|
Volume 5, Issue 11 — November 14, 2011
|
| | |
| | |
|
Click here for more information |
Getting to Why
By Joel Rollins, CTS Last month, I was fairly critical of all of us, myself included, for often falling victim to the myth that the “I.T. Industry Ogre” was going to proverbially grind our bones to make their bread.
Now let me tell you what, in my humble opinion, actually could kill us, or at least significantly harm us — and although I speak mainly of the staging portion of our industry, it’s something equally applicable to all of us.
We could allow ourselves to become irrelevant, not by the actions of some other industry faction, but by our own failure to recognize that some of our business models are becoming outdated.
For almost all of the last half-century, the rental and staging part of our industry has been where customers went because we knew HOW. Personally, I’ve always been in my glory when a client came to me and said, “We want to launch our new product onstage with a big splash — how do we do it?” or some equivalent thereof. It allowed me to dig into the latest additions to my bag of tricks and create some magic on the stage, no matter what the latest in technology for those things happened to be… lasers, 3D, interactivity, etc. But it has always been based on knowing “how.” But, truth be told, we were working with a generation of executives and entrepreneurs who had been raised in business to believe that THE way to make that kind of market impact was in a public event, and our competition was people like ourselves with a different idea of HOW that event should be staged.
But my first boss in the industry often reminded me that “the people who know HOW always wind up working for the people who know WHY.”
The issue is that we now deal with a generation of client who have been raised with other viable methods of getting a message out… webcasts, social media, “viral” videos, videoconferencing… and we need to have a different case to present besides just “how.” We need, like the sales and installation portions of our industry, to make a grounded case for the “why” of public events. And we need to do it clearly, with FACTS, in a time when business travel and large public events are being discouraged in many organizations on both economic and ecological grounds. So, in this climate of rapidly changing business methods, for the first time we face competition for the event that’s not just a different “how” for the event — they face us with ALTERNATIVES to having the event at all, and they begin with a more fundamental question — the “why.”
And this competition to grab the client’s attention at the “why” doesn’t just come from website developers, social media gurus, etc. As I pointed out last month, sometimes we meet the enemy, and they are us.
The best cases I see, with the most backup, are coming from the big players in distance communications. Polycom, Cisco, Sony and their compatriots, and the sales and marketing people on the installation side of the business, have enormous cases, backed with white papers, figures and documentation. They have powerful business cases for eliminating travel for meetings and holding events remotely. The entry of these powerful new players into our industry is changing the way business cases for communication are made. And they start with “why.” So we should no longer wait until the decision to hold a public event has been made. We need to be able to present business cases for WHY public events are so valuable, to help our staging clients make their cases with their own internal competition in the early stages of the game.
So HOW do we get ourselves to the WHY? Well, we have some important cases to make ourselves. One is track record — while distance communications are powerful, and have improved GREATLY in quality, and are doing so at a faster pace all the time, they haven’t been for very long. Use figures for the past two years, and they look good. Use figures for the past decade, and the impact case swings to our side. Public events have been the way to communicate with impact for a long, long time, and can’t be ignored in favor of technology alone. Another great case is qualitative impact — certainly, the statements of their own attendees on how much a method impacts them shouldn’t be ignored either. Attendee comments on the use of distance communications, while positive, revolve around convenience and efficiency. Attendee comments from events revolve around “wow.” Around impact. Around WHY to do it through a public event.
Look it up. Check out what the alternative methods are using for case studies. They’re probably lying around most of your offices anyway, and if not, their websites trumpet the business cases loudly. Then, check out research on business meetings at the USTA and the Hotel Sales and Marketing Association. The rental and staging industry has decades of figures to prove our effectiveness, and a great case to be made for efficiency in the very density of communication and contact that can only be provided by public events.
There’s no doubt that for the foreseeable future we will deal with competition for customer dollars based on both costs and new methods becoming available, and we will just have to make our case in new ways.
