COPYRIGHT 2024 BY IIFX
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Recorded 20 March 2024 by IIFX

Join Dr. Lou Marciani, Director & Co-Founder of IIFX, and Jim Mercurio, former Executive VP & General Manager @ Levi's Stadium and President of JCM Events Management & Consulting, LLC, for our free FANCENTRIC podcast.

Russ Simons, Chief Listening Officer and Managing Partner @Venue Solutions Group and Tom Bedard, Senior Manager of Emergency Operations join the discussion.

Fans, Sports & Entertainment leaders, and anyone with an interest in the legal liability posed by weather incidents that threaten business and event operations should enjoy this discussion.

Learn how sports and entertainment leaders prepare their venues and staff to protect their fans and staff during adverse weather conditions.

Join Dr. Lou and Jim as they query their guest panel about their experiences in preparing for adverse weather, including developing action plans and training their staff to respond to almost any weather condition.

The National Weather Service reports that more than 30 people a year die from lightning strikes in the United States, most during some outdoor sports or entertainment activity. There are 20-25 million lightning flashes in storms across the United States each year. 

Are you and your venue staff prepared? Learn from the weather experience of our guests.

Over the past three and a half decades, Russ Simons has been involved in nearly every facet of the sports and entertainment facility industry, from design and construction to operations, marketing and PR, safety and security. At Venue Solutions Group (VSG), Russ directs the firm’s organizational analysis, operational consulting, guest experience benchmarking, and safety, security, and risk management efforts. VSG is a team of former senior facility managers who evaluate building systems, operations, management, facility condition, guest experience, safety and security, and sustainable operations. Russ has worked with team and facility operators at every level from collegiate to all U.S. based major professional leagues. Russ’s work goes hand-in-hand with architects and engineers to design facilities that are safe, operationally efficient, revenue positive and sustainable. He has worked with a wide variety of clients, including the Orlando Magic, San Diego Padres, Indiana State Fair, Pittsburgh Steelers, Reliant Park, Texas A&M University, The Fabulous Fox Theater in Atlanta, and the historic Keeneland Equestrian Facility. Prior to creating VSG, Russ was a senior principal with global design firm Populous. There, he managed the firms’ facility operations, evaluation, and analysis group which assisted public assembly venues in all operational aspects.

Tom Bedard is a meteorologist and emergency manager with over a decade of experience in severe weather. Specializing in weather safety planning, Tom has developed weather training courses currently in-use by FEMA’s National Domestic Preparedness Consortium, he has implemented weather safety services at hundreds of venues across North America, and he has helped develop best practices for how private weather services support event operations. He currently resides in Bentonville, AR where he works as a meteorologist and emergency operations center senior manager.

About the Innovation Institute for Fan Experience

Founded in August 2020, the Innovation Institute for Fan Experience (www.iifx.org) is building the leading and most trusted authority on the ‘Fan Journey’ for the sports and entertainment industry. IIFX provides training, industry content creation, Fan Journey best practices, consultancy, and business and education services to domestic and international sports & entertainment organizations.