In students I trust.

I wrote this last week -- it's taken me a while to post it.

Last we had a great conference at Ohio State. This multi-faceted event had many details to take care of and lots of moving pieces. One important piece for the day was AV needs. Since our program was fast paced and very diverse, AV was an essential part in making sure the day ran smoothly.

I am not an AV expert. Neither is anyone on staff with me – especially when it comes to working with AV equipment specific to one of the buildings at Ohio State. We were so fortunate to have two great students there the whole time yesterday who could play with the soundboard, cue the lights, projectors, fix the mics and everything else that I would have no clue how to do.

Now – the point of my story. Early in the day, way before the conference started, we noticed the podium was missing a mic. No big deal. So I went to ask the student if he could set one up. Of course he jumped right to it and quick to apologize. I told him no need to apologize and thanked him for his help. It was no biggie, after all.

The next thing the student said surprised and upset me. He seemed baffled by my chill demeanor and said, “most clients aren’t so nice about this kind of thing.” I was like, “a missing mic?” to which he said “yeah, thing like that.” He didn’t elaborate, but I could tell this smart student had been treated not so well in the past and seemed almost shocked I wasn’t freaking out.

I was thinking about this all day yesterday and it’s still on my mind today for the following reasons:

1 – First and foremost, who knows more about AV than the AV person? Why would you be mean to someone who is there to help you with something that there is no way you could do yourself? It’s only going to upset them, you and your guests.

2 – This kid was student. A student who was probably being paid between $0 and $10 an hour to be on site to make sure our event is successful. A small price to pay for peace of mind and lack of fail.

3 – Why, when students are given the chance to interact with “business people or clients from the real world,” would anyone want to give them a negative view of what it must be like outside of college?

4 – Lastly, and most importantly, kindness, patience and respect should not be a rare practice.