FLORIDA FACILITY MANAGERS ASSOCIATION





    
Behind The Scenes (December 2007)

Behind the Scenes is the bi-annual newsletter published by FFMA.

Archived newsletters:
Jan 2004
, Dec 2004, Feb 2005, May 2005, Nov 2005, Mar 2006, June 2006, Oct 2006
Mar 2007, June 2007.


December 2007

President's Corner | Early Bird Gets The Worm...| Special Thanks
Ticketmaster | 2007 FFMA Sponsors | FFMA Board of Directors


President's Corner

The fall season is upon us and many things have happened since we last met. It is truly an exciting and challenging time for us as individuals and especially as facility managers. The road ahead should be viewed positively as an opportunity for creativity that makes your leadership abilities shine to all in your community.

The State of Florida’s recently passed tax reform legislation has affected many of our venues and the municipalities that own them with belt tightening measures reaching in every direction. It will affect some facilities through loss of staff, hiring freezes, no new capital expenditures, and no increase in services. The entire industry in our State will also be affected due to government agencies and associations to which government
employees belong cutting travel budgets that decrease attendees at meetings and conventions in our market place. Local economies may also be hit due to the lack of new capital products stopping economic development in your communities.

These changing times call for each of us to seek new ways to develop revenue sources for our industry to keep us financially solvent both in our buildings and in our association. I would like to challenge each of you to be inventive and share your ideas through the association to all of our members as I know we can all benefit from each other’s knowledge. My facility, the Ocean Center, continues with its expansion growth and is changing rapidly on a daily basis. It is on track for opening in the late
fall of next year and each of you will be invited to the “Grand Opening”, and if you miss the opening hopefully I will be showing off the new building at our annual meeting in ’09. I will announce additional information as the time draws closer.

I had the great pleasure on Thursday, September 6, of welcoming everyone to this year’s operational seminar at the Lakeland Center. Wow! If you were not there you really missed an exciting day with all of the folks in Lakeland and with some outstanding operational staff members from across our State. The entire event was A+ from checking into the hotel to the closing reception with a surprise finale. I got to also renew a friendship after introducing him as our welcoming speaker, Tony Delgado the Deputy City Manager for the City of Lakeland. Tony and I used to be at various tradeshows and conferences together selling our respective facilities and we had the opportunity to talk about “the good ole days”… that happens as we mature! Any way it was a great day and extremely enjoyable.

I want to express my sincere appreciation on behalf of the Association to Mike LaPan and all of his staff for producing an extraordinary event. The attendees were all impressed with the seminar and gained a great deal of knowledge they will keep for years to come. The presenters were all very informative and kept their audience’s attention at all times and from the cheers and applause I heard coming from our Vice President’s session, Mickey Farrell needs to go on tour…I am not sure what he told them but they loved him. In addition to Mike and his staff, I would be remiss if I did not mention Aramark’s management, and food service staffs as all the meals were superb from the taste to the presentation. By the way, if you like chocolate the lunch desserts were heavenly! The event ended with a question and answer session followed by a closing reception with Aramark doing a great encore and then Mike’s surprise finale of ice skating for all interested. I had to leave but feel sure there were some Olympic hopefuls on the ice. Mike and staff once again set the bar high for future seminars.
Wishing each of you has a wonderful fall and winter season!

Rick Hamilton,
FFMA President and Director,
Ocean Center


The Early Bird Gets The Worm...

Or maybe you prefer free airline tickets, spa treatments, golf, dining, or a manicure?

Register early for the 2008 District V Meeting April 6-9, 2008 in Tampa, Florida and aside from the complimentary sunshine and sand, you will be eligible to win one of these fabulous prizes. Prizes will also be awarded to registrants in such categories as:
- Who have traveled the furthest distance
- Who has brought the most registrants

Let us rejuvenate your mind and body at the Safety Harbor Resort and Spa rated one of the top-ten health spas in the country and centrally located
to Gulf of Mexico Beaches, Busch Gardens, Lowry Park Zoo and The Florida Aquarium.
www.safetyharborresort.com


Special Thanks

Nina Simmons and Scott Sloman put this together for us from our IAAM D5 Marketing and Promotions committee. I think they did a very nice job! If you think there is anything additional that you would need, please contact them directly. They have photos and other fun things to keep it light and lively. Emails are scott.sloman@lakelandgov.net and ndsimmon@uncc.edu in case you need to contact via email.


