Smart City Networks, the nation’s leading telecommunications provider for the convention industry, hosted Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai on Tuesday to review the communications infrastructure at the George R. Brown Convention Center and NRG Park.

“Smart City began in Houston more than 30 years ago,” said Mark Haley, President of Smart City Networks. “It was a top priority for us to keep emergency response teams and those affected connected when it matters the most. We had a productive meeting with Chairman Pai to give the FCC a thorough update on not only our efforts at our Houston facilities to support the local community, but also in how we design networks that work reliably for both tradeshows and unexpected events like Harvey.”

Telecommunication infrastructures at the George R. Brown Convention Center and NRG Park include automated redundancy and safeguards that have been built into the networks to ensure reliability in natural disasters such as Hurricane Harvey. Also, Smart City has opened up Wi-Fi throughout both facilities and have deployed telephones, internet drops, and power drops as required by city officials and the Red Cross.

In addition to the two shelters in Houston, Smart City has also played an essential role in telecommunication efforts at shelters opened in the Fort Worth Convention Center and the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas. Smart City provided Wi-Fi throughout both venues along with hardline phones, internet drops and VLAN connections for emergency responders and the Red Cross.

Boise Centre, Idaho’s premier convention venue, recently finished a three-year expansion project that added 36,000 square feet of meeting and event space in an effort to accommodate larger regional and national conventions and multiple events simultaneously. In total Boise Centre now offers 31 meeting rooms and 86,000 square feet of highly flexible space all featuring a modern and contemporary design.

On the heels of completion in early June, Boise Centre welcomed 1,500 public health officials to the Annual Conference of the Conference of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE). Registrants included representatives from the U.S. and several countries from including, China, India and Sudan. Beverly Christner, Senior Director of Operations, CSTE applauded Boise Centre’s expansion by saying, “We have heard only positive comments on the accommodations at Boise Centre and the friendliness of its staff.”

“It has been exciting to see our expansion in use right away, with 1,500 delegates CSTE is the largest multi-day convention in Boise Centre’s 27-year history,” said Pat Rice, executive director of Boise Centre. “With the proven capability to accommodate conventions with over 1,000 attendees, we look forward to welcoming more national and international events of this size in the future.”

New spaces added during the expansion include a 14,000 square-foot ballroom with a spacious two-story glass enclosed lobby overlooking the city’s civic plaza and fountain, nine additional meeting rooms and a concourse to provide attendees convenient access between spaces. Many of the newly added rooms feature beautiful views of the nearby Boise Foothills or city skyline.

Custom chandeliers crafted from hand blown Italian glass were chosen for an artistic features in the new ballroom and two lobby spaces. A second 6,000 square-foot commercial kitchen was added during the expansion to serve a growing number of events and guests. High-efficiency lighting, a new sound system and wireless internet were installed in the expanded areas.

By Leah Shaw

The people of Houston are humbled and grateful for the overwhelming outpouring of kindness, prayers and relief efforts we have received from across the country/globe. Countless examples of the Heart of Houston emerged over the past week. The strength, resilience and genuine kindness displayed by friends, family, coworkers, neighbors and complete strangers truly encapsulate the spirit of this special city.

Visit Houston is especially proud of our six employees who expertly converted the George R. Brown Convention Center into a fully functioning emergency shelter, ready to take in community members within a mere 90 minutes of receiving the call to action. It is this passion, hard work and determination that gives us hope for the future of this great city.

“We are proud of the way Houstonians have rallied around one another to help their neighbors and their communities as we begin the long process of recovering and rebuilding. Houstonians are resilient and we’ll emerge from this stronger than ever,” says Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner. “We are also encouraged by the business community’s commitment to helping Houston through this. As the flood waters recede and the airports begin to return to normal, we encourage our convention visitors to not cancel their plans, and we thank those conventions who have ensured us they are still coming. Your support is critical in helping Houston recover and rebuild.”

Hour by hour the landscape changes here, but progress is being made.

Visit Houston continues to work closely with all major hotels, restaurants and retailers in the area to obtain the status of their operations. Here is an update on key facilities as of last Friday:

•Houston’s George R. Brown Convention Center (GRB) and surrounding campus, Avenida Houston, is currently fully functional and has sustained minimal damage. The GRB continues to serve as an emergency shelter. As of Friday, September 1, the GRB shelter population had dropped to just under 2,000, from its peak of over 10,000 and we expect this number to decline as we work swiftly with local and national agencies to find transitional housing for those sheltered in our facilities.

