Light Minds Think Alike

The best can always get better

ETC has earned a reputation in our industry for offering unmatched customer service. One reason for this is that we're always trying to adapt and improve our service model to make sure we're providing the best support for the people we work with every day.

Last year, ETC kicked off a new, companywide program to help ensure we're still providing the acclaimed support we're known for. The Customer Service Awareness Training Series is an eight-week training program - led by ETC's Vice President of Professional Services Sarah Danke - that focuses on reevaluating and improving how we interact with others. The classes are attended by a mix of employees from different departments, who work together and encourage each other throughout the training. Eventually, every ETC employee across the globe will attend one of the Training Series sessions.

"No matter what job an employee holds, he or she provides some form of customer service, whether to the outside world or to coworkers inside ETC," explains Sarah. "These classes help all of us realize what role we play in our customer-service chain and how to keep our customer-service standards high."

The very last assignment for the Customer Service Awareness Training Series is a team presentation that demonstrates the lessons learned from the course. While those of us who haven't yet taken the class don't fully understand why, it's become commonplace to see our coworkers playing games with jello in Town Square, dressing like game show hosts or reciting Shakespeare. 

The first rule of the Customer Service Awareness Training Series? Don't talk about the Customer Service Awareness Training Series. The content of the classes is a closely guarded secret, so each employee can experience the training in his or her own way. 

Suksa Thao, a team lead in ETC's Fixtures division of the Manufacturing department, participated in the training earlier this year and like all other employees, enjoyed the experience. "I learned that you have to treat everyone inside and outside of ETC as your customers," he said. "I have been using all the tricks from the training in my job. I know that this class will change a little or a lot in everyone who has been through the training, and will definitely have a big impact on customer service at ETC."

The Wizard of Oz and SmartModule 2

ETC Field Service Coordinator David Hilton explains why there's no place like ETC when it comes to dimming:

Most people don’t know that I grew up in Kansas. This means that I refer to Coke as “pop”, I call the Arkansas River the “R-Kansas” River, and I spend a great portion of my day thinking about things like The Wizard of Oz (this movie will henceforth be referred to as WO! in this blog). Given this last strange personal phenomenon, I’ve used WO! as a means to help me make sense of the vast world of entertainment lighting. First off, we are in a very colorful industry, not only in the literal sense referring to gels, dichroics, and LEDs, but also in a verbal sense in terms of the language often used backstage.  Water is incredibly harmful to most things we use, and I have witnessed a few professionals get lost in the poppy fields on their way to Emerald City.

It just so happens that the other day I had one of my WO! moments of clarity when I was using one of our SmartModule 2s. For some reason, when I started setting the levels of some Source Fours I had plugged into it, the Scarecrow’s song “If I Only Had a Brain,” popped into my head. There are many small dimmer packs that plug directly into the wall, but the SmartModule 2 also has a brain, making it dance circles around all of the other dumb scarecrows.

How many parties, bar-mitzvahs, and weddings have we all set up? How many times have you uplit a tree or placed gel on a PAR and shot straight up the side of a tent? These applications aren’t rocket science. Heck, they’re not even basic science. All you want to do is plug them in, dim them to 80%, and walk away. That’s not an option on most of these small dimmer packs. They’re too dumb to do things on their own. All they have is a DMX port and a dipswitch, meaning they have to be told what to do from a console.

Enter the brain on the SmartModule 2. It allows you to set a level and walk away without the use of a console. It has an LCD screen that intelligently displays its levels and starting address so you don’t have to remember how dipswitches work. Heck, the darn thing is so smart you can change dimmer curves, minimum and maximum levels, and even have it run one of twenty built-in effects!

So what else does a brain get you? Well, each dimmer on the SmartModule 2 has its own 10-amp breaker, so there’s no replacing a fuse or tripping one breaker for half of your circuits. There’s even a convenient outlet built in for a console, fog machine, or foot massager. In fact, when you just hold a SmartModule 2 in your hands, you can tell somebody used their brain when they designed it. It’s rugged. It’s quiet. It’s easy to program; easy to troubleshoot problems. The handles feel great, and there are options for attaching a C-clamp or bolting it to the wall. The DMX ports even speak RDM, meaning you can readdress the little guy remotely from Eos, Ion, and Element consoles. It really is the best designed small dimmer pack this side of the rainbow!

So the next time you look for a solution for those gigs that need a small dimmer pack to plug into the wall, I urge you to take a lesson from WO! and look at the SmartModule 2. It’s competitively priced with less-intelligent dimmer packs, but its brain gives you so much more. I guarantee you’ll never want to use another scarecrow again. Just don’t give it to a flying monkey or pour water on it.

Wilkommen in Holzkirchen!

So, earlier in October we held Fokus 2010. We had a great time here in Holzkirchen with about 160 of our dealers and customers from all over the ETC, GmbH region including folks from Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Russia (to name a few of the various countries represented.) It was two days full of presentations, product demos and workshops covering all the ETC products and how they can be used. We had Eos, Ion, Element, NT-X, SmartFade, Congo jr and Congo consoles. We had Unison Paradigm and Mosaic control on display. We had a sample of every type of dimmer rack we make including Sensor, Matrix MkII and AlexM. We had Source Four ellipsoidals and PARs. We had Selador including Lustr, Vivid-R and the new Pearl. And we had colleagues from Robe, Coolux, Schnick Schnak Systems and Lighting Innovation with us to help show off how ETC gear can be combined with gear from others to make systems that fit a customer's needs exactly.

