Spotlight on… C. Ann Kelly, Assistant Director of Technology Services, Daemen University
Connect with Ann:
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/Annbutterfly53
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annkelly9
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.
I wear a lot of hats at Daemen University, both classrooms and events. I design and build the educational spaces for technology needs, and manage all tech and some of the graphic designs for the events. I had hit the industry when touring with bands and theatrical productions were adding A/V, becoming commonplace, maybe just one very large unit projecting words or single image, but it was becoming its own section of the crew. How I approach what a classroom needs is very theatrical, my education and approach to presenting; what does your audience want to experience, what do you need to convey, what tools do you need to do that; full length ballet on a raked stage with a 15-piece orchestra, or cellular biology that needs a microscope shared to 4 monitors with images that do need to differentiate dye over stages of cellular mitosis, creating the balance of space to share that exchange, the process is the same. And both worlds do spill into each other sometimes, finishing a small classroom with ceiling can speakers, and I’m playing my test music for my show rig wishing I had subs. But why have the ability to rattle windows and bleed down the hall, when it’s not needed. When I get to play with the bigger events, knowing how to use large image, when to add splash or when to follow and enhance what’s happening, that comes from some great faculty sharing that finesse of balance, from minimalism or going too far and being a distraction. Just one difference between the two, bio-labs don’t need to pack up Sunday after 2 shows and be in another city for a 7pm on Tuesday.
Have you always worked in AV? What did the path look like for you to get to where you are now? I wore my “nerd-i-ness” all the way back to high school, AV kid and Radio Station manager, projectors just started becoming common place, three gun RGB, huge cables and very delicate pins, and not being afraid of the remote made me the one to ask how it worked. But the stage ate most of my time, which is what I pursued in college, Production Design and Technical Management, at University at Buffalo. Lighting and scenic, the business end, did some interesting internships, took some summer jobs (NYC IMAX on 81st and Broadway… the best time with projectionists), AV always seemed to be there, or some act of presenting. That blending of video in stage work, rock and roll tours, ballet tours, local summer stock was the first years of professional experience. But then as an adult needing health insurance, started full time in corporate hotels, truss and projection, breakout rooms, and having the same roof over my head every day felt really good. After two years, suddenly had a desk and a title of Account Executive for a trade shows and event design company, managing all aspects of trade shows, corporate events, product launches, galas, so many industries that I got to take a peek into the inner workings. I don’t think people would believe me if I listed the associations I worked with during this time, or the people I met along the way. Before the economic downturn of 2008, I saw the lack of research and development, the folding of major event productions starting to creep into 2005/2006-ish, a layoff and a “bridge the gap” job allowed me the time find the perfect spot to balance family and working, at a small university very near my home. A grant to fill 20 classrooms with tech, supporting events and helping faculty use gear in classrooms was nearly identical to what I had done in the hospitality industry. Fifteen years later, I’m still there, three office moves, a change of approach to how classrooms are designed and managed, and more toys to have fun with for those events that keep getting bigger and more layered. Surprised how fast 15-plus years flies, and the gutting of the first install, which felt like yesterday, is totally “old school” and obsolete.
What is your morning routine?
I try to make it to 530am, but depending on the season, some 4-legged critter needs to patrol the backyard, so I make the coffee and hit my computer. Usually, my CIO is also on, she may have sent a message about something needing information, or something from a meeting I may want a heads up to, we get so much done in those quiet hours before distractions or other things fill our day. Now with all the kids out of the house, I’m still shocked with how the mornings are so much calmer, just me and husband, and two dogs. The boys do come home during breaks, but they are “not available” during morning, but the fridge empties so much quicker when they are home. I hit the office before 8am, I have someone start at 7am for the early classes(the person my husband thanks for keeping my sanity), we go over the day of any thing that needs attention during gaps from the night staff, and prep anything for the mid morning or afternoon events. And then suddenly it’s noon, and my list is no where near done.
What does an average weekday look like for you?
Average work day, in the semester has a Monday/Wednesday busy with admin needs, research, proposals, financial reports, meetings about operational things. Tuesday/Thursday, more student driven, Student Activity meetings, go over those events. Classes are usually longer these days, gaps between classes are larger, faculty usually swing in for advice or bring up something they want to try. Friday ends up being more IT internal catch up, again, class load has a lot to do with it, and this day is the least populated with students. Anything that needs updating seems to land here, bigger repairs happen, or big event weekends close our office for set ups, which spring has at least 6, fall a few less, so they can get long and tiring. Thirteen weeks pass, and we usually are not sure where the time went. I am very boring when I get home.
