Responsiveness and Reliability As any regular reader of my columns will know, one of my significant beliefs is critical to any relationship between a manufacturer and consultants/specifiers. It’s about two things: responsiveness and reliability. Therefore, I present the following story as an illustration of precisely what NOT to do if you are a manufacturer. Take […]

Over the years, I’ve noticed an odd trend with companies and products. Simply stated, everyone and everything gets pigeonholed. As users, we tend to focus on the same companies when it comes to certain types of products. Even within categories of products, we tend to use the same ones all the time and rarely reach […]

By Rakesh Kumar Mangal, CTS-D, CTS-I, EAVA I am writing this article to collectively respond to various questions and queries I receive on LinkedIn and various other platforms related to AVIXA CTS Certifications. Before starting any further, you should create a login on the AVIXA website if you have not done so already. How did I […]

If you’re still working, as I am, you’ve already discovered that you need to work differently — in a few different ways. As the Zen expression goes, “this understanding applies to all things.” Face-to-face meetings are a thing of the past, one of which we did “before.” To be completely honest, the two things I […]

Practically no one, and no community, has escaped the impact of COVID-19 on life and work. Underneath it all, we’re all just itching to know how long this will go on. On Thursday, T1V hosted a webinar to dig into these realities and tensions. To help, it enlisted one of the world’s leading physicians to […]

It’s a given: This scenario will play out in almost any size house-of-worship project. I have lost track of the number of times (at least a hundred over the last decade) a HOW client has asked about the possibility of a large-screen projection installation in the middle of a beautiful, naturally lit sanctuary — in […]

By Jeff Hastings BrightSign Our industry is more diverse than it’s ever been. The IHS Markit Digital Signage Industry Market Tracker presents separate data in eight vertical markets, and many of these verticals are themselves very diverse. “Retail” extends from corner shops to Harrods to large supermarket chains. Hospitality spans everything from fast food outlets […]

In 1966, architect Cedric Price famously said, “Technology is the answer, but what was the question?” Could we be living in a time where this statement was ever more true than today? Take a stroll through LinkedIn and you will see a plethora of technology posts, all proclaiming that the solution to your problems is […]

In my biweekly blog series, I am highlighting some of the incredible people who work for the Audio Video Industry. In this post, we are profiling Shaun Trudell. Here is a brief introduction.  Shaun Trudell, CTS is the President/Owner at Automation Arts. 1. Describe your journey in the AV industry? How did it start? My […]

Like so many trade shows this year, broadcast mega-event NAB Show, originally planned for April in Las Vegas, could not happen due to COVID-19. In its place, NAB organized its virtual NAB Show Express. I registered and attended part of the online event to soak up some industry education and see what the showcase would […]

If you’re reading anything online about business right now, it is likely pontificating about what businesses will look like when the world goes back to work. It’s all about the new normal, the post-COVID-19 workplace shuffle and the pandemic pivot — all of which sound like they could be performed on “Dancing with the Stars,” […]

By Adam Cox Futuresource Consulting It is not an exaggeration to say that the world as we know it will be forever changed once we emerge from the all-engulfing COVID-19, with one of the major shifts being how we choose to work effectively in the workplace moving forward. Ultimately, collaboration technology is at the center […]

Many of us are approaching our third month of stay-at-home orders (while others on the West Coast are looking at their fourth month). We — or at least I — spend much of our time thinking/dreaming about when this will come to an end so that we can get back to a normal routine. However, […]

I want to preface this column by saying, first, that this is intended as a call to action. It is to suggest new strategic initiatives that can transform how we do things. This article has nothing to do with products; it has nothing to do with how we design systems. It’s about processes and a […]

CEDIA Expo announced that Crestron Electronics will return for the 2020 show, optimistically scheduled to take place Sept. 8-12 at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver. And, CEDIA Expo also said Crestron will work with closer to continue the advancement and success of the custom integration channel. “After what has been a challenging year for […]

You may have heard by now that we’re all dealing with social distancing and travel restrictions as a result of the official response to COVID-19. Some things may start to reopen soon, but I don’t think we can count on anything going back to business as usual for quite awhile. If you’re still working, as […]

