Helping Its Community Is a Year-Round Effort for the San Diego Convention Center
December 20, 2018
While many exhibition venues may choose the holiday season to carry out acts of service that help their local communities, the San Diego Convention Center has made corporate social responsibility a year-round labor of love.
According to Barbara Moreno, SDCC executive director of communications and outreach, the San Diego Convention Center Corporation has a long-standing commitment to giving back to its Southern California community.
“We believe in being good neighbors and for years have worked together with event meeting planners to connect them with non-profits and charities that they can partner with for donations,” Moreno said.
She continued, “It’s important for our many of customers to give back to their host city. Our staff has always been willing to donate their time to events but over the past two years, we’ve really made a conscious effort to volunteer outside of our offices (and have) devoted more time to looking for other organizations to volunteer with.”
Throughout this past year, the convention center’s staff participated in a host of volunteerism activities, including cleaning up the San Diego Bay via “Operation Clean Sweep,” marching in the San Diego LGBT Pride Parade, joining the Susan G Komen 5K Race for the Cure, collecting dozens of diapers to benefit the San Diego Food Bank’s Diaper Bank program, and helping to donate furniture to 20 local nonprofits.
“Our Communications Department is actively working with organizations in our community on volunteer opportunities throughout the year,” Moreno explained. “One of our core values is ‘service’ and that applies to both internal customer service and external service to our community.”
The SDCC also has a long-standing relationship with the San Diego Rescue Mission and Partners for Hope, to which it has been donating leftover food from conventions and events for more than 15 years. In the last year alone, the facility’s kitchen donated 72 tons of food to assist San Diegans in need, enough to plate 115,000 meals, Moreno added.
Led up by Centerplate Executive Chef Daryl O’Donnell, SDCC’s food and beverage team also donates food by sponsoring community fundraisers including the Living Coast Discovery Center Farm to Bay and the San Diego Food Bank Blues Festival.
All these activities culminate in a festive holiday season of giving for SDCC employees, including teaming up with in-house telecom partner, Smart City, to volunteer at the USO San Diego to benefit military families on Nov. 15. 
For three hours, nearly 40 team members donated their time to wrap hundreds of gifts for the USO’s Santa Store event that provides children, ages 4-10, of Active Duty, Reserve and Guard an opportunity to learn the importance of giving by picking out the perfect gift for their parents or guardians.
Over the course of three festive days, USO San Diego reaches over 1,000 military children as a part of its Santa Store, Moreno said.
“What a great honor it is to have our staff be a part of this event that will brighten the holidays for our military families,” said Clifford “Rip” Rippetoe, SDCC president and CEO. “It is important for us to participate in community events. One of our core values is Service and we are committed to donating our time as often as possible.”
Donating time and talent to give back to those in need is something Chef O’Donnell enjoys doing, especially around the holidays. For several years, he and his team have donated 100 pies each Thanksgiving to Mama’s Kitchen, a community-driven organization that prepares and delivers nutritious meals for those struggling with AIDS, cancer or other critical illnesses, for the charity’s annual Thanksgiving Bake Sale.
Each pie purchased from Mama’s Kitchen helps provide eight free, nutritious, home-delivered meals to critically ill community members, with funds from the sale raising enough to provide 47,000 meals, Moreno said.
As if a November pie bake-a-thon isn’t enough for the bustling convention center kitchen, Chef O’Donnell also makes a point of baking and shipping 12 boxes of nearly 1,000 homemade cookies to military servicemen and women stationed overseas in several locations around the world, an effort that started in 2011.
“As convention center chefs, we are ambassadors of our great city, so it is our honor and duty to give back to our community,” O’Donnell said. “Sending baked goods to our troops overseas is a small but effective way to show our love and thank them for their service. ”
He continued, “For me, it feels good to give back and we are fortunate to have the resources in place to pay it forward. The intent is always about giving back to the community and as our team continues to network, it opens up more doors for new partnerships and opportunities.”
As part of its continuing commitment to help members of the military, the SDCC has been partnering with Marine Toys for Tots San Diego since 2000. Each year, staff are encouraged to buy unwrapped toys that are donated to local children in need, and this year the facility collected approximately 200 toys to donate.
The SDCC has also volunteered for many years during the holidays with the San Diego chapter of the Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International at the Holiday Wonder on Wheels event. Earlier this month, the SDCC team, along with its partners at GES Global, sponsored and built a bike that will be donated to a child in need.
According to Rippetoe, the SDCC is very intentional about giving back as well as being an integral part of the San Diego Bay community.
“Volunteering for community activity creates trust, confidence and rapport. Moreover, it opens the doors to the community being involved with us,” Rippetoe said. “Regardless of the time of year, giving to the needs of our community is a priority. Perhaps it gets more attention at the Holiday time but for us, we strive to say ‘yes’ to our customers, ‘yes’ to our visitors and ‘yes’ to our community throughout the year. The way we ‘show up’ matters.”
