(An earlier version of this post appeared in SMART’s Next Level Collaboration blog.) Occasionally, I come to grips with the fact that I’m in my mid-forties… especially when I look at how far technology has come since I was a child. Every once in a while, something comes up with my kids, and it makes me feel […]
By Emerson Loustau CTO, TransitScreen In many ways, signs have changed very little over the past few thousand years. But we are now at the brink of a massive global shift as digital signs become one of the easiest ways to communicate with large numbers of urban residents, commuters and travelers. The language of the […]
By AVPro Store In HDMI 2.0 installations we expected that everything would work as described in manuals. Many of us have done that and got terribly frustrated – it’s like troubleshooting in the dark – divide and conquer – replace potential defective components with known good components…unfortunately at this point in time the cards are […]
By Matt Murray AVPro Store In HDMI 2.0 installations we expected that everything would work as described in manuals. Many of us have done that and got terribly frustrated – it’s like troubleshooting in the dark — divide and conquer — replace potential defective components with known good components… unfortunately at this point in time […]
By David Danto Director of Emerging Technology, IMCCA This week both of my boys head off to college, leaving my wife and I with the proverbial empty nest. While I know they’re as prepared as they can be to absorb all the higher education that they can access, I can easily recall the time when they […]
By Matt Murray AVPro Store In HDMI 2.0 installations we expected that everything would work as described in manuals. Many of us have done that and got terribly frustrated – it’s like troubleshooting in the dark – divide and conquer – replace potential defective components with known good components… unfortunately at this point in time […]
By James Gruening Mechdyne Corporation A recent Wall Street Journal article, “Virtual Reality Isn’t Just About Games,” by Christopher Mims, made several predictions about the future of virtual reality technology. However, there were a couple of points that Mims missed. First, head mounted displays (HMDs) are not the only way to experience virtual reality (VR). […]
By Hope Roth One of my favorite episodes of the Simpsons involves Bart Simpson and an elephant named Stampy (who turns out to be a bit of a jerk). It also involves a couple of radio DJs are who are in danger of being replaced by a computer, the DJ 3000. DJ 3000: Looks like […]
I read with interest the restructuring announcements from Google this week, as they rebrand the parent company into Alphabet, building out the letters with innovative products and business models — starting with “G” for Google, which remains a wholly-owned subsidiary. It’s a bold move for a company that doesn’t want to be conventional. This got me thinking about […]
By Paul Konikowski PK Audiovisual Any good company has to have a good mix of people in order to balance the work load. By matching the personality type of with the job opening, employers can benefit from certain traits that may be inherent in some individuals, and not others. Combining the different strengths (and often […]
By Frank White Social profiles are a critical part of any marketing and biz-dev activity. Author your profile in such a way as to accentuate the benefits of working with you, just like you would in the “about us” portion of your web-site. In other words, it is about the reader, your potential client, not […]
By Cory Schaeffer I’ve been attending the InfoComm show for years and it’s one of my favorite activities. I love this industry of ours; it’s so great to see technology advance and to catch up with clients and friends. This industry has always been fun and rewarding for me. This past show was bittersweet, as […]
By Roger Takacs National Sales Manager – Strategic Accounts at Crestron Electronics I believe I was an early adopter of the DVR back when the choice was Tivo or ReplayTV — I chose a ReplayTV. Three hard drives and nearly five years later when we upgraded to HDTV, my trusted ReplayTV was officially dead. The […]
By Brad Grimes InfoComm International Great seeing all of you packed into the opening keynote panel, Tuesday afternoon of InfoComm 2015 in Orlando. As you know (and for those of you who weren’t there, you may have heard), the topic was the Internet of Things. Seems a little far afield for an AV industry confab. […]
By Michael Newman Michael Newman Consulting More entertaining than educational, I wanted to share my frustration with some of the buzzwords for business and internet marketing. It’s getting a little crazy and it seems people feel the need to shove them down your throat. “The marketing formula seems simple: Attract audiences, engage prospects, convert leads, […]
By Ron DeVoe Successful Sales Consulting “Are we there yet?” is a repeated question that was seen on an episode of The Simpsons brought a knowing nod from everyone who has chauffeured children on long trips. “Are we there yet?” is a question that can be applied to many areas, because it indicates a journey […]
