HOW THE TECHNICAL DIRECTOR ROLE HAS CHANGED

Hello, this is Les Goldberg, and welcome to The Road Ahead. The Road Ahead podcast is dedicated to the future of the live events business, bringing together industry experts. Hello, production world, this is Les Goldberg and The Road Ahead. Today I have four amazing guests. I have Brent Kelley, who's a technical director with Kelley Production Services. I have Dave Champagne, who's a technical director with Vivid Staging Solutions. I have Shawn Richardson, who's a technical director with Richardson Design, and I have Jeff Kalafus, and he's a technical director, project manager with Flawless Meeting Technologies. Guys, welcome to the show. I'm so excited to have four amazing TDs all on a show. And we're not in a ballroom. It's it's it's actually a privilege to have that group. So today's show is dedicated to the evolution and how the role of the technical director has changed, especially in the last 12 months. So I'm going to throw out the first question to Shawn Richardson and Shawn. What is your thoughts on the technical director's role and how has it changed, especially with all these remote crews and, you know, working in this crazy world we're in? Maybe you could share your thoughts. I think the first thing is that we've we've all been formatted into this situation where over the years, everything is about fitting everything into a box. Everything is, you know, you're rigging this. These are your limitations. This is the size screen we want. This is the PA system. We need to cover this room. All of that has gone away at this point. We are now dealing with, you know, how do we take that huge show and reduce it down to a 15 inch screen and help our producers create that environment, knowing that they still have to get the message across, that big vision that you have of a huge wide stage and doing a big production number, all that kind of stuff has gone away. Now you have to really work on the complete technical and electronic aspects of it, and less of the live feel of it. I think the other thing that's changed a lot is that people now are starting to do these things at a quicker pace, they're popping up quicker, they're not giving you as much time to organize them because they don't have to book a hotel. They don't have to book a meeting space. So it's like, well, we were supposed to do our meeting in three weeks. And hey, you know what? We have a producer who says you can do it virtually, so let's let's do it. And all of a sudden you're going to their headquarters, you're doing it in a break room, you're doing it in a multi purpose media room, and you're having to bring all your technology to those spaces. I mean, I've had clients who actually had us build green screens in their headquarters just so that they, you know, can can do this on, you know, the snap of their fingers. So I think those are some of the biggest changes. And, you know, just trying to adapt, move quickly and just get your head out of that, you know big picture thing knowing you still have to get all the information on as well. Cool. All right. I'm going to throw the same question to Dave. Dave, what are your thoughts? You know, the you know, Shawn gave us a couple of ideas, but maybe you could expand on it. Well, I think Shawn hit on most of them, right. However, I think the role hasn't changed in that aspect, right. We're all about managing client expectations and bringing the event to life. So in that aspect, the role hasn't changed at all. Well that is that's a really interesting view. That's a really interesting how about Jeff. Jeff, would you opine. Yeah I you know, I agree with all the above. I have to say though, you know, the role of a TD is I feel like a lot more video centric now, you know, especially with, you know, the virtual and online. I mean it's really truly all about the, the, the how we get video in and how we get video out in the end user experience. Getting to I think is, you know, we want for managing, you know, like you said, Shawn, you know, rigging and everything from that to crew mills to now our focus is like bandwidth and upload speeds for presenters. And, you know, I think that it just reaches a little bit farther out, but definitely is leaning, you know, as you can imagine that everyone probably knows it's all video centric at this point. Just, you know, sending out, you know, everything from, you know, went from, you know, figuring out load ins and load in times to how do I get a video kit to someone tomorrow morning to get an input into our v mix? You know, it's it's a it is definitely a complete swing. Brent your thoughts and then I'll have you add the your after your thoughts I will have a follow up question which will be what things have you had to learn in this new virtual world. So maybe you could opine? Yeah, the two are kind of combined. I would say the the role of the technical director has really been, you know, we have to get our arms around an entire production, which used to be information and nuts and bolts, and now it's a whole lot more information than a lot less nuts and bolts in terms of the physical build of a show. The thing I think that is maintaining status quo is the the production teams that are put together, the people and the companies that we are partnering with to manage these projects. If