Ticketmaster Conference Call

On Friday, October 26, 2007 at 2:00 P.M. a conference call was held with board members and officers of FFMA along with officials from Ticketmaster. The call was a result of our lobbyist, Wayne Malaney, reading an article relating to recent actions taken by Ticketmaster against software developers to prohibit development, use, and distribution of software that hinder the public’s access to a fair purchasing process for ticketed events. Tim O’Leary of Ticketmaster arranged the call and led the presentation and ensuing discussion.

While transposing the minutes of the call last week for dissemination to our membership, I (Rick Hamilton) received Ticketmaster’s client newsletter containing a note from CEO, Sean Moriarty, discussing the same issue in a much more succinct way than I ever
could. Therefore, I am including his article on the next page for each of your information.

FFMA members involved in the call agreed to support Ticketmaster in anyway possible within the State of Florida or on a National basis. Should any of our members have any question please do not hesitate to give me a call.

Note from Sean Moriarty, CEO:

"Last month, we celebrated a significant legal victory for Ticketmaster, consumers, and all of you. A federal court judge in Los Angeles imposed a preliminary injunction against RMG Technologies barring further discussion, use or sale of automated programs that deprive consumers of fair access to tickets. As you know, these programs have maligned our collective reputation and created the false impression that fans cannot get good seats from event-authorized ticketing channels.

This is an important step in an overall strategy of delivering more effective ticket distributions services for your events. While we recognize and respect the legitimate consumer demand for tickets on the resale market, nobody has the right to cheat or cut in front of the line.

When you entrust us to sell your tickets, we do everything possible to ensure they get distributed fairly. And we need fans to know that we're doing everything we can to protect them from being shoved to the side by someone running automated software.

We'll continue going after those who make or use these programs. At the same time, we will continue refining our ticketing system to ensure that it remains the best way to sell tickets, period.

This is a big win for Ticketmaster, you and consumers. More work remains in the days ahead, but this is tremendous first step in setting things right."


2007 Annual Conference Sponsors:
FFMA is extremely proud to have the support of our outstanding group of sponsors. Your generosity in supporting FFMA and incorporating leadership in the sports and entertainment industry is greatly appreciated!
Ad Systems http://www.adsystemscatv.com
Andy Frain Systems http://www.andyfrain.com
Aramark Corporation http://www.aramark.com
Boston Culinary Group http://www.bostonculinarygroup.com
Center Plate http://www.centerplate.com
Clarin http://www.clarinseating.com
Cleanevent USA http://www.cleanevent.com
Contemporary Services http://www.contemporaryservices.com
Daktronics http://www.daktronics.com
Feld Entertainment http://www.feldentertainment.com
HOK Sports http://www.hoksve.com
Horner Flooring http://www.hornerflooring.com
Hussey Seating http://www.husseyseating.com
Knight FM http://www.knightfm.com
Levy Restaurants http://www.levyrestaurants.com
Miami Stagecraft, Inc. http://www.miamistagecraft.com
Milliken Carpets http://www.milliken.com
Ocean State Event Services brendaoceanstate@aol.com
OUIVend http://www.ouivend.com
Ovations http://www.ovationsfoodservices.com
Robbins Sports Surfaces http://www.robbinsfloor.com
Sentry Event Services http://www.sentryeventservices.com
StageRight http://www.stageright.com
The Bigelow Companies http://www.bigelowcompanies.com
Ticketmaster http://www.ticketmaster.com
White Stallion Productions http://www.lipizzaner.com
A very special thank you to Kravis Center for their support of the Presenter's Luncheon and to Fantasma Productions for hosting the Opening Reception.


FFMA Board of Directors:
Board Member:
FFMA Position:
Venue:
Rick Hamilton President
Mickey Farrell Vice President
Judy Joseph Secretary/Treasurer Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center
Roger Englert Past President Tallahassee-Leon Co. Civic Center
Mike LaPan, CFE Past President The Lakeland Center
Allen Johnson, CFE Past President Orlando Centroplex
Ron Spencer Past President Tallahassee-Leon Co. Civic Center
Erik Hart
Director-at-Large
John Moors
Director-at-Large
Kim Stone
Director-at-Large
Wayne R. Malaney, PA
Ex-Officio
 
Cherie Worley
Ex-Officio
 

FLORIDA FACILITY MANAGERS ASSOCIATION