About Us
The Event Technicians Resource Group is geared towards those who work in the corporate theater industry. Also known as corporate events, corporate meetings, association meetings, etc. Any event that requires audio, video, lighting, staging, rigging, and/or other forms of production. Membership is open to all who work in the industry. Those who are pushing their way up the ladder and striving to be the best they can be working long hours and in the dark will learn a tremendous amount.
Our Story
Why We Started
At the beginning of 2020 the entertainment industry ground to a screeching halt due to the coronavirus, a.k.a. Covid 19, sweeping the planet. Cancellation after cancellation occurred for companies and freelancers alike. Scott, our founder, was one of the lucky ones as a had a full-time job with an event staging company. With all their events canceled, the company asked Scott to pivot and deep dive into creating training programs for the otherwise sidelined crew. By the end of May 2020 it became apparent that this virus wasn’t going to go away anytime soon and Scott’s job succumb to the inevitable in early June.
It was during this time that Scott reflected (as so many of us have) back on his career. Scott spent 10 years working as a freelance designer and technician right out of college; along with the requisite vagabond style of part-time jobs that newly minted freelancers often have to take. He worked in theaters, television studios, scene shops, and more. He also worked in sign shops, movie theaters, on corporate charter yachts,
and even spent time teaching SCUBA diving. After these 10 years he went to NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts in order to earn his 
MFA in lighting design. The reasoning was twofold; to refocus his efforts towards lighting design and to allow him entry into the teaching world. It was after graduating that his 20 year career in academia started. These 20 years teaching students from middle school through graduate school where some of the most gratifying times of his life. In 2014 his family moved to Philadelphia as his wife took a terrific position at a local university. Scott taught lighting and computer drafting part-time as an adjunct for both Temple University and Rutgers. He also freelanced with area theaters and work union calls for the IATSE Local. Oh the chairs; that’s another story.
In 2015 he landed a job with a boutique event staging company that offered services nationwide. This was the first time he really dealt with event technicians working corporate events in hotels, convention centers, arenas, etc. He found an amazingly wide range of knowledge and skill sets. He has had been heard to say “I was shocked at how many technicians didn’t know how to read a light plot.” This particular
revelation is the primary impetus for the creation of the Event Technicians Resource Group. A vast majority of the technicians working in these types of corporate events do not come via traditional theatrical training programs found in the schools at which Scott used to teach.
It was during Scott’s self reflection that this question arose: How could he use his vast educational experience in entertainment design and technology towards a greater good? What did he discover during the last five years of event production that’s needed most for
event technicians to know in order to be most useful to those they are working for? And, here we are.
Our Founder
Scott C. Parker
Scott C. Parker has been a freelance lighting designer for over 30 years and recently spent shy of five years as the Director of Event Lighting for IMS Technology Services. His work at IMS included lighting design and rigging specifications for corporate events, national conventions, and awards shows. Scott produces the annual Stage Lighting Super Saturday workshop in New York City, co-founded with the infamous Sonny Sonnenfeld in 2005. www.stageseminars.com. Scott is humbled by his recent recognition by the USITT with their Distinguished Achievement Award for Education and remains active at the annual USITT national conferences. Rutgers, Temple, Columbus State, Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film, Pace, City Tech, City College, Edward R. Murrow School, and Berkeley Carroll School have all enjoyed, or put up with, his teaching. Scott is a member of USA829, EIS, ESTA and an ETCP Certified Electrician and Theater Rigger.
