Selling AV — Episode 105: How Fancy Are You?
There’s a tendency to over-complicate the simple and over-simplify the complicated. How fancy should you be with your designs? Find out here. Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Android | RSS
Wireless USB and My Take on the HRT Huddle Hub
A couple months ago, I saw a post from Liberty AV on social media. It showed a picture of a device that seemed to wirelessly share a laptop to a larger display. There are a lot of devices that allow someone to share their screen wirelessly to a display — Barco ClickShare, Crestron Air Media, […]
Why No One Is Using That Collaboration System
Collaboration had to be one of the most-used buzzwords of the last half decade. It’s been used to describe everything from wireless screen sharing to interactive flat panels to teleconferencing to cloud-based file sharing apps. Marketers LOVE to slap “collaboration” on their boxes and press releases. I even heard a story about a sales rep slapping […]
Zoom, Zoom, Zoom
Zoom, Zoom, Zoom. It’s not just a catchy Mazda slogan, but it’s also the tale of the last few projects I’ve worked on. In a world where we hear many that like to complain software and hardware companies are talking to customers directly and that the scourge of “good enough” is ruining our businesses, I […]
The Day After Christmas
I hope everyone is having a great holiday season! It’s the day after Christmas, which means for many of us, yesterday was the culmination of a long build-up of anticipation. Planning family gatherings, curating the holiday meal menus, baking cookies, making fudge and braving the web and the local retailers to find that perfect gift […]
Why Everyone Has “as a Service” Wrong — Including (and Especially) AVaaS
After writing a couple blogs in 2017 about the equally loved and hated potential of “as a Service” (aaS) models to take off in AV, I took a break for a while and watched as the industry discussed the idea. If you missed my original posts on this, you can catch up here: AV as […]
Selling AV — Episode 104: Enough With About Us
This week I’m in flooding social media with a rant in a common way everyone starts their presentations. Click play to hear why you should never start a meeting with your “About Us” slide. Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Android | RSS
What I Learned at AVEC 2019
Earlier this month I had the amazing opportunity to be the master of ceremonies at AVIXA’s AV Executive Conference (AVEC). I’m still not sure why they entrusted a room full of leaders and executives to me, but I’m so happy they did because I had an amazing experience. Why was it amazing? Well, for one, […]
Cloud-Based Interop: It’s Finally How It Should Have Been… Or Is It?
Earlier this month at Microsoft Ignite, Microsoft announced that soon Microsoft Teams, the company’s web based video meeting and productivity applications, would be natively compatible with Zoom and later WebEx. If you missed this part of the story, rAVe founder Gary Kayye wrote about it here and it’s been a very popular article, especially in […]
Selling AV — Episode 103: Don’t be Over Prepared
Big meetings can be nerve-wracking, and it’s tempting to plan your responses down to the letter. This week I talk about the difference between being prepared and being scripted. Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Android | RSS
Selling AV — Episode 102: The Bouncy Ball
Sometimes we need to leave tech speak behind and adopt analogies that everyone can understand. Today I offer a fun way to talk about audio. Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Android | RSS
Revenue-Generating Space
I often have people ask me how they maintain profitability in a world where technology is becoming more and more commoditized and where the average selling price (ASP) of technology in each room seems to be decreasing year after year. I am sympathetic to these concerns for sure, as it is never a good thing […]
Selling AV — Episode 101: Responsiveness
Seeing that this episode is 101, I thought I’d go back to basics. Responsiveness is the stone in your sling that will help defeat Goliath. Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Android | RSS
AR Killed the Hologram
I apologize in advance. This post is not going to focus on UC, collaboration or digital signage. I am not going to mention AVaaS. There will be no debate about 1 Gbps vs. 10 Gbps AV-over-IP. Instead, I want to share a thought I had the other day about the future of the hologram. Real […]
Co.Lore (Company Lore) Stories Through Space: Episode 2: Bryan Meszaros
On this episode of the Company Lore podcast, Bryan Meszaros of OpenEye Global talks to me about the importance of understanding the interplay of technology and quality content in company storytelling and placemaking. Bryan can be found on Twitter here — @bryanmeszaros OpenEye Global can be found here.
