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1 Media Production and Event Planning

In this chapter we will learn from professionals in the fields of media production and events planning. We’ll hear from Dana Bonomo, a very successful Emmy Award-winning Managing Director/Executive Producer/Director of Production at Lava Studio, Bruce Goldfeder, another Emmy-Award winner and Vice President of Broadcast Engineering for NFL Media, and LaurieAnne Perez, an Event Planner for Crain Communications.

MANAGING DIRECTOR/EXECUTIVE PRODUCER and DIRECTOR OF PRODUCTION

Working as a managing director means you are a top executive at an organization.  “The responsibilities of top executives largely depend on an organization’s size. In small organizations, an owner or manager often is responsible for hiring, training, quality control, and day-to-day supervisory duties. In large organizations, chief executives typically focus on formulating policies and planning strategies, while general and operations managers direct day-to-day operations” (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2024).

Working as an executive producer requires many skills and abilities. According to Indeed, “An executive producer role is one of the highest positions in the entertainment industry. They may work independently or as a project leader, supervising the completion of entertainment projects. Executive producers create entertainment concepts, write scripts, set budgets for entertainment projects, and ensure high-quality results” (Indeed Editorial Team, 2024).

Another role in communications and media that you may be interested in is working as the director of production. “A director of production “is the strategic head of the production department, responsible for overseeing all media production activities. They ensure that content creation aligns with the organization’s goals and manage the budget, staff, and resources to produce high-quality media” (Teal, 2024).

The following is a video interview with Dana Bonomo, a very successful Emmy Award-winning Managing Director/Executive Producer/Director of Production at Lava Studios.

Interview Transcript: A Conversation with Dana Bonomo: Exploring the Role of a Managing Director/Executive Producer/Director of Production, 2023

Introduction: In this interview, Dana Bonomo, Director/Executive Producer/Director of Production at Lava Studio, describes her career path and profession.

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Doreen Kolomechuk (Interviewer): Good afternoon. Today, I have the opportunity to speak with Dana Bonomo, an Emmy award-winning executive and accomplished leader who delivers successful multiplatform branding communications programs. Welcome, Dana.

Dana Bonomo: Thank you very much, Doreen. I’m very happy to be here.

Doreen Kolomechuk: Oh, thank you. It’s such a privilege and a pleasure to have this opportunity to meet with you, to learn about your career path, and to gain some insights from you about how people might be successful in this field. Let me start by asking you to describe your career path and some of the highlights that led you to where you are today.

Dana Bonomo: I did go to college, but my primary focus at the time was not communications and the film and television industry. It was biology. I think in my head, I wanted to be a doctor of some sort, but in my heart, I always had a fascination with film, television, movie making, all of those fun things. As bad luck would have it, I didn’t get into many medical schools, so I quickly took my dual major of biology and communications toward a career path in communications. I started out working for a production company, a company that produces live-action videos for advertising, corporate communications, or any other kind of content.

Over the years, I started to gravitate toward being a producer. I felt like the producers are kind of a cool job. They’re the people behind the scenes; they like to get stuff done so that all the creative people can do what they need to do. The producers are sort of giving them the tools and ammunition to be able to accomplish that. So, producing is what stuck for me, and I produced in several different capacities, both for commercial production work, for programming, for networks, and promotion. Eventually, I started to gravitate up toward management, so I would be overseeing producers and working with more of the stakeholders and leaders of companies. I got more business-centric, asking how do we grow the business? What are we strategically up to? What do we want to do? I eventually started running small companies and gravitated from there to larger companies. Currently, I’m running a design studio with a team of designers, animators, and producers. The career path was sort of trying a few things, finding something I liked, sticking with it, and then just pursuing it from there.

Doreen Kolomechuk: Very, very interesting. Did you ever do internships? I vaguely recall reading that you did work at the radio station while you were in college. How’d you get your foot in the door, so to speak?

Dana Bonomo: Yes, I did DJ in college. I think the skill that gave me was just to embellish on being able to talk intelligently, not ramble on, do some research so you can come up with fun facts and interesting things to bridge between songs, between programs, etc. I really enjoyed that because I also love music, so that was kind of fun. Internships—I did an internship while in school. It was working in the marketing department for the National Soccer Hall of Fame, which at the time was very small with two people in a shack in Oneonta. Now it’s like a force to be reckoned with, but at the time, I was sort of like in this half-hearted state of, wow, I’m not going to be a doctor, what do I do, where do I go? As luck would have it, I’m at a dinner party my senior year of college with family and friends, and I sat next to a woman who owned her own production company, which at that time was very unusual and pretty badass. We got to talking, I learned what she did, how she did it, who her clients were, and she said, “Look me up when you graduate.” That’s all I needed to hear. I looked her up, she took me on as a temp in the shipping department, you know, as the third gopher. I worked my way up to head gopher, and then from there to assistant producing, and that’s where I gained a tremendous amount of knowledge about the industry in about three and a half years. I kept moving on to other aspects.

Doreen Kolomechuk: How did you learn? Was it just by doing, by observing, by reading, through training, or a combination of all those things?

Dana Bonomo: I think it’s a combination of all those things. A producer and many vocations in the video content, film, and television industry don’t have tutorials like other professions. If you’re going to be a surgeon, you go to school and learn these skills and practically apply them. This is a little less tangible, so it’s more organic. The education unfolds in front of you with your job, and it’s really what you make of it.

You see there are many aspects to creating things—directing, being behind the camera, animating, designing, editorial (putting all the video together). There’s a whole pipeline. You start to see different areas of it, and you say, “Oh, what is of interest to me?”  I tried a few things out and gravitated back toward the producer role. While I think in real life, I’m a little scattered, professionally, I’m like detail, detail, detail—think like a chess game. What’s the worst that could happen? What’s the best that could happen? That all comes from observing, watching others, getting thrown into a pot of boiling water and figuring it out, and taking your experiences, dropping what doesn’t work, and collecting what does. Then you come up with your own toolbox.

Doreen Kolomechuk: Very interesting, very, very interesting. What about your current position? Can you talk about your overarching responsibilities in that?

Dana Bonomo: Sure. I currently work for a design and animation studio. My title is Managing Director/Executive Producer. Those are words for managing the operational, project, and financial health of the company overall. I oversee projects, staff, best practices, and create strategic growth plans for the company.

The Executive Producer role is more project-centric, where I have a 20,000-foot view on the projects coming in, whether I may help them through the door with budgets, contracts, or setting up the team. So, it’s an overarching supervisory role, and you assign, say, a producer as the primary contact with a client. If anything escalates, they’d come to me, and I’d help sort through things. So, you’re basically running the company with the owner. In my case, the owner can then focus on meeting new clients, taking meetings, selling us for our capabilities, and getting new business in so we can grow.

Doreen Kolomechuk: Excellent. Very, very interesting. I was going to ask you, in terms of growing the company, are you involved in the public relations aspect of it at all?

Dana Bonomo: Yes, there’s—it’s ironic because we’re in a company that makes marketing materials, advertising materials, promotion materials. It’s like the plumber always has the worst pipes. You’re so busy making these things for a living that you have to remember, what does our brand look like? How are we out there? Is there awareness of our company with all the right people? How do I get in the door of an ESPN, ABC, Netflix, or another media platform so they can see what we do and see if we’re a good fit for them? I am involved in that strategic plan for the company to figure out, well, how do you do that? You don’t just open your doors one day, hire 17 people, and hope it all works out. You grow with revenue. If we’re having a good year, maybe I can bring on one more person. Who would that person be? What role do they serve here so that we have a really robust team and therefore we’re unique in our marketplace?

Doreen Kolomechuk: Interesting. Now you talk about media platforms—ESPN or all of those big platforms. Is there a lot of networking involved in getting into those platforms, or would you hire somebody specifically for that realm?

Dana Bonomo: There are many ways to go about it. Various companies—my competitors, colleagues—we all handle things differently. Everything from bringing on somebody who’s a new business or business development person who may have personal relationships they can capitalize on to get you in the door, so that somebody returns your call or email. Nowadays, you have to micro-target it. You’ve got to find a connection to that person that you can relate to. “Hey, I saw you with a Cleo the other night. Congratulations! That project was interesting.” You know, you’re just looking to cull some kind of connection with these potential clients so that you can ultimately get the opportunity to quote a project, to bid a project, to pitch something. Some people do get business development people. Some people have their owners. That’s what they do. So, it’s all different, but it certainly helps to have a body dedicated to that.

Doreen Kolomechuk: It’s very similar to…I was involved in career development and finding internships or developing internships. It’s kind of similar but it’s on a smaller scale, I would imagine.

Dana Bonomo:  Well, the principle is the same. You’re looking for talent, resources, and opportunities. Those things, you know, those premises can really stretch across any industry and any need. Growing people and  finding talent too is very important. It’s not only about getting revenue, but it’s like, who’s working for you? Are they a great fit? Are they, really innovative? Do they have a specific style? Are they good with clients? Are they like client whisperers? So even when things blow up, they’re just very calming, and the client still feels taken care of. You look for all of those things in your own internal group so that that group gets well represented when you’re going to look for business.

Doreen Kolomechuk: Absolutely. Right, right. So, I guess communication is key in this field, no matter if it’s your interpersonal skills or your ability to listen.

Dana Bonomo: Oh yes. And let me, and that doesn’t come easily. I mean, if people have that ability as an innate skill, God bless them. It took me a lot of years to shut up and listen and that made me better at my job. You know, you’re so busy formulating what you’re going to say to somebody, you’re not listening to them. They could be giving you key indicators of how you can make them happy, how you can answer that. When I say make them happy, since we’re a design company, a client can come to us with a design challenge: “I have a new product. I don’t know how to get it out to the market. I don’t know how to let it stand out in a field of competition.” So, you create branding, you create campaigns, clever writing, social media planning, anything that will get this thing, this product, known and reach the right audience.

So, communication is key. The benefit of technology is amazing because I have straddled analog old school ways of doing our business to incredibly advantageous things like social media and platforms. I mean when I was in school, there were two major forms of marketing and advertising: print and television. That was it. Then came cable, which is a form of TV. Then came digital. Once the internet was out there and there were websites, then there became a whole series of digital elements and digital marketing tools. Then came social media. Now, compared to 50% of the marketing dollars that used to be spent on TV and 50% on print (when I say TV, that’s linear, that means anything with a screen that you can watch), right now it’s like less than 20%. It’s all, you know, it’s all social platforms, paid media, digital opportunities.

Now there is also experiential. Did you ever go to a concert and see like Verizon doing some big thing that you can go in and be interactive with? Or, you know, go to a sports game and see something that gives you an immersive experience into either that team or that brand or that product? It’s really very dimensional now. Very dimensional.

Doreen Kolomechuk: You know, it’s so interesting when you talk about experiential and then all of the different platforms that are now, in existence. It’s not just TV and print as when you started. So how did you keep up? How did you maintain your ability to integrate these new dimensions?

Dana Bonomo: How do you keep relevant is the question. For me personally, I did change jobs because some of those companies gave me exposure into different areas I never would have had otherwise. So, where I started out in traditional advertising, video production, that kind of thing, I moved into special effects, visual effects, animation. Then I moved into corporate content, corporate communications, and then went to work for an experiential company and did really, you know, amazing things. I was working toward the Oprah’s 8-City Life You Want Weekend and Coca-Cola World Games and all of these things.

So, switching companies to give me the exposure was key to help me keep relevant. But you also have to read, read, read, read, read. You can never stop reading, especially now when you have so many forms of gaining knowledge so instantly. Scroll, scroll, scroll. Need an article on this? You know, need to know that? You know, there’s so much out there for you to consume. Consume it, consume it because you want to be relevant, and it’s not like you have to beat the technology. You just have to know what’s out there and what it can be used for, and you know that helps keep you relevant no matter what your age is.

Doreen Kolomechuk: I find it interesting that you said that you actually actively pursued different types of experiences in order to, I guess, round out your knowledge and expertise.

