At the end of last year (2019) in his December column, my well-regarded rAVe colleague, Anthony Coppedge, presented his eagerly awaited advertising analysis of the HOW market. Anthony cogently broke down how products and services are being sold/marketed and promoted to the house of worship market(s). As is customary with Anthony’s analysis, it was spot-on. […]
I’m starting a trend of releasing a corresponding blog with my webinars, and this will be the second of that series. On Wednesday, I hosted a webinar in conjunction with Almo Pro A/V and Dana Corey of Avocor, in which I took you on a tour of the UCC world! But, in case you weren’t […]
A couple of months ago, I wrote an article that talked about protecting your staff from the current epidemic. A lot has changed. Obviously, the virus becoming a worldwide pandemic has thrown the industry into a tailspin. As an industry, we have spent a lot of time in the tailspin condition, as we are an […]
I was honored to be the only member of the AV press invited to cover the live, global (it was streamed live from Seattle, Washington, New York City, Amsterdam and Madrid) streaming video launch of the Sharp WCD (Windows Collaboration Display) last week. Although those in attendance, live, saw it as a technical marvel (connecting […]
I am sitting here in my kitchen table writing this. Like many of you who traveled last week, I am in a self-quarantine to protect the world from my potentially having the new coronavirus, sadly known as COVID-19 (sad as COVID used to only refer to that Tempe-based AV manufacturer known for the once-famous EXPiX […]
Technology certainly has its fair share of buzzwords. If you have had your ears open over the past couple of years, you have undoubtedly heard the phrase “digital transformation.” If your experience is similar to mine, you have not only heard about it but also read about it and seen ads for webinars about it. […]
Whether you’re working on improving yourself personally or professionally, it’s essential to have the ability to be introspective and analytical, in order to identify what you need to work on. That’s also true when you’re coaching others. In that, self-improvement has a lot in common with troubleshooting systems and equipment at work: Diagnose, Analyze, Repair, […]
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 Shehzad Hussain. Here is his brief introduction. Shehzad Hussain, CTS is Senior Technology Specialist at TWYLA Technology, Qatar. 1. Describe your journey in the AV industry? How did it […]
I remember reading a book back in the late ’90s called “Why Big Fierce Animals Are Rare” by Paul Colvinaux. It was one of the first ecology books I read, and although the science was still evolving itself, there are a couple points in the book that have stuck with me over time and that […]
By Paul Konikowski The last week of February 2020 could go down as the worst week in Wall Street history. The U.S. and global markets plummeted as coronavirus fears escalated. Some think it may have had something to do with Bernie Sander’s wins in the early Democratic primaries, and some think it is tied to […]
In February, I wrote a blog on universal design in higher ed classrooms. In that blog, I covered the first four of the seven principles of universal design. This month, I am going to cover the remaining three principles. As a refresher, the seven principles are: — Principle One: Equitable Use — Principle Two: Flexibility […]
Every year, I like to release a top 10 list of my favorite things that I have seen at Integrated Systems Europe. Last Wednesday, in collaboration with Almo Pro A/V and Barco — I hosted a webinar in which I expanded on just that. But I understand that not everyone can attend every single webinar, […]
THIS IS A PROMOTED POST By: Wayne Borg Marketing Manager, Casio A familiar question in the AV industry: How do projectors compare to flat-panel displays? Before you answer that, first establish what kind of projector you’re referencing. Therefore, the better question is, How do lamp-free projectors compare to flat-panel displays? Because once you eliminate the […]
For a long time now, I have advocated the use of commonly available online tools to organize a rental and staging operation. Personally, I have long loved an SaaS application called BaseCamp, but there are many available tools like this one that enable us to organize our projects without having to invest a fortune in […]
Welcome to my 20th Kayye’s Krystal Ball! I know, I was shocked too. Twenty years of this. But I love writing this annual predictions article. If you’re a regular reader, you already know this, but for those who don’t, my Kayye’s Krystal Ball piece is an annual article where I not only tell you what […]
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 Alberto Ayulo. Here is his brief introduction. Alberto Ayulo is Regional General Manager – Northeast at AVI-SPL 1.Describe your journey in the AV industry? How did it start? This […]