(Apologies for the photos being a little fuzzy, I took them all with my iPhone.)

Fred presents the history of ETC

A musical interlude for the crowd at the Eos session

On Monday we had presentations during the day with a keynote address on the history of ETC from Fred Foster, followed by a session on Selador LED technology, then a session on using moving lights in theatre and finally a session on media servers from Coolux. To highlight how we use Selador and Eos in action, those sessions both ended with a short musical performance by a professional harpist/pianist. In the evening we had our own version of Oktoberfest in the Festsaal of the venue - Kultur im Oberbräu here in Holzkirchen. We had music from the "ETC Hotline" band with our own software developer Hans Leiter on keyboards and a special appearance by our own Mark Tobler from Sales to sing a few songs for us. After that, we heard traditional beer hall music from the Valley Brass Band with our own Andreas Weindl on bass drum. The evening's catering was handled by the Pabst Café - one of our usual lunch spots. There was no better way to let our visitors know what it is to be ETC here in Germany! And a good time was had by all.

Mark Tobler sings with the ETC Hotline Band, Hans Leiter on keyboards

The Valley Brass Band enters with style, Andreas Weindl on bass drum

On Tuesday we held smaller workshops around the building with topics such as RDM/ACN, use of Media Servers in theatre, use of Selador LED technology in theatre and television, the differences in our dimmer technologies, use of Congo in theatre and live events and a preview of Congo v6.1 software, and more on the use of moving lights in theatre with the Eos system and a preview of Eos v1.9.5 software. Many questions were asked, many solutions were offered, and in general everyone was pleased with the event.

The Eos crew during the party - Mike Adam, Heiko Steuernagel and Matthias Strobel share board op duties while Philipp Schaeffer (General Manager, GmbH) and Ludwig Krauss (Sales) look on.

From the US contingent: Fred, Jake Dunnum (Marketing) and Greg Thomas (R&D) look on

It's always great to get a chance to talk with our dealers and customers. In Europe one only gets these opportunities so often, and usually at a trade show. To invite everyone "over to our house" for a couple of days made for a far more relaxed atmosphere than you get at a trade show and so you can get into longer conversations with people, do some show file trouble shooting, and get early input on software development all at the same time. What more can a product manager ask for?

One of the things I equate with the "ETC Experience" is feeling part of the family. I have felt this way for almost 17 years since my first time at an ETC training workshop where we learned about Sensor Dimmer Doubling and the Response Network Controller (how many of you remember that one?). This event brought that feeling to our newest markets and welcomed 160 more people into our ever-growing family. We welcome you all!

ETC celebrates Halloween

ETC employees got a jump-start on Halloween by showing up to work on Friday, October 29^th, in costume. Here are some of our favorites:

 You just might get Cleopatra (Administrative Assistant Krystal Moran) on the phone when you call ETC’s front desk.

 “Have some more sloppy joes! I made them extra sloppy for youse!” Flo, Gertie, Ilene and ‘Deli’ Daphne (aka: Marjorie Olsen, Kao Her, Mary Kading and ‘Deli’ Dave Hesterly) donned their best hairnets and horn-rimmed glasses to give a great Lunch Lady impression to ETC’s Broadway Deli customers.

 “That’s one, one SmartStand! Two, two SmartStands! Wha-ha-ha-ha!” Inventory Specialist Moua Lee channels his inner Count.

 Assembler Tyler Freund answers one of life’s deepest mysteries: where’s Waldo? (Hint: check by the installation racks in the ETC factory.)

 Administrative Assistant Tori Mizerak proves that working in Tech Services is just ‘Child’s Play.’ 

 Acceptance Test Specialist Greg Thomas greets visitors to the Tech Services department with a tail wag.

 Project Manager Rachel Frederick shows off her flower power.

 This is what happened after the credits rolled in the movie Carrie. (Actually, it’s Regional Assistants Erin Flack and Heather Hatley goofing around in Systems.)

 “Just a spoonful of Unison helps the lighting costs go down...” Architectural Basics Project Specialist Alison Daughters makes a great Mary Poppins.

 If the Godfather sprouted wings, he’d be Systems Estimator and Project Manager Ned Keitt-Pride.

  Administrative Assistant Elly Burian says: “I can has cheezburger?”

 Electrical Engineer Kevin McCann celebrates Casual Friday in R&D.

And apparently the 80s are back in style at ETC. It seems a lot of us are missing the days of big hair, big jewelry and big shoulder pads... 

 Customer Service Representative Tina Lippiatt could step in for Meg Ryan in her next film.

 Project Managers Doug Tuttrup and Katie O’Connell put their rubix cubes and Aquanet aside for a picture.

 Systems Engineer Natalia Lupacheva could be an extra on the set of Dynasty.

 Systems Engineer Shawn ‘Gumby’ Blystone is waiting for Devo to make a comeback. 

 The Promotions and Advertising Group in the Marketing department (Web Designer Lincoln Theiler, Communications Writer Allison Suchon, Administrative Assistant Shani Dorner, Senior Graphic Designer Shannon Forcier, Graphic Design Specialist Stephanie Billmeyer, and Promotions and Advertising Manager John Kuehl) pay homage to Working Girl and Miami Vice.