Dana Bonomo: Yes, and you know, some of it was by design, and some of it was just the master plan of my career. You know, getting downsized in one company and getting laid off, it’s like “Great, now what do I do? Oh, there’s an opening there. That’s interesting. I don’t know a lot about that, but I know how to manage people, so I can apply these skills to that industry, you know, or to that specific part of the industry.”

Experiential is a really good example. It’s like, you know, producing and keeping people in line, keeping to a calendar, a budget, a schedule, and making clients happy is a universal cheat sheet for many, many areas of our industry. So, if somebody gives you the chance to just cross your skill set over, you can shine.

Doreen Kolomechuk: Right. Transferable skills. It is so interesting the way you kind of have to be a chameleon of sorts, taking those transferable or portable skills into a new environment and as you say, it’s almost like a cheat sheet. You know how to manage people or know how to get something done.

Dana Bonomo: Right, it’s your little toolbox, and you just keep adding to that over the course of your career, and you learn what works and what doesn’t. Circling back to things like internships, I mean, nowadays internships are so practical, and so, you know, they were more of an exception many years ago. Now it’s like when I look at a resume for somebody out of college, I want to see what you’ve done. I want to see at least one internship with experience in a related field or with transferable skills. That’s important.

If you are an artist, I want to see your work. I want to see what you did in school. I want to see what you did as a passion project. Because then that, to me, it’s like it may be green and it may be raw and unpolished, but to me, I get to see there’s some raw talent in there. That person knows how to tell a story, or that person understands movement and that kind of thing.

So that’s super important. I never want to undersell a college education because that’s very important. But basically, what we’re looking for as employers is that if you finished college and got your degree, you started something that you could finish. There are a few chosen colleges that cater specifically to say my industry, in a non-theoretical way. You want to go to NYU Film School and say you want to be a director? You’re going to take boatloads of courses that are theory. It’s like if you can’t apply that, it is useless.

It’s all about application. Get out there. Learn how to conduct yourself in an office environment. Learn how to be punctual. Learn how to look somebody in the eye when you’re communicating. It’s okay to be shy and be nervous. You will get comfortable. Nowadays, so many people are hybrid and remote. This generation has a real tough challenge ahead of them because you don’t get the socialization of learning in a physical place. You know, there’s a lot that can be said about the nuances of looking over my shoulder or coming to me when it’s in your mind, “Hey, I got this. You know, I read this. This doesn’t make sense to me.” Or “Can you go over this estimate?”

So, we do it all over Zoom now. I’m 100% remote unless there’s a live-action shoot, or there’s an in-person meeting. I miss those, the didactic communication of being in person with somebody.

Doreen Kolomechuk: Especially if someone’s mentoring you. I just want to go back to that. To observe or to ask questions is so important. And if you are on a college campus and there are opportunities to gain experience on campus, before getting an internship, get involved on campus. Because I think it’s competitive to get even an internship.

Dana Bonomo: Oh, absolutely, you’re right about that.

Doreen Kolomechuk: You have the opportunity to write an article for the newspaper or to DJ as you did or maybe do a television program, take whatever opportunities you can.

Dana Bonomo: Work in the AV department. Work on the publications or editorial. Now every college has probably got great podcasts and a lot of video tutorials. There’s just so many ways that you can take some kind of skill that you feel you have and try to let it bloom or grow using those vehicles. It’s so important.

Doreen Kolomechuk: I think also about the importance of thanking people who help you along in your career. Sometimes people open doors for you or help you in whatever minor or major way they. It’s really important to express your gratitude. And I think sometimes people forget that.

Dana Bonomo: That is another fallout of maybe a fully remote environment, but that does mean a lot. I mean, if I could walk away and say what I hope people will say about me, you know, when I’m out of the industry, is, “She gave everybody that she could a shot. She listened. You know, litmus test them on a project, give them an internship, recommend them to a pal.” Over my years, I hadn’t realized how many people I had affected by doing that. And again, I’m not bragging, but I’m saying all you have to do is just reach out. You know, if somebody sends me a resume and I’m not hiring, I read it and I’ll be like, “We don’t have anything for your specific skill set. Can I make a couple of suggestions? Try this company, this company, this company. And when you’re listing your stuff, sell yourself.”

You know it’s always like cause-effect. Even if you were a cashier at Walmart, you enhanced the customer experience by learning about all the brands so that they can walk in and feel serviced. You always want to elevate yourself so you are in the mix and you are participating in some useful way.

Doreen Kolomechuk: Very good advice. I think that oftentimes we’re not ones to toot our own horns, so to speak, and talk about how wonderful we are. However, we need to market ourselves and learn how to see those transferable skills that we’ve developed. You know, I didn’t just work at Walmart; yes, I enhanced the customer experience. So, yes it’s very important. You talked a little bit about what attracted you to this career path. What’s your favorite thing about your job?

Dana Bonomo: No two days are alike! That’s both a fun fact and just something that happens in this industry. It’s never the same day twice. You know, if you’re working on a long-term project, you could have challenges for a specific design element or copywriting task. Then that gets solved and then you’re on to something else. You know, one day you could be working on five jobs and your hair’s on fire, and the next day you’re working on one, and you’re like, “Oh, I get to dig a little deeper.” Or when you’re running the company, it’s like, “Oh, now is the time that I’m going to work with my intern and get my freaking database in order of all the freelancers I use and all of their skill sets. Get all their websites and their rates per hour.”

So, no two days are alike. I like content. I always have. So, making content is like the fun part. My poor kids when they were young, I’d be, I did a lot more broadcast when I was in the earlier days of my career, and every time they saw a commercial, they’re like, “Yeah, I know you did that animation! Yeah, that logo you did, the logo your company made.” I would say, “You see that MSG logo. Our company made it and are still using it 15 years later!” So, those kinds of things are fun to see, like the fruits of the labor. And then you think about everything that went into it to get it there.

Doreen Kolomechuk: Yes, I’m sure a lot went into that. Tell us about one of the most recent projects that you’ve worked on.

Dana Bonomo: Absolutely! So, this company that I’m currently with, I’m in my second year. Ironically, the owner of the company and I have known each other for—I met him after college in my first job—and we have been in touch for years and years. We just always kept in touch with industry functions or conferences and then the timing  just worked that I could work with him and it was great.

So, we had this really interesting project this summer for a cruise line. There was a new ship build, and in the new ship was a 750-seat three-level theater because they were putting on these incredibly professional productions for the guests while they’re at sea. So, this theater had a lot of great new technology—LED screens everywhere! So, there’s LED technology 40 feet high over here on all the balconies. On the stage, there are several screens, and one of the shows was a musical event that was paying homage to, like, ten icons. You know, people like Celine Dion, Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars, Elton John, Billy Joel. So, like, past, present. So, they do little medleys from one singer to the other to the other and the video content that had to fill the LED screens was huge. It was a 45-minute show, so it’s like we need stuff on the screens and had to meet a lot of criteria: can’t show faces, have to show things that don’t have IP, can’t show things that are owned by other companies like Disney or Marvel, and you can’t show any likenesses.

So, we came up with the idea to have really cool geometric animations to just play as background colors? Shapes, colors, things that are pulsing, moving, and they just sort of, one leads into the other and the other. And this is all background ambience for the performers while they are doing their thing on stage with the band.

So, we created 45 minutes of content and then we had to go on the ship to install it. When you are working with the client through a project like this, you are viewing everything on a computer screen. So, it’s like, “Oh, it looks good from here.” You know, when creating the graphics, we were looking at  a 20-inch screen, maybe a 30-inch screen. Then you get over to the theater, it’s three stories high, and you’re like, “Oh, that’s really big, and that’s really bright, and that’s really fast!” So, while you’re there, I brought an animator. I was the person who was just like keeping it all, like, everybody happy. “What do you need?” And my animator was like making the donuts. So, whenever we were like, “Oh my gosh, that’s so fast at 40 feet high! It’s just like people are going to have a stroke watching it!”  You know? So, he would go in, he would slow stuff down, we’d re-export it.

That was a very cool job because I got to, you know—we were on two cruises, throughout Europe: Italy, Croatia, Turkey. Then you get a few free hours and you’re like, “Quick! Run out! Let me go to the mosque!” or “Let me go see that Greek taverna, or that island!” So that was kind of fun. So not only was the nature of the project interesting, but also the location that we got to travel to and to be on the ship and install it was really an amazing experience.

And now we can tout that, technically, hey, we’re pretty—you know, our company can help you with that! You’ve got some great technology. We know how to work with the technical director, with the engineers. We know how to get it on the servers. We understand the spatial relationships between working on a small screen and then being there where it’s large. So that gave us a marketable skill to now go to the next company with that knowledge.

Doreen Kolomechuk: That’s amazing! It sounds like there are so many moving parts and it’s all very new to the industry. So, you really picked up on that and it’s great! I’m sure you’ll have a lot of clients that are looking for that.

Dana Bonomo: One can only hope!

Doreen Kolomechuk: Oh, so speaking of that, what changes in technology and in society are impacting your field?

Dana Bonomo: Well, AI for absolute certainty. I mean, we use AI in our pipeline. You know, we automate certain processes that make it easy. AI right now, technically, is probably used a great deal for writing, which is, listen—from AI comes fear of having your jobs taken away and the loss of proper compensation and credit for your IP. So, the recent strikes with the writers and the actors were a result of figuring out where everybody fits into this new society that uses artificial intelligence, as well as human organic talent. AI’s been a big thing, certainly for writing, certainly for the pipeline of our work with still images. We’re getting into how it looks in moving animation because you’ve got to—you know, AI is all about training the machine. You’ve got to train the AI to do what you want it to do and then all this other wacky stuff can happen as a result and you’ve got figure out how to tamper that, tailor it, especially for visuals.

But AI is also a great technology tool. Using that ship installation as an example, if we would have had to work in the size of those files, we never would have gotten the job done. So, we worked in the traditional HD, and then we up-resed it using AI. Oh, so we worked in 1920 by 1080, you know, 16 by 9, but then up-resed it to 4K, and then you had to convert it to a certain code. You know, these files were like 30, 40, 50 gigs a pop. There were a lot, a lot of those moving parts. So, AI, you know, big technology—exciting, you know? Not overwhelming, but just embrace it. You know, that’s what we’re embracing. It’s like, it’s here! How do we make it work to our advantage? How do we not get taken over by it? But, you know, incorporate it so that it complements what we do and makes things that weren’t possible, possible now.

Doreen Kolomechuk: Now, that’s so interesting!

Dana Bonomo: That’s a big one. The second one: social media. Past generations, I would say, you know, the last two and the generations to follow, are consuming their content in so many different ways than we did when we were, you know, of a marketable demographic.

There is a science to algorithms and analytics and impressions and media plans, and it notes that people today come with less attention spans. I mean, think about it: watch a movie from the 70s, watch One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and watch Napoleon. You know, it’s like night and day. It’s like you’re spending 25 seconds on a shot. People are just like, “Oh my God, cut already! Cut! Cut!” We are so into instant—we can just consume so much so fast. How do you create content that’s not skippable? So, people are going: “Oh, not bad. Okay, stop for 2.8 seconds.”  That’s a win, you know? So, technology has changed everything in these industries—in advertising, marketing, commercial production, feature films, VFXs, corporate content. I mean, you go to the gas station, you get to watch TV while you’re pumping gas. Everything’s got screens! And it’s all about how it’s consumed.

So that technology is very exciting, but with it comes exponential competition. So now, there’s not five companies that do what I do; there’s 50 maybe. So, you just have to ask, what’s my unique advantage? Meaning my company—what’s my company’s unique advantage that separates us in the marketplace?

Doreen Kolomechuk: Very, very interesting. Yes, the impact of technology in terms of attention span is one thing that really interests me as well in that we do need to focus if we want to get something completed.  I think that because, as a society, we’re expecting everything, so quickly we have to remember that doesn’t happen that way in our brains in everyday life.

