STANDBY — LIVE IN

Show up trained.
Get to work.

The Event Technician's Private Training Academy. Practical courses in audio, video and lighting for people entering — or growing inside — the live events industry.

FIRST COHORT — END OF JANUARY 2027

Most production companies can't find enough trained crew.

Industry research from ESSA, reported by Event Industry News in late 2025, found that the large majority of member companies had struggled to recruit over the previous year — with a shortage of available workers as the overwhelming cause, and the gap widest in operational and technical roles.

That's not a job-advert problem. It's a pipeline problem. OK.Standby exists to put trained, work-ready technicians into that gap.

SOURCE: ESSA / EVENT INDUSTRY NEWS, NOV 2025

On the cue sheet

Courses

Short, practical training — built around the three disciplines and the freelance realities of working in live events.

Foundations · 4 days

Getting Started: How to Get Work from the Beginning

For people brand new to the industry
  • Intro to Audio, Video and Lighting, hands-on with common desks
  • Employment types: full-time, self-employed, seasonal
  • Personal branding and winning repeat work from day one
Foundations · 3 days

Growing as a Freelancer

For freelancers 2–3 years into the industry
  • Financial stability and knowing when to bring in an accountant
  • Networking B2B vs. P2P — and which to prioritise
  • Micro and macro leadership on site
Audio · 2 days

Live Audio Conference & Corporate Sector

A1/A2 fundamentals for corporate audio
  • Dante network routing and automixers
  • Yamaha, Allen & Heath desks — hands-on time
  • Micing presenters with confidence
Video · 2 days

Live Video Conference & Corporate Sector

Switching and playback for corporate video
  • EDID management and signal types: HDMI, SDI, Fiber
  • Barco, Blackmagic ATEM — hands-on time
  • Managing clickers, DSMs and presenter nerves
Lighting · 2 days

Live Lighting Conference & Corporate Sector

L1/L2 fundamentals for corporate lighting
  • DMX, RDM, Art-Net and sACN networking
  • grandMA, Hog, Avolites — hands-on time
  • Pre-vis software and rapid patch verification

The running order

How it works

Q1

Pick a course

Start with the fundamentals, or go straight into your discipline.

Q2

Train hands-on

Real desks, real workflows — plus lifetime access to session videos, notes and checklists.

Q3

Get matched

Share your availability with every trainer for on-site work and work-experience placements.

Q4

Go live

Graduate into freelance work, an apprenticeship, or a full-time role with a partner company.

Coming alongside the courses

The OK.Standby Podcast

Conversations from the crew room — working technicians, freelancers and production companies talking honestly about what it actually takes to build a career in live events.

Get notified at launch

For production companies

Partner with us

Get in front of trained, work-ready technicians before anyone else does — and help shape what we teach.

Standby Partner

Logo placement, a podcast mention, and a seat on any course for your own crew.

Headline Partner

First-refusal hiring rights, a dedicated podcast episode, and a seat on our curriculum panel.

Request the partnership proposal

Be first in when we go live.

First cohort runs end of January 2027. Join the waitlist for early-bird course dates, or tell us you're a production company interested in partnering.

Signups go straight to the OK.Standby team.