ASIS International is excited to bring Global Security Exchange back to Orlando in 2024! Sunny Orlando is always a great destination, but in 2024 the city has welcomed even more interesting and fun dining and entertainment. 

New entertainment and dining near the convention center includes Arcade Monsters, a video game bar and restaurant, and Chuck Lager America’s Tavern, with food prepared by Top Chef alumnus Fabio Viviani and known for its craft bourbons. Pointe Orlando, dubbed a playground for adults with or without kids, will debut three new entertainment spaces: Sports & Social, a place to watch and play games such as Skee-Ball and Foosball; a PBR Cowboy Bar, featuring a mechanical bull and multiple bars; and Live! Plaza, a space for special events, live music, viewing sporting events, festivals and more. 

In downtown Orlando, Natsu Omakase recently opened, featuring an exclusive 10-seat sushi omakase concept with an innovative and seasonal menu. Also new to downtown is Judson’s Live in the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. This 150-seat, cabaret-style music space hosts 50-minute music performances for guests to enjoy alongside specialty cocktails and a seasonal scratch-kitchen menu of shareable bites. 

Orlando’s famed theme parks will also be welcoming new attractions in 2024. Walt Disney World Resort opened Journey of Water, Inspired by Moana at the end of 2023 in Epcot, and will be welcoming guests to Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, which is replacing Splash Mountain, this summer. Two new restaurants have also opened in Disney Springs: Summer House on the Lake, a lakeside eatery with California-inspired cuisine, and eet by Maneet Chauhan, the first Indian-inspired restaurant in Disney Springs. 

Universal Studios Florida will debut DreamWorks Land in June 2024, which will feature the opportunity to meet characters from DreamWorks classics like “Shrek,” “Kung Fu Panda,” and “Trolls.” The new space will also feature the family-friendly Trolls Trollercoaster. 

In 2024, SeaWorld Orlando plans to introduce Penguin Trek, a family launch coaster that will take guests through an Antarctic landscape on snowmobile-inspired cars before ending up in the park’s penguin habitat. 

These exciting new attractions and dining options come in addition to the many entertainment and restaurant options that already make Orlando a vibrant and inviting destination. The only question now is how to fit all these great opportunities in with your GSX experience!

ASIS International has announced the complete education lineup for the upcoming GSX 2024, featuring more than 200 sessions addressing the top issues in security today. The conference will take place over three days from 23-25 September at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida, and online via the GSX event platform.

For more information about the education, read the press release here.

For the full programming lineup, see here.

GSX 2024 will be held at the Orange County Convention Center (OCCC) in Orlando, Florida, USA from 23-25 September. In addition to the many wonderful aspects of Orlando as a host city, the OCCC is always working to make the convention center itself an appealing, safe, and sustainable venue. 

In 2023, the OCCC introduced its latest security improvement with BBot, a 5-foot, 500-pound autonomous security robot. The robot will increase the safety and security of OCCC guests by increasing the scope of surveillance on the Center’s campus. 

When developing the robot, the OCCC reached out to a local elementary school, Sand Lake Elementary, to help name the new robot. Third-grader Melodie Arroyo submitted the winning name in a schoolwide contest “BBot,” which stands for “Bringing Bravery Out Together.” 

BBot will provide 360-degree video surveillance to monitor crowds. Its video stream connects directly to the OCCC Security Command Center. It will feature a “help” button that attendees can utilize, which also has a direct line to the Command Center. BBot has thermal imaging capabilities that can detect temperature abnormalities both among humans and in the physical environment, which can help with safety features such as early fire detection and picking up a presence of an elevated body temperature. 

“BBot will be a revolutionary tool for the OCCC’s Security Team, however, it is not meant to replace the essential human element to safety,” said Orange County Mayor Jerry L. Demings. “Rather, it is meant to make security more effective. BBot will serve as a robust addition to an already award-winning security staff, devoted to creating Transformational Experiences through safety.” 

In addition to these increased security measures, the OCCC is constantly working to be a sustainable event venue, with waste diversion measures, a sustainable food menu, donating unused event materials, and carbon offset. 

Waste diversion at the OCCC includes mixed recycling services in the Center’s concourses and composting in both back and front of house. Much of the food at the OCCC comes from the Center-to-Table Gardens, which have more than 80 aeroponic grow towers which grow healthy, non-GMO foods. Following an event, the event team can work with the OCCC Sustainability Team and Sodexo Live! to ensure food and other leftover items are diverted from landfills to more positively impact the local community. 

The OCCC also works with We Are Neutral to calculate emissions from an event and offset them by funding local carbon sequestration projects across central Florida. 

