# New but in charge



## levi (Jan 19, 2010)

I have been acting at my school for years and i am now a junior. for the past year or so i have managed set construction more and more. I have even undertaken large parts of designing the set. But i have been faced with something quite odd. I decided to quit acting and just do the technical side because i plan on going to college for technical theater. Now i am new but not. I am the only tech going to state competition and have ran small plays by my self. And for some odd reason i am one of the leaders of our tech club.

Ok getting to my point. the first big play im doing tech in will be coming up. to be honest i dont know how im feeling about that. All the other techs look at me as the new tech i guess. So is there anything big i should know to deal with this?

Thanks


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## draco17315 (Jan 19, 2010)

Hello, and first off, congrats on your decision to dive in!!! I have been in many situations as a Tech Director and I think you will find a few key elements might help:

1) Have a sit down with your crew and just talk. Talk about what they would like to get out of their time in crew. Ask them if they have any questions about you or your background. Let them know that you are there, right by there side to get the job done the best you can.

2) Be honest and fair!

3) Take a little time to get to know your crew members and sometimes this will lead you to an answer as to how you can handle the situation.

4) If you are not going to be the actual Tech Director, sit down in private with that person who is and be honest about your concerns and ask them how they would like you to approach it.

5) This is a very imortant one...at least in my eyes......be open minded to others ideas. And always remember that no matter how important Math, Science, Physics, ect. are, Experiance and "know how" are a big part as well.

hope this all helps, and good lcuk. Check back in with us and let us know how you are making out 

Joe


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## MrsFooter (Jan 20, 2010)

I took a similar path that you did, studying dance all my life and suddenly deciding my senior of college to explore tech. In addition to the wonderful advice given by Draco, I implore you not to discount your own abilities. One of my greatest weaknesses is that when I walk into a new gig, I tend to assume that I am the slowest/weakest/most inexperienced since I haven't been doing this as long as everyone else, when the reality is that I've got a strong resume of work and a wide variety of experiences that very often put me a step ahead of my competition. Obviously someone, a teacher or adviser, thinks that you are capable of leading, so be confident* in your abilities and knowledge. Don't let your perceived inexperience intimidate you out of a great experience.

*Note that I said "confident," not "cocky." There's an important distinction here, and we all would do well to be familiar with the differences.


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## draco17315 (Jan 21, 2010)

Absolutely, don't ever sell yourself short. And we have all been there where we either realized on our own or by someone telling us that we may be coming off cocky....happens to the best of us. I find that you gain much more trust and respect if you are confident in what you do and how you do it yet remain open minded to the fact that there are other ways of doing things other than your own. I think that that is a big difference in being good at what you do and with the crew you lead vs. being cocky. A good example is this: I view myself as good at what I do and a leader in new advances in special fx, props, and set design. I had a student who is now a good friend of mine and he is now an engineering student at Penn State Main. When him and I work together, I have the know how and the experiance and he has the mathmatical and engineering skills. Some might think this is an awesome combination that would balance out well.......not always the case. Over time I have learned that when he and I but heads on why something isn't working or why and how it is working when it mathmatically or scientifically should not, I need to respect the fact that I am just not always right or understand the things he does. And the other way around, I would like to think that over the last 6 years or so of working with this student, he has also learned that sometimes trial and error along with experiance come out with the better answer or an answer that math and science can't explain or that he doesn't yet have the knowledge of other areas of math or science that he is not studying or hasn't experianced yet. Sorry to ramble but that was the best example I could think of and the bottom line is STAY OPEN MINDED AND LEARN TO DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN GOOD AT WHAT YOU DO AND COCKY!! Well said MRSFOOTER!!!! Good luck and Good building  Let us know how you make out!!


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## MrsFooter (Jan 21, 2010)

I just wanted to clarify that I was not indicating that the OP was being cocky, but that a cocky attitude is one way to loose the respect of a crew. There's entirely too many over-inflated egos running around in this world, and while you _should_ be confident in your abilities, it's in your best interest not to join their numbers. Not trying to scold, just forewarn.

Best of luck.


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## levi (Jan 25, 2010)

thanks guys!
i will keep that in mind.


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