It used to be that organizations would set up multiple wired infrastructure networks to handle phone, data, video, audio, control, security, KVM, etc. Now, multiple options are emerging that can allow one or two networks to do all the stuff of multiple networks in the past. That is creating lots of new opportunities for hardware, […]
By Dave Labuskes InfoComm International I just returned from InfoComm China 2015. What an exciting experience! I’m always impressed by the grandeur of the ancient society juxtaposed over the amazing energy, can-do attitude and raw entrepreneurial spirit that permeates virtually every conversation that I have when in that country. Our show was the largest we’ve […]
By Marty Schaffel AVI-SPL Over the years, many an employee would walk into my office declaring he has a problem that needs immediate attention. It may have been work related, industry related or personal in nature. In every case, the person would ask me to provide a prompt solution so he could get back to […]
By Bob Langlois Fiberplex I know for most of you, this will seem like a “no brainer.” Unfortunately, there are a lot of twenty-somethings out there who, believe it or not, have never learned the basics of the audio chain. This is for them. In the meantime, here is something for you to chew on. […]
By Mario Porto Director of Strategic Accounts, HB Communications “THIS SYSTEM SUCKS! NOTHING WORKS!!!” How many times have you heard that comment? If you’re like most of the people I’ve spoken to over the years, you’ve heard it more times than any of us would have liked. I recall meeting an architect from a very […]
By Jeremy Boyd, CTS Systems Design Consultant, AVI Systems Apple is not the end-all-be-all in the electronics space, but Apple’s products are often indicators of where we are headed. The iPod was an indicator of how we would start to consume music and the iPhone was the catalyst for many of us to look at […]
By David Danto Director of Emerging Technology, IMCCA A funny thing happened to me last year. I woke up early at a hotel in the middle of a business trip because I had to give a presentation to a client. I ate some breakfast in my room, showered and dressed and then gave that presentation […]
By Rob Sheeley CEO, Vaddio Well friends, I just want to say a few words about my upcoming departure and a few thoughts about what it has been like to have been a part of this amazing adventure we call Vaddio. Starting simply as a call to my friend Tom back in November of 2002, […]
By Premier Mounts As we all know, the industry is changing in front of our very eyes and one change that concerns us all is that many products have become more and more commoditized, and the result is eroding margins. Premier Mounts is directly addressing the changing nature of the market in order to serve […]
By Ron DeVoe Principal, Successful Sales Consulting InfoComm is now 75 years old and while I am not quite that age, I look around and found that I have become an “old dog” of the AV industry. You can spot an “old dog” fairly easily. Sometimes he is identified as one who remembers easels, speaks […]
By Matthew Thompson Integrated Commercial Design There have been many statements made comparing and contrasting the IT industry and the AV industry. The main reasoning has been the collective technical industry acknowledgement that something needs to change, particularly in the AV industry. For AV integrators, the change has meant the call for IT competency in […]
By Melody Craigmyle Vice President of Marketing, Almo Pro A/V Before I started in the A/V industry, I was vice president of marketing for the largest AutoCAD reseller and integrator in the country. Our world was architects, engineers of all disciplines, interior designers and facilities managers. I remember the first time I heard the phrase […]
Kevin A. Busza ICD Systems Since when does a manufacturer representative provide a services component on its line card? Yes, I am referring to services such as system programming, system commissioning and professional design documentation. Symco, Inc. a Mid-Atlantic manufacturers’ rep sees the potential, and is making the offering to its network of dealers. If […]
By Josh Srago Presentations like rAVe founder Gary Kayye’s Krystal Ball do a phenomenal job of painting broad strokes over where we are headed as an industry, but when the information is incomplete or disregards alternatives, it can leave those in attendance with the wrong impression. In the spring of 2013, Gary gave his Krystal […]
By Ron Devoe Successful Sales Consulting A phrase often quoted from the Bard is “a rose by any other name is still a rose.” While it does not roll off the tongue quite as well, it can be said that a rep by any other name is still a rep. For over three decades, I […]
Guest blog via Weezer Group The Newark Star-Ledger reported earlier this month that Panasonic will abandon consumer electronics to focus on professional products only. WOW! Many I spoke to in past few months thought the pro side of the “Big Boys” (Panasonic, Sony, Sharp, Mitsubishi, etc.) was hurting but consumer was OK. Just OK, not […]