The sustainability efforts at the OCCC and by the city of Orlando at large have been recognized and celebrated by the U.S. Green Building Council. The OCCC earned the internationally accredited Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) for Cities and Communities gold certification, and the city of Orlando achieved a LEED for Cities gold certification. 

ASIS International is excited to host GSX 2024 at this outstanding venue and capitalize on the world-class security and sustainability initiatives the OCCC provides.

In addition to the dozens of written articles the Security Management team produced during GSX 2023, the team also produced multiple podcasts. Check out the two below, and make sure to subscribe to Security Management for all the latest security industry content in a variety of formats.

Does Authenticity Outweigh Technical Knowledge During a Crisis?

Spotify

SoundCloud

How the JFK Assassination Changed the World of Close Protection

Spotify

SoundCloud

By Claire Meyer

“We act on logic, but we buy on emotion,” says Lida Citroën, speaker, author, executive coach, and CEO of LIDA360 LLC.

In the 2023 CSO Secure Horizons event at GSX, Citroën led a group of senior security executives (SSEs) in exercises and discussions around personal branding, developing influence, and crafting compelling communication. Leveraging emotion and storytelling can help security executives connect more fully with a wider audience, earn buy-in, and build relationships.

In one exercise within the two-day event, exclusive to CSO Center members, participants learned how to develop clearer narratives within their elevator pitches—short 30-second speeches that introduce the listener to who you are and what you stand for. These spiels are often used to introduce yourself to a stranger, kick off a meeting, or facilitate networking.

However, elevator pitches frequently go wrong, Citroën says. The speaker could essentially be rattling off their job description or résumé; using body language inappropriate for the situation, such as a lack of eye contact or overexcited hand gestures; or oversharing with jargon, too much technical detail, or irrelevant information that confounds the listener.

A good pitch, on the other hand, shows excitement, is concise, and shows interest in others, turning a short speech into an entrée for a productive and positive dialog.

You can read the rest of this article from Security Management here.

For more Security Management content about soft skills, check out the pieces below:

Power Skills: The Soft Skills CSOs Cultivate and Use Every Day

Workplace Communication Lessons from a Crisis Negotiator

Soft Skills and Technical Threats, From Communication to Drones

By Megan Gates

The year was 1964. The Beatles were on their first world tour. And they decided to stop in Dallas, Texas, for a 30-minute set at the Memorial Auditorium.

“The auditorium felt so huge,” recalled Pattie Davidson in an interview with The Dallas Morning News about her first concert experience at the auditorium. “It seemed so humongous. By today’s standards, it’s not, but back then, to me, it was.”

While Dallas looks very different today than it did when Paul, George, Ringo, and John made their first visit, the Memorial Auditorium, now part of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center still looks relatively the same. That’s because the arena, built in 1957, has never been renovated, so it doesn’t include many modern conveniences or security and operational amenities—like a fire suppression system.

But that’s all about to change as Dallas voters approved in November 2022 a $3.7 billion plan to build a new convention center and renovate the auditorium by 2028.

This new convention center will be big—as most things in Texas are. Plans include creating 800,000 square feet of exhibit space, 260,000 square feet of breakout space, 170,000 square feet of ballroom space, and a newly renovated arena and theater. To put that into perspective, a regulation soccer field is approximately 81,000 square feet.

The new convention center will be the hub around which new restaurants, hotels, and night life venues will operate to reconnect downtown Dallas. It’ll also include greenspace—such as a rooftop garden—and relocated light rail station (the DART) to make it more efficient to travel to.

“The expansion of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center Dallas is more than the renovation or reconstruction of a convention center,” said Rosa Fleming, City of Dallas’ executive director of convention and event services, in a press release after the approval. “It is an opportunity to re-envision downtown Dallas, reconnecting downtown to its southern neighborhoods and ensuring growth in the retail, restaurant, and housing sectors. In short, the project is a long-term economic development initiative for the city that will resonate for years to come.”

As plans to renovate, expand, and build new portions of the convention center move forward, this is a key moment for security stakeholders to gain a seat at the table to help influence choices and ensure security is integrated into the final project design.

You can read the rest of this article from Security Management here.

For more Security Management content about facility security design, check out the pieces below:

Security Design 101: Best Practices on Complex Design Elements

What is CPTED?

5 Irreplaceable Aspects of Security System Design

By Megan Gates

Due to economic pressures and pivots in business strategies following the COVID-19 pandemic, many organizations have laid off workers. Sometimes, these difficult moments are handled in a professional manner. But other times, former employees can become disgruntled—lashing out at their former colleagues and causing harm.

Most organizations have created policies and procedures to handle workplace violence threats as they are detected. But what if there was a way to be more proactive? To leverage technology to prevent harm from happening in the first place?

