A Conversation with Frank Alaimo
1. Thank you for joining me for this month’s holiday edition of the “Tech Manager Spotlight.” Start by tell us a little about what you do and a little about your background.
First of all Joe, let me thank you for this honor to be one of the early guests of the Higher Ed AV Media Magazine, no pressure or anything. As many of you reading this may already know, I carry a soapbox with me at all times. I love to talk about trends or observations of what is happening in the industry and have no problem sharing my opinion, sometimes when it is not wanted. I bring that passion into project development meetings, design sessions, construction meetings, and more.
My background, like many folks in our industry, is all over the place. I have done everything from pushing an AV cart from room to room, being a stagehand for large concert tours, running live sound and video, installs, event management, now AV Design and project management. I think I have finally settled in to a role I really love and I get to see great things built and meet great people along the way.
2. Have you always worked in AV? What did the path look like for you to get to where you are?
It all kind of just happened. When I started in 1996, I really had no idea or plan to go into AV. My buddy’s dad was sick of seeing me hanging around his house all day and said he can get me a job at the University he worked at in the library’s media center. He got me an interview and the rest is history. I stayed there for 12 years, the University payed for my degree and I just kept trying to learn more and more. Then an opportunity to work at Mohegan Sun Pocono Downs, Pennsylvania’s first casino being the AV event specialist. I had a lot of fun there, met many interesting people and learned a lot while I was there. I decided to try my hand at applying for jobs in Las Vegas and I saw UNLV was hiring. Now I’m back working in Higher Ed while surrounded by casinos, my two worlds have officially collided.
3. Las Vegas is known for glitz and glamour, and at UNLV you have a lot of partnerships with casinos, how does being in Vegas inform what you do in your role?
Las Vegas is a smaller town than most people think. That is both a blessing and a curse. It is great because I hear from my vendors in town or colleagues on properties about what they are using or not using and what they are happy with or not happy with. I am able to see products first hand and talk with the teams that have to install and/or support it. It is also scary that people will call you and ask about a project on campus that you haven’t even been informed about yet. Las Vegas is like on big on-going trade show.
4. What is your morning routine?
Wake up at 6am, get myself together, pack my gym bag and take care of the dog. He’s an American Bully named “Lord Chesterfield” or “The Chester” his friends know him as Chester. He is usually in his crate or waiting at the bottom of the stairs with anticipation for breakfast. Grab a drink, take my vitamins, kiss my beautiful wife Angelika good-bye and head out. I Jump into my Jeep and take a quick 15 minute commute to campus, get to work by 7am and start the day.
5. What does an average week-day look like for you?
Well it is a lot different during the pandemic than it was pre-pandemic that is for sure. Typically, the first thing I do is spend an hour to go through emails and start my daily log. I prepare anything I need to attend any meetings that peppered throughout my day. If I have an ongoing installs, I drop by the site to check on the status. Depending on the size or state of the project, I can spend a lot of my day in construction meetings or design meetings. I’ll check on the student workforce (help desk) and see if anything requires my attention or the attention of any of our FTEs. The biggest time consume for me is working on designs and researching equipment and solutions, you need to stay current. Post pandemic has dried up project funding, which usually consumes the majority of my time. Lately, I spend most of my day supporting the on campus classes and instructors with the amazingly creative requests they have. I am also using this time to evaluate the state of the spaces we support, auditing our inventory and preparing a plan for the return to 100% on site classes. I try to get out off campus at a descent time and head to the gym to get a few hours in to decompress. Then it’s home for a protein shake, hang with the Chester and give him his dinner. Then, dinner with my wife, maybe take the Chester for a walk, chill on the couch for a bit and time for bed and do it all over again tomorrow.
6. What does your busiest day look like? What are the challenges your role faces, and how do you overcome those?
The busiest day is the one you never have planned. I live by my calendar and that allows me to plan my day around meetings, design time, install time, and just being available. We all know that anything can pop up in a meeting and things can be asked of you to produce something rather quickly, this can impact your previous plans for the day, you just have to roll with it. There are projects that require a lot of time creating line drawings or searching for a solution that can consume your day, but to me, the most challenging part can be the installs. I try to stagger my install schedule to give myself some breathing room but sometimes, especially during the summer this is difficult. We have a great relationship with our preferred integrator on campus and they know our standards and what we expect. That does not mean a challenge won’t show its face. Many of our buildings are old and require a lot of creativity to make an install look great and be functional at the same time and I feel that is where I bring a lot of creativity and problem solving skills to the table.
7. What energizes you and inspires you?
Inspiration for me comes in many ways. I have played a lot of sports growing up but I excelled in individual sports. The one on one aspect really makes you dig deep and realize it is all on you. Watching someone face a challenge that is daunting or even impossible and seeing them absolutely crush it. That is awesome and inspiring, the human spirit and challenging yourself.
