Light Minds Think Alike : people

It's a holly jolly holiday at ETC

allisonsuchon — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 15:44:00 GMT

Santa's workshop isn't the only bustling factory this time of year. ETC offices across the globe are busy filling end-of-the year orders and gearing up for a new year with a lot of new surprises. Even with all that work going on, you'd have a tough time finding a Grinch or a scrooge at ETC.

We started getting into the holiday spirit right after Thanksgiving, when Town Square at the Middleton headquarters was transformed overnight by some hardworking elves. The 1930s New York streetscape was turned into a living snow globe, with candy canes, ornaments, wreaths and garland adorning every inch of the space. Our faux storefronts can compete with any department-store holiday window display. And because we're a company full of engineers and techies, we have an automated, life-sized Santa bobbing up and down in a chimney near the marketing department. Even King Kong, perched atop the Empire State Building, has donned a santa hat (seen here in a grainy photo shot by a local news helicopter).

Being the arts-minded company we are, we couldn't have the holidays without celebrating the arts - or the art of a good flash mob. Twice we've had impromptu groups come wassailing. A couple weeks ago, members of the Madison Ballet twirled around Town Square, dancing to holiday classics and songs from musicals like Kiss Me Kate. And then last week, the Middleton High School chamber singers filled Town Square with carols for ETC employees needing a bit of a break.

And each office has had their version of a holiday party. The first was the New York office's annual open house, where they showed off our latest and greatest products. Industry professionals, including award-winning Broadway lighting designers, packed the office to mingle with ETC staff and get product demos. True to the moniker "the city that never sleeps," the New York event was supposed to run from 3:00-8:00pm, but the party was still going on at the office until 9:30 and then continued until much later at a local bar.

Our London office teamed up with ABTT (the Association of British Theatre Technicians) to hold a Christmas party at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Close to 250 people dined at the Grand Saloon and recognized the newest fellows and honorary members of ABTT.

The picturesque Monona Terrace in Madison, WI, played host to the American offices' party. Although Jack Frost tried to ruin the festivities by dumping nine inches of blowing and drifting snow on the city, hundreds of ETC employees and our guests enjoyed a Tuscan-themed evening full of food, games and great company. The backdrop for the event was a handcrafted stage that resembled a Tuscan villa, built by ETC CEO Fred Foster and his wife Susan for the wedding of two ETC employees this summer. The whole event was lit by ETC Selador® and Source Four Revolution® fixtures. Thanks to the blizzard outside, we couldn't take the no-sleeping title from New York. The party was cut short, so guests could leave before the roads got too hazardous to navigate in the snow.

Almost everybody who works for ETC's Holzkirchen office attended the German holiday celebration, with a tasty lunch at the Gasthof Oberbräu restaurant. And ETC Asia combined their holiday merriment with customer service training. ETC VP of Professional Services Sarah Danke brought her companywide training course to Hong Kong, and employees there celebrated acing the class at their holiday luncheon.

From all of us here at ETC, we wish you happy holidays and all the best in 2011!

ETC celebrates Halloween

allisonsuchon — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 21:10:00 GMT

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.

Get on board with the Pecha Kucha craze!

allisonsuchon — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 19:50:00 GMT

ETC Architectural Market Manager Joe Bokelman explains what a Pecha Kucha is:

A what? What is a Pecha Kucha, you ask? An easy answer might be to refer you to pecha-kucha.org, and leave it at that. But, if you haven’t already clicked away, allow me to make an analogy: if Karaoke is a way for drunken businesspeople to embarrass themselves after work, Pecha Kucha is a similar pastime while you might actually be working. It is like ‘open mic night’ for creative people.

The words mean ‘chit-chat’ in Japanese; more specifically, our dealer in Japan said it means ‘five women gossiping, at the same time.’ In 2004, two architects in Tokyo created an event style to help rejuvenate the gallery/bar/performance space they owned. They felt that creative types (architects, artists, etc.) had no outlet to explain and showcase their work to peers, but they also felt that ‘giving the mic’ to those same creative types was dangerous; they might never shut up! So, the pair devised a format to contain the presentation of a creative work (or idea) – one that also forced the presenter to really narrow their focus.

The Pecha Kucha format is very specific – 20 slides presented at a pace of 20 seconds per slide. In practice, the slides should automatically advance, making the entire presentation six minutes and 40 seconds long, exactly. This concept isn’t hard to understand, but just try it once for yourself; you will be forced to consider exactly what you are going to say, and you will have to work hard to avoid all of those little ‘filler words’ and verbal tangents we all have! In addition, you will have to find the right subject to present – you may find it very hard to express a broad concept at 20 seconds per slide.

