“On behalf of all of us in Baltimore, I would like to extend my heartfelt thank you to all of my IAVM colleagues and friends. We are strong and committed to overcome the experiences that we are going through,” said Peggy Daidakis, executive director of the Baltimore Convention Center. “There is so much good about Baltimore that the media is not showing. Citizens cleaning up their neighborhoods after the destruction; children handing out water to the police; students organizing peaceful protests; food, beverages, and words of appreciation to the National Guard and other law enforcement officers for keeping us safe and maintaining order.”

IAVM is going to Baltimore. We are supporting a vibrant city, great venues, and inspiring members. Through your attendance at VenueConnect, through our events in the city (including our meet-up at Camden Yards!), and through the Foundation Legacy Project, we are preparing to bring the best of who we are and what we do to a wonderful host city.

“When you visit Baltimore for VenueConnect, we will show you the Baltimore filled with wonderful attractions, cultural events, great restaurants, the Baltimore Orioles, and friendly people who want you to have the best experience while you are here,” Daidakis said. “You will not be disappointed.”

The opportunity for meaningful connections is bigger than ever, with our two-day trade show and six networking events—at Camden Yards, the National Aquarium, the Baltimore Convention Center, Bulle Rock golf course—and more.

“Our friends and colleagues in Baltimore need our support now more than ever. We can all be part of the solution and the healing for this wonderful city,” said Kim Bedier, CFE, chair of IAVM. “I look forward to attending VenueConnect in Baltimore in August and hope you will join us for an outstanding professional development experience.”

“VenueConnect is shaping up to be a tremendous event for everyone that attends, and it could not be more important than now for all of us to commit to making IAVM’s 90th conference a resounding success for our association and the city of Baltimore,” said Vicki Hawarden, CMP, president and CEO of IAVM. “Our support from local members and the city of Baltimore has been fantastic, and it will be on full display when we all arrive this August.”

This summer’s conference marks the 90th year for IAVM, and plans are well underway for a celebration that truly embodies the association’s legacy of enduring support to the people, companies, and venues that bring unforgettable experiences to cities throughout the world.

“I am so lucky to be a part of an industry with so many good and caring people,” Daidakis said. “I have been overwhelmed with the personal emails from many of you. I cannot thank you enough. All the best to all of you, and see you this summer. We want you to come and experience a great city!”

Music has the power to bring people together, and with that in mind the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra played a free, outdoor concert this afternoon (April 29) in front of the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall.

Quoting Leonard Bernstein, the orchestra wrote on its Facebook page: “This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before.”

The orchestra’s music director, Marin Alsop, wrote this on Facebook: “I am heartbroken for our dear city. With so much need alongside so much possibility, I hope we can use any opportunities we get to set an example and inspire others to join us in trying to change the world.”

Well done, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Well done.

Check out the video above from CNN of the orchestra performing for the city.

The 2015 IAVM Region 4 Meeting in Tacoma, Washington, April 19-21, was another resounding success. More than 125 attendees and 21 partner companies participated in the outstanding networking and educational opportunities provided over the three days. Drawing from the Pacific Northwest and Western Canada, the conference boasted a broad range of venue types and career levels, from those just started out to stalwart veterans.

Session highlights included a fantastic discussion led by Richard Andersen, CFE, of Lighthouse Management, on leadership styles. Under Andresen’s guidance, attendees self-determined their own leadership preferences and learned how they can affect their interactions with others. Steve Adelman led a rousing session on the reasonable actions a venue can take to help limit liability, and Tyler Borders encouraged the group to clearly define their company’s brand to help create a more authentic connection with our fans and guests.

The meeting also hosted several panel sessions from some of the region’s top minds. Whether it was best practices for EDM security, how to work the political system for capital improvements, or the latest trends in food and beverage, everyone was sure to come away with some great ideas to bring home. Of particular note were two sessions new to the meeting this year. Speed Networking was introduced on the opening afternoon, providing all attendees a chance to meet and interact in a rapid one-on-one setting for three minutes before moving on to someone new. Day Two provided great insight into the future with a fast-paced Pecha Kucha session hosted by young leaders throughout the region. Eight speakers had 20 slides and 20 seconds per slide to discuss their visions for the future of venue management. With these eight at the helm, the future is definitely bright.

