Exclusive Services White Paper
The recent Meeting Professionals International World Education Congress featured a session about contract issues, and Sue Pelletier at MeetingsNet offers a great recap. In the article are some related story links, and one of them is “11 Lessons on Negotiating with Convention Centers” that MeetingsNet published last year. It’s a good inside take on how planners view working with convention centers, and No. 8 (Exclusivity: Never Assume) on the list mentions IAVM.
“Two years ago, the International Association of Venue Mangers Inc. released its ‘Exclusive Services Convention Centers/Exhibit Halls White Paper,'” Dave Kovaleski wrote. “While the organization that represents the country’s major centers underscored that ‘exclusive service and third-party vendor contracts are the decision of each facility manager based on the operating needs and political mandates,’ it also called for those facilities that do have exclusives to freely disclose them early in discussions with clients.”
Because of the first, recap article, people are seeing the second article and wanting to read the white paper. Now you can do that. Just click here to read or download it.
(Image: Orange Photography)
Roy Sommerhof on M&T Bank Stadium Improvements
IAVM member Roy Sommerhof made the news this week when he spoke with WBAL in Baltimore (home of VenueConnect 2015) about M&T Bank Stadium’s $35 million improvement project.
“Most notably, all the concession stands have been renovated,” said Sommerhof, vice president of stadium operations for the Baltimore Ravens. “All the equipment inside of them has been replaced. We have more points of sale and more variety on the upper level for fans, and so we think the service will be better.”
You can listen to the full interview below, and if you’re a member who has made the news, please email us at editor@iavm.org so we can feature you on the blog.
Your Venue as One Large Phone Charger
Sure, free Wi-Fi is nice, but it’s useless if your phone’s battery dies. This is where uBeam comes in, and this week the company received some great press on its announcement of a working prototype that will be built for consumers.
In the simplest terms, uBeam is a wireless charging system. It charges your phone via ultrasound, which is converted from electricity through a charging station. The charging station is thin (no larger than five millimeters thick) and can be attached to a wall. Yes, your venue could become one large phone charger.
“This is the only wireless power system that allows you to be on your phone and moving around a room freely while you’re device is charging,” uBeam CEO and Founder Meredith Perry told The New York Times. “It allows for a Wi-Fi-like experience of charging; with everything else you have to be in close range of a transmitter.”
The goal is to have uBeam available to consumers within the next two years with two different charging stations—one for small spaces, such as homes and offices, and the other for larger venues, such as stadiums, conference centers, and music halls.
“We’re going to sell directly to consumers, and we’ll sell them to restaurant chains and hotels—we are going to saturate the market with uBeam transmitters,” Perry said in the Times article. “In addition to your local coffee shop saying it has free Wi-Fi, it will also say it has free uBeam.”
Announcing the 2014 IAVM Venue Industry Award Winners
The 2014 Venue Industry Awards Luncheon—sponsored by Ungerboeck Software International and emceed by Chris Bigelow, founder and owner of The Bigelow Companies—took place during the 2014 VenueConnect Annual Conference & Trade Show in Portland, Oregon. The awards, hosted each year by the International Association of Venue Managers (IAVM), honored exceptional venues and professionals in several categories.
Webinar: Beyond Bobbleheads
The Green Sports Alliance (GSA) will offer a free webinar for IAVM members on Wednesday, August 27, from noon-1 p.m. (CDT) on greening efforts and fan engagement.
“From the millions who attend sports events each year to the exponentially higher number who follow sports closely on TV and the Internet to still others who are simply casual observers, sports reaches into the lives of the vast majority of citizens,” GSA said in a description about the webinar. “And while fan engagement impacts may be harder to track than a waste diversion rate, it is difficult to argue that the potential impact of influencing the attitudes and behavior of billions of followers around the globe is far higher. On top of that, fan engagement around environmental initiatives holds significant potential to drive revenue and attract new sponsorships as well.”
The webinar agenda is as follows:
1. Dave Newport—Director, Environmental Center, University of Colorado & Board of Directors, Green Sports Alliance: Welcoming remarks and presenter introductions.
2. Steve Seiferheld—Senior Vice President, Turnkey Intelligence: Results of recent survey on sports and the environment, based on the responses of more than 1,000 self-identified sports fans.
3. Lisa Boaz—Senior Manager of Marketing & Advertising, St. Louis Rams: “Go Green” platform and other environmental fan engagement initiatives of this long-standing NFL franchise.
4. Matt Williams—Director, Office of Sustainability, University of Florida: Partnership between Gator Athletics, UF Sustainability and nonprofit Neutral Gator to offset Athletics’ CO2 footprint while helping individual fans and the local community.
5. Discussion/Q&A