The two last stages of my trip around the world, that included visits of great event centres, give me the opportunity to compare the sunny west of California and the sparkling, vibrant east coast - the modern Moscone Center in charming San Francisco meets the elegance of the Radio City Music Hall in spectacular New York.

Centrally located in the heart of San Francisco I quickly reach the Moscone Center due to the ideal infrastructure provided by public transport. Over coffee, Michael Baker, Senior Event Manager told me that the convenient location is an advantage, but also that the space in the centre is somewhat limited. The Moscone Center currently covers three buildings which are not all connected by a subterranean passage. As a result visitors of major conferences must change buildings in all weathers. The architecture of the Moscone South is especially interesting, as it is located underground and features a children’s centre on its roof. In addition to the sections Moscone South, North and West there are plans to also construct a Moscone East within the next 10 years, to be able to flexibly respond to customer needs.
 
New construction or restoration measures are - as in Los Angeles - funded by a hotel tax. The operational costs are financed through the operation of SMG - the owners of the Moscone. I got a glimpse of the daily business as an event planner at the Moscone when Michael explained the procedure of how an organizer books rooms. Three contracts have to be signed: one for the rent of the rooms with the city, as they are the owner of the buildings; a contract for the use of catering with SMG, as well as another contract with SMG for the exclusive use of IT services - WiFi , telephone, hot spots, networks, etc.
Just around the corner is the San Francisco Visitors and Convention Bureau - an important facility for the Moscone, as Michael Baker explains with a smile: “Our colleagues from the Visitors and Convention Bureau are more or less our marketing and sales department. They get the business to San Francisco - we work together very closely”.

I’m sure that the Radio City Music Hall in 6th Avenue is marketed accordingly but seeing the masses in front of the entrances it strikes me that it’s not really necessary – it seems they have come just because of this! Neftali Ruiz, Vice-President of Building Operations, greets me at the stage door and leads me directly to the stage before the “Rockettes Christmas Spectacular” begins in an hour’s time. The show, which is performed more than 200 times from early November to late December, is produced by MSG Entertainment and brought to the Radio City stage. In addition to the Radio City Music Hall, which opened as a movie theatre in 1932, MSG also operates the Madison Square Garden, the MSG Theater, the Beacon Theatre, the Chicago Theatre and the Wang Theatre.
 
During our tour of the elegant Art Deco style Radio City Music Hall, which is part of Rockefeller Center, Neftali repeatedly draws my attention to the fine details. Whether in the lobby, the restrooms, the auditorium or on the stage - the theatre was built and equipped with a lot of attention to detail. The wall covering in the great hall, wood art in the elevators, original foot pedal hand dryers in the toilets or the controls for the stage curtain - all have been retained or restored to their original state. In particular, the stage offers artists and organizers a flexible “playground”. As ii is equipped with three elevator elements and a turntable even large complex productions are no problem today. But in order to stay relevant with such a historic building as the Radio City Music Hall there are also new installations such as a giant LED screen on the stage backdrop - I myself could convince myself that it integrates perfectly into productions such as the “Christmas Spectacular”. Furthermore, microphones have been integrated in the shoes of the dancers to make the visitors sound experience of the Rockettes tap dance as intense as possible.

All my visits to events centres around the globe have been intense and interesting - many thanks to all supporters - especially the main office - most notably Tina Engert - and the management board of the EVVC.

Best regards,
Marko Roscher

www.moscone.com
www.radiocity.com