It’s the final day of LAVNCH WEEK 12 — rAVe’s virtual event series that combines thought leadership, education and the latest AV news The day’s theme: ProAV. While seemingly a very broad topic, Steph Beckett and Gary Kayye helped cover everything from microLED to AV project management. This is your recap, but if you’d like […]

One phrase you’ll hear from me if you hang around long enough is “the wheel turns.” In a recent post, I talked about how deals you thought were stone-cold dead sometimes lurch back to life when you least expect it. Maybe writing that piece manifested the next round of surprises — who knows. The universe […]

On the second day of LAVNCH WEEK 12, rAVe’s virtual event series that aims to educate the AV industry on current products, events and issues, the team focused on education technology, or EdTech. Before I continue, here is the link to watch the full day’s content on demand. Steph Beckett and Gary Kayye kicked the […]

One drum I regularly bang when coaching salespeople is the need to communicate effectively. I will freely admit I have many different drums — any one of which I can be found banging on while trying to get my message across — but that’s not important right now. Communicating effectively doesn’t just mean making sure […]

On Experiential Signage Day of LAVNCH WEEK 12 (a biannual, virtual event hosted by rAVe [PUBS] that educates members of the AV industry), Steph Beckett hosted as experts in digital signage shared their experiences with the evolving technological landscape. This is a short summary; you can check out the full day’s content on demand via […]

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 […]

THIS IS A PROMOTED POST I’ll say it: AI is no longer hype. It’s here, it’s real, and it’s already changing how enterprise AV and IT teams work. Every conversation I’ve had lately with integrators, manufacturers, and even the IT crowd ends up in the same place. AI isn’t something you experiment with anymore; it’s […]

THIS IS A PROMOTED POST In AV, you probably hear the saying all the time: “You can have a meeting with no camera, but you can’t have a meeting with no audio.” We live and breathe this saying at this point. In education settings, while it may not be repeated as often, it’s the same […]

I assume that many, if not most, rAVe readers have at least some sales background, even if that’s not their main job role today. Then again, if I were a career technician writing for rAVe, I’d assume most readers were technicians, so that’s probably just my confirmation bias talking. There’s some social baggage that comes […]

I’ve talked before about taking the long game with prospective clients. As was drilled into me long ago, people are ready to buy when they’re ready — or more specifically, when you’ve built trust and demonstrated value. It’s your job to listen, find solutions, and, along the way, check all their boxes for them. Business […]

THIS IS A PROMOTED POST Audio is no longer an afterthought in AV installs — and for that, we’re all grateful. As much as I’d like to say everyone just came to their senses one day, the real trend driving audio’s rise is our obsession with immersive experiences. What used to feel futuristic is now […]

From Cafeteria LANs to Center Stage: A Player’s Journey The first time they sit down on stage, the lights are blinding, the crowd is buzzing, and every camera is pointed their way. The monitor flickers, the countdown starts, and the dream of going pro suddenly feels real. But this moment doesn’t happen overnight. It doesn’t […]

Business people like to talk about “doing due diligence,” but in my experience, actual, intensive due diligence is more often honored in the breach than the observance. It’s human nature, when presented with a deal or opportunity that seems too good to be true, to engage in wishful thinking. Sure, it seems too good to […]

If you’re old enough (like me), you might remember when the television wasn’t just a screen — it was the hearth of the home. The biggest piece of furniture in the living room. The reason dinner got moved to the coffee table. The source of our news, our entertainment and our collective rituals. We planned […]

We all have our pet peeves. I’ve got plenty. Here’s one: people who say to me, “I’m sorry sir, but that’s our policy.” This may sound harsh, but in my experience, sticking rigidly to the letter of company policy comes from one of two places: Jobs where employees have no empowerment or latitude to use […]

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 […]

By Simon Dudley Excession Events We all like to think the best product wins. It’s comforting. It appeals to our sense of fairness. It reassures engineers that all their hard work pays off and tells salespeople that if they just keep pointing out superior features, eventually the customer will see the light. Lovely theory. Pity […]