Dana Bonomo: Absolutely! I mean, you know, there’s an attention deficit in the sense of, you could start a million things, you could want a million things, and then it’s like, what do you actually accomplish?

Doreen Kolomechuk: So, it’s food for thought for people starting out in a field. Even though you want things quickly, in order to learn something, to be good at something, you can’t just come and go from one thing to the next. Focus is really important in some regard. I mean, multitasking—they’re saying it’s good, it’s not so great. But I’m just saying the attention span has to be there if someone’s speaking with you. You do have to listen for more than 45 seconds.

Dana Bonomo: 2.8 seconds, exactly!

Doreen Kolomechuk: Is it really 2.8 seconds to capture someone’s attention?

Dana Bonomo: Well, you know the average, mean algorithm is like, if you’re scrolling through something digital, it’s like 2.8 seconds. 2.8 seconds, that’s the average; that’s the average view, you know? And that might even be shorter now because those analytics are from when I was working on Comic Con.

So, yes, there are a lot of factors that have to be taken into account. But I would say, understanding all of that—now apply it to you getting out of school, getting a job. You go on an interview; you make sure you, whatever that company is, you get on their website, you find one or two facts that are interesting to you that you can relay to your interviewer. So at least you’re creating a connection of some sort. Do your homework. If you walk into an interview without doing your homework, you’re wasting your time and their time. You know, it’s like the attention span, make yourself stand out in a competitive marketplace, which is all of these people interviewing for this position. You could be looking for an entry-level job, but it’s how you conduct yourself, what you know, what you learn, that’s going to set you apart. So do your homework, speak intelligently, try to put yourself in their shoes, be a good listener, and ask interesting questions too. You could ask, what somebody’s day is like? What is a typical day like? What would your hours be? Do you have many things that blow up? Are your days typically routine? What’s not routine? So that you’re showing an interest, like you’re picturing yourself in that job with that company.

Doreen Kolomechuk: As you said earlier, make yourself relevant and build your connections and ask interesting questions and be a good listener. All of those things are so important.

Dana Bonomo: They matter. They really matter.

Doreen Kolomechuk: Now, I wanted to touch on this. You’ve won an Emmy Award, and that’s pretty amazing. Can you give us a snapshot of what led up to that and what that was for?

Dana Bonomo: Sure. That was funny because it was a job that was fun to do. It was a sports Emmy, and it was for the graphic package of Wimbledon for HBO Sports. So that’s a lot of fun because you get to design it. You’re working with the the creative team at HBO. And you know, when you’re watching a sporting event, you don’t realize everything that goes into a sporting event. It’s like every piece of information you get is designed, input into a machine, output, rendered, exported—your scores, your scoreboards, your player profiles, your introductions of defense and offense, your—you know, and they all have names. That’s a mini scoreboard. That’s a player two-up. There’s all of these. So, there’s a whole package, and by the sport, the elements needed are relevant to the sport in hand. So, this was for the Wimbledon tennis package during one of the tournaments. And so that was recognized for a sports Emmy. I was a producer at the time. The designer, the art director, they were all acknowledged for their great design, and that was really kind of fun. And it doesn’t hurt to be an Emmy Award-winning producer and put it on your resume!

Doreen Kolomechuk: Absolutely. That’s so exciting. Very, very exciting. So, speaking of networking, are there any publications or professional associations that people who are interested in this field should be aware of and should take part in?

Dana Bonomo: There are many and it really depends on which avenue you want to pursue. If you want to go into post-production, editorial, audio, sound design, etc., you would want to gear toward any kind of post-production organizations, and there’s one called the New York Post Alliance. There are so many. If you want to go into visual effects and animation, there’s, you know, the VFX Society. It’s a very prestigious group. If you want to go into design,  there’s a Graphic Artists Guild. But there are many organizations. There are many publications. Look at all of them. If you are in a creative field, you’re always looking for inspiration.

Some things must make you tick, so you’re probably always going to museums. You’re reading, you’re going on to websites, you’re buying art books. You’re always looking for those kinds of inspirations and always keep doing that because that’s going to keep your mind fresh. You know, there’s actually an organization called Sports Video Group and all they do are sports graphics. It’s a big field because when you think about, there’s every college team, the five or six major sports, every professional team, there’s women’s teams, there’s like thousands of people who create graphics for sports.

Doreen Kolomechuk: So, it’s just a matter of delving into the field that you’re interested in, finding those professional associations and trying to network. And it was interesting that you said you stayed in touch with someone that you knew when you were starting out in your career. Now it’s come full circle and you’re working with that person. So, those people that we meet along the way are very important and it’s important to maintain those connections as well.

Dana Bonomo: You never know where somebody will pop up again or how your paths can cross—whether you could help them, they could help you, you could collaborate on something. I’ve really tried to maintain a very large network through my years. Even though it might be that you don’t speak to somebody for five years, you have a connection or an association or project you may have worked on. You never know where those resources could come in handy.

Doreen Kolomechuk: Right. Absolutely. Thanks, Dana. Anything else that you think that someone who’s interested in pursuing a career in this field should know, or any final suggestions or recommendations?

Dana Bonomo: I would say just in terms of a skill set; good communication is key. Good writing is key because writing a good email is important—it’s still a thing to misspell. I know we do it when we text and have shortcuts and all. You will have a level of polish when you just elevate that professionalism. It’s certainly not frowned upon because some people will do it, but have good communication skills. Look people in the eye. Try to remember when you’re writing something, if you’re writing an email and relaying information to someone, that you are as comprehensive as possible but succinct. Nobody wants to see you ramble on and write like you speak. But if you’re onboarding an artist, or you’re trying to get acquainted with a new project or something, try to think about it, So comprehensive information is key rather than, “Hey, I have a job for you,” and then they reply back, “Oh, what is it?” “Oh, it’s a job for Procter and Gamble.” “Okay, what do you need?” “I need an animator. Instead it could be: “Hi, I need an animator. This is the storyboard. This is about what I have to spend. Are you available and interested?” That kind of thing. The more you can put in all the information, then the less back and forth. Your time is saved too. Always, improve your skills. Learn, learn, learn. You have so many resources at your disposal now. You’ve got LinkedIn, you’ve got Udemy.  There are all of these places where you can learn anything. You can learn Photoshop. You can learn how to make presentations. You can learn! There’s also a lot of technology to help you organize yourself. You know, there’s all kinds of apps, like Figma and things that will—that can help you gather your writing, your pictures, like a dream board. It’s like this is how I can organize my thoughts. I can organize them with pictures, with writing, with music, and audio. Then you put it all together and then you can sort of like sift and organize your thoughts. So always embrace technology and apps for ways to keep yourself organized and informed.

Doreen Kolomechuk: Yes, that’s really important. I think with so much information coming at us, it’s very difficult to keep yourself organized and to keep learning. If you get bogged down in organization it’s hard to keep learning.

Dana Bonomo: Yes, that’s very true. Very true. Time management’s key, folks. You know it, and believe me,  I’m going to go out with probably every day having wished I could have been better on the day before. You know what I mean? I practically have to write down inhale, exhale because I will forget it. I know my weakness. I will forget it. So, I’m old school. It’s either written down or it’s on my phone. I have a list and I know that is what I need. You know, I need to know what the three big things I need to do today are. Did I do them? If I didn’t do them, how far along am I, and how am I going to make it up tomorrow because then I’ve  got three more things. That’s the way to be self-sufficient and proactive. And when you’re working remotely, people are looking for that—your self-organization, your time management, your communication. Those are all key things in whatever field you’re in. And then for the industry, there’s a specialty that you’re interested in, try it. Give it a try. See if you like it. Use college to try it out if you can.

Doreen Kolomechuk: Dana, I thank you so much for sharing your time, your expertise, your knowledge, and for the insight that you’ve shared. I’ve really learned a lot and I know that those people who are watching this or reading about it will learn a lot too. I thank you so much for joining me.

Dana Bonomo: Well, thank you. It was a pleasure chatting about it. Sometimes you don’t realize what you’ve done or where you are until you start talking about it, so it was kind of nice to  go down that path, you know? Thanks so much.

Doreen Kolomechuk: You’re really just amazing and I thank you so much for sharing with me today.

Dana Bonomo: Thank you.

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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Related Career Information

For more information about a career as a Managing Director and/or an Executive Producer, take a look at the following resources:

Related Professional Associations

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Vice President of BROADCAST ENGINEERING

Working in broadcasting can be very creative and exciting work. “Broadcast, sound, and video technicians set up, operate, and maintain the electrical equipment for radio programs, television broadcasts, concerts, sound recordings, and movies” (Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S.Department of Labor, 2024)

The following is a video interview with a very successful, Emmy-Award winning professional in broadcast engineering, Bruce Goldfeder. Bruce is Vice President of Broadcast Engineering for NFL Media. You can see the interview here:

Interview Transcript: A Conversation with Bruce Goldfeder: Exploring the Role of a Vice President of Broadcast Engineering, 2023

Introduction: In this interview, Eight-time Emmy Award Winner, Bruce Goldfeder, Vice President of Broadcast Engineering for NFL Media describes his career path and profession.

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Doreen Kolomechuk (Interviewer): Welcome. Today I’m speaking with Bruce Goldfeder, Vice President of Broadcast Engineering for NFL Media. Welcome, Bruce. It’s such a great pleasure to have you here today. I really appreciate your taking the time to speak with me.

Bruce Goldfeder: Thank you, Doreen.

Doreen Kolomechuk: Let me start by sharing your biography, and then we’ll move into some questions. So, Bruce Goldfeder is Vice President of Broadcast Engineering for NFL Media in his 10th season, after a storied career including Vice President of Engineering at CBS Sports for seven years, Director of Engineering at Venue Services Group for two years, Engineer in Charge/Director of Field Operations at Madison Square Garden Network for 20 years, and Audio Sweetening Engineer at All Mobile Video for four years. Yes, a very storied career, a lot of background prior to coming to the NFL.

Bruce has been a key member of the engineering leadership team for eight Olympics, including the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, USA, the 1998 Salt Lake City, USA Olympics, the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia, 2002 in Nagano, Japan, 2004 in Athens, Greece, 2006 in Torino, Italy, and 2008 in Beijing, China. That’s a lot of traveling, a lot of coordination, and really, I’m sure a lot of technical skill went into that, and we thank you for that because we enjoyed watching those Olympics, all of those many eight Olympics.

At the NFL, Bruce oversees the entire technical engineering plant at NFL LA, including technical design, infrastructure, staffing, and budgets that support the full facility, including the five stages, PCRs, ACRs, podcast VO booth, newsroom, all offices, as well as connectivity to SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park, NFL Films, Encompass Atlanta, and all 30 stadiums and more. Most recently, Bruce oversaw the technical planning, coordination, IP video design, 2110 routing design, stadium coordination, studio technical design, and security for the migration to the 2021 move to the Inglewood NFL LA facility.

Your career path and achievements are so very impressive, and in your most recent role as Vice President of Engineering for NFL Media, you and your team were able to leverage many new technologies in order to launch the state-of-the-art Inglewood NFL LA production facility. Can you describe some of the challenges and successes that came with that remarkable achievement?

Bruce Goldfeder: Well, thank you, Doreen. This was a crown jewel project for me. This is something that you’d always want as a broadcast engineer, being able to design a brand new facility from scratch with a stadium as your backdrop. So, the interconnectivity and all the collaboration was essential to make this thing work. I can’t stress more on how collaboration really, really makes a difference in how you operate and how you get a project of this magnitude done.

I started in 2013 at the NFL, and we started the design of the new building in 2017, so I was there five years ahead of time. But for those five years, I really made a lot of connections with all the different departments and built a lot of bridges. In the olden days—and I’m talking about probably the earlier parts of television, broadcast and IT were definitely different groups that never got along. So as our industries merged together, more being with IP video, our expertise got a little bit less and the IT a little bit more.

