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By Kevin Duvall
The books closed at IAAM’s Public Assembly Facility Management School (PAMFS)
this summer, and the 19th graduating class received their graduation
certificates. Since its inception 20 years ago, nearly 2,000 students
have completed the program. When you think about it, that’s not a lot of
folks compared with the size of our profession.
My quick review of the Georgia World Congress Center
Authority (GWCCA) records indicates that 19 current or former students
have been introduced to PAFMS. If the GWCCA — which operates the
Congress Center, the Georgia Dome and Centennial Olympic Park — submits
three student applications per year we should be able to rotate everyone
through by 2150.
Positive Feedback
A quick check with the GWCCA graduates confirms that this endeavor might
be worth it. Here’s what they have to say:
`What does PAFMS mean to you? “An opportunity to get away from
the comfortable and interact with peers.”
“The best opportunity to network and learn with
facility peers from a huge variety of venue types and sizes.”
“It showed me that our industry is as dedicated and
informed as any out there.”
“All of the world’s problems can be solved in the
Glassworks.” (My personal favorite.)
What experiences do you take away from PAFMS? “The lasting
friendships. I still communicate regularly with a number of my
classmates. The striking thing about the school is how much we all have
in common. From huge convention centers to college settings to small
municipal civic centers, the operational issues are amazingly similar.”
“Great networking opportunity. That network, in turn,
allows sharing of ideas and information.”
“I remember being extremely proud of what we had
accomplished as a facility in our processes and procedures. It was a
real validation that we were on the right track and very fortunate.”
“It offered the opportunity to learn about all elements
of the assembly management business, including areas that we aren't
exposed to — challenges of smaller venues, performing arts facilities
and arenas — as well as areas that we’re not necessarily immersed in at
our own facility — ticketing, financial, HR.”
Finding New Avenues
In 2005, the GWCCA leadership questioned if we were limited to this
single avenue of training to expose our employees to the business. The
easy answer was an emphatic no.
The hard part was defining how we could expand
educational opportunities specific to public assembly management for our
staff.
First we identified PAFMS as the model we wanted to
emulate. Second we had to figure out how to apply the model to our
three-facility campus setting, so we challenged our in-house expert —
the training manager. Firsthand experience is best, so Terry Copeland
enrolled in PAFMS and graduated this year.
Many of his fellow students questioned, “Why would a
training manager be here?” The answer: What better way to review the
PAFMS best practice approach of providing “a focused educational
experience dedicated to developing personal and professional growth … ”
than being a student himself.
The result of his research at PAFMS was the launch of
the GWCCA Industry Institute in 2006. We opened the institute doors with
“Session 1 — History of the GWCCA” led by none other than our first and
only executive director, Dan Graveline.
New Developments
Over the past 12 months we conducted at least two different topics
monthly to expose our employees to all aspects of the business. Session
topics are similar to those led at the PAFMS, but tailored to the
specifics of our campus.
Who are the instructors? Similar to PAFMS, we recognized that the
best experts are those that excel in the business. In our case they were
right in front of us — the event services director, director of sales,
public relations manager, purchasing manager, chief operating officer,
accounting manager, public safety director, ticketing manager … and the
list goes on.
These seasoned industry veterans took on the challenge
to teach about their area of expertise to anyone registered for the
class. In just over a year, these leaders have conducted more than 20
different one-hour sessions.
Who is the audience? The classes were designed for everyone,
including front-line, part-time, mid-managers and our service partner
organizations. What we found was that these employees desired industry
training to complement vocational training. Attendees receive credit for
their attendance and successful completion of a “test” based upon the
presentation.
Copeland and his team track all of this for our
organization and report out quarterly progress on our training goals. As
a reward, first-time session participants receive a cup with the
Industry Institute (I2) logo on it. They can bring the cup to the
cafeteria on Fridays for a free drink. It also doubles as a simple
promotion tool.
Why? To expose the staff to the big picture. We want all of our
employees to understand how their piece of the job impacts the whole.
Hopefully this leads to happier and more productive employees who serve
the customer. Also, giving back our time and talents guided by a proven
framework (PAFMS) might just inspire the next generation of leaders.
Learning about organizational history has been an important outgrowth of
the Institute too, as many of the veteran leaders close in on
retirement.
Can it be improved? Yes. After year one, we’re in feedback mode
from the employees on the institute program. The content, format and
structure will always be reviewed for improvements by our executive and
human resource teams, much like the board governs the same for PAFMS.
We’ll search for trends within the industry and adjust
our curriculum accordingly. For now the Glassworks model hasn’t caught
on but there’s always hope.
What opportunities exist for your employees to learn about the
business? We chose to develop some in-house training to meet those
needs. However we also take advantage of the IAAM offerings.
What opportunities exist for your employees to learn about the
business?
We chose to develop creative in-house training to meet those needs,
using resources that were right here. These, of course, complement the
IAAM conference that keeps our in-house experts up-to-date on industry
trends: IAAM specialty meetings, district meetings and, of course,
PAFMS.fm
Kevin Duvall is assistant general manager of
the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta. |
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