You, as an IAVM member, are our most important asset. Without your commitment to the association and to the venue management industry, we wouldn’t be here. Because of your support, we are featuring member profiles in our I Am Venue Management series. If you are interested in participating in the I Am Venue Management series, please visit http://www.iavm.org/i-am-venue-management-share-your-story.

If I wasn’t doing this I’d be a: senior leader of a company in any related hospitality business. Either hotels, resorts, golf courses, or any type of tourism business. I would choose that field because it is all front-line service, and that is what I really enjoy. Training front-line staff, monitoring their performance, and measuring customer service success is something that I do enjoy and would enjoy in those types of businesses.

Most impressive person I’ve ever met: Paul McCartney. He was so down to earth, so humble and even showed interest in what I was doing. It was a 10-minute session at best, but he was just an amazing guy. One of the few artists that were appreciative of what he had and not who he was.

I unwind by: playing golf. I love to walk the courses, be with friends, and be in the fresh air. As frustrating as the game might be some times (and it is frustrating!), you just have to remind yourself that you are very lucky to be where you are that day. You have your health, your family, and friends, and the ability to enjoy aspects of life that others do not.

On my desk right now is: way too much paperwork! A bunch of projects are all coming due and just getting through those has generated more paper than normal. I also have a couple of Facility Manager magazines which I haven’t got to yet and a few Sports Business Journals still to read.

My favorite IAVM program/conference/event/session I ever attended was: the Arena Management Conference a couple of years ago in Tampa. There were some great speakers and really interactive sessions. I was also involved with the Arenas Committee at that time, and it was a very busy but inspiring few days. Plus, the weather, the golf, and the hotel were all great.

If I were on the other side of the seats, I’d be: an ardent basketball fan. Most people think that Canadians are only into hockey. Not so true anymore. The diversity of our country lends itself more to basketball and soccer fans, especially when new Canadians are from nations where hockey is never played. So, although born here, I took to basketball so much quicker than hockey, and I REALLY don’t like the cold!

One trait an up-and-coming venue manager should have is: to always outwork your boss and outwork your peers. Although that may seem a little old fashioned to the millennial generation, I believe it demonstrates your passion, commitment to your work, and your seriousness about getting ahead.

One up-and-coming venue star in the arena industry is: Vince Bozzo, the general manager right here at the Air Canada Centre. Although still quite young, he has been in the business almost 20 years. Vince is a dedicated, passionate, loyal employee who brings the right attitude to work every day. He has common sense, a practical approach to almost every issue and simply just gets it.

One of my goals for this year is to: work smarter. I truly want to improve my technology understanding and be more efficient in today’s IT driven world. I believe, maybe, maybe not, that it should allow me to work less. And, yes, like everyone else, would like a little more work-life balance.

How do you plan to help elevate the profession? Continue to learn, grow my base knowledge, and then transfer that knowledge through teaching at the VMS at Oglebay. Also, to do more presentations at VenueConnect and at other conferences, which forces you to be a subject matter expert to intelligently pull off those sessions.

Where do you see new growth opportunities in the profession? Tough question. Venues need to certainly be developing their talent from within their organizations and committing the necessary time and resources to send their employees outside the organization for continuing education programs. That is what keeps your employees happy.

How do you stay current with industry trends and developments? I try to read a lot. Generally, our industry trade magazines are top of the list. Facility Manager has been great since R.V. Baugus came back, but the other trade magazines are good as well. I also like to read leadership books which give you new and interesting ideas on how to address your people’s issues and the many challenges of work these days,

Who are three people you’d invite to a dinner party and why? Are you kidding? Donald Trump would be number one. It was would be the most interesting couple of hours. PINK would be number 2. I met her a few years ago for a short few minutes, and she was so amazing. Friendly, outgoing, interested in what YOU had to say and not her. A fine Lady. Third would be Morgan Freeman. I have just always admired his acting and appreciated what a great talent he was.

