Speaker 1: What is an AV technician? Hi, I'm Paul Donovan and welcome. I'm glad you asked the question. AV stands for Audio and Visual. Audio is things related to sound that can be microphones and speakers and various cables and wires related to sound. And visual is referring to just about anything that has to do with the video and visual aspect of a performance or an event. This can be the staging, the drapes, the lighting, the props, but it also can mean technology such as PowerPoint, slides, overhead projectors, as well as, of course, the actual creation of it. And don't forget visual also includes the use of cameras. So an AV technician, an audio-visual technician, is someone who is well-versed in just about all the equipment that they are going to be involved with. They need to understand not only how to set it up but also how to configure it and operate it. Many events can include things like trade shows, stage performances, concerts, conferences, meetings and training sessions, webinars, press conferences, special events such as weddings or funerals, press releases and product releases, and so much more. Just about everything these days needs some form of audio-visual need. Even something as simple as a video like this. Now there are really two types of AV technicians in the market. There's the set-up or tear-down crew, and then there's the show operators. Now the set-up and tear-down crew, these are the ones who sometimes we lovingly call them the grunt workers, but not all of them are. But these are the guys who have to haul the equipment, do the heavy lifting, do the set-up, and even be able to configure the equipment to a certain extent. They don't necessarily have to be professional at operating the equipment, but they do need to know how to at least plug it in, turn it on and configure it at the basic settings. You often see in AV technicians that are coming ahead of time before the event is over. So a lot of times these people are coming in real early in the morning and they also come at the end of the event to tear it all down. And of course that means oftentimes they're there late. So they have a wide variety of hours of activity. And not always is the set-up crew and the tear-down crew or the strike crew the same people. Sometimes they will be completely different people. They don't have to specifically know every piece of equipment, but they should at minimum know how to run the cables and plug things in and turn the device on. Configuring the equipment is important too. And there are some AV technicians who are on set-up at strike who understand how to configure the machines and the equipment as needed. The second group of people are the operators. This is the ones that I like to do because that's where I do a lot of my own work. They have to have two basic talents. One is they have to be able to configure and operate the equipment that will be used for the event that they're working for. Secondly, they need to be able to interact with the client or the presenters or the talent depending on the type of event. And of course these guys are usually working in a team. Sometimes it's a team of one, but sometimes it could be a team of many different people. So they have to be able to get along with the team members and even along with the client and everything else. So there's got to be a lot of people skills associated with an operator. Now the entire industry, the audiovisual industry, is based on a schedule that is totally erratic. There is no 9 to 5 in this business. There are a lot of down times when there are very few events and then there are busy times when you'll be working overtime and sometimes overtime on top of overtime. So there really isn't a lot of standard. The wage rates can vary depending on if your employer is a small AV company or a larger national company. And also there are union and non-union contractors out there that hire people. The smaller AV companies tend to be paying on the lower end of the wage scale and they also tend also to have the most erratic working schedules. Set up a strike cruise, for example, can expect wages between $12 and $25 an hour, more leaning on the $12 side than on the $25 side. And then show event operators, that's the other group, they tend to get a little bit more depending on their experience and talent. They can probably see between $15 and $30 an hour. Some of the really talented special people are paid a whole lot more, of course, especially those in the movie industry. Most AV technicians are freelance, sometimes called contract workers. It depends on how you work in your own life and so on. And so you'll find that a lot of times, especially the show operators, tend to be freelancers. If they're a freelancer, that means they work for a lot of different companies. Most companies have a four-hour minimum call, so if they call you in to do an event, you can expect to have at least four hours of work. Again, some of the freelancers will negotiate a day rate, a half-day rate, and things like that. Now, because freelancers or contract workers, often they work for many different companies, and so they're often hired because of their special experience and ability. But they are hired for the event, and then that's the end of their responsibility. They have to do their best at what they do, as well as still continue to make the company they're working for look good. And so it's often hard when you work for two or three companies that may be fierce competition in the market, and each time you work for each of those companies, you have to be the face of that company. So it's a little bit awkward when you're working for multiple companies. Now, the bigger companies, they have some different situations. They often have very strictly set up guidelines about how wages and hours are counted. The