Flow States and Technicians: How to Determine AV Staffing
When planning for a live event, there is often some discussion about how many people we are putting in the tech booth. Yes, fewer technicians means lower cost...but AT what cost?
Here's a simple way to conceptualize multi-role workflows like live AV: Flow state. Most roles in production require you to completely concentrate on your job, else miss important cues.
Your video engineer (TD) has to configure, anticipate, select and direct shots, transition and animate in real time for the entire duration of the event. This takes full attention (flow state); Interruption means stale shots, sloppy layouts, missed action.
Your audio engineer (A1) has to pay attention to the action, constantly fade and adjust sources to maintain levels and tone, create separate mixes for livestreams and zoom rooms, and monitor wireless systems (even if it's just one or two mics). Another flow state. Disruption means missed unmutes, open mics, unmet requests for monitor mix changes, low levels online and feedback.
With just these two positions, we are now at two flow states. Each person only has one, so we would need two operators on the job. If we were to dedicate one technician to do all three of these things, it may get us by, but the constant switching of tasks would make it virtually impossible to enter a flow state in any one of them.
This is especially true for PTZ/camera operators, even though it can seem like a simple job. These technicians have to be laser focused on keeping that pacing presenter in frame or getting the shot on the next soloist. Look away for just 2 seconds and you'll be saying "I hope we can fix it in post". And post means more time and money before you have usable content.
Some tasks, like changing PowerPoints between presenters or clipping on lapel mics between panels, might take up mental space only here and there, and so we can sometimes devote one "floater" technician to 2-3 of these tiny tasks.
But for the lead positions outlined above, these kinds of flow states can't be disrupted without massive sacrifices to the quality of the work. It may cost a little more upfront, but staffing your tech team properly to begin with pays off with quality product and ready-to-go media.
