Well, the Spring 2012 edition of the Almo ProAV E4 AV Tour just finished with a stop in Washington DC last week and it couldn’t have ended at a better location.

Why?

Well, for the 2011-2012 edition of the ALMO ProAV E4 Tour my keynote was How to GoGreenAV, Profitably and since a lot of the GreenAV initiatives are headed up by InfoComm, who’s also headquartered in Washington DC, it was only fitting that we ended the tour there – not to mention that I was honored to have Allen Weidman in attendance; Allan heads upInfoComm International’s Sustainability Efforts. In fact, he was with the EPA for over 30-years before coming to InfoComm and is in charge of bringing InfoComm’s STEP program to the AV industry: http://www.infocomm.org/cps/rde/xchg/infocomm/hs.xsl/10902.htm

Although it’s sort of fashionable to go green right now, there are some SIMPLE steps (no pun intended) that you can take to go green inside and outside your company. For example, do you have recycling bins under your desk next to your trashcan? What about compost bins? Christie Digital does. Are you demanding that your vendors have sustainability initiatives? Do you restrict printing to necessities only and do you keep all your documentation electronic until the last possible minute when you have to print out system diagrams; Da-Lite does. And, are you actively participating in and supporting the industry’s green initiatives by specifying only GreenAV gear (when it’s available) or at least using only network-enabled AV that can be controlled and managed over the network so you don’t waste time, energy or resources (people) trying to fix something that could have been done by simply re-setting a power supply or re-booting AV gear in a rack? Well,Spinitar, AVI/SPL and Waveguide Consulting do.

Well, this was all the stuff I covered in my keynote – and a whole lot more. Want to see all of what I covered? Go here: https://www.ravepubs.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5998&Itemid=376

Oh, and in case you’re wondering what the heck my column title mean?

Well, if you attended the E4, you already know. The 5th E – ENTERTAINMENT.

Yes, entertainment, Why? Well, thanks to Chief and ALMO the Washington DC event was filled with Entertainment via a Hot Dog eating contest. Yes, a hot dog eating contest. Go watch it here

And, the winner was awarded $20 per hot dog eaten!

You wanna play? Stay tuned for the 2012-2013 edition of the ALMO ProAV E4 (er, E5) Tour debuting in September in Dallas, TX and then in October in New Jersey!