IAVM’s Academy for Venue Safety & Security (AVSS) is a two-year school built to train venue and event managers, security professionals, and other key personnel involved in every aspect of venue safety and security. The new 2015 curriculum, developed and taught by a diverse team of experts, is designed to equip each and every attendee with the best practices, resources, and tools needed to face the evolving challenge of providing a safe venue for everyone.

Tremendous collaboration and effort has gone into developing AVSS 2015, and we took a moment to talk with a few people working behind the scenes on this year’s academy.

John Siehl, CFE
chief operating officer, VenuWorks
chair, AVSS

With your involvement over the years as an AVSS faculty member and now as the chair, what do you feel is timeless about AVSS, and what do you see evolving to address emerging threats and challenges? 

Siehl: AVSS equips the industry professional with information, techniques, and resources that will enhance any position that they progress to in the sports and entertainment industry. The concepts and awareness that are the focus of AVSS are timeless. For many of the attendees, the basic principles are utilized in everyday management, and the ability to plan for the next “legitimate threat” is inherently built into the concepts and curriculum at AVSS. We cannot determine the exact nature of any threat for the future—the key is training, planning, and preparation.

To someone that attended AVSS in the past, what should they know about AVSS 2015? 

Siehl: The 2015 AVSS is being approached with a slightly different perspective, as we’ve refined delivery methods while maintaining the content that AVSS has become successful with. Experts from the safety and security industry will continue to present relevant and timely information, techniques, and practices. The curriculum has been thoroughly reviewed and refined with input from faculty and advisory personnel.

Mark Herrera
director of education, IAVM

AVSS 2015 is a story of collaboration. Who has contributed to the focus and curriculum for the Year 1 and Year 2 programs?

Herrera: AVSS 2015 is exploring new territory and has been collaboratively built to meet the current and emerging needs of venue and event professionals involved with safety and security. AVSS is bringing together a collective of experts, each recognized and respected for their expertise in safety and security. Our faculty is simply exceptional, and every 2015 student will experience a great environment to develop and refine skills, discuss critical concepts and issues, and identify best practices to implement. (See the AVSS 2015 faculty.)

As someone with a background in safety and security, what does it mean to you to be a part of such a significant program focused on the safety and security at venues and events?

Herrera: It is a true honor to be a part of a program that supports venue and event professionals in protecting people and infrastructure. My own background in safety and security, and exposure to life-threatening situations, has instilled a passion for supporting a high quality of life, and it is very rewarding to work with the AVSS faculty to ensure that our 2015 students return home much stronger, more self-aware, and better equipped to be leaders when it counts.

Fans attending this year’s Australian Open have access to real-time interactive data thanks to IBM’s SlamTracker and CrowdTracker.

SlamTracker, already popular with fans, adds player and ball movement data to its wealth of match information.

“Last year, visualization was mentioned in our feedback from customers, and we’ve listened to that feedback to provide a better product,” Tennis Australia CIO, Samir Mahir, told CMO.com.

CrowdTracker (pictured above) is making its debut at the event. It displays content on a Melbourne Park map, enabling fans to better plan their visits.

“Using the GPS on their mobile devices, fans can see where they are on site and what’s going on nearby,” IBM said in a statement. “They can see what are the most popular places to be on the grounds, and they can click on individual courts to get the latest scores, stats, player details, and insights. CrowdTracker helps fans follow the tournament and onsite social buzz, providing fans with the latest Twitter stats, most popular Instagram spots, and what is trending on social media.”

Mahir says this lets fans know of areas that are popular while giving Tennis Australia a great sense of its customers.

“When analytics is combined with a user interface like this, it allows users to be more engaged with the event, but also provides us with intelligence and information that can help us improve that experience too,” Mahir said.

Check out CMO.com for more information on how Tennis Australia and IBM have partnered to create a great guest experience during the tournament.

(Image: IBM)

The Massachusetts Convention Center Authority (MCCA) voted to approve the installation of a full-building, real-time location services system at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center (BCEC). Using “ActivLocator,” a geolocation technology from Sherpa Solutions, the MCCA will provide turn-by-turn navigation inside the BCEC, providing digital wayfinding for visitors looking for meeting rooms, exhibit halls, exhibit booths, and MCCA offices from wherever the visitor may be in the facility.

