U.S Soccer and the confederations of CONCACAF (North America, Central America, and Caribbean) and CONMEBOL (South America) recently announced the 10 U.S. venues that will host the historic Copa America Centenario to be played June 3-26, 2016.

Copa America, CONMEBOL’s historic South American Championship, will be staged outside of South America for the first time in its 100 year history. The historic centennial edition will feature all 10 teams from CONMEBOL as well as six teams from CONCACAF, including the U.S. and Mexico.

With global soccer powers such as Brazil, Colombia, and Argentina participating, sell-out crowds are expected at nearly every match where stadium capacities are a minimum of 60,000. IAVM has active members at seven of the 10 venues where multiple games will be played, including MetLife Stadium where the final will take place June 26, 2016.

One aspect of the event that I’d assume every venue is taking into account is crowd control procedures for specific games where tensions could boil over into the stands as it did in the 2015 final between Chile and Argentina. As venue managers, how does your staffing for an event such as this compare to that of an NFL game? Would you manage a USA vs. Mexico soccer game the same way you would for a College Football Bowl game? What about Chile vs. Argentina? How do the demographics of fans, teams rivalries, and meaning of the event affect your game-day staffing and planning procedures?

(Image: Ver en vivo En Directo/Creative Commons)

The International Association of Venue Managers (IAVM) is pleased to announce that Scott McCartney will speak and lead a session on crowd management and security at the 2016 Academy for Venue Safety & Security (AVSS) and GuestX: Guest Experience & Crowd Management Conference.

“In light of the recent Paris attacks, IAVM wants to ensure our safety and security training in 2016 addresses key areas of preparedness for all venue managers,” said Mark Herrera, IAVM’s director of education. “Scott McCartney is an exceptional addition to the AVSS and GuestX 2016 programs, and the experience and expertise that he brings will be tremendous for every student and attendee.”

McCartney is the project director of the Large Stadium Initiative with the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services. The initiative is based on the premise that a majority of stadiums are owned by municipal or state governments, and therefore security varies from facility to facility. This program explores commonalities of large stadium/venue Homeland Security preparedness issues and assists in developing strategies for enhancing prevention, response, and recovery capabilities. He earned national recognition as a Master Exercise Practitioner from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

McCartney’s discussion at AVSS and GuestX will focus on all hazards pertaining to crowd management and security, broken down into three categories: Assessments (venue staff, facility, policy and procedures), Training (establishing training guidelines, staff, continuous training), and Exercises (discussion based, drills, and full scale).

“During the discussion, I will use several ‘real situations’ I have been a part of and worked through to help illustrate for attendees the importance of crowd management and security,” McCartney said.

AVSS takes place Feb. 21-25, 2016, and GuestX takes place Feb. 21-23, 2016, with both taking place at the Renaissance Dallas Hotel. Registration and more information can be found at http://iavm.org/avss and http://iavm.org/guestx.

There’s a good story on Wired.com about Levi’s Stadium testing a new entry scanner that plans to revolutionize security. It’s called the Qylatron Entry Experience Solution, and it consists of five pods.

“The process is simple, designed to improve not just security, but the entry experience,” Alex Davies wrote for Wired.com. “Hold your ticket aloft and a ticket scanner assigns you to one of five ‘pods,’ each the size of large microwave oven. Pop in your bag, close the door, and walk to the other side. By the time you get there, the machine will have scanned your stuff for any number of things, as determined by the security team. The system can handle up to 600 guests in an hour (each with one bag), and needs just four people to keep it running.”

The company that makes the product, Qylur, won’t explain exactly how it works.

“But we know it uses radiation and chemical sensors to look for explosives,” Davies wrote. “A multi-view X-ray uses machine learning to identify things like weapons, and the software can be updated to look for new threats as they’re identified. If the machine sees something it doesn’t like, it alerts a security officer and the door turns purple. If you’re good to go, the door turns green, and you use your ticket to unlock it and take your bag. You don’t have to open your bag or let anyone touch it. With five people moving through at once, you’re through security almost as quickly as you can roll your eyes.”