you get the right team in place, then the management part is not nearly as difficult because you can depend on those other professionals to carry some of the weight. The hardest part, I think, is like Jeff just alluded to, like, can you Amazon Prime ship something to somebody tomorrow? Can you get it there today? Can you get higher bandwidth internet service to somebody in Des Moines? You know, in 72 hours? The challenges are now about location support and less about structure and bricks. As far as things I've had to learn, the technology advances in my own office have been in my mind leaps forward. You know where it used to be, the laptop and the printer. Now it's two computers, five screens, a backup internet link, and I'm about to add an audio mix for all of the sources that I try to manage at any given show. So, so that's that's really the technology for me is, is about building my own control space inside my office. Interesting, interesting. I want to throw this question to David and David, you know, what have you had to learn. And you know, we're not really unloading a lot of semis full of gear. You know, I think what Brent alluded to, not as many bolts, so to speak. And what are your thoughts? Yeah. Everything right? I mean, from the virtual meeting space area. Like what was it? You know, I wasn't involved. I wasn't doing a lot of online prior to this. So I had to learn about the virtual meeting space, about platforms, virtual event platforms, which ones? What they do, how they work. Like Jeff mentioned, the new software and tools needed, you know, from V mix to global Q Google Remote Desktop to get into these remote presenter packages and work with presenters networking. Right. Like that's the biggest one. That bandwidth that Brant had mentioned, you know, getting additional lines in your offices and building out Ubiquity Networks. You have reliable internet and you can monitor traffic. Everything. It's been it's been a crazy nine months of learning. And, you know, it's nice to put it all together though. So doing shows again virtually even is great. Well, we hope one day or hopefully a day not too soon we'll be out in ballrooms and convention centers again. Same question to Shawn. And you know, Shawn, what are your thoughts on things you've had to learn to be, you know, to evolve? I think Dave, pretty David pretty much nailed it on the head. It's it's just learning all the virtual elements of the show, you know, like Brent said as well, the, you know, the bandwidth thing of, you know, trying to figure out how to get stuff to and from around the world. Dealing with clients has been an entirely different environment as well. I mean, you've got people who don't quite understand how all of this works, and now you have to, you know, deal with them on that perspective and try and teach them as best you can. But I think the other thing is, on top of learning at all is trusting your partners as much as possible. There are certain or, you know, organizations I'll say that really have their act together. And there are certain companies that have really have their act together. And then there's the other ones that you, you know, you they're sending you emails every second day saying, hey, we've got this down, you know, we know how to do this. And it's learning to vet those companies, really look at what they're doing and trying to figure out what kind of support you're going to get from them and things like that. So I think, you know, and also just learning how to to take everything and move it from point A to point B, as far as small productions, you know, taking a meeting for, you know, what was 500 people and moving it into, you know, a cabinet company's headquarters, you know, and doing it in, in a 20 by 14 space, you know, and trying to get three cameras in there, all the lighting in there in a room that's never been meant to do that. So, you know, much like what Brent said, I've gone from, you know, of using my plotter, you know, five times a week to now I've just got multiple screens on my, you know, on my desktop. I'm in a house where we've got we've got good internet, but I've also got two high school kids who are, you know, running that same internet to do their Zoom classes every day. So, you know, it's there's challenges, but you know it, like, you know, David said nine months of of of learning and, and trusting other people as well. So this questions to Jeff, and Jeff, what's the most challenging part of your role now. Because obviously it's slightly different and in some instances is the same and slightly different. When we were doing a show together, you could go and walk into the ballroom, the loading dock, and you could see and touch everything and talk to people, and now they're not right in front of you. And so how do you feel about that and how does it, you know, it feels different, I think. But what are your thoughts? Yeah, absolutely. It is. I have to say the first thing is that is, you know, it's been challenging for me is sitting in one place, you know, to sit here just in my office for however many days a week just drives me bananas. I'm not I'm not a person who likes to sit around very often, so I'd say that would be the number one. But but honestly, the biggest thing for me is, is I've always had a big feeling of wanting to be