Light Minds Think Alike

Where'd you get help before?

I think I'm the stats guy of the blog group here, so how about another one:

We have over 3,000 members of our online community, and we appreciate the contributions from each of them. When we talk about this group, which we do often, there's a rhetorical question that's often posed. The question is in regards to the popularity of our forums - over 280,000 pageviews on our forums and blogs in the last seven months, not including ETC staff - and it goes something like this:

"Before our forums came online, where did all these people go to get help?"

It's such a good question - and one that probably had a good answer - I just figured we should just go ahead and ask. So, tell us:

If you've asked or answered a question in our forums, where did you go to get or offer help before we had them? Other forum sites? Our 800 number? Nowhere?

If you want to expand on your basic answer, I'm curious if ETC's forums have totally replaced your previous resources, or if you continue to use a variety of avenues to find help for a variety of needs.

Thanks for sharing!

The Seasons of Service

It's the silly season in Technical Services.  Summer time is when electrical contractors are let loose to install lighting systems in municipal buildings and since we are near the end of summer we are also facing crunch time in support.  Oh, and so you know what I mean by municipal buildings, that is generally going to cover schools, convention centers, board rooms, meeting halls and other facilities like jails and courtrooms.

So now as the contractors are trying to finish the jobs up and get paid right before school starts, we're doing a lot of new system turn ons, we're getting calls to answer technical questions, replacing a bad part here and there, and offering support to all the Authorized Service Center contractors out there that do a bulk of the heavy lifting.  The techs are twisting wires, writing Unison configurations, training on consoles, filling out field service reports and getting to the next job to do it again for another customer.

Next comes Fall.  In late September and most of October we expect to get more than the usual share of calls from Drama Teachers.  The request is simple and goes something like, "My student that knew all my tech stuff and did the lighting graduated last year.  I have a show next week and need to get the lights on.  How do I do that?"  We help them through some basics over the phone and suggest they choose another couple of tech students to take class time to learn the lighting system.  Let's face it, just about any kid these days can pick up any electronic device and know it inside and out in no time.

In November and early December we get the calls from different worship centers needing to run their installed system to the limits for one of two times a year (Easter being the other time) or have rental gear and need help getting through a few details.

Late December through about February we hit the municipal cycle again as ECs have been let in do installations during the holiday break.  We switch our brains back over to console and equipment instruction instead of installation technician support.

March, April and May hit with the Spring school musical cycle shortly followed by year-end dance recitals.  Questions on how to record effects and cue stacks come in.

Well, then we're back to summer aren't we.  In May and June we get to work with folks getting ready for summer festival and outdoor theatre productions.  This is right before we get to the summer installation push again.

There you have it.  The service cycle through ETC as it were.  Maybe you're asking what's going on with all the professional shows.  To be honest, we work with them pretty much year round as they don't seem to take many breaks in the year.

So yes, we're really busy right now but we're looking forward to the next stage of busy when eager drama teachers add the art of light to their Fall productions.  If you see one out there that need help, jump in...it's rewarding!

The real story on Express and Expression

Many of you may have heard that we had to abruptly stop taking orders for Express and Expression consoles a couple of weeks ago. With the dust having settled a bit I wanted to offer a clear (we'll see how clear!) explanation of what is up with these products. This may be the longest post ever on a blog. But I am also revealing a lot to you all in this public blog. I probably should seek permission to post all this – but I won’t. I’ll just ask forgiveness later. Enjoy – or hate this post as you see fit. ( I switch liberally between I and we in the post as I and telling you about the process that We went through.)

First – let me say that the abrupt announcement (our customer service reps refer to it as the “stop sign”) was in no way a part of our plan. We have known for some time that some day we would reach a point where we could no longer ship them. Both Express and Expression include parts that are simply out of production and we have done multiple “lifetime buys” in order to keep the hardware alive. No doubt we could have made a decision to develop new hardware – but we chose not to – and I will address that decision as well. We recently were faced with a shortage on a part that couldn’t be replaced and therefore we had to look at what we had on order, what it would take to service thousands of consoles in the field; this resulted in the stop sign. We had planned to be able to phase these products out over the remainder of this year – but things don’t always work according to plan. Let me first apologize to many of you who considered this event to be sudden and unexpected.  It was necessary to assure we could meet our commitments to customers.

