First Person Contractor
Jun 1, 2002 12:00 PM,
NATHANIEL HECHT
IN THE FIVE YEARS SINCE I’VE BEEN THE EDITOR OF S&VC, I HAVE TRIED TO USE my editorials to identify new areas of business, to help you save time and money and increase your work efficiency. I share those goals with the magazine; but now I’d like to tell you how you can contribute to our efforts by sharing your experiences with others in the industry. Your experiences in the low-voltage installation and contracting marketplace (and in high voltage as well) are valuable, and the S&VC staff sees itself as the hub of communications, where professionals can share and glean knowledge of the best work practices.
Some of the best installation stories we get come from people just like you. An installation story told in the “first person, contractor” voice is one of the best kinds of story because it relates first-hand experiences. Reading the details in stories like those sheds light on the installation skills, business skills, product applications and problem-solving methods that we all strive to develop. I’d like to formally invite you to contribute a story to S&VC.
It’s fun to see your name in print, and you also get to contribute to the body of industry knowledge, which can be professionally satisfying. We can’t print everything we get, but what we don’t put in S&VC often finds a good venue at SVConline.com.
Here, then, are the basic submission requirements:
The story must be about 2500 words. That might seem like a lot, but once you start writing about the installation details, business interactions and design parameters, it’s is fairly easy to reach.
Photos, preferably in electronic form, are a must. Behind-the-scenes shots of creative product mountings, equipment rooms, and so on make an article more interesting and useful. If the venue is beautiful, send photos. Who knows? It might even become a magazine cover. (Your best bet for getting on the cover is to hire a professional photographer to take high-resolution images.)
Equipment lists and signal flow block diagrams are helpful. Block diagrams are important because they not only show what products were installed, but also show how these products interact in the circuit. AutoCAD drawings are great and hand-drawings can work. The equipment list ensures we don’t leave out any important product details. Measurement data such as screen captures from EASE, Modeler or Smaart Pro are always welcome.
Biographical information for the author must be included. We don’t publish anonymous work, so be prepared to give us your name, company name, title and about 20 words about yourself. We also like to publish an e-mail address so readers can contact authors with questions. (This practice has had nothing but positive results.)
Let us know if you have a special interest in a topic we might not have covered, and if you are a potential author, so much the better. We’d appreciating hearing from readers who are potential authors about advanced topics, applications or technologies. Just indicate what you’d like to write about when you contact us.
Direct submissions and inquiries to me at [email protected]. If we accept your story idea or technical article, I will send you one of our official Jason Perlman Memorial Golf Tournament golf shirts we provided for our annual sponsorship of the Pediatric Diabetes Foundation event at the 2002 NSCA show. Good writing to those who will be joining the S&VC team of authors!
