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After years of working on large scale international projects, I am back in the US working for an event production company based outside Philadelphia. Having done my entire professional career outside of the US up until this point, there have been some learning curves.
On my last big job in Azerbaijan, I had over 40 staff, lots of contractors, the local venue team and construction company, plus all of our internal management team etc. Basically, if you wanted to have a meeting, all you needed to do was put it in everyone’s diaries and find a location to sit down and catch up. I used to see all of my team leading managers at least twice a week. My boss would hold meetings with myself and the other TDs with a similar frequency – sometimes even more. I got very used to this scenario. We would solve all the show’s problems and then some, face to face, oftentimes with whiteboards in tow, in an extremely collaborative environment.
I suppose one of the benefits of being back in the US is that you really can live anywhere as the clients will just fly you to wherever the gig is. Obviously in the US, we aren’t going to fly people in just to discuss things but I feel like in-person I am far more productive. Most of the gigs I have done here, I didn’t meet any of the clients until the actual gig. You may meet a few at the site visit but it is often only just a few people.
This means that in the planning phase I spend hours and hours just sitting on phone calls, often on mute, waiting my turn to discuss what is pertinent to me.
I have a much smaller team in the office. We do meet face to face quite regularly but with our client calls I have had to learn how to filter what isn’t important, work out who is running the show, practice my multi-tasking skills whilst still paying attention and make sure my list of questions all get answered, all via my speaker phone. Sometimes the calls are extremely productive but often they have so many people on them and not enough time. We basically end up learning nothing. I am sure plenty of others are just on mute, working through other things. It has been quite a different way of working for me.
I did find this quite accurate YouTube clip of a Real Conference Call
I have gotten a bit better at all of this since returning to the states but I do feel like I have a bit more to go.
Do people really do that? Can you be productive? Does it get old having no interactions with humans ever? Anyone else an expert at the Conference Call or Working From Home?? I would love some advice!
The love for theatre and events started at a very young age for Sarah Grubb when she first experienced the stage by performing herself from age 6. By the time she went to university, she had discovered she preferred to be behind the scenes. She received a BFA in Technical Theatre Production (Magna Cum Laude) from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's Professional Theatre Training Program. She also spent a semester at Sydney's National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in 2000. She was bit by the Ceremonies Bug on Melbourne’s 2006 Commonwealth Games. She then travelled for roles on the 2006 Doha Asian Games Ceremonies, the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games Ceremonies, the 2011 Rugby World Cup Ceremony, the Ceremonies of the 2011 Guadalajara Pan American Games, & the Handover Segment for Rio at London 2012. During her years living out of her suitcase, she focused on technical & show operations. Following a role on the Baku 2015 European Games Ceremonies, Sarah returned to the US where she currently resides in the house she bought just outside of Philadelphia. She works as an Event Technical Director and Consultant. She loves unpacking those suitcases to display her years of mementos & swag.
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