Honestly, COVID summer and shipping delays have changed the quiet time, the down time to just research or hunt for new gear, get those demo pieces and play… because we are on ladders now playing catch up, or adding new tech to classrooms, I can’t remember the feeling of that slower pace of before summer 2020.
Right now I have a temporary office, sadly the most recent, heavily media covered winter storm did some damage, and I’m working out of a random open office. But the light is refreshing, I have not graced it with project remnants, or random pieces of repaired gear, soldering flux in nuggets, or tiny scraps of copper that ultimately make the surface of the desk more valuable by shear weight of metal fragments, just like the tiny bits under my nails. Give me two weeks, I’ll have it lived in, in no time. Sadly, I cant share my storage room, which is also install prep and build, the messy pre-stuff that feels like something out of a Star Wars gear-head repair shop, organized only to me and my staff, its under the no-pass zone until restored.
What does your busiest day look like? What are the challenges your role faces, and how do you overcome those?
The busiest day, can this be 2?, because it’s one event weekend… Baccalaureate and Graduation Weekend, and a few other award events, this is the part where we are small, but mighty. Operationally, we set up quick in house, in our gym. Facilities are hard to come by without crazy timelines. We do prep for this, the week of exams, soft set all connections in my storage room, making sure I have back ups, just in case, and create that Option 2/3/4 for nearly everything. Screens, audio, cameras, teleprompter and stage monitor feeds, all in house… One day for the set up, then event day, then partial tear down, traveling gear only to take to a rental facility for event day 2. Grad day, we set up cameras for our streaming, I have teleprompter and all stage needs, in a two hour window before house doors. The house handles some, but anything we add, we also set up ourselves. We have 2 ceremonies, undergrad and graduate, then out and packed, then unpacked, and home usually by 8pm. No matter how much prep and deadlines are in place, there is always a surprise, a last minute “Can we add…” or “I thought it would be nice….” and our department being the last to know about additions or changes, lower thirds, or lay overs need changing 5 minutes prior, or without a quick “rehearsal,” what my hands need to be doing for a clean execution. During the events, I’m audio and visuals, a PiP for an interpreter, then three camera ops, splitting feeds to me and then to streaming with our amazing web developer on our live feed. Live streaming is capturing the hand shakes and audience reactions, I’m pushing prepped video, or transitional announcements, which feels like two events of the same time frame, but have been executed well, even with burps in tech. It’s 72 total hours we know is coming every year, still is fun, something we keep fresh for ourselves. My only self gratuitous pic-collage, these screens never photo well, those are 10,000 lumen projectors and power through, and ignore the drink on the tech table, that was for intentional rule breaking, with photographic evidence… it was removed immediately after the shot.
Event Day 1
To this facility, Event Day 2
What do you enjoy doing on weekends? How do you spend your time outside of work?
My family likes to get out, get dirty, enjoy with water. Kayaking, hiking, to places where the cell phone might not get signal. We did spend a few trips pack and hammock style, but are reserving that for the youth, full service cabins chill the wine better. We have over time created a great garden, both vegetable and berry, heirloom perennial. I am sharing the most recent photos, since the weather has been so lovely, don’t let the 6ft snow drift stifle the vibrance of my heirloom azaleas, or climbing roses. (It’s all melted, like it never happened). It’s been a tough winter, I will leave it at that…
What energizes you and inspires you?
Finding that group of people that share a commonality, people I work with, all different departments, people I volunteer with for cultural groups we belong to, trying that something new together. Nine times out of ten, it’s spending time, making those memories of crazy, silly stuff. Then, it wasn’t just the work that accomplished whatever was done, it turns to “we built this”, or “we learned that,” and “we had so much fun figuring out….”
If another tech manager were to follow you around all day, what would they most be surprised by? What would they learn?
I do spend a lot time “teaching” very briefly why or why not new tech doesn’t play nice in the sand box with older systems, what solid investments COULD be, as simple as HDMI 1.4 versus 2.2, when major pieces fail in an aged system it’s not something purchasable at retail. I may meet with two or three committees for X Y or Z project, and how repetitive some of those statements are said. Those mandatory acting classes in college do pay off, when sitting in those meetings, trying to imagine all those other things that person is trying to grasp to make something successful, be in their shoes, see it from that perspective. My specialty is tech, or same parts of it, they trust me to understand and fit the puzzle pieces together; work the angle of trust. It’s helping making decisions that lead to a great result, not selling a quote of wishes that may work out in the end. It’s easy to pick paint colors and furniture finishes, its tough to decipher lists of gear and why they need it, which mostly ends up hidden and unseen.
