Continuing Education and Training!
by Adam Guss, Student Scholarship Recipient- NBS scholarship
This year’s conference in St. Louis was the third USITT national conference that I have attended in college. My first one, in Cincinnati, was very exciting for me. I remember waiting at the front of the line playing cards for two hours in between the NBS section meeting that ended at 9am and the Expo floor opening at 11am. I made lifelong connections with the other technicians from my school who showed me which booths to make for to get the best free stuff first (Syracuse is always first). That was the conference that opened me up to the idea of having a career in technical theater.
Last year, my second conference, Salt Lake City proved to be a boon to my understanding of how to network. Many of my friends were graduating and talking to potential employers, handing over resumes, business cards; it was a lot to take in for junior year me, who had one summer gig on his resume and a couple of high school credits. Of course, I attended the sessions as usual on awesome new technology like holographic projections, opportunities to find work as a technician, how IATSE represents stagehands, and how to negotiate contracts to protect yourself and be treated fairly. Beyond that, I was struck by the sense of community amongst everybody. At the Northern Boundary Section meeting, even though we were discussing topics of business and website changes at 8 in the morning, everybody was connected through the work that we do. And in the evenings, when the important networking happened, I found myself reconnecting with the old friends from Cincinnati and Salt Lake who now had jobs and introduced me to friends they had made at their new jobs, some of whom knew this mutual connection, or had ties to that company that an old friend had worked at years ago, and so on and so on. As one of the older students from my school that attended, I found some roles shifting, and I became the one who walked the expo floor with new students, pointing out this booth or that booth, showing them the ins and outs of the conference.
This year, still under-burdened by my early career resume, I discovered the real passion behind the members of USITT: training and education. A topic that came up multiple times at the national conference business meeting and keynote was the need for continuing education and training in the technical arts. Booths such as BackstageApps, the new USITT sponsored online training courses, and more are starting to utilize the internet for training courses for everyone across the ever-changing entertainment technology industry. Talking with IATSE representatives about training for union members, discussing the Stagecraft Institute of Las Vegas with Jane Childs, opportunities for training abound at USITT. My last USITT conference as a student showed me that the training and education is never going to be complete. I will always be learning something new, and the first place I am going to look for furthering my knowledge will always be our Institute. [ ]
Editor's note: Below is the MSU Tech Olympics team after the competition on Friday night at the USITT Annual Conference and Stage Expo in St. Louis! Find Adam!
