Almo Professional A/V has announced the 2014 series of f E4 AV Tours, starting with “Navigate to New Horizons” in Dallas on March 11. E4 Dallas will include a first-run keynote address focused on pre-engineering AV into smart buildings, and new courses led by some of the biggest names in the industry, including Tom Stimson, past president of InfoComm International. E4 Dallas will also feature a dynamic array of more than 35 manufacturing partners and infinite networking opportunities with business colleagues and other AV professionals.

Now in its fifth year, the E4 tour continues to evolve to meet the changing needs of AV resellers, integrators and consultants. Credited as the industry’s most specialized one-day dealer event, E4 has traveled to countless cities to serve the product, technical and business training needs of thousands of resellers and installers while creating the ideal forum for professional networking. New products from Samsung, Sharp Aquos, Planar, Canon and BrightSign will be shown at the event.

According to keynote speaker Gary Kayye, rAVe founder and chief visionary at Kayye Consulting, “AV has finally hit the mainstream, crossing the chasm from early adopter to early majority and we’re about to be specified by every architect and facility manager on the planet. And if you want to be part of the impending explosive growth that’s about to occur with pre-engineering AV into every room in new construction, you’ll need to learn all about Smart Building technology yourself so that you can become a preferred provider to the architect or facility manager.”

E4 Dallas will include the following courses, worth a total of nine valuable InfoComm Renewal Units:

• Audio Gain Structure, Andre LeJeune, InfoComm International, Learn two easy methods for setting gain structure in an audio system
• Demystifying Media Players for Digital Signage, Jonathan Brawn, Brawn Consulting (Sponsored by Samsung),Demystify the concepts and specifications of media players, discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each type and understand the emerging technologies that can change the deployment of digital signage
• Don’t Be a Commodity: Dealing with RFPs  (Highlighted E4 AV Tour Addition), Tom Stimson, Stimson Group, LLC, Discover how to turn price shoppers into value customers
• Assessing Network Readiness for AV Systems, Andre LeJeune, InfoComm International, Review documentation, demo a free network planning tool and discuss what to do when an unexpected error occurs
• How to Compete Against Old-School AV Dealers (Highlighted E4 AV Tour Addition), Tom Stimson, Stimson Group, LLC, Discusses how to modernize the basic business model to include services with the product sale
• The Ins and Outs of Projector Edge Blending Technology, Dave Arnott, NEC, Demonstrates how to complete a proper edge blend technique to display a single, high-resolution image
• Five Technologies that Will Impact AV, Joe Cornwall, C2G, Explores the five wired/wireless technologies that will deliver the greatest effect on deployment of digital video infrastructure over the next five years
• Metrics and Analytics for ROI in Digital Signage, Jonathan Brawn, Brawn Consulting, Focuses on understanding digital signage analytics and measurement tools and technologies for realistic expectations and a positive outcome for a project

E4 Dallas Details: E4 Dallas is on March 11, 2014 at the Hyatt Regency Dallas and runs from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. It is an entirely free event, including parking, for Almo Pro A/V’s reseller, integrator and consultant partners. To register, click here. OnDemand coverage will once again be provided by rAVe. Past coverage of E4 AV Tours can be found here.