ICIA
goes Down Under
By Sherrie Morreall
This
year's ICIA IPD hosted two classes geared toward education in the Australian
marketplace. AV marketing pro Brett Bower, Sales Manager for Gearhouse
NSW, taught 'Sales Skills for Rental and Staging.' "This is an
exciting turning point for ICIA's Institute in Australia because this
is the first year we have Australian faculty." Said Bower, "This
will allow ICIA to locally deliver more education more often in a cost-effective
manner to the Australian AV industries."
Also on the faculty was long-time AV techie, Gary Kayye. 'Perfect Image II' was the course facilitated by Kayye, where his knowledge of the development of global audio visual technologies and education added a rounded view of equipment across a variety of continents, and focusing on technologies to help boom the growing Australian market. Kayye has taught at the institute previously, and was happy to return again this year. "The Australians are even more participatory than the Americans are in class," said Kayye. "The students are not passive at all. They are pro-actively involved in class, instead of being reactive. It makes for an even more exciting teaching experience."
It was apparent that the AV market is booming in Australia in the same way it is in the states. "The Australian and American markets parallel each other in technology," said Kayye. "It makes it very easy to teach the course material [prepared for an American class]. I have been doing this for five years, and it is the most exciting training that I do. The technology is familiar, so it's like being at home, but you're 15,000 miles away."
"The role of ICIA is becoming more and more important in the AV industry," said Seller. "As it grows leaps and bounds, those involved will need to be continually updated on the new technologies that are out there. Involvement in ICIA can help the smallest and the largest companies have the best trained employees in the world."
This year's students all agree. "This class has been great," said Chris Kern and AV technician from Corporate Theatre Productions. "I have audio training, but needed to learn more about projection." Kern grabbed a 3-hour flight from Perth to attend the conference, and added, "There's a difference between just setting up a projector and seeing what it really can do for you. It's been great to learn how to get the projector to work for you, not how you work the projector."
For one attendee, the institute was a family affair. Raj Subramaniam attended the conference with his wife and two children, noting that business had been so successful that he had trouble fitting in a holiday with all the work. "I loved AV as a kid and just really got into it," says Subramaniam, who is a national service manager and in-house trainer for video-conferencing at Visual Networks in Sydney. "I am glad to be here learning even more. I am proud of the work that I do and feel important to my company. When your company invests in you as a person, that makes me feel good about being there."
As we all know, AV is thriving all over the world, making it am even more exciting and rewarding time to be involved in the market internationally. "This is the time to be involved in AV," continues Bower, "there are so many opportunities for everyone internationally."
Kath Mitchell was happy to agree. "The industry has not been rated high enough as a profession," said the visiting Kiwi, "it's been great to be here working with people who realize its importance. This has just been the most marvellous week of meeting people, training and networking. It's just been amazing!"
The Australian IPD will take place again in January 2002, but the dates and location are yet to be scheduled. "It's been a great turn out this year," concludes Seller, "Next year promises to be even better."
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