Now let me speak to the background on this. To stay organized I am going to number the items I will cover.

1.       Decisions on platforms we would develop and why we made the choices

2.       Results of those decisions and the various issues going with them

3.       A few other points

Part 1 – background on decisions we made on platforms we would develop and why

 A couple of years ago we chose to make a commitment to the SmartFade, Eos/Ion and Congo platforms for future development. This means we had to make a decision to cease any future development on  Expression and Express. This was really tough for us.  The Expression platform is the most popular in the world and I would tangle with anyone on that claim. ETC has grown up on the Expression.  We love it and there are thousands of fans worldwide.  The market for Express and Expression was shrinking however. The sales trend was down with many mid-range customers defecting to products like Hog 1000, Whole Hog 2’s and yes – the Strand 500 series. We had to accept that Expression was not the right platform for the future for many reasons. We had incremented the development for about 20 years and there were some fundamental concepts in the console philosophy that kept it from adapting much further.

We already knew then that the Eos software platform would become the primary platform for ETC. We also knew that Congo was doing great in certain markets and had a broad acceptance – sales are very good and it is a powerful platform. It was clear that Congo would never enjoy the widespread acceptance in the US market – where we already had a huge market-share and therefore we needed to put our muscle behind Eos in the US. This meant that we need to replace Express, Expression, and Emphasis with derivatives of Eos (these represent thousands of units sold per year in the US.) Ion was designed to replace a majority of these sales.

Are you following me so far? I am trying to be as concise as possible – but this is a complex matter – so bear with me.

So what did this transition mean for us, philosophically speaking? We had to make some decisions based on a few criteria: Where the market development was;  what we needed to make a complete and consistent console offering, and where we thought the market needed to go to be ready for the next ten years in lighting control. Reviewing these criteria, we made some decisions:

1.       We felt that the market was ready for using a tracking, last action, move fade console like Ion – as opposed to a preset based platform like Expression. This was a gating decision as we knew that Eos was built on these philosophies.

2.       We also knew from that many ”would-be Expression customers” in the US were able to learn the Congo platform and were having good luck with it, especially churches and some universities and regional houses. Congo is funny – either you love it or you hate it! It has many major fans and I am one of them. But it would not be right for many customers, especially in the USA. An Eos derived console was a much better choice. My point here is that we learned that the user base was more flexible than we thought.

3.       We felt that 2 scene preset was basically dead in anything over 24 channels. It is unreliable (prone to human error,) requires significant paperwork and is ultimately a big hindrance to add-on to a console from a development point-of-view. We developed the point-of-view that 2 scene is basically a teaching tool and we would support it in the SmartFade.  We also discovered that very few customers could be found who were actually using it on the Express.

4.       We determined that outside of 2 scene preset there was still a reliance on faders that some segments of the market felt comfortable with. We also determined that this reliance was fairly limited in actual usefulness. Once you set levels on an Express with faders and record them to a cue – you have to clear the faders to play the cue back. You also cannot take a channel down below its recorded level with faders because they operate in HTP. This means that after you record a preset you have to use the keypad to modify it. So the reliance was there - but of limited use. The faders did serve to make people comfortable and this was important.

5.       We saw that new technologies like LED’s, moving lights and color changing devices were becoming more prevalent every year, and that ETC had product strategies that would seek to popularize these products even more. We wanted our console platforms – even in the least expensive market spaces – to support these devices. 

 Ok – these were our assumptions and you can argue with them. I accept that. Since I am telling you our entire strategy here I expect you can take issue with any part of it – and I want to hear your input -- but at least you know why we did what we did. We developed Ion and made the decision to step away from Expression for new development.

So – this is where we stand. We very much believe that people will benefit from moving to Ion for many reasons. End users will get in on the ground floor of a platform we will develop for years. They can control many types of products beyond dimmers. They will learn a lighting philosophy that is the most prevalent on Broadway and in large theatres (ok – this is a very American point-of-view, but they are also the main customer group who is affected by this change. Only 10% of these consoles went to Europe.) These Ion customers will get a lot more console for their money.  Dealers will be able to offer these Ion customers more products in the future; networking, moving lights, LED’s, color changers. Customers will be able to adapt to these products using a console designed for them. This is a good thing for everyone. 

