A Day in the Life of Will DeWitt
1. Thank you for joining me for this month’s edition of the “Tech Manager Spotlight.” Start by telling us a little about what you do and a little about your background.
Currently, I am the AV Manager at The College of Charleston. Traditionally we have handled AV support for classroom and conference rooms. But in the past year, I have had to provide support for live events and broadcast that moved into our area. This worked out well as I have a background in both of those areas.
2. Have you always worked in AV? What did the path look like for you to get where you are now?
I did not intend to work in AV, especially Higher Ed but there’s been a gradual growth in my skillset making it the perfect fit. I graduated with a BFA in Mass Media and started off working as a videographer and editor making TV shows and commercials to air on the Outdoor Channel. After I left there, I worked as the Director of the Media department for a large church coordinating multiple services and events each week. Eight years and several building projects later, I moved on to my first higher ed job overseeing the tech for 300+ events a year at a college event center. A coworker passed me the information to the AV Manager job for College of Charleston which is where I currently am.
3. What is your morning routine?
I am not a morning person by any stretch of the imagination. So my morning routine generally involves a great deal of caffeine and tripping over the clothes my proud hunter of a cat stole from the hamper and brought to my bedside in the middle of the night. If I’m lucky, my wife will make me hot chocolate while the other cats battle for screen time on my morning team Zoom meeting.
4. What does an average weekday look like for you?
I engage with a wide variety of individuals over a geographic range that would have seemed miraculous to my predecessors. (aka I mostly do Zoom meetings). But less flippantly, I generally start off with morning check-ins with various team members to see where they need support and figure out what I need to focus on for the day. I used to try and plan out my week but since COVID, every day seems to bring something I couldn’t have planned for so now I just try and make sure to keep blocks of my schedule open to deal with the crisis of the day. Last year during COVID, my wife and I were planning our downsized pandemic wedding, so that took up most of our nights. Now that we are married, we joke that nothing much has changed, just that we can now sleep in the same room when we visit our parents.
5. What does your busiest day look like? What are the challenges your role faces, and how do you overcome those?
My busiest and most challenging days are the ones involving some sort of personal conflict. Clients, project managers, stakeholders, coworkers, there is so much communication that has to take place amid competing priorities that there are a million places for a breakdown in communication. Heading off conflict or handling it if it does take place is certainly nowhere near as fun or brag-worthy as a cool technical project. But it’s the most important part of my job.
6. What energizes you and inspires you?
I have to be careful listening to any sort of AV or leadership podcast or reading trade publications at night. I get inspired and energized by new ideas and once one takes hold, there’s no chance of sleep.
7. If another tech manager were to follow you around all day, what would they most be surprised by? What would they learn?
Pre covid I spent a good portion of my time just walking between buildings and walking by offices and saying a quick hi before moving on. It’s amazing how effective that can be in easing communication. It’s not something people in our industry tend to relish but I have been able to head off so many potential problems and build relationships just by being a presence that I encourage everyone to make time to at least walk by and wave.
8. Tell us about the project you are currently working on now?
Currently, we are working on a renovation of our School of the Arts that will start demolition this summer. The biggest challenge has been the combination of so many different needs in one building. Unlike general education spaces, we haven’t been able to copy-paste designs from one room to the next and have had to stress to contractors not familiar with the arts the importance of things like sound isolation and the location of building equipment.
9. Comparing your career path over time, what are some of the moments, accomplishments, or projects that you’re most proud of?
The moments I’m most proud of are the ones that you don’t tend to want to show off. I’ve said a couple of times that we need a word for “ I’m proud of what I accomplished but I’m ashamed to show anyone how I did it”. I’ve had lightning strikes fry equipment that wasn’t discovered until two hours before showtime, built a footlong amalgamation of convertors because someone came in with something last minute, you name it. I think the most important thing especially if you are dealing with live events is an attitude of doing whatever it takes to make things happen.
10. What do you enjoy doing on weekends? How do you spend your time outside of work?
I’m always reading or listening to podcasts, sometimes instructional, sometimes not just depending. When I need to disengage, I play video games to unwind. Speaking of which, if you are on Xbox and like games that aren’t competitive fps send me a message on LinkedIn or the HETMA slack. I’m also a big fan of the beach and with it only 35 minutes from my house it’s hard not to want to go every day. I like to read and relax on the beach and my wife likes to meet all the dogs walking by with their owners.
11. You’ve recently gotten involved with higher ed orgs, like HETMA and appearing on various AV podcasts, what led you to get involved? What are you finding you like most about these?
Funny story, my first appearance on a podcast was an accident. I found the higher ed av podcast not long after I started at College of Charleston. Joined HETMA and then there was a post inviting people to join The AV Life recording about the upcoming (now award-winning) HETMA conference. I thought I was just going to be part of the audience but SURPRISE I misread the post and found myself a part of it. Afterward, James told me about the Higher_EDAVIT slack channel, and I got invited onto the Higher ed av podcast and have gotten to join a couple of other podcast recordings. I really like engaging with our community and sharing knowledge. I’ve never been much of a talker so I’ve been surprised how much I’ve enjoyed networking with fellow AV people any time I get a chance. This is very much a case where I’ve gained so much that I’m happy to share and give back whatever I can.
12. What is your life motto and how do you apply it to your daily routine?
I don’t know if it’s a motto as much as it is a realization but everyone is “faking it”. Imposter syndrome just means you know there is always still more to learn. There are times you need to feign confidence and there are times to admit you aren’t sure. Learning when those are is the hard part.
13. Now that we’re starting to gather in person again (or at least it’s on the horizon), what are you most looking forward to doing both personally and professionally?
Once again, arguing about who has to choose where we are going to eat. We have a lot of great restaurants in Charleston, SC, so we usually come up with something we are both happy with.
This Month’s Manager: Will DeWitt
AV Engineering & Infrastructure Manager at College of Charleston with a background in broadcast and live events.