Why do it? Because the format benefits the viewer. In a traditional format, the audience would have to sit the entire time listening to one person drone on about this project or that concept. If they don’t like the topic, or the presenter, that’s a good deal of time wasted. In a typical ‘Pecha Kucha Night’ or PKN, there may be 10-20 presenters, or about one to two hours of presentations. Some have said the best part about Pecha Kucha is that each topic (or presenter) is only up for 00:06:40. If you don’t like it, it will be over soon enough! Also, there is always some time in-between presenters, usually enough time to get a fresh drink from the bar (remember, the inventors owned a performance space/bar!) and the event usually gets more and more raucous as the night goes on!

Now six years later, the Pecha Kucha craze has grown worldwide: there are more than 335 cities with sanctioned Pecha Kucha nights, and more than 1000 presentations online on their main site. Thousands of people have experienced Pecha Kucha – and if you were at our Workshop this summer, you did too! The format has been used to present topics of all kinds (one of my favorites was given by a zoologist on a rare species of very large, flightless birds!).

Words don’t do the format justice. You have to check one out for yourself, either online, or better yet – go to a PKN near you!

ETC Live!

allisonsuchon — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 20:51:00 GMT

ETC lights venues all around the world – theaters, museums, tradeshows, amusement parks, concerts and more. One of the main reasons our equipment is so popular is because we understand what lighting professionals need for their varied applications, since we’ve been in their shoes. Employees have come to ETC from all kinds of backgrounds and have their own experience in those industries. And every year, we get the opportunity to showcase our skills at an annual company picnic, art exhibit and talent show – called ETC Live! – held at our factory.

This year’s event, with a ‘Fire and Ice’ theme, took place on Saturday, August 7^th. The deluge of rain that Wisconsin’s gotten this year took a day off, so we lucked out with beautiful – albeit humid – weather. Nearly 1,000 people – ETC employees, our families and guests – joined a swarm of Wisconsin state birds (read: mosquitoes) to enjoy the food and fun. ETC CEO Fred Foster provided some relief from the humidity, peddling around the event on his ice cream cart and handing out frozen treats. And kids got to experience a fantasy land, with a bounce house, massive inflatable slide, magic show, games and crafts.

ETC’s Town Square was turned into an art gallery for the event. Artists and photographers throughout the company displayed their beautiful paintings, photography, sculptures and woodworking in the pseudo shop-windows. And the parking lot was temporarily turned into a car show, as ETC gearheads showed off their classic and restored cars.

Then the ETC Live! show started. ETC’s outdoor amphitheater was bathed in deep blues and reds, thanks to the Selador® Series LED fixtures in the lighting rig. Manufacturing’s Dan Woodson kicked off the entertainment with a rendition of “Sweet Caroline.” He was followed up by ‘Madtown Ballroom,’ a local Latin-dance troupe made up of ETC R&D’s Matt Garrison and friends, dancing Salsa Rueda. Alternative-rock group ‘Crew Member Mike’ – all teenagers, including a son of R&D’s Dennis Varian – performed song covers and an original tune. Next up was musical-comedy group ‘Ironsides.’ John Ironside from ETC’s IT department, along with his wife and others, took on hits by the Carpenters, interspersed with witty observations on the neurotic nature of the famed lyrics. Rob Raff from the Sales department of ETC’s Southeast office – fresh off his smashing opening act at ETC’s Rep and Dealer Workshop – serenaded the crowd with smooth coffee-house covers of favorite rock and pop ballads. He was backed up by Scott Aumann from ETC Repairs, and Curt Schreiner and Rob Bloch from Shipping.

The main event of ETC Live! opened with teenage band ‘The Last Minute,’ which included sons of ETC’s John Masino (Manufacturing Engineering) and Lisa Patzka (Administration). The group handled clean covers of hits by Jane’s Addiction and Stone Temple Pilots and performed an original piece. ‘The John Masino Band’ took the stage to close out the show. Fronted by vocalist and guitar-wizard Masino – who was backed up by Aumann and Schreiner among others – the group wowed the crowd with incredible music, including classics by Chuck Berry, The Beatles, Jimmy Hendrix, David Bowie, The Foo Fighters and AC/DC, as well as the band’s own original hits.

At the end of the night, everyone packed up their lawnchairs and picnic blankets to head home. On Monday, we came back to the office to display our other talents – making award-winning products and providing outstanding customer service.

