Growing up, I was passionate about sports and would spend most of my time playing the sport of the day at a local park with friends. It was fitting when I reached college, with a lack of superior athletic ability, that I found a sports management program. I saw it as a career solution as my dream of being a professional athlete was crushed in middle school.

Like most millennials, I was blind to the fact that a degree doesn’t guarantee a job. Fortunately, I found one of the rare, paid internships in the industry coaching youth multi-sport camps. This was the best—I was getting paid to teach youth the fundamentals of the sports I grew up with. Unfortunately, the internship came to an end and the offer that followed was in a different city and felt too risky.

The struggle was real after that as it seemed every interview just lead to more frustration. Then I received a call from a guest speaker I kept in touch with. He had a friend looking for part-time help with a “sports” photography company. You know, the ones that take your high school team photos. Later he called again, asking if I could drive a truck to help supply and set up 4-on-4 flag football tournaments. “Of course” were the first words out of my mouth, and I took off on separate trips to Dallas and Miami, where I built key relationships for the future.

A full-time job was still a need and due to my work with the camps, an opportunity to teach an extended kindergarten/after school program became available. This was very rewarding work that I enjoyed but there was still something missing. I wanted to do the work I studied in college. My resume was everywhere and humility had become my best friend.

Then my phone rang and it was another friend of the guest speaker. He was looking for people to drive a truck up and down the east coast setting up lacrosse tournaments. The school I was at graciously allowed me to take a leave of absence for the summer and I hit the road. Most of our time was setting up sponsorship activations and documenting the impact to help with renewals, but it allowed me to work with several different organizers and pick up what I did and didn’t like about their event operations.

The summer ended and I went back to teaching. The following spring, I received an email from a friend I made helping out with the flag football tournaments. The company he was working for had part-time jobs helping with promotions of a professional sports team and assisting with events at a sports complex. I signed on for both not knowing where either would lead while continuing to teach, as both jobs had odd hours. The promotions expanded my grass-roots marketing knowledge and allowed me to be a part of the in-game entertainment segments. The event assistant role taught me a lot of the procedures I still implement today, with a few tweaks of my own.

A year later, an event coordinator role opened up and I was finally offered the opportunity to prove my worth. Here I took over the operations of an adult soccer league while managing other clients at the facility. However, it was the ownership in the adult soccer league, something I knew little about, that really fueled my passion to find efficiencies and grow a business.

Since that journey, promotions and new jobs have followed, but the lessons I learned on this four-year expedition helped mold who I am today. For some, it’s about being in the right place at the right time and for others it’s about the journey. The one thing that we all have in common is that hard work, dedication, jumping at opportunities (near or far!), and a strong network will be your lifeline in this industry.

(Image: Events DC Facebook)

Managing public assembly venues is a complicated business. Venue professionals are coordinating detailed logistics in order to ensure smooth event execution and working to safeguard the lives of everyone in the building, all while delivering a memorable event experience. From the client’s perspective, one of the most important things we can do is enable the client to focus on its event production. That is accomplished when venues are proactive and have an effective event planning process that allows them to be responsive to client needs.

IAVM’s new reference series, The IAVM Blueprint, provides an in-depth exploration of topics fundamental to successful venue operations and is written for industry professionals. It is the first in the series explores the topic of event management within all types of public assembly venues and is designed to assist new event managers and serve as a resource for current professionals.

If you have a new event coordinator, an intern eager to learn, or another employee seeking opportunities for professional development, the blueprint is a perfect place for him or her to start. It provides the foundation for successful event management within public assembly venues. We discuss the overall event planning process, the foundations of effective event planning, a typical planning sequence, and address event planning tools and resources. We examine the event management process from both the front-of-house and back-of-house perspectives and address issues related to parking, transportation, event personnel, crowd management, safety and security, as well as a variety of miscellaneous potential event responsibilities. After completing The IAVM Blueprint: Event Management, your staff is in a better position to then learn how to implement these strategies and processes within a particular venue.

In addition, we compiled sample industry documents from a variety of venue types across the United States and internationally. Samples include event resumes, event staff information sheets, incident reports, pre-event checklists, post-event reports, staffing estimates, event contracts, and others. Samples were graciously provided from IAVM member arenas, convention centers, stadiums, and theaters. These samples are an incredible resource for those venues creating new processes and procedures or those simply looking for ideas to update existing documents.

Effective event management requires a cooperative effort and productive communication between all units of the organization. This new publication serves as a practical tool to assist new event managers with those important responsibilities and as an ongoing resource for industry professionals.

The IAVM Blueprint: Event Management may be ordered online at www.iavm.org/iavmblueprint.

A warm welcome to our newest members who joined IAVM in July and August 2016—a total of 239 new members. Thank you for being a part of the association!

Also, let us get to know you better by participating in the I Am Venue Management series. Please visit http://www.iavm.org/i-am-venue-management-share-your-story to share your story and photo.

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Here’s where we spotlight some of our favorite Instagram photos we’ve seen from the past week. The photos are from members and venues worldwide and lean more artistic than marketing. If you haven’t followed us on Instagram yet, now is a good time. We may just include your photos in a future post (please make sure your account allows us to embed your images, and you also might consider not making your profile private…just saying).

By following us, you’re also entered into our monthly drawing where you can win such prizes as conference registrations, full-page ads in FM magazine, and textbooks. Congratulations to Bridgestone Arena, who is our recent winner. The next drawing will be in October.

Behold, this week’s top five!

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The senior management team at the Shenyang New World EXPO.

The new Shenyang New World EXPO (EXPO) will play host to more than 7,000 delegates attending China’s Annual National Planning Conference 2016 (ANPC) September 24-26.

“To host this prestigious event as EXPO’s opening event while celebrating the 60th anniversary Urban Planning Society of China (UPSC) as a part of the event is very special for our professional management team,” said IAVM member Cliff Wallace, CFE, chairman of the EXPO’s private management and operating company.

Shenyang’s City Planning Bureau organized ANPC, and the venue welcomed the opportunity to host the major national event, which meant opening EXPO six months before its scheduled formal opening on March 1, 2017.

“We have a strong senior management team and staff in place to meet the challenges of the early opening and care for the annual event’s record attendance anticipated,” said IAVM member Diane Chen, EXPO’s general manager.

The EXPO features 24,000 square meters (258,334 square feet) of gross exhibition space and 4,000 square meters (43,056 square feet) of multifunctional meeting and event space. It is located in Shenyang on the Hunhe River and is part of a multi-use complex.