We are also listening carefully to the feedback we’re getting on this. Not all customer segments are happy with our reasoning.

Part 2 – Results of our decisions

Let me start by saying we are thrilled with Ion – sales are great. Now let me tell you where we made errors. An Ion with a 40 fader wing has a list price of about $9,000. The same Ion with 20 faders is about $8,000. Many, many buyers should consider these options. We feel that they will be very happy with the value we offer in this range.  We recognize that buyers (and sellers) in the least expensive end of this market feel we have left a gap. This represents the $5,000 to $7,000 market, a market that we defined with Express. These buyers also want more faders than we can offer in this price range.

I could make a lot of excuses for this. The cost of the wings was much higher than anticipated  and the Ion unit costs came in higher as well, yada, yada, yada. OK – we are not perfect. Far from it, in fact.

We also realize that some people have an issue with the perceived complexity of Ion.  The encoders and numbers of buttons have made some people feel that the console will be hard to use. We ultimately feel it is pretty easy to use – but we have to accept that people differ with us on that. We are soon rolling out training videos geared toward first-time users and we will build this library as fast as we can. We believe this will help – I guess we will see.

We also have been helping our dealer and rep network learn Ion and help buyers feel comfortable learning to use the console. We know that most of our dealers and even many of our reps knew Express like the back of their hands and felt comfortable selling it because of that. They had many customers who were having good experiences and this made them confident. We have “moved their cheese.” In fact we have moved everyone’s cheese. Even our own.

OK – so we are catching some flack about all this – the pricing gap between the SmartFade consoles and Ion, the perceived complexity of Ion, and the retirement of one of our dealers’ go-to products - and we are trying to respond. It is hard to keep everyone satisfied (including ourselves.) We realize we have some things to overcome here. Some of it is training and acceptance among dealers, we need better training aids for end customers, and we may need a simpler piece of hardware for the low-end market. We are working on how to deal with these issues.

Part 3 – a few other issues

In closing let me say that I know this is a really long bit of an explanation. If you are still reading I thank and admire you. There are a few more things you should know.

1.       We do still have a few Express consoles if you just have to have one. We understand that there are reasons you may prefer Express at this time. We’d like to see you make the move to Ion and we feel you will be happier if you do – but we respect your opinions too. We are not 100% out of these consoles and while we have officially stopped taking orders you can speak to your ETC regional manager (or ask your dealer to do so) and they may be able to get you a console. (They will kill me for posting this)

2.       We are executing a strategy that we believe in and we are committed to it, but we aren’t immune to making some errors and adjusting the strategy. We also encourage your feedback. Please post comments here on the blog.

3.       I’m not just pitching Ion in this post. The SmartFade and the Congo family offer great solutions for hundreds of customers. Take a close look at them.

4.       We are planning expansions to the Eos/Ion family.  

5.       When? That is the question. We are working on a lot of projects; releasing all new Architectural products, finishing ACN implementation in all products, adding more network gateways, in addition to expanding software for Eos/Ion and Congo. I cannot begin to make promises and I simply won’t. You will just have to trust me on this.

I encourage you to give our new platforms a try. Take a good look at what we have done with the Eos, Congo and the SmartFade platforms.

So – that is the best I can do for now. If you have questions – ask them. If you have opinions post them. Please be open with us – I have been open with you. Have I missed anything? I look forward to hearing from you.

David Lincecum

Service throughout ETC

Currently we have a number of Professional Services employees working with the fine folks in R+D on a several projects the most notable of which is the current development towards the release of the new Unison products.  Also, just recently a Technical Services employee accepted a position in R+D to help with Acceptance Testing of ETC products before they are ready for general public release.  This is an exciting time for sure and just as we are trying to make products better towards release it is also important for us to be ready to design and install systems as well as train Authorized Service Technicians on everything coming out the door. 