The CUBS and Teamwork in ETC Service

mmeskill — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 19:35:00 GMT

There is a yearly ritual that takes place in the ETC Service Department. It usually happens in late February and involves a great deal of planning, coordination and teamwork. The event: Trying to buy home game tickets for Chicago Cubs Baseball games. (Yes I know, we live in Middleton, WI)

Lisa Chapiewsky has been the Field Service Coordinator for ETC Inc for about 9 years and she is a rabid Cubs fan. For those of you that do not know, the Field Service Coordinator is the one person behind the scenes in Field Service that holds the fate of all installation and field service work in their hands. If you have a new ETC system and need to get it up and running, Lisa is the one that finds the right person for the job. I had the pleasure of being the one to hire Lisa back in 2000 and have missed the opportunity over the last 4 years to be involved in her quest to obtain Cubs tickets.

So how it works: On the morning of February 20th, Lisa shows up at work in her Cubs sweatshirt and a stack of paperwork. This paperwork details all her preferences for game days and seating areas. At around 9:00 am she solicits everyone in the Service department to log onto the ticket page for the Cubs. You basically log into a ‘waiting room’ and hope that the system randomly selects you to buy tickets. Over my first 3-years of doing this I never got to the screen to buy a ticket but was surprised to be the first person in the department to get in once selection started at 10:00 am CST. (I got in at 10:20). I was in a discussion with Matt Kerr from Phone Support when the window opened. I stopped talking mid-sentence, ran to my door and yelled “Lisa, I’m in!”…At this point Lisa runs over with paperwork and credit card in hand. She goes though the screens and gets tickets. She then logs me back into the waiting room. During the day you randomly hear people yelling “Lisa, I’m in!” followed by Lisa running through the department with her credit card.

This year seemed to be quite good as she got all her tickets by 1:00 pm. I was lucky enough to get into the system a second time and felt happy to be helping a former employee and current friend.

It’s all about the Teamwork!

Jetlagged and in Middleton for the week...Mike Meskill

I Don't Want to be a Downer...

mmeskill — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 15:08:00 GMT

It seems like there is always a good bit of talk about what a fun place ETC is to work but last night I was lying awake in bed obsessing over a number of different issue I need to deal with and felt that someone should address the fact that we do real work here J Now I’m defiantly of the belief that ETC is a great place to work but it is still work.

One must keep in mind that for everyone of us sometimes crazy theatre people that work in customer facing departments, there are countless others that are doing the day-to-day labor that actually leads to products getting shipped to customers. Remember, in real terms ETC is a manufacturing company. I often find myself envying these individuals in the ability to come to work, complete a quality task, and then go home with the feeling of a job well done. When I was a Factory Field Technician, I had that feeling on a regular basis as I spent the majority of my time installing new ETC Lighting Systems and was rewarded with a happy new ‘end user’ at the end of my efforts. Or I got to fly into a city in the 11^th hour, do some magic and save the day; usually with the assistance of a much smarter Phone Support Technician who did not get to see the smiling customers face or get the free beer after the show.

Now, as a manager of 10 years, I endeavor to ensure that the cogs in the machine run smooth for any employee or customer I come in contact with. Although I find the task enjoyable and rewarding, it is does not give the same degree of daily or weekly satisfaction I once had and thus it seems more like work and therefore less fun.

Then there are the fights and arguments that are the opposite of fun. Fights you say? Arguments? Well yes, but in the: ‘We all want to go for Chinese buffet but spend so much time debating which is the best place that we use up our lunch hour and have to order in pizza’ kind of way. Meaning that the people I work with are so committed to finding the best way to things that we often fight about what the absolute best course of action is and on the service side I have seen it spin out of control…always to the benefit of the customer. For example: A call might come into Phone Support and it is decided to that a RMA should be issued. A coffee break 10 minutes later leads to discussion about the problem and a manger decides that a new unit should be sent. Then a second manager is consulted and believes that a Field Tech should first be sent to site to investigate the problem. Now the fun begins. The cheapest thing would be to send a loaner and issue an RMA. Sending new equipment or a service tech to site is expensive. So we fight about the best way to resolve the issue and eventually end up sending new equipment and a service tech and some extra parts that we think maybe will be needed.

