Another year has been logged in the book of life. I miss the days of being a child when 20 minutes seemed like eternity. Now I blink and I lose 20 minutes. However, in those fleeting minutes I acquired knowledge and have three takeaways from the year. Work-Work-Life Balance Yeah, I just made that term […]

Communicating is a part of life. Whether you are at the grocery store, a sporting event, or work, at some point in the day you communicate your likes, dislikes, needs, and wants. Effective communication is important, especially in the workplace. So why is it that we are still trying to figure out how to communicate […]

If you keep up with me on any of the major social media platforms, you know that in the spring I joined the awesome team at Pivot Communications. While starting a new job and getting to stay in the same industry is super exciting in itself, this opportunity was even more exciting as I was […]

Can you believe that I am still pushing the record button seven months later? In January I wrote about my experience with starting my own rAVe Radio podcast, Tech Chaos. I was super excited to be the host, producer and editor of my own show. I still am. I am delighted to have the chance […]

The recent obsession with Pokémon Go has caught my attention. As a lover of anime and an avid gamer, you would think that I would be all over this. Yet, I am not. I started hardcore gaming at the age of nine when my parents finally bought a console for the house – the NES. […]

The world from the podcast station in Vegas from June 8th through the 10th was filled with #AVselfies, magical Tascam gear, and interviews galore. My partner in crime, Johnny Mota, and I set up rAVe Pubs RADIO desk successfully in the Kramer booth with the help from our friends Eric Larsen of Tascam and our rAVe […]

For those who know me, they know I like to be serious and have a good time as well, and I always call the ratio 70/30 – you can guess which falls where (getting down to business is an entirely different story though). For those who know me in person or have listened to me […]

As I mentioned in my previous blog, I am fascinated by wearables. And it has been a struggle for me to determine what I want in a wearable so that I get the best ROI out of the device. I have finally narrowed down what I do not need in a wearable: to answer a […]

This was the first year that I attended at three-day class before to the InfoComm show opened to the masses. Previously, I have only attended workshops and seminars during the InfoComm show. I participated in the AV Design 1: Environment class. The reason I took this class is as prep for my retake of the […]

I am fascinated by wearables. Unfortunately, I am a late adopter to integrating them into my life. The reason? I am hell on watches. You put a watch on my arm and suddenly my arm likes to bang into furniture, doors, walls, etc. I dipped my toe into the wearables pool about a year ago. […]

Like many people, I have many variations of television streaming at my fingertips in my house. I use Amazon Prime and Netflix for my content, but I need a delivery system to get that content onto my television. Hello, Roku! I previously used the Roku 3 to stream content to my projector in my living […]

I am about to admit something that many people do not like to admit – I failed at something. Yes, I know, everyone fails at something at some point. We just never want to talk about it because it makes us feel like we have no value. But I prefer to look at failure as […]

As many of you may know by now, I have started a new chapter in my AV career. Last week I changed companies and now work for Pivot Communications. I am very excited for this opportunity and love that I get to continue to be a part of the AV industry and community. After thirteen […]

Pivot Communications announced this week that Christa Bender has joined Pivot to support its growing list of accounts. Christa has 13 years of AV industry experience. She became a Certified Technology Specialist (CTS) in 2010 and holds many AV manufacturer certifications. Christa is currently studying for her CTS-Design exam. One of the common challenges for […]

I have often found that mentoring happens when you least expect it. Yes, there are times in a person’s life where you would like a mentor to help guide you — when you start a new job or are working on a difficult project. March is Women’s History Month. In honor of the celebration of […]

I was one of the 65,000 registered attendees that visited Amsterdam for ISE earlier this month. This was the first international AV tradeshow that I attended and it was my first time to Amsterdam; to say I was excited would be an understatement. I really enjoyed attending ISE; there were so many great things about […]

