Our annual conference, VenueConnect, takes place August 1-4 in Baltimore, Maryland, and we’re happy to announce our three keynote speakers.

Betsy Myers
Myers will be our opening keynote speaker and will speak during Part 1 of the Women in Leadership program. She served as a senior adviser to U.S. President Barack Obama’s election campaign. She joined the campaign in January 2007 as the COO tasked with the challenge of building a $100,000,000 organization and established the campaign with a business operational model and customer service mentality.

Curt Cronin, CDR (SEAL), USNR, MBA
Cronin has more than 16 years experience as a U.S. Navy SEAL and is an expert at maximizing human potential and synthesizing the strengths of a team to create unprecedented results in any context. He will lead two sessions at VenueConnect: “Building Unstoppable Teams” and a seminar for venue executives called “Leadership Under Fire.”

Jason Roberts
Roberts’ closing keynote session at this year’s Performing Arts Managers Conference (PAMC) was wildly popular, so we’re bringing him back so that everyone can experience his remarkable story. Roberts is the founder of the Oak Cliff Transit Authority, originator of the Better Block Project, co-founder of the Art Conspiracy and Bike Friendly Oak Cliff, and a former candidate for U.S. Congress. Please read our blog post profile for PAMC to learn more about him and his session.

Please visit the VenueConnect website to learn more about these incredible speakers and to see the rest of our educational lineup. Early-bird registration ends May 1. See you in Baltimore!

The lead guitarist from the Screaming Trees raised his right hand, held it for brief moment, then strummed out some punk chords, causing the place to transform into shirtless bodies slamming against one another. This was my first mosh pit experience, and I loved it. After that, I sought out every opportunity to mosh or stage dive with fellow music fans. My clothing has been torn, sure, but I’ve never been hurt. That’s because mosh pit fans take care of each other.

Call them codes, rules, or best practices, there are some primary behaviors to embrace when moshing. Over on FasterLouder.com.au, Emily Kelly offers “The Six Golden Rules of Moshpit Etiquette.” Here are three, with quotes attributed to Kelly, to get you started.

1. Pick People Up When They Fall Down
“It is the responsibility of absolutely everyone to do this. If you’re feeling like a particularly sensitive Samaritan, verbally check that they’re okay before returning to your limb flailing.”

2. Know That Proximity Means Responsibility
“Standing on the edge of a pit does not exclude you from its electric little ecosystem. Don’t stand aside and get furious when it spits out sweaty, drunk dudes occasionally and don’t be disgusted when its tentacles attempt to tug you in.”

3. Don’t Crowd Surf When There’s No Music
“The brief rest between songs is a time when people tend to check themselves. Is my wallet still there? Yep, good. Is my ankle okay? Umm, maybe.”

Please check out FasterLouder.com.au to learn the other three rules. You might even consider posting these rules in your venue when you know there’s going to be a high chance of some moshing going on.

(Image: Ben Levin/Creative Commons)

The live-streaming video app Meerkat made a splash at this year’s SXSW. A few weeks later, Twitter released it’s own live-streaming app called Periscope, which proved to be just as, or more, popular with the social media crowd.

I admit, I love technology. I think new developments should be embraced with an eye toward how they can be used for good. However, progress and new technology come with skepticism, and occasionally fear. After all, new technology—especially the great, innovative variety—is disruptive and often pushes past current boundaries (or policies). It makes me happy, then, to see an organization use an app like Periscope in a positive manner.

The Seattle Reign FC of the National Women’s Soccer League, for example, streamed its whole match against the Portland Pilots via Periscope. While this is a great marketing practice, the issue of money shouldn’t be ignored.

“Given the insane amount of money networks spend for TV broadcast rights, are sports teams even allowed to live stream their own games with an app like Periscope?” Taylor Scoper wrote for GeekWire. “Can fans do the same from their seats? And what other impacts will Meerkat and Periscope have on the sports world?”

Those are fair questions, and Scoper does a great job at detailing the live-streaming policies for fans and reporters from the NBA, NFL, and MLB. If you’re not familiar with the policies, I’ll let you visit his article to learn more. What I want to bring up, though, is a question Scoper asks.

“Think about 70,000 people at an NFL game—even if a small subset of those fans decide to launch a Periscope stream, can the NFL really track down each user and shut down those feeds?” Scoper wrote.

I don’t see this being an issue now, because one would have to hold a phone up for the whole game. Arms get tired. Attention meanders. Still, though, wearables are getting smaller, stronger, better, and more commonplace. For example, you can already take a photo every 30 seconds with a clip-on camera that hardly anyone notices. As technology enables new levels of content capturing from anyone and everyone, venues will have a hard time focusing on specific products, but will need to figure out how to manage the more ambiguous realm of guest intentions.

(Image: Anthony Quintano/Creative Commons)

Cirque du Soleil founder, Guy Laliberté, sold his controlling stake in the circus to Texas-based TPG Capital and the China-based Fosun Group on Monday, April 20.

Laliberté will retain 10 percent interest and continue as a creative adviser to the circus company, which will keep its headquarters in Montreal, Quebec. TPG will control 60 percent, Fosun will control 20 percent, and 10 percent will be controlled by the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec.

The Fosun Group news is interesting because Cirque wants to increase its presence in Asia.

“We have a Chinese partner who knows the market well, and who has a lot of international connections,” Laliberté said during a news conference.  “We have a precise plan that we will be announcing soon. China is a complex market, and we are doing our homework, doing our research, having many consultations, and will soon have a more organized plan.”

Cirque was sold for personal reasons, Laliberté said.

“In all consciousness and with a rigorous personal reflection and corporate reflection, I believe I am making the best decision for Cirque du Soleil and its future, and the best decision for myself and my family,” he said.

Financial terms weren’t released.

(Image: OSA Images)

The Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) last week released its 2014 CEIR Index Report, which takes a look at the exhibition industry and offers a three-year outlook. The analysis found that the industry grew 1.8 percent for the year as a whole, which is one percentage point higher than 2013 and below the 2 percent forecasted growth.

“The best performing sectors in 2014 were the Financial, Legal and Real Estate and Building, Construction, Home and Repair sectors, which respectively gained 5.2 percent and 5.1 percent,” CEIR’s President and CEO Brian Casey, CEM, said in a statement. “Alternately, the weakest exhibition sector was Education, where the index declined by 3.0 percent.”

The overall industry is expected to grow at a rate of 2.8 percent for 2015.

“We are optimistic for the performance of the industry overall this year,” said CEIR Economist Allen Shaw, PhD, chief economist for Global Economic Consulting Associates Inc. “Economic and job growth should continue to drive expansion in exhibitions.”

The CEIR Index measures year-over-year changes in four key metrics to determine overall performance: net square feet of exhibit space sold, professional attendance, number of exhibiting companies, and gross revenue, and the Index provides data on exhibition industry performance across 14 industry sectors, such as education, sporting goods, and travel and entertainment.

(Bottom Image: CEIR)