Gearhouse South Africa Embraces AV Alliance’s Skills Exchange Programme

by  EVENTFAQS Bureau Industry Watch | November 22, 2015 | News

South Africa based Gearhouse recently participated in the AV Alliance’s inaugural Skills Swap program. As part of this 2015 initiative, Gearhouse identified two deserving employees - Ezekiel Mashimbye, Senior Audio Technician at Gearhouse Johannesburg and Ryan Shepherd, Project Manager at Gearhouse’s Cape Town branch. These designated technicians spent a month working as part of the team at one of the other international companies on a one-to-one swap basis. Gearhouse represents South Africa in the global AV Alliance network, originally formed to facilitate project requirements for clients through a network of regional representatives. As part of the same program, a representative from Satis&Fy and Neumann&Müller will join the Gearhouse team for a month in November and February respectively.

While Mashimbye spent September at Neumann&Müller Veranstaltungstechnik in Stuttgart, Munich, working at the IAA in Frankfurt, Ryan travelled from Karben and Werne, Germany to Hilversum, Netherlands during October.

Talking about his learnings about the experience and competence levels of Gearhouse, Ryan Shepherd remarked, “Realising that Gearhouse South Africa is already delivering to global standards - albeit with smaller budgets - fills me with pride. I spent a lot of time abroad comparing systems and procedures and understanding that although the end goal is a common one, there are many different ways to achieve it. I have a long list of ideas and suggestions to propose for our own operation and hopefully was able to offer food for thought in return.”

Mashimbye added, “It was an eye opener in terms of seeing where we are going and where the world is going in terms of technology. In this case I am glad to confirm that we are moving in the same direction as the rest of the world. Our techniques are not very different, but we could learn more from Neumann&Müller’s very structured approach to pre-prep. Every piece of equipment was labeled, with boxes sealed before dispatch.”

The AV Alliance Network consists of 75 of the world's leading event technology services providers, who have united to form the world’s most comprehensive event technology network, generating opportunities to share knowledge and stimulate industry growth through engagement between its members. The idea was to create an alliance of AV providers which could be relied on to service each other’s clients with the same high standards, across the globe. All members are independently managed companies who are among the leading providers within their respective regions and serve 102 locations around the world – which equates to 5,733 employees involved in 100,248 projects per year. The membership is selective with only one representative included per region and applicants are required to fulfill a catalogue of qualitative assessment criteria focused on the respective company’s quality and reliability. 

All members are independently managed companies, are among the leading providers within their respective regions and are committed to providing a consistently high delivery level. The AVA membership has grown to 75 companies which serve 102 locations around the world – which equates to a massive 5,733 employees involved in a massive count of 100,248 projects per year. The membership is selective with only one representative included per region. Applicants are required to fulfill a catalogue of qualitative assessment criteria focused on the respective company’s quality and reliability.