Joel Rollins

Joel Rollins

rAVe Rental [and Staging] contributor Joel R. Rollins is the founder of Steamroller Digital and is well known throughout the professional AV industry for his contributions to industry training and his extensive background in AV rental, staging and installation. Joel can be reached at joelrollins@mac.com.

Does the “when” of rental change the “who”?

This month, my column in rAVe for Rental and Staging outlined a number of things that I felt were combining to create a true change in dynamic in the rental end of the business. It’s gotten a lot of email, and led to quite a number of discussions. So I’m looking for opinion. The first thing that […]

AV – a world TOO connected?

Recently, in the midst of the busy season, in the midst of the InfoComm show season, I got just what I needed least – a jury summons. I was in the middle of consulting on the stage construction and systems design for a new performing arts center, and was going crazy with meetings and details. But, as […]

Speaking of “the Show”….

Well, as usual I sit here preparing for the InfoComm show, which seems to get more difficult every year as the show spreads out to include both more attendees and more vendors. At one time, the show was purely “AV”, but the definition of AV is certainly expanding. What do YOU (and by “you” I mean those […]

Holograms they AIN’T

Okay, folks, I love 3D projection. I think that no matter how you slice it, it’s exciting and gee-whiz. I’ve been a devotee for years, staging it and experimenting with 3D and its big cousin, VR. And I think it’s great that companies are promoting it and that stagers are doing press releases about the […]

Hey, You – Get off of my Cloud

Rarely have I come across a technical situation where I felt that Mick Jagger had expressed the best advice, but there it is. This week, after my last posts, I had several inquiries from people over how I thought the widespread use of “cloud-based computing” would change things for us – and what changes WE should make […]

Head in the Clouds

OK, as a followup to my last post, about why those of us who are pure-tech open-source weenies won’t stop Apple’s domination of the tablet industry, lets talk about its other side: “Cloud-Based Computing”. First, “Cloud Computing” Is NOT a new idea – the idea that resources, applications, and data reside on a remote computer system and […]

Ya Gotta Buy In Sometime…

After a number of my recent columns, people have written in, especially about two items: tablet computers and cloud-based services. Because there have been quite a number of you, I’ve decided to answer here and point you to the blog. First, with regard to tablets: Stop looking at processors, memory, and physical configurations, and PLEASE […]

innovative video idea…

OK, I don’t write product reviews – and this product really has very little to do with my own field of AV rental and staging. But when I saw it, I was so taken by the idea that I had to share it with you. The product is Collabracam, a software program for the iPhone that […]

Pay It Forward

In the last few weeks, our industry has seen the passing of many of its leading figures – people who were important in the building of AV as an INDUSTRY, rather than just as a niche business. People like Kevin Collins, Barry Halligan, and now the legendary Fred Dixon, to name a few. These people influenced […]

Help for Japan – and everywhere else

This is the most worthwhile cause I can think of – to help our friends and colleagues in Japan, and all over the world. Most people have it, but I thought I’d post the link here and appeal to everyone to help if you can. American Red Cross

268 channels, one story

Has anybody else noticed that, with “narrowcasting” the norm, it is still nearly impossible to get anything but the nuclear accident and tsunami in Japan covered by any of the major news outlets? Last I knew, our economy was in a precipitous place, there was a civil war raging in Libya, people were still starving […]

More details about Thunderbolt….

Hi, gang – after last weeks announcements, here’s a pretty good sum-up of Thunderbolt. And for all those of you who wrote in asking, no, Thunderbolt is NOT an Apple-only technology. Apple co-developed it, but Intel is going to be pushing it to ALL developers, and including Thunderbolt on the intel-manufactured motherboard line, so it will be […]

Thunderbolt – the potential implications to the AV industry

Let’s think now about the potential implications of Thunderbolt technology on the AV, and especially the Digital Signage industries: Hmmmmm…. let’s see – the ability to move both very high resolution video and huge amounts of data very fast over a single low-power port. Well, just off the top of my head, my own opinion […]

Thunderbolt!!

Today, Apple and Intel in collaboration introduced the first computer with Thunderbolt ports – the new MacBook Pro. For those who haven’t followed Thunderbolt development, it is a new I/O technology with 10x the maximum speed of USB 2. Thunderbolt runs on a port developed from DisplayPort, and all existing DisplayPort video systems, switchers and interfaces will work on the […]

Vanishing History… again

Well, yesterday’s post got me a bunch of email saying that it isn’t just video decaying on our shelves, it’s also film. And that’s true – in fact, this year I’ve spent a fair amount of time cleaning and inspecting many reels of 16mm shot by our founder. Some of it is original masters of stuff he […]

Vanishing History

Just thought I’d post a reminder because of something that happened to me this week. Most of us in the industry have a tape library… show reels from previous shows, staff events, media clients have given us to composite into show reels, etc. Just thought I would remind you all that mag tape is fading […]

3D or not 3D – that is the question….

