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.

If you have five minutes and an interest in acoustics, I recommend watching the above video. In it, Nicholas Edwards, an expert in auditorium acoustics, compares two concert halls and illustrates how their design affects audiences’ perception of sounds.

“From concert halls of the past, we can learn how to design concert halls of the future,” Edwards said.

The San Diego Convention Center’s famous Sails Pavilion is one of many $25.5 million in capital improvements approved by the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank (IBank) Board of Directors on June 28, 2016.

“I am very proud of the collaborative efforts of all the parties involved,” said Laurie Coskey, chair of the San Diego Convention Center Corporation [SDCCC] Board of Directors, in a statement. “Collectively, the State, the City, and the Convention Center staff and Board of Directors all came together and through cooperative teamwork, created a responsible funding plan that will pave the way for significant improvements of the facility. This historic investment will begin the upgrades of the San Diego Convention Center, a long-serving economic driver. We look forward to sharing the planned improvements with our clients, as we continue to give them more reasons to come back over and over again, to reinvest further in San Diego.”

Eight capital improvement projects funded by the IBank loan include escalator modernization, updating fire- and life-safety systems, installing new cooling towers, and rejuvenating the Sails Pavilion.

“For more than 25 years, the San Diego Convention Center has served as a gathering place for organizations, associations, and members of the San Diego community to meet and share ideas, experiences, and knowledge,” said SDCCC President and CEO Clifford “Rip” Rippetoe, CFE, in a statement. “We are honored to provide a space that allows so many to come together and we look forward to upgrading our facility so that we may continue providing our guests with an outstanding experience.”

(Image: San Diego Convention Center)

Detroit’s SMG/Cobo Center announced a new Technology Services department to drive profitability and enhance events. A recent $279 million renovation included a broadcast studio, digital signage, Internet/Wi-Fi upgrades, and an extensive fiber network.

“The creation of Cobo Center Technology Services, though significant on its own, is part of a larger overall plan designed to enhance the customer experience,” Claude Molinari., the center’s general manager, said in a statement.

The new digital signage includes a 4,800-square-foot marquee sign on the center’s exterior and more than 100 digital message boards outside each meeting or event room.

“In our first year of digital signage operation, Cobo Center generated more than $800,000 in advertising revenue, an astounding feat for a convention center,” Molinari said. “Our customers quickly caught on to the fact that these signs can create substantial revenue streams.”

The center also plans to increase bandwidth up to 10G (depending on an event’s needs).

“This final enhancement will make the Technology Services offering in Cobo Center the highest caliber, comparable to any convention center in the world,” Molinari said

Other technology enhancements, according to a press release, include a free facility app that is fully integrable with event apps; recent cell tower upgrades with all providers; online event service ordering for all event services, making service ordering paperless; and conversation pod furniture groups where customers can relax, plug-in, and recharge between meetings.

I love a good hackathon, and the one recently held at the University of Buffalo (UB) produced some worthy ideas.

More than 50 students spent 24 hours visualizing about the stadium of the future, concentrating on hospitality and guest experiences. Delaware North, the UB School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, the UB School of Management, and UB Athletics sponsored the event.

“Think about the last time you were at a stadium,” Rick Abramson, COO and executive vice president for Delaware North, told the students, as reported by the UB Reporter. “What did you like? What turned you off or what was lacking? Were the seats too small? Was the food good? Could you find a jersey to buy? Talk to friends over Wi-Fi? What would you do better? We want to learn from you. How can we satisfy people of your age and demographic?”

A strength of this hackathon was the different groups of students—engineering, management, etc.—working together toward a common goal.

“There’s a lot of literature—much of it has come out of the U.S. Army, for example — that shows that groups that have diversity of views and expertise will create better outcomes and solutions and products than groups that are more homogeneous,” Liesl Folks, dean of the School Engineering and Applied Sciences, told the UB Reporter.

Eight teams ended up pitching their ideas to a panel of judges, and first-, second-, and third-place winners were selected.

The team that won first place developed a wearable wristband that replaces a fan’s tickets and ID and lets someone make quick, cashless purchases at concession stands.

Please read the full UB Reporter article to learn more about the hackathon and to find out which ideas were awarded second and third places.

(Image: UB Reporter)