I recently spoke to a few classes at my local high school. Why? Because I’ve chosen to be an ambassador for our industry, knowing that diversity in age, gender, race, etc. means increased strength and growth potential for our organizations and teams.
I learned a lot about our industry (and how it’s perceived) based on student reactions (read more on my classroom time here). But, just as important as discussing how our industry is perceived is understanding how (and why) we need to create the opportunity to speak to groups of students.
In my case, I was sitting at my local Chamber of Commerce committee meeting where a local high school career development director happened to be in attendance as well. We were talking about opportunities for local businesses to talk to students – either for recruiting or for basic education – and he jumped at the chance to bring me in to talk to his students about technology.
After connecting me with one of the high school’s business teachers, we settled on a date and time, and chose two classes that wanted to hear someone than their instructor talk about technology opportunities.
How to Get Started
I know this opportunity doesn’t always fall into place so easily, so here are my recommendations for introducing the IGNITE! presentation to your own public school district (K-12):
- Visit the high school’s website. The school likely lists contact information for teachers and administrators (it’s considered public information).
- Search for a contact who deals with career development, workplace readiness, occupational strategies, or business. If all else fails, reach out to the guidance department.
- Forwarded the career materials provided by NSCA (get them here) to the relevant contact. Also consider adding some personal information about yourself, your role in the industry, other roles available in the industry, and relevance to students.
What happens after you’re in the door? Good news! The NSCA IGNITE! committee created a great presentation we can all use. If you want to doctor it up, add pictures, audio clips, and videos –stay away from adding text. Bring props, if relevant. I added pictures that highlight different facets of the industry: images of the Super Bowl halftime show, distance-learning classrooms, interactive museum exhibits, command and control rooms, theme parks, etc.
As you go through the presentation:
- Ask the students questions about each picture. Have they ever thought about the team who works behind the scenes to create the “magic”? Are these types of experiences memorable (and why)? Their answers will help you gauge their understanding and reset their expectations. Be prepared to be frustrated. They won’t understand what you do – even after you explain it – no matter how intuitive you think it is.
- Don’t focus on AV. The people within our industry are the only ones who use “AV” anymore. Focus on the technology and skills needed to create the magic that others experience.
- Ask students what is most exciting and interesting to them. Describe technology that touches on their interests. For example, I asked each student to tell me which courses or majors they want to take in college, and which careers are of most interest to them. Then I described how our industry is woven into almost everything they mentioned to show them that they can work anywhere and do almost anything in commercial technology fields.
- Make sure to discuss the need for diversity. Only through diversity does a company and industry form the stability to weather inevitable storms: economic ebbs and flows, technological disruption, and regulatory reform.
Evaluating How You Did
The presentation may be over, but your job is just beginning. Create a post-presentation survey and ask students to complete it. Many of the students I spoke with indicated that they were most surprised by the lack of diversity in our industry. (Interesting to note: The young ladies who were interested in learning more about our industry were not deterred by this at all!)
I asked each student to fill out the post-presentation survey and hand it back to me. Why?
- I wanted to know if I piqued their interest – even the interest of just one student. If I did, I don’t want to ignore their interest. I want to support and feed that interest.
- I wanted to help them find the next step to take: more schooling, scholarships, internships, or a continuation of the discussion.
- I wanted to know how they perceive our industry. What words did they use? What words didn’t they use? We need to fill our funnel with incoming talent and innovators. I wanted to know how to better market and relate to this generation of potential techies.
You know what I learned? We aren’t in the AV industry (fortunately, NSCA has already re-evaluated how the industry describes itself). The AV industry no longer exists. It is our responsibility to look in the mirror and redefine our reflection – or risk becoming irrelevant and aged, watching that reflection fade into the background as technology moves forward without us.
This outreach is necessary for more than acquiring new talent. It’s necessary to understand outside perceptions and fit into a modern, magical puzzle. If we aren’t AV, what are we? It’s a good question to ask a student: The answer may be more helpful than you think. –Gina Sansivero, Director of Business Development & Education, FSR Inc.