Arm yourselves. Get down to why.
rAVe Rental [and Staging] contributor Joel R. Rollins, CTS-R, is General Manager of Everett Hall Associates, Inc. and is well known throughout the professional AV industry for his contributions to industry training and his extensive background in AV rental, staging and installation. Joel can be reached at joelrollins@mac.com Leave a Comment
Share Article Back to Top |
Click here for more information |
ISE Adds Sound and Lighting Event Underlining its commitment to providing new forms of market intelligence and thought leadership in fields connected to its successful tradeshow, Integrated Systems Europe is to host the inaugural Dynamic Events conference in Amsterdam on Monday, Jan. 30. Dynamic Events is a new conference dedicated to the use of lighting, sound, video and staging technologies in large-scale entertainment and sporting environments. The 2012 edition will focus on international ceremonies which receive a global televised audience and which, because of their scale, their need for creative innovation and their mission-critical nature, pose particular challenges to the event community.
“Every year for the past three or four years, we have seen a substantial increase in the number of ISE attendees who list ‘live events’ as a major source of revenue,” says Mike Blackman, Managing Director, Integrated Systems Events. “Many C-level people in business today grew up on rock-and-roll, and their desire to inject their brands with the energy and production values of concert touring has made the live-events market an increasingly fertile hunting ground for the professional AV and systems integration community.
“We are therefore delighted to be hosting the inaugural Dynamic Events conference at ISE 2012. As well as giving many more of our attendees a reason to arrive in Amsterdam a day early, the conference will also attract manufacturers, distributors, brand managers, event designers and other professionals from this market who have not previously visited ISE.”
An outline programme for Dynamic Events 2012 is available now. The day will begin with a keynote speech from Ric Birch, CEO of global ceremonies production company Spectak, with a series of subsequent panel discussions focusing on video and projection, audio, and lighting design. Confirmed panellists for these discussions include Gary Hardesty, chief designer and project manager for audio systems at the Beijing Olympic opening and closing ceremonies; Ross Ashton, the man responsible for pitch projection at the closing ceremony of the South Africa World Cup; and Durham Marenghi, lighting designer for the Beijing Olympic handover ceremony.
Further programme details will be announced shortly, and Mike Blackman concludes: “The London Olympic Games of 2012 clearly makes this Conference hugely topical, but ceremony productions of the kind Dynamic Events will be looking at are happening every year in countries across the globe.
For further information on the conference, go to: http://www.dynamicevents.org Leave a Comment
Share Article Back to Top Christie Announces New Dual-Arm Projector Yoke Christie launched the new Christie YK50 dual-arm projector yoke at LDI 2011. Smaller than the Christie YK100 (single-arm yoke) and Christie YK200 (dual-arm yoke), the YK50 is suitable for live events, theatre productions and staging applications in small- to mid-sized venues where moving video and lighting enhance the audience experience, but space is at a premium.
Designed for the Christie LX700 or Christie LHD700 projectors, it can be used as a moving light or moving video projector. When combined with the Christie LX700 or Christie LHD700, the YK50 provides 7000 ANSI lumens, making this a solution for houses of worship, museums, trade shows and nightclubs.
Go here for more info: http://www.christiedigital.co.uk/emea/business/products/moving-digital-luminaires/pages/christie-yk-50-moving-digital-luminaire.aspx Leave a Comment
Share Article Back to Top Renkus-Heinz Launches Next-Gen Iconyx and RHAON Update Renkus-Heinz has unveiled two major enhancements to its digital beam steering loudspeaker products with the IC8R-II, an update to the Iconyx range that basically adds a new triple tweeter high frequency array coax. The so-called triple tweeter design creates what Heinz says is a continuous, close-spaced high frequency line source that pushes the onset of gradient lobes out past 10Khz. In addition, the company added what it is calling v1.8 of the RHAON (Renkus-Heinz Audio Operations Network) module. The RHAON v1.8 beam steering module offers new features to make setting up and commissioning Iconyx arrays faster.
How? Well, the new automated beam shaping algorithm, custom developed by Renkus-Heinz, maps consistent coverage and sound pressure level throughout the audience areas. The frequency response of the beam shaping filters can now be optimized prior to uploading into the column, meaning that very little, if any, additional equalization is required during commissioning process. In addition, the basic filter sets have been updated for improved directional consistency over a wider frequency range for near perfect, out of the box, performance.
