The International Association of Venue Managers (IAVM) is pleased to announce Steve Peters, CFE, founder and president of VenuWorks, as the recipient of the 2015 Charles A. McElravy Award. The McElravy Award, named in honor of one of IAVM’s founding organizers, Charles A. McElravy, was initiated in 1963 and is granted for extraordinary contributions to the Association and the professional venue management industry it serves.

A graduate of the MFA program in Arts Administration at the University of Iowa, Peters began his career in 1976 in Dubuque, Iowa, as manager of the Five Flags Center.

In 1982, Peters moved on to the Iowa State Center in Ames, Iowa, a four-building complex at Iowa State University. While at ISU, he began the successful presentation of concerts in the 55,000-seat Cyclone Stadium and served as director of the acclaimed Ames International Orchestra Festival.

In 1990, Peters was named the National Director of Operations for Ogden Entertainment Inc., serving as opening director of the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, for Ogden before being named an Ogden vice president in 1995.

In fall 1996, Peters left Ogden to form VenuWorks (originally called Compass Facility Management), a company he created to better serve the unique management and operational challenges of mid-market facilities. Today, VenuWorks provides management services to more than 50 theatres, arenas, conference centers, stadiums, and outdoor amphitheaters in 12 states. Peters was a forerunner of bringing private management to publically owned venues in secondary and tertiary markets, which was a new approach in the 1990s.

Peters has been a committed member of IAVM since 1977, serving as president of the board of directors from 2007-2008, and as vice president of District 3 from 1987-1988. He was a member of the first board of regents for IAVM’s Venue Management School, where he served as an instructor for six years. He has earned the distinction of Certified Facilities Executive (CFE), the highest professional certification available in the public assembly facility industry.

Kim Bedier, CFE, chair of the IAVM board remarked that, “Steve Peters’ long legacy of leadership with IAVM includes the Mission, Membership, and Governance Initiative. Author Dau Voire said, ‘Be brave enough to start a conversation that matters.’ The conversations commenced by Steve continue to guide IAVM to a strong and healthy future. Steve Peters is a true gentleman, and it has been my honor to serve for and with him.”

“It is because of leaders like Steve that IAVM is such a great organization,” said Vicki Hawarden, CMP, president and CEO of IAVM. “He has given tirelessly of his time and his expertise throughout the years to help develop and grow those around him, and I know there are many who look up to him as a mentor. He is well deserving of this honor based on his contributions, his leadership style, and his love for the industry.”

Upon being notified of receiving the award, Peters offered the following comments:

“I am honored to have been chosen to receive the 2015 McElravy Award. IAVM has been like a big second family to me, a source of professional development and personal friendships for nearly 40 years. I am humbled to find myself among the small group of extraordinary leaders who have previously received this award, an award named for one of the real pioneers of our industry. I am eternally grateful.”

The award will be presented during IAVM’s annual conference and trade show, VenueConnect, August 1-4, 2015, in Baltimore, Maryland.

The L.A. Kings and San Jose Sharks’ NHL Stadium Series game at Levi’s Stadium was streamed in 360-degree, high-definition virtual reality when it was played on February 21. The experience was a collaboration among the hockey league, cloud graphics start-up Otoy, New Deal Studios, and Immersive Media. Those watching it through an Oculus Rift or a Samsung Gear VR virtual reality device viewed the game-day activities like they were there in person.

“The creators tried to recreate the experience of all facets of being at the game, from the ability to watch practice sessions as if you’re sitting on the players’ bench to pre-game activities including tailgating, gate entry, and concessions, culminating in a front-row seat to the game with an eyeline just above the glass and over the rink that lets you follow plays or turn around to see what’s happening behind the net,” Dean Takahashi reported for VentureBeat.com.

If you’re interested in learning more about virtual reality and how it can be used in venue, check out our feature, “A Multitude of Realities,” from our Technology & Trends issue. And please visit VentureBeat.com for more on the NHL story.

(Image: Otoy)

Sure, mobile payments are faster and easier, but you could lose out on the social benefits of customer interactions.

“The perceived wisdom is that payments via a mobile device should be designed and marketed as being ever faster, simpler and effortless,” said Dr. Mark Perry of Brunel University London. “But the evidence from Bristol which uses a slightly clunky system is that there is value in the social interactions at the point of sale for both customer and supplier. The risk is that by making the payment part of the sale too slick, retailers who rely on building and maintaining customer loyalty may find that part of the shopping experience is left on the shelf by the technology.”

Perry and Bristol University Professor Sriram Subramanian looked at the U.K.’s largest alternative local currency, the Bristol pound, which allows mobile payments.

