New initiative channels new crew
Equipment sales are sluggish, production companies are watching their spending, and suppliers are working harder for every dollar. Across the entertainment technology industry, the focus is understandably on the next sale, the next job and the next financial year.
But there’s a much bigger problem looming, and it won’t disappear when the economy improves.
Where is the next generation of our industry coming from?
For decades, the live production industry has relied on an informal system of recruitment and training. Young people found their way in through bands, community theatre, schools, churches, hire companies and the occasional lucky introduction. Some studied production technology, others learned on the job. Plenty simply turned up, made themselves useful and never left.
It worked, more or less. But it was never particularly organised, and it depended heavily on chance.
Meanwhile, the industry has changed beyond recognition. Audio is increasingly networked, lighting is software-driven, video systems have become vastly more sophisticated, and even relatively modest productions require skills that barely existed a generation ago.
The industry needs people who understand this technology. People who can operate it, maintain it, design with it and eventually lead the businesses that supply it.
But more than that, we need the right kind of people. Those who can handle the hours, the pressure, the physical demands and the extraordinary highs and occasional lows that come with working in live production.
Crucially, we need to show young people that these careers exist in the first place.
Somebody needs to do something
There are some excellent training organisations, dedicated teachers and employers already doing valuable work. But their efforts are necessarily fragmented.
A school can introduce students to production. A training provider can teach them, although there are relatively few specialist providers. An employer can offer experience. A manufacturer can demonstrate technology.
What has been missing is a practical, coordinated way to bring all those elements together across the industry.
That’s where ENTECH comes in.
The national roadshow is launching EntPathways, a new initiative designed to introduce students and new entrants to the people, equipment, companies and career opportunities that make up Australia’s professional entertainment technology industry.
It’s not another training course. ENTECH isn’t establishing a college, issuing qualifications or pretending that a day at a trade show makes somebody a technician.
EntPathways is something more fundamental.
ENTECH already brings together the major suppliers of professional audio, lighting, vision, staging and production technology. It has an established multi-city roadshow, longstanding industry relationships, equipment on display and technical expertise in the room.
That combination puts ENTECH in a unique position to tackle a problem that no single training organisation, supplier or employer can solve alone.
Finding the right people
The push came on the show floor this year, where discussions about skills shortages became increasingly urgent. The industry lost many experienced workers during COVID, and the consequences are still being felt.
But another perennial problem kept arising.
How do we keep the tyre-kickers off the show floor while attracting the cream of the next generation?
It’s been an ongoing challenge for trade show organisers. Exhibitors need meaningful engagement with qualified visitors, not crowds of students wandering around collecting promotional merchandise.
Yet somewhere among those students are the future engineers, designers, operators, production managers and business owners the industry desperately needs.
The challenge is identifying them, preparing them and giving them a meaningful introduction to the professional industry without compromising the experience of existing trade visitors.
That’s what EntPathways is designed to achieve.
For 2027, EntPathways will be integrated into the ENTECH Roadshow in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. Students and new entrants will be welcomed into a structured program designed to make their first encounter with the professional industry useful, accessible and worthwhile.
ENTECH is working with training organisations, educators, industry associations, employers and suppliers to make it happen.
Already, interested students and new entrants can visit the new website, www.entpathways.com.au, which outlines the various technical roles within the industry and allows them to register their interest.
Ultimately, ENTECH can introduce a young person interested in live sound to the companies supplying professional consoles, loudspeakers, microphones and networking systems. Someone interested in lighting can meet the people behind the fixtures, control systems and technology they’ll eventually operate.
On arrival at the roadshow, EntPathways participants will attend an introductory keynote session before entering the exhibition. They’ll then have opportunities to speak with working professionals, ask questions, see equipment demonstrated and begin to understand the enormous range of careers available.
Importantly, the process is designed to give participants realistic expectations about the industry and ensure they understand how to engage professionally with exhibitors, respecting the limited time available on the show floor.
It’s not simply about getting more young people through the doors. It’s about getting the right people through, properly prepared.
And they can do it without having to know somebody who knows somebody.
Some will discover that the industry isn’t for them. That’s a useful outcome too.
Investing beyond the next financial year
The suppliers participating in ENTECH understand the value of long-term relationships. Many have supported training and education for years, often without any immediate commercial return.
EntPathways gives those efforts a common platform and a national audience.
It’s an investment in the industry itself.
There is never a convenient time to undertake a long-term industry initiative. When business is booming, everyone is too busy. When business is slow, everyone is worried about money.
Right now, the Australian entertainment technology industry is facing a difficult trading environment. That’s precisely why we need to think beyond it.
The economy will eventually recover. But the need to attract capable, motivated people into the industry won’t go away.
EntPathways will require cooperation. It will require time, resources, planning and a willingness from companies and individuals to contribute something beyond their immediate commercial interests.
ENTECH doesn’t pretend it can solve every problem associated with recruitment, training and career development. But it has the infrastructure, the industry relationships and the national reach to make a substantial contribution.
And rather than establish another committee to talk about the problem, it’s getting on with doing something.
There will be more announcements as the program develops, including opportunities for schools, training organisations, employers and ENTECH exhibitors to participate.
EntPathways launches at ENTECH 2027: Brisbane 11 May, Sydney 18 May and Melbourne 25 May.
Students, educators, training organisations and industry participants can register their interest at entpathways.com.au.
