SVG College Sports Summit Q&A: Central Florida’s John Kvatek

This year’s SVG College Sports Summit is rapidly approaching. SVG has assembled a distinguished group of college sports-video experts and television executives as speakers to share their expertise and help move the entire industry to the next level.

John Kvatek, University of Central Florida

Leading up to the two-day event, SVG will check in with key members of the program to discuss their involvement and what they hope the Summit will accomplish, as well as to impart some initial pieces of advice.

A long-time attendee of the event, John Kvatek, director of video services, University of Central Florida Athletics, discusses how the show has evolved over the past five years.

Why are you involved with the SVG College Sports Summit?
I’ve had the chance to attend and be a part of the CSVS (now College Sports Summit) since the beginning and have been impressed with the range of professionals that come to the conference. I don’t think there’s any other place where you can hear network-level broadcasters, college marketing and communications professionals, and production people from conferences and schools talking about what they’re doing. Each group has their own national conference, but this is the only place where [the groups come] together and the bigger picture really comes into focus.

In what ways have you seen the SVG College Sports Summit evolve with the rapidly changing climate of college sports?
The CSVS/CSS conference has always focused on the latest best practices, facilities, and new technologies. It talks in real terms about how all of the allied areas are affected and how they can apply equipment, strategies, and techniques. The best part is that, as the conference has grown and the audience diversified, more people have become more aware and more integrated into the process of producing sports media. All of the different groups, from broadcasters and production people to sports-marketing staff and administrators, are starting to speak the same language.

What are you most looking forward to at this year’s Summit?
I’m not sure what I’m most looking forward to. I usually go in with an idea of what will be important to me but always end up finding something I didn’t expect. Maybe that’s the thing I’m looking forward to, the one I wasn’t expecting that will make the light go on or that makes me see one of the topics in a different way.

You are moderating the workshop panel that will discuss the latest in video-production technologies. What’s one piece of advice you have for an athletic department looking to boost its live-video offerings to fans?
You get what you pay for, and you should make sure you pay for what you need. Great video production isn’t always expensive, but it usually isn’t cheap. Really drill down on what you want to accomplish and then set your price and staffing expectations just above that so you have some room to grow. Most people in our industry will try to push the limits, so make sure you have some room to grow in your facilities and that you’re hiring people who can take the technology as far as you expect it to go and still find some unique things to do with it.

The SVG College Sports Summit (May 29-30, Hyatt Regency, Atlanta) is the top professional-networking event to learn about anything and everything in collegiate sports production.