My old weightlifting coach had a lot of stock catchphrases he used in the gym when lecturing us or encouraging our efforts. One of them was, “I always defer to the laws of physics.” That’s one of those understandings that applies to all things. For example, two concepts that are useful to apply to your […]

One of my friends who owns a small, specialized, successful distribution company once characterized the people on his team to me as either “nice guys who don’t know anything” or “guys who know everything about every product but have zero people skills.” It sounds like a stark generalization, but since I know the people he […]

I know this should be obvious and common sense, but to some people, it is not. Therefore, I always try to understand the reasons behind certain people’s inability to communicate clearly, whether on purpose or due to other circumstances. There are countless articles on this subject, yet I occasionally come across a situation that could […]

“We need an engineer on-site today.” “Hello?” I said into my phone. “Um …Who am I speaking with?” “You are the project manager for Important Customer’s AV project, right? It is nonoptional that we get an engineer on-site today.” I was across the country at the office Halloween party receiving a call from the Eastern […]

For this article, I wanted to step away from AV and all that fun stuff and talk about a far bigger issue, which is communications. One thing that became very clear to me very quickly when I moved from being a long term “AV guy” to being an end user is that we have some […]

I was recently meeting with one of my dealers and he expressed frustration at how may times he has to repeat himself on jobsites when communicating his requirements to trades like the electrician or the HVAC guy in order for them to do the thing he needs them to do, so he is able to […]

During rehearsals before Sunday services, the monitor mix (A2) guy walks onto the stage and approaches each of the vocalists one at a time and has a brief conversation while looking between the singer and the iPad tablet in the A2’s hand. During these brief 15 to 30 second chats, the vocalist removes one of […]

Your business may have the coolest AVL product or service on the market, but amassing more emails in your prospect’s Inbox isn’t helping you sell even one of those great new products. Why? As decision-makers and consumers, we’re inundated and overloaded with information and emails. We’re deluged by data. What we don’t need to know is […]

Pastors don’t need high-pressure sales, slick marketing or churchy language. In fact, these three are red flag warnings to a vertical market used to being sold what they do not need. Instead, the three essential soft skills for selling AV to churches are a helpful challenger, intentional communication and value-as-a-service. All three of these lean […]

Whether by selection or default, if you find yourself in the role of “leader” of your HOW AV team, you need to carefully consider both the methods you use to communicate with your team and the message(s) you are sending — spoken and subliminal. One of the most consistent problems we encounter with HOW AV […]

I’m an extrovert. Most people assume this means I love to talk all the time, I’m energized by social situations, I like to solve problems by discussing them, I’m extremely friendly and imminently approachable and I am easy to get to know. Those are all generally true, but being married to an introvert has enlightened […]

Bluescape today announced a new reference architecture for situational awareness to help organizations plan effectively in managing disruptive or emergency situations. The situational awareness solution aggregates real-time, visual assets into a single digital workspace that can be shared with internal and external resources, so teams can quickly collaborate on a strategy and mount a response. Every organization faces […]

Pliant Technologies is displaying its compact SmartBoom LITE headset at InfoComm 2017 (Booth 5469). Accompanying the complete line of SmartBoom PRO headsets, the SmartBoom LITE series features comfort, audio quality, advanced features and design enhancements. The SmartBoom series of communications headsets are specifically designed for exceptional comfort and durability. The innovative SmartBoom LITE headset features an on/off microphone muting feature, which […]

(An earlier version of this post appeared in SMART’s Next Level Collaboration blog.) Remote work is on the rise, increasing 26 percent from 2013 to 2014 according to a recent Entrepreneur article. Many see it as the wave of the future, and others view it as something better suited for the self-employed than the corporate powerhouse. […]

By Ron DeVoe Successful Sales Consulting “What we have here is a failure to communicate.” This phrase was uttered by Strother Martin in the classic, late ’60s movie Cool Hand Luke. While I have again dated myself, I believe this quote is truer now more than ever. As an ancient member of the AV Industry […]

I recently read a blog in one of the other AV trade publications that left me scratching my head.  It was meant to be a primer for our industry in learning the language of our IT counterparts, and as the subject is something I think is very important for us to continue learning about, I […]