So, we at the NFL joined together and made sure that we collaborated in the design of the new building so everything’s integrated. All those relationships I made during those five years. So then, when we came to design the building, we sat down with our senior management, got the overall scope of what they needed, and then we sat down as a core team. I picked one person from every one of the disciplines around the NFL. The people that take care of the live games in the stadiums, I got the IT people, I got audio engineers, I got one from every department to represent their needs. And as a group, we sat and we interviewed every leader, every person of any kind of decision-making and leadership through the league, to decide what we want as specifications.

It’s very interesting when you design. In 2017, the newest standard of IP video was finished being a standard, but it was not implemented by the manufacturers yet. We sat down and created a proof of concept lab and brought everybody’s equipment in and tested for interoperability. After we tested that for interoperability, we went into the design, selected our vendors, and—you know, there was a lot of money involved, so we had to get through a lot of politics and just a lot of relationships before we decided which manufacturer we would use.

Then we made the proof of concept, and we sat down, and we designed the facility. Then COVID struck. Now we’re talking about 2019, and we’re getting through the design. We had to design a building from scratch also. NFL Media is on the campus of Hollywood Park, which was a racetrack in LA. It was, I think, a 300,000-square-acre piece of land that’s east of LAX. The owner of the Rams, Stan Kroenke, owns the property, and he developed it. It’s a sports, retail, and hotel complex that they built in the middle of LA where SoFi Stadium is. The YouTube Theater is the main tenant in the middle. Then the building I’m in, which is called MU4, but it’s a seven-story office building and studio spaces and an attached garage. There are two areas of retail that are still being built out, as well as a hotel and other amenities for that complex. Building that and working with the teams at SoFi, the owners, and all the different components was very important to pull things together.

Doreen Kolomechuk: Absolutely and it really required a lot of coordination, I’m sure, and making sure that you chose the right people and worked with everyone successfully to make this happen. Truly amazing.

Bruce Goldfeder: We did. From the ground up, I mean, there was nothing there. It was just dirt when we started to build the building. I was there from the architecturals and the tenant improvements, even deciding where the elevators would be and where they would be located. And then, COVID hit. So, what we had to do is make a, I think what we call the most pivotal decision, which was to purchase all the equipment before deliveries would be hampered by COVID. We saw that ahead of time. So, I bought all the equipment two years before we moved in. We had the equipment, and then COVID broke out, and we had to build the facility.

One of the things that happened was that the construction got delayed because of COVID and took longer than it was supposed to. And then they decided that the end date was always the same, of course. What designated the end date was that the Super Bowl was going to be at Sofi stadium in 2021 and we had to be operating that whole season before the Super Bowl, so we had to be online in September. I think it was 2022. I take it back; it was February of 2022 the Super Bowl was. So, we had to be in on September of 2021 to make the timeline. We got all the equipment in, and I think it was over 15,000 pieces of equipment. We pre-built it in Burbank, tested all the equipment, and we had to manage all the assets, the assets of it and finance, configured it, made it all work, and then put it back in the box and ready for installation and shipping over to Englewood.

Doreen Kolomechuk: Wow, that’s just really mind-boggling how you could coordinate all that and make it happen in that time frame, especially during COVID.

Bruce Goldfeder: Yeah, it was looking back, it was a pretty remarkable feat, but I can’t stress more the importance of teamwork. You know, I’m at this stage in my career, I’m an orchestrator of projects, and to have the right people in the right place that take ownership of what they’re doing is vital for any kind of success. You know, I pretty much work on almost every call I get nowadays is a problem, you know, something you have to work out because otherwise everything is working. So, when you’re building a facility or working as a team, problems come up all the time. But as long as you can recognize them and address them in a timely manner with your supervisor or the people around you or your peers that know more than you, there’s no chance of not succeeding.

Doreen Kolomechuk: You know, that’s such a good point. It’s so important for us to recognize that we have to identify that there is a problem and not shy away from it, but to actually collaborate with others to get that problem solved. And I think when we try to sweep it under the rug, that’s just not a technique that’s going to work, especially if you want to get the deliverables in on time. So yes, identifying the problem and reaching out and speaking with people is really important. I think that’s really helpful advice.

Bruce Goldfeder: You know, and another thing I’ve got to stress is listening. Listening to your peers, and actually, you know, one of the things I learned early on is that there are about five, well, I’d say there are numerous ways to do something and getting to an end result. And this is where trust and your relationships matter. You know, I might not do something like the way they want  it to be done, but if the person’s going to take ownership and it’s a legitimate way to do it, then you let people run with their individual ideas and that creates ownership. Ownership means that they’ll be responsible to the very end.

Doreen Kolomechuk: Very good advice in terms of facilitating a project and managing to get it done. Really important to listen and to give people agency in terms of doing things in the way that they might find to be the best way. Thanks!

Bruce Goldfeder: Yeah, you know, we sit with my engineering team. I meet now. So, the building’s been operating for three years, so now we’re pretty much in sustained maintenance mode. But I have four meetings a week with the lead engineering group from all the departments where we just sit and talk about items that are on our list, what’s coming up. We just did four games in international games where we host everything back in Englewood for the remote games in Europe and discuss the coordination and how to do that. But we sit back, and we listen to each other. So, maybe let’s you do your idea, not my idea. So, we collaborate like that almost four times a week.

Doreen Kolomechuk: Wow! Yes, listening so important. I can totally agree. You know, since all work involves working together, we talked about working with groups, collaboration, and listening.  And what about technological advancements? How do you keep up with technological advancements? Because things are changing so rapidly today.

Bruce Goldfeder: You know, broadcasting has many different divisions; you know, you’ve got news, you’ve got features, you’ve got long form, you’ve got all sorts of entertainment. But I am in the sports broadcasting side of things, which is a little bit different than the other ones. They all share the same goal, but the fine tools that you use to make the shows work are a little bit different.

But I belong to a group called SMPTE, Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers. They’re the group that makes up the standards. You got to remember that when you hear me talk, I’m talking from an engineering side. I’m not talking about production, directors, producers, or editors. SMPTE is the body that creates the standards that everybody has. All the manufacturers have to use for interoperability. I say okay. And then I also belong to a group called SVG, the Sports Video Group, who have summits and meetings and conferences based on sports live production. I speak at their panels, I go to their events, and it’s all sponsored by manufacturers, so the newest technologies show you and talk to you, and then you bring it into your facility, and you test it and see how it works with all the other components that you use.

Doreen Kolomechuk: Oh, that’s very interesting! So how much of your time might be devoted to getting involved in those professional organizations to learn about that new equipment?

Bruce Goldfeder: I unfortunately don’t do it enough. In my position, I should probably do it more. I am a good part of it, but you know, the better you are at communicating and networking, the better it is. I’m not as outgoing as a lot of people are, but I do, you know, every week I do contact and get contacted about these events.

Doreen Kolomechuk: Excellent, excellent! So as a young person or not so young person, anybody starting up in this field would need to really keep up with the newer technologies, and one of those ways could be through the SVG Sports Video Group.

Well, that’s in the sports industry. Yes, SVG. HPA is for editors and film people, but if you’re into the sports area, SVG is great. And read the SMPTE papers and newsletters and such like that. One of the things that, you know, as a senior manager, as I’ve grown up, because I started out as a regular union maintenance engineer, then went into management and then climbed different management ladders and worked for networks and regional networks and broadcast networks, and now for sports leagues, you get to see talent. So, when I work and I’m doing stuff, and if I see somebody that’s, you know, pulling cable as a utility, he helps out the cameraman. Then suddenly he starts setting up the camera for him, building it in, you know, at the remote, and then he’s there wrapping cable at the end of the show. You notice these things as a senior manager, and that’s how I bring new people into the industry all the time.

So how you act, how you present yourself is one of the most important things as you’re getting into the industry. People notice that. People notice if you take initiative and are really trying hard, and that’s a big piece of it. And that’s how I got in, started at the Olympics. Well, how I started working at the Olympics was because I was fortunate to be at Madison Square Garden, and I used to help outside clients when they came in. Back when I was there, it was in 1983 or four. You know, television was a lot different. It was analog TV, and it was a lot harder. You needed a special skill set, which changed over the years. Now you need more of like a computer edge. Back then, you needed broadcasting with analog video. So, I helped out all the people that came into Madison Square Garden, and the guy noticed me, and he said, “Hey, you know, I’m going to be doing the Olympics in Barcelona, and we need engineers for editing.”

Doreen Kolomechuk: Oh, so interesting!

Bruce Goldfeder: Yes, so I said, “Yes, sure, I’ll do it,” and I got permission, and I then ended up going to Barcelona for two months, and I built the edit suites there. And then, so what you do is, with the Olympics, what I was doing was I would be with their first people there. I’d build all the equipment based on drawings, make sure It all works as a system, and then the Olympics would start, and then I would maintain it while the editors were there editing for the shows, and then I’d tear it down. That’s how you get opportunities; you just work hard, take any job that’s available to you.

Some of the most important things are your school experience. The NFL is very active in the Englewood High School District public schools, and they have their own studio. The people over at the NFL go there, and we help them with their productions. They produce their sporting events, and they stream it out to people. So, you’re doing a real decent medium to high-quality production when you’re in high school now. That’s the advantage of getting experience in your college stations; you should find your niche.

Doreen Kolomechuk: Yes, that’s really good advice—to get the experience within an educational environment if you can. And, you know, there are radio stations or television stations. I’m a big proponent of experiential learning or getting out there and completing an internship or a practicum that has to do with the field that you’re interested in. You really need to make the time to get that experience, not just graduate with your program and then say, “Now what do I do?” In my opinion, you need that extra step.

Bruce Goldfeder: Yes, internships are very important; summer jobs are really important. We sponsor what we call the Technical Boot Camp of the NFL, where we take 20 students every summer and then rotate them through all the different areas of broadcast. They rotate for a full week, and then they pick an area where they delve into it for a week.

Doreen Kolomechuk: That’s fantastic! Is that only available to those high school students, or is it available nationwide? Do you know?

Bruce Goldfeder: It’s for seniors in college.

Doreen Kolomechuk: Oh, seniors in college. Okay, interesting. That’s really a great opportunity for people that are getting ready to join the workforce. It’s wonderful that your organization has those opportunities for people. I guess it’s a two-way street, too, because we need to educate the newer workforce on how to do things to be successful. Whether it’s in an educational setting or corporate setting,

Bruce Goldfeder: I would say at least two or three sessions I sit in at these events and conferences I go to, we are talking about how we bring up our next generation of broadcast engineers and how we get people to understand what we do because putting on a show—when we travel to an NFL game—takes about 300 people. You’re traveling 300 people to a site, all coordinated and knowing their jobs, so it takes a lot of coordination and planning and just execution on a daily basis.

Now when everything works like you see on television, it looks really easy. But that just means that you’re very buttoned down on how much detail you get into because the devil’s in the details, as they say. What cable, how many cables you need, how many connectors you need, how much power you need—all the little things that make a show. Any one of those things can go wrong and jeopardize the whole production.

Doreen Kolomechuk: Right, that could be scary too because you have a lot at stake for it to go right.

Bruce Goldfeder: The bigger the show, the higher the stakes.

Doreen Kolomechuk: Yes, absolutely! How do you keep track of what needs to be done? You have a lot of moving parts and a lot of responsibilities. How do you keep track in terms of long-term goals as well as just day-to-day activities?

Bruce Goldfeder: There are a number of different things. In this day and age of network security and compliance, that’s probably half my time right now—making sure that we’re compliant with all the regulations for security operations and the internet and how things are exposed. I’m just doing regular maintenance. Plus, we have all of our ongoing events. I mean, if you take a look at—so this is November—there are already on their fifth site visit for the Super Bowl in February. We’ve already scouted out the next Super Bowl, so there are survey meetings that go on all year round for what we call T-pole events for the NFL. It’s the Super Bowl, the draft; we take care of owners’ meetings that we have to meet on. We do the Senior Bowl, Hall of Fame, Pro Bowl—all these other events. During the year, you sit down in meetings all day long, just coordinating, doing budgets, and allocating resources to all the different events.