To learn more about these you'll have to wait as they were just announced this morning, but the IC8R-II will be posted here: http://www.renkus-heinz.com/loudspeakers/iconyx/index.html and v1.8 of RHAON will be here: http://www.renkus-heinz.com/rhaon/index.html Leave a Comment
Share Article Back to Top Community Adds to VLF Sub Range Community has launched three new products to its VLF Series (stands for Versatile Low Frequency) in the form of the dual 8-inch VLF208LV, the single 15-inch VLF115 and the single 18-inch VLF118 subwoofers. The new VLF208LV, a dual 8-inch in a larger volume enclosure than the ultra-compact VLF208, is designed for applications that require ultra-low frequencies from a slim-profile design (it's only 10×21.75×21.75"), with a frequency response down to 40 Hz (-3dB) and an operating range to 30 Hz (-10dB). It can handle 1000 watts. The VLF208LV is available in both portable and installation versions. The portable version includes built-in handles and a pole mount socket, while the black and white installation models incorporate multiple M10 hang points and both are available in black or white.
The new VLF115 and VLF118 models are also designed as "slim" subs, with a half-space sensitivity of 98dB. The VLF115 handles 1500 watts with an operating range of 25 Hz to 1000 Hz, while the VLF118 handles 2000 watts with an operating range of 26 Hz to 1000 Hz. The VLF115 and VLF118 are available in portable and installation versions, each with four M10 hang points on the top, bottom and sides of the cabinet for use in either horizontal or vertical configuration.
For complete specs, go here: http://www.communitypro.com/index.php/product-list/113-vlf-series Leave a Comment
Share Article Back to Top High End Systems Wholehog Accessories Now Available High End Systems, a Barco company, has announced a new Wholehog MIDI/LTC Widget and a few cosmetic changes to other existing Wholehog accessory products. The new MIDI/LTC widget replaces the original LTC Widget and adds additional MIDI functionality with MIDI in/out/thru capability. Packaged in a lightweight metallic black case, the Wholehog MIDI/LTC Widget connects to any USB-enabled Windows PC, Road Hog console or Wholehog 3 console to provide a single Linear Timecode input, as well as MIDI input/output capabilities.
When used in conjunction with a Wholehog 3 console, Road Hog console or Hog 3PC software, the new MIDI/LTC Widget provides a powerful level of timecode and MIDI functionality. All other Wholehog Widgets have also changed packaging to a modern, lightweight metallic black case. The single universe DMX Widget provides 512 channels of DMX via USB, while the four universe DMX Super Widget provides 2048 channels of DMX via USB.
In addition to the cosmetic change for Wholehog USB Widgets, the DMX Processor 8000 (DP8000) is getting an update that includes a larger LCD screen and metallic black finish.
Go here to read all about it: http://www.highend.com/ Leave a Comment
Share Article Back to Top
Click here for more information projectiondesign Ships F35 Single-Chip 3D DLP Projector projectiondesign announced this month that its F35 AS3D projector is now shipping. The WQXGA (1920×1200) resolution (120 Hz refresh) F35 AS3D is an active stereo 3D DLP projector specified at 7500 ANSI lumens (but remember, that light output is reduced nearly 50 percent in 3D mode) with an 8000:1 contrast ratio. It includes two DVI-D inputs, two HDMI inputs and two 12V output trigger ports. It incorporates the TI DarkChip3 and has lens shift.
Complete specs are here: http://www.projectiondesign.com Leave a Comment
Share Article Back to Top | NEC Launches 46" Outdoor LCD NEC Display has added a new 46" monitor to its X Series, the X462HB, that's spec'd as a 24/7 operation display for outdoor digital signage, drive-thru menu boards and video walls.
The new X462HB offers a quarter-lambda polarizing film, which allows for outdoor viewing with polarized sunglasses in both landscape and portrait orientations. This is essential for quick-service restaurant (QSR) owners to ensure their customers can easily and clearly read the drive-thru menu with any type of polarized eyewear. Using a 1920×1080 LCD, the monitor claims a brightness spec of 1200 cd/m2, a contrast ratio of 3500:1 and uses a max of 320-watts of power. It also has NEC's AmbiBright ambient light sensor to automate brightness according to existing lighting conditions. Inputs include DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort and a network port.
