NEC’s Rich Ventura is One Happy Guy

I was walking around the show floor here in Las Vegas at the 2013 Digital Signage Expo and saw NEC’s Director of Sales Rich Ventura with a giant grin on his face. I asked him why he was so dang happy and he told me how he saw NEC’s positioning here at DSE on Day 1 of […]

NEC’s Rich Ventura is One Happy Guy

rAVe Wants to Help ProAV by Helping InfoComm

I am writing to you to ask for your help. We are on a mission to make this year’s InfoComm show the highest attended AV show, ever. And, there’s no reason that it can’t be. Why do we care? Well, at rAVe we spend a lot of time and money carefully tracking the industry trends, product impact, technological movements […]

rAVe Wants to Help ProAV by Helping InfoComm

We’ve Launched the Most Professional AV Job Board Ever

There are lots of free AV Job sites. Heck, even we had one. And, it was one of the most popular places we had on our site. But, we got rid of it. Why? Well, the truth is, free job listings have no incentive. The manufacturers or integrator lists a job, but once it’s filled, […]

We’ve Launched the Most Professional AV Job Board Ever

Apple, AppleTV and Joan Jett

The world probably does not need yet another blog post about Apple, or any Apple products, such as Apple TV which I’m about to blog about. However, I feel compelled to do so, for two main reasons. The first is that I feel vaguely guilty spending my blogging time for rAVe telling old work stories that alternate […]

Apple, AppleTV and Joan Jett

Nothing goes away on the Internet

I was explaining to a friend the other day that nothing on the Internet ever really disappears. This is been the subject of a number of posts on this blog, including posts by myself, by Gary, and by many of the bloggers. I really can’t stress this enough, and I am constantly warning friends never […]

Strange ReTales, Employees Behaving Badly: Non-Productive Time

Way back in the day one of the places that I worked that was 100% commission had an unusual incentive in order to get hard-bitten, driven and cynical commission sales people to show up for things like product knowledge seminars, administrative duties, or anything else that took them off the floor: pay for Non-Productive Time. […]

Strange ReTales, Employees Behaving Badly: Non-Productive Time

WAVE Feature: Marla Suttenberg, A Woman in AV Pioneer

I had the honor of interviewing Marla Suttenberg, 2013 Women in CE Award winner and owner/principal of Sapphire Marketing, a manufacturing representative firm, offering leading-edge AV solutions to both the commercial and residential side of the industry in the Northeast.  She is an inspiration to all of us women who want to one day be a […]

WAVE Feature: Marla Suttenberg, A Woman in AV Pioneer

The Michael Blackman Blog

This blog is late. I don’t really have an excuse other than the fact that I’ve been traveling nearly continuously since leaving Amsterdam in early February. But, as the saying goes, better late then never. This year’s Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) Expo Jan. 29 – 31, was, in a word, AWESOME. And, kudos is in […]

The Michael Blackman Blog

Christie’s NAB Plans Call for Unique Theater Experience and a 4K Demo Too

I had a chance to sit down with Christie’s Director of Experiential Marketing Steve Capling last week and he told me about a very cool theater the company will be building inside its NAB booth next month in Vegas. Ever since the debut of The Hobbit, where they released the movie in both a traditional 24 fps […]

Christie’s NAB Plans Call for Unique Theater Experience and a 4K Demo Too

Employees Behaving Badly: What’s Your Poison?

We all have our vices, I suppose. It’s just that some people take them to work. I think I’ve mentioned in the past how much I loved being the only non-smoker on a sales floor. I used to work with a half-dozen other sales people, all of who had a serious nicotine problem. In addition […]

Employees Behaving Badly: What’s Your Poison?

