The U.S. Tennis Association (USTA) broke ground last week on a $60 million facility in Lake Nona, Florida. The USTA National Campus will reside on 63 acres and be home to sports-related businesses and organizations.

“Plans call for a tournament and league area with 24 clay courts and 16 hard courts; a University of Central Florida tennis area with 12 hard courts, elevated seating and facilities for 1,200 spectators; a Team USA area with eight hard courts and eight clay courts; and a player-development area with eight hard courts, eight red-clay courts and six covered courts,” Mary Shanklin reported for the Orlando Sentinel. “The space includes dormitories for 32 youth players and an area with eight courts that are shorter than regulation.”

The USTA will move its entire workforce to the new headquarters in Lake Nona.

“This new home for American tennis will truly be a game-changer for our sport,” said USTA Chairman of the Board and President Dave Haggerty in a statement. “This world-class facility will be an inclusive gathering place for American tennis and will allow us to impact our sport at every level, from the grassroots to the professional ranks.”

The facility is expected in fall 2016.

Imagine putting on your virtual reality (VR) device and shooting hoops in your favorite arena. That scenario is one step closer thanks to technology developed by Ultrahaptics. The technology allows VR users to receive tactile sensations from 3-D objects floating in mid-air. It does so by using sound waves on your skin.

“If you go to a night club or a rock concert, you feel the music in your chest. And it’s the same principal—you feel the sound vibrating your chest,” Professor Sriram Subramanian told Reuters. “And instead of using the bass sounds, what we use is low frequency ultrasound—about 40 kHz—and that way we can target it at a precise point on your finger tip or on your palm, and then you feel the palm vibrate and it feels precise as well.”

The device is still in the prototype stage, but the company recently received a $900,000 investment that will help speed along development.

Subramanian said that as the touchless technology (think, waving your hand to turn off a light) trend continues, more people will want tactile feedback.

“You can see the object and maybe you can interact with this object visually, but you don’t feel anything,” Subramanian said. “What we’re offering is that missing feeling [of] these holographic objects. That I think is the crucial distinction as well as the advantage of what we’re offering. We’re not saying get rid of the holographic display. What we’re saying is, attach our system to it and then you can start feeling objects as well as seeing them. This gives you better finesse, control.”

More of the story can be found on Reuters.

(Image: Ultrahaptics)

When the Las Vegas arena opens next year, the audience won’t be the only thing watching an event—the venue will watch the audience, also, to generate ads.

“Cameras documenting an arena visitor’s gender and age, then computers digesting facial images to generate digital ads, music and food selections tailored to fit the crowd’s demographic composition,” Alan Snel reported for the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

The technology is part of a founding, decade-long sponsorship deal with Toshiba.

AEG spokesman Michael Roth told the newspaper that the data helps create a better, customized experience for guests.

“For example, if the data show a crowd’s skewing young (under 21) and female, it doesn’t pay to show digital beer and alcohol ads around the arena,” Roth told the paper. “But if there’s a boxing match and lots of men are in the arena, the beer spots would be rolled out.”

The technology can also recognize guests through tickets and smart watches if they post about an event on social media. But don’t worry, nothing’s being recorded.

(Image: Las Vegas arena)

Lt. Commander Data on Star Trek once wanted to become more than he was. The same can be said of abstract data. It’s nothing if it just sits there. It’s how you use it that matters, so I’d like to point you in the direction of a good article passed on to us from IAVM member Steve Schwartz, senior research policy analyst for Events DC and chair of our research committee. The article, “Six Reasons to Love Your Facilities Data,” was published in Facility Executive magazine and written by Lora Mays (quotes below are from her).

Here are the top three reasons you should love facilities data.

1. You Can’t Manage What You Can’t Measure
“Improvements based on data-driven decision making serves as a more effective way to manage the team effectively, in order to drive success across the team.”

2. Discover Weak Spots
“Through the analysis of key performance indicators, it can reveal gaps that are causing delays and previously misunderstood time investments.”

3. Know More About Costs and How to Reduce Them
“Reducing the time your team spends on breakdown maintenance and investing more time in preventive maintenance offers an opportunity for the facilities team to become more strategic.”

Please visit Facility Executive to learn about the other three reasons you should love data.

The best way to improve your employees’ performances is to focus on motivating the “extra milers” in your organizations.

A new study out of the University of Iowa found that employees function better when team members who goes beyond their job descriptions—the extra milers—are in a central position in the workflow.

“The extra miler has more of an influence in the center because they have more contact with other workers and because others can see what they’re doing,” said lead researcher Ning Li, professor of management sciences in the Tippie College of Business. “Through this role modeling, everyone on the team becomes better. If the extra miler is on the periphery, they don’t come into contact with as many team members and nobody notices them.”

After studying 87 teams with an average number of eight members per team, the researchers found that extra milers showed two distinct behaviors—helping and voice.

“Helping behavior means they physically assist other workers with their jobs, for instance, if they’re overwhelmed, or out sick,” Li said. “Voice behavior means they provide leadership by speaking up to make constructive changes that provide a better workflow, or work with management to make the job easier for the workers.”

Li said the study suggest managers should organize their teams based on members’ individual characteristics and not treat employees as interchangeable.

“It demonstrates that you need to pay attention to key players in a team because some of them are more important than others,” Li said. “Management can rely on the extra miler to have a positive impact on the team and know that person will help to manage the team.”

(Image: Simon Chorley/Creative Commons)