So that’s what we really do now. My engineering staff, I consider ourselves a client in production. Production wants to do this; they want this new thing that they want to do, or they come up with league initiatives. One of the league initiatives that always comes up is like at the draft where we send, I think, 20 cameras to players’ homes to be interviewed.

We have 32 team manager rooms making decisions; we have cameras in there. We have cameras in the back for the players that are on-site, so we have about 60 to 75 to 100 different feeds from all over the country aggregating into our facility to be used for these shows. What you do is sit there, get your requirements from the league or from your senior management, and then you have to come up with the plan, get the equipment, figure out the technology, and execute it.

If you saw the draft right when COVID started, we were the first people to have an event during COVID where we performed the draft. The commissioner, Mr. Goodell, was in his house, down in his basement, quarantined, executing it, where we brought in—we sent iPhones to every player’s house and aggregated them back and cut the show that way. You know, innovative ideas. That was the first time we ever used some of the new streaming technologies, and it revolutionized the business.

Doreen Kolomechuk: Wow, it had to be a little nerve-racking though, trying to do something like that at such a scale for the first time.

Bruce Goldfeder: Oh yeah, it was pretty—you know, everybody had their part through all the different departments in the league to ensure the common goal of the draft—making sure everything was done according to the rules and without changing stuff.

Doreen Kolomechuk: Very, very cool! What attracted you to this career path? What was the first reason why you got into it?

Bruce Goldfeder: I consider this, of course, the greatest country in the world, and you can do anything you want. What I decided to do when I was young was that I wanted to work on the Olympics, and that was based on me going to the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid, New York.

I hitchhiked to the Olympics. I sat there and said, “Boy, I want to work on one of these things.” At the time—this was back in 1980; I was just out of high school. I liked it, and I started playing with computers. I was always into some new technologies, back even then. I had a friend that had an audio business; he did sound sweetening for television. Back then, it was a lot different. They didn’t have Pro Tools or computers. There was a much harder way to do things than it is today. Anyway, I started with him, and with my goal of doing sports television and going to the Olympics, I was able to achieve my goal.

Doreen Kolomechuk: Oh, that’s so neat that you had that seed, that kernel of an idea of what you really love doing, and it came to fruition.

Bruce Goldfeder: You know, I got to tell you, just—you’re going to fail, you’re going to be disappointed, but you’ve just got to, like, the next day, continue on. I mean, don’t give up your dream just because you get stalled at one point in your career.

Doreen Kolomechuk: Okay, yes, that’s really great advice because we do need to just keep barreling forward and keeping that ambition and our interest in it—not to let anyone take that motivation away from us if we don’t hit a certain note or get a certain step. Absolutely! What’s your favorite thing about your career at this point? What makes you tick?

Bruce Goldfeder: What makes me tick is getting things done. When I go to work, if I don’t have projects or something that has a deadline that I feel like we’re moving forward to, I feel like it was a bad day. What keeps me going is I love to build things, I love to create things, I love to develop workflows that make things easier for people while integrating new technologies. Right now, I’m involved in a big project for the league on AI—how we use it and how we can benefit the league with it. So, we’re developing different avenues in that. The whole industry has basically changed in the last three to five years because of the streaming technologies out there that have been developed.

Doreen Kolomechuk: Right. It’s very interesting, you know, these changes. I think it really points to someone like you, of your stature, being in the field for decades—you’re not just resting back and saying, “Yeah, well, I did it, and I know it.” You know, you have to keep on the cutting edge. I think that’s an important thing for people to recognize—that it’s not like you just study something, and you’re good at what you do, but you have to just keep learning and keep growing and being on that cutting edge.

Bruce Goldfeder: Yes, everything is driven by profits and finance, so you always have to look at more efficient ways to do things and then how to integrate it into it. Now, the whole dynamics in broadcasting have changed over the last couple of years with direct-to-consumer versus the linear station that is on cable stations, just one station that plays all the time, to all your streaming outlets, your pluses like NFL Plus and fast channels. Now, most people don’t know what fast channels are, but that stands for Free Ad Supported Television. Those are the channels that you see on your television manufacturer that has those little apps at the bottom, and you want to see Jamie Oliver’s food cooking channel, or this guy’s travel channel, or this other channel. Those are called fast channels.

And how they get delivered to the different entities, you know, like if you got a Samsung TV or an LG TV or Visio or you’re going to Apple or anywhere like that, all the different outlets need a different flavor of your content that you have to stream to them. And how you stream to them is very complicated and changes also.

So, there’s a whole new area out there that we’re expanding to. And that’s what I spend most of my time now designing, on how we deliver content to our over-the-top direct-to-consumer and fast channels.

Doreen Kolomechuk: That’s really very interesting. And, you know, I am not technically adept, so when I see those things at the bottom of the TV, I could use a little bit of instruction on that. But yes, it’s definitely the wave of the future, and you have to be right at the cutting edge, which you really are. What’s something that would surprise us about your typical day at work?

Bruce Goldfeder: I’ve been doing this so long I can’t think about surprises. I mean, I can tell you what my typical day usually is.

Doreen Kolomechuk: Okay. That would be great.

Bruce Goldfeder: Yes, because I am very fortunate to be living on the West Coast. And since I’m an early bird, that helps me out a lot also. So, I wake up early, start going to work, and I get to work around 7 o’clock in the morning. I spend the first hour going down and talking to all my senior, well, actually everybody that reports to me. In the morning, most of my engineering staff is in at 7 in the morning. So, I go down and visit them, talk about the day and what we have coming up as far as events. Once we’re in the season, we’ve got Thursday Night Football. We’ve got how many games on Sunday? Do we have a special guest in the studio? Are we trying new technologies? There’s always something going on. I touch base with all my people for the first hour.

Then I usually start my meetings between 7:30 and 8:00 a.m. The NFL is made up of NFL Media in LA, NFL Films in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, and the League Office at 345 Park Avenue.

NFL Network’s commercial integration site is in Atlanta, Georgia. So, a lot of the people are from the East Coast, which works really well for me because they end around 3:00 in the afternoon. So, I get in early and can usually drive home and do the rest of my calls. During the day, most of the time is split between meetings.

Doreen Kolomechuk: Yes, well, a meeting is important. You have to strategize to get things done.

Bruce Goldfeder: Yes. Right now, in November, we’re forecasting out for the next fiscal year, so we have to do all of our capital. We have to all sit down and decide, figure out how much capital we get, how to best spend it. Then we have to budget it. Then we have to submit it, and then we have to get voted on by the owners before it gets approved. You know, again, we’re a private company.

Doreen Kolomechuk: Interesting, because somebody coming up in this field might not really think that they would have to be involved in financial planning and management in that way. And it certainly is a crucial piece of that type of career path if you want to move beyond the day-to-day technical engineering.

Bruce Goldfeder: So, let me tell you the groups that are in what I do for NFL Media. You’ve got the operations team. The operations team takes care of all the stages. We have six stages, and they take care of all the props and the sets, and making sure logistically, everything is moving. Then you have the production managers. Each show has a production manager that takes care of budgets, hiring people, and logistics. That’s what the production manager does with scheduling. They are the interface with production. Production says, “Okay, I need six cameras. I need a jib. I need a Steadicam. I need a couple of handhelds,” or whatever. The production manager says, “Well, you’re only budgeted for five cameras.” Okay, which camera can we lose?

So, the production manager works with the production people to come up with the show compliment. Then they sit down, and we know what the needs are. Then we construct the plans. Does the studio need an extra camera? Do I have to install an extra camera? Do I have to get an extra telestrator or touchscreen or an extra device to integrate into the system for them to use?

So that’s pretty much it. There are a lot of different areas in TV that you can go into. You can be into graphics. You can do what they call insert graphics, which are the on-air graphics that you see on the screen. There are people that are programming tickers at the bottom of the screen and the L-bars on the side of it. There are people that just specialize in that. We create all sorts of graphics packages. I have graphics designers.

NFL Media has about 150 editing systems. They’re all cloud-based editing systems that work over a technology called PC over IP that lets them collaborate on virtual machines. They can edit up to 1080p 60 video in real time. Then we have 18 high-end craft editing rooms that can do 4K editing. We have 32 design stations that just design graphics all day long with Cinema 4D, Adobe Creative Cloud, and we have big render farms to render out these graphics in real time to be used on the air.

Doreen Kolomechuk: It’s just amazing how much goes into it and how many pieces of the puzzle there are. So, I really appreciate you bringing in those other types of areas that go into the broadcast. Thanks.

Bruce Goldfeder: There’s also all the production assistants, all the support staff. I have people that work for me. This one person who’s awesome is a physical asset manager. She makes sure she knows because Finance wants to know where everything is at all times, how much depreciation, and what happens to it at the end of life and the lifecycle of everything you do. These people just work on that, and they enjoy their job, and they’re part of the big team.

Doreen Kolomechuk: That’s so interesting. That’s something I would never think about, like the lifecycle of a piece of equipment. Yes, very, very interesting. Another thing I just never thought about. Now, you have won eight Emmy Awards, and of course, that’s very amazing. Can you give us a snapshot of some of the projects you worked on and some of the skills you used that led up to those achievements?

Bruce Goldfeder: There’s a couple of different awards. The bulk of them are from Olympics for team technical remote. So, I’m one of the main people on that. There are team awards that you get, and then you’re part of them, and that’s some of my awards. Some of them are from the Olympics from CBS Olympics. I worked on NBC Olympics, and I was very fortunate to get onto the X Games for ESPN early on. Those were pretty revolutionary games. What I loved about them so much is that TV was the main thing on the show. So, if you had a technical problem, they would stop the event and fix the technical problem so they could get it captured on TV. If you did the Olympics and had a technical problem, you missed that in history, and then you got into a lot of trouble.

But with the X Games, you could stop the event and fix your camera. One of the awards that I won that I’m most proud of is called the George Wensel Award. George Wensel and I were actually friends, and he unfortunately passed away early on in a tragic accident. He was a pioneer in the business. I worked on the Olympics with him. Even before the Olympics, I think I worked on, in 1984 or 1986, the Indianapolis Pan Am Games, and that was the first large remote that wasn’t done by a network. We were a group of people that they hired to do it freelance, and I met this gentleman, George Wensel, there, and we became good friends. After he passed, they made an award special for him for technical achievements, and I won it for doing the U.S. Open Tennis in 3D—creating a way to do 3D TV when that was a big thing based on the 2D cameras.

What we did is we took the data from the lens, and it tracked on the dual lenses that sat on top of the camera. So, we did a dual show, and I won a technical Emmy for being the lead engineer on that.

Doreen Kolomechuk: Oh, that’s really cool. Very innovative. Fantastic. We talked a little bit about professional development, and you mentioned a few organizations. Where would somebody who’s interested in broadcast engineering get some training?

Bruce Goldfeder: It’s very hard. I can’t stress more that you don’t know what your little hobbies in your house are going to help you with. Let me give you an example. Say that you think one of the coolest things in the world is 3D printing nowadays. You can actually print objects that you create on a computer. You can buy a 3D printer for $175 and get the software for free. But of course, there’s more to it than that. I think taking your passion and taking it to the next step on your own is key.

Self-teach yourselves, be self-taught in the areas. Don’t expect your employer to train you. Don’t sit back and say, “Well, I was never trained to do that. I don’t know how to do it.” So, when I first started out, I sat down in front of every piece of equipment that I had to maintain, and I learned how to operate it totally. Know how to operate everything that you are working with. You know, in my business, we have to fix it because I say 80% of all problems are operator problems. You know, they don’t put the right key up. You know, all the different stages of video and layering and all the different things and the intricacies of it. You have to know how everything works and operates ahead of time. So, take that extra effort in your day-to-day life and your passion, and go that extra step. Ask the old guy who loves to talk about this stuff because if you stop me in the hall and you ask me how you register a tube camera, which we used to do, I would sit back for 30 minutes and tell you how that works, what that signal is that’s on the TV and what you use that for.  You know, ask people; they’ll sit down and talk to you. I used to speak to the old-timers all day long. I used to take them, and back, well, back in the ’80s, I used to go out and drink at lunch. I couldn’t believe how much time I drank, but you used to take them out and you’d buy them a couple of drinks, and you talk about some of the experiences that you have.