They say good help is hard to find. Great help is even harder, but it’s worth the effort. A rubric I was taught early in my career was to evaluate people for a role based on three axes: attitude, skills and knowledge. That makes for an easy-to-remember acronym: ASK. And hey, it even forms a […]

By Mark Corbin Vanco International Look, it’s tough out there. Economic uncertainty surrounding tariffs and their ripple effects have caused a lot of typically reliable ProAV big spenders — like enterprise corporate projects — to delay capital projects and hedge on spending. A lot of big projects are seeing delays as customers wait for clarity […]

Something I learned early on was the necessity of communicating with clients in the way that works best for them. Some prefer email, while others prefer phone calls or texts. Whatever works. Once, long ago, I had a dealer who preferred to communicate by fax machine. The fact that I didn’t have a fax machine […]

26North Partners LP, the platform founded by Josh Harris, has officially completed its acquisition of AVI-SPL — the world’s largest AV and UCC integrator, serving more than 86% of Fortune 100 companies. This was big news when it broke a month or so ago. In fact, the day it was announced, I sat down for […]

Xyte, maker of cloud-based support tools for AV, recently published its midyear 2025 AV Cloud Data Report. I encourage you to read it — it offers some interesting insight into how the AV industry views the cloud. Before I go further, I should put my cards on the table. I’m a strong supporter of cloud-based […]

AVIXA’s InfoComm show used to be the launchpad for every new ProAV product. For decades, brands would either wait until the early summer show to unveil their newest gear or drop their press releases days before the doors opened. Somewhere in the last decade, that shifted to ISE — the European counterpart to InfoComm, co-owned […]

I’m shocked that only one display company has been smart enough to buy a media server company. The irony? You can’t have one without the other. Everything else connected to a projector or monitor is optional — not required. But in the case of a media server, a display — whether it’s a projector, LED, […]

When I talk to my dealers, sometimes I feel like a broken record. It’s certainly true that I have a number of speeches prepared and in the can for situations where the topic is applicable. One of them is that inventory is a necessary evil: You need to sell inventory to make money, but the […]

The Higher Education Technology Managers Alliance (HETMA) recently announced its newest initiative: Road to 10K. Many in higher ed — about 3,000, according to HETMA — are already aware of and part of the organization. HETMA is open only to higher education technology managers. It’s not a list for salespeople to pitch their wares. It’s […]

In a world that never stops talking, it’s funny how hard it’s become to get anyone to actually answer the phone. I’ve spent a career helping organizations communicate more clearly — whether that meant running video over fiber across the rooftops of Washington Square Park, rolling out enterprise collaboration platforms or moderating panels about the […]

By Chuck Brooks Extreme Networks and the Avnu Alliance No matter the application, today’s professional audiovisual (ProAV) networks are responsible for transmitting multiple streams of data — whether audio, video, show control or another crucial element — over shared infrastructure. While we’ve yet to fully move beyond isolated systems, completely converged networking is still rare […]

Part of the reason this post is titled the way it is: I’m nodding to an old aphorism — “complaining without offering a solution is just whining.” And yes, I’ll admit up front that I don’t have a solution for what I’m complaining about. The news this month? Google will no longer support the first- […]

This article features the audiovisual industry’s role in this dramatic trilogy — and serves as a polite wake-up call to the industry and manufacturers. Every great movement in history eventually hits that awkward moment when the hype train pulls into the reality station. Esports is no different. Once the underdog of digital entertainment, it’s now […]

In Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” Juliet famously muses, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” Lovely sentiment. But Juliet never had to set up a conference room before a board meeting. In the AV industry, names matter. In fact, they often become shorthand for […]

I recently attended a few cybersecurity education sessions at InfoComm 2025. (Yes, there were multiple sessions focused on security — that alone is pretty newsworthy.) During one of the classes, someone in the audience said something along the lines of: Government security regulation isn’t necessary — eventually, the less secure vendors will gain a bad […]