Iowa-based venue management company VenuWorks and Ungerboeck announced a strategic partnership to bring Ungerboeck’s world-leading venue management platform to VenuWorks’ roster of venues, enabling a higher level of sophistication and standardization across all venues in their management network.

VenuWorks manages venues across the United States—from arenas and theatres to convention centers and outdoor spaces, all on behalf of its clients. By partnering with Ungerboeck, VenuWorks bolsters its ability to maximize venue utilization and reduce both direct and indirect operating costs through real-time key performance metric reporting.

As a result of the partnership, VenuWorks will become the first private management company to fully consolidate into one system all customer relationship management, sales, forecasting, event management, customer service, operations and complete audit ready financial accounting, analysis, and reporting. With the click of a button, Ungerboeck platform’s data will empower each venue’s management and staff to quickly make the best business decisions for the city and promoter, meeting planner, exhibitor, and attendee guests.

“We are thrilled to partner with Ungerboeck,” said Steve Peters, CVE, founder and president of VenuWorks. “From booking to balance sheet, each venue will operate on a single solution that houses all promoter, sponsor, planner and exhibitor, and financial information.”

Manish Chandak, President/CEO of Ungerboeck added, “Security and efficiency and visitor experience are major drivers for venue management today. With this partnership, VenuWorks is now best positioned to align its end-to-end venue management expertise with our unified software platform and industry best practices. We wish them well on new acquisitions and driving efficiency in their existing operations.”

EventBooking was named the winner of a Bronze Stevie® Award through the Annual American Business Awards, in the Communications / PR Campaign of the Year category. Their winning PR Campaign was the unique Road to VenueConnect road trip, in which three staff members toured the nation in an RV to have face-to-face discussions with venue professionals in 18 marquee venues across the country. At each of the 18 stops, EventBooking facilitated round-table discussions to explore how they could further evolve their software to be a “dream tool” for those in the venue and events industry. The trip ended at IAVM’s VenueConnect 2017 in Nashville and was covered by the touring group in Facility Manager magazine.

A division within the Stevie Awards, The American Business Awards are the United States’ premier business awards program. All organizations operating in the country were eligible to submit nominations for the awards that were presented in June at a gala ceremony at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York.

More than 3,700 nominations from organizations of all sizes and in virtually every industry were submitted this year for consideration in a wide range of categories, including Best New Product or Service of the Year, Marketing Campaign of the Year, Live Event of the Year, and App of the Year, among others.

The idea for the Road to VenueConnect campaign evolved into a mission to interact with as many venue professionals as possible, with the intent to build stronger relationships through learning more about any needs EventBooking could possibly meet. Founder and CEO John Platillero elaborated on this mission, stating, “As a venue software company, we were curious: What issues do people have day-to-day as they run their venue? How does venue technology currently help them in their job? What sort of advancements in venue technology could alleviate those? Far from a sales pitch of any kind, we wanted to recognize the hard-working people of the events industry and facilitate discussions—discussions that would give EventBooking more insight as to how we could make their jobs more seamless.”

More than 40 pages of notes were collected as a result of hearing feedback from over 150 venue professionals. All notes were organized, archived, and presented to the EventBooking software development team so the most popular ideas could be acted upon / programmed into the software. Media coverage of the journey included the four-page feature article in Facility Manager Magazine, an online feature in IQ Magazine, a live guest appearance on IAVM’s monthly podcast The Venue, as well as a 20-minute speaking opportunity on the IAVM trade show floor as part of VenueChat.

To select this year’s Stevie Award winners, more than 200 professionals worldwide participated in the judging process. The Road to VenueConnect garnered multiple comments from the anonymous judges, such as:

“Amazing idea and great initiative. Technology has made life easier but greatly reduced face-to-face contact, which is so very important. Great job guys.”

“I’m a big believer in the value of face-to-face meetings with customers, and this sounds like an excellent way to connect with customers, capture market intelligence, and generate publicity in one fell swoop.”

Michael Gallagher, president and founder of the Stevie Awards, stated that the nominations submitted for The 2018 American Business Awards were “outstanding,” and, “the competition was intense. Those recognized as Stevie Award winners should be immensely proud of this accomplishment.” Details about The American Business Awards and the list of 2018 Stevie winners are available at www.StevieAwards.com/ABA.

