This is a photo of my "office" on the road.
i stood up at my desk and took this shot of my view on site. this is the 3rd store room i set up for this show. (we loaded into room 104 and then i left guys there to manage it. the next day we loaded into another - 'wing' of the Venetian hotel and setup a storage on the 2nd floor, but only had access to that room for 3 days.... so we setup from there and used up as much gear as possible. (i.e. it's easier to STACK empty cases) then day four i had to clear out that Ballroom so we could set it for meetings. so we moved everything out of there via the freight elevator up to the 5th floor. (think of this - it's three 53foot semi trailers full of boxes we are moving every time. fortunately the last move most were empty boxes. (see the pile of boxes - empties, stacked with a guy up there stacking?) on the right are full boxes, on the left are rows of cables and on the wall are my "Flow Sheets" like massive ToDo Lists for the 40 rooms. every day and hour is noted with what equipment to put in.
i sit far away on purpose. if you have about 75 guys all coming in and talking, laughing, yelling, cussing - screaming, it can get loud. i still have to hear and speak with the client via the walkie talkie and also talk on the phone and maintain my sanity. I'm over in my area attempting to control all. to plan ahead - how many guys do i need three days from now to load trucks and strike all this gear all over the hotel? how many trucks will i need to ship it all? i am busy with: Deep Thoughts....
the last day we had the hotel open the air-wall on the left side. (see the vertical lines? each one is a 3 foot section that pulls apart) i was serving lunch in the other room, next door, for my crew. (running a restaurant for the guys noon meal because there was not enough time in the clients program for them to get out for more than 30 minutes to eat. imagine coming to work at 6am and not eating till after 6pm?) so that increased the room dimensions from: 50'x90' [shown here] to 100'x90' and allowed me to pull down the box tower and separate the gear into other massive piles for loading trucks.
So to break down my job - i am a Nursery School Teacher for adults. we have a 30 minute recess at noon, we spend most our day sitting in classes (listening to doctors talk) and the rest of the time playing with blocks. (moving boxes.) i listen to crying students (bitchy union workers) and yelling parents. (client meetings) i got a college degree in business and all i every really needed was to get through Kindergarten to learn how this is done!
gotta run, i have 'work to do.' papers to grade and lessons to plan. (expense reports and purchase orders to finalize. union payroll sheets to turn in, bills to pay and laundry to wash)
xo Skip
ps. i'm on cup of coffee #2
CUP #3 and getting jittery.
... this shot is my actual desk since day 2; forground. (after storage #2 / day 2, i just had 2 guys carry my desk to the elevator and upstairs. too tired to remove and rebuild again!) Fridgebox on right. (note 'fridgebox' . coffee pot, microwave and fridge. it's all enclosed in a large wooden crate on heavy casters. i take it with me to shows.) the door to the fridge sits open while Donnel pours 1/2 and 1/2 into his cup. when you arrive for work at 4:30am and nothing is open, a coffee pot is mandatory! (remember - refreshments) in front of my desk sits a barricade to keep everyone back. (it's the chargers for the walkies) the decorator was sharing space with us, so the filing cabinets were in the room temporarily... just like us!
this is the last installment in the trilogy. you have now gone through AV 101. xo skip
ps. Donnel is one of 5 San Diego union guys i flew in to vegas to insure i would have qualified union support staff. (guys with brains) in addition, i brought in 4 guys from my dallas warehouse just for the last day - to help separate gear. (2 store rooms, in two buildings and 12 semis + 4 box trucks for local gear. you need a lot of eyes and hands) i had over 100 guys to boss around that last day... the playground was full.