Depending on its success at Levi’s Stadium, the product could court other venues next year.

“We expect several more rollouts in 2016 across stadiums, amusement parks and other large public venues,” Qylur CEO Lisa Dolev told Davies.

Please visit Wired.com to learn more about the Qylatron Entry Experience Solution.

(Image: Qylur)

The International Association of Venue Managers (IAVM)—representing thousands of venue managers and partner companies in stadiums, convention centers, performing arts centers, arenas, racetracks, amphitheaters, and other public assembly venues—is deeply grieved by the tragic events that took place in Paris, France, on Friday, Nov. 13, 2015.

“As IAVM members, our hearts and best wishes are with our venue brothers and sisters in Paris as well as with all of the people touched by the tragic events experienced there,” said Karen Totaro, CFE, chair of IAVM and general manager of the Atlantic City Convention Center in New Jersey. “As people who oversee a multitude of venues, much like Stade de France and the Paris Bataclan Concert Hall, we are reminded of the ever-growing need to continually assess, train, and prepare our teams and our community leaders to effectively reduce the opportunity for tragic occurrences in our own venues worldwide.”

As details emerge of the attacks, specifically at the soccer stadium, we are learning that proper safety and security training helped save lives. Rest assured, the safety and security of guests, artists, teams, and venue personnel is always of absolute top priority for our community of venue managers. Together we work hard to maintain venues that are well prepared to address every issue that potentially undermines a safe and secure environment.

In response to the Paris attacks, IAVM has been communicating with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and industry partners such as the Association of Professional Venue Management (A-PVM) in Belgium, to gather information and appropriate updates to keep the IAVM community informed.

Continue Reading →

Brad Gessner, senior vice president of AEG Facilities and general manager of the L.A. Convention Center holding the award with L.A. Convention Center senior staff.

Congratulations to the AEG-managed Los Angeles Convention Center (LACC) on receiving the Sustainable Innovation Award in the Materials & Resources category at the United States Green Building Council (USGBC)-LA’s 11th Annual Green Gala. The Sustainable Innovation Awards recognizes projects across seven categories that exceed Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) credit satisfaction and exemplify innovation, multi-tier collaboration, and positive community impact.

“We are honored and excited to have been selected as the recipient of the highly sought after Sustainable Innovation Award,” said Estella Flores, facilities manager at the Los Angeles Convention Center, in a statement. “Consistently seeking ways to improve our operations and processes in order to mitigate negative environmental impact is of utmost importance for the LACC. While we have a robust C&D [construction and demolition] program in place, we believe in on-going collaboration and will continue to refine and update the program.”

The LACC became the largest U.S. convention center to earn LEED EB+OM Gold re-certification in September 2015. The LACC Facilities and Operations Department collaborated with Waste Management to develop the Construction & Demolition (C&D) waste management program, which includes collection and hauling of the waste as well as establishing guidelines for event producers and organizers to follow in disposing of their C&D waste, the venue wrote in a press release. Within the past 12 months, the C&D program has diverted more than 1,000,000 pounds of waste from the landfill, which is a significant portion of the LACC’s overall waste.

The LACC implemented a waste management program for compostable kitchen waste, ongoing consumables, and durable goods that engages event attendees, staff, and community nonprofits. For example, the LACC partnered with the Los Angeles Conservation Corps to assist with a portion of the LACC’s ongoing consumables recycling. The Los Angeles Conservation Corps provides at-risk young adults and school-aged youth with opportunities for success through work experience on conservation and service projects. Partnering with this organization allows the LACC to simultaneously give back to the local community while reducing its environmental footprint.

“The LACC is proud to be recognized as a champion of environmental and social responsibility by the USGBC,” said Brad Gessner, senior vice president of AEG Facilities and general manager of the LACC. “The Sustainable Innovation Award celebrates our efforts in an important category but environmental best-practices are present in every aspect of our operations at the facility. We strive to be an exemplary, green facility both in L.A. and in the convention center industry at large.”

(Story source: LACC news release)