If you are a young professional (YP) or student attending VenueConnect 2016 this July, you will not be alone! Thanks to numerous new initiatives through IAVM and the IAVM Foundation, like the 30|UNDER|30 program, the Minneapolis area will be flooded with young professionals and students with an interest in the venue management industry. If this will be your first VenueConnect conference and trade show, here are some quick tips on how to get the most out of your experience.

UpStart: Emerging Leaders Experience

If you do anything while you are at the conference, be sure to attend UpStart on Saturday morning. This awesome educational and networking session was started last year. It is a great way to connect with other young professionals and students within the industry, learn from educational sessions targeted directly to the millennial generation, and meet veterans in the venue industry. For more information on UpStart, visit http://www.iavm.org/venueconnect/upstart-2016. Special thank you to the IAVM Foundation and Western Kentucky for continuing this great program!

Meet People

You’ll quickly see that VenueConnect is like a huge family reunion for many of venue industry veterans. It’s a great conference to reconnect with old acquaintances and make new contacts, as well. Search out other young professionals and get to know them. Look for opportunities to meet experienced people in the industry. There will be countless opportunities to network!

Interact with the 30|UNDER|30 Class

This is the second year for this great program that works to engage young talent in the venue management industry. And thanks to the IAVM Foundation, SearchWide, and Ungerboeck Software International, each 2016 recipient has been awarded complimentary registration and a travel stipend to be at VenueConnect. The group will be recognized at the Venue Industry Awards Luncheon on Monday, July 25, and should be out in full force all weekend. Don’t be afraid to reach out and connect with them! As a YP myself, I want to thank IAVM and the IAVM Foundation for their generous support in the Build An Amazing Future campaign. It is initiatives like these that are truly making an impact on young professionals in the venue management industry.

Experience All that VenueConnect has to Offer

Attend the educational sessions—each day you’ll find that there will be sessions tailored directly to your venue type or topic of interest. Hit up the Trade Show floor—even if you don’t have buying power now, learn what is out there and meet our friends within the Allied sector. Some day, you will have buying power, and you’ll look to those companies to meet your needs. Attend opening and closing keynote speeches, the awards luncheons, and the closing party. Find other socials and dinners to go to with new and old friends. VenueConnect truly is a great conference, especially if you make an effort to get the most out of i. And look around you, other young professionals and students will be all over!

*Special note: For those of you who are not YPs, look out! This year at VenueConnect, we want to meet you and pick your brain. You have been warned! 🙂

(Image: Orange Photography)

The Education Corner in the IAVM booth (#1435) at VenueConnect is a great place to meet others and learn from experts who will help you succeed in your professional development. Here are a few highlights you can expect to experience.

IAVM Textbook Authors
Saturday, July 23, 3:30 – 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, July 24, 10:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.

Steve Camp, CFE, retired venue Manager
Lee A. Esckilsen, CFE, CHE, associate professor, Johnson & Wales University
Adonis “Sporty” Jeralds, CFE, clinical instructor, University of South Carolina
Kimberly Mahoney, PhD, assistant professor, sport management, University of New Haven College of Business

Stop by and meet the authors of the IAVM textbook and get it signed. They’ll be on hand to talk about its content and any other questions you may have. There will be a special VenueConnect attendee price of $75 for the book. They’ll lead a session “Maximizing the Use of the IAVM Textbook” (Monday, July, 25, 8:30 – 9:30 a.m.) in room 101 ABC.

The IAVM Blueprint: Event Management
IAVM is happy to announce that the first in our new reference series, The IAVM Blueprint, is making its debut at VenueConnect! The IAVM Blueprint provides in-depth exploration of topics fundamental to successful venue operations. Our first topic is event management within a public assembly venue and is written specifically for industry professionals. The IAVM Blueprint: Event Management guides the reader through the event planning process and includes more than 400 pages of industry documents from a variety of venues. We’re also offering a special VenueConnect attendee price of $39.99. Stop by the Education Corner, check it out, and speak with the author!

Meet and Greet with UpStart Keynote Speaker
Saturday, July 23, 4:30 – 5 p.m.

Phil Gwoke, generational expert and keynote speaker with BridgeWorks, LLC, will be on hand to meet attendees and discuss managing multiple generations in the workplace.

Career Resource Center
Saturday, July 23, 3:30 – 5 p.m.
Sunday, July 24, 1 – 2:30 p.m.

Mark Gnatovic, senior vice president of SearchWide, is sharing his vast experiences and resources with IAVM attendees looking to gain insight on positioning themselves, or their company, for success in today’s job market. Also be sure to stop by for Mark’s guest appearance at the The Venue Podcast: Career Edition on Sunday from 10:40 – 11 a.m. at Booth #1347.

Sustainability Committee
Sunday, July 24, 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.

Come by to speak with the IAVM Sustainably Committee about all of your ‘green’ questions. Also don’t miss their two Fireside Chats on Sunday: 2016 Sustainability VenueDataSource Report – 11:55a – 12:15p &  The Evolution of R22 & How it will Affect your Future Refrigerants – 12:20-12:40p.