All of this got me to thinking about all the other Professional Services people that have wandered over to other areas of the company during the past umpteen years and what benefits this gives both the employee and the company.  So here's a list of people I could think of off the top of my head who have helped spread the Professional Services experience out into other areas of the company.  Many of you may have talked to them on the phone or worked with them to design and install a system.  They didn't go away....they're doing all they can to help make ETC that which is ETC.

Sales:

Heidi Bowers

Micah Rahn

Spencer Lyons

Marketing:

Jake Dunnum

Steve Traut

Ginger Swart

Joe Kirschling

Bryan Palmer

Manufacturing and Manufacturing Engineering:

Colin Beranek

Chad Weberg

Mike Webb

R+D:

Kristine Wolfe

Dan Talajkowski

John Hessler

John Thurk

Nick Schulze

Greg Thomas

Steven Peterson

IT:

Tony Romain

Alex Fortney

Anthony Garcia

Cori Schlegel

If you think about it, where else can you get totally immersed in product not to mention develop great customer relationships than to work in Professional Services.  Ok, so yes, Sale and Marketing jobs do create this experience too.  The Professional Services group is comprised of Project Managers, Application Engineers, Regional Assistants, Quotations, Customer Service, Phone Support, Repairs, and Field Service Engineers.  Careers in these roles provide some unique experience and qualifications that can help improve offerings in products and services throughout the company.  We have active roles in development teams, technical writing review, software testing and validation, beta testing, pre-sales technical support, and many more areas.  It's great to work with all the other groups in the company and still be able to answer the phones and emails as they come in every day.

In fact, you could almost say that not only are we helping customers we're helping ourselves.  You see, the more we listen to customers the more we feed info into development for product improvements.  The more that the product improves for the customer, the less problems we have to work to solve.  Sounds easy but it certainly is a lot to juggle and sometimes we ask for more that what is needed.  This is where we achieve great balance by working with Marketing and R+D to discuss in detail the items and their priorities. 

It's also great to take a hold of a field problem and be able to talk with an engineer or someone in production to get the right answer and develop a solution for the customer.  It helps that the customer focus we maintain is also held by all those people in other groups that we work with.  A production supervisor will ask how to make sure that the testing on the floor matches its use by a customer in the field and we jump right in to answer whatever we can.  It's not uncommon for an engineer to first help us out and also ask us why this application matters.  When the engineers know what customers are trying to do, the product development process moves more smoothly.

It's great to share.

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

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.

Rare sighting at ETC

A very rare event was experienced today. A member of the ETC team retired and there was a party in town square!

This is only known to have happened one time before and there was also a party for that occasion. Dean North has been with ETC over 12 years and if you have a Unison dimmer rack - you probably have an item he made.

Congrat's to Dean. Today made me look forward to my own retirement.

On the subject of fun

As long as we are blogging about ETC being a fun place to work. I thought I would share this photo. It is on the door leading into Fred's office. The regular door - not the garage door.

Fred posted the "addendum" at the bottom. Enough said.

David Lincecum

Lunchtime fun

So just a couple of days ago Mike Meskill, Durrell Ramer and myself went to get a sandwich and soup for lunch.  Durrell always suggests healthy food places during the rare times we head outside of the building together and it's for that, and the great conversation, that I like hanging out with him at lunch.  Until this week, that is....

On the way down Pleasant View Road, we pass a number of interesting small businesses, a beer distributor and a meat packing company in the Middleton Industrial Park.  However it wasn't beer or meat that caught our eyes this fine summer day.

Standing on the curb, prominently perched in a pile of throw out old personal belongings from one of those rental storage facilites was the coolest orange ceramic lamp we've seen in a long time.  Meskill was not impressed.  "We should get that."  "Yes, we should."  "That's a cool lamp."  Meskill thinks we're nuts.

On the way back we see it again.  "Should we stop." "Yes."  But Meskill groans about having to be at a meeting.  "But you can drop me off and go back."  So we did.

We hustle back up the street, put on the blinkers, hop out on to the curb and pick up the prize.  It was at this moment that I thought it would be fun for Dick Titus to see two of his managers digging through the trash on Pleasant View Road.  (A pic of the prize is attached).

This place is fun.

