“We now invite all remaining passengers on flight NZ0546 to Auckland.”
“Passengers seated in rows 1-15 are invited to board using the air bridge at the front of the aircraft. Passengers in rows 16-29 will board using the rear stairs.”
I sit, waiting, patiently. Eyes drooping slightly from a lack of sleep. My brain has registered the boarding call, but I don’t look up from my book. I don’t need to.
I know my fellow passengers will be rushing to form a line, as if their haste helps them to pretend that they won’t just have to wait at the entrance to the plane.
Normally I would join in this tradition, eagerly rushing to the front, like a game. But right now, I don’t see the point. Why stand in line when I can sit, letting my tired legs rest?
So, I read.
Has my body always felt this heavy? No. It’s just the long shift catching up with me. The feeling of tired muscles and a tired brain pulling on the world, weighing it down.
I got to bed at 6:00am this morning, after the pack out. Thankfully it’s winter, so I didn’t have to deal with the tragic feeling of going to bed as the sun is rising for the day. Those shifts always feel so strange; like you’ve broken your own time zone.
But, as tired as I was, I’m also an early bird, meaning that my body didn’t let me sleep past 9:30.
It figures.
So, here I am. Sitting at Christchurch Airport, waiting to board the earlier flight that I changed to. Waiting to get back home to Auckland so that I can rest properly. Because this is only week two of four.
Last week I was in Queenstown. Next week I will be in Hamilton. The week after, Auckland. It’s not the first time I’ve done this roadshow, and it is much easier than it used to be. That Auckland show, though. That will be a 23-hour shift. In. Op. Out.
I try not to think about it.
Sighing, I close my book, slowly making my way over to the line. It isn’t long before I’m at the front, holding my ticket up to the machine as the steward greets me.
“Kia ora. Welcome aboard.”
This kind of experience has become somewhat routine in the past few months.
It’s a well-known fact in our industry that our work is seasonal. The old dictum, “when it rains, it pours,” has rung true for us.
With so many events around the country, we fell into a kind of rhythm, a sequence: travel, sleep, setup, sleep, operate, pack down, sleep, travel. Rinse and repeat. One event after another.
Now, don’t get me wrong, there are times when we get to go to the destination cities, such as Queenstown. But it’s by no means a holiday. A lot of non-stop hard work goes into what we do.
But it’s worth it. The results are so special.
The more observant would have noticed that our newsletter has been on pause during this time. I do apologise for this; it wasn’t my intention.
Now that we have some room to breathe, let me take you back and tell you about what we have been up to.
Don’t worry, I will go quickly.
Commercial Project Awards
Hosted at the Tākina convention centre in Wellington, the 2024 Commercial Project Awards for Registered Master Builders was a setup to remember.
At twenty-five metres wide, the LED screen stretched from one end of the room to the other, filling the space with a screen worthy of the buildings being celebrated.
After all, grand commercial properties deserve to be viewed on a grand screen.
Matariki
Our work with Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei has allowed us a front-row seat to an iwi working out what it means to merge traditions and rituals with modern technology. The Matariki celebration was a noteable example.
This was the second time working with Ngāti Whātua for Matariki. Not so much an event, but a ceremony—a hautapu—our work was to augment this gathering through our equipment.
We placed multiple cameras around the site, to capture both the ceremonial rituals and the panoramic views of the grounds. This then fed to both a live-stream and to two large outdoor LED screens, each bracketed by speakers.
With the freeze of the mid-winter morning, it was spectacular to see the thousands who had gathered for the ceremony. But more than that, we could go home satisified that we had enabled them to all participate in the proceedings.
Concurrent Roadshows — Xero NZ and Registered Master Builders
Four weeks. Nine Cities. Thirteen shows.
Oh, and lots and lots of flights.
Through July and August, we have been pumping through two simultaneous roadshows: the Registered Master Builders House of the Year competition and, with Uno Loco, the Xero New Zealand Roadshow.
Each roadshow came with its unique challenges; doing that many events around the country in such a small timeframe usually does.
The first was that both shows needed scaleable setups. Some cities needed smaller setups in smaller venues and others needed the opposite.
This involved an ongoing negotiation of gear between shows. Weeks of logistical work went into planning how gear would get from one show to the next in a seemless manner.
The other major challenge was fatigue.
Being a smaller crew, it meant that we were, more often than not, thin on the ground. Several times the crew were forced to split off, catch a flight, and go straight to the next show.
A little sleep-deprived. A little overcaffeinated. But nonetheless still crushing it at every show!
But that is our industry. Some months fly past with a flurry of work. And others are more quiet.
There’s more to say about the past few months; more shows to recount. But I don’t want to give it all away at once.
So keep your eyes out for next month’s newsletter, where I’ll let you know about the 27m wide, custom LED screen we built for HP. You’ll want to hear about this one.