responsible, right? My, my my job as the TD is that, you know, everything that's inside this box or aka ballroom or arena or whatever, everything's happening and there is my responsibility. The challenge I have with this new, you know, with COVID and doing all this stuff virtually is that there's a lot of things that I just can't control, and it drives me bananas. Perfect example is, you know, last week doing tech checks for a record and everything was great. Well, the next day, all of a sudden the bandwidth at one of the executives house went south on us. It's, you know, it's like there were just things that I can't take responsibility for and always want to be that person to the client to say, yeah, it was my fault or yes, you know, we myself and the team, we did a great job. But there are things you just can't control. And that that for me is is probably one of the most challenging things is I just can't guarantee everything every time anymore. You know this questions to Brent. And I personally seen Brent walk around the Mandalay Bay and put ten miles in a day on shows we worked together with. How has COVID impacted your approach to being the TD and you know, what are your thoughts on that COVID thing and being a TD? And you know, yeah, I echo exactly what Jeff just said. The I have spent a couple of runs now, a couple of shows in my office day after day after day, and it drives me crazy. I used to make laps around the ballroom or the arena or whatever it was, and those laps were information gathering. You know, you can't manage it if you don't know you need the information, and the information was often found by going around the room and stopping and having a 32nd conversation. Hey, how's it going? Hey, did that truck show up? Hey, are we on schedule? Hey, what do you need? And now you have to poke people electronically to try to get the same information. And I have to say that sometimes I feel like the answers I'm getting are automatic responses and not necessarily the real deal. You know, I don't want people to tell me everything's fine when I get the feeling that everything's not fine. It's like Jeff was saying, you know, the TD is responsible, you have a level of responsibility to carry the load and you need the information. So it goes back to the comment I made about the team. You know, the production team, the group of people that you have with you. If you can have the confidence that those people are actively engaged and in lockstep with you for the purpose of your meeting, it's much easier to deal with. But I have to say that the stress is more intense because when you sit in a room and you look at a monitor and you're trying to manage a show, there is so much you don't know. And for me personally, that's been one of the hard things, is the mental stress of I really want to be in control of this, and I'm not really sure I'm driving the bus. It's really interesting when you look at the screen, there's so much you don't know, especially if you're sitting in a general session and you can see it, you can see the stage and you can see the lights and you, you know, you're on a wireless headset or something. This question is to David. David, do you think the the TD role will evolve as we start to do hybrid meetings? Okay. So this is where I think everyone thinks as we come back to the ballroom, there's going to be this kind of virtual meeting and a live meeting together based on adding attendees. And will your role and responsibilities change again when you now have to worry about not only the live show, you have to worry about the virtual show too? Well, that's going to be the biggest issue, right? Because you have these great TDs right sitting here right now that are going to go back to the live event industry, right? So they're going to go back to live event when it happens. I think there's going to be a void of needing TDs for the remote side, because the TD job in itself, in a live event environment is enough work for one person, right? And eventually, like, you know, Jeff does giant shows, he brings in multiple TDs at a time. We have 20 TDs on some shows managing these rooms. Well, now there's going to be remote parts of this show that could be ten rooms. Well who's the TD that's going to manage that? Because there's going to be a void. And I think it's going to be a space that's going to need to be filled for sure. So I think this question is to Shawn and I'm just curious, is it is it being a TD still fun? You know, the personal interaction is a little bit different. And I know you've done this for many, many years and I just kind of want to know about is it still fun? It is fun to a certain extent. I think for me the learning process is always fun. You know, I enjoy learning new things. You know, Brant and I are probably the senior guys on this little call here, and we both known each other for a long time. We've been doing this for a long time. Learning is still fun even even at this age. But I will tell you, much like Brant just said, it is also stressful. You know, jobs have gone away. I mean, a lot of jobs have gone away. You know, we all have friends in the industry who are not working and have not worked since last March. We also have a situation where, like I said earlier, stuff just pops up so quickly. Sometimes we're dealing with companies that, for