Welcome to 2021! 🎆 Good riddance 2020!! ⛈️
I want to start by THANKING 🙏 you, our loyal readers and the amazing #AVtweeps that support all that we do. Our readership 🔥 numbers are through the roof — more than double 2019! And, as for our rAVe RADIO 🎙️ podcasts and videocasts , those numbers quadrupled in 2020! So, thank you!
Speaking of videocasts 🌈, our managing editor, Steph Beckett, just started one for all of you who do NOT have their AVIXA CTS 🗞️ yet. She’s going to do a chapter-by-chapter 📖 lesson using the AVIXA CTS Certified Technology Specialist Exam Guide. It will be a weekly videocast 📺 — so you can follow along — and it will culminate at InfoComm in Orlando where she, and all of you who are following her videocast, will take the CTS test 📝 together!!! Read the story below to watch the first episode AND subscribe to the videocast so you don’t miss a lesson!
Speaking of stories 📰, the first thing you will see is a 2020 wrapup of our 1️⃣0️⃣ most popular stories. Check it out but, before opening it, see if you can remember or guess what the TOP story of 2020 is/was …
Finally, as much as I would love to kick off 2021 on a positive note, I was sadden to learn that an industry icon passed away yesterday. Fred Bargetzi was not only instrumental in carving a path for many of you in the AV industry by creating some of the most popular Crestron products, ever, but more importantly, Fred was just a great human. As many of you may remember from our December 2019 story, written by his friend Scott Walker, Fred was battling ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or often called Lou Gehrig’s disease) and he lost his battle yesterday morning. I hope you will take a moment to reflect on Fred, his impact, his life, his kids and remember that smile he’d always greet you with at InfoComm. RIP Fred.
All the best,