conversation with Bill and with Al, an idea that our industry could establish safety and security guidelines for convention centers and that - ous to us at that point. Our industry needed to align our safety and se- purpose is to elevate the safety and security of “high-target, high-con- awareness of the SAO was key. Our industry is built on relational equity with trust as the most val-
ued currency. And trust is built with honesty, expertise and experience. been invaluable. Our industry owes them a lot. I think what EMSSI will eventually grow into is something beyond
- trine that will become a part of the fabric of our industry. I can see attendees having similar expectations of their safety and security when they walk into any convention center, as they do when they walk on an air- plane. That’s the vision.
David DuBois: And when some- thing happens ... not if, but when, the expectations of additional safety and security will go through the roof and will be mandated on all of us in the exhibition venue management ser- vices business, if our industry is not already aligned with the SAO. That’s another reason why EMSSI is so sig-
- dustry. Many of our convention center members struggle to cover their ex-
engaging in security evaluations from the onset. Security has increasingly become a collaborative process and implementing EMSSI protocols will give us all a more secure environment.”
George R. Brown Convention Center, Houston, Texas
R.V.:
Kevin Olsen:- ence and relational equity to bring the story of our industry directly with us. He gets it. Another byproduct of EMSSI is a much greater awareness of the They are not only supporting what we’re doing with EMSSI, they have become trusted partners with us. I don’t know if we’ve ever seen such a practical example of public and private partnership in our industry, done before. Remember, EMSSI is not about a single convention center. It is about guidelines for ALL convention centers. EMSSI is about dramat- ically reducing the time and costs it will take a convention center (any within the EMSSI guidelines. It won’t be easy, but it will be much more streamlined with what IAVM will have in place.
R.V.: Brad Mayne: One of the other initiatives that we’re working on is
penses. Events are important and represent an economic boost to the organization and to the community. That convention center is taking of the services that go with it. criteria than that convention center is typically accountable for. The economic impact of that event hasn’t been collected together to really show what the bigger picture is. It hasn’t taken into account in many cases that the convention centers basically are only looking at what’s happening within the convention center and their own P&L. What really needs to happen, and our convention center operators know it and understand it, is that as an industry we need to explain to the com- munity what the combined economic impact is of that event. Across the CVB, the convention center, hotels, related services, etc. Kevin
is absolutely correct, if
something happens in one of our will be dramatic. It will fundamen- tally change the way that we handle our safety and security programs. We don’t want somebody else dictating to us what that’s going to be. We want to be able to set those baselines and guidelines with professionals that we know and that know what they’re do- ing. That’s where Keyway comes in with Al and Bill and that expertise of helping us put it together. Kevin is the
one that always remembers what the four core elements that EMSSI is
R.V.: Kevin, what about the “guts’ of EMSSI? What can you tell us?
Kevin Olsen: These guidelines are not going to be a checklist. They’re not prescrip- tive. They need to be applicable for the wide range of convention cen- to the incredible diversity of events that use convention centers every can function along with the thousands of businesses that make up our industry’s $280 billion ecosystem.
R.V.:
Larry Arnaudet: Back in 2008 and 2009, we began investing in a going to have to happen and rather than contractors and buildings sitting around and waiting for an entity of the government to come in and drop a four-inch binder on us and say, “Hey, this is what we think that you need to have accomplished as far as identifying people
Photo provided by IMEX America IA AVM 21
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