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The AV-Team

av team

“In 1982 a crack commando unit was sent to Japan by IBM to install a Video Conferencing system that did not yet exist. These men promptly saw the potential and left IT, escaping to the Audio Video underground. Today, still wanted by an array of clients, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem with AV communications, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire the AV-Team.”

 

No matter what type of work your AV Integration company specializes, there are four distinct personality types and roles that need to be fulfilled to be successful.  Sometimes you may find that one individual encompasses more than one , (keep that person forever!), but I wager that in great AV Integration companies you will always find all four types.  To understand those types a little better, I want to introduce you to . . .

 

The AV-Team!

 

hannibalHannibal Smith- Every good team needs a leader with vision.  Hannibal always new where his team could be of service, and the type of missions that were right up their alley.  He knew that he could get things done efficiently as long as he had a strong core of individuals with unique but varied skillsets.  He was responsible for assembling this small tactical force, and on driving them to the end of a job unscathed to say “mission accomplished”.  The other trait he had, was that he wasn’t afraid to jump in and get his hands dirty in any role the team needed him in.  Now your Hannibal doesn’t have to be a silver haired, cigar smoking, wise cracker, but, we all know at least one AV-Team where that is exactly the case.

PECKTempleton “Face” Peck– The “Face” man is the company’s face to the outside world.  He is the one who makes sales, engages clients and handles negotiating the job , change orders, scope creep, etc.  He has to be able to speak the customer’s language, address their concerns, and relay all the information back to the team so they can perform their roles as well.  It is no surprise, that given this is the role I have played in the AV companies that I have worked for, that “face” was always my favorite A-Team character.

 

murdockH.M. Murdock-

Every team needs an eccentric but high thinking pilot to get the project from point A to Z.  Murdock could fly a helicopter, build a radio from scratch, or come up with an impromptu device at the drop of his black baseball cap.  Every great AV-Team needs a Murdock at the helm of project management to make sure that any obstacle that arises is addressed from a technical standpoint.  In the A-Team, H.M. stood for “Howling Mad”, and that isn’t a bad thing here either.  A creative thinker with outside the box thinking may be exactly what makes the difference in this role when troubleshooting a system that has a Kramer switch that needs an extra few milliseconds of inter-character spacing in the Crestron program to get it up and running.

 

ba+baracus+a+team+290x400B.A. Baracus- B.A. is the muscle.  He gets the job done.  Every AV-Team needs a mass of tactical force that they can load down with the heavy artillery, (and gold chains), and send out into the field.  B.A. was also the mechanic, meaning he had more than biceps, but mechanical ability as well.  Now in the A-Team, for FCC reasons, B.A. stood for “Bad Attitude” but we all know what the alternative is.  Show me an awesome AV install and I’ll show you a B.A. Installer, (or a whole un it full of them).  I pity the fool without this role in their AV-Team.

 

 

 

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