A couple of weeks ago, I walked the floor of ISE in Amsterdam. I came across many interesting products and solutions that I am excited to integrate into my company’s offerings. One of the products that caught my eye was the AcousticDesign series of loudspeakers and ceiling speakers by QSC. I have used QSC products […]

In Part 1 I explained that I’ve previously written blogs capturing Twitter and Facebook moments at InfoComm 2015, InfoComm Connections in NYC and other trade shows. This time I decided to do a “4000 mile” social media view of Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) in Amsterdam – the AV industry’s largest trade show event which takes place […]

I am preparing to attend the Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) show in Amsterdam on February 9th – 12th.  Now this is not my first time attending a tradeshow, but it is my first time attending an international tradeshow in another country. So there is slightly more research that is required for preparing for ISE than for a tradeshow […]

Like billions of other people, a new year means a new start. For many people they wipe the slate clean and start again with various life goals. Many set resolutions for themselves and will adhere to their resolutions while many give it up after a couple of months. I don’t make resolutions for that reason, […]

This is a saying that we’ve all said and heard for most of our lives: When I grow up I want to be a scientist, cowboy, policeman, fireman, doctor, teacher, etc. The list of possibilities is endless to a young imagination. However, once you grow up, do you actually become what you wanted to be […]

I pick up in Part 2 with the show that has certainly been a large part of my year in 2015, working with some of the best and most dedicated people I have ever come to know. When you talk about a team, the AV Power Up crew embodies that term – in fact so much […]

It’s coming to the end of what I truly consider a winning year in podcasting here on rAVe. We will be moving strong into 2016 with AV Power Up, with some show and Crew member announcements going into the new year as well. Part 2 will focus on AV Power Up, here I will be […]

I’ve recently taken up distance running. Well, distance running to me is completing a 5K without walking and I am actually getting pretty good at it. However if you ask me if I like running I will reply, “I hate it.” When I was in high school I ran track; I was a sprinter. I […]

By Christa Bender and Rich Prevete As you may know by now, I attended InfoComm Connections in NYC last week.  Rich Prevete joined me on the trip to InfoComm Connections and you know what? It was a first for either of us to attend this show. Trade shows mean many things to many people. Some […]

For all you regular reader of rAVe news out there, you may not realize this, but twice a month we publish rAVe ProAV Edition an email newsletter packed with opinionated news and product stories about the ProAV industry. The most recent edition, Volume 13, Issue 22 includes an editorial from Leonard Suskin about designing AV systems, On Single-Source AV […]

This was my first time attending an InfoComm Connections show and I was facinated that InfoComm partnered with NAB, CCW and SATCON to provide an all-encompassing show to the attendees. As I walked the aisles, I quickly realized that any kind of AV technology was at my fingertips… digital signage, displays, projectors, collaboration, UC, automation, […]

It all began here: I attended the WIN Breakfast at InfoComm 2015 and afterward the Council meeting, in part because of media responsibilities with rAVe, as well as the fact that we had done a show prior to InfoComm (our Episode 6 “We’re Talking a WIN for the AV Industry” with Erin Bolton, Jane Johnson […]

When you meet a person for the first time, you usually ask questions to get to know them on a more personal level. You typically start the questions by asking them about their career, education, whether they are single or married, and if they have children. Based upon their answers, you start to form an […]

I love the audiovisual industry. For the past 12 years, I’ve been happy to embrace this industry and call it my own. I’ve had the opportunity to meet many wonderful people and work with intelligent and just plain awesome people. Over the years I’ve realized that the audiovisual industry is no different than any other […]

I am writing this blog to talk about our podcast show that took place at InfoComm, which was in the end nothing short of a grand slam as we had achieved exactly what we had all been looking forward to doing – a tremendous AV Power Up! show at InfoComm 2015, which I had called […]

When you think of the word mentor, what images come to mind? Do you think of a trusted professor wearing an elbow-patched blazer that guided you through college? Do you think of a work colleague that has more years in the company than you? Is your friend or sibling your mentor? Up until recently, those […]