Doreen Kolomechuk: Yes, so really learn a lot from others and use your own initiative. Be self-directed in your own learning and take your passion further. Don’t expect it just to kind of fall into your lap.

Bruce Goldfeder: Yes, you’re not handed anything. When you go work on a set, and you’re working with people, and you see someone that needs help, stop and help them. You need an extra; you got someone that’s doing something, and they’re a little bit staying late, and everybody’s gone. You know, you’re off the clock, and then say, “Hey, let me help you out and finish that so we can get out early,” right? You’ll find that they’ll help you, and then if you need some information, you know, always look for the people that you know are the smartest people on the subject in the area you’re working. And if you have a question, feel free to ask it, but, you know, don’t ask the same question multiple times; that pisses people off. You know, just make sure you get the accurate information. And most of all, make sure you know what you’re talking about. Don’t make up stuff.

Yes, it’s funny. It’s funny because, you know, I have certain people that I got to, like, I can’t really take them for what they tell me because they make stuff up. If you ask them a question and they don’t know the answer, they want to be knowledgeable; they make stuff up. Now, I’m just going to give you this one little thing that I found very funny working in AI. Now, I work with Amazon a lot on there. We’re developing some AI technology, and when AI makes up their own stuff, they call it hallucinating. So, what we try not to do is to come up with models on AI that are hallucinogenic. So, we don’t want our AI to hallucinate, which is basically making up information that is not based on facts.

Doreen Kolomechuk: And no one needs that because it’s everybody’s time, right? We could do a whole segment on AI alone. I mean, it’s such an intriguing—

Bruce Goldfeder: Oh gosh, it’s changing so fast. I mean, I learn stuff every day, and we’re developing so much stuff that is so neat. Yeah, that’s revolutionary in the—you know, that you even can’t even imagine.

Doreen Kolomechuk: A little scary too, though, right?

Bruce Goldfeder: Well, you know, all the stuff, all the AI that I do is in a closed environment. It’s not public, so the general public isn’t going to be impacted by it. It isn’t like everything that we do is open to the public; it’s all proprietary. It all will bring up what we’re looking for based on presenting the NFL’s plays and different scenarios that are happening at games. And, you know, it takes a lot to do it. You know, we’re taking, like, whole shows and coming up with synopses of them and things like that. You know, it’s really, really quite interesting, this stuff we do.

Doreen Kolomechuk: It is interesting. Now you recommended the—I keep forgetting the name of it—the Sports Video Group and SMPE – that’s something for people who are interested in the field. I noticed that there were a lot of publications there. There was information. I learned a lot about you based on some articles that were written. So that would be something that people can read pretty much on their own and come up to speed about, you know, the movers and shakers in the field and the new technology in the field and so on and so forth, even if they’re not sitting at the table and going to the conferences. Is there anything else that people can read or do if they’re not able to attend those conferences? Any kind of reading or publication you’d recommend?

Bruce Goldfeder: There’s another group called NAB, the National Association of Broadcasters. They are another big group that I work with, and they have their big convention every year in Las Vegas that I attend. And we—I go in conjunction with the SVG group. I go earlier to what they call the Chairman’s Retreat, where senior people from all the sporting leagues meet for a weekend before the event, and then we go to the conference. It’s a free pass; you can get to go to these conferences, and you can walk around.

Also, I just want to stress that there are so many other areas that you can make a great living and an impact. You know, documentaries—industrial is one of the biggest things that go around. And, you know, a lot of my people started off working for J.C. Penney’s, doing their internal videos, you know, making their training videos, training tapes, and board meetings and whatever, retreats and things like that. So, there’s a lot of different areas. You know, I mean, to me, of course, you know, I always think about it—the pinnacle is sports broadcasting because that gets the most viewership and that uses the cutting edge. But there’s all sorts, all sorts of other areas that you can be working on that are  just as rewarding.

Doreen Kolomechuk: Great! Thanks for bringing that up. That’s really important for people to think about, you know, the variety that is actually out there. So, you talked about in the beginning—we talked about being able to collaborate with people, having good listening skills, being, you know, up to date on technology, making sure you have passion for the field if this is a field that you’re choosing. We talked about listening to our elders, asking questions, and making sure that you know you’re on the level, that you’re being factual. All of those are really important skills and traits to utilize in a professional environment. Is there anything else that you just want to add before we close for today?

Bruce Goldfeder: You could achieve anything if you put your mind to it and work hard. Work as hard as you can, as young as you can, right? I know from experience and being at the end of my career is that you want to be more on the decision-making side of things and not on the labor side as you get older. So, work hard and be the young guy that’s lifting all the stuff and moving the stuff and doing all the traveling and all the stuff. Get it out of your system as you are younger because when you get older, you know, your priorities change, and you don’t want to be doing the same lugging stuff. So always work for the next position.

Doreen Kolomechuk: Yes. Okay, that’s excellent advice. I want to thank you very much for sharing all of your insight and expertise with us today. I know that I’ve learned a lot and I’m sure that those people who watch this interview will learn a lot from you as well. So, thank you very much, Bruce.

Bruce Goldfeder: Thank you, Doreen.

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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Related Career Information

For more information about a career as a broadcast engineer take a look at the following resources.

Related Professional Associations and Other Resources:

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EVENTS PLANNING

Going to events can be fun but have you ever thought about what goes into planning those events? Have you ever considered a career as an events planner? That career can be fun too! “Event planners arrange all aspects of events and professional gatherings. They arrange meeting locations, transportation, and other details and can be involved in planning a variety of social and professional events, including weddings, educational conferences, and business conventions” (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2024).

To find out more about the field, view the following video interview with a very successful Events Planner, LaurieAnne Perez:

Transcript: A Conversation with LaurieAnne Perez: Exploring the Role of an Events Planner, 2024

Introduction: In this interview, Events Planner, LaurieAnne Perez describes her career path and profession as an Events Planner at Crain Communications for the Modern Healthcare brand.

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Doreen Kolomechuk: Good afternoon. Today I have the pleasure of speaking with LaurieAnne Perez. LaurieAnne is currently the Events Manager for the Modern Healthcare Brand of Crane Communications. Welcome, LaurieAnne, and thank you very much for meeting with me today.

LaurieAnne Perez: Thanks for having me.

Doreen Kolomechuk: It’s such a privilege and a pleasure to have the opportunity to meet with you, to learn more about your career path, and to gain some insights from you about how people can be successful in your field. To start, please tell us about your responsibilities in your current position.

LaurieAnne Perez: I do a lot of conference and gala management for the Modern Healthcare brand. I primarily focus on the operations and logistics of event planning for those major conferences. They’re all in-person conferences, and several of them have either an awards dinner or a gala attached to them, so we’re managing those as well. Everything from setting up and managing the registration site, to figuring out floor plans, picking menus, and centerpieces—the fun stuff—to the really nitty-gritty, like the flow of the event. I’m working across different teams to manage the different elements to pull an event together and, hopefully, pull off a seamless event.

Doreen Kolomechuk: Very, very complex responsibilities and so much happens at those events. How many people usually attend the events that you manage?

LaurieAnne Perez: Yes, so anywhere from about 200 to 450 people are coming to these events.

Doreen Kolomechuk: So that’s a lot of people in a short period of time, usually over a day or a day or two?

LaurieAnne Perez: This year, the conferences are all one day long.

Doreen Kolomechuk: When you talk about logistics, is it everything from, maybe not inviting the keynote speakers and that kind of thing, but perhaps making sure that the programs are posted and everything is correct on the program, to securing the venues, and, as you said, arranging everything that goes on?

LaurieAnne Perez: Yes.

Doreen Kolomechuk: So, is there a typical day in your life at work, or is it constantly changing?

LaurieAnne Perez: There are some very standardized things, especially as a lot of these conferences are similar. Some things are templated, which is really nice, because if we were doing it completely from scratch brand-new events every single time, there would be no way that we could do it.  I think this brand does about eight events a year.

There’s no way we’d be able to pull that off. So, there are some things that are pretty standardized, which help. Every day I’m pulling registration reports to see how our numbers are looking; we’re pulling together a running to-do list that we have. A lot of my role is cross-department, so I’m working with the marketing team, they are actually pushing out the messaging of the events. Their responsibility is to get people to come to the events. I’m working with the editorial team a lot, and their role is more of the development of the actual content itself, making sure that the right speakers are in the room speaking about that content. Content is an interesting piece because it’s important for every conference, but since I work for a publication, it’s kind of like live journalism for these events. That piece is really important, but it’s also ever-changing and ever-moving as things happen. If we’re having a conference on healthcare of the future, the future can look very different between planning it right now and when the event happens in November. In a lot of ways, it’s something different every single day. My to-do list is just a constant cycle of like 50 different things that I’m juggling, but the standardization across events definitely helps. I have kind of set tasks that I need to do.

Doreen Kolomechuk: Excellent. Excellent. Sounds like you really enjoy it.

LaurieAnne Perez: I do. I like it a lot. There are definitely things, like elements of it, that I like better. I really like being creative, and events have a lot of ways that you can be creative—from literally coming up with a concept that’s experiential marketing, that people have never heard of, to like, hey, we have to find a really specific niche venue that is going to meet all of these requirements that we have to have. Some people would just consider it research. I consider it creative research because you’re trying to find this perfect gem in a mess of possibilities. There’s a lot of creativity when it comes to budgets. Early on in my career, I worked at a nonprofit organization that had no money, so coming up with concepts and things and trying to be able to do them within a budget definitely requires a whole other level of creativity.

Doreen Kolomechuk: Absolutely! So many moving parts!  You talk about a template, but how do you stay organized? How do you put it all together so that it makes sense?

LaurieAnne Perez: I think the key is definitely note-taking and writing things down. I talk about my to-do list a lot. I’m the kind of person that literally creates a custom planner every year, so that is very important. I think the biggest thing is knowing how to juggle. We’re constantly working on these nitty-gritty, small, small tasks, and remembering how those fit into the larger overall strategy of the event.

I think that balance is something that you just kind of have to learn over time—how to keep all the little balls in the air while the big ball of the event is there as well. There’s a lot of technology that I’ve been able to use, especially now being in corporate events, that’s been really helpful. Like, when I was at a nonprofit, I was literally just handwriting everything or keeping track of things in one Excel document. Fortunately, when you have a little bit more resources, there are systems and tools that allow you to track things a lot easier. Those tools are definitely very helpful in keeping everything going, especially when you have teammates and colleagues and different people working on different elements of the same event. You can kind of see where everybody’s at without having to constantly be like, “What are you doing? How far are we along with this?”

Doreen Kolomechuk: That’s great, so you can share among the teams?

LaurieAnne Perez: Yes.

Doreen Kolomechuk: Is there specialized software to do that with?

LaurieAnne Perez: It’s a combination of a lot of things. In terms of registration, the company I currently work for uses Cvent, which is one of the most popular registration systems for events. We can do a lot within there, and everyone that needs access to that can look up, for example, how many people are registered, or if our speakers are registered, without constantly having to come to me and ask. So that’s one system. My company also uses SharePoint, which is just a feature within Microsoft to be able to share across the different brands. We’ve been able to standardize some things so that if I get pulled to work on another brand’s event, like if someone gets sick and they need someone at the registration desk, I can look in there, see all the information I need, and show up and be able to run that, even though I didn’t know anything leading up to that event. Those are probably the two main systems that we use that are most helpful for that sharing and tagging of, “Hey, this is updated, can you do your next task?”

