I’m not going to bury the lead here: There’s a Whataburger in the renovated AT&T Center in San Antonio. As a 100-percent, red-blooded Texan, this is great news. Even better, guests can access this Whataburger location on non-event days.

“We are extremely proud of the new AT&T Center,” said Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff, in a statement. “With improvements made at all levels of the arena, fans will have an enhanced experience with improved technology, new seating, and an array of new concession options.”

AT&T Center is located in Bexar County, which implemented a visitor tax that ultimately helped fund the $110 million renovation.

The renovation focused on the fan experience, and upgrades include a larger Fan Shop, a new bar area on the H-E-B Fan Zone level, and more than 600 HD TVs installed throughout the arena. Also, there’s improved Wi-Fi and new seating in the venue.

“This was a substantial project in a condensed timeline,” said Lori Warren, Spurs Sports & Entertainment senior vice president of corporate finance and strategy, in a statement. “It could not have been completed without the selfless collaboration of all those involved. The end result is a first-class facility that the community can really be proud of, and we’re excited for fans to experience the all-new AT&T Center.”

And that Whataburger.

(Image: AT&T Center)

You, as an IAVM member, are our most important asset. Without your commitment to the association and to the venue management industry, we wouldn’t be here. Because of your support, we are featuring member profiles in our I Am Venue Management series.

If I wasn’t doing this I’d be: golfing or fishing for striped bass.

Most impressive person I’ve ever met is: my dad.

I unwind by: having a Manhattan cocktail straight up with dirty ice on the side.

On my desk right now is: way too much stuff!

If you weren’t doing what you are doing now, what other career would you pursue? Charter fishing captain.

One trait an up-and-coming venue manager should have is: flexibility, lots of energy, and a good sense of humor.

One up-and-coming venue star in the arena industry is: Anais Mitchell, an American singer/songwriter.

One of my goals for this year is to: fully educate people on the benefits of arena curtains to provide custom solutions in downsizing.

How do you plan to help elevate the profession? Two fold. By keep doing what my father taught me: providing the best personal service to all of our customers and adding technology to advance arena curtain solutions to the next generation.

Where do you see new growth opportunities in the profession? Everywhere. Every venue is different, and each has special needs to accommodate all the different sized shows and entertainment coming through their doors.

How do you stay current with industry trends and developments? By reading trade material and listening to our customers.

Who are three people you’d invite to a dinner party and why? Billy Joel, Jack Nicholson, and Lady Gaga!

Bob Keller is chairman of the board for Nickerson Corp.

We’re happy to announce some programming notes for GuestX, Feb. 21-23, 2016, in Dallas, Texas.

One of the most popular and informative sessions last year was led by Jennifer Blackmon, corporate director of culture transformation at The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center, and we’re pleased that she will be rejoining us for a new session focused on service excellence culture.

“Customer service re-energized is really the starting point on your journey to exceptional customer service,” Blackmon said in the video below. “One of the biggest points of that course is our motto, which is we’re ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen. But throughout the class, we rework that to say we’re ladies and gentlemen working with ladies and gentlemen.”

Other speakers and sessions lined up for GuestX include our keynote speaker T. Scott Gross, an author and hospitality industry veteran, who will speak on how to sell, serve, and stand out in a digital age; Carmen Day, director of guest experience for the Toronto Blue Jays, who will focus on front line supervisors; Jeff Cockrell from Dale Carnegie Training, who will educate attendees on how to have richer and more meaningful conversations with strangers; and Steve A. Klein, who will help attendees unleash their potential. There will also be a panel of experts from several major league sports leagues discussing how to create a great guest experience and an interactive session led by Gensler on how to design environments for optimal experiences.

Registration is open. Please visit the GuestX website to learn more about the conference and to stay up-to-date on additional speakers and sessions. See you in February!

The STAPLES Center in downtown Los Angeles recently unveiled new upgrades, which includes energy efficient LED lighting, a new retractable seating system, and transformation of the TEAM LA Store. An upcoming $8 million investment will go toward a new DraftKings Fantasy Sports Bar & Lounge, upgrades to several concession stands, and upgrades on the newly named Delta Suite Levels private suites.

“We could not be more excited about the upgrades that we made over the past few months and we cannot wait for all of the fans to experience them in the coming NBA and NHL seasons,” said Lee Zeidman, president of the STAPLES Center, in a statement. “Every year, it is our goal and we strive to keep STAPLES Center looking fresh, to have industry leading guest amenities, and provide state-of-the-art technology to our guests, tenants, promoters, and special events.”

Concerning the DraftKings lounge area, the arena said in a statement that, “Guests providing their DraftKings ID will receive discounts on food, beverages and other exclusive opportunities, and throughout each event, lucky fans will be randomly chosen to receive prizes, special offers and even the opportunity to go inside STAPLES Center to watch the action from VIP seats provided by DraftKings.”

Please visit the STAPLES Center press room for a full rundown on all the upgrades and more news about the arena.

(Image: Facebook)

If you’re an iPhone user (as most of you are according to our analytics), you might want to check out a new app called Indoor Survey. Its purpose is to map venues so they can be included in Apple Maps.

“By dropping ‘points’ on a map within the Survey App, you indicate your position within the venue as you walk through,” reads the app’s description. “As you do so, the Indoor Survey App measures the radio frequency (RF) signal data and combines it with an iPhone’s sensor data. The end result is indoor positioning without the need to install special hardware.”

Indoor Survey is only available via a direct link and doesn’t appear (yet) in the App Store’s search tool. It’s also compatible with iPad and iPod touch devices running iOS 9 or later. English, Chinese, and Japanese languages are supported.

(Image: Slash Gear via the App Store)