As always, the chance to interact and network with colleagues from around the region was a big meeting highlight. Evening receptions hosted by the Greater Tacoma Convention and Trade Center and the Tacoma Art Museum provided beautiful backdrops and a relaxed atmosphere for old friends to catch up and new friends to be made. The annual golf tournament hosted at Chambers Bay Golf Course, home of the 2015 U.S. Open, proved a particular treat for those that participated.

As the attendees headed home, they were sure to leave with a head full of new ideas and inspiration, and a desire to make sure they make it to the next Region 4 Meeting in Seattle, Washington, May 10-12, 2016.

The IAVM Foundation is proud to announce the Joseph A. Floreano Scholarship + Internship Program recipients for the 2015 Venue Management School (VMS), recognizing individuals who demonstrate leadership, character, community involvement, and the potential to be future leaders in the venue management industry.

“One young professional and eight student interns’ lives will be forever changed by being a recipient of the Joseph A. Floreano Scholarship + Internship Program that gives them the ability to attend VMS this year,” said Kerry Painter, CFE, CMP, CEM, assistant general manager at the Cox Business Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. “This school is a powerful tool to catapult careers and industry networking. These young professionals are about to experience a life-changing week. As a VMS Board of Regent and strong supporter of the Foundation, I love witnessing the difference being awarded one of these scholarships/internships can make for a person. Building a future one at a time is our honor.”

The Foundation also offers scholarships + internships to a variety of other IAVM conferences and schools, click here to learn more and to apply. Thanks to the support of the VMS Board of Regents and committed donors—together we are Building Amazing Futures. Click here to learn more about the Foundation’s annual campaign.

Click each image to view the recipient’s LinkedIn profile.

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Larry Perkins, CFE, CPP, CMP, is a giving person. For many years, he’s given back to and volunteered for IAVM in countless ways that have helped the association.

“Over the years, I have been a volunteer leader with IAVM; from Crowd Management to heading the Safety and Security Task Force, ADA White Paper, VMS (Oglebay) Class President and 2004 VMS Chair to vice chairs of the Safety and Security Task Force, where I helped establish the Academy for Venue Safety and Security, help write the industries SSTF Best Practices, have spoken around the country to help promote IAVM programs, worked with DHS on the IAVM Foundation Grant for AVSS and served in IAVM senior leadership—2006/07 Chairman, which was an honor and a privilege,” Perkins said.

His generosity extends to other organizations, as well. Case in point: Foster A Voice, a nonprofit organization focused on bringing about awareness, education, providing support, and being a voice for foster children, adoptions, kinship care, and for those children living in an unsafe environment.

“We have launched a Kickstarter crowd funding program to raise funds so that we can create a short film entitled Silence that focus on the plight of foster children, the many crisis situations that places children in the foster system,” said Perkins, vice president and assistant general manager of the PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina. “Our goal of $200,000 is a long way off.”

Perkins said that the name Silence was chosen because it depicts and describes the viewpoints of the mindset of fosters/adoptions, never opening their hearts, harboring and masking the pain they suffer in silence.

“Many act out to relieve the pain and frustration of not being adopted; not having parents, being separated from siblings and no home to call their own, no one to tuck them in bed at night,” said Perkins, who is also the president and CEO of Foster A Voice. “‘Silence’ also fits many in our social world who won’t help fellow humans, don’t see the problems, or just ignore them. Many are not aware of the cost we and they pay, repeatedly—going from foster care to welfare, to prison, becoming homeless, those turning to drugs and alcohol, or selling themselves.”

However, the real work starts after the film is completed, because Foster A Voice plans to create programs that deliver change and have real hands to help.

“We are creating a program entitled “Cycle Out,” Perkins said. “It’s a program that utilizes volunteer mentors, grouping them according to skills sets such as accounting, health care, business, finance, trades, educators, and influencers. The idea for these groupings is patterned after an internship program, where fosters rotate from one mentor to another with the skill sets mentioned over a period of weeks and months. By engaging fosters in this fashion, mentors help them break the cycle. A foster enters the program before aging out to the world.”

Perkins knows firsthand the experience of being a foster, and he wrote about it in his new book, Buck Seventy-Two: A Destiny of Will (releases May 1, 2015).

“I’m pledging the proceeds from my new book to help make Silence,” he said. “May is Foster Care Awareness month, and we want to have secured the funding and go ahead to start production.

“I feel so strongly about this, I feel it’s’ the right thing to do,” he continued. “It’s not for me; I just want to give back.”