AVSS reinforces top principles of safety and security An eager group of 70 attendees (including instructors) convened at the SuperMedia complex near Dallas/Fort Worth Airport from February 19-24 for IAVM's Academy for Venue Safety & Security. The time was well spent as courses ranging from the Facility Management Law School to a number of classes and work sessions were presented. A graduation reception and banquet was held the last night of the Academy. "The networking was great and just getting to know other people and their challenges made it worthwhile," said Cynthia Davis, Tacoma Dome. "AVSS gives me an opportunity to learn what I need to improve on back at the facility, such as risk assessment, being aware of things that can happen and making sure that our plans are updated." Many of the sessions were interactive with students asking questions of instructors as well as sharing their practical experiences with each other. One such session was the NFPA 101 Life Safety Code class taught by Ray Battalora, P.E., Project Manager with AON Fire Protection Engineering. Battalora went through a number of slides that showed devastating fires including in 1980 at the MGM Grand, 1977 at the Beverly Hills Supper Club and others. Battalora talked about things as simple as avoiding having a dumpster partially block part of a back-of-house egress and showed more slides of buildings where these types of occurrences actually took place. Andrea Schultz, Department of Homeland Security, instructed a class on Active Shooters and found the students to be very engaging. "We offered some ideas on how people could train their staff and it really went well," she said. "It was quite a talkative bunch obviously eager to learn."