instance, the client has decided to use a certain platform. You're trying to deal with those people. They are not necessarily forthcoming with everything. It's a little difficult to get information out of them, things like that. But also on top of that, much like Brant also said earlier, nuts and bolts, you know, I mean, I love doing cat work, you know, I love sitting at my computer for six hours and redrawing a room and figuring out the rigging, weights and, you know, being able to submit all that stuff. And, and that's important and that's kind of gone away. I haven't turned my plotter on except to print something for my kids in probably six months, you know. So it's it is stressful. You you are trusting people a lot of times, people you don't even know to do what you can normally walk around in a space and look in their face and go, yeah, they know what they're doing. I trust them just just from the half hour I've spent with them and walking around that room. I trust you to do your job. That doesn't come across in a computer. I mean, you can look at somebody face whatever their background is or whatever there is. Everything else is that's going on that that not knowing is stressful. So it's not as fun as it used to be, not as fun as it used to be. Okay. This question is to Jeff. Jeff, do you think there will be a COVID safety officer on most shows moving forward? And you see that as an element or an essential role? What are your thoughts? Yeah, I think so. For you know, I. No one knows what the future is going to bring. But I think for sure with for at least another, I want to guess at least two years that's going to be involved, you know, and I have to wonder though, you know, does it, does it migrate though, from being just a pure COVID safety officer, just purely having a safety, you know. You know, I know less you in the team. We're all big proponents and everyone here of safety. And is that a role that maybe we should have all along. What does it have to be? COVID, you know, maybe, you know, it's just becoming a general safety officer from, from, you know, in the future. And I think there's some lessons learned here, too, because, you know, I've had the luck of doing some, you know, build outs and actual events in the last six months. And then there was a big, a big thought process change to, you know, and also extra responsibility added on to, to a TD to to think through all that and working with the COVID safety officer for everything from backstage spacing to, you know, to how we're moving crews in and out of buildings to to meal tables and, you know, distances there and how we're feeding crew and where you go for breaks. And I have to wonder if that's something that we you know, to me, it feels like there's something that we should and probably will carry on even past COVID when COVID has gone, because I don't think it's just, you know, I don't think anything bad came out of it. Yes, backstage are going to be a lot bigger now, but does it make sense to have more spacing between crews so that we're, you know, when we do get super busy, we're back to back shows that we're not getting all, you know, colds and flus and whatever. And, you know, I think there's a lot of things that we will carry over just in general. But but yeah, I think I think without a doubt for sure minimum of two years. You know, it's interesting, you know, we we realized that when people ask me what I do, I tell them we put big, heavy things over people's heads. Yeah. You know really simple thing. And we always equate safety, which is connected to rigging with just motors and trusts and things that way a lot, you know, because you put people's lives at risk when you, you hang something over their head. But it's interesting your perspective because, you know, safety is everything from cable tripping lanes to to a lot of elements that that we can make this become a new, permanent position within our industry. And COVID safety is the hot topic today, but overall safety sometimes doesn't get enough attention. So my next my next question is to David. David. In virtual land we work in, you know, these master control rooms or rod cast studios that's with physical equipment versus working in these cloud based environments. And what are your thoughts about those different approaches? I realize they're they're very different. Very different. The hardware solution is always nice because like Jeff said and Brant and they've all brought up is, you know, you can actually walk around and see what's going on, right? You can touch it, you can see the problem that you may have. However, I think scalability wise, the cloud is the future, right? And when we get back to these hybrid events, which is what we talked about earlier, the cloud is going to become more important because bandwidth of the hotels is going to be come the commodity. Right. And instead of the bill being $200,000, you're going to have a $300,000 internet bill. And we're and it's going to be up to us to figure out how to manage that responsibly and make sure our clients don't feel that burden. And I think the way to do that is with the cloud solutions. Interesting. Very interesting. Same question to Jeff. Master control room equipment versus, you know, the virtual cloud, you know, and the the issues associated with those different