The X462HB lists for $3,899 and full specs are here: http://www.necdisplay.com/p/x462hb Leave a Comment
Share Article Back to Top Extron Ships Unique Half-Rack Shelf System Extron is shipping its new Half Rack Shelf System, an interesting concept in mounting hardware for applications utilizing one-half rack width and smaller products. The compact, 1U half-rack width size allows the mounting of half-, quarter-, and eighth-rack products in space-constrained furniture such as lecterns and cabinets that are not wide enough to support the mounting of full width, 19” rack shelves or electronics. The Half Rack System is comprised of the HRB 109 Basic Rack Shelf; the HRU 109 Universal Rack Shelf Kit, which includes eighth-rack and quarter-rack false faceplates; and the HRP 100Blank Panel. Half Rack System products are finished in a gray powder coat finish to match other Extron products.
Go here for all the options and specs: http://www.extron.com/product/product.aspx?id=hrss&s=5 Leave a Comment
Share Article Back to Top RGB Spectrum Debuts Video Scaler for Linx-Based Systems For those who need analog video sources routed to RGB Spectrum's Linx switchers and MediaWall display processors, the new VIA-100 SD Video-to-HDMI converter is the solution. Designed to upscale the analog video signal from composite and S-Video sources to HDMI the VIA-100 embeds analog or digital audio into the HDMI stream. The audio can also be converted between analog and digital formats and output as a separate signal.
A built-in OSD menu provides for configuration, picture setup and system information. It automatically detects connected monitors’ native resolution and adjusts the output scaling to match, supports 50/60 Hz frame rate conversion, supports 3D motion video adaptive, 3D de and 3:2/2:2 pull down detection. It also has recovery and stereo LPCM analog/digital audio input and stereo LPCM analog/digital output (HDMI 1.2, HDCP 1.1 and DVI 1.0 compliant).
Get complete specs here: http://www.rgb.com/products/ Leave a Comment
Share Article Back to Top Sony's New Pro Disc Recorder is, Well, Perfect Sony's PDW-HD1500 is a compact HD recorder with the capability of MPEG HD422, as well as eight-channel HD-SDI and 24-bit audio recording (1080i and 720p). What's unique about this deck is its ability to operate on AC or DC power. With a built-in 4.3" color LCD and speakers, it's designed to be used as a recorder for both in-house and in-field operations. It's also integrated with a multi-format up/down converter, so you can output both HD- and SD-format materials at the same time. It includes support for existing XDCAM HD and XDCAM SD formats and has HD/SD conversion and cross conversion between 1080 and 720 at the output during playback. It also weighs only 14 pounds and is housed in a half-rack, rack-mountable enclosure.
For complete specs, go here: http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/cat-videorecorders/cat-recxdcam/product-PDWHD1500/ Leave a Comment
Share Article Back to Top |
For all you REGULAR readers of rAVe Rental [and Staging] out there, hopefully you enjoyed another opinion-packed issue!
For those of you NEW to rAVe, you just read how we are — we are 100% opinionated. We not only report the news and new product stories of the rental and staging industry, but we stuff the articles full of our opinions — in this case, it’s industry-veteran Joel Rollins' opinions. That may include (but is not limited to) whether or not the product is even worth looking at, challenging the manufacturers on their specifications, calling a marketing-spec bluff and suggesting ways integrators market their products better. But, one thing is for sure, we are NOT a trade publication that gets paid for running editorial or product stories. Traditional trade publications get paid to run product stories — that’s why you see what you see in most of the pubs out there. We are different: we run what we want to run and NO ONE is going to pay us to write anything good (or bad).
Don’t like us, then go away — unsubscribe! Just use the link below.
To send me feedback, don't reply to this newsletter — instead, write directly to me at gary@ravepubs.com or for editorial ideas: Editor-in-Chief Sara Abrons at sara@ravepubs.com
rAVe [Publications] has been around since 2003, when we launched our original newsletter, rAVe ProAV Edition. rAVe HomeAV Edition, co-published with CEDIA, launched in February, 2004. rAVe Rental [and Staging] launched in November 2007. rAVe Ed [Education] launched in May 2008. rAVe DS [Digital Signage] was launched in January of 2009.
To read more about my background, our team, and what we do, go to https://www.ravepubs.com Back to Top Copyright 2011 – rAVe [Publications] – All rights reserved – All rights reserved. For reprint policies, contact rAVe [Publications], 210 Old Barn Ln., Chapel Hill, NC 27517 – (919) 969-7501. Email: sara@ravepubs.com
rAVe Rental [and Staging] contains the opinions of the author only and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of other persons or companies or its sponsors. |
|
|
|