AV News 187 - February 2012
In the last Issue, the thorny old subject of preselection raised its head yet again.
Organisers have a thankless task - they are damned if they do, and damned if
they don't. However, whilst preselection is an obvious and easy target, I'm not
convinced that it is the real problem. Let me try to explain.
When Suzanne and I started on our AV career, many years ago, we attended
national and international competitions for several years, to learn from what we
saw, to learn what was required, to see how it all worked. We recognised that
we were watching 'the big boys' and that we were just beginners. We also
attended many AV days, which is where we learned (and still learn) much about
AV.
After something like 6 years as spectators we decided that we knew enough
to dip our toes in the competitive National waters. Suzanne's first entry was
rejected at preselection. She was quite upset - in fact she was positively
despondent. But she blamed no-one but herself. She resolved to make better
sequences in the future. And she did.
Nowadays we live in a very different world. A world where society in general
expects and demands, instant gratification, expects everything to be delivered
on a plate, without cost and without having to leave the seat in front of their
computer, where everything that goes wrong is 'someone else's' fault. This is not
a helpful atmosphere when trying to acquire new skills with a long learning curve
and requiring a great deal of effort on the part of the learner.
The purpose of a competition is to rank entrants' work in order of merit.
Whilst you can learn a lot from watching this process, whether your work is in
there or not, a competition is not primarily about teaching and learning. That is
the function of AV days. Go to as many mainstream ones as you can. This is
where the RPS AV Group, through its regional organisers, encourages and
nurtures newcomers.
To get the most out of these days, three things are vitally important. Firstly,
go. You won't learn much by staying at home. Second, go to a mainstream AV
event where you will see 'proper' AV. There is a lot of 'so-called AV' out there,
which isn't. It can put newcomers on the wrong (and ultimately frustrating) track.
Third, go with an open and receptive mind.
At the Great Northern, for example, if you show your work at 'attenders'
sequences' on the Sunday, you will receive constructive comments on your work
from some of the best AV workers around. You then have the opportunity to
improve your sequence before entering it in next year's competition. Learning
and competing are separately catered for. There are similar events at many
other locations. Go to as many as you can. You will learn as much from chats
over coffee as you do from the formal presentations. Only enter major
competitions when you are sure you are ready. But please accept that, at events
like the National, you are competing against some of the best AV workers in the
world who will have put in the tremendous amount of effort required.
At the Great Northern, we have a category for less experiences workers, so,
hopefully, everyone feels they are in with a chance. If you still feel you are not
being catered for, why not do something about it and organise a festival for
newcomers?
Howard Gregory
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