Awareness of the Unknown
Intimidated by your surroundings? Turn it into a positive experience.
A typical first week at a new job consists of getting acquainted with coworkers and gradually easing into things, right? Wrong. Well, at least not for me at Yamaha …
An Unconventional Beginning
My first week on the job was a whirlwind, in a good way. On my very first day, I went through the normal orientation that new hires are required to attend, and took care of the formalities of starting a new job — paperwork, presentations, office tours, various introductions, etc. The day went as expected, and I was excited about new beginnings, but I was already starting to feel a little anxious, too.
On my second day, I was up early, but it wasn’t to get to the office on time. I had a plane to Orlando to catch! That’s right, I just started my new job and I was already being sent to my first ever trade show, which just happened to be the behemoth that is InfoComm, one of the largest held in North America.
It would turn into an experience that solidified my unconventional beginning.
My Eyes Get Opened
While at InfoComm, I did my best to try to “drink out of a fire hose,” as some say around the office. The whole pro audio market was brand new to me, so there were countless things for me to discover and learn about, which was a bit intimidating at first. Despite this, I took the show head-on and let my curiosity run wild.
Through my booth explorations and demo room listening sessions, I learned about the companies, their products, the types of products out there, product applications and much more.
Even though I’ve been to countless concerts, I never knew that there was a term for the speakers that hang in a column on each side of the stage (they’re called a line array). I also didn’t know that there was a metric for measuring loudness (SPL, which stands for Sound Pressure Level), or that there are companies that specialize in wireless audio for commercial purposes. These types of things all contributed to what I can truly call an eye-opening experience — one which then opened up a whole new world.
The New Frontier
What’s important about this is that this trip evolved my basic knowledge into a vast frontier of the unknown that I’m continuing to explore today. If I hadn’t been put into that intimidating situation, I wouldn’t have grown from the experience, and I wouldn’t even have the simple awareness of those things that I want to learn more about.
The moral of the story? Put yourself out there and find your own new frontier to explore!
Photo courtesy of the author.
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