by Ana María Restrepo
He also dedicated himself since childhood to assemble electronic equipment together with his father, and to enjoy the wonders of audio and video. "My father was a scientist and a crazy about electronics. In fact, it was one of the pioneers in the manufacture of simultaneous translation equipment. I was very young and spent hours in the workshop helping him assemble the equipment. Dad made me roll the copper threads of the coils."
This path traveled with his father allowed him to obtain the title of Systems Analyst and to interfere fully in electronics, and even more in the audiovisual sector.
In 1983, Diego's father dies at a congress and at the age of 22, he, and his brothers Carlos and Esteban, begin to work on their own to help with household expenses and support the family. "We traveled a very long road, full of sacrifices, hours without sleep. When I look back, I feel the enormous satisfaction of being able to create a company that today is a leader in Argentina and that employs 140 people directly and many others indirectly."
For events...
De Elías and his company are part of a sector of the audiovisual industry that is responsible for putting in images and sound the daily life of the world of events and contests, because at present these are some of the activities that most move cities, their tourism, their industries and their economy. But what if these events weren't well organized logistically and technically? For all the economic sectors that move around it would lose in one way or another.
Therefore, Diego and his collaborators strive in Congress Rental to provide specialized services in projection, sound, conference systems, simultaneous interpretation, lighting, staging, voting system, registrations, streaming, closed circuit video, slides, vidiwall, among others, setting trends within the audiovisual business.
Today the company offers its services in several Argentine provinces such as Buenos Aires, Bariloche, Chubut, Córdoba, Mar del Plata, Mendoza, Salta, Tucumán, Rosario, Ushuaia, also in some Latin American countries such as Chile, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay.
This company, which was born as a family company, has become an institution that due to the demands of the market, the speed of technological advances, competition and globalization has become increasingly professional and efficient, providing services not only locally, but also regionally and internationally. "At Congress Rental you can breathe a "different air". Young people, enthusiastic, fun with what they do, create a special environment to work and to do good business," says Diego de Elías, general manager of the company.
Day and night, under the sun or shade
The work of Diego, his brothers and collaborators is not limited to a few hours a day, it is a job that demands everything from themselves and their abilities as specialists in the audio and video industry. {mospagebreak}
Diego remembers that at the beginning of the company, he was in charge of the technical part and was responsible for operating the equipment. In one of the first congresses they worked, which was for 1000 people, they worked from five in the afternoon and all night because they had to install simultaneous translation, lighting and video projection. The next day one of his brothers criticized his work and explained that even if they were exhausted from that hard work they had to do things well, because the client only cares that his event goes as planned, not if the team was exhausted and if he had worked all night. "It was very hard to hear, but he was and he is right. The client hires us so that we look at all the details and so that we give it the highest quality. He doesn't care how many hours we work to reach the goal. It was a great teaching," he explained.
From this experience Diego learned some things, which he continues to perfect and improve over time. As a Manager, he believes that you must have clear objectives that help the company, customers and employees get ahead. The most important thing is to form a good work team, finding the best to occupy the most critical areas. It also considers that customers should be served and maintained very well, not only those who hire them but also employees, because having a good working environment causes the service to be excellent.
In the same way that a key direction helps a company to get ahead, external influence can improve its market share and that is what has happened in Argentina and in Congress Rental; since the reactivation of the economy of the region produced that many events of international level were held in the country.
Audiovisual evolution
The growth of the industry in the region has made the degree of demand in services greater, and companies of high recognition such as Monsanto, Coca Cola, Microsoft, or International Organizations, have held events for which Diego and his working group have been responsible for logistics and technical equipment under a high degree of demand and quality.
These high demands make the company constantly updated on the latest technologies. "Congress Rental Argentina, is part of a global network of audio and video companies belonging to the Dutch firm Bosch. This network allows us to have access to the latest technologies and to be able to hold events anywhere in the world," says De Elías. But it is also necessary for professionals to be trained, and in this issue, both InfoComm and Congress Rental itself have technical training and updating programs in new technologies. "We have started the PAC, a high quality program, whose objective is to ensure that the training provided is reflected every day in all the events we hold. The PAC is getting extremely positive results," he said.
However, although Diego's days start very early and it is not known when they end, because in this type of companies there are no established schedules, no weekends or holidays, as he explains, he dedicates much of his time to share with his family. He has been married to Patricia for 23 years and they have three children: Manuel, 19, who is in his second year of medical school, Magdalena, 16, and Mateo, 10, who are still going to school.
"I'm a rugby fan and on Saturdays I take Mateo to play for Club Regatas Bella Vista. I am studying the rules of children's rugby because I have been asked to be a referee in matches. I am very happy with this and it is still a great challenge. I have to take care of the parents who are outside the court!" says this professional, who also thanks God for the opportunity he has had to have them in his life and to travel with them, because these trips have allowed them to unite even more.
For the future, Diego hopes to train even more and as such the General Management of Congress Rental is a great challenge for him, which is why he has taken several refresher courses at the Institute of Higher Studies of the Austral University (IAE) and plans to continue doing so.