There’s an advertising catchphrase that probably dates back to the dawn of advertising: “We service what we sell!” You’ll see it appended as a tagline everywhere from car dealerships to general merchandise retailers. Last week my kitchen fridge died — it was only seven years old. I say “kitchen fridge” to differentiate it from the […]
Disclaimer: This is one of those topics that seems to require periodic reminders and refreshers. Why this is the case is one of the great mysteries of the AV life, but we seem to lose sight of the core principals reasonably regularly, and thus — the following is your scheduled reminder that the foundational rules […]
Who doesn’t wish to spend an entire day at home doing just nothing or long to get back home after a tiring day at work to just relax. But does relaxation come easy, of-course not, it comes with a price. That’s where automated homes come into picture. Now, if you are thinking home automation is […]
Sometimes you read an article that makes you say “I need to interview that person!” Well this was that article and David Dewane was that person. Tune in to hear some amazing thoughts and ideas on people, space, and today’s modern workplace. Cedric Price’s Fun Palace concept is here as well- http://www.interactivearchitecture.org/fun-palace-cedric-price.html
THIS IS A PROMOTED POST FROM AVI LIVE Next month rAVe heads to San Diego for the first of four AVI LIVE 2020 shows and I will be presenting the keynote at each event. In San Diego, I will be speaking about the future of AV design and why we need to think about the […]
While the coronavirus certainly decimated attendance at Integrated Systems Europe 2020 — coming in right at around 52,000 attendees — exhibitors were thrilled with those who showed. NOT ONE exhibitor complained to me. Quantity was down, but the quality was up. Way up. This actually could have been the best thing ever to happen to […]
By Aviad Cohen Founder, Comeet I’ve been a fan of AV-over-IP ever since I first worked with the technology — but the number of vendors and different solutions out in the market make it very hard for customers to choose. How could an AV investment be protected if there is no standard? You can be […]
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 Shane Springer. Here is his brief introduction. Shane Springer is Solutions Architect at Zoom Video Communications. 1.Describe your journey in the AV industry? How did it start? I […]
By Adam Cox Senior Analyst, Futuresource Consulting Low-latency AV-over-IP solutions are on the rise across a range of key verticals, presenting clear advantages over competing technologies. Yet, technology continues to struggle to achieve mass-market acceptance. Adam Cox, senior analyst at Futuresource Consulting, explores some of the challenges and takes us through the detail. AV-over-IP has […]
When planning and estimating, you have to deal with the unknown — this includes both the known-unknowns and the unknown-unknowns, so to speak. Everyone likes clear, concise answers, and at least initially, it’s not always possible for project managers to give them. During the development of the initial scope of a project, it’s difficult, maybe […]
AV marketing professionals spend countless hours pursuing more reader likes, more engagement, more content, more metrics and frankly more of the same in a never-ending hype cycle. Social media is merely another function where marketers are stuck in tactical due to feeling the pressure to produce something — anything — in order to somehow drive […]
Fear. Uncertainty. Doubt. We call this ‘FUD’ and it happens all the time for audio, video and lighting sales; one minute the sale looks like it’s about to close and seemingly the next moment FUD strikes and the deal is too often lost. FUD exists in every market within the AV industry, but perhaps it’s […]
Like most folks out there, I spent many years not understanding what UX (User eXperience) was and, more importantly, what the difference between UI (User Interface) and UX was. Over time I came to realize that what was being commonly delivered as a UI in the AV world did not translate to good customer experience. […]
Last month I wrote about how I thought that accessibility would be a big topic in AV during 2020. A big reason we will hear more about this is a lawsuit that Harvard recently settled with the National Association of the Deaf. In the settlement, Harvard agreed to provide captioning for all new content placed […]
There is an old saw about the Chinese character for crisis being a combination of the characters for danger and opportunity. Friends who speak Mandarin tell me that this is not true, but it is so convenient that I wanted to use it here. Please consider it quoted. Linguistic folklore or not, I believe that […]
There’s a saying that I regularly remind myself with. It goes, “If it makes you money, it’s a business. If it costs you money, it’s a hobby.” And while in order to be a business you need to have products and services that people want, it’s no less necessary, more so perhaps, that you get […]