One of my favorite things to do when I visit a city is to shop at local stores and eat and drink at local restaurants and bars. Sure, you know what you’re getting by patronizing a chain operation. The fun, though, is in discovering something new and knowing you can only experience it in one place.

The Los Angeles Convention Center (LACC) feels the same way. The AEG Facilities-operated venue recently selected the Groundwork Coffee Co. as its official coffee and catering supplier and operator of the venue’s retail coffee locations.

“We felt utilizing a local company with a great product, sustainable business model, and social responsibility as part of their culture was the way to go,” said Brad Gessner, CFE, senior vice president and general manager of the LACC and an IAVM member. “From field to cup, Groundwork’s goal is to provide the highest quality product to customers while maintaining the well-being of our communities, both locally and at origin.”

New retail Groundwork stores are being installed in the West and South Halls of the LACC and will be open for business in mid April. Guests who come to the LACC will have the opportunity to visit the full service, stand-alone Groundwork concession stands that will provide coffee beverages. Groundwork certified organic coffee will also be served at all other food and beverage locations throughout the South and West Halls of the LACC.

“For almost 25 years, we have taken great pride in serving the finest, specialty-grade organic coffee on earth to our customers at our seven retail locations in Southern California. Groundwork proudly offers certified organic coffee from every growing region in the world, always freshly roasted at our local Groundwork Roastery,” said Eddy Cola, principal for Groundwork Coffee Co. “We are delighted to be given the opportunity to partner with AEG and the City of Los Angeles in sharing our diverse coffee, tea, and food offerings with patrons of the LACC. We’re confident that our steadfast commitment to quality—reflected in all of our products and service—will be appreciated and enjoyed by all.”

The announcement is part of the venue’s “Taste of LA” food and beverage experience.

“We are looking forward to continuing developing the Taste of LA brand with the addition of more local flavors,” said Rian Hanneman, director of food and beverage for LACC’s Taste of LA. “When people come to Los Angeles, a big part of the experience is the local food and beverage…things found only in L.A. We think the attendees will enjoy exploring L.A. through the food offerings here in the Los Angeles Convention Center.”

There was a lot of news this past week. Here are some stories that caught our eyes.

Security Management Firm for HARD Summer, EDC, Insomniac, Live Nation Acquired by U.S. Security Associates
—Billboard
“Together Staff Pro Inc. and U.S. Security Associates form a team they say will have a ‘depth of experience and broad based service offering with no peer in the security industry today,’ according to an announcement released by Staff Pro.”

Live Nation Lands New Outdoor NYC Venue
—Encore
“The seasonal venue will likely remain open through late September or early October, weather-depending, and double as the latest showcase for JBL in midtown Manhattan.”

Has CrowdOptic Found Its Niche with Google Glass and the NBA?
—Mobile Sports Report
“What will really be interesting to watch from a stadium technology perspective is how Google Glass use, for both team-approved activities as well as casual fan use, will affect things like in-stadium networks.”

On the Scene at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony: Nirvana, Kiss, chaos, and… Lorde?
—Entertainment Weekly
“Even among the participants who did show up, there were a lot of shots taken at the Hall over the course of the evening…”

The Seemingly Harmless Habit Killing Your Productivity
—Fast Company
“Formulating a witty comment on a favorite blog is more exciting than double checking the numbers on a spreadsheet pertaining to a project you’re pretty sure will be canceled anyway.”

(Image: Billboard/Philey Sanneh/FilterlessCo)

From Fitbits to smart watches to Disney’s MagicBands, companies are lining up to know more about you all in the name of customer and guest experience. Let’s add Lightwave to that list.

Lightwave is new wearable that debuted at the 2014 South by Southwest conference in Austin. Attendees at a Pepsi-sponsored event linked the wristbands to personal information, such as age and hometown (the wristbands can be linked anonymously, too). The wristbands measured audience movement, temperature, and sound levels, and the DJ and audiovisual team adjusted the environment and song selection based on the information received. Lightwave uses low-energy Bluetooth for events with fewer than 500 people, or it uses a radio-signal for larger crowds. Real time analytics are available to organizers.

“At a trade show it might be used to tell you how people are feeling during a keynote or what talking points are resonating [by measuring applause levels], or what booths people are spending time at,” Rana June, Lightwave founder and CEO, told BizBash. “And that can be broken down by gender. Or it could be very helpful to know this bar has a wait, but the one over there doesn’t, and we can redirect people.”

Want to watch a short, rave-inspired promo video about this new bio-reactive device? Good, because we have it for you below.

Smart Meetings just published a list of power players in the meeting and event industry, and one of our IAVM members—Karen Kotowski, CEO of the Convention Industry Council—made the list.

Here’s what the magazine wrote about Kotowski:

Check out the article for more of Kotowski’s story and to read about the other power players. Congratulations, Karen!

(Image: Smart Meetings)

Once a year, the entire association gathers to learn and network across all sectors at IAVM’s VenueConnect Annual Conference and Trade Show. For many attendees, this industry-wide, global gathering delivers some of the greatest opportunities for inspiration, innovation, and education—creating beneficial connections with venue professionals you normally would not know through the smaller sector conference setting.

We encourage our members to take advantage of this opportunity and with conference registration open, we’ve asked this year’s VenueConnect Planning Committee Chair and the association’s 2^nd Vice Chair, Karen Totaro, CFE, about the benefits of attending, and what she is looking forward to about this year’s conference taking place July 26-29 in Portland, Oregon. Continue Reading →