Sherpa’s system relies on Bluetooth low energy beacon transmitters, 270 of which will be installed throughout the BCEC. Meeting attendees can access turn-by-turn walking directions provided by a mobile app, including the exhibit hall floor. Once the navigation’s mobile app has been downloaded, no cellular or wireless connection is needed for the directions to work on a user’s mobile device.

“At the MCCA, we have never been reserved about our mission to remain the most technologically advanced convention centers in the world,” said IAVM member James E. Rooney, executive director of the MCCA. “We are thinking about technology that meeting attendees will be asking for not just in 2015, but five and 10 years from now. Real-time location services are just one of the technology initiatives we are focused on right now to better serve our customers and their attendees.”

Turn-by-turn navigation is just the beginning, said Steve Snyder, CIO/CTO for the MCCA.

“It will be a tremendous value-add for our customers because we will be able to map their entire show floors, booth by booth, and customize information such as shuttle drop-off and pickup locations,” Snyder said. “And we can use it internally to map our administrative offices, monitor the safety of the facility, and much more.”

The system installation is expected to be complete in March 2015.

(Image from the MCCA Facebook page)

Rob Williams has a vision. He imagines a world one day in which ticketing companies don’t sell tickets, they sell experiences.

“We put smiles on people’s faces. We sell dreams, hopes, and experiences,” said Williams, the operations director of The Ticketing Factory, during his session at the 2015 International Ticketing Association (INTIX) conference. “We sell the promise of something better the moment a customer considers attending an event.”

Williams’ session was refreshing in that it challenged attendees to look forward and to take ownership of the entire ticket buying experience. He presented this experience as a life cycle of epiphany (want to go to a show), hunt (seek tickets), capture (got ticket), longing (holding ticket and waiting for show date), event (at the show), and letdown (wish the show wasn’t over).

“This whole cycle is no fun, but it’s built around functionality, control, and tradition,” Williams said. “We, as in industry, can be better.”

If not, some company will come along and disrupt the industry much like Uber has disrupted the taxi industry.

Attendees learned about some companies that are already making headway into changing the industry’s landscape, companies such as Rabbl (crowdfunding shows) and DICE (a U.K.-based ticketing agency about to launch in the U.S.).

“2015 is the year ripe for change,” Williams said. “Let’s stop talking about tickets, and start talking about experiences. Let’s openly collaborate and share information, refuse to accept the status quo, and let’s be the ones that are disruptive.”

Sunjay Nath opened up the International Ticketing Association (INTIX) 2015 with a keynote presentation that encouraged attendees to be aware of their perceptions. According to Nath–an author and business speaker–our perceptions are the No. 1 thing that hold us back from progressing.

“You should question your assumptions when you’re stuck,” Nath said.

One assumption many leaders and managers make is focusing too much time on employees who are not motivated or don’t want to be at work. Nath calls this group of people the bottom 10 percent. Organizations often house a 10-80-10 breakdown, in that 10 percent (the top 10) are highly motivated and want to work. Eighty percent of the workers can be steered either way (to the top 10’s side or the bottom 10’s side).

Nath wrote a book about this called The 10-80-10 Principle: Unlocking Dynamic Performance, and he shared some of his insights about the concept during an INTIX session.

“The best way to influence the bottom 10 is through peers,” Nath said. “Action follows action, and inaction follows inaction.”

For instance, spend more of your time with the top 10 and the middle 80 will follow. How you do this boils down to what Nath called A.C.T. (awareness, choice, and time).

“In awareness, determine what you’re trying to do and who to influence,” Nath said. “Concerning choice, neutralize the bottom 10 by spending the minimal amount of time, energy, attention, and thought by stopping resources for the bottom group. With time, spend it on the top 10 group.”

Nath assured the attendees that direct management (or lecturing) to the bottom 10 would be fruitless. Only through peer pressure would attitudes and actions change. It’s basic human psychology. Most people want to belong to something. Which group you want them to belong to depends on where you spend your energy managing.