Doreen Kolomechuk: Very interesting. How do you come up to speed with these different packages? Did you learn them on the job, or did you go for specialized training to use them?

LaurieAnne Perez: I would say a lot of events is learning on the job. Every job I’ve had, I’ve kind of learned a different angle of the events industry, and I have learned a lot— like, I’ve come to be like, “Oh yeah, I know what I’m doing now,” and then I get there and I’m like, “Whoa, this is so different.” So, I do have my educational background in marketing, and then I have my MBA as well, but while I was in undergrad, I knew I wanted to go into events, so I did internships for events that were through the university. And then, once I had a few years under my belt in the professional world, I worked towards getting my CMP, my Certified Meeting Planner certification, and so I got that about a year and a half ago now. And so, that’s a certification that’s pretty standard across the events industry, especially if you’re working in corporate events.

Doreen Kolomechuk: Very interesting. So, is that an online type of certification program?

LaurieAnne Perez: Yes, you can study online, and I took like a virtual class to help me prepare. It’s a very, very thorough exam. It took me about a year of serious studying to do it, and then you take the exam. It’s through the computer. You can take it online sometimes, but you have to go to one of those testing centers.

It has to be monitored, and it’s very intense. It’s just one exam, though, and then you’re certified for five years, and then as long as you maintain your credit hours, then you can continue to maintain your certification.

Doreen Kolomechuk: Interesting. It sounds very challenging, especially since you already worked in the field for a few years already, and yet you still had to study for a substantial amount of time.

LaurieAnne Perez: Yes, you actually can’t get the certification until you’ve been in the industry — don’t quote me on this — I think it’s five years, but you have to have either five years of professional experience or a very specific type of college degree plus a couple years of work experience. So, it’s not something that you can get immediately, but then, yes, you definitely have to study because they are — they’re testing against industry standards, but you study for the test. Don’t get me wrong, I learned a lot of things that I’ve been able to apply, but you are studying for the test.

Doreen Kolomechuk: You mentioned that you said when you were in college, you knew you wanted to be in events planning. So, what motivated you to be interested in this field or to want to get involved in the field? It was just something that came up, or?

LaurieAnne Perez:  I’d always been kind of interested in it. And when I was in high school, I did a program called DECA. I don’t remember what that stands for, again, but it’s like a business competition, and one of the options was to write a business proposal. And so, I did that, and I don’t really remember where the original idea came from, but I did it as an event planning business, and I loved that project so much. And I loved learning about it, and that was my first dipping my toe into the events industry. And from that point on, that was about when I was a junior in high school, I was just like, this is what I want my career to be.

I did a lot of research as to the different paths that you can go on because you can get event planning-specific college degrees. They’re just not as widely available, and they are pretty niche in that then if you want to get out of the events world, you kind of — you don’t have as many options. So, I went with a little bit more broad degree, also because I, at the time, thought maybe I wanted to start my own event planning business. I’m not sure if I still do, but because I took that approach, I’ve always worked in places where the events fell under the marketing department, and so that’s kind of helped me connect the two in my brain. Because events are often used as a marketing tool, but also you have to market events, so every way you look at it, the two things really go well together.

Doreen Kolomechuk: Interesting, very interesting. And when you — as an events manager, are you often the face of the event? For example, I know you’re doing a ton of work behind the scenes, but when the event actually comes up and it’s the day of the event or the day before the event even, are you there? Are you on the ground supervising and helping to make everything run smoothly?

LaurieAnne Perez: Yes, I’m definitely boots on the ground running things, but not necessarily the face of it. I’m usually more the background person. I’m our internal team’s, face sometimes, so the other folks from the other departments know they can come to me to ask a question, or if there’s a problem, they can text me, and I will be the communicator between our issues and the venue and vice versa. But I am rarely the actual face of the event. That’s usually going to be like the president of the brand or our keynote speakers or that sort of thing.

Doreen Kolomechuk: I see.  So, let’s just say the event is going on, and there’s a technical glitch, and a person’s about to give their presentation, but the PowerPoint presentation isn’t working. How does that impact you?

LaurieAnne Perez: That is when we are running around putting out fires. I’m fortunate enough that I’m working on large enough events that we have an on-site AV team that’s hired out from a third party. This company that I — I’ve only been here for four months, but they have a really good relationship with a specific AV company, and so I haven’t specifically had that issue, but I know that if I did, I do very much trust the AV company to figure it out and get it worked out in time. My role is usually saying, “Hey, there’s an issue,” and then quickly coming up with a, “Alright folks, we’re going to take a five-minute break,” kind of keeping the peace. But I have — when I worked at the nonprofit, that was where I wore all of the hats, and that is very, very stressful because you are expected to, you know, be the person running the event and keeping things on timeline and communicating with the caterer and everything. But also, yes, when there’s an AV glitch, you’re up there trying to figure out what’s going on with the HDMI code and everything, and you’re like, “I am not a tech person,” but you are.

Doreen Kolomechuk: But by golly, I will be right now!

LaurieAnne Perez: Exactly! I was at that nonprofit during COVID, and I very quickly became our organization’s Zoom expert, and it was my job not just to learn the back end, but also learn the front end so that I could tell all of our patrons, “Hey, this is how we use it, this is what we’re going to be doing, here’s how all our programs are moving online.” You definitely, as an events person, you wear a lot of hats, but I’m fortunate enough now that there are — I’m working more with experts in each of those fields, so I just have to be aware of who is wearing their correct hat and go and find them and have them solve the issue.

Doreen Kolomechuk: Wow! There are so many balls in the air. And what are some of the challenges that you find in this role?

LaurieAnne Perez: A couple of things come to mind. The first is almost always going to be budget. Even when you are working on larger scale corporate events, you still have to keep that in mind. And you can have these really, you know, outside-of-the-box, crazy ideas, but if they’re going to cost half the budget, then that’s not realistic. So, I think budget and expectations are definitely one thing. Another is just getting people to attend.

It’s almost like psychology. Like, what is going to get people to come to this? We know that we’re planning a really great event, the content’s going to be really good, they’re going to have a good experience and a cool venue, we know all of that. How do we get everyone that we want to come to hear that too? And then, on top of that, give us money to do that? So that’s definitely just kind of like a reoccurring theme everywhere I’ve worked. I’ve worked in these different event capacities. I’ve even worked somewhere where the biggest event we planned was free to attend, but we still had to convince people to come to that event. So, that is definitely a challenge —attendance is a huge consideration as well as managing budget.

And then, I’ve worked at different places where you really sometimes have to prove that events are worth it. It is unfortunately pretty common across specifically the corporate, and — and actually the nonprofits too, for people at the top level to look at a budget and say, “Hey, there’s — there’s a big number there. If we just didn’t do that event, look at all the money we save.” And so, I’ve definitely been in some positions where I’ve had to kind of prove my worth and prove the worth of events overall. And so, I think that that can definitely be a challenge. I’ve also worked in environments where that is innate, and leadership knows that events are worth it, and those environments are a lot easier to work with because you’re just proving how good an event can be, not necessarily that events are worth it in the first place.

Doreen Kolomechuk: That’s a very interesting point. I wouldn’t have thought that that would be the case. I would think that if they have an Events Department that they’re kind of already sold about that. But that’s not always the case?

LaurieAnne Perez: Yes, not always the case, no.

Doreen Kolomechuk: Now, about people attending the events, do you think that people are less inclined to travel and attend an event now, you know, after COVID? Since so many people are wanting to work from home is there less of an interest in going to an event?

LaurieAnne Perez: So, it’s really interesting, and there’s about a million studies that have happened since COVID happened, because events was — I mean, every industry was affected, but events was hit really hard because we — people couldn’t get together. And so, what was interesting is 2020 happened, 2021, I mean, events dropped off. Nobody was doing anything, or they were super small, everybody was virtual. And then you saw backswing of, like, everybody was doing every event, everybody was going to every event. And especially, I think honestly, people working from home helped because they realized, “Oh, if I’m going to network, if I’m going to meet other people, if I’m going to (whatever you want to do at events) learn, I’m going to specifically go and show up in person just for events,” even small events.

The last company I worked for, when we would have a pizza party at lunch, half the office would show up, but if you went on a normal Thursday, there were 20 people in the building. So, even little things like that, it was like people were saying, “Okay, my time is valuable, and so I’m just going to show up and I’m going to make the most of it. I’m going to do all my networking at events.” I think now we are starting to see a backslide a little bit, in that people are realizing, “Okay, my time is still really valuable. Resources maybe are a little bit tighter, so I have to pick and choose which events I’m going to go to, and I’m going to put a lot of expectation on those events.” So, I think that it’s… everybody in the events industry is vying for the little bit that we can get, and we’re all trying to get the most. That’s at least where I’m sitting, from the perspective that I’m seeing and just with what we’ve seen with attendance numbers over the past couple of years. I could be completely wrong, but I feel like that’s kind of what I’ve been seeing.

Doreen Kolomechuk: Interesting, interesting. So, what about the sponsors of events? How are they involved in the planning of the event? Are they involved? Do they have a seat at the table, or how does that work?

LaurieAnne Perez: Yes, so a little bit. It depends on your sponsorship level. So, the people that are sponsoring the most are going to have the closest seat at the table. The way that my current organization runs, we have a person on our team who is specifically focused on the event sponsorships. She’s kind of split between two brands, and she is, from the event’s perspective, making sure that all of the things that were promised in the contract, and all of the things that were communicated between the salesperson and the sponsor, are actually coming to fruition. And even though you look at a contract and it seems pretty cut and dry what needs to happen, there are a lot of times a bunch of micro steps that have to happen in between. And so, her role is to kind of coordinate that, and she then gets all of the other parts that are involved.

So, for example, one of my jobs is ordering the name badges that come, and sometimes if we have a high enough level sponsor, their logo is on that name badge. So, before I’m ordering, she’s looking at the final proof and saying, “Hey, the logo’s got to be on there.” She’s running it by the sponsor to make sure they like it, and then we finally send it off. So, it’s a lot of…checks and balances isn’t exactly the right term, but almost like just making sure that everything is happening that needs to happen. And also, she’s helping to facilitate that relationship. Like, the salesperson that sold the sponsorship is the one that’s really there to hold their hand, but she’s kind of right behind, making sure that everything from the event perspective is as perfect as possible.

Doreen Kolomechuk: Yes, so there’s a lot of communication among teams inside the agency and externally as well?

LaurieAnne Perez: Absolutely, yes. Communication is one of the most important things for events to go smoothly because the second one person forgets to tell everyone else something that changed or happened or whatever, it’s just dominoes. It can affect everything, and before you know it, it’s like a butterfly effect. That one little thing that they forgot to communicate now has ripples and we are all scrambling to make sure that it’s updated in all the places that it needs to be. We’re trying to make whoever found the mistake happy. It’s a lot of balancing. So, communication, and open communication, and honestly, over-communication, is very important in this role.

Doreen Kolomechuk: So, communication is extremely important, coordination is extremely important, planning, obviously extremely important, problem-solving skills, very, very important. What other skills, whether they be so-called soft skills or technical skills, do you think are really important for someone to be developing as they are trying to pursue a career in this field?

LaurieAnne Perez: I would say customer service. Even though, for 99% of my job, I am sitting here behind a computer, I have to have customer service when I’m emailing folks that email me questions. But also, then the day of, you have just got to be 100% on it—your biggest smile, your brightest… someone tells you something that is shocking, and you’ve got to solve it in the moment, but you’re not letting them see that. So, I would say customer service is huge.

I would say creativity is another one, and like I said, that really can show itself in a lot of different places. I have colleagues who do not consider themselves to be creative at all, and yet they will go out and find that venue that has all the things we were looking for, even though five of us were also looking for venues and didn’t see that one as an option. So, I think I would say creativity and customer service are probably the two biggest ones I would add to that list.

