MAP Digital’s Virtual Event Portraits: from the Ballroom to the Kitchen Table
Terence McCabe
How long have you worked for MAP Digital?
I have worked with MAP Digital since 2014. I called Meghan Swift, COO of MAP Digital who was a classmate of mine at Emerson College to see if the company needed my help with their events. She immediately hired me for our largest in-person event in San Francisco, which put me on the track to where I am today.
What is your role with MAP Digital?
When I first started over 6 years ago, I was working as an onsite webcast and network engineer. When I moved to New York City in fall of 2019, I started working part-time in the MAP Digital office doing project management and event prep work. In early March, 2020 I was offered a full-time position and currently have the title of Producer. Now, because of the COVID pandemic, my production role varies from day-to-day, but there is one constant: Zoom calls. When we are not producing live virtual event webcasts, I am on calls explaining to our clients how the show flow works and what our best practices recommendations are. I am also in charge of guiding them through live, virtual event and coordinating with our production staff. During our live virtual productions, I manage the Zoom rooms, encode these videos as live webcasts, and monitor our internal communications line. Today, I had 4 audio sources in two ears. Sometimes, I feel like I’m going a bit crazy at times keeping up with the constant flow of information.
What did you do prior to MAP Digital?
My background is in Video Production. However, before I moved to New York, I was a professional Ski Bum. I moved to Lake Tahoe, CA in 2001 and worked a variety of on and off-mountain jobs that offered a free ski pass for employees. In 2006 I took a job as a Producer/Videographer with a local media services company that also came with a free ski pass. Most of our clients were mountain sports companies, so I got plenty of time in the outdoors on shoots. Skiing with a 30lb pack of camera gear was not something I learned in film school! In 2014 I worked at a ski resort as a Mountain Host. This job involved skiing around the mountain and making sure everyone was having fun, and if they weren’t, it was my job to find a way to fix it.
What do you miss most about the MAP Office at 56 Ludlow?
I miss the camaraderie of the office environment. The MAP Digital’s office is located in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, so we are surrounded by great cafes and restaurants. I miss the team’s regular coffee runs to Café Vita together or grabbing a drink after work. Also, it was much easier to gauge how immersed in a task someone was when you can just look across the desk at them. Over Slack, it’s harder to judge if it is a good time to ask a question or get some insight on a project. Most importantly I miss the Tuesday Team Lunch! Each week a different team member got to pick where our team lunch was to be ordered from, and then we would all gather to enjoy it together. The virtual MAP Team happy hours just don’t hit the same.
What is your funniest COVID WFH story?
Not sure if it was funny, but I just moved into a new apartment, and searching for it during the COVID lockdown in NYC was a real adventure. While we were looking for a place, we were fortunate to be able to stay with friends. However, we had to stay longer than planned. Once the lockdown happened, our roommate’s son was sent home from college and her older son, who lives in Boston, was in NYC and couldn’t travel back to his home. So, what was a spacious 2 bedroom apartment in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn became a crowded “Party of Five”.
What is the most challenging part about this ‘new normal’?
The hardest thing is knowing when to stop working. It is hard to step away when there is no commute to have to contend with or after-work drinks to run off to. At a certain point, you just have to make yourself stop working. Although, when we are producing our virtual events, it is nice to not have to worry about putting on a suit or traveling to the site. It gives me a bit more time to sleep or mentally prepare in the morning. Also, not being able to visit with family and friends regularly is also very hard. I had hoped moving back to the East Coast would give me more opportunities to see my folks in Maine or my aunts and uncles in upstate New York. I haven’t really been able to do it. Missing out on springtime in the city and summer by the lake in Maine is also a real bummer.
©Ellie Kurttz Photography, captured via Zoom