The door's open, come on in!

In the wee hours of the morning on Saturday of Workshop, Michael Harris and I were bantering about workshop and ETC culture.  Michael has always been one of the attendees whom I really look forward to seeing. He’s always good for a laugh, a snippet of Canadian wisdom, or occasionally a bit of third-party insight in regards to ETC.

On this particular occasion, Michael took the opportunity to mention to me how newcomers to Workshop are welcomed into the fold and therefore get a glimpse of what it truly means to be a part of the ETC family.  I suppose the welcoming nature of some of the events, the lightheartedness of the newsletters  and, of course, the daily videos,  all of these obviously help. But it goes further than that.  There’s something ingrained in the company’s culture and it really becomes clear within the context of Michael’s story.

Apparently a new employee with one of our dealers found herself in a social circle with both Michael (whom she knew) and Joe DiNardo, (whom she had only heard of).  After a few moments of uncertainty and, I imagine, anxiety, she quietly asked Michael if she was allowed to “talk” to Joe DiNardo.  She explained that in her previous place of employ, such mingling would have been far above her station and was therefore ill-advised.

Naturally, Michael met this query with surprise, if not disbelief.  I mean, we’re talking about Joe DiNardo.  A.K.A.  DiNardo, Joey, Joey D., Joey the Hammer, Joey Bag-of-Donuts (don’t EVER call him that), Donuts, or more affectionately, Mr. Satchel-of-Pastries.    Who on Earth would hesitate to speak to HIM?!  Least of all, one of his customers! Is there a more friendly, more lovable, more cuddly person to have as your regional?  Okay, okay, Nicky Pencils is a close second, but I digress.

The point is, this person, this new dealer-employee, this genuine, cautious, well-intentioned acolyte made an assumption based on a stereotype that fits the vast majority of companies out there.  A Regional Sales Manager, or any upper-echelon manager for that matter, exists on a plane of existence that you can only dream of and you consort with them at the risk of your own peril.

Well, not at ETC.

If there’s one thing that ETC seems to pride itself on, it’s approachability. Both internally and externally. The lines are not drawn between those in charge and those not.  Nor between customer and insider. Welcoming you into the fold, regardless of your station, experience level, or knowledge, is part of who we strive to be.  And it shows.

I like that…a lot.

Not a word was spoke between us there was little risk involved
Everything up to that point had been left unresolved
Try imagining a place where it's always safe and warm
"Come in" she said
"I'll give you shelter from the storm".
                                                                -Bob Dylan

Light Minds at ETC Workshop 2008

Every year about this time we hold a workshop for our dealers and reps in the US. It is always a fun event and we try to keep things active and upbeat. Attendees get in depth product training and we have a lot of fun outside activities as well. The event has full press coverage on our main website and you should deifinitely take a look. Of special note is the fantastic video coverage provided by our own Lincoln Theiler (webmaster and digital designer) and Joe Kirschling (Technical writer and officer of fun.) Putting these two together was a brilliant idea.  You have to watch the daily video coverage in order to get the flow of the event. You may feel just like you are there! But don't get hypnotized.  Wednesday     Thursday    Friday

There is also a daily newsletter including a column by a mystery "snoop" - an anonymous dealer or rep (we don't know which) who takes shots at us daily. We had three great guest speakers this year. Tim Hunter gave a great presentation on "convergence" and he will be doing a workshop this morning. We had a specialist in the field of Marketing to churches who gave 2 sessions and then a very great presenter - Chuck West from the UW who did 2 sessions on sales. This event has been developing for years and it has really gotten quite advanced.

One of the reasons I love working for ETC is that most everything is sprinkled with fun. The fun is infectious and it extends out into our dealer and rep network and to our customers too. Watch these videos and join the fun.

David

An Opera follow up

In a few posts I have pondered what is happening to the arts in "this day and age." I do wonder about these things - but I don't lose much sleep over them.

When I posted about the NYC opera deciding to take a year off and then do a season of all modern operas I was left thinking alot about opera and where it would end up this century. Then I read a remarkable story in the WSJ telling me that I could go and see Opera at a local movie theatre around the country!

