Projection Presentation Technology (“Projection”), a national audiovisual company, announced that it has hired industry veteran Chris Carpenter to lead efforts to continue the growth momentum within the company’s successful convention center business.

“Chris brings a deep level of expertise and proven success from his years in the industry,” said Larry Taylor, corporate vice president, Projection. “At Projection, we seek to provide our clients with the most experienced team of experts – from the very first meeting. With Chris as the newest member of our team, we look forward to expanding this commitment to new clients across the country.”

With teams in-house at convention centers across the nation, including, but not limited to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in D.C., Boston Convention & Exhibition Center/Hynes Convention Center and the Moscone Center in San Francisco, Carpenter will focus on taking the company’s proven ability to deliver creative, innovative and high-quality audiovisual/presentation services to clients and their events in new venues from coast to coast.

“I am thrilled to join this team of industry experts that has been delivering customized solutions for the past 50 years,” said Carpenter, whose title is business development manager. “As meeting planners and associations continue to seek new ways to engage their audiences in convention centers across the country, Projection is the perfect partner to ensure the successful delivery of audiovisual/presentation services that enhance and optimize each attendees’ experience.”

For more information about Projection’s convention center business, contact Carpenter at (531) 207.3046.

Russell “Russ” Blair, Jr., a long-time IAVM member, passed away on February 15 in Orlando, Florida.

“It is with great sadness I send the news of Russ Blair’s passing,” said Allen Johnson, CVE, executive director of Orlando Venues. “Russ hired me out of college and I worked for him for three years but with over 37 years of friendship.”

Russ was the vice president and general manager of the Tupperware Convention Center from 1976-1992, a 2,000-seat theatre with more than 60,000 square feet of exhibit and meeting space. He was an Orlando resident since 1959 during which time he met his wife to be, Emma Lou Shook. The couple married October 7, 1960, and remained so for nearly 52 years until Emma’s passing on July 24, 2012.

“Russ was a true gentleman with a great sense of humor,” Johnson said. “He often said he got the job because no one else at Tupperware Corporation knew anything about the entertainment and venue management industry. Russ would also admit he didn’t know everything but would talk to other venue operators and promoters to learn. When I moved back to Orlando in 2004 we rekindled our friendship, especially when his beloved wife Emma passed away, and my family spent a lot of time with him. Hardly a week went by that my wife Suzi didn’t text, email or visit with him to make sure he was OK. We had several lunches and also had him over for a ‘special’ dinner. I learned many things from Russ including how to treat everyone whether they were the cleaning person or the promoter or the patron. He will be missed.”

The couple raised two loving daughters, Anna Blair Hanes (John) of Geneva, FL and Laura Blair Gill (Darryl) of New Smyrna Beach, FL. Russ is also survived by his two loving children Barry Steven Blair of New Smyrna Beach, FL and Veronnie Duggin (Jim) of Albuquerque, NM. His children provided them with the blessing of wonderful grandchildren; Beau Hanes, Katie Csaszar (Alex), McKenna Gill and Jennifer Blender.

Russ was born into a career U.S. Army family at Ft. Benning, GA where his father, Russell Sr. was stationed. Russ and his brother spent much of their younger years traveling the world as their dad’s various military assignments unfolded. The two boys completed their pre-college schooling in a constantly evolving series of locations, including Philadelphia, PA, Hawaii, Costa Rica, and Germany.

In 1949 Russ graduated from the U.S. Army Dependents’ high school in Munich Germany. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1950 and served until 1952 at which time he entered the U.S. Military Academy at West Point (Class of ’56) and later American International College in Springfield, MA. He began a career in broadcasting as a radio and television announcer in Springfield, MA, and Albany, NY.

In 1959 Russ relocated to Orlando, FL to resume his broadcasting career as a TV news anchor at WDBO-TV (now WKMG). In 1963 he decided on a career change and began what was to be a nearly 29 year corporate career with Tupperware Brands Corporation at the firm’s international headquarters in Kissimmee, FL beginning with the firm’s public relations department. Subsequent assignments with Tupperware were as Director of Product Development, Vice President of Special Services and finally in 1976 as VP/Director of Tupperware Convention Center until his retirement in 1992. Following retirement from Tupperware, he remained active as a marketing consultant, executive director of a charitable foundation, and beginning in April 2002 as a volunteer with the Altamonte Springs Police Department in the Records Section where he served for almost 15 years.

In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to the Dr. Russell Blair Endowment for Language Programs at the Culver Academies, 1300 Academy Rd., Culver, IN 46511 or to Redeemer Lutheran Church, 3377 Aloma Ave, Winter Park, FL 32792.

ALLEN JOHNSON | Chief Venues Officer

The Shenyang New World EXPO in Liaoning province’s capital city of Shenyang crossed over into its second year of operations on March 1. The inaugural second year event will be the 20th China Northeast International Dental Equipment & Affiliated Facilities Exhibition Symposium on Oral Health to be held March 16th to 19th, organized by Liaoning North Exhibition Co., Ltd.

