The Taylor Swift “Eras Tour” is taking the world by storm. Taylor Swift has even been credited as the biggest contributor to the U.S. economy in the past few years, bringing hundreds of millions of dollars in business to local communities with each stop. On Monday, August 7, 2023, she played night four of six at Sofi Stadium in Los Angeles, which I was lucky enough to attend, and even do so from the “Karma Is My Boyfriend” VIP section. There is no doubt that Swift is a consummate professional who puts on one of the best performances in the entertainment industry. Whether you like her music or not, the detail she puts into a performance is unmatched.
All too often in the commercial “in-house integration” side of AV, we lose the sense of urgency and intentionality that is foundational to the “live events” side. All too often I’ll tour other campuses and be complete shocked as to what is considered “acceptable,” budget and resources aside. All too often, we can become creatures of habit, stuck in a daily rut, losing a vision of excellence and continuous improvement. While enjoying the show, I couldn’t help but to think of six areas higher ed AV could be improved by applying some of Taylor’s performance practices.
1. Tell a Story
One of the unique qualities of the show is that it is arranged in “eras” in the life of Taylor Swift. She narrates a story from beginning to end, rather than mixing miscellaneous songs into a random order. Taylor played the main hits from one album, then the top hits from the next, and then the next, and so on. With each new “era,” there was an accompanying set change, costume swap, and theme that resonated throughout the arena. As an audience member, you could connect to the when’s and where’s of that chapter in both Taylor’s life and your own. The experience was intentional, purposeful, and inclusive.
As AV professionals, we are often quick to focus on the technology in the space, but not the experience of the user. When told to upgrade a space, the first question I see people pose on our backend message boards is about the gear, rarely seeing questions about how our customers will actually use the space, and what experiential concerns we should consider in the design process. Sure, we’ll throw around terms like “CX” and “UX” when discussing touchpanel designs, but how often do we actually consider the total experience from the moment the faculty member or student shows up to the moment they leave? What story are we telling with the cleanliness of the space? The functionality and ergonomics of the furniture? Proper universal design? Professionalism in training and resources provided? And even seamless, intuitive operation? I’ll argue that just having working technology is not enough, and our students and faculty deserve more. Becoming a true center-of-excellence involves a holistic approach to serving our customers.
2. Security Matters
The news has been filled lately with reports of artists getting hit with flying beer bottles, food, and personal items, while up on stage. A recent story showed Cardi B throwing her microphone at an audience member who first threw an object at her. Safety is a real concern, with attendees looking to become viral my inserting themselves into the performance. The concerns are much bigger than in the past. At the Taylor Swift concert, she took matters into her own hands. Beyond a six foot wide and high barrier around and up to the stage, with security guards placed every 15-to-20 feet, she also required that anyone with floor seats pour any liquids into large, oversized, flimsy, non-aerodynamic plastic cups as they entered the lower bowl. In doing do, Taylor demonstrated her own personal safety and the safety of her stage performers was going to take center stage. Even while being told to pour our drinks into the cups after just getting them from the inside bar, security reinforced, this was not a SoFi Stadium policy, but a Taylor Swift policy. No act of audience stupidity or selfishness was going to interrupt her performance.
The move to AV-over-IP has required AV professionals to be more concerned about security issues. None of us want to be the reason for a security breach on our campuses. That said, I still hear many of our colleagues still promote self-contained rooms with no connection to the outside or main network in order to mitigate the problem. And while that might indeed work, it also hurts our users when we remove the opportunity for remote management, system monitoring, and integrated services, that are all essential elements to holistic security management. Likewise, I have heard of campuses still using default (or same) passwords across every piece of equipment in order to “make it easy” to service. But, security is a responsibility. Again, security is a responsibility. Like Taylor, we need to take it into our own hands to protect our students and the resources of our institutions. This includes physical lockdowns–or even better, using cloud and server systems so there is no gear to be stolen–and properly working hand-in-hand with our CISO offices to ensure compliance with the institutions cybersecurity protocols. The added steps may at first a nuisance, right up until you have a breach, and you were the cause of it. Be smart, be practical, and protect our people.
3. Use Technology to Connect People
Right after scanning our tickets and walking through the peristyles, a group of ushers slid wristbands onto our hands with the instructions to only “pull the tab” once we see the notification on the screen. Then, five minutes prior to the start of the show, the video boards changed… instructions informing attendees that it’s time to pull the tab was the start of the excitement and roaring of the crowd. And once you do it… nothing happens… Yet. But then, the show starts. The wristbands are synced to the show, changing colors with the theme of the era, pulsing to the timing of the music, and able to detect where you are located within the arena. In doing this, Taylor made the audience part of the performance, including them in the total atmosphere of the show. It also eliminated the desire for people to use their cell phones as torch lights, and accentuated the mood (“era”) she was attempting to communicate. The technology was impressive, yet simple, yet effective. (See the backgrounds of the various pictures attached to this article, and you can see the lit up wristbands throughout the backgrounds.)
The point of AV is connect people, not simply send content. Content delivery is the effect of what we do, but the purpose is sharing of community and information… Bringing people together. Therefore, our technological choices need to ensure that happens. Value engineering is too common in our world. When we cut corners–like in display size and audio coverage–we disenfranchise our users. When our users have to work to connect-with and understand the presenter, we have failed in our jobs. Our technology choices don’t need to be the most expensive, but they do need to be inclusive. Every person in the room deserves the same experience with little effort. Our spaces should work for the people, brining them together as part of the presentation as a captive audience.