I have to admit I was suprised. I also started to think along the lines of David North in his post on an evening with Rush. Was this what opera was coming to? But considering it more carefully I think this sort of thing might be pure genius. This is the kind of evolution that I imagine will need to happen in all live theatre forms. How can we preserve the art and move it forward to a wider audience simultaneously.

I think I was most interested in the idea that this was a simulcast and not a canned film shoot. The idea that I could experience the opera - as it was performed in real-time - but in a place I could be actually sounds rather inviting. I also liked the idea that the intermissions were filled with impromptu backstage interviews with staff. I love the idea of an interview with a designer or stage manager while watching the sets shift.

And I would be lying if I didn't say that the idea of popcorn and milk duds actually makes opera sound a little better to me. Read the article and see what you think.

Wireless airspace management

Talking a while back to my buddy Victor he was updating me on the RFR being used for a NY production.  Turns out it was working great until the audio guys showed up, installed their own personal wireless network and absorbed some of the last few free channels available.

I facetiously asked how many production meetings discussed wireless airspace usage knowing already the answer would be none.  The problem to me seems to be that no one ever manages the airspace as it can't be seen and wireless solutions from Best Buy are cheap and easy to configure.

My guess is that during production meetings there is discussion about backstage space and who will occupy what area with which item.  The same must be true for the fly space, booth space and seating areas.  Why not airspace?

More technology to adapt to I'm sure.  Perhaps we can get people to start planning this invisible resource in the near future.  Out of sight does not mean out of mind.

Have a good time.

So, I've been a little preoccupied.  Lincecum and I talked quite a while ago about adding my two cents to the ETC blog pool and I was all jazzed about it.  I mean, what a great opportunity to actually get to write something interesting!  No offense to those of you who actually wait with baited breath for the next version of the Eos manual. 

But of course, real work got in the way.  Always does.  Nonetheless, the influx of bloggers to the ETC community has been expanding and each time there is a new post I get a little email notice telling me that someone else has posted.  Like an annoying 7-year-old (Bill Cosby called them "Informers"), these notifications poked my subconscious as if to say, "Other people are getting to do something FUN!"

Well, I decided that I finally had to make time.  Not just for blogging, but for all of the side projects that, when faced with a looming deadline, seem to crowd the back burner.  So today, I made it my mission to pick up a few of those dusty tasks and dedicate a little time to them.  Basically, a renewed effort to make room for having a good time (Yes, I have Paul Simon playing in the background).  One of those projects was blogging.

Luckily, another one was familiarizing myself with some of the efforts going into Workshop 2008.  And this coincides with “Joe's newfound blogging effort” quite well.  Particularly since I found that what's buzzing around ETC for Workshop is pretty darn cool.

I'm sure most of you have your own perception of what Workshop is, has been, or will be to you.  Information overload?  Possibly.  A great social engagement?  I hope so.  A waste of time?  I doubt it.  And I have a pretty good feel for how ETCers tend to perceive it, which is a whirlwind of friends and colleagues, familiar voices being matched to faces, and an enormous information download.  Personally, I look forward to it every year.  If for no other reason than I get to surround myself with a mass of people who actually have an interest in what I do for a living...what we all do for a living.  How rare an opportunity is that?

In poking around today within Marketing, I garnered a lot of zeal about all the things we're going to be doing to enhance the Workshop experience.  I'm even lucky enough to get to participate in some of it.  And after I had made the rounds, I got to thinking about all of it and what it means.

To be sure, a lot of what we are doing involves our newest products or changes in strategies.  Of course there are all of the training and informational classes that are the drive for the entire event.  Then there are the social aspects: the Welcome reception, dinner, barbeque, and softball to name a few.  But on top of that, I found that there are a lot of little plans in the works that aren't really there for any discernible reason...other than for your enjoyment.  Nothing more.  And THAT is what I think is really exceptional.

Sure, we want you to come and see the factory.  Yes, we hope that we can teach you something while you're here.  And we certainly hope that you will be well-fed.  But to top it all off, we truly are working hard on a lot of little extras in hopes that you will enjoy yourself.  How many companies have that on their list of objectives for a 3-day workshop?

