By Mevisha Maistry

The Edmonton Convention Centre and Edmonton EXPO Centre announced that both venues are recognized among the 2021 EXHIBITOR Centers of Excellence. Produced by EXHIBITOR Magazine, the annual award recognizes the top 30 venues for trade shows and events in North America.

All North American convention and exhibition venues are eligible to apply to the Centers of Excellence program, with the 30 highest-scoring entries being named among Centers of Excellence. Applicants are evaluated by a panel of corporate exhibit managers based on a survey of past clients (Customer Service and On-Site Support) and criteria within five categories including: Facility and Functionality, Location and Accommodations, Service and Execution, Upgrades and Expansions and Awards and Industry.

“Both the Edmonton Convention Centre and Edmonton EXPO Centre were among just 25 facilities that scored more than 300 points in the category of Customer Service and On-Site Support—a score that is based on surveys of past customers as well as EXHIBITOR readers who have exhibited at, or hosted events at, the venues in question,” said Travis Stanton, editor of EXHIBITOR. “That’s a strong indication event organizers and participants can rest easy knowing they’ll be in caring and capable hands anytime business travel takes them to Edmonton.”

Operated by Explore Edmonton Corporation (Explore Edmonton), the Edmonton Convention Centre and Edmonton EXPO Centre are fixtures in the community that contribute to the vitality of Edmonton as a visitor destination.

“It is an honour to have both Explore Edmonton managed venues recognized as Centers of Excellence—a testament to our expertise in venue management and Edmonton’s ability to deliver exceptional visitor experiences through two of North America’s top facilities,” said Arlindo Gomes, Vice President of Venues for Explore Edmonton. “Event planners and clients get more than a venue–they gain access to the planning expertise and resources of a committed team of professionals that care about the experience of everyone that walks through our doors.”

The Edmonton EXPO Centre stands as the largest exhibition space in Western Canada with over 522,000 square feet and 1.3 million annual visitors. Located minutes from downtown Edmonton via Light Rail Transit access, the Edmonton EXPO Centre houses eight adaptable exhibit halls, Edmonton’s only mid-sized arena and a modern conference centre. The Edmonton EXPO Centre attracts the region’s largest trade shows, festivals, live entertainment and sporting events and delivered $74.4 million in economic impact in 2019.

Architecturally entrenched in downtown’s riverbank with Canada’s largest building-integrated solar cell installation, the Edmonton Convention Centre overlooks North America’s biggest urban parkland. The centre is one of only five Canadian venues with ASTM certification and was also the first convention venue in Canada to receive Green Key level five certification. Through its commitment to its people and local culture, the centre gives back to its community through social sustainability programs and attracts international and national events which drove $39.4 million in economic impact in 2019.

Mevisha Maistry is Specialist, Marketing and Communications – Venues, for Explore Edmonton.

Kara Cox is an event coordinator for Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri. Her career in venue management began in 2016 as an event supervisor for the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau, MO. With her passion for the industry and desire to strive for excellence, she is determined to do everything she can to see the venue industry succeed.

Join your Foundation in congratulating Kara on being honored as one of the 30|UNDER|30 Class of 2020 and don’t forget to come back each Thursday as we spotlight another honoree!

The COVID Relief NOW Coalition calls for “No Recess Without Relief” imploring Congress to find bipartisan solution to move COVID stimulus package

IAVM has joined COVID RELIEF NOW, a new coalition of nearly 200 major public and private sector groups across the U.S. Today, COVID RELIEF NOW called for “No Recess without Relief” imploring Congress to not leave town for the 2020 elections without passing additional COVID economic relief – stating millions of jobs and survival of small businesses as well as vital government services are on the line. 

Brad Mayne, President and CEO of IAVM states, “Our public venues in every community have been decimated by the inability to open our arenas, stadiums, performing arts theaters, and convention centers which derive their revenues from hosting events. This not only affects the organization and it’s employees, but also the small businesses that support the events including production, F&B, restaurants, hotels, and the like.”

The coalition stated that if Congress fails to act, millions of employees will be furloughed or terminated; millions of unemployed Americans will lose their unemployment insurance pandemic benefits; hundreds of thousands of companies will be at risk of closing their doors forever; and the vast majority of state and local governments will have to curtail critical services in order to balance budgets due to a decline in tax revenue.

Click here to view the letter signed by coalition members that was sent to Congress today.

By Tom Cornwall, CVE

As I write this we have seen 68 days dawn in the BUBBLE created for the Edmonton hub for the NHL Hub City Tournament.

Four nights ago the NHL crowned the Dallas Stars as the Western Conference Champions and last night we crowned the Tampa Bay Lightning as the Eastern Conference Champs.