Like a bunch of Walking Dead zombies, people are leaving their desks, walking around downtowns, searching for tiny monsters. Pokémon Go is the most popular app in years, and it’s causing everything from car wrecks (please don’t Poke and drive) to finding dead bodies. You thought Twitter brought the world together. Nope. It’s Pokémon Go.

You might be saying, “I’m in a venue, what does this have to do with me?” Fair question, to which I respond, “You have tiny monsters in your venue and people are going to visit you to capture them.”

“America’s stadiums are proving to be a rich hunting ground for those players who are doing their best to catch ‘em all,” Sports Illustrated reported. “So far fans and teams have posted screenshots with all manner of Pokémon appearing in the home turf of the Panthers, Brewers, Redskins and more.”

One venue is capitalizing on the app, which is being used an average of 43 minutes and 23 seconds a day, according to data from SimilarWeb.

The Durham Bulls Athletic Park (DBAP) in North Carolina plans to sell $5 tickets for gamers to search for the monsters in its stands, seats, and empty field from 11 a.m to 1 p.m. on Tuesday. All the proceeds will benefit Second Chance Pet Adoptions.

“Over our last homestand we found that the DBAP proved to be a hotspot for Pokémon, with characters popping up in all areas of the stadium,” Bulls General Manager Mike Birling told WRAL.com. “The problem was, many of the Pokémon were on the field, and our fans weren’t able to catch them. [Now], we can make sure no Pokémon at the DBAP goes uncaptured.”

Are you obsessed with the game? Have you opened up your venue to gamers? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.

(Image: Milwaukee Brewers/Twitter)

I believe it’s safe to say people want to be happy. We seek it in various ways—playing sports, watching TV, listening to music, etc. All of those are great, and I’d like to propose a way you may not have thought about: eating more fruit and vegetables.

A new study in the American Journal of Public Health shows that happiness benefits were discovered for each daily portion of fruit and vegetables consumed. (They also make life more meaningful.)

“Eating fruit and vegetables apparently boosts our happiness far more quickly than it improves human health,” said study co-author and University of Warwick professor Andrew Oswald. “People’s motivation to eat healthy food is weakened by the fact that physical-health benefits, such as protecting against cancer, accrue decades later. However, well-being improvements from increased consumption of fruit and vegetables are closer to immediate.”

More than 12,000 randomly selected people participated in the longitudinal study and kept food diaries in 2007, 2009, and 2013. Adjustments were made for effects on incident changes in happiness and life satisfaction for people’s income changes and personal circumstances.

The results?

“Increased fruit and vegetable consumption was predictive of increased happiness, life satisfaction, and well-being,” the authors wrote. “They were up to 0.24 life-satisfaction points (for an increase of eight portions a day), which is equal in size to the psychological gain of moving from unemployment to employment. Improvements occurred within 24 months.”

Consider this study the next time you reach for a snack. Instead of a bag of chips, choose a banana.

(photo credit: Jon McGovern via photopin cc)

The International Association of Venue Managers (IAVM) announces the selection of Brad Mayne, CFE, as its new President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), effective July 19, 2016. Mayne will also serve as the President and CEO of the IAVM Foundation.

IAVM represents public assembly venues from around the globe. IAVM’s active members include managers and senior executives from auditoriums, arenas, convention centers, exhibit halls, stadiums, performing arts centers, university complexes, and amphitheaters.

SearchWide was the executive search firm that brought in all the great candidates for this position.

“Throughout his career, Brad has garnered respect from every facet of our industry,” said Karen Totaro, CFE, IAVM chair. “He has worked across sectors in various leadership roles, including within IAVM, which has earned him awards and praise. We are excited to have him take over the helm of IAVM.”

The appointment of the veteran public assembly venue professional and one of the industry’s most respected and accomplished practitioners brings Mayne back to the Dallas area, where he served as President and CEO of Center Operating Co. and the American Airlines Center from 1998-2012. Mayne earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Leisure Studies in 1978 from the University of Utah before embarking on his public assembly venue career at the Salt Palace Center in Salt Lake City, UT. He earned his Certified Facilities Executive (CFE) designation in 1992.

“I am thrilled to take on this new professional challenge for an organization that is critical in advancing the work and professional practice of venue management and is so highly valued among industry professionals,” Mayne said.

Mayne has most notably been involved in IAVM through his service at the Venue Management School at Oglebay and the school’s Graduate Institute, where he has served as dean since 2012 and served on the school’s Board of Regents since 1997. Among the long list of awards he has received throughout his career are the Charles A. McElravy Award in 2009 and the Legacy Award from the IAVM Foundation in 2011.

“Having an industry leader with Brad’s abilities, relationships, and leadership will help advance the strategic goals of the Foundation, which works to ensure the perpetual success and growth of the public assembly industry,” said Bob Hunter, CFE, incoming chair of the IAVM Foundation.