•We have communicated with all groups planning to use the GRB through this fall. At this time, five groups planning to use the GRB through Sept 14th have been rescheduled for later dates in 2017, and all others are currently on schedule as planned. Our current goal is to reopen with the Texas Society of Association Executives September 17-19. “We are grateful for the outpouring of support from the meetings and hospitality industry,” says John Solis, Senior VP of Sales. “As of this morning we have had no groups cancel their meetings for 2017, and we are confident we will meet, and in true Houston fashion, exceed their expectations.”

•According to the most recent reports, surrounding hotels in downtown Houston sustained minimal damage and are fully operational. According to the Hotel Lodging Association of Greater Houston, roughly 95% of hotels in and around the Greater Houston area are open for business.

•Both George Bush Intercontinental and William P. Hobby Airports resumed limited domestic passenger airline operations on Thursday, Aug. 31, with the expectation to be fully operational next week.

“I am so proud of the Greater Houston community, the selfless desire to help each other is truly inspirational. Clearly hospitality is in our DNA,” says Mike Waterman, president of Visit Houston.

We understand the uncertainty this creates for so many who had plans to visit Houston. We have moved quickly from rescue to recovery and rebuilding. Many have asked, how can we help. We are in discussion with the hospitality community to set up a fund to help hospitality employees impacted by hurricane Harvey. We will provide that information as soon as we have it.

Leah Shaw is the public relations director of Visit Houston.

IAVM has always been more than an association. We are a family. When one of our members or member venues experiences something devastating, we all pull together as a community to help.

With the events of Hurricane Harvey unfolding over the past week, several members of our IAVM family in Southeast Texas and Louisiana have been hit with devastating floods and tornados. As we tend to do in this industry, our member venues have opened their doors to help evacuees in need of shelter. Members themselves have also offered services and assistance, as the number of those in need of assistance grows.

We understand that those of you in the effected area are focused on the guests in your facilities and cleaning up, because that is what we in this industry do…”just keep going on with the show.” However, we want to remind you that we are here for you, your staff members, and your immediate families. We want to encourage our members who need assistance, as well as those who would like to offer assistance, to post on IAVM’s internal discussion board platform, VenueNet.  While this tool is always helpful for information sharing among our members, it is an especially valuable resource in times of crisis.

We hope you will utilize VenueNet to let us help you in whatever way you need, or to simply keep in touch to let us know that you are OK. Our thoughts and prayers are with each of you.

Doug Booher, CFE | IAVM Chair of the Board

Kerry Painter, CFE, CEM, CMP | IAVM Region 6 Director

Gonzaga University has continued their long-standing relationship with Daktronics by asking the company to manufacture and install 10 new LED displays for multiple sports facilities on campus in Spokane, Washington. Video displays will be installed for basketball, volleyball, baseball and soccer this fall.

“We’re continually working to provide the best game-day experience possible for our sports facilities and installing new Daktronics displays on campus is an important step in achieving our goals,” said Rob Kavon, Gonzaga University’s associate director of athletics for facilities and event operations. “The new centerhung in McCarthey Athletic Center is going to be amazing, and we can’t wait for it to bring a first-rate, exciting atmosphere to our fans and student-athletes this year.”

McCarthey Athletic Center will be receiving seven displays, including a 5-display centerhung configuration featuring 1,230 square feet of LED displays to impact and improve Bulldogs basketball and other special events held within the venue.

In the centerhung configuration, two large sideline-facing displays will measure 12.5 feet high by 21 feet wide, two end-facing displays will measure 12.5 feet high by 12.5 feet wide and a narrow ring display circling the bottom of the configuration will measure 3 feet high by 64.5 feet wide. A new custom hoist will hold the centerhung in place over the court.

“We’re thrilled to extend our long-standing partnership with Gonzaga University for these LED video projects,” said Greg Schmidt, Daktronics sales representative. “The university was looking for a solution to bring a ‘WOW’ factor to their facilities as well as ensuring their fan experiences exceeded expectations. We’re honored to be selected to help achieve their goals as this state-of-the-art technology will make the ideas for their facilities a reality.”

At the adjacent Martin Centre, Daktronics will install a new 6.5-foot-high by 12-foot-wide video display featuring 6-millimeter line spacing as well as two new fixed-digit scoreboards to provide additional statistics for volleyball.

Also on campus, Gonzaga Soccer at Luger Field will receive a new video display measuring 8.5 feet high by 16 feet wide as well as a fixed-digit scoreboard for additional soccer statistics. Gonzaga Baseball at Washington Trust Field & Patterson Baseball Complex will receive a new outdoor video display measuring 12 feet high by 36 feet wide. Both outdoor displays will feature 13HD pixel layouts for excellent image clarity and contrast while providing wide angle visibility for fans.