When Dr. Richard Peddie, best-selling author and the first president and CEO of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment in 1998, stands before the audience at VenueConnect in Toronto on Wednesday, July 25, to present his Executive Track keynote on “Creating a Winning Culture,” there will no doubt be those who do NOT attend because they believe their workplace already has such a sterling culture and environment in place. Perhaps, but that is exactly why such individuals should plan to be in the session from 10:45 – 11:30 am.

“Standing still is not an option,” said Dr. Peddie, whose plaudits also include building Air Canada Centre, BMO Field, Maple Leaf Square and bringing Major League Soccer to Canada with the launch of Toronto FC. “”The world is moving constantly. What wins stadium of the year or arena of the year one year within a couple of years could be way behind. It takes an attitude that you are always looking to improve.”

Dr. Peddie provided an example with the local MLS team. “We always challenged our F&B with the other teams where I was involved, but when we got a soccer franchise I challenged them to come up with a menu that is very international to reflect the fact that football — soccer — is the No. 1 sport in the world. They responded and came up with some pretty crazy ideas.”

The very nature of sports teams dictates that at the end of the year there will be one crowned champion and a number of “runner-ups” who fell short of the ultimate goal. Dr. Peddie noted that obviously every team wants to be a winner, and while it is not possible all the time on the pitch, field, or court, that does not mean that the other aspects or arenas of the venue should fall short of meeting customer expectations.

“Everything is pretty much a meritocracy, and no more so than in sports,” he said. “In most major sports you have 29 losers and one winner. There can be more winners on the business side, the arena side, the venue side. A winning organization wants to be a wining organization and one that attracts and retains people. If you have a good culture that pushes winning with values, you’re going to have more success. When we talk about the whole culture of winning, I am not talking about winning at all costs. There are too many examples of individuals who have done that in sports, but their values were horrible and eventually they are caught. I believe that having a value space in an organization creates a great culture and a great winning organization.”

Dr. Peddie said that much of his session will focus on vision and values, which he calls “the cornerstone of all my leadership pitches.”

“You have to have those in place,” he said. “They have to be the lens you evaluate everything through. For instance, one of our values at Maple Leaf Sports was to excite every fan. In our vision and values statements were 18 words, a far cry from most places that have about 200 words. I always told our full-time and part-time people to excite every fan. You did that through great food and beverage, great service, and really solid on-court or on-ice entertainment. Of course, you ideally did it with the team’s too, but our people were empowered to excite every fan. If that meant that if someone drops a hot dog and you see that happen, you replace the hot dog. It’s giving great service, making sure the place is clean and fresh.”

Dr. Peddie said that he is also a strong advocate of best practices. “Other people call it legitimate plagiarism,” he said with a laugh. “One of the benefits of going to a conference like this is if someone is really smart and has their antenna up, they are not talking a lot but asking a lot of questions.”

Using another example, Dr. Peddie said that when he was chosen to bring a basketball team to Toronto in 1993, he went and toured 20 of the 28 NBA arenas and took notes.

“There are things at Air Canada Centre that I picked up from other buildings,” he said. “I was recently at the new NBA arena in Detroit (Little Caesars Arena) and that place … I mean, if I was building an arena today I told Tom Wilson (president and CEO of Olympia Entertainment) that I would steal so many of your ideas! I had a 41-year career but not sure how many good ideas I had. I was smart enough to see other people’s good ideas and modify them a bit for my marketplace. I told him that they were Air Canada Centre on steroids!”

But even a sparkling new venue must guard against complacency to maintain a winning culture.

“There is always a chance that you get stagnant,” Dr. Peddie said, “and you start resting on your laurels. The world moves too quickly that you will be passed by. Once you lose that momentum there is something called the Sigmoid Curve. It is used in business and shows a curve that goes up and goes to the top. Once there, are you going to go over the top of the hill and start sliding down or are you going to use the top of that hill to spin off into another direction? That’s a challenge.

“We did a strategic plan with our own business and knew we could not stand still. Our owners wanted to see increases in enterprise value and we wanted to be an exception place to work and attract the best people. That’s what best practices can do for you.”

Visit VenueConnect 2018 for more.

By Jennifer Norris

Hosting a Chapter Meeting is like throwing a party for your venue colleagues. It is fun and gratifying. It is a way to work quickly and effectively with a local team of venue management volunteers. Chapter meetings provide opportunities to develop your leadership and public speaking skills. You have a lot of sovereignty to make the meeting what you want and develop educational content that suits you.

Our recent Northern California meeting started with lunch and ended with Happy Hour and included venue tours. We also did a short business meeting. With three full educational sessions, we were already content rich, so we chose not to do a full town hall, but anything is possible. Some chapters meet 10 am – 3 pm, while others like ours meet noon – 6pm to allow people drive time.

IAVM HQ will support you along the way with information and resources. In working together to create the meeting, you will make a bunch of new venue management friends. You will be helping to expand and diversify the leadership of IAVM.

