Pros
Guaranteed results and never refusing an order regardless of time or availability of equipment or labour for all audio visual solutions including Audio, Video, Lighting, Simultaneous interpretation (former ISTS), audience response systems and any other device a customer would like to have during a conference, event, gala, concert, party etc... AVW Telav has a roster of *High Quality Technicians, and a Giant inventory with scattered basic equipment from coast to coast. that creates a choke-hold on the industry. I have enjoyed many components of being a part of this Freeman.co division, I have had the pleasure of going to many lucrative places such as The National Parliament of Canada, The Royal Canadian Mint, National Conference Centre, National Art Gallery and many more including Hotels such as Fairmont, Hampton's, Hiltons, Delta's, Mariott's... I have also had the luxury of attending many high profile conferences such as the G20 speakers consultation, The Royal Visit from the prince and princess and i have also had the great pleasure of speaking with Media Stars, athletes and politicians at all levels, not to mention hearing everything said behind closed doors. I have dealt with Finance Canada, Health Canada, Transport Canada, Imperial Tobacco, McGill University, while also meeting the Governor general of Canada, Jim Balsillie (former Rim CEO), Ken Dryden (former NHL star) and many more. The job as a technician has many perks, as an individual i personally enjoy the experience of "creating the dream", helping customers find what the enjoy in an event and watching satisfaction being delivered. I wear a suit during most events to blend in with the clientele, and most of all I truly see how the world works before the media spins it.
Cons
The Media plays a big part in "damage control" what we feed the media from our console can determine the outcome of the next front page. While we provide the feed to most media conferences the power rests in our hands. We are a major component in the delivery of anything said to the media. It is a lot of pressure for a technician who has been working for 1 month, yet it is surprisingly more common then it should be. The flat rate charge for a technician is 60$/h but more then half the technicians are less then 3 years experienced with lack of expertize but sold at the same price, the client is never to know that 50% change your event that costs you 2 techs at 60$/h will actually get you 2 rookies at getting less then 13$/h. Operations department is a joke, it should increase the production by creating effective planning however technicians are consistently shuffled around with the obvious waste of funds, in a major city to send a truck from an outskirt warehouse to the city normally takes 15-20 min's (excluding toronto), but at rush hour we can all agree it takes more time, but the operations department succeed time and time again to use traffic as an excuse to not pay the extra hour labour to be on time, while the technicians stay in traffic and reducing productivity. They force employees to perform tasks while not being on the clock such as time sheets submitted electronically after hours and as tech we must call in for our scheduled at our charge regardless of long distance fee's and a main cause for concern is the "rookies" although i believe they do a good job in finding well trained and groomed individuals, However these guys are sent out to drive trucks for most of the year and then shoved onto an event and are REQUIRED to remember all the technical aspects of the incredibly diverse equipment with little aid or support at all. My personal success has come from consistent battling with the operations, My customers come first, They pay for the service i am representing, i should and maintain as much as possible the right to help provide anything the client wants for the WAY-WAY over-priced service. I beleive My name is also being represented with telav while Operations create regulation that creates akward moments with customers, "tell them we are sorry it's late but no discount", " tell them it's to bad they did not pay enough"... these are clients that could serve contracts for multiple events and bring in much more money, I beleive the Sales representative and the Hotel In house Representatives would all agree that it would be better if there could be consistent direct communication with clients. In other companies this does not tend to happen, there has been consistent turnover in ops across the country over my tenure with most employees leaving discontent of their superiors. the fact is, it is over priced, average quality in today's market, customers feel lied to (i must defend the sales team they try!), defective equipment and low maintenance continues to be a problem, internal problems plague the company with many clients becoming aware of the likely fall of AVW Telav