Championing AVIXA Training Down Under
Over the course of 27 years working at Melbourne, Australia’s Monash University, first in audiovisual supplies and support and then as design manager, Scott Doyle, CTS®, witnessed many changes in AV technology and its application to the educational field. When he first started, straight out of school in 1992, his job at Monash was in the “television department” and there wasn’t even such a thing as AV technology in the classroom. As he learned the ropes and technology began to increase in sophistication, an opportunity arose to attend AVIXA™ training, hosted by the university. In 2002, he earned his CTS, an achievement that turned out to be pivotal in his career and laid the foundation for a leadership role in the AV professional association representing his peers from other universities.
Scott Doyle, CTS
“I’ve always been a big supporter of AVIXA and their training in Australia, and I’ve actively encouraged others to make the most of it,” says Doyle, now Audiovisual Manager at Swinburne University of Technology, a world-renowned institution for physics, civil engineering, art, and design.
When he started at Swinburne in November 2017, one of his first orders of business was to get his team CTS certified.
“When I arrived, I had three staff members, two who were fresh out of university and didn’t know much about the broader AV industry, and one who had been in the industry for a long time. I wanted them all to make a commitment to get certified by the end of the first year,” says Doyle.
All earned their CTS, and with increasing demands on campus for AV technology and the need to standardize the AV systems, he received the go-ahead to expand his team —all seven of whom are now CTS certified. “I am strongly committed to professional development for my staff. It’s important that if my whole team has CTS, everyone on campus knows we’re AV certified — all of us — and we’re all qualified to undertake the work assigned to us. The CTS shows we’re committed to the industry and the standards that AVIXA sets.”
Doyle is also actively involved with the Audiovisual and Educational Technology Management (AETM) association, and for the last three years has led the Asia-Pacific region group as its President. While on the AETM committee in 2013, he worked on an agreement with AVIXA to promote membership among the association’s members, expanding from 17 universities at the beginning of the year to 45 at the end of 2013, “and now we have 60 universities that are AVIXA members,” he says.
“Swinburne hosted a three-day training, provided by AVIXA: design fundamentals on day 1, network design and AV networking on day 2, and day 3 was CTS Prep. It was held in Melbourne and in Sydney (at UniSYD) and we had 25 people each day — integrators, consultants, and people from other universities. I included my additional contract staff, and over three days all of my staff sat through at least one day of training. They took the time to study properly and go through the process, and then sat for their CTS exam shortly afterward.”
Being able to grow a team, in terms of size, scope, and their individual professional development, is the most enjoyable part of his job at Swinburne, says Doyle, and he’s especially proud of what they have achieved over the last year or so.
“The team I selected has shown high-level skills and progress. They work well and communicate well despite the chaos around us — everyone helps out, or carries something for someone else,” he says. “I feel like a sports coach, where team orientation is so important. I enjoy coming in and seeing that success every day.”
His next step, he says, is to get everyone trained and prepared to take the CTS-D.
