Brainwaves of Sken

(This is the letter I wrote to my mom, which I’m reproducing here for anyone who wants to know the basics of my trip. I didn’t write in much in the way of personal observations – I’ll leave that for when I upload the photos.)

Hi there mom,

My trip has gone fairly well so far. I was in Vegas from Thursday into Tuesday, and I created ten videos ( autonews dot com/video ) for our NADA coverage. There are, perhaps, things I’d do differently, but they’re pretty cool. Of course, they’re boring newspaper reporters talking to dealers about ROI and annual rates of blahblahblather, so I think they’re just cool ’cause I did them. :D

The company is having me expense my travel and food, so I’m really looking forward to filling out those forms! *chuckle* I spent maybe 30 bucks on the slots and had a a fairly good time – I never expect to get that money back, and that seems to make it more ‘fun’.

K.T. and Jeska and I had a lot of fun in the evenings. We went to the Stratosphere, which has 3 roller-coaster-style amusement rides built into the very top (outside) of the building. One flings you straight up and back down, and another has 3 arms (for 4 seats on each arm) that stretch over the building and expand out so you’re pretty much looking down. Pretty sweet!

Also, we went and saw the Star Trek Experience. I heard a rumor on my way into town that this will be the last year for it at the Hilton, ’cause it isn’t profitable enough. Anyway, the coolest part about that was when we got into rows, waiting for the doors to open to get on the ride, and instead the lights went out, we saw bits of light around us, and suddenly we were standing in a transporter room. The floor even changed! It was very impressive.

My chicago flight was delayed two hours (everyone coming in to chicago had that problem), putting me in at 10, chicago time. What was worse is that my luggage, somehow, took two MORE hours, so I had them send it to the hotel for me to get in the morning.

This hotel is shaped like a triangle, 5 rooms to a side, 40 floors. The swiss hotel is pretty swank, with both a bathtub and a separate shower in the room, 3 restaurants, and a pretty amazing view of Navy Pier. Both nights, I’ve met friends of mine who live here for some fabulous food and conversation. Expensing things is weird – I don’t like having to “use my best judgment”, I’d much rather have a set number I’m supposed to stay under.

I’m finishing up my video work for Chicago from my room (4 videos or so), because I’d like to have the whole weekend off. My boss is giving me Monday and Tuesday off as well, in compensation for the fact that I’ve been working for 12 days straight.

My days on the road run this way: I wake up very early and get ready in the usual way. I grab my backpack (laptop + laptop equipment), tripod bag (professional, sturdy, heavy), and camera bag (including 8 lb battery for the portable light), put on my black work vest, and head to the shuttle for the convention center.

Once there, I set up my laptop in the crowded press room, check my schedule, and if it’s clear for the moment, I get to work on previously captured video. Otherwise, I grab the tripod and camera bag, and book it to the show floor. I build the equipment quickly, and when the talent and guest are there, I hand them the mic and do my videography thing. Afterward, I choose whether to make the interviewer “re-ask” his questions in a close-up (for cutting into the video), and I shoot loads and loads of “B-roll”, which means any footage that isn’t the primary interview. In this case, cars, generally.

Then I hurry back to the press room, upload my video, do my editing magic, and export it to a windows video (IE wait 10 minutes). Once I have THAT, I convert it to flash for the web (another 10), and upload it. Then I go into our Content Management System, and if I’ve been lucky enough to get a reporter who actually gave me the text I need, I enter in summary info about the video. Finally, that video shows up on the web for everyone else to see.

Now that’s how it works in Chicago. In Vegas, I had to devote the whole day to running in between hotels all up and down the strip (and further) in order to make the executive interviews, and edit everything later.

I’m thinking about putting together some sort of portfolio/report to highlight what sort of things I do for the company and relative pay ranges in our area of the country. Hopefully I can do it in such a way that my boss will be friendly to the idea of a significant promotion.

Anyway, Lucy’s picking me up from the airport at 7. I’m excited to see her for the first time in a week and a half! We might go to a party in Lansing tomorrow, or we might just chill out – clearly, I’ve got a lot to wind down from. :D

Love,
Scott

PS Feel free to share this with the fam, if you’d like!

~ by Skennedy on February 9, 2007.

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