The Sanctity of The Control Desk
What do all those AV people do at the back of the room? Why are there so many of them?
AND WHY CAN’T THEY JUST PLUG MY PHONE or LAPTOP IN TO CHARGE?
Every now and then, an audience member at a conference or gala heads to the back of the room looking for a place to charge their device. Often, these guests head toward the control desk (it looks like a helpful place, right?). People can get quite insistent asking technical staff to plug in their phone or laptop.
You need to know that there can be a time and place for this. Perhaps during rehearsal, a presenter can sit behind the desk and run through their presentation with the Technical Director to make sure it’s spot on, or the band may check their sound mix.
Once an event is live though, the control desk must be off limits.
An interruption by a guest can cause mayhem for the entire event.
What happens behind the desk is vital to the seamless delivery of the event. From here, the skilled operators control the elements that make an event astonishing, heart stopping, and memorable. This is the hub of wonder that creates incredible lighting effects, show stopping tunes at just the right moment, and the presentation slide that is perfectly matched to what the speaker is saying.
Depending on the scale of the show there can be an operator for lighting, and for sound, a vision mixer controlling the cameras, a person controlling the screen content using sometimes up to five different sources, plus back up machines. There may also be stage crew, a stage management team, and a team to manage the sound for bands and speakers on stage.
To navigate a complex series of event moments, the technical staff work to a set of cues matched to the event run sheet. Their run sheet is incredibly detailed, and timings are precise. To deliver a seamless event takes enormous concentration and teamwork.
So, what happens when you wander to the back of the room and insist that the technical team plug your phone in? What happens if they can’t help, and you pull out a lead to charge your laptop?
At a recent event we had a member of the audience behind the control desk demanding a solution just after the show had started. We had one operator on the desk. There was a technical glitch, and the operator was trouble shooting the show opening. A moment crucial to the event. In a room of over 200 delegates.
It takes just one person to derail the process, to distract an operator or pull out a cord, and the entire roomful of guests’ experience is compromised. The speaker can’t be heard, the cue for a sting is missed, the extraordinary lighting effects meant to wow the audience fail, and the room goes dark.
One person’s demand can affect the experience of everyone in the room. And this will likely be blamed on the technical team.
Next time you head to an event, bring your power bank, or ask the guest sitting next to you to record something for you.
The control desk is the realm of the wonder makers, let them create wonder in peace!
With thanks to our exceptionally talented Technical Director, Graham Cunningham. The ties are for effect…a bit of fashion action!