working conditions are often different. Quite often, you may be given a specific task, and that will be the task you'll do for the whole shift, depending on the size of the task that's involved. Also, the bigger companies tend to have larger crews when doing set-ups and strikes, and more operators where possible. The wage rates don't really change a whole lot. It's just some of the working conditions are there. Oh, by the way, since you are usually freelance contract workers, it's very rare that you will ever get any benefit plan when you're working along with an AV business. Now, there's another area, of course, that AV is also involved in, and that's in the movie industry or the television commercial industry or the TV series industry. Most of those things are done with union operators. Some of the commercials, some smaller things, might work with non-union scenarios, but a lot of the major industries, the Hollywood movies and so on, those tend to be mostly union shops. And, of course, you need to get involved with the union registration. I don't know enough about that to tell you what to do there, but that's the big one. And they do the big gigs, and you can sometimes see at the end of a concert, 50 or 100 guys are sitting there waiting for the concert to end, and then they come in and then just quickly dismantle the entire stage setup. Now, you'll see also some of the larger events. The event itself will have its own dedicated crew members, and they will hire locally to bring in, so they'll crew locally for the gigs. You can often find listings on Craigslist and other places like that where there are gig events, where you're brought in just for your muscles and your back. Quite often, the experienced technicians won't get into the really big shows because if the shows are put together, like the big concerts with the major performers out there, they often have their own people who are very familiar with the sound setup for the show, and they don't usually use local talent for that. So it's very rare that we get involved in that area. Now, you'll often hear about the exciting opportunities, the great chances you have. I can tell you stories of having put a microphone on Sarah Palin or Vice President Chani, or I even microphoned with John Cleese. You know, it sounds pretty exotic. Also, the same thing is, all you're doing is putting a microphone on the lapel. You don't get to interact with them and so on. But also, the other part of this thing is that your life is constantly changing. There's no schedule, there's nothing there. There's the beautiful moments, there's the light moments, there's the hard-working moments, the time you just sweat like crazy, hauling equipment around, lifting heavy equipment. And then there's the easy parts where the show is on and you're sitting back and just making sure that the sliders are moving on your mixer board and make sure the lights are on and, you know, giving the cues and things like that. So, is it possible to earn a living? Yes. Would you make it a career? Maybe. I've known some people who've been doing AV work for 20, 30 years. And they just keep on doing it, whatever reason, they keep on doing it. And it certainly is very rewarding. A lot of people use it as a stepping stone to move up into the film industry where they can get a chance of working on movies and so on. Remember that the hours are extremely erratic. There are times when you're just absolutely overloaded with telephone calls. Can you work? Can you work? Can you work? If you were two people, three people, you could have all the work you could get. And then there's the times when there's just nothing going on and you're sending out messages to all the shops saying, have you got anything? Have you got anything? And you're sitting at home twiddling your thumbs, not doing anything. Or hopefully you've got a second income that you can also promote during the down times. One of the bad things about this is it makes it very hard for you to plan budgeting and even for things like holidays because you don't want to take holidays if it means you're going to lose a week or two weeks' worth of events. So quite often you even have difficulty making holidays. So here in North America, July and August are really dead times. There's a pittance amount of work. There's not nearly enough work. And this is the time when a lot of A.V. technicians will head off and do some of their own little plans and projects, take holidays. I've heard of some guys going off backpacking through Asia and Europe and things like that. And, of course, if you've got a hobby, this is the time when people will build up their hobbies. There is also a break over the Christmas period of time when the Christmas parties are done and when Christmas is on and after Christmas. Nobody wants to have a meeting or special event happening during that mid-December to mid-January period. Things slow down as December comes in and things slowly pick up for February. Now those of you who might be watching this who are coming from other countries where your seasons are opposite, whatever is your summer and your winter, flip those months around and you'll have an idea. So there's a little bit about what an A.V. technician is all about. It is a challenging job. It's a job that you can earn your keep. It's also the great opportunity, especially in the case like I am as a show operator, you get to meet a lot of very interesting people and have a lot of fun. And you learn a lot. I have worked at a lot of medical conferences, legal conferences, accountants. Some of them are boring. Some of them you learn something. But you're always earning a living and have a job. Please check out www.avtechnician.ca or make comments below. Thank you for watching. Paul Donovan here. Thank you very much. www.avtechnician.com