Program a new lighting console, master that media server, link up those lasers, unclog that fog machine. Is there anything that you can’t learn online these days? With the world on lockdown, the online world is opening up with tutorials as varied as those take-out menus we’ve come to rely on. It’s Teaching To-Go. Designer Watch wrangled the grab bag of resources in a round up here and checked in with some company leaders for feedback on the success of their new brain food.
4Wall: This live event vendor has stepped up to the plate by offering up a virtual trade show on their Facebook page, featuring short videos from a few manufacturers showing off their latest gear up front and personal. Check out the page and scroll around until you find something of interest. www.facebook.com/4Wall.Entertainment
ADJ: ADJ’s “Stay Connected” series offers live video tutorials on lighting topics and product reviews through its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/adjlighting and www.adj.com.
Ahead of the Curve: Founder Geoffrey Platt is shooting a weekly interview podcast, “Ahead of the Curve,” on Thursdays at 1 p.m. EST on Facebook Live. “I started Ahead of the Curve as a side effect of being laid off due to Covid-19 and trade shows canceling,” Platt says. “I wanted to create a platform that brought inspiring, motivating and educational content to those working on live events, fixed installations, digital art installations or working in a theme park. An incredible amount of talent out there is struggling to find jobs or reinvent themselves. I hoped to help them explore new possibilities.” Interviews are with designers of digital and interactive art, virtual realities and other industry creatives. www.aheadofthecurve.one
Astera: LED manufacturer Astera has launched free webinars for its lighting fixtures and AsteraApp in its Astera Academy. Astera’s Jesper Sørensen presents the sessions, saying, “I believe more flexible home office options will be available in the future, together with increased video conferencing for meetings and discussions, even after things normalize.” www.astera-led.com/academy
Avolites: National sales manager Brad White says, “Our U.S. and U.K. offices decided to Facebook Live multiple one-hour sessions every day for free, so users can hit the ground running when this tragedy subsides. We have users from other control platforms in our classes and our users are taking other classes, which creates an interesting mix of idea exchanges that there was never enough time and energy to have before the Zombie Apocalypse.” Avo US, meanwhile, is running two daily Titan console sessions and two Ai Media Server sessions, all live in a Q&A format. The U.K. and other offices are also running multiple sessions each day in several languages in most time zones worldwide. www.avolites.com
Ayrton: LD Chris Lose is behind the Ayrton Boredom Buster, a Facebook contest inspiring creative pre-visualization using Ayrton-only lighting set to your favorite song. Winning videos could receive swag and a showing through Ayrton’s social media. “The contest will run until concerts start playing again,” Lose explains. “Response has been overwhelming. We are sharing one to two videos each day, and we’re backed up for weeks.” www.ayrton.eu
Bandit Lites: Bandit’s team has beefed up their blog of tips and insights on their Dimmer Beach blog. General manager Mark Steinwachs has penned more than 250 posts on programming and production design, as well as recommended “Bus Movies.” www.banditdimmerbeach.com
ChamSys: “The ChamSys Training Academy classes have drawn more than 3,000 bookings since its launch,” says ChamSys USA director Phil Watson. Thirty console classes every week are held in English, German, Spanish, and Italian with online visitors from 53 countries. “No one has ‘Zoom bombed’ us yet! We also run one-on-one online meeting in four languages and have enjoyed meeting old friends and new from around the world.” www.chamsyslighting.com
Chauvet Professional: Chauvet’s product managers are conducting a new Thursday Tech Talk series featuring “How To,” “New Tech” and “Design Tip” topics. The series is streamed every Thursday at 2 p.m. EST (7 p.m. GMT) on Facebook Live, Instagram Live, YouTube Live and LinkedIn Live. Recorded sessions are also available on the website. www.chauvetprofessional.com/training
Chroma-Q: Chroma-Q offered free Vista by Chroma-Q lighting and media control training through its weekly webinars in April, with those recorded tutorials now available via the website. “We wanted to provide learning opportunities that we’re certain will come in handy in the near future,” says Paul Pelletier, global brand manager. www.chroma-q.com
Claypaky: Claypaky has launched its online Tech Corner tips featuring short video instructions on maintenance and service issues. Strategic marketing manager George Masek says the project just got off the ground, with help from product specialist Manuel Hahn, who creates and delivers the pieces together with the Claypaky technical team. Global head of marketing Alena Turiakova explains, “The idea is to produce videos on ‘demand,’ according to requests from customers wanting quick how-to instructions. We have received many positive comments and have many new ideas for upcoming tech videos.” www.claypaky.it
Creative Integration Studio: Chief Nerd Ruben Laine is hosting an online series of daily shows. “It’s like I’ve created a TV network,” he says. “Mondays, I host ‘Feature Focused’ where I go into a specific feature of Avolites’ Ai software. Tuesdays, I do the same in Spanish. Wednesdays, I run ‘Preview + Post,’ to re-create an event or tour from scratch. Thursday mornings, I repeat it in Spanish. Thursday nights, I host a stream called ‘Control,’ where I’ll interview industry friends. So far, Patrick Dierson, Scott Chmielewski, Al Crawford and Cory Froke are scheduled to ‘show up.’ Fridays, I run a ‘Creative Happy Hour,’ where folks log in with requests, all while sipping on some five o’clock juice.” www.creativeintegration.studio
disguise: “disguise onDemand” is a new platform for free webinars on their media servers and software, says training manager Vickie Claiborne. Topics in multiple languages feature talented disguise users and online trainings based on in-person training courses including Fundamental Training, Creative Sequencing and Pre-Production Workflows courses. A free trial version of the software is also offered. “Based on the incredible attendance numbers — with over 5,000 folks attending at least one webinar so far — we plan to continue the program,” adds Claiborne. Special guests for special topics have included production designer Patrick Woodroffe reading excerpts from his Rolling Stones tour diary and LD Mikki Kunttu with Cirque du Soleil. www.disguise.one/en/training-webinars
Eggshell Light Co./PLSN Podcasts: The LD @ Large podcasts sponsored by Eggshell Light Company have turned into a wealth of knowledge infused with anecdotal insights from PLSN contributor Chris Lose that keep the listeners amused and entertained. From lighting designer war stories to tips on their trade, from accountants to insurance agents expanding on what’s best for your business, to programming and tech talk — there’s something for everyone. Check out all the various podcasts at www.plsn.com/podcasts.
