There’s a great scene in “This Is Spinal Tap” where the musicians tout an amp as louder because the dial goes to 11. It’s hilarious, of course, and obvious that the dial numbering really has nothing to do with the output itself. However, it had me thinking about a few misconceptions in audio that can […]
I wrote two posts about eight years ago that raised a lot of eyebrows. They questioned the continued value of an integrator who believed their value lay in delivering hardware at the end of a construction project, especially as systems became more commoditized, complexity decreased and platform access became more universal. I asserted that firms […]
The first beamforming microphone array I ever saw was the Revoluto by Beyerdynamic, released back in 2006. It was a horizontal “corridor” microphone designed to pick up a speaker at the front of a room, even as they moved from side to side. I’m not asserting it was the first microphone of this type; I […]
Let me start by saying I actually don’t know David Labuskes very well personally. He has always been kind to me and generous with his time when I needed something. In fact, he offered up an hour of his time a few years back to help me navigate possible futures within the AV industry. I’ve […]
In 1998, I worked at The Buttes Resort in Arizona. If you haven’t seen it, it’s a beautiful property. It’s owned by a hotel chain now, but when it was built, it was one of four boutique hotels in AZ known for using the natural landscape as part of the architecture. It is nestled into […]
If you attended InfoComm26, you no doubt noticed the number of companies on the floor that make Direct-View LED (dvLED) products. From well-known brands to emerging market contenders, the breadth of cabinet-based, curved and custom dvLED offerings at pixel pitches from 5mm down to 0.7mm is downright daunting, to say the least. It would be […]
It’s Tuesday afternoon in Las Vegas. The InfoComm exhibits haven’t opened yet, but education is in full swing. I walked into the West Hall and found the room where I spoke on a panel, “Crafting Enterprise AV Standards.” The panel was stacked, by the way. Nathan Coutinho from Logitech, Roy Sherry from Microsoft, Christina Vernon […]
It has been 13 years since I wrote the initial guide to Surviving the InfoComm Zombie Apocalypse, so I thought it was time for a reboot for 2026! Nearly 750 companies will be on the floor exhibiting at InfoComm 2026, and with around 30,000 attendees, there is potential to leave after three days transformed into an AV […]
Over the last few years, I’ve had the opportunity to visit a lot of corporate experience centers. World-class, award-winning spaces from companies like Microsoft, Google, Deloitte, Verizon, Teradata, BMC, Illumina, HPE and Red Hat. These centers are not just nice to have. They are central to how these companies engage their most important customers and […]
If you’ve been following rAVe’s LAVNCH WEEKs, you know they deliver a lot of value in a short amount of time. Gary and Steph put a great deal of work into curating content relevant to the industry as a whole, and I’ve been honored to contribute to the content at past events. I am NOT […]
For years now, there have been obituaries written for brick-and-mortar retail. From the fall of Blockbuster and Toys“R”Us to the struggles of electronics giants and malls, it seemed that everyone believed these superstructures, once the purveyors of new and exciting products, would lie dormant and become fossils of an economy of the past. However, despite […]
I unfortunately did NOT make it to Barcelona this year, and to be completely honest … I had major FOMO. I’ve only been to ISE once, in 2023, and missing the last two years didn’t bother me much. But this year, for some reason, missing it hit different. There was a lot of buzz around […]
We live in a world full of screens. On a daily basis, we use several — iPhones, TVs and laptops in our workspaces. In this fully digital environment, it becomes increasingly challenging to capture people’s attention with displays. And even if we can create that “wow factor” in a display, how can we better plan […]
A space tells its secrets through its shortcuts. On a college campus, it’s the dirt trail cutting diagonally across the lawn, a “desire path” worn in by thousands of students ignoring the official sidewalk. I’ve written about desire paths in technology before. In a conference room, they look like handheld remotes pulled out of a […]
It’s July, which means InfoComm 2025 was officially last month. The dust has settled, I’ve returned from some much-needed PTO, and I’ve had time to reflect on the show as a whole. If I’m honest, InfoComm was mostly a blur. I was on three panels, gave several VIP tours at my company’s booth, and had […]
In 2013, I was a guest on a debate podcast where we talked about the future impact of IP-enabled devices and software-driven solutions. One of my opponent’s main points of contention in that debate was that AV would always have a secure spot because we have the unique ability to create superior audio experiences in […]