Don’t Forget Your Easter Follow-Up

It’s probably too late to try and land some last-minute business for Easter with your church clients and prospects, but what you need to be planning for now is the immediate follow-up within 72 hours of those Sunday services. Churches will have experienced one of their two biggest attendance days of the year. As such, […]

Don’t Forget Your Easter Follow-Up

From a Trickle, to a Stream

In December, I wrote a column on how Bates College went from Zero to Streaming in 10 Days. The article was a hit and I turned it into a webinar forInfoComm. This week I spoke at the NERCOMP (@NERCOMP) annual conference. I shared the stage with Aaron Coburn and Marcus DeMaio from Amherst College.  We each gave a short introduction to what […]

From a Trickle, to a Stream

Networks and Referral Webs

I spoke as part of a seminar today that was called “30 Seconds to Success” for my local Chamber of Commerce.  It was focusing on the first 30 seconds of meeting someone- whether it is a business meeting, a networking event, a round table, etc. My section, in particular, was addressing the well known (but […]

BICSI Pulls Support for STEP — But, Does it Matter?

Last month, BICSI pulled its support (via a letter, the text of which is below) of the InfoComm STEP program. STEP is an acronym for the Sustainable Technology Environments Program (STEP), a rating system and guide managed by the STEP Foundation, a nonprofit organization comprised of technology trade associations representatives, their members and STEP supporters. At its core, STEP […]

BICSI Pulls Support for STEP — But, Does it Matter?

So, What Makes a Good Web Ad?

As the Director of Marketing for rAVe and well, the “web marketing” lady in the house, I often get asked this question: “What makes a great a web ad?” With web advertising on the rise and becoming even more of a great, affordable way for companies to reach an audience, there’s a lot of talk about impressions […]

So, What Makes a Good Web Ad?

Attention AV Manufacturers, Distributors and Systems Designers: Why You NEED to Exhibit at InfoComm

I’ve written lots of InfoComm articles before. I’ve written all about how it’s THE ProAV show — and, if you can only afford to go to one show a year, it needs to be InfoComm. I’ve written about the quality of the educational experience and I’ve written about the value of the networking experience. And, having attended the last 22 InfoComms in […]

Attention AV Manufacturers, Distributors and Systems Designers: Why You NEED to Exhibit at InfoComm

Infocomm Live – It’s a Wrap (Again)

INFOCOMM LIVE Well, as I write this, I am on a United flight from Dallas to Chicago, trying to route around Winter Storm Saturn to get home to NY. I am returning from a packed two days at Infocomm Live, which is the association’s annual event for leaders in the Live Events portion of the industry (read: […]

SMART Technologies Pulls Out of InfoComm

We’ve learned that SMART Technologies, once the de facto standard in electronic and interactive whiteboards, has pulled out of the top AV show: InfoComm. In explaining the decision to their channel, SMART said, “This decision was made based on how SMART can best utilize our budget and resources to deliver the best programs to you in […]

SMART Technologies Pulls Out of InfoComm

What more can I do? Let’s Get Started…

Tory Holmwood, a Project Manager for Advanced AV and a member of Women in AV, will be traveling to Uganda in March to give back to an amazing cause. This generosity and practice of giving back to the community runs in her family. The family took their cue from her mother, who co-founded a non-profit organization […]

What more can I do? Let’s Get Started…

Let’s Celebrate Women’s History Month!

March is Women’s History Month and this Friday, March 8th is International Women’s Day! This marks a time when we can celebrate and honor the amazing strides women have made in gaining equal rights and also raise awareness on the continued struggle many women still face in ending poverty, violence, and unfair treatment around the world. In honor of the […]

Let’s Celebrate Women’s History Month!

