JustOne: This new, annual, recruitment campaign was designed so that IAVM volunteer leaders could recruit at least one new member with a goal of 100 percent participation. The campaign launched at VenueConnect in Baltimore 2015 and ended March 31, 2016. Of our 231 volunteers, 33 committee members recruited new members—a total of 14 percent participation. All of you worked behind the scenes to help grow our membership, build your network of experts to collaborate with, and identify future leaders, so we can’t thank you enough!

The best news is we’ve added 155 new members as a result of JustOne!

Below you will find the recruitment leaders in this inaugural year of JustOne. The individual leaders are shown in red and green:

Top Six Recruiters
• Rick Haycock, CFE – 22
• Rip Rippetoe, CFE – 20
• Tammy Koolbeck, CFE – 16
• Alexis Berggren – 15
• Christine Hunjas – 15
• Mac Campbell – 13

Committee Leaders*
• Membership Committee – 59
• Board of Directors – 24
• Industry Affairs – 22
• Board of Regents – 18
• Board of Trustees – 12

*Volunteers on multiple committees were given credit for each active committee they serve on with 22 committees participating!

Many of you sent emails advising you were recruiting so if your name doesn’t appear, we know you were working hard to support this initiative. IAVM volunteers are the best. Thank you for all you do to continue to support your association.

On behalf of the Membership Committee, thank you, Danke, Gracias, Grazie, Je vous remercie, and so on!!!

If you have any questions or perhaps your referral did not list your name, please let me know. Thank you!

The Ritz-Carlton is known for its impeccable customer service, and the opportunity to learn from leaders in its organization are some of the highest sought seminars in the world. That is why we’re excited to share the news that Jennifer Blackmon, corporate director of culture transformation at The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center, will be leading an executive session at this year’s VenueConnect in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Blackmon recently spoke at our GuestX conference in February, and her insights and lessons were eagerly embraced by attendees, who recommended we bring her back for VenueConnect. Message heard and delivered.

The session will help you discover how a service excellence culture results in engaged employees and customers. You will be guided through The Ritz-Carlton Gold Standards and visit key Ritz-Carlton processes such as onboarding and empowerment that lead to legendary service and sustainable success.

The Ritz-Carlton session with Jennifer Blackmon is just one of many great upcoming sessions we have planned for you this summer at VenueConnect. We’ll be sharing more with over the next few weeks. In the meantime, take advantage of the Early Bird registration price, which ends April 18. See you in Minneapolis!

Move: A verb defined as advancing, progressing, or going from one place of residence to another. A word that brings great joy and great sadness. A move up in rank, a move up in pay, a move to a new facility, a move to a new city.

Move is a word that we in the entertainment industry, especially the facility management sector, need to be comfortable with. In most cases, if one wants to move up the ranks quickly or even at all, one must move locations. While there seems to be a new arena, amphitheater, stadium, or performing arts center opening every few months, these facilities are really far and few in the big picture. Most cities only have one arena, one theater, or one stadium compared to the dozens of financial, marketing, and insurance companies one can find almost anywhere. To land a job in an entertainment facility is a feat in itself, maybe even less likely than a college athlete making a professional roster. Thousands of people apply for jobs at facilities that have a full-time staff of no more than 20 people (especially buildings with no professional sports tenant). The odds are not favorable.

As a young professional, moving is frightening. Leaving the comforts of home to move to a foreign city where you may not know anyone is certainly not something one looks forward to and the adjustment does not come easy. Making new friends, learning the town, and starting a whole new life requires work and does not happen overnight. All that being said, when the phone rings and an opportunity is presented, you have to be willing to take the plunge. There simply are not enough positions to go around to test your luck for a job closer to home or where your friends are.

Making the move is an ongoing process. After some time, new challenges are wanted, more money is sought after, and it is time to “move” up positions. While the thoughts of higher pay and a more prestigious titles are certainly happy ones, they can also bring discomfort and worry. Will you be successful in your new position, which has larger responsibilities? Are you ready to pick up your life and move again? Are you ready to leave the comforts of the job you have been successful in? As mentioned above, facility management jobs are not in abundance and unless you feel like playing the waiting game, it’s time to move again to the next opportunity that presents itself—most likely in a new facility and city.

The moving cycle never stops and only becomes harder with time. At some point, you may be moving more than yourself, affecting multiple lives. A spouse and kids come into the picture thus complicating the decision even more. As the child of a father who has been in the industry since my birth having moved four times due to this industry, three for my father and once for myself, I have been a part of this moving process several times. It has always been hard at first but has paid off in the long run. While switching companies to rise up the ranks applies to all industries, the need to move cities or states is uniquely high in the facility management sector. For that reason, become comfortable with the word move.

(Image: Strevo/Creative Commons)

How do you know you’re succeeding? If you’re only comparing your current performance to your own past performance, you’re using a very limited tool. You might be performing better than you were doing a year ago—but are you performing as well as your peers or your competitors? And more importantly, how can you show credible performance metrics to your stakeholders?

Effective organizations measure their performance against objective external standards. They benchmark their performance against financial and operational standards—they set measurable performance targets—and they improve their operational effectiveness and revenue performance dramatically.

Join a distinguished panel of industry experts, including Carl Hall (Lexington Center/Rupp Arena), Andy Krogstad (Mayo Civic Center), incoming IAVM Chair Mark Mettes (Herberger Theatre Center), and Erik Waldman (Georgia Dome/Georgia World Congress Center Authority) and learn how to start or improve your own benchmarking process. You’ll learn:

• What data is available, and where to find it;
• How to compare and interpret data meaningfully; and
• How to strengthen your business case with good data.

The panel will be led by Chris Hunjas of the Minneapolis Convention Center, who will share her own success stories.

This webinar is presented by IAVM’s VenueDataSource, the world leader for venue operations and financial benchmarking reporting. It is specifically developed for:

• Operations and financial managers who are looking to begin benchmarking efforts; and
• Operations and financial managers with established benchmarking programs who are looking to refine their current efforts.

The webinar will be Thursday, April 7 (2 p.m. EDT/1 p.m. CDT/Noon MDT/11 a.m. PDT). Registration is free. To register go to https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/7769572847259275266.

Territorial marking kills workplace creativity, according to a new study from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.

“We are not talking about putting up walls or physically de-marking a space,” said Markus Baer, associate professor of organizational behavior at Olin Business School and co-author of the study. “Territorial marking comes in all sizes and shapes. However, just saying, ‘I consider this to be my idea,’ when asking others for their input can have far-reaching consequences for collaboration.”

Baer and co-author Graham Brown from the University of Victoria in British Columbia conducted two studies. They found that when people claim ideas as their own it’s because they have deep senses of ownership. However, this marking discourages feedback from co-workers.

“The first idea is rarely the best,” Baer said. “Creative ideas have to be nurtured and developed and this often happens in the context of collaborating with others. However, when all the credit goes to the person who has the original idea, they will try to signal their ownership of it. Naturally, this makes other people less motivated to contribute and can squelch the creativity of their comments and suggestions. In this way, the original idea may never be developed to its fullest potential.”

Baer suggests creating an environment where offering feedback is valued as much as having the original idea.

“The credit has to be shared equally,” he said. “Marking our ideas only has benefits when those we seek out for feedback are more concerned with pleasing us, or are preoccupied with maintaining a positive relationship with us.”