Meet CT Finland's Booking Team

Creative Technology (CT) has a lot of experts specialized in different event technology departments (lighting, video, audio technology etc.). How have you divided the tasks within your team?

“The booking team has divided the work by departments: one booker is responsible for booking light and staging technicians and stage hands, one is responsible for booking video and camera technicians and studio directors, and one is responsible for booking audio technicians and Tampere productions as a whole.

We also work across department boundaries during rotating weekend shifts and vacations, so that everyone maintains an understanding of the technicians’ skills. In addition to the booking tasks, the team has other shared work responsibilities.”

– Anna-Maija Ojanen

What does your normal workday look like?

“Our normal workday usually consists of communication with technicians and discussing productions with our project managers. We use Teams for internal communication, through which information is easily transferred simultaneously and jointly to everyone in the booking team. Also, we use the ERP software easyjob, which makes it easy to monitor the up-to-date situations of projects and resources, and that way we can suggest productions for technicians.”

– Carita Elko

Staffing multiple event projects with the right technicians sounds like a challenging puzzle. Where does the resourcing of the project start and how does it work in practice?

“Usually it starts with a short briefing about the production from the project manager. In addition, we study the equipment list, which already helps to understand what kind of employees the project requires. Sometimes the project manager has wishes about the employees, and notes on who has done the production before or would do it well. Also, we have a meeting once a week with the Head of each department, where we go through productions for which it is difficult to find technicians or that otherwise require more careful thinking.”

– Salla Suomi

You are constantly in contact with the technicians, but do you collaborate a lot with other departments as well?

“We work across departmental boundaries and the closest co-workers are project managers, heads of departments and, of course, our permanent and freelance technicians. We also communicate quite a lot with CT’s office assistant Laura regarding accommodations, and sometimes we also ask questions from the tech support department, HR, and the warehouse staff.”

– Carita

What is the best thing about your job?

“It’s great that we have so many professionals who are committed to their work, that you can always get support if needed. The best thing are the technicians who are excited about the productions and the exchange of ideas about developing one’s own skills and how we can possibly help with that.”

– Carita

“The best thing is probably when difficult situations get resolved. Our team is also top notch, which supports getting the job done. We have a good team spirit and the tasks are clear. Of course, the fact that you get to take part in creating great and meaningful events for people is the most rewarding aspect of this.”

– Salla

“The best thing about my work is the feeling when you make the pieces of the puzzle fall into place and the event is a success. Also the fact that you get to grow the skills of the technicians by offering versatile productions of different styles and considering the technician’s own interests and thus creating a professional development curve for each technician. I really like working with people and I am very interested in what drives each person forward as an individual. You can very roughly think of booking as just moving and filling blocks, or you can approach it very deeply by thinking about the people behind the blocks.”

– Anna-Maija

What is the most challenging thing about working with booking?

“One of the most challenging things are rush periods, when there are many productions at the same time and limited technicians available. Then you have to do a lot more work to get even a very simple production booked. In those times it can become a tough challenge if someone gets sick, and we have to think about how to resolve the situation in the best way possible.”

– Salla

What has been your most memorable moment at CT?

“I’ve worked at CT only for a year, but I would say the most memorable moment for me was organizing our last fall’s Freelancer Day at Hotel Mestari. The day is filled with lots of expectations regarding the arrangements and it is rewarding to notice that the participants are enjoying themselves.”

– Carita

“The events that I’ve been able to attend, as well as enjoying the results of the work your colleagues and you have done.”

– Salla

“The most memorable thing for me, instead of a single memory, is the feeling of pride when I attend an event or concert that CT has helped to create. I always think how wonderful everything looks and sounds and how great it is that we have such incredibly skilled people at work, that they know how to create these experiences for all of us. I feel lucky to work with such talented and professional people.”

– Anna-Maija

How has the event technology industry changed in the time you’ve been in the event industry?

“The field of event technology has changed quite a lot in the four years that I have worked at CT. I have seen very busy periods and also very quiet years (caused by the pandemic restrictions), when the whole process was very different. I would hope that the situation in general would stabilize in the field of event business so that we would not constantly go from one crisis to another.

In addition, I have already noticed in this time that the range of technicians has become more diverse and more attention has been paid to working conditions, so that working hours are humane and other conditions are met as well.”

– Anna-Maija

How do you see the future of events?

“The future of events looks really good and CT has excellent conditions to meet the needs of customers and carry out the most unique wishes. Customers are very aware and demanding when the goal is to achieve an impressive experience. This creates more opportunities for the field of event technology to show what kind of creative solutions we can offer and implement.

In Finland, it is interesting to see how event productions spread more and more to other places than the capital region and brings jobs to more localities, growing local expertise even more and thus benefiting the entire professional field.

CT specifically wants to develop and advance the entire industry on many levels, not only through more spectacular events, but also by improving working conditions and safety.”

– Anna-Maija, Carita, Salla