I have an embarrassing item to relate… for the last couple of days, I’ve actually read a number of the movie review blogs. No, I’m not joining the discussions of “Date Night” – it’s because I’ve been following some threads on 3D technologies. It seems there’s a camp, and a large one, dismissing 3D as […]

Who’s dumb enough to buy Blockbuster, Gary? Apparently, WE are…

Gary brings up a good point on the Blockbuster thing – and the answer, apparently, is US. Let me explain. I live in a quaint little Connecticut town, inhabited mostly by uber-rich New York stockbrokers and hedge fund barons. It’s a town full of trendy boutiques and 5-star restaurants. Our local video store is another of these, […]

Rental and Staging – Come home, all is forgiven….

Hey – welcome to rAVe’s new blog… For the last few years, my function has been to be the “Rental and Staging Guy” in the rAVe crew.. to speak for the needs of the little corner of the industry that I love. Sometimes, to push it along with comments about how we’re different, arguing with Gary and other friends […]

New Year, New Era

Well, here we are again. And, yes, just like every year I have used last years date. It will take me until February before I get used to typing “2011.” It’s the beginning of another year, one that will certainly change our portion of this little industry. But, then again, to some degree they all […]

New Year, New Era

Buzzards in the AV Industry

I’m sorry – I’m writing this article on an iPad, and auto-correct changed my text to the title above when I typed in “Buzzwords”.  But the example saves me the trouble of defining one of the biggest buzzwords: “Intuitive.” But now that THAT one is taken care of, I’d like to review the actual AV […]

Buzzards in the AV Industry

The Little Things

Well, here it is again. Time for “The Show.” InfoComm time. And, as usual for someone in the rental portion of the industry, I go off to “the Show” looking for things a little different than the rest of the industry, a little different from the things the advertising and hype will attempt to direct […]

The Little Things

Spring Forward

Well, the spring we were all waiting for is finally here. The trees are budding, the snow (for those of us who get snow) is melting, and hopefully the rental market is thawing out a little, too. For most of us, it was a pretty cold winter in that regard, and we’ve all been looking […]

Spring Forward

Don’t Cross the Streams

In the movie “Ghostbusters, there’s a highly memorable scene where the three “heros” are called upon to remove an “obnoxious little spud” of a poltergeist from a hotel. The three, who are wearing illegal experimental nuclear accelerators, gather at the door of the haunted ballroom, but are stopped by Dr. Egon Spengler (Harold Ramos) with […]

Don’t Cross the Streams

Downsizing the Dream

Yesterday, I sat (like several others on my staff) waiting for Apple’s usual “insanely great” announcement of their latest “breathtaking” portable technology – the iPad. Let me first explain that I’m the starry-eyed type when it comes to portable computing. Gary once pointed out in a seminar (to a lot of laughs at my expense) […]

Downsizing the Dream

As Good As It Gets….

By Joel Rollins, CTS-R Well, I seem to have hit a nerve with my last column on training programs (or the lack of them) in the Rental and Staging portion of our little industry. And, with only this column left in the current year, it’s been difficult to answer the emails — or, better yet, […]

As Good As It Gets….

Interesting perspective

Here’s an interview from a British meetings and events tradeshow – it gives an interesting (and somewhat devastating) opinion on what the various industry groups have failed to do in defending meeting expenses during a time of cost cutting… JRR Click here for the video

Reality Marches on…

I’ve just read the latest rAVe Pro, with Gary and Bob’s well-written take on the possibilities of the Cisco-Tandberg acquisition. The smiling “we’re all one family now” video was great, as were the encouraging words on the possibility of the commercial AV market having some input on where the 800 lb. gorilla sleeps in the future. Everybody […]

Another reality check…

Last week, I had one of those rare moments. One of my employees called me very early and told me Tandberg had been acquired by Cisco. He did it because (and there are lots of witnesses) I’ve been predicting it for about three years, as loudly as I could. I did it because there are […]

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, or Why Home AV Suppliers Won’t Beat You

Infinity. That’s what the time period between Infocomm and CEDIA brings to mind. As in, an enormous number of pundits writing an endless number of columns. Also, as in the old  “infinite number of monkeys with an infinite number of typewriters” proposition. You can look it up on Wikipedia, or you can take my word for it: […]

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, or Why Home AV Suppliers Won’t Beat You

Hold your CEDIA horses!

I think it’s great that you iPod-toting, Hulu-watching home theater addicts like Gary are all excited about CEDIA. But take the white earbuds out of your ears for a minute and listen, because I’m not as excited. For the Rental and Staging guys out there, much as we love the gadgets, CEDIA is a pain in the ATSC. Every year, following CEDIA, one of […]

Doing Smaller Shows? A How-To Guide on Dealing With Meeting Planners

January. The holidays and parties are behind us, and here we are, back at work. Job One — assuming we have already deleted those company party photos — is to organize for 2009. In our office, we’ve been discussing how the economy will affect our staging business. Shows that were large and complex in years […]