Industry Is Angered Over Move by Cuomo
-The New York Times

Matthew Barbara, regional president of Marine Max, the largest boat dealer in New York, was contemplating pulling out of the century-old New York Boat Show at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center.

Attendance had fallen sharply, and it was not worth hauling 40 or 50 Boston Whalers, Sea Rays and other pleasure boats to the Manhattan show. He had asked for dates that he felt were more favorable, and had been rebuffed.

But he did not pull out. Instead, he called Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.

“I got lucky; he actually picked up the phone,” Mr. Barbara said. “I explained what’s going on; the amount of business we’re losing, the sales tax we collect and the amount of people we’re letting go. I explained it to him, and he made it happen.”

The governor — whose love of outdoor sports and the lakes of upstate New York is well known — intervened. The boating industry got the dates it wanted in January, and even a September event on the Hudson River.

But there was a problem. The new dates for the boat show meant that five other trade shows and conventions had to be moved to less favorable dates. And those shows have an arguably greater economic impact.

See also: IAVM Letter to Governor Cuomo in Support of Javits Convention Center

NFL Stadium Falls Leave One Dead, Two Injured
-NBC News

A football fan tumbled to his death from an elevated walkway outside Candlestick Park, moments after the San Francisco 49ers kicked off their final season home opener at the stadium.

In a separate incident, two people were injured Sunday when a railing collapsed as the Colts played the Raiders in Indianapolis.

This week, IAVM announced that Peggy Daidakis, the executive director at the Baltimore Convention Center, is the 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award recipient on behalf of IAVM’s Convention Centers/Exhibit Halls Committee. The award will be presented to Peggy this October 3-5, at the 2013 International Convention Center Conference (ICCC) to be held in Charlotte, NC. The award is presented to an individual recognized by their peers for outstanding contributions to both IAVM and the convention center industry.

For almost 40 years, Peggy Daidakis has served the city of Baltimore and for 20 has served as the Executive Director for the Baltimore Convention Center. She started her career as a public servant in 1973 while working in Mayor William Donald Schafer’s office. Peggy has been a part of every major redevelopment in Baltimore’s meetings and tourism history, beginning with the restoration of Baltimore’s famed Inner Harbor. Her early roles involved representing the Mayor at community meetings and grew to the planning of festivals. Continue Reading →

In 2005, Michael Bouchard, Assistant Director/Field Operations of ATF, estimated at that time nearly 5,000 gun shows were taking place each year in the United States.

In 2009, CNN reported that that Americans owned around 300 million non-military firearms.

This past May, Trade Show News Network (TSNN) reported that the National Rifle Association’s Annual Meeting & Exhibit shattered previous attendance records, bringing in over 86,228 attendees. More than 550 exhibitors covered 400,000 square feet of exhibit hall space.

While it is certain venue managers are always excited see show traffic filling their booking sheets – the increase in gun shows, the uptick in gun ownership, and the addition of inexperienced gun owners, creates some real safety challenges for venues hosting gun shows inside their venues. Continue Reading →

Establishing an Analytics Culture in Public Safety
-Government Technology

The explosion of big data provides a vast new resource that can transform organizations, helping them build smarter systems that drive economic growth, sustainable development and societal progress.

In the world of public safety, big data comprises existing data often stored in disparate databases, including a wide range of sources, from arrest records to court documents and mug shots. Much of it is also text-based documents, police reports, and field reports to name a few. For many agencies, it can be difficult to make sense of this data in a meaningful way that can help solve and even prevent crime. Combined with the near infinite volumes of new data sources from the Web and mobile applications, this challenge is compounded further.

Electric Zoo Festival Canceled After Two Deaths
-Billboard

The third day of the Electric Zoo Festival today (September 1) has been canceled due to “serious health risks,” a statement from the New York City government announced and a posting from the festival confirmed.

The release on NYC.gov states that two fans had died and at least four became “critically ill” during the first two days of the festival (August 30-31) held on NYC’s Randall’s Island, and while “definitive causes of death have not yet been determined, both appear to have involved the drug MDMA (ecstasy, or molly).”

Cameras to Analyze Player Moves (NBA)
-ESPN

The NBA announced Thursday that it will install motion-tracking cameras in every arena this season to provide coaches, players and fans reams of data aimed at pulling back the curtain on what it takes to succeed at basketball’s highest level.

The NBA has partnered with STATS on the SportVU cameras, and the relationship has grown from a single arena during the 2009 NBA Finals into a league-wide initiative that will be up and ready for the start of this season. The technology can monitor every move a player makes on the court, gauge how tired he is and can even keep an eye on the job referees are doing.

Continue Reading →

photo credit: tedeytan via photopin cc

Did you know that 71% of IAVM’s convention centers polled in the 2010 VenueDataSource Convention Center Operating Expense Report were at least 10 years old or more? And, over 49% of the surveyed venues said they planned to update lighting systems and 82% needed to update fixtures and furnishings.

So how does a venue manager keep up an aging building and still stay current with the industry’s next hot trends that attendees expect to see during their annual conference or business meeting? How will you integrate renovation expenses into your wish list of cool gadgets? Your best bet is to not spend blindly on products and technologies that may become obsolete and waste those precious dollars.

Convention Center managers attending this year’s International Convention Center Conference, Oct 3-5 in Charlotte, North Carolina, will have the opportunity to hear industry leaders in a 2-day/2-part session provide a “glimpse of tomorrow” that might help guide decisions on where to invest to stay ahead of the curve. Continue Reading →