One week after we lost Dick Shaff, GM of San Francisco’s Moscone Center, we lost Bill Luther, former manager of the Norfolk (Va.) Scope. Bill died Aug. 8 in Spartansburg, S.C., after a long battle with cancer.
It’s a rerun. Just a couple of months ago, we mourned the passing of David Ross, Show Me Center, Cape Girardeau, Mo., and a few days later Roy Saunders, Mr. Tulsa.
All four were past presidents of what was then IAAM (International Association of Auditorium Managers), now called the IAVM for ‘Venue Managers’ and undergoing changes today that are almost retroactive.
Like days gone by for Shaff, Luther, Ross and Saunders, IAVM is planning to combine all the sector meetings (International Convention Center Conference, Performing Arts Managers Conference and Arena Management Conference) and put them back into the big annual conference, now called VenueConnect. That’s the way it used to be.
Reminiscing with Marilyn Shaff, Dick’s wife of 56 years, we recalled how everyone got together once a year for the big meeting and, during the year, at district meetings (now called region meetings) that were geographical.
When Dick was president of IAAM, Marilyn was first lady. She would preside over the spouses program and treasured the interaction with other women (and men — remember Jack, Mid Wolf Grood’s husband?) as they learned to cope with an industry that meant long hours away from home for their loved ones.
“Everybody knew everybody,” Marilyn recalled. “That’s when the spouses went; it was a family thing. After the convention, we all got together and went somewhere. We would support each other.”
It was a much smaller world then, of course. The general manager of the building, often in his late 20s, early 30s, was making buying decisions on the trade show floor, recalled Cliff Wallace, also a past president of IAVM and now in China and Hong Kong opening new venues. That power is kaput. The industry is bigger and more bureaucratic than it was.
But the one thing that has not changed, will probably never change, is that it is a relationship business. It’s important to know one another, support one another, learn best practices one-on-one. Maybe a combined VenueConnect and re-invigorated region meetings can ignite that camaraderie among new members.
Bringing IAVM back together, with region meetings as a place for GM, AGMs, ops and marketing to get to know the neighborhood and bring the family, seems like an idea that worked once. I hope it can work again in the new world. It all comes down to leadership. With Brad Mayne at the helm as CEO of IAVM, it’s almost like the good old days to old-timers like me. Considering the standing ovations Brad received during VenueConnect, I’m not alone in optimism about the future.
God grant you many years to return to the glory days with ‘new’ ideas.