# narrowing down 20 techs to 4



## calwalker1 (Sep 8, 2010)

Hello All. I recently looked for any junior people at school that'd be interested at school in doing some tech for us. I was expecting 3 and I got 20. now this is great. but I can't train twenty people so I need a way to sort through them and find the 4 (max) best.
Does anyone have any suggestions. someone suggested auditions but the problem is these are people that have never done any tech stuff before so you can't just expect them to know how to use a mixer (/ what a mixer is)
any ideas . tips would be great
Thanks

Cal


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## Tex (Sep 8, 2010)

During the audition process, I give the kids a rehearsal calendar and have them mark any known conflicts with rehearsals and performances. If everything else is equal, whoever has the fewest conflicts gets the job. That might weed out a few...


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## calwalker1 (Sep 8, 2010)

Sounds excellent and I'll give it a shot. only problem is our shows aren't as scheduled as some of the bigger venues. (eg someone called me just then to light a senior solo performance that is happening in less then 24 hours {this is not odd}) these techs wouldn't just do the big shows. we get then to do information nights and basic things as well (eg. 1 mic and a fe profiles). which is what makes it tricky


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## shiben (Sep 8, 2010)

Not sure what kind of school we are talking about here, but you can always find out who did tech at a lower level, and then use the schedule filter, and if you still have too many, interviews. Assuming this would be some sort of on campus job, an interview would be fairly expected and not out of line. The 4 that come accorss as most interested in learning new stuff and have the most willingess to take instruction get the job?


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## photoatdv (Sep 8, 2010)

If you want 4 keep 20 through the first couple of training days. People drop like flies when they find out tech is work, not play! You'll probably be down by at least half after a couple of training sessions and a couple of crappy load outs.


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## Kelite (Sep 8, 2010)

photoatdv said:


> If you want 4 keep 20 through the first couple of training days. People drop like flies when they find out tech is work, not play! You'll probably be down by at least half after a couple of training sessions and a couple of crappy load outs.


 
This is sound advice-


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## seanandkate (Sep 8, 2010)

photoatdv said:


> If you want 4 keep 20 through the first couple of training days. People drop like flies when they find out tech is work, not play! You'll probably be down by at least half after a couple of training sessions and a couple of crappy load outs.


 
Seconded. Or would that be thirded . . .?


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## museav (Sep 9, 2010)

calwalker1 said:


> Sounds excellent and I'll give it a shot. only problem is our shows aren't as scheduled as some of the bigger venues. (eg someone called me just then to light a senior solo performance that is happening in less then 24 hours {this is not odd}) these techs wouldn't just do the big shows. we get then to do information nights and basic things as well (eg. 1 mic and a fe profiles). which is what makes it tricky


However, this is also exactly why schedules may be a factor. If you need people to be available almost any time on short notice then some of them may not be able to commit to that.


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## gafftaper (Sep 10, 2010)

-#1 is the time commitment idea above. 
-Ask what their computer skills are like? Nerds are fairly easily convertible to technicians
-Look for abilities that are complimentary from their hobbies: Musicians/audiophiles, experience in shop class or mechanical things, video experience, etc 
-Do you have experience leading a team of people or working on a team?
-Ask them to produce a reference from a teacher that talks about their ability to listen and take direction.


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## SoFLy (Sep 10, 2010)

I would do any number of the following things:
- Do what calwalker1 said, and see how many of them drop
- Ask for previous technical experience (computer programming, engineering stuff, etc.)
- Ask if any of them have equipment (i.e. a DJ may have speakers, etc.)
- Do they drive? (not sure of their age) If so, what? (you'll need to move stuff around and people with cars are more dependable traditionally)
- What is their committment / work ethic? Does one student work particularly faster than the other, is one more organized and seem to spend more energy neatening up cables?

If you look at all of these, you should be able to grab a few well rounded students!


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## Chris15 (Sep 11, 2010)

One will note the OP is in Australia, you cannot obtain a learner's permit until age 16 and your provisional licence until 17, so that will negate the usefulness of the driving question as a discriminator...

I would argue that a USEFUL tech needs to be willing to do things that are boring, tedious and arguably outside their job description. Any tech who is not willing to take a broom to the stage or a cloth and polish to a piano is not necessarily going to be helpful to the team in the heat of tech week or when you have excretia on the oscillator in some other situation. Food for thought perhaps...


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## gafftaper (Sep 12, 2010)

Chris15 said:


> Any tech who is not willing to take a broom to the stage or a cloth and polish to a piano is not necessarily going to be helpful to the team in the heat of tech week or when you have excretia on the oscillator in some other situation. Food for thought perhaps...



That brings up a good idea for a test. Put them all on stage, setup a hidden camera, and ask them to clean while you leave the room for a few minutes. You'll know really quick who you want on the crew.


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## museav (Sep 13, 2010)

gafftaper said:


> That brings up a good idea for a test. Put them all on stage, setup a hidden camera, and ask them to clean while you leave the room for a few minutes. You'll know really quick who you want on the crew.


I can envision that turning into the students having to agree to let you use the video in order to cut them while you get in trouble for 'spying' on the students. You might have to at least tell them that they may be monitored at any time and that by continuing to be involved indicates acceptance of that condition. That alone may cause some students to eliminate themselves.


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## gafftaper (Sep 13, 2010)

museav said:


> I can envision that turning into the students having to agree to let you use the video in order to cut them while you get in trouble for 'spying' on the students. You might have to at least tell them that they may be monitored at any time and that by continuing to be involved indicates acceptance of that condition. That alone may cause some students to eliminate themselves.


