SVG College Sports Summit Q&A: Alpha Video’s Jeff Volk

SVG’s College Sports Summit is rapidly approaching, and this year’s agenda includes a workshop track geared towards all things venue. For many colleges and universities, a properly designed and outfitted control room can make all the difference, and many are making strides by renovating existing rooms or incorporating state-of-the-art facilities into new builds. However, the number of technology decisions that need to be made can be daunting.

Jeff Volk, VP, Alpha Video

The first panel of the Venue Technology: Gearing Up for Game Day workshop track will tackle control-room design and update attendees on the latest technology. Jeff Volk, recently elevated to VP of Alpha Video, will participate in the panel discussion, speaking about how to get the most bang for your buck when purchasing gear, how to future-proof your control room, and much more.

Why are you involved with the SVG College Sports Summit?
The SVG College Sports Summit has become THE event to attend as it relates to the college sports-video–production market. It does a great job of covering the needs and issues from all of the various points of view that shape the market. From rights issues to broadcasting to venues, the SVG College Sports Summit not only allows us to engage with our clients in our areas of expertise but provides a learning opportunity for us in areas where we might not be experts, such as rights issues.

In what ways have you seen the SVG College Sports Summit evolve with the rapidly changing climate of college sports?
College sports production has changed in recent years from handling largely in-venue video production to include event production for broadcast — for either linear or online networks. The SVG College Sports Summit has been at the forefront for years in covering and providing valuable real-world advice for schools as they navigate these new waters.

What are you most looking forward to at this year’s Summit?
The SVG College Sports Summit is the one chance we have each year — more so than NAB or any other event — for us to engage with our large college-sports client base and all of our primary manufacturer partners.

You are speaking on the workshop panel that will discuss control-room design in venues. What’s one piece of advice you have for a university looking to upgrade its in-venue video-production capabilities?
Today’s college sports facilities have become so much more than a control room to handle in-venue production demands. Designing and building a facility that can handle your in-venue needs as well as the broadcasting of events is critical in today’s world. Further, designing a facility that can be easily expanded to handle multiple or simultaneous events is also critical as schools look to generate more and more content and balance their in-venue and broadcasting needs.