strategies. Yeah, I, I think that my, my personal preference is to go with, you know, with an actual hybrid studio and combined combination of both. You know, I think that, you know, you have more flexibility by combining the two together as opposed to just going pure in the cloud. I love the and I love the fact that it also helps to me release that I've seen is bridging by doing kind of a hybrid where my hybrid, I mean, you know, a control room with, say, an E-2 or a three me switcher in it in a bank of machines to get inputs and outputs playback in the room. Right. Local graphics. I feel like it helps the quality of it, but also I've seen that it helps people who are, you know, in our industry that are used to a stage in a backstage footprint, wrap their heads around what is happening. I've seen just a lot better of a learning curve when I can say, you know, or someone can show up into, you know, of course, safely distance into a space, you know, here's here's where the producer sitting, here's where the show color is sitting, where the graphics person sitting. And yet that all still goes into the cloud. So I think a hybrid solution of the two is, is my my personal preference. And there's more gear involved. That's always a good thing right? Yeah, that is definitely true. We like gear. We like to rent gear. We actually have five control room setups in our office this week. And that is definitely my preference. You know, some of the challenges in just working in a cloud based environment is the the weakest link is, you know, you're connecting the internet to all these devices. And if something goes awry, it could definitely. It's not like you can go up to a piece of equipment and go, oh, that's what's wrong, or change a cable. It's, it's it's cloud based repair, which sometimes doesn't provide you the same instant gratification you can by working with real hardware. Yeah. And also have to wonder, and I'm curious if I can just ask the other TDs here. Has anyone noticed a quality difference. Because personally, you know, and it goes back maybe to the internet thing list is that, you know, I've seen much better results quality wise because that's also something that's very subjective across the board. But you know, the the idea of clients expecting full broadcast quality, you know, television studio video over the internet, when we have people up at like, you know, up in mountains of Napa trying to get, you know, three megabits upload speed, just I'm just curious across the board, is anyone seen these hybrids quality wise being better? I think this is Shawn. I think the I think the quality coming out of the studio is typically better just because for the most part, you do have that higher bandwidth. They're set up for it. But I think the other quality that I've been noticing is the energy that the clients have. The presenters seem to feed off of the live cameras. They seem to feed off of all the the busyness going on around them. They seem to feed off of the fact that there's all these monitors in front of them that, you know, the next slide is on this and the current slide. And if you're on a green screen, they're looking at their image in front of that green screen and everything else. I think the clients and this, the show in general has more energy coming out of the studio environment, much like it did coming out of a ballroom or out of a convention center or an arena. I just that's that to me, is is the biggest change I'm noticing is just it seems more powerful. You know, what's interesting is that I think if you're working remote at a home or an office and you're presenting, I think that isn't is comfortable in a live event. You don't get that spark out of the client unless you put them in an environment where they kind of see the lights and the production crew. I think that's what you're describing, Shawn, and I completely agree with you, because those are some of the challenges of people, especially if they're working remote at home. And it's in a in a very distant place. I think it's hard to get people that energy to transfer through the presentation. Anyway. Moving on. This is my final question, and I'm asking this because you all are super geniuses in our industry of of having dealt with clients and producers, and you're talking to them. And at some point everyone's talking about, when are we getting back to the ballroom? So, David, you're first to opine, when do you see us getting back to a ballroom with a 250 person or greater size audience, and you just give us a month and a year? My best guess is this year, the fall, I'd say September. Starting in September, we'll start seeing some 250 person meetings in places. Whether that's California or not, I don't know, since we have some of the strictest restrictions right now. But, you know, I could see us doing shows in Vegas in the fall, possibly. I like hearing anyone say doing shows, especially in Vegas. And so the fall. So I'm going to I'm going to go with September. Same question to Brent. Brent, what are your thoughts? I would love to say six months from now, you know, everyone started to point at this summer, now that vaccines are starting to roll out and people are getting used to the idea of possibly is that July? Is that July or August for me? I'm going to hope for July. Yeah, I'm going to hope that