GinaMichelle: Gemini To The Extreme

So my sister and I are twins with very different personalities. I wouldn’t even say that we have two different personalities. It’s probably more like four different types of personalities between the two of us (we are, in fact, Geminis.) We worked as a team one minute — when we were two, I used to push […]

GinaMichelle: Gemini To The Extreme

Maybe It’s Time To Redefine Gamer Terms

The nerd community media, by which I mean the social media sites that generate humorous pictures and the media sites that comment on social media and humorous pictures would have you believe that video game lovers are a nation divided; that somehow a line can be drawn between “serious” or “real” gamers and so-called “casual” […]

Maybe It’s Time To Redefine Gamer Terms

The Coolest Thing from Day One of DSE 2013 So Far

So far, the coolest thing I’ve seen at the 2013 Digital Signage Expo (DSE) has been from UK-based start-up company NOMADIX whose so-called iWalker is basically a wearable digital signage player (yes, the person wears a giant DS screen above his/her head) automatically serves custom digital signage content to the viewer based on age, gender, location and even distance […]

The Coolest Thing from Day One of DSE 2013 So Far

Peerless-AV Is Not Just Mounts

For years, Peerless-AV spent nearly all its marketing budget telling buyers of AV gear why they should use the company to mount all their stuff. And, Peerless still builds mounts — lots of them — all here in the USA. But now the company’s marketing budget is split between a few new non-mount product lines. […]

Peerless-AV Is Not Just Mounts

ALMO EVP Sam Taylor Talks Digital Signage Strategy

In just  a few years, Almo Pro A/V went from start-up to one of the largest distributors of digital signage hardware in the U.S. Almo, a 50-year old giant consumer electronics distributor, hired long-time AV veteran Sam Taylor to head up its foray into the professional AV market nearly four years ago. Since then, the company’s become the leading […]

ALMO EVP Sam Taylor Talks Digital Signage Strategy

My Story

I recently attended the NSCA Business & Leadership Conference in Arizona. First off …Kudos to the NSCA staff for finding the most amazing speakers. There were various business seminars on the state of the economy, not being complacent, learning to adapt to change to grow your business, strategic planning and finding the entrepreneur inside of you… Saturday morning John […]

My Story

10 Tell Tale Signs You May be Burned Out

Over the years I have worked with some pretty amazing people… amazing people who occasionally needed a time out. They were tired, cranky or had just been in the business for far too long and started to exhibit some signs that were not exactly appropriate workplace behaviors. If I’m honest, I have been guilty of […]

10 Tell Tale Signs You May be Burned Out

ALMO E4 AV Tour is OPEN for Registration

I’ve attended every single Almo ProAV E4 AV Tour and it’s, by far, the best regional trade show in AV – and not just because i’m the keynote presenter. Seriously, after you attend, if you aren’t convinced that their E4 AV Tour isn’t the best distributor show you’ve ever been to, I will PERSONALLY give you a spot in rAVe to write your own rebuttal […]

ALMO E4 AV Tour is OPEN for Registration

rAVe Scoop: Almo Pro A/V Inks Deal with ELO Touch

Almo Pro A/V has added a new product line to its arsenal in ELO Touch — it will be ELO’s go-to distributor in the ProAV market. ELO Touch actually invented touch-screen technology back in 1971. Elo Touch happens to be the leading global supplier of touch-enabled technology. The Elo portfolio encompasses the broadest selection of OEM touch screen components, touch monitors and all-in-one touch computers for the […]

rAVe Scoop: Almo Pro A/V Inks Deal with ELO Touch

Upcoming on “The Week” on rAVe Radio

Well, it has been an interesting several weeks for our podcast series, “The Week”, on rAVe Radio. At the very beginning of the month, we had three shows from ISE in Amsterdam, which turned out to be a terrific show. Then, last week’s guest, my old colleague Dean Hills, gave us a lot of great info and ideas about […]

It’s the Convergence, Stupid

First, let’s address the title of this blog. It’s a follow-up to my article in this month’s rAVe ED about using Skype and other consumer level video conferencing software. In reviewing comments that I received online and in email, the point of my article synthesized in my mind even more. You see, it does not matter whether you use […]

Coffee Coffee COFFEE!

We’ve all got passions in our life, the things that make life worth living. At least, I know I do, and I hope that you do as well. One of my passions is the AV business, as I’m sure you’re aware, since I blog and tweet about it pretty much constantly. What you might not […]

Coffee Coffee COFFEE!