Co.Lore (Company Lore) Stories Through Space: Episode 1: Kindra Hall
Join me on a mission to help companies tell their stories through the use of technology and architecture. In this inaugural episode, I talk to keynote speaker and author Kindra Hall about her book, Stories That Stick, as well as how companies can use story in their spaces to connect and engage with their customers […]
Selling AV — Episode 100: Connection
When meeting with a client, not all roads have to lead back to your product or service. In this episode, I talk about how connection may be a more realistic and valuable goal for your meeting than a PO. Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Android | RSS
Technologists in Bars Talking AV – Episode 4: Forge Brewing Company With Mike Brandes Of QSC
Join me and my guest Mike Brandes from QSC at Barley Forge Brewing Company in Costa Mesa, CA. We talk about art, soccer, and even a little AV. Pull up a chair and hang out with us!
The User Interface — It’s Not Business, It’s Personal
If you’re a movie fan, you’re well aware of the ongoing conflict often portrayed between humans and machines in a dystopian future. Think “West World,” “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “Terminator,” “I, Robot” and “The Matrix.” I can’t help but wonder if these movies are so popular because they reflect our own personal experiences of the […]
Eyes on the Future
If you’ve been reading my blogs lately, you already know I’m a huge proponent of escalating the rate of evolution in our industry in order to best meet the needs of our customers and continue to be relevant. I’ve been promoting developing better business acumen and having earlier conversations with our customers on a deeper […]
Selling AV — Episode 99: Failure to Communicate
AV is an industry built around communication, but often times we fail to communicate or even understand our true value proposition. Listen to this episode to find out what we should be communicating to our clients. Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Android | RSS
Retail Is Not Dead — The Opportunity
It’s July 16th, the end of another Prime Day where Amazon, the online behemoth, is slated to do nearly $6 billion dollars in sales in just two days. Estimates show that Amazon accounts for anywhere from 38 to 49% of US eCommerce which gives them a commanding lead over second place eBay, which accounts for […]
Selling AV — Episode 98: Taking A Step Back
This week’s Selling AV comes from a post I did on Linked In stating that I no longer want to have technology conversations. How do you have deeper conversations? Take a step back. Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Android | RSS
Selling AV — Episode 97: Selling Impact
A major reason industries get commoditized is that they fall into selling products. This week I talk about asking a single question that helps you sell impact instead, which is something worth paying for. Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Android | RSS
Five Questions Every Integrator Should Be Asking
For those of you who don’t know me well, I am pretty active in networking with other AV professionals, technology managers, designers, content producers, etc If there is one thing most of them agree on, it’s that doing a proper needs analysis is the only way to assure that our systems meet all of our […]
My (Belated) InfoComm Review
No other AV publication or agency produced as much content around InfoComm19 as rAVe. I mean, it wasn’t even close. Gary did a ton of pre-show interviews and previews, Johnny and Victoria ran the podcast booth on the show floor at the Peerless-AV booth and were booked day in and day out, and an army […]
Selling AV — Episode 96: Conversations That Count
As AV professionals, sometimes we get caught up in how cool technology is and talk a lot about “how” we do things. This week in Selling AV I share how to pivot and make those conversations count. Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Android | RSS
AVPhenom Introduces New Workplace Software at InfoComm19
5/30/2019 Rancho Santa Margarita, CA Every year, Phenomenal Industries introduces at least one new GAMECHANGING product before InfoComm, AV’s premier commercial trade show. Last year, there was an explosion of activity around ShareChair, the revolutionary huddle room collaboration product that blurred the lines between technology and furniture to change the way we share information. It […]
Selling AV — Episode 95: Personal Brand
How do you escape some of your insecurities and give yourself permission to be the best version of yourself? Create a personal brand. Find out what I’m talking about on this episode of Selling AV. Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Android | RSS
The Corporate Campus
A few weeks ago, I sat in on a meeting with the head of global real estate for an innovative company here in California. He was amazingly generous in sharing his strategy on how he approached developing properties for his company, and I took three pages of notes over that 20 minute period. I think […]
Collision Course
In the last month, I’ve had the opportunity to listen and learn a lot about the modern workplace and the principles behind its design. The philosophy goes well beyond the phrase “open” and really capitalizes on the idea of activity based working and creating spaces that allow for independent work, team collaboration, large team meetings, […]
Selling AV — Episode 94: Maintaining Value as an Industry
Many times we have our clients compare the cost of our services to those provided by other trades like electricians. It’s tempting to match pricing to gain a client relationship, but in this week’s Selling AV, I talk about why this may be a very bad idea. Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Android […]
