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June was one of the wildest months of my life… it really started in May. My son graduated high school the last week in May, I left 2 days later to go to Alabama for the first Alabama AV Teacher Bootcamp. I returned from that only to leave a day later to drive to the Georgia coast for a video shoot with the Georgia Department of Education and CTAERN (Career Technical Agricultural Education Resource Network). I was at the coast for less than 24 hours then had a 6 hour trip home to drop gear as I had to go to the other side of Atlanta to pick up equipment to go to the Georgia Camp T&I for AVTF Teachers. Two days there, then home for 4 days (it felt like a vacation). The following week was Infocomm in Orlando for a week then the following week was the Georgia Association of Career Technical Educators conference in Athens, GA and closing out the month was the 2025 SkillsUSA National Skills and Leadership Conference…. I share all of that because I was moving at such a pace that anything that would get me excited would have to really stand out… More like jump out at me.
The week starts early on Monday. I travel to the Amitrace office in Norcross to get the cables, etc that I will need for the studio build. Mid-morning, I meet Matt at the Georgia World Congress Center (GWCC) to get started building out the space. This is just getting tables in the right places, basic cable runs done, and a plan for how I will build out the space.
Early in the afternoon, Gegen arrives with the main studio gear (cameras, prompters, etc). That’s when it gets busy for me. We build three camera set ups for the studio - tripod, teleprompter, and camera. If you have ever built a teleprompter set up you know how cumbersome that can be.
Later the switcher arrives. I had nothing to do with that build out. The equipment is provided by a school and that advisor takes care of all of that build. I get a quick tutorial on how to use the gear and we are off.
The phoenix rose…. The event that crashed and burned last year soared high this year and seven teams got a high quality contest that allowed them to showcase their skills! Tomorrow morning will feature an early ride home but a stop at a Chevron on I-65 for some breakfast gumbo that I have been warned will change my life!
My preparation for this contest started several months ago - actually over a year ago. We were on site at the SLSC as a sponsor last year. I already had a relationship with some of the AV teachers in the state but I was intent on meeting more. As I met more teachers, I found out that many weren’t happy with the VNP contest. They had a lot of questions and most importantly, they felt it didn’t match what the students experienced at the national contest.
I have known the SkillsUSA national tech chair for VNP for many years and last year was the first time that I got to work the national contest as a judge - I had been to 3 as an advisor. My eyes were opened. The teachers here had a point, what they experienced was nothing like nationals. As a matter of fact, it was so far different from nationals that it was almost not the same contest!
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