Latest headlines: Scott Tiner on the creativity of projection mapping, Scott Walker on Crestron’s Fred Bartgetzi, plus news from Extron, Key Digital, Just Add Power, LG Business Solutions and more
Happy official Rise of Skywalker Day, everyone! I hope all of you will be seeing that in theaters this weekend. Y’all already know our whole company went to see it together last night. rAVe is a very strict #nospoiler company, but I will tell you not to read the reviews. Or listen to the critics. The movie was simply amazing, and a fantastic way to end the Skywalker story.
What’s this have to do with digital signage? Not that much! I just wanted to talk about Star Wars, but I will say that the theater we went to had recently undergone a ton of renovations, including all the digital signage in the lobby — and it looked great! Maybe it’s just because I’m a recent #AVtweeps inductee, but I really do notice when venues care about how they present messaging, and I’m guessing all of you notice the same things. That’s why you’re here and still reading this!
Anyways — columns: we have one for you by Scott Tiner on the subject of projection mapping and how it allows for never-before-seen creativity in our industry. Our other column is about someone very well known in our industry: Fred Bargetzi. This particular column is incredibly significant to us here at rAVe, so do give it a read.
In other news, Extron has a new portrait wall mount TouchLink Pro Touchpanel. Key Digital released a line of plenum-rated HDMI cables. Xantech is shipping a 4K video-over-IP solution. Finally, we have a list of all the keynotes, conferences and workshops that will be at ISE this year.
Some of the reactions I have seen to projection mapping projects range from, "Wow, that’s cool" to "All that does is show a 'wow factor,' but what real use does it have?" To answer that, we first need to get over the belief that the "wow factor" is useless. It is NOT useless. I work in higher ed, and like many industries, we need to do a lot of fundraising. Good fundraising must appeal to people’s emotions and feelings. People want to know that what they are giving to is for a good cause. Telling these stories in a way that makes people say "wow" has great value. Imagine a fundraising event where the people at your table get to see and interact with a story, directly at your table. A story that has likely been cultivated specifically to your philanthropic interests. That is pretty powerful.
I’ve thought about this a lot and from my vantage point, having spent the past 30 years of my life as an AV design consultant, I believe there’s no other single individual who has had a greater impact on the lives of more people in AV over the last decade or more — essentially the "digital AV" era — than Crestron CTO Fred Bargetzi.