This is the scenario that Donald Cornett, director, global product management, ecosystem solutions at Motorola Solutions; Drew Weston, CPP, director of national accounts at Mobile Communications America; and Sharon Hong, vice president, ecosystem solutions at Motorola Solutions, explored in the Monday presentation “From Reactive to Proactive: How AI and Automation Can Speed Response Time in Critical Incidents” at GSX 2023.

Main Takeaway

Humans are very good at making decisions to react to a situation they’ve never experienced before. But what they’re not great at is monitoring multiple events or systems at the same time—aka, multitasking—Hong explains.

Contrary to popular belief, the human brain is equipped to only handle two tasks at the same time by quickly switching back and forth between both tasks. When humans actually attempt to multitask, they often experience a 40 percent reduction in productivity, Hong says.

This poses a challenge for security teams, who are often being tasked with doing more with fewer team members. For example, consider reviewing video surveillance footage. The average security incident spans four to six hours. If you have eight cameras capturing that incident, that’s potentially 32 to 48 hours that a human will require to review that video—an entire workweek, Cornett says.

But, all is not lost. We’re currently living in an age where technology can help humans do more tasks, more quickly, and more efficiently. Security technologies now exist that are designed to monitor an environment, detect anomalies, and alert humans, who can then decide how to respond to the situation.

You can read the rest of this article from Security Management here.

For more Security Management content about leveraging the latest security technology, check out the content below:

Security Technology and Using Staff More Efficiently

Getting Visitor Management Right in Access Control

Meeting a Living Building Challenge

Stopping an Active Shooter with OSINT: How Publicly Available Information Becomes Actionable Intelligence

Modernizing a San Francisco Landmark with a Streamlined Security Dashboard

By Megan Gates

Country borders are sometimes shaped by the natural world—where the edges of a nation’s territory meet the sea, river, or mountain range. But they’re also shaped by treaties, negotiations, conflict, and colonialism.

Russia’s efforts to seize control of Ukraine by military force represents a 21^st Century colonial attempt to rebuild Russia’s empire, a breach of international law and norms formed following World War II when then-German Chancellor Adolf Hitler attempted similar measures to redraw the map of Europe.

If successful, Russia’s victory will set the stage for a new era of flourishing authoritarianism, increased defense spending in Europe and the United States, and a potential threat to the global world order, said Radosław “Radek” Sikorski, member of the European Parliament (MP) representing the Kyavian-Pomeranian region of Poland and a 2023 general session speaker at GSX 2023 in Dallas, Texas.

“This is a classic colonial war,” Sikorski explained. “Russia didn’t invade Ukraine because it felt threatened. Russia knows NATO is a defense alliance and has no intention—or capability—to attack Russia. If NATO was provoking Russia to invade, Russia would be invading Finland and Sweden.”

Sikorski appeared before attendees virtually from Warsaw, Poland, after completing a trip via train to Ukraine—a trip he has made every few months as Russia’s aggression continues. He plays an important role as an ally to Ukraine, not only because of his MP position representing Poland but also because he sits on the Committee for Foreign Affairs and the Security and Defence Subcommittee at the European Parliament, and is the chairman of the delegation for relations with the United States.

On previous journeys to Ukraine, Sikorski worked to coordinate and transport pick-up trucks to Ukrainian soldiers, which carry supplies and wounded individuals to hospitals. Sikorski has also traveled to Bucha, the site of some of the worst atrocities of the war, as well as to 18 miles from the front line to meet Ukrainian soldiers and view how some of the military weapons being provided to Ukraine from its allies are used.

Despite being outnumbered and lacking air superiority in the current conflict, Sikorski said that Ukraine has performed much better than expected. But, after visiting Kiev this past week, Sikorski said that he also observed that people are getting tired after almost one year and seven months of war.

Ukrainians “have made huge sacrifices in towns and villages,” he added. “There are huge spaces of freshly dug graves. They’ve lost many of their best people. They have the right to be tired.”

The rest of the world, however, does not have this right, Sikorski said.

You can read the rest of this article from Security Management here.

For more Security Management content about rising geopolitical tensions, check out the articles below:

Rising Global Tensions and Financial Incentives Make Industrial Environments a Ripe Target for Threat Actors

Increasing Risk Appetites Put Security Front and Center as an Influencer

Geopolitical and Economic Headwinds Force CEOs to Rethink Long-Term Strategies

Adam Lowenstein, the director of product at i-PRO Americas, discusses how AI can be used in the security industry. Watch his interview on SM Live with Security Management Editor-in-Chief Teresa Anderson below.

Michael Bacon, CPP, managing partner at Rezolvrizk, and Roy Manias, senior director of security and life safety at The Cadillac Fairview Corporation, discuss the current trends in the security sector and how to elevate a security program. Watch their interview on SM Live with Security Management Editor-in-Chief Teresa Anderson below.