I had the pleasure of providing live coverage for the first-ever LAVNCH WEEK, an all-digital event put on by THE rAVe Agency in partnership with Zoom last week. After five full days of education sessions, product launches and thought-leadership, I wanted to write a wrap-up story of my favorite moments, broken down by vertical: ProAV, […]

Last week’s LAVNCH WEEK was huge for both THE rAVe Agency and the industry. In fact, it was the largest virtual AV event, ever, with five days, 36 presenters and 20 hours of streaming — all in one platform. Let’s jump into the numbers. Here are some interesting stats: We streamed 15 terabytes of data […]

End users in the AV industry are a unique group that should not be ignored, and last week’s End User Day of LAVNCH WEEK was specifically created for them and only them. The final session of LAVNCH WEEK End User Day — and of LAVNCH WEEK overall! — was our panel discussion. The panel, “Insider […]

We’re continuing with our theme of providing corresponding blog posts to go with our LAVNCH WEEK coverage! Scott Tiner, director of client services at Bates College and member of the rAVe BlogSquad, delivered our Tech Talk about the interesting and symbiotic relationship between a vendor and customer. Below are his tips and advice for cultivating […]

In my biweekly blog series, I am highlighting some of the incredible people who work for the Audio Video Industry. In this post, we are profiling Jimmy Vaughan. Here is a brief introduction.  Jimmy Vaughan is National Technical Director – UC Solutions at Crestron. 1.Describe your journey in the AV industry? How did it start? […]

We’ve made it, everybody! The last day of LAVNCH WEEK arrived — and it left just as quickly. Our team is tired but proud — we created something brand new and released it much quicker than initially planned. LAVNCH is the industry’s first all-digital event we put on with Zoom and our other partners last […]

During our live LAVNCH WEEK Tech Talk, Paul Richards of PTZOptics shared that, these last few months, “connected churches” are discovering just how large their communities really are. And once social distancing is relaxed, many houses of worship won’t be going back to the way things were in their AV systems. For bigger houses of […]

One, in case you missed HoW Day for LAVNCH WEEK today and, two, in case you missed Steph Beckett’s videocast with Paul Richards here, here’s a THIRD chance for you to learn about how to stream for houses of worship, as told by Paul Richards. Because, here at rAVe, we like to give you thorough […]

Back in the old days, like a decade ago, everyone went to a movie theater to watch “first-run” films — especially blockbusters. We all loved the immersive experience, the better audio, the taste of the popcorn and the giant screen. Now, not so much. Although, in this COVID-19 environment, I’d give nearly anything to sit […]

It’s day four out of five for LAVNCH WEEK — the industry’s first all-digital launch event we’ve been putting on with Zoom and our partners this week — and today was House of Worship (HoW) day. This day was created specifically for two audiences: house of worship integrators and AV/IT providers (maybe even volunteers) who […]

By: Madelyn Welch and Leah McCann For today’s UCC Day “Tech Talk,” we were joined by industry veteran Dr. S. Ann Earon to compare unified communication collaborations options and discover where the battle lines are today. With more than 38 years in the industry, Dr. Earon has dubbed herself the “fairy godmother of the industry.”  […]

I was shaking in my boots (with excitement) to hear from Zoom for our LAVNCH WEEK UCC Day keynote. Zoom has been in the news a lot recently, but a lot of us think the platform has done a fantastic job of responding to criticism about its security measures, then directly addressing them with timeliness […]

Back again with another LAVNCH WEEK preview — and I got the opportunity to speak with Joe Way from the University of Southern California. He will be joining us for End User Day of LAVNCH WEEK on May 1. This week has been more successful than we could have imagined so we at rAVe are […]

Oh my god I’m back again — with another taste of something you can expect to see during rAVe’s LAVNCH WEEK! Anthony Coppedge is a marketing and digital sales consultant who also happens to be a member of the rAVe BlogSquad. He’s also very clued in to the HOW world — and that’s why we […]

By Morgan Alley Almo Pro A/V With most of our industry cooped up at home in quarantine, it feels like we hear about video games every single day. If you’re working from home with kids, you’ve probably heard them talk about a sweet new Minecraft build, the new League of Legends meta (still hoping for […]

P.T. Barnum is credited for saying,”There’s no such thing as bad publicity.” You may have heard other variations of this old saying, such as “There’s no such thing as bad press.” Does this apply to recent headlines about Zoom? If you have lost track, I will do my best to summarize and put it all […]