We have two great upcoming webinars next week that many of you may be interested in attending.

HOW TO BECOME A CFE
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
Time: 3:00 p.m. ET / 2:00 p.m. CT / 1:00 p.m MT / 12:00 p.m. PT /
Duration: 1 Hour
Fee: FREE
Register Here: https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/844412774

You may have taken the first step in the process toward becoming a CFE by reviewing the “One Minute Guide” to ascertain if you had earned the 300 points needed to fill out an application and start the formal process, or perhaps this is the first time you have considered pursuing certification, but you still have questions and aren’t sure where to look for answers. Join us for the “How To Become A CFE” webinar.

A panel of Certification Board members will walk you through the process and answer any questions you may have.

It’s time to take the step and understand what it takes to join that group of your peers who have reached the pinnacle of achievement with IAVM by becoming Certified Facilities Executives.

Presenters: Keith Baulk, CFE; Paula Kirchman, CFE; Matt Hollander, CFE; and Jody Lake, CFE

IAVM MENTOR CONNECTOR PROGRAM
Thursday, October 23, 2014
Time: 3:00 p.m. ET / 2:00 p.m. CT / 1:00 p.m MT / 12:00 p.m. PT /
Duration: 1 Hour
Fee: FREE
Register Here: https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/342522798

IAVM is offering a free one-hour webinar on the Mentor Connector Program. You are invited and encouraged to participate, especially if you are participating in the program this year or if you are just curious about how the program works. Remember, your participation in the Mentor Connector Program earns you CFE points. Plus, it is a great opportunity for growth for the protégés and for the mentors, sharing your wealth of experience in—and knowledge of—the venue management industry. Be sure to schedule time to participate in this very informative opportunity.

Presenters: Joe Durr and Beth Wade, CFE

Also, to submit your application to participate in the IAVM Mentor Connector program either as a mentor or mentee, click on this link. The deadline to apply is October 24. You will be notified who your assigned partner is within a few weeks. If you have any questions, contact Gina Brydson at gina.brydson@IAVM.org.

This is Part 2 of the log I’m keeping about Google Glass. Click here to read Part 1.

Captain’s Log No. 3
Google Glass travels from Portland, Oregon, to Buckhorn, California. Remote home in Sierra Nevada mountain range has no cell phone service. Relied on cable Wi-Fi router in the house; device paired with smartphone using Wi-Fi. Google Gmail account and GLASS mobile app required.

Preferring a single name like other celebrities, glass (lower case) loaned to 16-year old nephew and his friend.
“Cool” and “I might need my dad to buy me one of these.”
Michael and Tommy figured out how to use glass in less than 20 minutes. Would have been faster but they were distracted by a re-run of The Shining on television. Irony or…?

Instructions to the teens included:
1 – Determine how to use glass: Take photos, videos; share same. Get, create, send email. Listen to music. Get directions. Use Google (the search engine). Else?
2 – Determine if glass would be useful to them as they begin senior year of high school and especially in their theatre program.

“ok glass” is the opening image on the ice cube viewer. Using verbal command, “ok glass” displays a text list of options including Google search engine, take picture, take video, share photo/video. Read email. Then one speaks out loud to ask questions and activate commands: “Take picture.” “How many feet in a mile?” “How old is Harrison Ford?” “Get directions to liquor store.” Tap and swipe right side of glasses frame also needed.

People stare at you while you ask questions out of thin air and tap side of your head.

16-year-olds report back observations:
• even fully charged, glass doesn’t seem to display for longer than 40 minutes
• glass gets hot on right side frame—bothersome/worrisome
• learning curve steep, even for them
• irritated eyes (right eye) to keep glancing up to the side; causes eye strain
• can cube be re-set for the left eye?
• software app wanted to download all contacts, appointments, messages from other sites to Google Chrome/Gmail
• “too much Google stuff”—they don’t like Google
• could not think of a single use in their school. A video camera or iPhone on a tripod would record a rehearsal or dance number better. Maybe a point-of-view from the back row of the chorus looking out across the stage?
• can’t play games on it
• don’t want one after all

Side note: Other family members also interested in glass, especially brother in aero-space industry, where bosses previously voiced interest in having all employees wear devices to record what employees are doing, how quickly, and with what accuracy/quality assurance. Union response imminent.

Captain’s Log No. 4
Back in Portland. In truth, have been too busy to use glass, as it is not comfortable to wear, hold battery charge for long periods, or easily applicable to daily office tasks. However, I was able to quickly re-acquaint and re-learn the basic commands, view the screen images, use motions to tap or swipe side of frame for options, verbally say commands.

Learned that glass can be re-set to factory settings, or able to add other Gmail accounts via the GLASS mobile app on the host mobile device (smartphone).

Scheduled to pass glass to Annie Salamunovich, Portland’5 marketing and sponsorships, as part of job and as member of the Performing Arts Managers Conference planning team.

“ok glass” go to new home.