Another source of inspiration for me is music and the messages it can bring. I have so many different types of playlists that help me through the mood I am in at that time. It can also help me through a tough time or even takes me back to something that makes me remember hearing it in concert or even that goofy friend from back in the day.
8. If another tech manager were to follow you around all day, what would they most be surprised by? What would they learn?
On a typical day, I do not think they would be too surprised, because I bet a lot of us are probably in the same boat. I think the biggest thing is I do not like to let things wait. It is not that I cannot multitask, I actually work quite well under pressure and managing many things at once, when given the opportunity, I just want to start and finish something as soon as possible. Don’t get me wrong, there are days that go sideways fast and that is the day when I say hold on. It all go, no quit, let’s rock!
9. Tell us about the project you are currently working on now?
We are putting the finishing touches on an office renovation that began just before the pandemic struck. All of the construction was completed but we didn’t finish the technology side of it. We are very proud of our team and we wanted to highlight what we do here in CTS (Classroom Technology Services). We decided to build a mixed-use room that we can use for training instructors, a sandbox as a test facility for new gear and our help desk area features digital signage solutions and our campus monitoring system. We usually use an integrator on campus due to our small team and responsibilities but this was different. Our team decided to build this out ourselves. Pulling all the cable, building racks, mounting monitors and projectors and always in house programming. A project like this helps keep your team grounded.
10. Comparing your career path over time, what are some of the moments, accomplishments, or projects that you’re most proud of?
Wow. This is a tough one. I’ve had so many opportunities to participate in so many cool projects over the years. The first thing that comes to mind is being on the cover of AVTechnology Magazine (Feb/March 2018) with Scott Menter, that experience was beyond humbling. I have had the opportunity to represent UNLV abroad when we were asked to present at ISE 2019 “What’s Next: Higher Education” conference in Amsterdam, mind blown. My most recent thrill was presenting at InfoComm 2020 connected with a virtual tour of our new Dolby Atmos Theater. The many times I’ve been asked to be a subject matter expert on a panel by AVIXA or the many case studies published on projects I have worked on, it never gets old. I’m so proud of everything I do that brings positive attention to myself, UNLV and the AV industry as a whole.
AV Technology: https://dashboard.mazsystems.com/webreader/54876?page=0
InfoComm 2020: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ne5n_Mvuk08&feature=emb_logo
11. What do you enjoy doing on weekends? How do you spend your time outside of work?
Anyone who truly knows me knows that I don’t like to sit still. Living in Las Vegas has its perks that’s for sure. The weather is usually great for outdoor activities (July and August can be a challenge) like golfing, mountain biking, going for hikes. Lately my wife and I like to take Chester on adventures and try to get him exposed to new things. My guilty pleasure is thoroughbred horseracing. Not only have I’ve been known to place a wager or two on races, I actually own some small shares of horses, it’s really exciting!
12. It seems that you stay quite busy and have a demanding job, how do you maintain work-life balance?
I’ve been so blessed with a wonderful, understanding wife, that knows the challenges that comes with me being a control freak with my projects. She knows when I answer my phone after work hours, it could not wait until tomorrow. Sometimes a two-minute call can solve a future two-week issue. I try to leave work at work but being the control freak alpha, it can be hard sometimes, but if I learned one thing during the pandemic, life is short so enjoy it. Work will be there tomorrow and the next day. You need to unplug and find your balance or the scales will tip against you. When that happens, both your work and personal lives suffer, and then you are no good to your life or work.
13. What is your life motto and how do you apply it to your daily routine?
Own your world! If you say something, be prepared to back it up. Everything you do is an extension of yourself. Whether I’m walking a project site with a new client, attending a construction meeting, participating in a web conference call or even meeting with the University President, you have to be yourself and own everything you say and do. First and last impressions are very important and you need to be true to yourself and others. Don’t be afraid to fail, don’t be afraid to ask for help and don’t be afraid to fight for what you believe in. Put your heart into everything you do. Don’t half ass it!
14. What is your “holiday wish list”? It can be personal, professional, a tech we need, or even future planning for the upcoming summer.
Uncertainty has become the new normal. I don’t like to wish for anything. I have realized one thing in this world. If you want it, you have to create your own luck, so to speak, and work hard to make it happen. Put good thoughts out to the universe and good things will happen. In short, my holiday wish list is for a better 2021!
This Month’s Manager: Frank Alaimo
Frank Alaimo is currently the Senior Audio Visual Systems Specialist at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. He has 25 Years of experience in the Audio Visual industry with a wide variety of familiarities in Higher Education and the Entertainment / Hospitality industries. At UNLV, Frank is responsible for the Audio / Visual design and project management for the installations in the classrooms and AV equipped spaces on campus. He holds a BA in Communication Arts from Marywood University in Pennsylvania.