that in the summer months, you know, in places where you can like, like Dave was saying, places that don't have this harder restriction. I honestly think that our industry I got to go with what Jeff said. I think it's going to be two years before we get back to what was convention meetings. Two years. Okay, but but for 250 person, this is one where we need a TD, a stage manager, lights on. And of course, because the people might be spaced further, they're still going to need a lot of gear for the room because it's going to be like a kit for like a thousand people. But we're going to have to and 50 people in the room. So I will accept your so so was it July? I just want to make sure. So we July in July and listen to this podcast. We're going to be able to say Brent was right okay, okay. We'll all cross our fingers. Okay. Jeff. Jeff, it's your turn. I have to say yes. September. October. Agree. And you know, I have to say, I think because, you know, looking at like to say 250 person thing, I think it's going to be a lot of multi cities at once. Back to what David is saying. It's going to be I think regional based. I don't think companies are going to want to put, you know, 1000 people in. It might be 250 people here in North Carolina, 250 people in Florida. And I think our biggest thing is TDs on that is going to be bringing all of these cities together to try to create one experience. And I think all of us should share our information, because at that point we're going to need like lots and lots of TDs working together to make this thing happen regionally. So we should start a big list, like like a one of those social media groups. Yeah. I have a question. Just to follow up on this. Do you think it's going to be 250 people in one city and 250 in another city, and they're having a simultaneous meeting, or do you think they're separate meetings? No. It's good. I think it's gonna be simultaneous. I think we're going to take this virtual experience and just expand our our attendee load based off of that. But yeah, I think it's still going to be master control rooms, putting it all together to make one, one big experience because everyone I think they don't. General consensus is that people need to feel and want to talk and associate with other people, and it starts with the regional. And then, as you know, the vaccines, that stuff expand out. Then we can put more and more people together. But I think that's where it's going to start. Got it. Interesting. So so I think that sounds like the hub and spoke model where there's absolutely hub, which might be the where everyone the main production is. And then there's, you know, in doing that in the past we've done some of that. I always find it interesting that that there's important presenters that are also presenting from the remote locations as much as the main location, so the remote locations don't feel like they're the unimportant spot, and only the important people went to the that one spot. I think if if presentations happen from every location, I think then it then becomes more engaging. Okay, Shawn, it's time for you to bring us to close. When are we going back to the ballroom? I tend to agree with Dave and Jeff. I think it's the fall. You know, I think there are some examples of people. For instance, I'm working on a project right now which, you know, well, let's say where they are trying to well, they are going to do an event for 500 people in the space that we would normally have about 4000 people. It's outdoors. But I think eventually all of this is going to translate into, you know, moving indoors, putting 250 people in a space that's set for 1200 people. Normally, I think, you know, socially distance that, you know, the the meeting planners, everybody else are going to have to figure out how to take what they would normally feed in one ballroom and move it into three. I think also, Jeff is probably right in that some of this is going to become regional. You know, I just I feel bad for the people who end up with the CFO as the guy who presents in their market, you know, rather than, you know, the, the president of the company or something like that, you know, but, I think the fall is hopefully when we're looking at doing this. Well, I cannot wait till the fall comes. So everyone, all our friends, our industry folks, we can all go back to work. And I'm going to quote one of my employees who said, we're going to go from pandemic to pandemonium, which is the idea that the capacity of companies has been reduced. And when this all comes back, it's going to be it's it's all going to it's not going to be like a I don't know about a slow ramp or a quick ramp, but, you know, our industry, I think a lot of people that used to work in our industry are doing other things, and fortunately we're all still working and we're happy to do so. And guys, I so appreciate you all joining me today. So I want to thank Brent, David, Shawn and Jeff. You guys are amazing. And thank you for what you do for our industry and and how you've had to learn and, and kind of become remote TDs and home studio TDs. And I can't wait to see all of you back in a ballroom, a convention center, something where we don't have to look at a two dimensional screen. And this is Les over on The Road Ahead, guys. Thank you again. Good job. Thank you. Listen.