Personally, I find it remarkable.  In the midst of so much else going on, there are plenty of individual efforts going into ensuring that you can come to ETC, learn a few things, and most importantly, have a good time doing it....really....we mean it.

So here's to hoping that all of our efforts come to fruition in the next couple of weeks.  Workshop is shaping up to be a great event, yet again, and we look forward to seeing you.  When you're here, keep your eyes peeled for the little extras that we've whipped up for you, try to learn something, and most importantly, have a good time.

"So God bless the goods we was given
And God bless the U. S. of A.
And God bless our standard of livin’
Let’s keep it that way
And we’ll all have a good time."
                                     - Paul Simon

An Evening with Rush – spoiled??

I’ve been a fan of Rush since before I was allowed to go to their concerts. Whether its 2112 taking notes from Ayn Rand’s “Anthem,” a mathematical cacophony of syncopation and time signature changes, or social and political lyrics by the non-singing drummer, how could a mind get bored?  Recently I was lucky enough to see them again at Summerfest with my brothers and a sister-in-law shortly after a downpour of rain.  We had the cheap seats in the bleachers not under the shed roof but we were third row center and could see everything including three of the house-owned five video screens. The audio was clear and the mix not bad.  At one point early in the show I turned around to see a full rainbow, end to end, over Lake Michigan. It was going to be a good night.

I’ve always liked Howard Ungerleider’s lighting no matter that I didn’t even know who he was the first couple of times I saw his work and this show was no exception. There was good and yet restrained use of each type of lighting unit and effect so that I visually didn’t get tired even from the bleachers. Some older songs, although still lit all with movers, were in open white. LED strips were only used in a few songs and even the HES Showguns were used to specific taste and not just a constant blast away effect. This was all well integrated with the video which alternated between cameras on the three guys, video clips and blank screens. Again, thank you for artistic choices that let me concentrate appropriately on the artists and music.

About halfway through the show, two barley pop influenced concert goers in row one (of the bleachers) caught my eye with hand waving.  It took me a couple of songs to figure out what was going on but it certainly seemed to me that between arms in the air, furrowed brows and animated discussion they were unhappy. Turns out that they didn’t like the video screens blank and they wanted Neil, Geddy and Alex on the screens all the time. This bothered me and I’m not sure if anyone else will agree but my thinking follows that of some scenes Lin and I have played out at Disney Animal Kingdom years ago.

A lady walked in through Genesis Gardens, looked at her park map and exclaimed, “Why this is just a zoo!” Is there something wrong with that? Other times I would stand at the marmoset pen in front of the Tree of Life and point out the tiny creatures to people in a hurry to go ride something. It worked: they stopped.

I am concerned we are getting to an age where we need to have something on a screen in front of us all the time, that we want to be fed education and entertainment, that we want our own voyeuristic access to any activity, that cell phone video clips are important to grab and post on YouTube. Will we soon visit the Redwood Forest and Old Faithful through iPhones and not be there to hear the wind through the branches and smell the mineral deposits? Why is it wrong to have someone present art or nature in their own view, to tell their own story? Does it always have to be the viewer’s story? Or am I worried too much.

I don’t know. It just bothered me that those two guys couldn’t sit back and enjoy the presentation, as opposed to assuming something was wrong, and be in the moment which was really about the music and not the people. It was, after all, an Evening with Rush.

Twin Cities theatre closing

I noticed this while on vacation (so sweet!)

That a longtime Minneapolis theatre had closed its doors dues to debt. This is a very sad situation, especially considering the strong stature of the theatre. They won a tony award three years ago for outstanding regional theatre and have been producing in the twin cities for 30 years.

I have to admit that I fear for arts organizations in a US economic downturn. I know that entertainment has traditionally done well in tough economic times - but I wonder how it will be this time around. "Entertainment" is  a much broader field than in the past. My fear is that regional theatres have a lot of competition for dollars these days. I wrote a few weeks ago about the New York City opera's decision to take a season "off." We have also seen this situation in Madison - where local theatres are competing more actively for dollars against the poor economy and the influx of broadway tours to the arts center in town.

Does anyone have a take on this? There are alot of comments at the star tribune site about the fall of this regional theatre.

David