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Partner Voices
Less than six months ago, Lisa Messina joined the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) as the first-ever chief sales officer after leading the sales team at Caesars Entertainment. A 12-year Las Vegas resident, Messina is a graduate of Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration and serves on MPI International’s board of directors.
TSNN had a chance to catch up with this dynamic leader and talk to her about her vision for the new role, current shifts in the trade show industry, creating more diversity and equity within the organization, and advice to future female leaders.
Lisa Messina, Chief Sales Officer, LVCVA
With Las Vegas becoming The Greatest Arena on EarthTM, what are some of the things you’re most excited about in your role?
Our team was at The Big Game’s handoff ceremony earlier this month, and I couldn’t help but think, “We’re going to crush it next year!”
These high-profile events and venues not only drive excitement, but also provide unmatched opportunities for event planners. Allegiant Stadium hosts events from 10 to 65,000 people and offers on-field experiences. Formula 1 Grand Prix will take place in Las Vegas in November, after the year-one F1 race, the four-story paddock building will be available for buyouts and will also offer daily ride-along experiences that will be available for groups. And, of course, the MSG Sphere officially announced that it will open in September, ahead of schedule, with a U2 residency. It’s going to be the most technologically advanced venue as far as lighting, sound, feel, and even scent, and it will be available for buyouts and next-level sponsorships inside and outside. There’s no ceiling to what you can do when you’re doing events in Las Vegas.
Allegiant Stadium
As the trade show and convention business returns to the pre-pandemic levels, what shifts are you noticing and how do you think they will impact the industry going forward?
Our trade show organizers are very focused on driving customer experience. Most of our organizers are reporting stronger exhibitor numbers and increased numbers of new exhibitors, with trade shows proving to be almost or above 2019 levels. Now our organizers are really doubling down on driving attendance and focusing on the data to provide that individualized, customized experience to help attendees meet their goals and get the best value. Some companies continue to be cautiously optimistic with their organizational spend when it comes to sending attendees, but I think it will continue to improve. As the U.S. Travel Association makes more progress on the U.S. visa situation, we also expect a growing influx of international attendees.
What are some innovative ways the LVCVA helps trade show and convention organizers deliver the most value for their events?
We focus on customer experience in the same way that trade show organizers are thinking about it. We got rave reviews with the West Hall Expansion of the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC), so over the next two years, we will be renovating the North and the Central halls, which will include not just the same look and feel, but also the digital experiences that can be leveraged for branding and sponsorship opportunities.
Vegas Loop, the underground transportation system designed by The Boring Company, is also a way we have enhanced the customer experience. Vegas Loop at the LVCC has transported more than 900,000 convention attendees across the campus since its 2021 launch. Last summer, Resorts World and The Boring Company opened the first resort stop at the Resorts World Las Vegas , with plans to expand throughout the resort corridor, including downtown Las Vegas, Allegiant Stadium and Harry Reid International Airport. The LVCVA also purchased the Las Vegas Monorail in 2020, the 3.9-mile-long elevated transportation system that connects eight resorts directly to the convention center campus. This is the only rail system in the world that integrates fares directly into show badges and registration. For trade show organizers, these transportation options mean saving time, money and effort when it comes to moving groups from the hotels to LVCC and around the city.
Also, the more we can focus on building the infrastructure around the convention center, the more it supports the customer experience and ultimately supports our trade show organizers. Scheduled to debut in Q4, Fontainebleau Las Vegas will offer 3,700 hotel rooms and 550,000 square feet of meeting and convention space next to LVCC.
What are some of the plans for advancing DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) within your organization?
We’re currently partnering with instead of working with a leading consulting firm, to lay the foundation and create a solid DEI plan and be the leader when it comes to DEI initiatives. The heart of that journey with the consulting firm is also talking to our customers about their strategic approaches to DEI and driving innovation in this space.
What are your favorite ways to recharge?
My husband and I have an RV and we’re outdoorsy people. So, while we have over 150,000 world-class hotel rooms and renowned restaurants right outside our doorstep, one of my favorite things to do is get out to Red Rock Canyon, the Valley of Fire, and Lake Mead. Five of the top national parks are within a three-hour drive from Las Vegas, so there’s a lot you can do. We love balancing the energy of Las Vegas with nature, and we’re noticing that a lot of attendees add activities off the Strip when they come here.
Valley of Fire
What advice would you give to women following leadership paths in destination marketing?
I think it’s about being laser-focused on what you want to accomplish; building a team around you that lifts you and helps you achieve your goals; and being humble and realizing that you do it as a group. No one gets this done alone. Thankfully, there are a lot of women in leadership in this organization, in our customers’ organizations, and in this city that we can be really proud of. We’re a formidable force that is making things happen.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
This article is exclusively sponsored by the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority. For more information, visit HERE.
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