Next week is the Global Association of Customer Engagement Professional’s Spring Conference. A few hundred professionals dedicated to providing world-class customer experiences will converge on Austin to share best practices, network, and learn about new innovative methods of engaging customers. I always look forward to connecting at this conference because the conversations revolve around impact […]
This Sunday, Chris Neto introduced the topic of projection mapping to the #AVintheAM community. I was busy with family activities throughout the day, and even though the topic was practically shouting my name, I had to sit it out … until now. Projection mapping is often misunderstood. It involves much more than large-scale projection on […]
It’s post ISE, and although I observed this year’s show from afar, I was able to gather a lot of information via my team on the ground in Barcelona, as well as the quantity of videos and interviews produced on the floor and shared on platforms like rAVe and social media like Linked In. I […]
My role as an Experience Design Professional often intersects with my passions for biology, neuroscience and human behavior, and for good reason. To truly create a transportive experience, you need to immerse someone completely in a new world, making them forget that they’re in an alternate reality. I’ve often reflected on the challenges of a […]
Working in experiential technology, I am often working on large, immersive environments, with curved LED, LIDAR, spatial audio, and custom content. Many of these environments also include custom fabrication and specialized content, making the projects complex at times. There are several layers to any experience. The end user experience (audience), the operator experience (presenter), the […]
I saw a post on LinkedIn this morning by Richard Mulholland about having your camera on in every meeting, including internal meetings that “set the standard” for meeting etiquette. I will say that if you are invited to a customer meeting and have a key role in that meeting, you should definitely have your camera […]
There’s a lot of talk about AI In our industry, typically around products and tools that we use to help customers have better meetings. We talk mostly about AI in microphones or cameras to improve audio quality, triangulate meeting participants, and create better camera shots of attendees as they speak. As integrators, we also help […]
I talk a lot about our industry and the shifting center of the technology design process toward human-centered design and the holistic user experience. When talking about large, complex systems, most of the AV people I speak to agree that experience is key. Still, when bringing this idea down into the design of something like […]
The dust has settled, we’ve all returned home, and hopefully most of us came home healthy or have recovered from any bug we may have caught in last week’s gathering of 30,000+ people. Vegas Vegas’d, our social tanks were filled, steak dinners and late night cocktails fueled early morning rehydration efforts, and the overwhelming sentiment, […]
Direct View LED is becoming more and more affordable, especially in pixel pitches of 1.2 to 1.9mm. For projects that need the most pixel density possible, there are even a few options under 0.7mm if you have the extra cash to get the technology. Bespoke dvLED environments often include corners, curves and facets, making their […]
Imagine a digital canvas made up of various technologies ranging from transparent, flexible OLED to dvLED to projection-mapped architecture, integrated into an environment where the video is choreographed with the lighting, synced with spatial audio, and personalized to different users based on sensor-based automation or AI. These customized, experiential environments span several resolutions and aspect […]
I was visiting an office a while back and was offered a phone room to hold some meetings. The room was well-equipped with a comfortable chair, adequate lighting, a small table with a Neat Frame to easily join Teams calls, and even a blue accent wall to make it feel a little less sterile. I […]
I had the pleasure of supporting an LA-based event this month and discussing how AI-based workflows will affect office designs as we move into the future. Most talk of AI in the AV industry has to do with sensor based automation, like personalization and camera tracking and switching in meeting rooms. Most of the buzz […]
It’s funny how great minds think alike. No sooner had I posted my first blog on picking the proper projector than I received a comment from Aaron Peterson at Mechdyne pointing out that I missed a crucial part of the puzzle, and that is the misleading marketing around projector resolutions. Warning: If you thought the […]
It’s 2024 and despite the proliferation of microLED and the high availability of low bezel LCD screens, projectors are still alive and well in the AV industry. Rumors of their death have been circulated for years, yet, just like they say in Monty Python, they’re “not dead yet!” Interestingly enough, I find that specifying the […]
In 2016 I wrote a blog called, “Why aren’t we talking about NVIDIA?” If you missed it, the general conclusion was that AI and large-scale video applications would drive NVIDIA to success well beyond gaming. When I wrote that blog in April of 2016, NVIDIA was trading at $8.50. Today, NVIDIA is at $776 with […]