Finally there is the guilt that makes working in service at ETC un-fun. You see, I was raised Catholic but joined the Unitarian church 7 years ago…but I still suffer from “Catholic Guilt”. I also suffer from “Service Guilt”. Service Guilt happens when despite your best efforts and intentions you outright fail to fix the customers problems. In the case above, the best decision might have been to send a loaner and issue a RMA. But then the loaner does not work when it shows up at site. You send a service technician to investigate and the problem is with the loaner. You do a quick-turnaround on the repair and send it back right away. It breaks again 4 days later. You send a whole new unit. It shows up with a broken GM fader. These things happen and they are beyond my control but I end up with an extreme sense of guilt that I have just put some TD at the local community theatre through the worst service experience of their life. It is not a fun job on that day.

In the last month I have: Had a picnic for all my German employees at my house, gone to the ETC Inc Summer picnic in my Lederhosen, gone to the ETC GmbH Summer picnic on a large hill overlooking a beautiful valley, went to a ETC Professional Services potluck, and had countless after work outings with coworkers who are also loyal friends. Yes, there is the unhappy getting up and going to work every day thing but God help me, I love it so.

Mike’s Three and a Half Years in Europe

mmeskill — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:33:00 GMT

After three and a half years of living and working in Europe I have only come to grasp one thing with absolute certainty: Europe is not the U.S.A. and the European Union is not a single market place. Granted, it is very nice to have a single currency in the form of the EURO.

In my case, I left a nice comfortable job as the Field Service Manager with the ETC Mother-ship in Middleton, WI for the diverse, multi-level working environment of Europe. In principle the general idea of my job is the same as when I worked in Middleton: Provide the highest level of customer service and exceed the expectations of customers. But ETC’s European companies are small organizations when compared to our U.S. Headquarters. Because of this, working in Europe tends to remind me of the ETC I started at as an intern in 1995. Everyone is doing everything and anything to get the job done. Now this is not to say that employees in the U.S. are not doing what it takes to meet our customers’ needs but there is a distinct advantage to the economies of scale that a larger organization can offer in terms of available resources. I have no doubt that some of you believe that the large size of ETC often makes it more difficult to work with but I can give you my personal insurance that every time I’m in the U.S. I hear conversations about how to improve the customer experience. It remains an overriding force that drives the company forward. As a matter of fact, I have often said that as soon as I feel ETC has stopped caring, that it would be time for me to leave. So far I’m planning on retiring from here.

In the U.S. I had the luxury of sitting in my office and focusing on the needs of customers and ASC’s (Authorized Service Providers). Sure I was involved with ‘other stuff’ but in the end I just had my little piece of the service puzzle. Work in Europe is nowhere near so compartmentalized. I get to move freely between service, shipping, customs and duties, projects, and finance, all on levels that I would never have been exposed to in the U.S. And this hold true for almost all the employees here. We run around and stick our fingers in the holes of the dam and pray we do not run out of fingers. It is maddening….but at the same time; I never go home at the end of the day feeling that I did not accomplish anything!

Mike to Write Blog Posts

mmeskill — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 09:15:00 GMT

I spent just over four years in the United States NAVY as a Fire Control Technician. (Like missile firing not the hot red flames and smoke type of fire). It did not take me long to learn that the word NAVY was actually an acronym for Never Again Volunteer Yourself. But in the world of ETC you do not need to volunteer, you just need to show a little interest in any project that David Lincecum is involved with and you will quickly find yourself doing stuff you thought was kind of neat but were glad that others were working on. This is how I find myself writing a ‘Light Minds’ blog on the ETC forum. How it went down…mostly:

From: Mike Meskill
Sent: Wed 6/18/2008 3:05 PM
To: David Lincecum
Subject: Who are the special people?

David, who are the special people that actually get to create blogs? Am I special? Wait…don’t answer that. I have been thinking about an EU perspective but want to ensure I / we can stay committed to the task. I would see me / us sending things to you for review before posting. {I / we; me / us meaning that I would have the permission to post but would get inputs from ETC Ltd and GmbH}

25 hours latter:

From: John Kuehl
Sent: Thursday, June 19, 2008 3:53 PM
To: David North; Joe Kirschling; Mike Meskill
Cc: David Lincecum
Subject: welcome, new blog contributors

Each of you have been identified or self-identified as new contributors to our group blog, "Light Minds Think Alike", or, "Light Minds". I went ahead and gave you all the necessary permissions to begin posting.

So here I am adding my first post to this blog and with the help of the employees of ETC GmbH in Germany and ETC Ltd in the UK I hope to provide some interesting and timely updates.

Sincerely, (American English)

Cheers! (British English)

mit freundlichen Grüβen, (German)

Mike Meskill

European Service Manager, ETC