NSCA to Announce Details of New Internship and Mentoring Program at BLC 2018

NSCA board of directors approves launch of third phase of NSCA Ignite program aimed at increasing awareness of AV industry for young people.

Leave a Comment

NSCA’s board of directors recently approved the launch of an initiative that will serve as the next major step in the growth of its NSCA Ignite program that’s aimed at increasing the interest level and involvement in the AV integration business among young people.

Executive director Chuck Wilson says NSCA Ignite leadership will announce the details of the offering, which he calls “the third phase” of Ignite, during the 2018 Business and Leadership Conference in Dallas, which kicks off Feb. 28, but adds it’s focused on adding an internship and mentoring arm.

“We’re trying to show we’ve taken NSCA Ignite and turned it into something real,” says Wilson. “This puts a real deliverable into the hands of our members.”

NSCA officials will seek feedback from its 90 or so Ignite ambassadors on its plans for internship and mentoring program leading up to BLC, says Wilson.

From there, they’ll develop the details of the offering and be ready to announce it at its largest annual event, he says.

“About half of our members say the number one barrier to growth for them right now is hiring talent,” says Wilson.

“It’s pretty clear NSCA Ignite has peoples’ attention. It was the thing everyone on our board wanted to talk about when we met with them.”

NSCA has overhauled its online career center to make it more welcoming to people it wants to attract and recruit to the industry.

In addition to making the graphics and information easier to use and understand, the career center now includes technology that sends job listings from the career center to major employment web sites.

The effort to advertise industry jobs among members more effectively will continue as Ignite leaders including AVI’s Kelly Perkins leads an effort to streamline and clean up the NSCA job board and make it something more employers, educators and young people will use.

“It’s great that we’re doing a better job helping young people hear more about this industry, but they need somewhere to go if we’re going to reach the goals we have for Ignite,” says Laurie Englert of Milestone, who joins Perkins, Verrex’s Michael Shinn and SurgeX’s Lauren Simmen as those who’ve developed most of the Ignite components.

If you enjoyed this article and want to receive more valuable industry content like this, click here to sign up for our digital newsletters!