Secrets to Success
• Use the IAVM How to Host a Meeting as a resource
• Use IAVM HQ as a resource for:
o IAVM website to post meeting registration link, agenda, directions, etc.
o list of current members and non-members in your area
o registration services
o IAVM collateral to have at your meeting
• Create a committee of willing volunteers, and make it diverse in terms of sectors, gender, and make room for everyone who is able. Don’t go only to the tried and true volunteers or your friends, but widen the net and be inclusive. I found my volunteers by sending an email inquiry to the IAVM members in my area (got email addresses from HQ). At least eight people is optimal.
• Get buy-in, from potential attendees, numerous times in the process:
o Poll the members for volunteers
o Send a poll to members to select the best date (list dates the venue is available)
o Send a save the date as soon as date and location is selected
• Plan on 2.5 to 3 months from first phone meeting to event date. Meet by phone with your committee once every two weeks. Use this time to choose topics and set agenda. Review sponsor giving levels. Discuss panelists. Divvy up the work.
• Divide and conquer! Decide on responsibility for tasks, encourage committee members to use their colleagues to complete tasks so that we are mentoring volunteerism and reducing our own work loads. Make sure everyone has a task.
o Session Champions (1 or 2 people working on each session)
o Meal Team – gets quotes from caterers, choose menus, negotiates in-kind donations, handles linens, etc.
o Graphics Guru – creates visuals such as save the date, creates basic support slides and compiles PPT or Prezy presentations from presenters
o Sponsorship Team – (1 or 2 people) Creates the giving levels, send solicitations, tracks solicitation promises and fulfillment, communicates with region treasurer about invoicing sponsors and making sure payments are received and acknowledged
o Logistics – lay-outs agenda, room set-ups, run of show and event timelines

For a complete Chapter Meetings overview and how to get one started in your area, click here.

Jennifer Norris is assistant managing director of the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center.

The board of directors of San Diego Theatres, Inc (SDT) appointed Carol Wallace as Interim CEO of the organization which manages and operates San Diego Civic and Balboa Theatres.

“We are extremely excited to have Carol step in and serve to ensure that the San Diego Theatres continues to be successfully managed,” said San Diego Theatres Board Chair Jim Waring. “Her prior experience with our operation gives her an essential perspective that will allow her to hit the ground running as together we implement a strategic planning review of the organization that is focused on its mission of providing top tier leading performing arts for the region of San Diego and beyond.” The board anticipates beginning the search for a new CEO following the completion of the strategic planning process.

Wallace is the former president and CEO of the San Diego Convention Center Corporation (Corporation) which oversaw the operations of San Diego Theatres, Inc. until 2014 when it became an independent 501 (C)(3) non-profit. Wallace retired from the Corporation in 2016. She is a past IAVM president (chair) and also served as the Association’s interim CEO prior to the hiring of Brad Mayne, CVE.

“I am thrilled to support and advance the important work of San Diego Theatres and help the board as they begin their strategic planning process,” Wallace said. “San Diego Theatres is a critical part of our rich arts community and I am pleased to provide my services during this time of transition.”

San Diego Theatres (SDT) is a 501© (3) non-profit arts organization that successfully operates the Civic and Balboa Theatres in downtown San Diego. With an annual budget of approximately $8.1M, it serves more than 415,000 patrons annually through arts and entertainment presentations. SDT‘s revenues come primarily from ticket sales, rental fees, ticketing, professional services fees, and donations.

AEG Facilities recently received the 10th annual Los Angeles County Green Leadership Award for its “Next Level Sustainability” campaign at the city-owned Los Angeles Convention Center (LACC).

AEG Facilities was honored in the business/private sector category at the County of LA Board of Supervisors meeting during Earth Week. This award is the second sustainability recognition it has received in 2018 for managing the LACC, following the Governor’s Environmental and Economic Leadership Award (GEELA) in January.

“The County’s Green Leadership Awards honor commitment to environmental sustainability and remind us that we have to take steps, as individuals, to educate the next generation in ways they can reduce their carbon footprint,” said Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, Chair of the Board of Supervisors.

The “Next Level Sustainability” program was established to reduce the LACC’s carbon footprint, and elevate and expand the LACC’s sustainable practices across five areas – waste/recycling, energy/climate, water, purchasing and education/communication.

More than 30 environmentally friendly practices and procedures were implemented. Highlights include:

•Diverted 7.3 million pounds of construction and demolition waste from the landfill by educating event management, exhibitors, and contractors on more sustainable practices
•Replaced 2,146 LED lamps in all exhibit halls that is projected to save one million kilowatt hours per year
•Installed 710 low-flow 1.28 GPF toilet units, projected to decrease toilet water use by 20-25%
•30,000 square feet of turf were replaced with drought-tolerant landscaping, saving an estimated 320,000 gallons of water per year
•Executed sustainable product purchasing that now accounts for 80% of all ongoing consumables

“We hope to share our achievements with the community as a means of motivation and encouragement to keep working hard towards environmental protection and sustainability,” said Brad Gessner, senior vice president and General Manager at the LACC. “We are honored to be recognized by LA County and excited to continue to make our facility more sustainable.”

The Darwin Convention Centre was awarded winner of the Meeting Venue – 500 delegates or more category at the Northern Territory 2017 Meetings & Events Australia (MEA) Industry Awards, held in Darwin.

The MEA Industry Awards recognize excellence and best business practice in the Meetings & Events Industry. Finalists were assessed across a range of business criteria and the year in review, including their impact on the meetings and events industry as a whole.

Janet Hamilton, Darwin Convention Centre general manager, said, “Our passion is always to showcase the Darwin Convention Centre as a modern, world-class venue with outstanding dining experiences and exceptional service. Winning the award is a true testament to the hard work and dedication of the team.”

Beyond driving the business events industry, the Darwin Convention Centre is also a catalyst for innovation and economic growth in Australia’s Northern Territory. The centre draws industry leaders, innovators, scientists, and academics from all over the world to come and exchange ideas in Australia’s strategically located northern most capital city.

The Darwin Convention Centre is now a finalist for the National 2017 Meetings & Events Australia Industry Awards being held in Adelaide in May 2018.

Meeting & Events Australia is a national, independent not for profit organisation dedicated to servicing the needs of the meetings & events industry and promoting professionalism and excellence in all aspects of meetings and event management. It also promotes the value and effectiveness of meetings and events as an important high-yield sector of business travel and tourism.