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Getting To Know Your Pollstar Live! Panelists: Robin Shaw of Upstaging
– Robin Shaw
Getting To Know Your Pollstar Live! Panelists
Robin Shaw of Upstaging
Panel: What I Did on my Summer Vacation: How the Production Biz Stood Tall in the Pandemic (Production Live!)
Date/Time: Tuesday, June 15 at 11 a.m.
Other Panelists: Maria Brunner, owner of Insight Management & founder of Musically Fed; Joey Gallagher of Gallagher Staging; Michael Strickland, founder of Bandit Lites; and Debbie Taylor; production coordinator for AC/DC, U2, Black Sabbath, Guns ‘N Roses and The Rolling Stones.
Upstaging, Inc., is normally a national player in tour lighting, production and transportation. Within a week of the live shutdown in March 2020, the company’s leadership organized a massive conference call to figure out a plan of action.
“Our first thought was ‘What can we do to help?’” Robin Shaw of Upstaging told Pollstar in May 2020. “We saw on the news that nobody was getting these PPE (personal protective equipment) face shields. We thought ‘Hey, we can make those.’”
Upstaging quickly designed and produced PPE face shields and the company’s first sale was actually a cold-visit where a driver brought a truck full of PPE face shields to a Chicago hospital, which happened to be in the middle of a shortage and bought them on the spot.
From face shields Upstaging moved into creating desk shields and other safety barrier products. The company also used its trucks during the pandemic to provide much needed food and other supplies to people in need.
“It gave everybody a sense of purpose and that was the most important thing,” Shaw said in an interview last month. “You know, people ask would we carry this on? Would we make this a business? It was a good thing to have done in many reasons. One, it felt good to help out and do what was needed during the time of crisis. And number two, it kept all of our people working. And now that everything is starting to open up … all of our core personnel are still there. If somebody called us and said, ‘Hey, can you be ready to go Friday? We could be ready to go.”
Shaw was honored as one of “The Builders” on the Pollstar 2021 Impact 50 list and as one of “The Influencers” on the 2020 Impact 50 list.
This year’s Pollstar Live! conference will revive live as the concert business is gearing up and the return to normalcy appears well under way. With some of the best talent and minds in the business gathering once more in Los Angeles June 15-17, you won’t want to miss the networking opportunities, insightful discussion and, of course, the Pollstar Awards honoring the best from the live entertainment world.
Pollstar Live! kicks off with Production Live!, the one-day companion conference that features insightful panels and discussions from industry professionals on all topics related to staging live events including lighting, video, staging and stage management, sound technique, concert production, video, regulations, security and more.
Click here for the Production Live! schedule and here for the Pollstar Live! schedule.
Your Professional Background?
Robin Shaw: I am an innovator who develops and manages clientele. I built relationships and set standards during the fast-paced initial growth of the touring industry.
Robin Shaw: I am an innovator who develops and manages clientele. I built relationships and set standards during the fast-paced initial growth of the touring industry.
Proudest Moment In Your Career?
My proudest moment is being one of the first women in the touring industry to pave the way for others and being a consistent leader.
Why Everyone Must Go To This Panel?
Everyone should go to hear from the exceptional people who manage crises on a daily basis and to hear how they worked to solve the biggest crisis of their career. In other panels you must go to hear from some of the best problem solvers in our business on ways to address the problematic issues we will face in 2021 and 2022.
The Story You Will Tell?
Not sure 🙂 Even I don’t know what stories I may decide to tell.
The Story You Won’t Tell?
Ha ha, those stories (plural) I will take to my grave…
What May Cause Tempers To Flare?
I have no idea because personally, I don’t have a temper ?? However, I am passionate about what I believe in, so I have been known to never give up….. just saying…
The Question You Hope Is Asked?
What is being done to keep our highly regarded production talent working? What is being done to engage, educate and employ new talent?
What Do You Dread Most About Going Back To Shows?
Not one damn thing!
Not one damn thing!