Being newer to this industry I find myself continuously learning new things so I thought it would be fun to create a weekly dictionary. This category of posts will focus on words of event management that are related to specific areas of the special events industry.
Just returning from The Special Event Conference in San Diego and working on Michael Cerbelli's huge seminar, I thought I would focus on words related to audio components used in seminars/live performances/etc, specifically microphones. These are important words to know when working on the entertainment and programming portions of your events - hopefully this is interesting and either new to you or a good review!
Lavaliere Microphone:"A portable monodirectional microphone that hooks around the speaker's neck or is attached to the speaker's clothing with a clip. It may be wireless or wired and is usually not visible to the audience. It frees the speaker's hands and allows for movement. Also known as a lapel, neck/necklace, pendant or clip microphone."
Midget Microphone: Yes, this is a real term and it simply means "a small microphone."
Hypercardioid Microphone: "A unidirectional microphone with a tight, long-reaching pattern that accepts only a narrow angle of sound, enabling the pickup of distant voices for question-and-answer sessions, as well as for choirs. Also known as a shotgun microphone."
Cordless Microphone: "A portable microphone that operates on its own power source, connected to a radio transmitter. Also known as a wireless microphone or a radio microphone."
These definitions can be found in the very useful book titled "The International Dictionary of Event Management," Second Edition by Dr. Joe Goldblatt, CSEP and Kathleen S. Nelson, CSEP. This book is a great resource and I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to learn more about the special events industry!