There was a lot of news this past week you may have missed. Here are some headlines that caught our eyes.

Mark Cuban Wants You to Put Away Your Phone at NBA Games
—Bloomberg Businessweek
“[Vivek] Ranadive and Cuban represent the two poles in a debate about how to keep fans coming to games when it’s cheaper, easier, and maybe better to stay home and watch on a big-screen TV and Twitter.”

Vote for Best Convention City
—10Best.com/USA Today
“You have until March 10 at noon to vote on your favorite convention city. What makes you happiest about anticipating or attending a big show?”

Sochi’s Lego-like Stadiums Can be Moved to Other Cities
—Metro
“The Russians have looked at the struggles of former Olympic host cities that have built massive, expensive arenas for specialized sports that often make them irrelevant after the games leave town.”

Manager’s Box Puts Red Bulls Fans in the Driver’s Seat
—Association of Luxury Suite Directors
“The last few years have seen the proliferation of loge boxes, theater boxes, patio suites, and many other variations on the premium seating theme, all packaged with unique benefits and amenities.”

Veteran Theater Executive Richard Baker Will be Starlight’s Next President and CEO
—The Kansas City Star
“One of the first things on his to-do list will be to book the 2015 season. Baker said he was impressed by Starlight’s technical facilities as well as the enthusiasm of the staff and the board’s open-mindedness when it comes to Starlight’s future.”

(photo credit: dannyb via photopin cc)

A business card is the one item I seem to always forget to bring with me to a meeting or networking event. Maybe it’s because I believe I can remember someone’s name and connect with the person later on Facebook or LinkedIn. Perhaps, though, I should just do away with business cards altogether. That’s what entrepreneur Kevin Daum did.

“About two years ago, I stopped carrying business cards to meetings and networking events,” he wrote on Inc.com. “It wasn’t because I was bumping with my smartphone or using Google Glass to identify worthy prospects with face-recognition programming. It wasn’t even because I wanted to save trees. I simply found a more effective way to engage with people I met.”

Daum recognizes that when people request a business card that there is an interest in his job and thoughts. He asks for an email address so he can send them his contact info, and he asks if he can send them an interesting link, too. He says he’s never been refused.

That interesting link, he says, is the key for making a lasting impression. Here are his three strategies for making the link interesting.

1)  Make the link useful
“Send the person content you know will have real educational value. If you don’t have any, create some.”

2) Make it entertaining
“Give the person a reason to smile. People do business with people they like. Help him or her like you.”

3) Make it personal
“Show your new contacts that you are a listener who heard clearly what they had to say when you met.”

If you often forget your business cards like I do, now you can follow Daum’s strategy and make more of a lasting impression on those you meet. And please, send us your interesting links!

(photo credit: Tokyo Social Events via photopin cc)

Does your venue have the bandwidth it needs to stay competitive? Wi-Fi traffic in the U.S. is growing at 68 percent per year. Consumers rely on Wi-Fi for fast and convenient connections to the Internet as part of their home, school, and work lives, and are increasingly looking for ways to engage during their entertainment and learning experiences inside your venue walls.

Recent analyses indicate that Wi-Fi in our homes and businesses is becoming congested by a deluge of data from more devices, applications, and services connecting to the Internet. Cisco predicts that by 2017 Wi-Fi will handle a majority of all data consumers’ access from the Internet.

As part of IAVM’s continuing advocacy efforts for our members, we have added our support by joining WifiForward, a coalition of companies, organizations, and public sector institutions. The coalition is calling for policymakers to encourage the FCC to align their policies to protect and manage unlicensed Wi-Fi spectrum and encourage the research of new bandwidth options. Presently, there are 15 members of the coalition including Google, Comcast, Microsoft, the American Libraries Association, the Consumer Electronics Association, and Arris.

Tammy Koolbeck, senior vice president at VenuWorks and chair of IAVM’s Industry Affairs Committee, commented on IAVM’s decision to join WifiForward.

“Our committee supports this broad-based coalition and its efforts to bring attention to the Wi-Fi spectrum crunch and to support finding more unlicensed spectrum,” Koolbeck said. “This issue is critical to a wide array of businesses including public assembly facilities.”

WifiForward is an ad hoc, broad-based group working to alleviate the Wi-Fi spectrum crunch and to support making Wi-Fi even better by finding more unlicensed spectrum. The Coalition has three core positions. The Administration, Congress, and the FCC should:

• Protect and strengthen existing unlicensed spectrum designations;
• Free up new spectrum for unlicensed use; and
• Establish investment-friendly, transparent, and predictable unlicensed rules that encourage growth and deployment.

If you’d like to join the WifiForward Coalition as a venue or enter in the discussion, you can visit www.wififorward.org. Social media sites include Facebook, www.facebook.com/WifiForward, and Twitter, @WifiForward.

(photo credit: tom.arthur via photopin cc)

The Dallas Opera is currently staging a production that literally embraces technology. The Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House at the AT&T Performing Arts Center will simulcast Tod Machover’s Death and the Powers on Sunday, Feb. 16, to venues in San Francisco, Silicon Valley, New York, Philadelphia, Paris, Los Angeles, London, and Stockholm, among others. Here’s more info from the press release.

I love interactive theater, and this simulcast sounds incredible. I can’t wait to find out how the simulcast attendees will influence the show on stage.

The Opera of the Future website has more information about the simulcast and tickets.

(Image via The Dallas Opera Facebook page)

There’s an interesting article on npENGAGE about arts and cultural organizations, and I thought I’d share it with you. According to Jonathon Leeke, a product manager at Blackbaud, these are the top four concerns in guest services.

1) Technology
“The path from start to finish has to meet the most basic of users, but advanced options have to be nearby and easily discoverable.”

2) Making it simple AND secure
“Even if you have a system that lets members login to get discounts or view special information, it can be a barrier that some patrons are not willing to go through.”

3) Data collection
“Be creative, and visitors will appreciate they were able to arrive without answering awkward questions at the front desk.”

4) Capacity
“Analyze the seasonality, day of the week, growth rates, and patron segments to understand how many visitors you expect.”

Please read the full article on npENGAGE and let us know your suggested solutions to these concerns (and any others) in the comments section.

(photo credit: BenjaminThompson via photopin cc)