(photo credit: Thomas Hawk via photopin cc)

Yarra, Australia, music venue owners can now apply for a grant to help soundproof their rooms when they receive noise complaints. In addition to soundproofing a room, owners can use the grant for acoustic measuring and consulting, town planning, and building surveryors’ fees.

“Live music is an important part of Yarra’s culture,” Yarra City Councillor Simon Huggins told The Herald Sun. “The scheme allows the City of Yarra to act quickly to help venues out where issues arise.”

The newspaper reported that the city council received 138 complaints about music and attendee noise last fiscal year. For the record, Yarra houses 500 venues, 50 of them live music venues.

The state government also announced a similar grant in September.

“My suggestion is that venues apply for acoustic reports through City of Yarra funding,” Music Victoria Spokesman Patrick Donovan told the newspaper. “They could then take that independent consultant’s report to the government and use that as part of a submission saying here is what we need.”

Please visit The Herald Sun for more on the story.

(photo credit: Sentience via photopin cc)

Here’s some support on the value of live experiences. Researchers from Yale University have shown that sharing an experience with another person intensifies the experience for both individuals.

“We often think that what matters in social life is being together with others, but we’ve found it also really matters what those people are doing,” said Erica Boothy, a psychological scientist at Yale University and the study’s lead researcher. “When people are paying attention to the same pleasant thing, whether the Mona Lisa or a song on the radio, our research shows that the experience is much more pleasurable. And the reverse is true of unpleasant experiences—not sharing them makes them more pleasurable, while sharing them makes them worse.”

Boothy and her colleagues had study participants tastes chocolate samples while engaging in a shared activity of looking at a book of paintings. The researchers told them the samples were different, but they were really from the same bar. Participants liked the chocolate more when they each tasted it at the same time compared to when one person tasted the sample while the other looked at the book. In fact, the “shared” chocolate was described as more flavorful. Remember, all the samples were from the same bar.

The researchers think that sharing an experience with another person—even in silence—focuses our attention and causes us to be more aware of what we’re sensing.

“When people think of shared experience, what usually comes to mind is being with close others, such as friends or family, and talking with them,” Boothby said. “We don’t realize the extent to which we are influenced by people around us whom we don’t know and aren’t even communicating with.”

These findings may have impact our multi-tasking social life, too.

“We text friends while at a party, check our Twitter feed while out to dinner, and play Sudoku while watching TV with family—without meaning to, we are unsharing experiences with the people around us,” Boothby said. “A pleasant experience that goes unshared is a missed opportunity to focus on the activity we and others are doing and give it a boost.”

(photo credit: yashima via photopin cc)

I’m not comics connoisseur. If you quizzed me on which characters belong in a Marvel or D.C. world, I’d have to call a lifeline help. What I do love, though, is interactive experiences. So maybe it’s time I start to figure out Iron Man from Aquaman, because The Marvel Experience is coming to a parking lot near you (well, just four parking lots for now).

“The Marvel Experience: The World’s First Hyper-Reality Tour will bring to life all the heroes and villains from the Marvel Universe and put throw them all together in a new, part film, part carnival and part interactive event that will cover 2 acres, 7 giant domes and the world’s only 360-degree, 3-D stereoscopic full-Dome attraction and a state-of-the-art 4-D motion ride,” Steve Buja reported for Game & Guide. “Digital versions of all your favorite characters (regardless of who owns the film rights to them) will fly, fight and live all around you. Want Iron Man and MODOK to fight? That will probably happen.”

I don’t know who MODOK is but that doesn’t matter. I’m in this for the interactive elements. Augmented reality, multiperson gaming, and RFID tracking? My heart’s all a-fluttered!

“With this dynamic new way to experience entertainment, you’re actually in the middle of the action from start to finish,” said Rick Licht, CEO of Hero Ventures, in a press release. “While I’m sure kids will eat this up, we know that there is an extensive Marvel fan base over the age of 25—and we’ve created this event with them in mind. The grown-ups are going to absolutely love The Marvel Experience!”

Hero Ventures is producing the event, and a preview will take place at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick in Phoenix, Arizona, from Dec. 12, 2014 to Jan. 3, 2015. A red-carpet event is scheduled for Jan. 9, 2015, at the Cotton Bowl at Fair Park in Dallas, Texas. Tickets go on sale October 10.

Buja reported that the largest dome stands 65-feet tall and that because the footprint is so large that is why it’s being place in parking lots instead of inside stadiums.

“The experience will never repeat itself, so every room you go into will feature a new gadget or gizmo of bleeding edge technology,” Buja wrote. “All of it will be seamlessly woven together to craft a ‘new world of storytelling’ where the action takes place not only in front of you, but behind, above and all around.”

The Marvel Experience: North American dates and venues (subject to change)

Phoenix, Arizona Salt River Fields at Talking Stick, 12/12/14–1/3/15
Dallas, Texas The Cotton Bowl at Fairpark, 1/9/14–2/1/15
SanDiego, California Del Mar Fairgrounds, 2/7/15–2/22/15
SanFrancisco, California AT&T Park – Lot A, 2/27/15–3/22/15

(Image: The Marvel Experience)