Just as an excellent thriller has emotion, creativity and imagination, the days of Colombian Luis Alberto Vásquez are made up of technology, innovation, quality, experience, passion and family union.
by Ana María Restrepo
Luis Alberto and two of his three brothers are dedicated to the business of the audiovisual industry in Eleven Producciones, a company that since 1993 has provided communication solutions for the events market, offering a portfolio of services in technical production and content design.
Alberto and Andrés Vásquez work together at Eleven Producciones, while Daniel works as Manager of Media Concept, another of Eleven Producciones' companies, where pieces are developed in High Definition for Cinema, video, commercials, multimedia and formats applicable to events such as widescreen and 3D. There are also Visual FX, a company that since 2002 specialized in visual effects for events, presentations and television programs; and Audio Corp, which since 2001, has become an organization providing professional sound amplification services for corporate events.
Audiovisual life
On July 17, 1963, Luis Alberto Vásquez Guevara was born in Bogotá, Colombia, a Social Communicator with an emphasis on electronic media and with a postgraduate degree in Marketing Management, who serves as General Director of Eleven Producciones with his brother Andrés, executive producer of the company.
"Broadly speaking, we can say that the link with the audiovisual industry came through music, because both my brother Daniel, (Film and TV Director) and I, had our first jobs in the recording industry. It is here that we discover the importance of the audiovisual industry for both entertainment and the corporate market, as both demand technology to impact and communicate."
When Alberto was working with Sony Music, they began the purchase of equipment and execution of events, in partnership with his father, Luis Jorge Vásquez (pensioner of NCR) and his other brother Andrés, who was studying Advertising, a career that ended up doing the thesis "Advertising in real time", focused on the role of events within the marketing strategy and its impact.
In 1993 Eleven Producciones was born, however since 1992 the project began. The first equipment was acquired in November 1992, but due to financial difficulties the first production unit could not be completed until May 93.
Technology and expansion in Latin America
At present and thanks to the reactivation of the economy in most Latin countries, the audio and video industry has set its eyes on the region, moreover, some products that previously took a long time to reach this area now only take a few days. Likewise, the purchasing power of companies has improved significantly, allowing the development of a much more technological industry.
For Vásquez, Latin America is a market that represents greater growth potential since developed countries are saturated. "This has been understood by the industry and it is satisfying to see how today there are sales departments serving only the Latin American market, either from their offices in the United States or opening branches in Mexico and Brazil, mainly, because manufacturers have understood the Latin needs and the operation of the market in the region, improving essential aspects such as after-sales service and delivery times".
It should be noted that the improvement in terms of the economy, the development of an audio and video market in the region and the educational advance have made consumers more knowledgeable about the subject, specialize more and demand quality for their projects, which is why Eleven Producciones remains in a constant update.
Likewise, Alberto highlights that the educational offer in the industry has improved, moreover, "in terms of human resources, we have gone from empirical training to an increasingly professor training, either with training in fairs or seminars, or in faculties that have created the profession of audiovisual media".
Awarded for their creativity
Within a company that provides services with the highest technology, development and innovation are imperatives that must remain in force, because as the General Director of Eleven Producciones states, technology is always presenting permanent challenges due to how changing it is and permanent novelties; therefore it requires attention to its evolution, to market trends, to the successful cases of its application in other countries and above all creativity and imagination.
That is why dynamism, ingenuity, talent, and imagination, combined with knowledge and creativity made Eleven Producciones receive twice the Rental & Staging System Award, the most important international award in the technical production of corporate and entertainment events.
In the same way, the commitment and performance of the company and the entire human team that work together with Alberto and Andrés, allowed the certification in the quality management system in the ISO 9001-2000 standard, granted by the firm SGS, which has worldwide recognition. This certification covers the company's internal processes, compliance with industrial safety standards, maintenance, inventories, and training. It should be noted that they also received the CAVSP Certification (Certified Audiovisual Solutions Provider), granted by ICIA, InfoComm, which certifies them as an audiovisual service provider, the first Latin American company to receive such certification.
Familiar sounds
Within a family of five men the mother is the one who leads some activities, and is the one who at a certain moment puts order, and in this case Mercedes, Alberto's mother, is no exception, because she is the one who in one way or another has supported them in their constant professional or personal evolution, likewise, his father has been part of the projects, since he lived closely the transformation of electromechanical equipment to electronic equipment in NCR, "he always instilled in us the importance of working independently and creating a company," says Alberto.
Unlike the patriarchy of his family, Alberto constituted a warm home next to Ana María Parga and Silvana, his four-year-old daughter, two beautiful women who support him and remain with him in every moment of his life. Ana María is a Business Administrator with a specialization in Marketing Management and is the Quality Director of the organization, while serving as a stockbroker; and Silvana, just four years old, seems to follow in the footsteps of her father and uncles, as she is already passionate about the third dimension.
Generally Vásquez's days begin at five in the morning, because as he says he is an 'inveterate early riser', "I exercise, play with the baby and arrive around 7:30 a.m. to the office". Some days, and depending on the itinerary, Alberto modifies the beginning of his work activities, although he tries to maintain order, because in the morning he tries to evacuate the administrative issues first thing in the morning and in the day he attends to the commercial requests of the clients, following up on the budgets that have been sent and is aware of the projects that are being executed every day. a. "I attend the pre-production meetings and together with our staff we design the logistics for each event. The closing of the day depends on the projects that are being carried out. I try to arrive before my daughter is asleep to enjoy her a little, talk to my wife and read topics of technology and general interest, "explains Vásquez.
And although his work is very important, for Alberto his family is the pillar that helps him to stay on his feet day by day and to seek to realize his dreams, that is why as a manager he hopes to continue positioning his company by providing communication solutions based on the most modern audiovisual technology that guarantees customer satisfaction, always seeking to improve and innovate, added to permanent training in all areas of the organization.
As a good anecdote the CEO of Eleven productions recalls that the first event in which the company worked was the launch of a CitiBank campaign called "Citi never sleeps", a slogan that we could say became a premonition about what would be the activity of the company, since as Luis Alberto assures, "from that moment on, there is very little that we have slept because of the schedules that this work demands".
What's there and what's to come
The audio and video industry is gaining strength in Colombia, more and more companies demand complete, creative and dazzling events that leave the name of the organization high, that is why in the country more trainings are being carried out on the subject and the industry, and careers have been opened in different universities focused on this industry. In the same way and fortunately for Colombians, more and more events and seminars are held in Spanish, because according to Vásquez the language was a barrier to training. "There is also an excellent offer on the Internet. That is, whoever is in this business must prepare permanently and there is no valid excuse for not doing so," he said.
Currently, the company is headquartered in Bogota, Colombia and Panama, where Eleven Producciones Latinoamérica S.A. was recently created in order to serve the market of this country and Central America.
The road is long and the industry is developing more and more in Latin America, so companies in the sector must prepare, study, update and improve their products and services.
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