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)

We’ve been talking a lot about how valuable the education is at the AVSS Severe Weather Planning and Preparedness Course (March 4-5 in Norman, Oklahoma). However, it’s one thing to hear the message from headquarters. It’s another to hear it from former course student, Andy McWilliams, director of operations at Talladega Superspeedway.

According to Bob C. Mayer, CFE, a member of the AVSS Severe Weather Planning faculty, the program will feature the “rock stars” in the world of meteorology.

“[They] will discuss a variety of severe weather threats, including tornadoes, strong straight-line winds, hail, and atmospheric electricity (lightning),” he said in the Region VI newsletter. “You will learn a little about how to read those radar signatures and how to interpret that information. Experts in crowd management, legal issues, and architectural design will give you information that is so vitally important to your planning process. There will be a special focus on how you can create “Trigger Charts” for each event to help in the decision-making process during each type of severe weather threat, and you will experience an interactive and challenging exercise to bring all that you learn into focus.”

Please visit the Severe Weather Planning and Preparedness website to register and to learn more about the course.

It seems fitting that we’re announcing a new podcast series on World Radio Day, because podcasts are essentially the new radio. Their popularity has grown over the last few years as more people rely on the Internet for news, entertainment, and social interaction. And because we want to offer you content in a variety of ways for your busy lifestyle, we’re happy to present The Amplifier podcast, a free, educational program about marketing events and venues with conversations with some of the best minds in your profession.

“The new Amplier podcast series are relevant and timely discussions on how to market your venues’ events; insights from thoughtful and creative industry leaders,” said Gina Brydson, IAVM’s director of membership. “The beauty of this on-demand radio programming is that you can listen on your smartphone, in the office, when riding in your car…whenever the time is convenient for you. Another nice feature of your IAVM membership, for free! Who can dispute that value?”

The first episode features Errol McKoy, president of the State Fair of Texas. In the interview, host Kendra Wright talks with McKoy about how the State Fair of Texas has gained national presence, what McKoy has learned in his years in the industry, and his thoughts on Big Tex burning, the reaction, and how the fair was able to turn something bad into something good.

As I mentioned, The Amplifier is a valuable addition to your membership, another opportunity for us to inform, entertain, and inspire you. There are three ways you can listen.

1) Click the orange “Play” button on the episode below (it works on mobile devices, too).

2) Subscribe on iTunes, so you’ll always have the latest episode on your device.

3) Or subscribe to The Dirt, and we’ll make sure you’re always in-the-know.

The Amplifier is brought to you by Saffire Events in cooperation with IAVM, the International Association of Fairs & Expos, the International Festivals & Events Association, and the Western Fairs Association.

Please let us know in the comments section if you’d like to be on a future podcast episode or your thoughts about the podcast. Thank you for listening!