By Rita de la Fuente
On Monday, November 11, we hosted IAVM’s Mark Herrera for a security training. This was a free training for our staff and we invited other venues around our region to send members of their team to spread the knowledge beyond our building. We even ran the training twice in order to accommodate two separate shifts and ensure more availability.
“The San Diego Convention Center Corporation has increased efforts to educate employees on the significance of 
pre-incident indicators, situational awareness and the obligation and responsibilities that all employees have in keeping our facility safe,” said Director of Public Safety Todd Temple. “Mark’s recent presentation on “Securing Events through Exceptional Focus” has provided that continued education we are looking for.”
This was not the first time we have had this training for our staff, but as Mark said, it’s “one more rep.” Each person benefits from having time dedicated to learning and focusing on more than their daily responsibilities, even if it is a refresher.
Another important aspect is that new catastrophes continue to happen and each one brings with it new challenges and new lessons learned for the venues involved. Mark brings some of the most current information so that our team can keep performing our best.
We learned primarily about what to do before tragedy strikes. The goal was to increase our own awareness in order to detect security concerns and mitigate risk. Examples include:
• Dealing with someone uncooperative
• Identifying pre-assault indicators
• Preventing confrontations from becoming volatile
• Leveraging a guest service approach to investigate potential security risks
One of the key takeaways from the training is to “inoculate ourselves.” When a situation escalates and a catastrophe occurs, we need our brain to have previous experience considering what actions we will need to take. This will help maintain control of the physiological effects that happen during high-pressure situations.
Rita de la Fuente is public affairs manager for the San Diego Convention Center Corporation.