The major exhibition to follow March 23rd to 25th, the 2018 Northeast China AD Exhibition & 25th Liaoning AD/Sign/LED Lighting Expo, is scheduled to utilize all of EXPO’s rental space totalling 28,000 square meters (sqm) and will be organized by Shanghai Modern International Exhibition Co., Ltd.
Following a successful soft opening period during 2017 including nine major exhibitions attended by 1,729 exhibiting companies and over 220,000 visitors and guests, EXPO will begin year two by hosting three major recurrent events during March and April that were held in the same period in 2017.

Diane Chen, EXPO’s general manager, said: “The success of EXPO’s initial exhibitions during the first year and the interest created by the exhibitors and visitors alike ensure the ongoing potential of EXPO’s future exhibition business. Additionally, regional and national conferences are finding the venue most attractive. Its central business district location, direct link to the city’s METRO underground system, over 6,700 hotel rooms within three METRO stations of the venue, and state of the art facilities make EXPO one of the most sought after exhibition and conference venues in northeast China.”

EXPO opened over a year prior to the adjacent elements of the total project it anchors. That project consists of over 1.4 million sqm of construction space including two adjoining hotels, northeast China’s largest retail shopping mall, three residential towers and two future office towers. With the exception of the office towers and one of the hotels, all project elements will be open by the end of 2018.

Accordingly, EXPO has been operating in an extended soft opening period to accommodate the completion of the massive project that is fully funded and operated by New World China Land in association with affiliated operating companies of the New World Group in Hong Kong.

Cliff Wallace, chairman of Shenyang New World (Management) Ltd., said, “I remain confident that EXPO is a model venue for China’s second tier exhibition markets and will make significant contributions to the growth of Northeast China’s exhibition and meeting industry.”

Daktronics was asked by Western Kentucky University (WKU) to design, manufacture and install a new LED video display for L.T. Smith Stadium for football as well as two LED video displays for Diddle Arena for basketball. The installation will begin this spring to have the displays up and running for events in 2018.

“The new video boards at both of our venues will bring the most updated technology to our fans,” said Craig Biggs, WKU’s associate athletic director of facilities and administration. “We strive to bring the fans the best in-game experience and these upgrades will do that. We have had an over 25-year working partnership with Daktronics and they are the best in the business with their products and service. We look forward to continuing that partnership on this project and more in the future.”

The new end zone display for football will measure 32.5 feet high by 70 feet wide featuring a 15HD pixel layout. The new corner displays for basketball will measure 18 feet high by 44 feet wide featuring 10-millimeter line spacing. They will bring crisp, clear imagery with wide-angle visibility to fans in every seat at each venue.

These displays will feature variable content zoning allowing each to show one large image or to be divided into multiple windows to show all of the content fans crave, including live video, instant replays, up-to-the-minute statistics, graphics and animations, and sponsorship messages.

“The new displays for WKU will bring their fan experience to the next level,” said Kyle Adams, Daktronics regional manager. “The upgrade at football, basketball and soccer with LED technology and new audio system will give flexibility and ‘wow factor’ to all Hilltoppers events.”

Diddle Arena will receive a custom audio system from Daktronics. The audio system will be integrated with the video and scoring system to provide full-range sound reproduction while delivering clear and intelligible speech. This powerful system will combine with the displays to provide a dynamic audiovisual experience for Hilltopper fans.

Ungerboeck, a global market leader in venue and event management software, announced the integration of DocuSign with its event and venue management platform further helping customers transform their business by going fully digital. As the global standard for Digital Transaction Management (DTM) and eSignature, DocuSign is changing how business gets done by empowering anyone to transact anytime, anywhere, on any device – 100% digitally – with trust and confidence. The integration with DocuSign will enable the organizations in the events industry around the globe to close business faster with Ungerboeck.

“As we transform the events business around the world in over 50 countries and six languages, we needed an electronic signature partner with global reach. We’re proud to be working with DocuSign, as its secure, cloud-based platform is trusted by millions of companies and consumers around the world,” said Manish Chandak, President/CEO of Ungerboeck. “The Docusign partnership is a continuation of our mission to help our customers create a more seamless experience for their clients and improve their own efficiency.”

“Today’s news is exciting – and we’re thrilled that Ungerboeck is helping to bring the power of DocuSign’s DTM platform and eSignature solution to more companies around the world so they can achieve all of the benefits of the fully digital business,” said Mark Register, SVP of Business Development and Channels at DocuSign.

By leveraging Ungerboeck with DocuSign’s industry-leading DTM platform and eSignature solution, our customers can:

· Close business faster – Documents get completed and signed error free in minutes, dramatically accelerating cycle time to generate approvals – and revenue – sooner.

· Automate back-end document processing – DocuSign automatically pulls and updates information from Ungerboeck to eliminate manual rekeying of data and associated errors.

· Reduce operating costs – Reduce employee time spent preparing, sending, tracking, reconciling and handling documents, and eliminate costs associated with paper, ink, printing, faxing, scanning and overnighting documents.

· Increase customer satisfaction – DocuSign offers customers the convenience of signing agreements anytime, anywhere, on any device – including offline signing when Internet access isn’t available.