Jan Fischer at SlidesLive: Trust in the Team
Jan Fischer, Production Manager at SlidesLive, reveals his journey before joining the team as well as some of his favorite moments with the company since being hired in September 2019. With an interest in business and video, Jan saw his position at SlidesLive as the perfect opportunity to incorporate his passions into one career.
“The idea of working in a corporate environment and doing one thing that you specialize in filled me with dread and a lot of existential questions,” Jan admits. “And I was very interested in filming and video. I felt like SlidesLive would allow both of my experiences to connect, not just the business side, but also the interest in video and filming.”
Jan found his home at SlidesLive, and the team loves having him here. Jan was exposed to hiring and streaming at SlidesLive almost right away, which gave him the confidence he needed to start doing larger events like NeurIPS in the future.
“Within the first few months, I flew to Vancouver, Canada, and I was doing hiring for cameramen,” Jan says. “And I was also streaming the event. So right off the bat there were a lot of responsibilities and a lot of skills needed.”
From there, Jan has worked his way up quite quickly, learning how to handle some of SlidesLive’s largest events and conferences. And when it comes to large events with SlidesLive, it’s not just about the technology or equipment.
“It’s just a crazy level of trust that they give you,” Jan says. “I think, in a normal company, it would take three to five years to get to a senior project like NeurIPS. You’ve got to understand, ‘Alright, I need 60 computers, I need internet connection, I need spreadsheets with all the videos and then I need to record the data and put it in the right places and then edit it.’ So it’s just such a multi layered thing.”
But as a visual learner and organized worker, Jan is perfect for the job.
“I really like just seeing all the information in front of me,” Jan says. “So you get these spreadsheets, and then you have all these people who are going to be working on it and you just have this complex web of information that you have to untangle, deciding who is going to do what. I would call it problem solving.”
SlidesLive is all about problem solving, especially now in the COVID-19 virtual event world. With a team of creative, determined, and organized people, SlidesLive has been able to handle the virtual event transition and come up with new and creative ways to enhance the virtual process.
But just because SlidesLive has had to work hard to adjust doesn’t mean the team hasn’t had time to bond and have fun. Jan loves working with people who are similar to him, and although SlidesLive has been busy, the friendly environment never dies.
“It’s basically like having friends at the office,” Jan says. “So people have been asking me at events, ‘Are you just a couple of guys that got together and you’re just doing this video work?’ It’s very friendly, relaxed and supportive.”
