Feeling Grateful | Community Connections with Ryan
I clearly remember when I decided I needed to find a way to join a new community. It was December 2020, during winter break and I finally had to spend a day on yard work that I had been putting off for too long. I was thinking about what 2020 had been and what 2021 might be. At that time there were far more questions than answers. COVID still dominated decision-making in most areas of life, and vaccines were just becoming available. My department had just finished a reorganization that had taken months to finalize, and I was processing through what my new role would entail and how I could be successful in it.
As I started what would be a full day of working outside, I decided to catch up on some podcasts that I had fallen behind on. What happened was a day when my outdoor chores faded into the background as I heard the voices of people like me on the Higher Ed AV Podcast. Person after person described similar challenges and successes to my own. They provided ideas and insights that I had never considered. They made me laugh and reminded me why I had decided to move into higher ed in the first place. I heard from Stephen Gibbs, Tim Van Woeart, BC Hatchett, James King, Greg Carstens, Craig Shibley, Frank Alaimo, Jimmie Singleton, and Joe Way. I sent an episode to my whole department that featured the USC AV support team.
If 2021 was going to be better than 2020, I knew that I would have to make it better. What I figured out that day was that I didn’t have to do that alone. I had always known there was a community of people like me out there, I had been on the CCUMC listserv for years, but that stuff had always felt like something I just didn’t have time for. I decided that if I didn’t have time to learn from colleagues across the country then whatever I was doing with that time would continue to just be more of the same. I figured if I was going to grow into the leader I wanted to be, I needed to get involved.
The prospect of trying to do that was really intimidating, after all, I’m just a guy at a community college serving a semi-rural county in northern Arizona. What would I have to offer to the largest and most prestigious universities in the country? I just figured I’d give it a shot and find a way to contribute.
What I found was an immediate sense of welcome.
I asked about being on the podcast, Joe invited me right on. I joined in every monthly HETMA membership meeting and looked for ways to pitch in. I jumped on virtual happy hours and lunch n’ learns as much as I could. I made sure to put these things on my calendar before my work could crowd them out. I added participation in HETMA initiatives as a goal in my performance review. I chose to make the greater higher-ed AV community a priority.
I met more people and heard more voices, Mike Pedersen, Andy Vogel, Don De Mello, Chris Dechter, Atkins Fleming, Annie Foster, Troy Powers, Donovan Monday, Lex Evans, Martin Barry, Will DeWitt, Erin Maher-Moran and so many more. By the time I showed up in Las Vegas for Infocomm a year and a half later, I had friends I was meeting in person for the first time. Shortly after I was elected to serve as a Board Member of HETMA by this community. I’ve served as a job reference for colleagues I’ve met and they have done the same for me. I’ve been able to ask questions and get answers. I’ve been able to have in-depth discussions about technology, leadership, management, and life with colleagues in this community.
I’m a better technology manager, and a better person, because of these relationships.
So as this column about community gets started, I couldn’t let November go by without saying how grateful I am to all of you in the community of higher ed AV. You all bear more responsibility for how my 2021 and now 2022 have gone than you’ll ever know. Thank you for welcoming me and giving me the opportunity to do things like serve as a mentor for any person new to our vertical, give feedback on technology for the benefit of our community through HETMA Approved, provide guidance to our strongest advocacy organization, and now to be able to share this gratitude with you through this column.
I look forward to continuing to find new opportunities to connect, my first ETC conference this year introduced me to more colleagues and ideas. I hope to find new ways to contribute and learn. But most of all I look forward to advancing friendships that have become important to me and meeting new friends I don’t yet know.
For years I was one of those people who knew this community existed but stayed on the fringes, I lurked and listened. If you’re one of those folks today, thinking you’d love to be more involved, but you just don’t have the time, this is my call to action. I have gotten back so much more than I ever expected. Consider joining in on the HEAV webinars and monthly happy hour. Consider joining HETMA if you haven’t already and don’t miss the virtual HETMA conference in February. Consider finding your way into the community of higher ed AV professionals in the coming year and see where it can take you. If you’re not sure how to get started, reach out and I’ll help!
Thank you to all of you for welcoming me and let’s continue to make this an open and welcoming community.
[Cover photo credit: Ryan Gray. Event sponsor: Biamp at CCUMC/ETC 2022.]