Statements from exhibitors and visitors
June 20, 2023
SHOWTECH impressions
June 20, 2023
Contact persons: Stephanie Braun & Martin Högg
Workshop manager: Flexitime in the workshops / warehouse logistics
We – Stefanie Braun and Martin Högg – have organised the workshop managers’ round table as we do every year. With excellent support from the DTHG trade fair team, we met in the VIP lounge in Hall 2 to talk to our two speakers Miriam Werner (Student at the Berlin University of Technology) and Oliver Haas from the Cologne stages to discuss exciting new topics.
Since the number of participants grows every year, we were prepared for around 50 interested people. The actual number of participants gave our two speakers some shaky knees and exceeded both Stefanie's and my expectations. The visitors even stood behind the chairs, which were all occupied.
Miriam began her talk about a Storage software for decoration parts in theaters, which is already in use in the Helsinki Opera. She examined various warehouse logistics systems and compared them according to specific criteria she set herself.
The warehouse logistics system Trail (trail.fi) won the race according to their procedure.
This software has been particularly good at solving the problem of frequently changing storage pallets. Scanning barcodes makes working with this system much easier.
Oliver reported on the introduction of flexitime in its workshops and explained the advantages and disadvantages from his point of view. The subsequent discussion encouraged many colleagues to share their experiences and express their opinions. Since employee satisfaction is of the utmost importance these days (shortage of skilled workers), many participants proclaimed flexitime with a corresponding core working time per department as the model of the future.
Stefanie and I are already looking forward to the BTT in Bochum, where we will continue to expand this round table.
We look forward to your topic suggestions! What would you like to talk about? Are there any special, current, interesting projects? Or other presentations on the topic of employee management - work organization, ...? Let us know - we are always looking for new topics and want to keep our finger on the pulse of the times!
QUO VADIS DIGITALIS – Theater & Digitality?
At the round table “QUO VADIS DIGITALIS – THEATER & DIGITALITY?” we – the Commissioners for Digitality and New Technologies / digital.DTHG* – discussed together with the project partners of the research project “Im/material Theatre Spaces”, which was completed a year ago, what impact the project results and prototypes have had to date. We had a stimulating exchange about the state of affairs in terms of digitization at the respective houses and institutions with: Andreas Gause (Gerriets GmbH), Robert Rott & Grit-Dora von Zeschau (theater junge generation Dresden), Alexander Segin (Konzerthaus Berlin), Thomas Herda (Friedrichstadt-Palast), Christian Buschhoff (CAB for Luisenburg Festspiele Wunsiedel), Stephan Rolfes (BHT Berlin) and Wesko Rohde (DTHG). Our colleague Vincent Kaufmann provided insight into current debates about art, digitality and space using further practical examples such as the augmented Parsifal production at the Bayreuth Festival Hall and the Raumbühne at the Staatstheater Kassel.
*digital.DTHG is the competence area for digitality and new technologies of the DTHG: In the first research project “Im/material Theatre Spaces” from 2019 to 2022, the potential of digital technologies such as virtual and augmented reality for the theatre and event industry was investigated in a practical and application-oriented manner. Together with cooperation partners, various solution approaches for architecture, stage design and theatre technology were designed and tested as sustainably transferable model solutions.
Contact persons: Franziska Ritter & Pablo Dornhege
Contact persons: Anja Dansberg & Martina Meyer
Women's Network: How far has equality progressed in the event industry? Is it possible to combine family and career?
Well attended with around 30 participants, we had a lively discussion on the topics of salary fairness, contract negotiations, staffing plans and quotas in the event industry. Many reports of experiences enlivened the discussion, but also made the need for action clear. An equally important topic is the frequently expressed desire for childcare at the workplace. This has already been implemented and demonstrated in a practical way in several cities. The aim should be to establish such childcare models as soon as possible, for example in Berlin. We would like to work with the stage association to make our concerns even more visible. The expansion and maintenance of the women's network is important, as is the opportunity to exchange ideas at stage technology events.
Risk assessment of psychological stress in the theater
Contents of the presentation:
- Definition & Initial Situation from 2016
- decision (April 2022)
- preparation (May 2022)
- implementation (June 2022)
- result (July 2022)
- measures (September 2022)
Contact: Klaus Haarer
Contact: Marcus Weide
Technical Directors: What does the future look like?
From the perspective of the Technical Directors' Working Group, it was a successful round table and a new start for the working group. Due to the corona pandemic and retirements, work has slowed down a bit in recent years; in the future, two online meetings per year are to be held. The aim is to have another meeting per year, which will take place in person.
At SHOWTECH we discussed the following topics:
- Sustainability: Reports were given from individual theaters on how far they have come in terms of sustainability. There were interesting approaches from Austria and Norway; it is always worth looking outside the box.
- Skilled labor shortage/workplace design: How do I attract skilled workers and, more importantly, how do I retain my skilled workers? Here, too, there were interesting approaches from different areas of the participants.
The topics have not yet been fully discussed and negotiated, leaving room for further ideas and discussions at future meetings.
Thank you very much for organizing and conducting the round table. I hope for more informative and interesting round tables in the future.
New part-time qualification – Professional specialist for theatre technology
Text coming soon
Contact: Sebastian Hellwig
OISTAT: International Theater Community
Text coming soon
Contact person: Wan-Jung Wei
