There are a lot of great discussions happening on our member-only VenueNet site, and some of you may not have time to read them all or participate. If you’re one of those people—or someone who would rather listen to a discussion than read about it—then we have the solution for you.

I’d like to introduce to you IAVM’s new podcast, The Venue, a monthly call-in show about the issues you face every day. The show will broadcast every fourth Friday of the month from 2-2:30 p.m. (CST). The first show airs Friday, May 22.

Follow this link to register: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/500903778941863425

Greg Wolfe, IAVM’s professional development manager, and myself will be the regular hosts, and each month we’ll have a different guest host.

Join us this Friday, May 22, for the first episode of The Venue. We’ll talk about such VenueNet topics as selfie sticks, vaping, insurance, vouchers/comps, and any other hot topics that happen this week.

More than 600 people participated in two webinars last week that addressed adverse situations at venues.

In the “Public Demonstrations and Civil Unrest Affecting Public Assembly Facilities” webinar, speakers offered recent examples of venue disturbances and how managers and staff prepared for and responded to the situations.

For instance, Orlando Venues Executive Director Allen Johnson, CFE, talked about a die-in protest at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida, and the how open communication throughout the day mitigated any negative outcomes. (Read more about the protest and how the venue handled it in “Safety and Security During a Protest Rally.”)

Adina Erwin, vice president and general manager of the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia, also talked about a protest in her venue in December 2014. Some of her best practices recommendations include maintaining good communications with public safety agencies, monitoring websites and social media activity of protest groups, and identifying an alternate manager-on-duty.

Other speakers included Leslee Stewart, general manager and CEO of the Paramount Theatre in Oakland, California; Robert Noonan, security director for the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority (MCCA) in Boston; Matthew O’Loughlin, public safety manager for the MCCA; and Denis Braham, co-chair of the Sports Business and Public Venues Practice Group. The webinar was moderated by Russ Simons, chief listening officer and manager partner at Venue Solutions Group.

Click here to listen to the full webinar.

Earlier in the week, webinar participants heard from John Wilborn, director of the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, Texas. Wilborn talked about the recent shooting at his venue. Takeaways from the webinar include

• Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) was an aspect of the Curtis Culwell Center’s preparedness for this incident, and that changes to the property were based on lessons learned from the Boston Marathon attack.

• Managing the external communication of attendees was challenging, and developing protocol to minimize individuals revealing their specific location during a shelter-in-place situation is an important aspect of emergency plans.

Click here to listen to the Wilborn webinar.

We announced the recipients of the IAVM Foundation’s inaugural class of 30|UNDER|30 last week and told you we’d spotlight the recipients over the next few weeks.

Our first spotlight is on Abbie Vander Bol, the event supervisor for the Show Me Center on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

“Seeing people smile as they came in for an event and watching them talk about how much fun they had was why I fell in love,” Vander Bol said when asked about what made her fall in love with the industry. “It has been honor to be nominated for the first class of 30|UNDER|30.”

Please watch the video above to learn more about Vander Bol and her passion for the industry. Thank you, also, to SearchWide and Ungerboeck Software International for their generous support of the IAVM Foundation’s 30|UNDER|30 program.

Ticketfly recently had Harris Poll conduct a survey to find out how U.S. adults are using their smartphones during live events. Here are the top findings, according to a release from Ticketfly.

—Thirty-one percent of 18-34 year olds are using their phones during half of an event or longer.
—Forty percent of female smartphone owners 18-34 that attend live events say they use their phones to take pictures at events, compared to only 24 percent of males their age.
—Females in the 18-34 age range are also more likely than their male counterparts to share their experiences via social media apps during the event (35 percent vs. 22 percent, respectively).
—Seventy percent of smartphone owners age 18-34 who attend live events are interested in using their phone as their ticket to enter an event.
—Two thirds (66 percent) of smartphone owners age 18-34 who attend live events are interested in using their phone to pay for food, beverages, and merchandise.

If you’ve attended a live event in the past year, these numbers shouldn’t surprise you. Fans are increasingly using their smartphones to connect with friends, the venue, and the artist or team. What’s interesting about this survey are the findings around female use, specifically single females, during live events.

“Females—especially female millennials—are using their mobile devices during live events to capture their experiences and share with friends via social media,” wrote Chris Pappas, PR manager for Ticketfly. “Singletons are also more likely to share their live-event experiences via social media apps than their married counterparts. If people aren’t using their phones to spread a bit of FOMO [fear of missing out] around, they’re using them to search for relevant info.”

Pair that with the knowledge that more than 60 percent of those surveyed are interested in getting mobile notifications about offers for merchandise, food and beverage, and VIP access during a live event, and you have a great marketing opportunity to act upon however you see fit.

Please visit Ticketfly for more stats from the survey.

(photo credit: ShutterRunner via photopin cc)

Congratulations to the following IAVM members who were recently nominated for the 2015 Women of Influence Awards from Venues Today.

Millie Dixon
Principal
Theatre Projects Consultants

Vicki Hawarden, CMP
President & CEO
IAVM

Dr. Kim Mahoney (one of the authors of our upcoming textbook)
Assistant Professor of Sport Management
University of New Haven (Conn.) College of Business

Kerry Painter, CFE, CEM
Assistant General Manager
Cox Business Center, Tulsa, Oklahoma

Carol Pollock
Executive Director
VenuWorks/Hoyt Sherman Place, Des Moines, Iowa

Robyn Schon
Global Spectrum, General Manager
Berglund Center, Roanoke, Virginia

Leslee Stewart
General Manager
Paramount Theatre, Oakland, California

Karen Totaro, CFE (in-coming IAVM chair)
General Manager
Atlantic City Convention Center

The deadline to vote is Wednesday, May 27. Visit Venues Today for more information and to cast your vote