4. Take the Time to Get it Right
With the Taylor Swift concert being a nonstop three-hours-forty-minutes long, once it starts, as an attendee, you are pot-committed for the long-haul. It’s not that Taylor just has that many hit songs that it needed to be that long, even though she does have that many hits to be that long. Many hall-of-fame caliber artists have hours of hits, but limit their shows to the ninety-minute norm. So why? Why choreograph out every single second for that extreme length of time? Because that’s how long it took to tell the story she wanted to tell. From the moment the gates opened with the main screens giving a behind-the-scenes look at her creative her music, videos, and performances, to the very last goodnight bow, the story could only be told in the way she intended by giving it the time it required.
Likewise, in AV–especially in support calls–we want to have a fast time-to-resolve (TTR), but at what cost? Is it about closing a ticket and moving on to the next task? I argue that we cannot ever solve a tech problem until we solve the person problem. Yes, we need to get the issue solved, but have we ensured that it won’t happen again? Have we ensured the user is now trained to be successful beyond us just getting it fixed for them in the moment? Do we follow up to ensure they feel served and taken care of, or were they just a ticket number? Customer service is a process, not a customer ID number. It’s making the user know that they are valued and part of the process, and that we want them to have a successful, pleasing experience from beginning to end. And that takes time. It takes time to design user-friendly technology solutions. It takes time to properly install and provide regular maintenance. It takes time to train support teams and users. It takes time to follow up and make sure needs are taken care of. I propose that if we spend more time on the preparation, planning, maintenance, management and training, we’ll end up spending a lot less time on support calls. The best extended experience our users can have is to not have to call us for help in the first place. To accomplish that, it takes time and intentionality.
5. Everyone Experiences Technical Issues
All technology will fail at some point. Even the most consummate professionals have technical issues and hiccups. The difference… they don’t let it phase them. At the Taylor Swift show, right after the first song, she paused, walked over to the mic, and said to the whole crowd, “sorry give me a second, my in-ear monitor isn’t working.” She paused, fixed it, and explained to the audience that she didn’t have it plugged in all the way. She didn’t throw the tech team who likely put it on her backstage under the bus. She didn’t let it ruin the show or impact her performance. She was transparent and vulnerable about the issue she was experiencing. And then, she moved on.
Often, we experience issues and are afraid to share that things have gone wrong. There is a feeling that we must be 100% perfect, or we have failed. One of the biggest ways to get the resources we need is to be transparent about where we need help, where we are failing, and where there are roadblocks to our ultimate success. As a vertical, we will often share our frustrations among our peers, but not to our leadership. The truth is, our bosses cannot fix problems or get us the needed resources without knowing the issues we are experiencing and the impact on the campus if the problem isn’t solved. We must communicate our needs, and do so professionally, not as complainers. Show the metrics of failure. Demonstrate the impact, and have a plan to address it.
6. Treat Your Customers Like VIPs
As mentioned in the opening of the article, I was blessed to experience the show from near the front of the stage in the “Karma Is My Boyfriend” section. As expected, this included the conventional perks like early entry to the venue, shorter merch lines, private restrooms, waitstaff, and VIP bars and lounges. What was unique, however, was that the VIP section wasn’t the typical A-listers first, and then fans, but fans mixed with A-listers. Everyone in the section was treated as a VIP. Focus was spent on giving the perfect experience, whether you were a 14 year old superfan or a celebrity. Likewise, celebrities were planted throughout the section taking selfies, handing out Taylor Swift friendship bracelets, and other swag. See the photo to the left with me and Flava Flav along with one of Taylor Swift’s personal guitar pics he gave me, that was given to him by Taylor’s father. Everyone in the section was treated to the full VIP experience. Likewise, the VIP section included seats, like mine, that were behind the main performance, because she moved her main performance stage to the center of the arena and performed “in the round,” creating a fully immersive experience. There was no “us and them,” but rather, “we.”
In our support departments and ServiceNow accounts, we likely “tag” our VP’s and above with a “VIP” status to know that everything gets dropped to support their needs. And while we surely want to make sure the president’s conference room and board of trustee meetings go off without a hitch, all students and faculty deserve the same treatment. Likewise, we often “focus” on the large auditoriums and highly-funded programs–recognizing the larger impact when the space is down–however the same tuition is paid by a student in a small seminar room or less popular major. Their experience matters as well. Do we treat every caller and space with the same importance? Do we ensure cleanliness of cable management the same in a standard classroom as we would our bosses’ executive conference rooms? Do we take time to open and close every space everyday or do we leave it up to the users to have to track down the right chairs, whiteboard markers, and missing HDMI cables? I encourage you to find a set of students and faculty and ask them how the “feel” when using our spaces and when requesting support: not just about whether we solved the problem, but how they felt throughout the process. If they don’t say with confidence, “like a VIP,” your support model needs rethinking.
In conclusion, the Taylor Swift concert was an incredible show and great experience, one of the best I’ve ever seen from a performance value point-of-view. That was due to Taylor’s deliberate choices to bring the single best experience possible to her fans. It showed, and it worked. We as higher education technology managers can learn a lot from her. Intentionality and professionalism can make the difference between simply providing an AV service to our campus communities and being a center-of-excellence (CoE) at our institutions.