“I think what’s really interesting and unexpected in our data is the way that the Bristol Pound is not just used for functional purposes—as a form of payment—but that it also offers opportunities for playfulness and sociability,” Perry said. “It’s not just a currency that’s used locally, it’s also a means of building richer, deeper connections across local communities. There’s so much this can tell us about how building financial technologies that aren’t just platforms for consumerism, but which make our environments more sustainable, interesting, and connected.”

Users of the Bristol pound pay for goods and services over text messages using TXT2PAY.

“TXT2PAY may not be the most fluid or robust mobile phone payment, yet our findings show TXT2PAY supports people in making connections to other people, to their communities, to the places they move through, to their environment, and to what they spend,” Subramanian said. “These interactions that could have significant implications for the design of future payment systems.”

On a similar subject, Skift recently asked the front-desk employees at five popular New York hotels what they would change about the check-in experience. This one quote really stood out:

“I think we would lose the opportunity to build a relationship with guests when they use mobile check-in because most of the time they do it to be faster. We just welcome them, thank them for using e-check-in and give them the keys.” — Front desk employee at Hampton Inn Manhattan-Madison Square Garden Area

Just something to consider when you start going down the mobile payment path.

(Image: Jason Tester Guerrilla Futures/Creative Commons)

Industry veteran Roger Newton recently announced his retirement from the arena management industry.

Newton left his position as president and general Manager of the Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina, last fall after serving in that role for nearly 10 years. Newton also managed Charter Amphitheatre in Simpsonville for the past five years.

Newton served as the manager of 12 arenas throughout his 36-year career, including the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa; Nassau Coliseum in Long Island, New York; and the AmericanAirlines Arena in downtown Miami.  His career also included stints with venue management companies Ogden Entertainment and SMG.

“I am one of the fortunate souls in life who had a career I loved doing for a long time,” Newton said. “While I will no longer oversee the day-to-day management of arenas, I plan to keep in contact with the many close friends I have made in the arena, entertainment, and sports industries throughout my career.

“I am proud of my Carolina roots,” he continued. “I have been in the wonderful city of Greenville for many years, and my plans are to remain in the Greenville area, become even more involved in community activities, and begin an encore career in the real estate business.”

Newton can be reached at 864-630-7577 or at frnewton406@icloud.com.

Please allow me to begin this blog post by thanking IAVM for allowing me to present on venue safety and extreme weather at the Severe Weather Preparedness program in Dallas. I had a wonderful time meeting great people while evangelizing on a subject close to my heart.

For those unable to attend the Dallas meeting, I am the senior vice president and chief innovation executive for AccuWeather Enterprise Solutions Inc., based in Wichita, Kansas. We specialize in tailoring site-specific warnings of extreme weather for venues and dozens of other industries. In 2014, we provided warnings for more than 1,000 venue events. In addition, I provide consultations to companies that want to improve their severe weather procedures or even understand how extreme weather affects their guests.

The amount of progress weather science has made in providing accurate, actionable storm warnings during the last 10 years is nothing short of remarkable. Combine that progress with social science research into the most effective ways of communicating warning messages to an assemblage, and venue managers now have effective tools that will prevent injuries, lessen liability, and, whenever possible, assure the show goes on.

If there is one thought you take away from this post, it is that every venue needs a weather plan that accounts for each type of activity hosted by the venue. This could range from a circus to a concert to a major league game. Each will have its unique challenges and “lead time” (the interval from notification of a storm to the storm’s arrival) for implementing safety measures.

Each plan has five components:
• Determining lead time and unique aspects of each type of event
• Weather monitoring
• Communicating weather information to your guests
• Sheltering your guests
• What to do if “the worst” happens.

Bitter experience in recent years demonstrates the plan should require:
• If storm X threatens, then we do A.
• If storm Y threatens, then we do B.
• If storm Z threatens, then we do C.

Where X, for example, indicates lightning or another specific type of storm.

By specifying, in advance, procedures in your plan, it negates the temptation to respond with what you want to happen as opposed to what is most likely to happen.

The second item I would like you to take away is to use minutes rather than miles to trigger safety actions. If you use, for example, 10 miles as an alerting radius, a storm moving at 70 mph may not give you enough time. A storm moving at 10 mph may dissipate before arriving, causing a false alarm. So, ask your provider to provide, say, 15 minutes of warning rather than a fixed radius.

And, while it is counterintuitive, make your storm-related decisions based on input from one or, at most, two trusted sources. Peer-reviewed research demonstrates this is far more effective than using a plethora of sources. A large number of sources (e.g., six or more) allows decision makers (often subconsciously) to “shop” for the forecast they want rather than what is meteorologically the most likely.