 
He's in the Australian Brad. There are no laws. 

When I was teaching high school, I had a sort of mentor program where my older students supervised and taught the new students. One of the benefits of this was I quickly got honest feedback from my trusted students of what the new guys did when I turned my back. This may not work for the OP but it will work in a lot of school situations.


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## Chris15 (Sep 13, 2010)

gafftaper said:


> He's in the Australian Brad. There are no laws.



We do have laws, it's what stops us needing to sue one another over silly little things, (ignoring the whole universal healthcare thing that also helps in that regard)

Since the OP is in "Mexico", please consult Sect 13 of the _Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act_ 2006 (Vic) and the relevant sections of the _Surveillance Devices Act_ 1999 (Vic).

Note that just because an action might be legal does not mean that it can't mean you get ACA or Today Tonight in your face if you get it wrong...


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## gafftaper (Sep 13, 2010)

Mexico... Australia... whatever it's all South. 

EDIT: Hold on the OP is from Australia.

Chris15 said:


> One will note the OP is in Australia


 But I do have to agree that you guys do have a lot more laws than we do. You seem to have this strange idea that people should be licensed and trained. You also seem to have laws about occupational safety that are actually enforced, instead of ignored. What a strange place.


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## madeye (Sep 13, 2010)

What we do at my school is just do the boring things in the first few weeks of school like coiling cables, inventory, laying marley, and we weed everyone out eventually until there are a few kids left. Last year i had 40 kids show up at our first stage crew meeting and through boring training we narrowed it down to 10, of that ten i have four underclassmen that i can rely on to be at everything necessary, and the others just show up to the big things which is also helpful


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## madeye (Sep 14, 2010)

in continuation of my last post including the ten underclassmen, i have a simple system for training them. I teach all the incoming kids the basic in lights, sound and rail. I also make sure that all the students can gel booms for our dance show so when i call in extra help from the students that show up to big things they are competent enough, and are helpful without having to train new kids each time.


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## Ric (Sep 14, 2010)

Hi Cal,
Someone from my area of the globe !

Your profile doesn't give enough info to know, but are you a student looking for junior students to assist you?
Or are you a tech at a school looking for students to do your work for you? 

Having students do your work as volunteers is fine, but if you're expecting quality work that people are paying for then you need to be extremely careful about your choice of who does what, and charging for their work. Even if they are volunterring, students do need to be supervised in order to make sure you're covering your OH&S duty of care.

Perhaps keep all the names, have a 'trial period' for each of the students, and have 2 of them do each job that you assign to them. Apart from the skills that they may or may not have, or apptitude to learn, they also must have people skills and maturity. Putting 2 on together will quickly sort out who knows what and they may also assist in cross training the others skills that they have but others don't.

You could also do a simple questionaire, asking them to list which areas if tech they have interest and/or skills in, from 1-xx
i.e lighting, sound, projection, staging, stage managing.... as long as you want your skill set to be.


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## calwalker1 (Sep 14, 2010)

Ric said:


> Hi Cal,
> are you a student looking for junior students to assist you?
> Or are you a tech at a school looking for students to do your work for you?



Hello It is actually a mixture, as I move into the more senior levels of school (VCE) I cant keep doing so much tech. for little things (such as information nights, meetings, dance recitals) However I will still hang around and do big things (eg. Big productions, designing shows, managing) so at the start they will be for assisting but hopefully in a year or so's time they will be running basic setups.


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## Ric (Sep 14, 2010)

Chris15 said:


> Since the OP is in "Mexico",


 
It's slang in some of our Northern states to refer to Victoria disdainfully as 'Mexico' due to it being down south. For those in the Northern Hemisphere, in Oz south is cooler, north is warmer ie. as you head toward the equator... so the analogy falls down a bit. :-\


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## Ric (Sep 14, 2010)

calwalker1 said:


> Hello It is actually a mixture, as I move into the more senior levels of school (VCE) I cant keep doing so much tech.


So you are a student, training students?
Does your school have a person in charge of the Technical setups? I do get concerned hearing of this sort of thing, as safety is usually one of the things that gets overlooked. :-(


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## calwalker1 (Sep 15, 2010)

"So you are a student, training students"
Yes I am. we have a teacher who runs all the drama and tech related stuff however he often delegates everything to me (eg. I just came back from the city to buy some leads) I don't think he knows ow any of our new roadcase gear works and he views me as the head tech who designs shows and runs them the only time he acctually does tech related work is when I get him to help role cables. safety isn't to serious (as in safety is my top priority, but we don't use fly systems or rails. everything runs from road cases at ground level)


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## gafftaper (Sep 16, 2010)

Calwalker you seem to have the right attitude and you have found the right place to help you. Just keep the questions coming and we'll help you. I've been teaching beginning tech classes to high school and college students for about 12 years now and I'm happy to help you. Let me recomend my favorite book to use for teaching beginners. "Technical Theater for Non-technical People". I use it as the text for my basic intro to tech theater classes. You could also use it as a resource to guide your teaching. It's fun and easy to read, and nice covers all the basics.


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## Chris15 (Sep 16, 2010)

Ric said:


> It's slang in some of our Northern states to refer to Victoria disdainfully as 'Mexico' due to it being down south. For those in the Northern Hemisphere, in Oz south is cooler, north is warmer ie. as you head toward the equator... so the analogy falls down a bit. :-\


 
The analogy has nothing to do with climate and everything to do with being "south of the border". We digress.

I'm and advocate of getting all the help to help with a gig. Very quickly you'll weed out the ones you don't want, those that aren't willing to say pick up a mic stand and carry it make narrowing the list easier than you expect...


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