Elation Professional: Elation just launched The Elation Hour on Facebook, its first episode featuring John Dunn and Matthias Hinrichs in a look at the technology behind the products. For its console line, Obsidian Control Systems is offering free weekly online training classes. www.elationlighting.com and www.obsidiancontrol.com
ETC/High End Systems: ETC’s Study Hall is open for ETC and High End Systems online training programs and live events for its lighting and control systems. ETC training/education manager Sophie Pierronnet says, “The response has been incredible with thousands of new online learners, webinar attendance surpassing our hopes and long Q&A sessions (sometimes up to three hours). Thank-you emails keep on coming and encourage us to continue. The European offices are running webinars in French, German and Italian. It’s a great team effort, and it’s enabled many of us to stay in touch with each other in new ways.” www.etcconnect.com and www.highend.com
Green Hippo: Green Hippo’s product specialists are offering free online Pause and Practice Hippotizer webinars for new and existing media server users wanting to sharpen their programming skills in video applications. Courses run to May 15, 2020. www.green-hippo.com
LightingTrainer.com: The late Steve Irwin started his website started in 2011 with help from his fiancée Ricarda Sammaneh. Irwin promotes training opportunities on his site, which lately has exploded with a proliferation of online events because of Covid-19. “It’s now up to 20,000 links of videos and other education materials,” Irwin said. “It’s become a portal into the social media network I developed on Facebook called ‘Everything Stage.’ This enormous network is now made up of over 24 various groups from all aspects of our industry, and it has over 150,000 personally hand-picked members worldwide. Our mission is to promote training opportunities, and during this period, I’ve been busy promoting various live events for groups like USITT, Avolites and many others.” www.lightingtrainer.com
MA Lighting: Find MA University and video tutorials of tips and tricks for grandMA2 and grandMA3 consoles on the website. www.malighting.com/training-support/overview
Martin by Harman: Martin’s Live Workshop Series is conducted by its staff, along with a long roster of industry experts, including LDs Susan Rose, Eric Price, Craig Rutherford, Lauren Sego and many more to come. Business development manager Brad Schiller explains, “The Harman marketing team has created a wonderful way to involve the industry, both with education and teaching opportunities.” Schiller also believes the industry needs more than just training sessions, which is why he’s promised more “fun ways to engage with Martin” to be announced soon. The Martin Live Workshops and additional trainings are available through Harman Professional University’s website. www.martin.com/martin-learning-sessions
Pangolin Laser Systems: Pangolin worked with Kvant to create a series of instructional videos showing laser safety and setup basics, control and other system topics, along with a Quick Hints series, all viewable on their YouTube channel. www.youtube.com/pangolinsystems
Robe: Robe is conducting “Inspired While Self-Isolating” interviews online with LDs
Roland Greil, Jeff Pavey, Tim Routledge and others. They’ve also started posting short videos called The Shed. Episodes feature Robe theatre projects manager Dave Whitehouse, sharing innovations behind its products. www.robe.cz
SGM: The SGM Academy now offers online presentations and seminars — from lighting to software — for beginners to the advanced skill levels. www.sgmlight.com/academy
Signify: Vari-Lite and Strand are offering free online courses teaching the basics of lighting systems design for dealers, reps, engineers, specifiers and consultants. www.strandlighting.com/global/support/online-training
Tait: Tait offers online training video courses for iQ Powered by Navigator to learn, engage and prepare for future automation experiences. The series is free — and tailored to all skill levels — until May 15, 2020. http://info.taittowers.com/iq-training
USITT: In the absence of this year’s conference, USITT is offering two new webinar series, “New@Noon” (a New Products Showcase) and “Forum@Four.” It’s free to anyone and available via online conference app, Zoom, along with USITT’s Facebook page. Current programs run through April, with the recorded webinars available for viewing anytime. www.usitt.org
Zero 88: U.K. lighting control manufacturer Zero 88 ramped up its online consultations and training with 42 Zoom training sessions each month for as long as the pandemic crisis lasts. www.zero88.com
Reach Debi Moen at dmoen@plsn.com.
