Business View Magazine - Nov 2023

213 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 10, ISSUE 11 THE ALBANY CAPI TAL CENTER Licygiewicz adds that some of the changes made to accommodate the pandemic have remained in place. She says, “Today, we have a split with complete in-person events and a little bit of hybrid mixed in. A lot of people are still finding a good return on investment by having the hybrid option. The technology goes much further than we could have expected and I’m seeing it used in different ways. We’ve even seen a lot of events with virtual keynote speakers. That requires a high level of skill from the A/V team, which has There were still some inevitable staffing challenges at the ACC during COVID-19, especially in the custodial and food and beverage operations. “Our team stepped it up and everyone pitched in,” says Licygiewicz. “Mazzone Hospitality, ACC’s exclusive catering company, even bused labor up from New York City to help with larger events. We also worked with our International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) union, who did everything that it could to make sure that our events went off without a hitch. Even though we had some glitches in the system from time to time, our clients didn’t feel them. We just worked twice as hard to make sure we delivered a great product.” “Also, we had to pivot,” Licygiewicz continues. “We built a production facility in the building so that people could come and run their Zooms, their Teams meetings, and any other virtual presentations that they wanted. Our AV team, American Concert, and Entertainment Services, was wonderful in supporting us in the effort, coming up with the technology, building the space, and working with the infrastructure we already had in the building to make that happen. We were restricted to 25 people per event, so we did what we could to help our clients, whether it was a virtual message, a small board meeting, or a hybrid, where they had a few people here and a few at home.” Fortunately, the relatively new ACC was more ready than most for the shift in technology. “Our Authority recognized that when it was building the facility, it was important to them to have forward-looking infrastructure. All the capabilities in this building were built for the future, and flexibility has been the key: not only were we running a show onsite, but we were also running a virtual show for people who weren’t there.” “We successfully made it through. Last year was a recovery year; we ended the year with over 160 events, which our entire team is very proud of. We’re looking toward the future getting better and better,” she further highlights.