Like Google Glass, Snapchat’s Spectacles records videos from the wearer’s point of view. And like Google Glass (and phones and cameras and other recording devices), it’ll be another item that venue managers may have to police or ban.

The camera in the glasses uses a 115-degree-angle lens, and the recorded video is circular. A light turns on to let people know you’re recording. The glasses will cost $129.99 and will be available on a limited basis this fall. Considering how popular Snapchat is—users send more than one billion Snaps and watch more than 10 billion videos a day—I expect “limited” to be “wide” in a matter of weeks.

The company’s CEO, Evan Spiegel, thinks of the device as a fun toy for the moment.

“We’re going to take a slow approach to rolling them out,” Spiegel to the Wall Street Journal. “It’s about us figuring out if it fits into people’s lives and seeing how they like it.”

As I mentioned, this is another item to police in your venues. However, this is just the beginning. What happens when people can wear recordable contacts (not too far off, in fact)?

(Image: Snap Inc.)

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 International Association of Venue Managers (IAVM) has awarded the prestigious 2016 Convention Center Lifetime Achievement Award to Georgia World Congress Center Authority (GWCCA) Executive Director Frank Poe, an IAVM member since Jan. 1, 1980.

The Lifetime Achievement Award, which will be presented during the 2016 International Convention Center Conference in Pasadena, California, recognizes individuals who have had a significant impact on the convention center industry and the IAVM community.

“To be recognized by your peers is a tremendous honor,” Poe said. “If you consider those who have received this award in the past, to be included with that group is humbling.”

Prior to accepting the position of GWCCA executive director in April 2010, Poe was director of the Convention/Event Service Department for the City of Dallas (Dallas Convention Center, Union Station, Dallas Farmers Market, Office of Special Events, and Reunion Arena) where he started his career in 1972 as a part-time laborer. He was appointed general manager of the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando from 1979 to 1980 and found his way back to Dallas for the next 17 years holding several leadership positions in the center’s Event Services and Cultural Affairs departments. He was named executive director of Alabama’s Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex in 1997, a position he held for seven years until moving back to Dallas in 2004 to assume the aforementioned director position for the next six years.

Poe served as president of IAVM from 2000-2001 and chair of the IAVM Safety and Security Task Force from 2001-2004. A founding member of the IAVM Academy for Venue Safety & Security, Poe served as its dean. He also serves on the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce Board of Advisors and on the Board of Directors for Central Atlanta Progress.

Poe graduated from Texas A&M University-Commerce with a degree in political science and history.

“Frank is an iconic leader in our industry who has influenced so many of our current and future leaders,” said Carol Wallace, the 2015 Convention Center Lifetime Achievement Award recipient. “It is wonderful that he will be recognized for his achievements.”

The IAVM Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to Poe on Friday, October 28, 2016, during a luncheon at the International Convention Center Conference. The conference will be held October 27-29 at the Pasadena Convention Center in Pasadena, California.

NOAA’s National Weather Service (NWS) is conducting a survey that is gauging how decision-makers, such as venue managers, use NWS watches, warnings, and advisories. Your feedback will play an important role in any decisions on how to improve NWS hazard messages.

This survey is part of the NWS Hazard Simplification Project, which is analyzing the use and effectiveness of NWS watches, warnings, and advisories and evaluating possible alternatives to these terms. The survey will assess the extent to which organizations (at all levels and in various sectors) have formally incorporated watches, warnings, and advisories into their decision-making processes via policies, protocols, laws, etc. For instance, are there venues with a written policy that says if a Blizzard Watch is issued, then XYZ needs to happen?

Survey answers will help the NWS understand the potential policy impact on various key partners if it significantly changes watches, warnings, or advisories, such as altering the meaning or name of a particular watch, warning, or advisory.

This survey will close October 31, 2016. To take the survey, visit https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/62DX6TC.

If you have any questions or comments, email hazsimp@noaa.gov.

For more information about the overall Hazard Simplification Project, visit http://www.weather.gov/hazardsimplification.

(Image: Darren Hsu/Creative Commons)

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)