Setting Expectations, Part 2: What are the User's Responsibility in A/V?

In my last blog post I questioned what reasonable expectations are for the reliability of AV systems.  This time I am considering reasonable expectations of people who use these systems.  Specifically, how much should people be expected to know about an A/V system?

I have previously discussed the not so distant past of A/V, and how we are still trying to get beyond the "reputation".  In particular, for a long time A/V was not professionally integrated in our spaces and frankly, did not work very well.  The behind the scenes AV was not close to the systems we have today and it was confusing to use.  Remember, it was not that long ago that a professor may have used a mixing board to increase volume in the classroom!  AV techs NEEDED to be available to help run this equipment.  Clearly, with the saturation and usage rates of equipment, this is no longer possible.  We simply can not be everywhere anymore.


At Bates College we have begun to change support expectations.  The first step in this process is to develop systems that are easy to use, reliable and well maintained.  For example, if you have touchpanels, you should seriously consider using Dashboard for Controls. Choosing a standard like this helps your staff, my staff and all the presenters who travel from one location to another.

One test that I have used to determine how simple a room is to use, is to bring someone in who has never used a control device before.  I point them to the touchpanel or button pad and ask them to turn the projector on and select the dedicated computer.  If they can not do that, then the system is not easy enough to use.  As a side note, I am looking for more people to be my test users, so far my wife, brother and father have all been used.  Would enlisting my 8 year old daughter be wrong?

After we were comfortable that our systems were easy to use and reliable we started offering training (during regular work hours) as opposed to on-site support during usage of the system.  At Bates we believe that the money we spend on touchpanels is returned by not requiring technicians at every event.  If you are going to send an AV tech to press the two buttons on a touchpanel, then why did you put in the touchpanel to begin with?

At first our users worried about us not being at every event.  They were worried about their presentation failing, and that makes sense, it is a fear that all presenters have.  However, after several successful events (507 events in the fall semester, with 2 reported problems) the users realized they can use the systems on their own.  By the way, the two reported problems turned out to be matters of convenience, neither stopped the presentation from moving forward.

Under the right conditions, I will sometimes joke with a nervous presenter and remind them that the A/V system in the room is much easier to use than a photocopier, fax machine and their cell phone (and likely more reliable than any of those) and they manage to use them everyday.  We developed these changes as policy and posted so all our clients could have access to them.

Our second struggle is with outside presenters.  Too many times we have seen problems with presentations because no expectations or responsibilities were made clear in advance.  Presenters show up with all types of various computers, media and peripherals.  We have had events in which we were told no AV was being used, and the presenter showed up with a laptop that had a proprietary video output, and they did not have the adapter.  Because no expectations were set in advance, solving this problem became the responsibility of the AV staff.  Of course, we did not have the adapter, so the presenter could not use their laptop.  While this unfairly made the AV staff look bad, more importantly, the event did not go off as well as it could have and should have.

After a couple of these occurrences, we set expectations and responsibilities.  We made it clear that outside speakers have responsibilities to know how to use their own technology.  We went around campus talking with people who sponsor outside speakers and made sure they were aware of our new policy.  As current practice we send the previous link to everyone who is a guest speaker at the College.  Again, this was a change and people were not fully comfortable with the change, but after a full semester, it is clear (the aforementioned 507 successful events) that the policy has made events flow more smoothly.

The point we try to get across to users of the system is that our responsibilities include providing you with reliable, easy to use rooms and training on how the rooms work.  Your responsibilities include taking the time to learn how the system works, and only bringing your own devices if you know how they work.