AEG Facilities announced that the City of Glendale has extended the company’s contract to manage Gila River Arena, home of the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes, for an additional five years through June 30, 2026.

“AEG Facilities has done an exceptional job of overseeing all aspects of the operation of the Gila River Arena,” said Glendale City Manager Kevin Phelps. “From day one, AEG Facilities has provided the arena the best set of resources, operational expertise and economic vision to further the venue’s outstanding reputation. Through our partnership with AEG, we have clearly established Gila River Arena as one of the most important arenas in the region.”

In its two years of partnership with the City of Glendale for management of the arena, AEG Facilities has led the way in securing content such as the return of Professional Bull Riders (PBR) and UFC to the market as well as stops on acclaimed global tours such as Coldplay, Pink, Elton John, Drake, Sam Smith, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, Roger Waters, Queen, WWE, Chainsmokers, Panic! at the Disco, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Just this past year alone, the Gila River Arena hosted more concerts, sold more tickets, and accumulated the highest gross ticket sales at the venue since 2009.

“We are looking forward to continuing our partnership with the City of Glendale for years to come,” said Dale Adams, general manager, Gila River Arena and vice president event development, AEG Facilities. “Gila River Arena is a first-class venue that continues to attract the most popular events on tour today.”

AEG Facilities has managed the Gila River Arena’s operations since 2016. During that time, the company has provided such services as event programming and content development, purchasing, vendor venue services, advertising, marketing, and event-day operations for the arena. Additionally, AEG Facilities has implemented its industry-leading proprietary initiatives at Gila River Arena including AEG S.A.F.E., AEG 1Source, AEG 1EARTH, AEG 1Force, AEG Encore, and AEG Energy Services.

Glendale’s Gila River Arena anchors by the Westgate Entertainment District and is also adjacent to the University of Phoenix Stadium.

Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (Management) Limited (“HML”) is committed to sustainability and strives to be at the forefront of a more sustainable event industry. To this end, HML has introduced a new sustainability initiative under the slogan “Think Before Plastic,” with a series of new measures being rolled out from the start of its new fiscal year on July 1, 2018.

One such measure is the replacement of plastic disposable cutlery with non-plastic alternatives at all HKCEC restaurant outlets and concession stands. Plastic straws are also no longer provided, with paper straws available upon request. As a result of these measures, HML expects to cut out the use of over 1,300,000 pieces of plastic disposable cutlery and more than 330,000 plastic straws in 12 months.

HML has also discontinued the sale of plastic bottled beverages from all vending machines for staff members and contractors working in back of house areas.

Community engagement is important to the success of any sustainability initiative. HML is therefore encouraging visitors and event attendees to bring their own bottles when attending events at the HKCEC, and to make use of the 18 water fountains in the HKCEC for free refills. Of these water fountains, 13 are located inside the exhibition halls, four are in the corridors of meeting rooms, and one is located in the back of house area for the use of staff members and contractors. To promote the water fountains, prominent signs have been added in exhibition halls and meeting room corridors.

Monica Lee-Müller, HML’s managing director and also the primary driver of the “Think Before Plastic” initiative, said, “All of us – venue operators, event organisers, exhibitors, buyers, visitors, event attendees, dining guests – have a responsibility towards our environment. HML is striving to be at the forefront of a greener event industry, and one way we are doing this is by encouraging our customers, event organisers, contractors, suppliers, and stakeholders, as well as other event industry players, to think before using disposable plastic items.

“Cutting out disposable plastic cutlery and plastic straws is only the beginning, though. We are continuing to work on sourcing non-disposable plastic alternatives for various other items, such as meal boxes and cup lids.”

HML was the first organisation in Hong Kong to achieve ISO 20121 Event Sustainability Management System recognition. This certification recognises that HML has fully incorporated the concept of sustainability into the entire event management cycle, including its operation procedures and guidelines.