Ongoing Professional Development

Ranging from in-house, peer-to-peer education, to presenting or attending formal training courses – dB Audio Namibia is passionate about building capacity for the live events industry in Namibia, and to further the professional development of each Team member.

Here are some of our recent highlights in this regard:

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Safety & Security Expo

The first ever Namibia Safety & Security Expo took place at the Windhoek Show Grounds during April, and some members of Team dB attended it to sharpen their awareness and to learn more about current trends in this field.
“It was nice to be surrounded by people who take health and safety very seriously just as I do. I enjoyed talking to each and every exhibitor and hearing what they have to offer,” says Phillipina Awoses, Team dB’s OSH (Occupational Safety & Health) Champion.
“I was intrigued by the emphasis on cyber security. This is a very topical issue and NUST did a great job explaining its ramifications in Namibia,” enthuses our Audio Visual Department’s Hendrik Vries.

Goal Setting with Something Artsy

Always looking for opportunities to improve ourselves, some of Team dB set their goals for 2019 in a very creative way at 99FM. Something Artsy’s Jaimee-Lee Diergaardt guided them through a process of using vision boarding to help define what they see for themselves in 2019.
Our Lighting Department’s Leena Tjithunga sums up: “It was so much fun! I thought I knew what I wanted from the year, but this creativity helped me to clarify it. I will look at the board every morning to remind myself of my goals.”
Adds our Temporary Project Coordinator, Jacqueline van Zijl: “I enjoyed the evening very much. It was strange to spend a night without family commitments where you could just focus on yourself. It reminded me that we need to spend time with ourselves before we can effectively be there for others.”

Rigging Training

Continuing our investment into understanding and awareness of international health & safety standards for our industry, two more dB team members spent a week at DWR in Johannesburg this month to learn from the well-respected Rinus Bakker from Rhino Riggs in the Netherlands. Our Junior Lighting Technician, Geraldo Papo, and our Technical Event Project Manager, Char-Anne Husselman, attended an internationally recognized 5-day rigging course covering topics such as safety, maintenance, lifting materials, force calculations, load tables and much more.

Basic Sound Workshop

Our Sound Department’s Karaa Kakero-Mungendje broadened her professional horizons by attending a basic sound workshop at NBC’s Studio 7 presented by Danny Azangi from Mastamix Studios and Mikel-Jes. Says Karaa: “It was very interesting to hear things you are already familiar with explained by another person, it helps you to understand better. There is also so much new information I learnt today. I am happy I came, it was very nice to meet so many musicians and technicians who are passionate about sound.”

Exposure with PRG Gearhouse

Four of Team dB’s department seniors spent the month of November 2018 in the UAE where they gained maximum experience from a job attachment with PRG Gearhouse. As the Middle East’s longest serving provider of technical event support, our team was privileged to gain valuable, hands-on experience working on very exciting, high-end projects in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
“I am a Grand Prix fan, so working on the Abu Dhabi Formula One was a dream come true,” enthuses Gillroy Barmann.
“What struck me was how developed the country is. There is wi-fi literally everywhere, and it doesn’t matter where you need to set up, there will be a 3-phase power socket in the vicinity,” explains Edison Matuzee.
Rubben Makuku highlights the cities they visited: “Everything is so well designed and beautiful, it almost feels like you’re in a sci-fi movie!”.
For Gerhardus Engelbrecht, the people’s friendliness stood out. “Not only were we treated very well by PRG Gearhouse, but even going to a shop you experience customer service like I have never seen before”. Thank you PRG Gearhouse for this incredible opportunity!

Show Calling Exposure

Show calling is a specialised yet often overlooked field within live event production. Team dB’s Rusa Reinhordt and Fellemon Ndongo are passionate show callers, so they jumped at an opportunity to latch onto seasoned theatre- & events specialist, Vanessa Nicolau, as she prepared to stage Jo’burg Ballet’s production of ‘Cinderella’, at The Teatro at Montecasino in South Africa during December 2018.
“With corporate events you only call the show once and it’s done. In the theatre, the show needs to be called many more times, sometimes with a different cast and crew. I find this insight very valuable and will certainly apply it when calling shows in future,” explains Rusa. “Theatre show calling has far more cues than any corporate event I have worked on, so I loved learning what all the cues are for and why they are important,” continues Rusa.
“As a theatre practitioner even outside of dB Audio Namibia, I cannot express how valuable this experience has been”, adds Fellemon.
Thank you Vanessa Nicolau Theatre & Events for supporting the Namibian industry through this valuable exposure!

First Aid + Project Management

Char-Anne Husselmann, Namibia’s only female Technical Events Project Manager, spent a week in Cape Town recently to advance her skills through the University of Stellenbosch’s Business School. The 5-day ‘Managing Projects’ programme looked at formulating project scope, aligning project stakeholders, project budgeting and dealing with variations.
Victor Joseph, our sets builder, and Josef Eelu from our AV team, attended First Aid level 1 training with EMTSS during November. “What stood out for me is what I always believed – prevention is better than cure,” says Victor. “I learnt that we shouldn’t always believe what we see in the movies. CPR and dealing with snakebites is very different in real life. I’m glad I have these skills now,” says Josef.

IT Exposure

Our IT Technician Martin Nangolo, our AV department’s Isabella Matuzee and our Lighting Department’s Leena Tjithunga attended some sessions of the recent ICT summit held in Windhoek. Presented under the theme “Digital Transformation for an ICT smart Namibia”, the annual summit sees Information Communication Technology stakeholders discussing trends and challenges facing the industry. “I really did not know how well Namibia is doing in this area. It was very motivating to hear that what I do every day contributes to Namibia’s standing in the ICT sector”, explains Isabella.