Tell us about the project you are currently working on now?
A much needed overhaul of a larger classroom, waited nearly two years for everything to be shipped, and then also open room/bookable time to actually do it. This is a series of three spaces that will all get this. With costs per lumen (I may copyright that… haha) becoming less of barrier, I was able to purchase the appropriate projector to combat many flaws with retro-fitting an odd space with big windows and projection. The department this was for, needed more inputs for specialty healthcare pieces for displaying, scalers with EDID, signal amplifiers for 5 displays, and a few features I could manipulate to blend into streaming. This was the first distribution amp with HD-base-T to all units was used, scaling back so much need to cabling, more behind the scenes in prep in programming, but worth every minute of it with such a clean installation. Also, one of the first rooms with a plenum box in the ceiling as a mini rack, centralizing all runs in the ceiling, keeping the shortest runs possible. My coworkers joke that walking in, it doesn’t look to much different, except everything turns on when its supposed to, the visuals look awesome, the sound actually works, and the controller responds as it reads. It works as it supposed to, and easy to walk in and use all the features without explanation, for however many years…
Comparing your career path over time, what are some of the moments, accomplishments, or projects that you’re most proud of?
Little things, besides the grad photos I already have shared, as that was a response to COVID restrictions, managing that in house as we did. I had experience with big events, as did our Web Director, so we just flew with what we could do best, with what we had available, and that is now the standard. We get to ask for more tools to enhance that, making production value better, “toys” that add flare, we are trusted to see the value adding those elements.
Made it through COVID, with faculty confidence…
I’m very compartmental with that “AH HA!” energy, road life with what touring I did has engrained ‘save it for later, we still have to load out,’ I remember what I learned from some of the biggest awesome moments, or post build walk throughs where everything is new, but there is always something next in the pipeline that has a deadline around the corner, and that needs attention asap…
You’re involved with our higher ed AV-industry orgs. Talk about why you get involved in the way you do and how that is impacting our vertical?
The first time I heard from a company rep, that the 150 xx’s were going to fulfill one large order, and all the smaller schools that only needed 3 or 4 of xx’s were just going to have to wait… 1. I understand supply chain, and fulfillment, no blame there… 2. For that situation, I was desperate to make something work, and was not going to get a different answer. Erase the drawing board… stare at a blank page for a while, and wonder where a different solution is going to come from, either advice, or sharing a different brand that works with, or has the driver that makes something usable, this community is so important. Being invited to webinars that maybe vendors wouldn’t usually include the smaller schools, having the same level playing field as a rep for my school, 3,000 students, 30,000 students, here, it doesn’t matter, I have the same interest, I have the same needs as every other institution. I can offer and learn from experience at the same time, not many places exist to have access to both sides of the same coin.
Where do you see your career trajectory going in the next five years? Where do you envision yourself?
I’ve thought about this for a while, spending as much time at one institution that I have, size might be a part of that itch to look bigger. How may times can gear be swapped out, by the same set of hands before you need to start doing it in different buildings? I keep studying how to incorporate “bigger,” how to bridge longer distances, how other spaces were finished with gear that would have no purpose where I am currently. It wouldn’t be fair to myself to train for that and never take that next step to use those skills. Where, not sure, but the interest is more than just reading about opportunities.
What is your life motto and how do you apply it to your daily routine)?
K-I-S, it, or keep it simple. I envy Starbucks baristas with knowledge of how many ways to prepare coffee, but I keep it simple, 2 creams 3 Splenda. I have so many tools that do so many specific things, but how many times am I grabbing a simple screwdriver, it can pry, it can hammer(use the other end), and still turn things as needed. As a member of the tech community, I marvel at the complexities of design of an arena or football stadium, nearly seamless continuous imagery, suspended over huge distances, every skill in design at play, it is awesome, they could sell me a seat in the catwalk watching it all function; but I have relatives that cant figure out a newer remote because it seems so complex, turning something on and off shouldn’t be so frustrating, the simplicity is not as obvious. Keep it simple.
And trust your gut.
Go Bills!