Tonight is the eve of Game 1 of the final round to crown the 2020 Stanley Cup Champion.

The Western and Eastern Champions will battle in a best of 7 series to claim Lord Stanley’s Cup.

Some say this is the hardest Championship to win in all of professional sports and it has been said recently that perhaps this year’s Championship will be the hardest to win of all times since it’s been done all in a bubble under the constant threat of COVID 19.

About 60 days ago we welcomed twelve teams to each of the Edmonton and Toronto hubs to become what has lovingly been called Bubble Hockey.

Through the dedication of a few hundred NHL management/staff, third party contractors and the hockey teams we have managed to survive the ups and downs of living 24/7 in the bubble.

Daily nose or throat swabs, wearing masks 24/7, sanitizing/washing hands constantly, hotel/arena food and Skip the Dishes, Pickle Ball tournaments, golf simulators, only FaceTime/Zoom or cell phone contact with family and friends, has become the way of life accepted by all in this Bubble world we created. Hockey without spectators took some adjusting to but the NHL has done a great job to create the “home arena” atmosphere as best possible with their graphics and audio/video production.

Two weeks ago the remaining two teams in Toronto joined the remaining two teams in Edmonton for the right to crown the Eastern and Western Conference Champions and do battle for the right to lift Lord Stanley’s Cup and the honor of becoming the 2020 Stanley Cup Champions. Within a few days the champion will be crowned and the teams and 90 percent of the staff will depart the next morning to reacquaint themselves with life outside the bubble. For a few of us, bubble life will continue for a couple extra days as we dismantle the production, pack away the sanitization equipment/supplies, dismantle fences, write the reports and “Pop the Bubble” that has been our home for nearly 80 days.

Twenty four became four and then there were two.

SOON THERE WILL BE ONE BUBBLE HOCKEY SURVIVOR!

Tom Cornwall, CVE, is Hub City Compliance Officer and with Oak View Group/Prevent Advisors.

By Ellen O’Brien

Workplace distancing. Crowd density. Occupancy, vacancy, capacity. Welcome to the new language of reopening campuses and venues around the globe.

Whether it’s pro sports venues, college stadiums, campus libraries, or office buildings, dedicated reopen task forces are hard at work understanding new requirements to count people, manage physical distanging, and help students, fans and employees return safely.

At the same time, CIOs say this is a very noisy time — they are hearing lots of pitches from lots of vendors who want to help them reopen safely. Evaluating AI-powered reopen software can be daunting, even though there are some obvious starting points. It should have proven partnerships in your vertical. It should scale easily, and ideally be vendor agnostic, working with any IT provider you currently have on premises.

But what else should you know about this category of crowd intelligence software? We’ve highlighted 6 key attributes here:

1. Ask before investing in sensors. Ask whether the solution requires sensors to be installed over doorways or other locations. Depending on your electrical supply options, and the procedures for replacing batteries, some sensors could potentially become a hassle. Inquire whether the solution can leverage existing video systems you already have in place.

2. Remote Deploy. Considering how hard it is to schedule meetings and visitors these days, this might seem like an obvious starting point. If you believe your SaaS provider can get you up and running remotely, it may take some of the initial strain off the project.

3. Privacy. Most organizations do not want to be in the surveillance business. When looking for software that helps you count people and predict how and when they will use spaces – think library during finals week or holiday shopping at the mall – look for a solution that provides you visual representations of people in your space. Ask your SaaS provider if the data they wrangle and you see is anonymous.

4. A display you love. Everyone will tell you their software has the most intuitive interface. That’s because the user experience is important — but not because it makes you feel happier and smarter when you see it (though that’s nice) but because every other person in your organization should feel empowered by it. Non-technical types should find it easy to use and understand. So yes, there’s a lot of GUI hype — but for good reason.

5. Alerting. Make sure you have the ability to surface anomalies in ways that make sense to your team in the command center, or the ones using mobile devices. These threshold alerts can help facility and security teams respond to incidents faster, avoid bottlenecks or overcrowding, and adjust staffing when necessary.

6. Compliance. When evaluating reopen software, ask providers whether you will be able to review data for compliance purposes. So much time and effort will be dedicated to phased reopening; make sure you are able to review and show data that makes clear how people use the space you manage, and how your reopen plan is working.

If you are looking for reopen software to understand crowd behavior on your campus or venue, contact Jaclyn Smith, Vice President, Sales, at jaclyn.smith@armoredthings.com to learn more.

Ellen O’Brien is Director of Content & Marketing at Armored Things and based in Boston.