A unique opportunity was presented to me as a result of a guest visiting here at the Convention Insider. Don Riccardi a commenter knew the Executive Director at the Oregon Convention Center and knowing I was attending a conference at the center was able to get me an interview with Jeffrey Blosser. It was great to get a chance to sit with Jeff as I was already here in the area speaking at a conference at his facility.

The Oregon Convention Center as I have written about before was a nice place for the event where I was speaking. As I sat across from Jeff Blosser, I knew I was speaking to someone that really liked being a part of the convention center, and also someone that was steeped in the history of the facility as well. He has been apart of the center for nearly 20 years when Jeff began his job in 1989 when the convention center was still under construction. He has been through another expansion at the center in April of 2003. Jeff has 110 full time employees working at the convention center, and their facility handles about 600 events throughout the year with approximately 40 of those being large national conventions or trade shows. One of the largest shows that takes place in the center is the Farwest Nursery Show.

I was very impressed by the OCC’s commitment to “going green”. According to their site:

The Oregon Convention Center is the first convention center to receive certification under the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Existing Buildings’ (EB) rating system. The center has been upgrading fixtures and equipment in pursuit of LEED certification for the entire million square foot facility, which the center hopes to attain by Fall 2007.

From my conversation with Jeff it appears they are looking for that certification very soon in aproximately June of this year, and to insure that the facility continues with that tradition, he indicated to me that they are hiring a “Green Coordinator” to be the director of that charge In July of this year. Some of the things that really stood out to me was the fact that they are composting their food, using wind power, and making sure all of their purchasing is green certified products. They are looking into more green things like solar power now as well.

The Oregon Convention Center brings in $400 Million to the local economy with 5,000-6,000 jobs and $12Million in tax revenues. This is not the only facility owned but they also have The Expo Center and the Performing Arts Center in their lineup. Wanting to get some idea of what they have coming up that we could talk about here, Jeff indicated that they are working or getting a headquarters hotel facility to add to the center. If that comes to fruition, they will be able to house people attending the convention center.

I had a great time speaking with Jeff and I can say first hand that they have a very professional staff and made my work here easy. Thanks goes to them and the rest of their staff.

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