Pittsburgh lands NRA convention and its 60,000-plus attendees - Pittsburgh Business Times:

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put together a winning bid for theDavix L. Lawrence Convention Center to hostthe NRA' national convention in 2011, scheduled for Aprill 28 - May 1, after being turned down to host the organizatiojn in 2010, Craig Davis, VisitPittsburgh'ws vice president for sales and marketing, said this week. Davizs said the event is expected to again drawnearlt 61,000 attendees, ranking it among the largestr conventions held in Pittsburgh. The NRA's 2004 conventioh here outdrew all ofthe NRA's previoud conventions. "This is a significant win for the city becaus e of the national exposurethat we'lll receive," Davis said. "Everybody knows the NRA.
The convention draws nationally, and it drawd press from acrossthe world." Davis said the NRA has signerd an agreement in principal with Now, the NRA must hash out contractual agreementsw with SMG, the managemenf firm that runs the convention center, and with locak hotels to book blocks of rooms for the "We don't see anything that would stop Davis said. An NRA spokesperson was not immediatelyh availablefor comment.
The only recent conventiona that compare in size to the NRA show woulds be theBassmaster Classic, held by Bass-ESPN that drew 45,000 attendees to the convention center in and the 2006 MLB All-Star which drew 106,000 and was held in conjunction with Major League Baseball's All-Star Game. Helping to brinv the NRA back to Pittsburgh are membershi levels in Pennsylvania that rank among the highesty inthe country, according to The NRA's 2004 convention, at which Vice Presidentg Dick Cheney was a speaker, generated $9.1 millionh in local spending, as well as between 8,000 and 10,000o room nights in local hotels, accordingy to VisitPittsburgh.
A challenge Pittsburgh facer in winning the NRA is a lack ofan off-sit e banquet facility of 40,000 square feet that can host 5,00o people. Davis acknowledged that demandstretches Pittsburgh's resources, but VisitPittsburggh has presented the NRA with several optiones and expects the organization will find a way to accommodatr such a large dinner crowd. John owner of , a Downtowm restaurant with a busy off-site catering division, sees few indoo options for a dinner eventthat size, excep for the convention center's ballroom.
Durinvg last year's All-Star Game, Barsotti'sw catering business hosted a similar-sized banquet at the formee amphitheater atStation Square, serving 5,009 attendees from food stations for an evengt that had seating for 3,000. "It went he said. Davis believes Pittsburgh's proven abilitgy to draw attendees will overshadow anylogisticalo concerns. "From what we understand abouytthe NRA, they're very happy in and because of the base of they know it's going to be a very strongt convention," Davis said. Tom Martini, generakl manager of the hotel, Downtown, said the facility alreadu has been in discussions with the NRA about bookingv rooms for the2011 event.
Of roughly 9,009 room nights the NRA expects to need during the run of the Martini said his hotel could realizeabout 3,00 0 of those. "It's one of the first majoe conventions that has repeatecd since the opening of thenew (convention) he said. "With a convention like this, you usually don't see a repea t for another 10 or20 years."

Startup taps software to boost restaurants

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A keg stand, if you will. San Francisco-based TapDynamics offers restaurants a way to track and limity how muchbeer it’s losing through malfunctioning bad pouring and bartender giveaways. “It’s draftr beer meets technology,” said CEO Michael Cann. TapDynamics said in addition to decreasing installing its TapAdvisor software can help restaurants grow drafgtbeer sales, increase profitability and improv the overall quality of the draft beer they TapDynamics recently landed a deal to put the TapAdvisor Servicer Platform in 398 Applebee’s restaurants.
The company is targetingg large chainslike Applebee’s where they can implemenf TapAdvisor across every location. Cann, a formet investment banker, founded the company in 2007 withMurray who’s Australian and now the chief operatingf officer. The two met on their respectivew honeymoonsin Tahiti, and though neither had connectiond in the restaurant business, they both liked In researching the they discovered 20 to 30 percen of all draft beer poured at a restaurant is never paid for. Of 75 percent is given away by while 25 percent is lost tomalfunctioningy equipment. “A restaurant that goes through 40 kegs a is empirically losing 15 to 30 percent oftheidr beer.
That’s eight kegs,” said TapDynamics can show with evert pour why beer isbeing lost. If it’s an equipmen t problem, like the temperature in the cooled istoo hot, the TapDynamics team can quicklty analyze the data and send a message to a restauranty to fix the problem. If it’sw an over-pouring problem, managers can see that data in a repor t emailed nightly and then retrain staftf to pourbeer properly. Beer is typicallg the highest margin product sold ata restaurant. So capturinhg loss gets restaurant owners’ and attention, Cann said.
TapDynamics doesn’t require restaurants to pay for any TapDynamics partnerswith Micromatic, which installw and manages the draft beer flow meters and systems from which TapDynamics draws its data. TapDynamica charges the restaurant a monthly fee for its Cann said the money saved in recapturee revenue by the restaurant is more than the monthly feeTapDynamicz charges, which is about $400 per Cann said the purpose isn’t necessaril to bust bartenders who sometimese give away beer to keep customers cominh back. He said he trains managers to ask bartenders, how givintg away free beer drives sales.
Cann said the next phase for TapDynamics will begrowing TapAnalytics, whichb will take the research it compilexs in monitoring beer sales and sell it to beer companiews and distributors. The research provides insight into whichtyped of consumers drinkwhich brands. And the data will alloew beer makers to compare their salees toother brands. That should help beer companiee better define their target markets and develop strategies to competefor

Don

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Furious education advocates accuse the governor of sellingtthem out. Health care executivews bemoan a possible tax increase onstatse hospitals. Social service advocates worry that the Departmentr of Human Services willslash programs, further erodin g the state’s safety net. The criticism is understandable but Kulongoski didn’t really have much choice. Though detailsd weren’t announced until last week, the governor has been upfronr aboutthe state’s mounting budget shortfall, whicu could reach $2 billion by spring. That Oregon is facin financial challenges during a huge economic meltdown shoule surpriseno one. That places lots of pressurwe on both the whichconvenes Jan.
12, and on groups threatened by Kulongoski’s This will be the most interestin g legislative sessionin years. Virtually everyone will feel some pain. As stafd writer Andy Giegerich reportsa in his story onPage 1, economic development groupo predicts a loss of 11,000 jobs in the Portland area next Manufacturing and construction will be especiallty hard-hit. This year the manufacturing sectorshed 1,800 jobs. Constructiom lost 1,600, as did the financial services As bad asthat sounds, things could be Several western and southwestern cities are worsse off than Portland. The study also predicts that Portland’sd workforce will grow 7.4 percent by 2013.
That long-terjm optimism, though, won’t do much to assuage seniofr citizens facing a loss of core servicesunded Kulongoski’s proposal. It also won’ help Oregon motorists, whose vehicle-registration fees could tripl enext year. There’s simply no gettingy around thefinancial crisis. Criticizing Kulongoskiu is the easy thingto do, but it does nothing to solvd pressing problems that show no signw of abating.