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By Tania Weinkle

Joaquin Quesada has been named deputy director of the Anaheim Convention Center, bringing more than 35 years of convention center operations, sales and service experience to his new position. Quesada, an Anaheim native who started his career as an Anaheim Convention Center busboy, joins as the center prepares to open 200,000 square feet of new, flexible event space in September.

The expansion, known as ACC North, allows the facility to grow with its biggest shows while attracting new groups for specialized conferences, break-out sessions, workshops and galas.

“Joaquin’s industry knowledge and ability to manage multiple venues will be essential as we open the doors to our seventh expansion in September,” said Tom Morton, executive director of Convention, Sports and Entertainment for the city of Anaheim. “He is the right leader to oversee our sales and services efforts with his deep ties to our center and the city. His experience enhances our efforts to make the Anaheim Convention Center the ultimate choice for local, national and international events.”

In 1997, Quesada was appointed Aramark general manager at the Anaheim Convention Center and continued his Aramark career in various district manager roles, overseeing venues in Anaheim, Los Angeles, San Diego, Washington, Palm Springs and Las Vegas until 2016.

Quesada succeeds David Meek, who retired from the Anaheim Convention Center in 2016.

Hosting more than 1 million attendees a year, the Anaheim Convention Center is a vital part of Anaheim’s visitor industry and plays a critical role supporting city services for residents, businesses and visitors.

For more on the Anaheim Convention Center, see Anaheim.Net/ConventionCenter.

Tania Weinkle is communications director of the Anaheim Convention Center.

The Aberdeen City Council has named SMG to manage the existing Aberdeen (Scotland) Exhibition and Conference Centre (AECC) ahead of a move to its newly built home near Aberdeen International Airport in 2019. The partnership follows last year’s announcement that SMG was awarded preferred bidder status to manage, operate and program the new $416 million complex.

The new state-of-the art venue will include a 12,500 seat arena with a moveable stage, hospitality boxes and club lounge, 538,000 square feet of flexible exhibition space, conference center, three hotels and its very own energy center.

“SMG is exceedingly pleased to have been named to manage this prestigious facility,” said SMG President and CEO Wes Westley. “It is a terrific addition to our growing network of international facilities. We look forward to working with the council and the community for the success of these facilities.”

“SMG’s expertise in driving multi-purpose exhibition, conference and entertainment content is second to none and we’re delighted to bring this portfolio of experience, international industry contacts and innovative thinking to both the existing and new AECC,” added John Sharkey, SMG executive vice president of European Operations.

The new AECC is forecast to generate 600 new jobs during the construction period, contribute an additional 4.5 million
visitors, $142 million in new visitor revenue which has a $78 million net impact to the Scottish economy by 2025 and is
the key element of Aberdeen City Council’s $1.25 billion transformational infrastructure and culture plans to grow the
Granite City economy.

Edmonton’s Shaw Conference Centre has become the latest convention center to be certified to an international sustainability standard for the meetings and event industry. The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) certification is awarded to venues that achieve high standards in environmentally sustainable meetings, trade shows and conferences.

The Shaw Conference Centre is only one of five venues in Canada to currently be certified to the ASTM standard for the evaluation and selection of venues for environmentally sustainable meetings, events, trade shows, and conferences. The venue is also
BOMA BEST certified and the first conference venue in Canada to receive Green Key level five certification.

“This certification increases Edmonton’s competitiveness as a global meetings and conventions destination,” said Lisanne Lewis, general manager, Shaw Conference Centre. “We’re proud to be leading the way and building Edmonton’s brand and reputation as a leader in sustainability.”

The ASTM venues standard serves to outline the requirements for researching, evaluating and selecting a sustainable best-practices venue. It specifies performance criteria for staff management, communications, waste management, energy, air quality, water, procurement, and community partners. The standards were created in partnership with ASTM International, an American National Standards Institute (ANSI) accredited standards development organization.

Roger Simons, president, Green Meeting and Industry Council (GMIC) added, “Responsible environmental and social practices in the meeting industry is a global concern. We are delighted to see a leading Canadian facility such as the Shaw Conference Centre step up and make a commitment to sustainable meetings.”

iCompli, a division of BPA Worldwide, a non-profit international auditing organization developed the certification protocols for the ASTM standards and performed the independent third party certification of the Shaw Conference Centre’s compliance with the venues standard.

As the NCAA Official Supplier for Portable Seating since 2006 and with a family business history dating back to 1925, Rancho Dominguez, California-based Spec Seats knows a thing or two about putting player, coach and fan fannies into portable seating at the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Final Four Basketball Tournaments and many of the regional tournaments leading up to the grand finale when national champions are crowned.

Spec Seats supplied for both the 2017 Women’s Final Four at American Airlines Center in Dallas as well as the 2017 Men’s Final Four at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. The seats, as always, were a cushy hit.

“The folding chairs were provided on the first 35 rows of the deck and then also the end zones where the student sections were located,” said Jordan Hergott, sales director. “The chairs were also in the locker room and the players not only got to sit in the chairs but got to keep them after the game.”

In addition, Spec Seats provided the logoed chairs on the team benches as well as on stools that many coaches prefer to sit on to address the team during timeouts. Prior to the Final Four, the company handled portable seating for the First Four (four teams that played lead-in games to the tournament) and first and second rounds of regionals.

Fans in the first 35 rows enjoyed the comfort of the chairs while viewing the game from perfect sightlines. Hergott said that Spec Seats has met the challenge since the NCAA years ago moved the Final Four into domed professional sports stadiums.

Just the amount of chairs provided (in the huge domes),” Hergott said in discussing the biggest challenge the company faces. “They wanted to do the 20-inch wide chairs, so we actually designed and patented a spacer bracket that slides into the ganging brackets which allows them the flexibility to either have the 20-inch width but also play around with the chairs not fitted correctly. We designed the 20-inch wide chair because they wanted to have a little bit more comfort between the chairs and give patrons more flexibility and movement.”

Hergott said that Spec Seats works closely with each venue site to ensure that the seating fully meets, well, the specs of the facility.

“The way our chairs are designed is that we customize them from scratch to begin with to work within these configurations,” he said. “The feedback has all been positive. It has been used for the past nine Final Fours and has been a huge success.”

Next up is the 2018 Final Four at the Alamodome in San Antonio. Spec Seats will again be there, and visible from any camera angle on any side of the court.