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.

The NHL is inspiring its 30 clubs, 68 million fans, and communities to lessen their impact on the environment. The governing organization is leading with a three-pronged approach to sustainability: track and measure, reducing resource use, and offsetting its footprint.

“Through the advancement and adoption of new technologies, the refinement of operations and procedures, and an ever-increasing level of environmental awareness, the League will continue on the journey toward greater environmental sustainability,” says the NHL in the “Building for the Future” section of its report

To capture the information from member venues, the NHL has developed an online tool to capture almost 40 data categories. Efficiency upgrades are identified and handled at the local level, and the league helps identify any local, regional, or national incentives.

The NHL is partnering with governmental organizations like the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and nonprofits like the Green Sports Alliance and EnergyStar. It also has partnered with several large corporations and global organizations like the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Nature Conservancy’s effort to plant a billion trees.

Not only is the NHL purchasing carbon offsets, but they are also purchasing water restoration certificates to help replenish the fresh water available in North America.

Let’s applaud the NHL in leading its member clubs to a more sustainable business model and the great work they have done so far.

You can find the entire report here: http://www.nhl.com/green/report/

(Image: NHL)

We recently wrapped up our Academy for Venue Safety & Security (AVSS) and GuestX programs, and they were a resounding success! Let’s take moment and view some of the highlights via photos.

Several students attended our GuestX conference March 1-3 in Dallas, Texas, and found the experience valuable. Brandie Jenkins (left, in photo), a student at Kennesaw State University, provided the following thoughts about the conference.

I am currently a part-time, student employee for Kennesaw State University’s Sports & Entertainment Park in Kennesaw, Georgia, for an organization called Night Owl Productions. Night Owl Productions is a very unique work experience in which we are a majority student-lead organization. We host an array of different events such as our annual Owl-O-Ween hot-air balloon festival, the World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series, collegiate soccer and lacrosse games, concerts, and our recent addition, the two-day Shaky Boots country music festival coming May 16-17. With that being said, we as students are able to gain experience working in departments such as hospitality, event/guest services, and productions, as well as facilities.

Each year, we as part-time students are given the opportunity to attend the annual IAVM VenueConnect conference to gain a better knowledge of the ins and outs of an entertainment venue while also getting a chance to network with companies and organizations that are often beneficial to us when we graduate. However, the GuestX conference was my very first IAVM conference, and I must say it was an amazing experience!

I first heard about GuestX because of my new job title as the event services lead that I obtained in August. At the beginning of January, my colleague and I came to the conclusion that we just were not fully satisfied with the amount of knowledge we had in our department so we began looking up different conferences that would be beneficial. We soon discovered the newfound GuestX conference, geared specifically toward any and everything guest services. After browsing through the guest speakers and the topics at hand, we knew we were sold and thought PERFECT!

Even though GuestX was my first conference, I still believe the agenda and overall course of topics for the conference were very informative not only to me but also for everyone else in attendance. My favorite session was Jennifer Blackmon’s “Memorable Customer Service.” Although her session was two hours, she was such an intriguing speaker that she kept everyone engaged with her witty, charismatic attitude and approach to presenting information. I’m huge on customer service, not only how I show customer service at my job but also how I receive customer service from people and places I come into contact with on a daily basis. I’m always looking for ways to elevate my customer service skills by “wowing” the fans as much as possible, and Jennifer’s take on making the customer’s experience a unique and personal one helped me to see how I can take the experience from just “nice” to a memorable one with ease.

My favorite aspect of the conference as a whole was definitely the AT&T Stadium tour! I had heard great things about the stadium but to get a behind-the-scenes, personal tour was by far the most memorable moment of the conference and I think everyone else can agree with this. I think the tour was the perfect ending to a great conference, and the food provided was unique in its own. The menu consisted of buffalo chicken bites on top of creamy white cheddar mac-n-cheese along, mini tacos, fried Wonton shrimp dipped in orange sauce, and an array of of delicious bites. I was more than impressed with the conference overall and I hope that I will get a chance to attend next year to see what new aspects you all come up with!