Summer’s here and the time is right for…huge projects, late projects, pie in the sky projects, and everything in between. As we finish up the semester and scramble to check if our products will be done floating on a ship in the Pacific in time for a summer install, this is the perfect year to double back and check on previously completed projects.
And by previously completed projects I mean “those eight-month projects that you completed in six weeks in the summers of 2020 and 2021.”
From conversations I’ve had over the last couple of years, it seems that a lot of us had very similar experiences in the summers of 2020 and 2021. The abridged version goes something like this; from March to mid-June of 2020, everything is unknown and you worked through about a thousand potential scenarios for the university. Then the first marching orders come in and they do not align with any of the scenarios you’ve created and the scramble begins. You work like mad (even more than usual since “work like mad” is our default anyway) and get rooms done by early August in time for rushed training and the semester to start. In 2021, same idea but this time the cycle doesn’t start until May.
The good news is that the AV world was on top of all of the technology prior to the pandemic. We knew cameras and microphones and networking and videoconferencing and were pushing for the installation of all of those things prior to shutdowns. What we didn’t have was urgency or money. Once the pandemic hit and prep for Fall 2020 hit, the urgency and money were there. We were able to do installations that we were hoping for and installations that we weren’t hoping for but did anyway. Unfortunately, “urgency” translates to “rush” very quickly.
This will be my first “normal” summer since I started my current position responsible for classroom technology. Although I have plenty of installations and scheduled changes, a significant part of my summer schedule is going over the installations of the last two summers more thoroughly. The supply chain issues will potentially hold up new installations, and an even larger window to tidy things up may be available. Here is my breakdown of these projects.
Plan with the facilities team
As we scrambled over the last two summers, so did just about every other department. Facilities departments dealt with a lot of additions and, in my experience, weren’t as available during installations as usual. I have already started taking long, tedious walks with facilities going over any room we’ve touched as an AV team over the last two years. Do we remain up to code? Are there electrical runs we can make for easier placement and a tidier look? Is there lighting that can be changed to help our camera and/or projector images? While I’m at it, I am going to work with facilities to see what we as an AV team can do better in communication, planning, and execution of future projections.
Make permanent what is temporary
Our first move in the summer of 2020 was to create 50 video conferencing carts. This could be done faster than 50 installations and we could deploy them to any space. Since then we’ve added carts, installed from carts, and moved rooms. Putting it delicately, we could’ve made those changes better and they are not up to our standards. Putting it correctly, a lot of those conversions were rushed and look like garbage now. The good news is we have trained our student workers in a lot of these rooms and for the most part, we are already prepared for what needs to be done.
“This summer is the time to make these things right and go over ALL installs to make sure they are consistent with our standards.“
Document Document Document
One problem that can come with moving projects is not keeping up with documentation standards. Projects that are done in a “LET’S GET THIS DONE NOW” fashion often have documentation that gets left behind. A goal for this summer is to have everything in rooms represented in a document, then have that document checked against each room. Scrambling to remember what’s where isn’t fun. A standard for all of us should be that if we ever left our position nothing is left unknown. Documenting is one of the most significant parts of that. I think most of my documentation is up to date, but this is the time to ensure it.
If you’ve already booked your summer with projects, sorry to add more work. If you have the time open, schedule this in that open space. And if your precious cargo can’t make it too far past Catalina Island, then your tasks with what you already have been laid out above.
CheckmyAV was started in order to give AV techs a quick and easy resource to check their audio-visual systems. Tired of going to video sites and dealing with ads embedded in videos and inconsistent content, checkmyAV was created to give techs useful video and audio files to check their setup while being ad-free and user friendly. checkmyAV content is created by Craig Shibley.