Doreen Kolomechuk: Now, when you set up an event like this, like a national event or even an international event, how is the location decided upon? I mean, like the state or the town?

LaurieAnne Perez: It depends. I have been in situations where we have picked a location because that’s what the CEO wanted, and the CEO really liked that place, so that’s where we went. I have been in situations where I’ve been given the opportunity to pitch. So, I will say, “Hey, we are a health and wellness company. There’s this really cool town in Florida that specializes in health and wellness. They’ve got bikes all over this town, they’ve got a huge tennis center, they’ve got all these really cool things. Maybe we should have our event there because the environment supports what we are claiming to be our values.”

For the company I currently work at, a lot of it is based on where the majority of the people are that we are trying to get to attend. Since the modern healthcare headquarters is in Chicago, we have a lot of our events in Chicago. We have a leadership event coming up and we looked at the huge kind of file of all of the emails for the people that we would invite to this event and saw that there was a huge cluster in Washington, DC. A lot of associations are in Washington, DC, so it made sense that we have a healthcare leadership symposium there. There are a million factors when picking a location.

Also, the last company I worked at had a really niche list of things they wanted at their event and so finding a place that fit all of those… one of them had to be that it had to be near a major airport, but they didn’t want it to be in a city center hub. So, we had to look for venues that were 20 to 30 minutes outside of a big city, that also fit 10 other requirements. So, for that one, it was a lot of just like, “Let’s see where we can even find a place, and then we will pitch you these different options.” So, I would say there are a ton of factors involved in why you pick a location, and they can vary based on what you are looking for within your event and what are the most important things.

Doreen Kolomechuk:  Very, very interesting. That whole process… when you are running an event, there must be a lot of anticipation going toward it. And, as you said, you have to be “on” during the event. It’s a lot of pressure, and yet I think, for someone who thrives on pressure, it feels like a real sense of accomplishment to see things running. Is that how it is for you?

LaurieAnne Perez: Absolutely. It definitely takes someone that’s cool under pressure. There’s a statistic out there that says event planning is one of the top five most stressful jobs, and I think a lot of it comes down to you have one chance, in that one moment, to get it right. If something goes wrong, it can have a lot of negative repercussions. It’s definitely a high-pressure job, but it’s one of those things where you can do a lot to make that pressure… maybe not lessen the pressure but help feel prepared to handle that pressure.

I think 99% of what you’re doing every day is making sure you’re on top of your to-do lists, you’re communicating with everyone, you’re doing all the things we’ve talked about. You’re staying on top of that because, if you do all those steps, you’re going to be the most prepared you can be. So, when you’re in that moment, it’s still a lot of pressure, but you know, and you can trust yourself, like, “I know the answer,” or “I can quickly get an expert to answer that.” If anything goes wrong—because it’s very hard to have a perfect event—people will tell you there’s no such thing as a perfect event, but we’re all still striving for that. So, it’s balancing that and also balancing expectations.

It took me a long time to realize that there’s no such thing as a perfect event. When I first started, in my first job, I worked in a nonprofit, but they also did weddings. Every time after a wedding, no matter how well it went, I was terrified to send a review link to the couple because I thought they were just going to talk about the little, tiny thing that happened or the little thing I saw behind the scenes. And they never did. They always left glowing reviews, but I was so terrified because I thought, “It didn’t go perfectly.” That was something I had to learn—managing expectations and also getting it into myself mentally, which is something I still struggle with. You want it to go so well, and you’re trying so hard, but even if something does go wrong, knowing you can pivot, handle it, and make the best of the situation goes a long way.

Doreen Kolomechuk:  So, so interesting. And is there a sense of achievement when you’re finished? I’m sure there is, but is there also a little letdown?

LaurieAnne Perez: You know, it’s interesting. There is sometimes. I feel like I felt that more with my own personal wedding, like, “Oh, now it’s over.” I feel now, in the environment I’m in, there’s always the next event. So, I don’t feel that letdown as much. It’s more just like, we’ve got this sense of achievement, a little bit of a sigh of relief, like, “Okay, this one’s over,” but then it’s immediately on to the next one.

I have even found, during the last few events that I’ve worked, while I’m at the registration desk, and when there’s nobody there, I’m working on other events while I’m at that event. So, you don’t have any time for that.

Doreen Kolomechuk: So, it’s excitement all the way!

LaurieAnne Perez: Yes, I do get really happy. So, I have these, like, basically the master plan of the events, and I have them open on my computer at all times. And once we’re a couple of weeks out from the event, I like when I get to close that one, and then it’s not like, oh, it’s gone forever. If I need to pull it up, I can. But it’s like it doesn’t have to live on my computer at all times so that I get the tiniest hit of dopamine, like, okay, that one’s over.

Doreen Kolomechuk: So how long is the process, from the start to the event happening?

LaurieAnne Perez: That also varies. I would say on average, for the kind of conferences we’re planning, it’s about a year. We’re already in strategy planning for 2025 events, and it’s what, August of 2024? So, some of those were more than a year out, others, a little bit less. So, it’s about a year if you’re talking about when you start talking about an event until it actually happens. The other thing is, after an event, we have a post-event recap call, and that again, most of the information you’re getting from that, there’s usually not very much you can do about the event that already happened. But you’re taking all of that to start planning for next year as well. So, I would say on average, it’s about a year from strategy to finish. From actual contracting of a venue to setting up registration when that starts, I would say it’s close to six to eight months out until the event.

Doreen Kolomechuk: Now, we talked a little bit about changes, you know, due to COVID, but in terms of today what are some of the technological changes that have influenced your work in this field or even societal changes?

LaurieAnne Perez: I would say definitely COVID and then kind of what we talked about a little bit before about people working from home more. And so, they’re using events as their networking opportunities—it is just a lot more pressure on events and a lot more that they want to get out of an event. By, “Hey, I’m going to take my limited resources and my limited time and come to this event; it better be worth it.”  And that’s absolutely fair; it should be. So, I would say that’s kind of just a little bit of a mentality shift versus, “Oh, I always go to that conference, so I’m going to go again this year.” I think there’s less of that I see, and I think that’s fine. And I think it’s positive in that it challenges us as an industry to keep getting better, which is so important because conferences especially can get so stagnant so fast. You’re supposed to change a conference fully every three years; very few organizations actually stick to that. But I think they should because I think that you have to keep evolving.

We’ve definitely started talking about AI as an organization. I was actually part of an innovation project where we got to just shoot for the stars—how can we implement AI into what we’re already working on? And so, we looked to all kinds of things that we could do to help use AI to give people what they want, which I—my argument is they want really good networking connections, and that’s why they’re coming to these events. Especially at a journalism company, they know they’re going to get really good content, so it’s not really a matter of should I come for the content? It’s more like, am I going to get out of it these really good connections?

So, we used AI to explore how we can take a person—everything that AI can know about them, their job, their title. Those are kind of the easy things, but also, what are they interested in? Why are they specifically interested in coming to this conference? Putting that all basically into an algorithm and shooting out, like, “Hey, Sally and Joe should have a one-on-one networking section and talk about digital healthcare.” That kind of customization and personalization, I think, is definitely the future of events because people don’t want to just come into a room with 500 people, and it’s like a needle in a haystack—am I going to find the right person, and am I going to be lucky when I’m standing in line for coffee that I happen to bump into the person I wanted to? So, I think that definitely that is the near future. And I don’t pretend to understand AI, but I understand what it can do, so I’ll leave it to the tech experts to figure out how to make this happen. But I think the ideas are there, and it can allow us to be so creative and just elevate.

Doreen Kolomechuk: That’s fantastic! That’s such an innovative approach. I would love to go to a conference where I was paired up with someone because, A, you know they might have the same interest, but, and also B, it’s a little difficult sometimes to just make a connection while you’re there. And that would be—I would love that if I was paired up with someone at a conference.

LaurieAnne Perez: Right? Me too! It’s like elevated speed dating but for networking.

Doreen Kolomechuk: That would be perfect! The world is changing so rapidly, and I’m sure it’s having an impact on your field. How do you remain relevant? How do you remain up to date? Are there any professional associations that you’re a member of or any periodicals or blogs or podcasts that keep you up to date? How do you remain current?

LaurieAnne Perez: I am a member of MPI, Meeting Planners International. It’s, I believe, the largest meeting planning organization in the U.S., at least. And so, I have attended a lot of networking events through them. I’ve attended their annual conference. They do a lot of great virtual education, which is fantastic. I was really involved in my local chapter when I lived in Indianapolis, but I moved recently to Illinois, and so now I am technically part of the Chicago chapter, but I’m two hours from Chicago, so I don’t do as much in person. But they still have these fantastic kind of, keeping up with the industry, keeping up with trends, a deep dive into a specific topic. They have a lot of those and it’s nice because they are partnered with the organization that has the same accreditation that I have, so I can get my continuing education hours through them.

The other thing I would say is just by trying to stay current, following trends and things that are online. The good thing about events is everyone does events, even if they’re not us. When I go to industry events, they’re events about events. But seeing what other people are doing, and the cool thing is if an event is really cool, lots of people post about it. And so, I like to see what other people are doing at their events. I like to hear what other people are doing, how they’re implementing different things. So that perspective is a little bit more removed—I’m just seeing what’s going on.

Doreen Kolomechuk: So, do you view social media to see what’s going on?

LaurieAnne Perez: Yes, a lot of LinkedIn for especially for conferences, but sometimes even just through my own, like, through people that I know or follow on Instagram or things. I’ll see on TikTok a little bit. TikTok is bigger on the wedding scene, which makes sense. But yes, definitely a lot of, —I don’t want to call it research; it’s more just like seeing what’s going on through LinkedIn.

Doreen Kolomechuk: If you were to recommend something for someone interested in this field to read or to review, to learn more about the field, what would that be? Would that be that same organization?

LaurieAnne Perez: I think MPI has a lot of great stuff. Some of their content is free; you don’t have to be a member. Or if you’re very serious about it, they even have student memberships that are at a lot more discounted rate. So, I would definitely start there. I would start with internships. It can be hard to find a paid one, but a lot of different places have events internships, especially if you look at nonprofits because they’re all doing fundraisers or programs, or different things and they all need help with their events. So, I would say that would be where I would start if you were interested—if somebody was interested in going into this.

Doreen Kolomechuk: Great! So, before we close, are there any special words of advice, words of wisdom that you would like to share with people who are interested in this field?

LaurieAnne Perez: I would say talk to as many people as you can in this industry. I have tried to do that, but I still am always constantly trying. I have a fantastic mentor who is a general mentor; he doesn’t have experience in the events industry. I’m always also looking for—it would be ideal to also have a mentor in the field. I would love to have a mentor that’s someone who’s been in the events industry and can kind of guide me through because it’s one of those that you kind of—you think you know what the job would be like, the everyday job, but also, what kind of job titles and things there are. And then once you open the door, you realize that there are so many different lanes you can go into that all fall under events. And trying to navigate that completely on your own is very overwhelming. I’ve been there trying to figure out all through college, you know, I was like, I want to go into events, and I thought I knew what that looked like. And then as soon as I got in the door, I was like, oh my gosh, this is a huge industry, and there are so many different options. So, I would say that is definitely—the more people you can talk to and find out what they do, what their path looked like, the better, because it’s so different for everyone.

Doreen Kolomechuk: Thank you very much! I think that it is so important to speak to people and to learn from different viewpoints and different experiences that people have had. It really helps us to get a broader view of what is going on. Well, I can’t thank you enough. I’ve learned so much from you today, and I’m sure that others who listen to this will also learn a lot. And I really, really appreciate having the opportunity to speak with you today. Thank you so much, LaurieAnne!

LaurieAnne Perez: Thank you! This was super fun.

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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

  • LaurieAnne Perez’ Employer: Crain Communications at https://www.crain.com/
  • You can find out even more about LaurieAnne Perez on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com

Related Career Information

For more information about a career as an Events Planner take a look at the following resources:

Related Professional Associations and Other Resources

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