Latest headlines: Gary Kayye with part 1 in a series about InfoComm 2021, Scott Tiner on AVIXA’s inclusivity guide, plus news from Extron
July 16, 2021 | Volume: 15 | Issue: 13
Happy Friday, #AVtweeps! We made it! This first newsletter of July is small but mighty — and it contains a lot of what you’ll want to know for InfoComm in October.
Gary Kayye starts us off by challenging us to really think about how the show will look. He ventures to say we won’t see many end users on the show floor. But should we? Is it keeping key voices out of the conversation when we push for an AV insider attendance? Or will attendance this year simply be a reflection of our industry just coming out of COVID-19?
Next up, AVIXA recently released an inclusive language guide. This is so important. I, like many of you, want to work in an industry that values different voices. We give those voices respect and a safe space to exist by learning the language of inclusivity. There is always room for growth and learning — so please do yourselves a favor and read both Scott Tiner’s article and AVIXA’s guide.
Check out the new products from Extron, Snap One and Blustream — but also check out how Meyer Sound supported a recent jazz festival!
don’t think we need to review how and why we came to where we are with this year’s event being in late October in Orlando, Florida but, it’s worth noting how this year’s show will — more than any show in the history of our industry — steer the next two years of our businesses. With that in mind, and a lot of still-unknowns due to the brutally obvious, I have decided to publish a series of recommendations to help us all get the most of our InfoComm 2021 experience — and these will serve both the exhibitors (manufacturers) and the integrators as well as systems designers and distributors, too!
In March of this year, AVIXA released an Inclusive Language Guide through its Diversity Council, supported by TAD and Audinate. I highly recommend you take the time to read the guide: You can find it here. Better yet, I highly recommend you print it off and hang copies of it around your offices, workshops and workspaces. The guide is only nine pages long; the most critical pieces of it are only five or so pages long. Email the link (and this blog) to your entire organization. It is very well written, and very clear about the suggestions that it puts forward.