... but not so much - even though it is getting bitterly cold in New York City. I just realised I have not posted any updates in a few months so here we go.
The UN General Debate happened, we worked crazy long hours and celebrated accordingly with all of our colleagues, supervisors, and peers. Some days we arrived early at 7am and other days we didn't leave til past midnight. The first days of that week started with the unprecedented Climate Change Summit with powerful speeches from Leonardo DiCaprio, US President Barack Obama, philanthropist Al Gore, international politicians, business leaders, and many others. Following that long day of climate change action and ambition announcements, the General Debate began and didn't stop - Heads of State of all 193 countries made their national statement for nine straight days, recording, editing, and distributing all of statements.
As the broadcast department has not been overwhelmed with nonstop Debate or Assembly meetings, my supervisors have give me few more opportunities to operate robotic cameras, studio graphics, field microphones, and more. They also are beginning to have MOC technicians (myself included) train fellow technicians in the MOC Room systems; which is amazing as much senior technicians shadow and learn from my hands-on experience in the room.
Since that early October week though, committee meetings have continued, panel discussions convened, special events have happened and we have all been stepping up our game to make sure all meetings are effectively broadcasted.
19 November 2014
18 August 2014
It's Been a Year!
It's crazy to think I have been working at the United Nations headquarters, in the television broadcast for just over a year now. I have seen quite the number of celebrities (Steven Spielberg, Stevie Wonder, David Guetta, Mia Farrow -- just to name a few) walk thru these halls, as well as decent high-level political figures (Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, David Cameron, Benyamin Netanyahu, and many others).
As I began my experience the UN broadcast dept, I was thinking the studios or control rooms or master control booths would be top of the line technologically... Ironically, it was quite the opposite, everything was analog and just transitioning into the new digital age (new cameras, tapeless recorders, high-def monitors, media management servers, etc) and everyone was starting fresh to learn it. Since there were few "new" guys, we knew nothing of the old ways and were able to quickly get a hang of the systems but the "old" crew took some time readjusting to the digital age. There were (and still are) numerous glitches in the system. I found out , actually that some local news stations run the system media management system and they have similar issues as well.
While the digital transition was happening for us, there was non-stop construction in the General Assembly (GA) Hall. Since before my time (Jan 2010, to be exact), the GA has been in a temporary building on the north lawn of the headquarters -- housing many conference rooms, offices, and storage. This month, the original GA Hall (built in 1952) will reopen after years of construction - including infrastructure repair, telecommunication upgrades, and general renovations. Our staff are planning to test all the new GA equipment soon and hopefully be up-and-running for the Debate in late September.
And today (18-Aug) is my birthday... our supervisors celebrate the staff birthday each month with cookies (or a cake, or cupcakes, etc) and I cannot be more excited for free cookies!!
In the end, this past year has been awesome -- with plenty of ups and downs, fun times and annoying times, and mostly learning experiences that help with progress my career.
As I began my experience the UN broadcast dept, I was thinking the studios or control rooms or master control booths would be top of the line technologically... Ironically, it was quite the opposite, everything was analog and just transitioning into the new digital age (new cameras, tapeless recorders, high-def monitors, media management servers, etc) and everyone was starting fresh to learn it. Since there were few "new" guys, we knew nothing of the old ways and were able to quickly get a hang of the systems but the "old" crew took some time readjusting to the digital age. There were (and still are) numerous glitches in the system. I found out , actually that some local news stations run the system media management system and they have similar issues as well.
While the digital transition was happening for us, there was non-stop construction in the General Assembly (GA) Hall. Since before my time (Jan 2010, to be exact), the GA has been in a temporary building on the north lawn of the headquarters -- housing many conference rooms, offices, and storage. This month, the original GA Hall (built in 1952) will reopen after years of construction - including infrastructure repair, telecommunication upgrades, and general renovations. Our staff are planning to test all the new GA equipment soon and hopefully be up-and-running for the Debate in late September.
And today (18-Aug) is my birthday... our supervisors celebrate the staff birthday each month with cookies (or a cake, or cupcakes, etc) and I cannot be more excited for free cookies!!
In the end, this past year has been awesome -- with plenty of ups and downs, fun times and annoying times, and mostly learning experiences that help with progress my career.
23 May 2014
Time is Flying by... it's Summer now!!
Cannot believe spring flew by and it is already summer-time! Unfortunately, in the "real-world" we do not get a 3-month vacation, beach-filled relaxing days, or any sort of real summer break -- I have to use my allocated time off, which in turn means I have less time off, come fall or winter time. Either way, I am excited for continued work at the UN even though the summer is known to have a lighter workload.
Over the past month or so, the producers have actively been cross-training the technicians (myself included) in various positions throughout the operations; because of this, I have been quite often running the Media Operations Centre on my own, while others watch / learn the daily tasks of the room. At times, it definitely gets overwhelming because some days there can be five different recordings (meetings, events, interviews, etc) happening at once, while I am the only technician operating the recording system AND the global UN Television feed.
With every job, there are always those few staff that are completely oblivious with the tasks of the day- even if there are schedules posted all around the control room. To some extent, I can blame myself with this at times mostly because I am often the only staff in the MOC and do not always catch the start of every single meeting, for backup recordings. The one thing I did learn (at least with others being oblivious), is to double and triple, even quadruple check the tasks I complete - because, as often the sole technician in the MOC, anything that is exported, dubbed, monitored and in essence seen UN staff, media personnel, or country delegate representative all comes through my office!
In the end, it has been ten months working at the UN - I am still constantly intrigued and on the edge of my seat with everything that we do in the broadcast operations of the UN.
Over the past month or so, the producers have actively been cross-training the technicians (myself included) in various positions throughout the operations; because of this, I have been quite often running the Media Operations Centre on my own, while others watch / learn the daily tasks of the room. At times, it definitely gets overwhelming because some days there can be five different recordings (meetings, events, interviews, etc) happening at once, while I am the only technician operating the recording system AND the global UN Television feed.
With every job, there are always those few staff that are completely oblivious with the tasks of the day- even if there are schedules posted all around the control room. To some extent, I can blame myself with this at times mostly because I am often the only staff in the MOC and do not always catch the start of every single meeting, for backup recordings. The one thing I did learn (at least with others being oblivious), is to double and triple, even quadruple check the tasks I complete - because, as often the sole technician in the MOC, anything that is exported, dubbed, monitored and in essence seen UN staff, media personnel, or country delegate representative all comes through my office!
In the end, it has been ten months working at the UN - I am still constantly intrigued and on the edge of my seat with everything that we do in the broadcast operations of the UN.
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