello, said. “Kelli and I are looking forward to continuing to foster our award-winning employee culture with innovative approaches to the unique challenges that businesses of our size face on a daily basis.”

From TDGarden.com

Delaware North, owner and operator of TD Garden, Boston’s premier sports and entertainment arena, together with the venue’s naming rights partner, TD Bank, America’s Most Convenient Bank®, announced a historic 20-year naming rights extension that keeps the beloved landmark and arena name as “TD Garden” through 2045.

TD Bank has been the exclusive naming rights partner of the storied “Boston Garden” arena since July 1, 2005. The agreement was set to expire in 2025, but this early naming rights extension adds another 20 years to the existing relationship. In addition, TD Bank has renewed its status as the official bank of the Boston Bruins through 2045. Financial terms of the deal will not be disclosed.

“We are proud to deepen our commitment to Boston and Greater New England by extending our naming rights to one of the world’s most recognized and beloved arenas – the ‘TD Garden’,” said Leo Salom, President and CEO of TD Bank. “We also want to thank Delaware North and the Boston Bruins for continuing a relationship that began in 2005 and continues through 2045. Serving our customers and building stronger communities brings us together as does the TD Garden, and we couldn’t be more excited about what the future holds for us all.”

The naming rights extension comes only a few years after Delaware North completed a $100 million renovation and expansion of TD Garden, adding 50,000 square feet of additional space on all levels, marking the “Legendary Transformation” of TD Garden and the fan experience for generations to come.

“We are proud to continue our partnership with TD Bank as they share our pride in providing a best-in-class experience for our fans, teams and long-term commitment to our community,” said Charlie Jacobs, Delaware North CEO. “TD Garden is the heart of our strong Boston tradition in sports and entertainment. The Bruins are about to celebrate 100 years, making this an exciting time for our arena and city. We’re proud to continue into this next chapter together with TD Bank.”

With the extension, TD Bank is committing more than $15 million in community programming to make the arts more accessible and inclusive. Through “Access the Arts,” two new programs are launching today, the “TD Guest List” and the “TD Garden House Artist.” TD Guest List provides complimentary tickets to TD Garden experiences each year to a nominated individual or group from an underserved or underrepresented community. The TD Garden House Artist program commissions local artists from underrepresented communities to create transformative art in and around TD Garden.

In addition to the community endeavors, TD Bank and TD Garden are excited to offer new experiences and incentives for fans, TD Bank customers and the New England community. TD Bank customers can receive a 15 percent discount at the ProShop powered by ’47, free admission to The Sports Museum located in TD Garden, fast lanes at select concessions lines for customers who show their TD Bank card, and $20 TD Garden mobile gift cards to customers who add their TD Bank card as a form of payment in the TD Garden Hub App.* TD Bank will also open a newly branded activation zone on Level 7 of the arena in spring 2023.

As the official bank of the Boston Bruins, TD Bank will be featured on the helmets of Boston Bruins players through the 2044/45 season. Additionally, TD Bank will sponsor a variety of initiatives with the Bruins throughout the hockey season, including youth hockey events, Hockey is for Everyone Night and TD Bank Mini 1-on-1. The agreement also features the continuation of the Small Business Takeover initiative, where TD Bank grants its advertising opportunities at TD Garden at least twice per season to a local small business for the duration of a game. The Bruins and TD Bank will also host the Community Clubhouse opportunity at Bruins home games, where TD Bank will provide youth groups and local New England, community-based organizations with blocks of tickets to every home game.

“The Boston Bruins are proud to continue our longstanding relationship with TD Bank through 2045,” said Cam Neely, President of the Boston Bruins. “Over the last 16 years, I’ve seen firsthand TD Bank’s tireless commitment to our community through their support of youth hockey programs, local small businesses and Hockey is for Everyone initiatives, as well as an unwavering loyalty to our fans at TD Garden and beyond. We are excited to work alongside TD Bank for many years to come.”