This was my first time attending an InfoComm Connections show and I was facinated that InfoComm partnered with NAB, CCW and SATCON to provide an all-encompassing show to the attendees. As I walked the aisles, I quickly realized that any kind of AV technology was at my fingertips… digital signage, displays, projectors, collaboration, UC, automation, production cameras and switchers, streaming, even satellite feeds were available.

As if the show itself wasn’t enough, I got to catch up with many #AVTweeps, including a couple of first time real-life encounters! I enjoyed meeting Cindy Davis in person as well as walking the show floor with Lindsey Adler (my favorite part of the afternoon). And it is abundantly clear that Chris Neto and I wear the same glasses.

Since I only spent one day at the show, I chose not to participate in any of the learning sessions. However, I talked to a few people that had and they found them to be very informative.

I spent some time at the DisplayNote booth as I am always interested in different collaboration solutions. I was intrigued that this solution can be provided off the network, on the network or via the cloud for meeting attendees to share, capture and collaborate their information. Will it replace other collaboration solutions I provide to customers? Probably not, but it is a viable solution.

I spent time in the FSR booth and was instantly attracted to the display that showcased their fire-resistant floor boxes. FSR recently partnered with Connectrac which makes perfect sense to me and they had numerous products in the booth for attendees to see firsthand.

I spent time talking to Exterity and learned of a recent addition to their line, Catchup TV, which allows users to access programs as far back as seven days so no important programs are missed due to not being scheduled for automatic recording.

I also spent most of the day testing out a new product from Sennheiser, the MKE 2 digital microphone. Sennheiser partnered with Apogee to offer this professional microphone that you can pair with modern iOS devices. If you want an awesome microphone to record presentations, interviews or podcasts, just plug it right into your iOS device and start recording. If you want to be able to edit your content, download the Apogee MetaRecorder app to customize and organize your audio files. You can then take your audio recording an export your XML file to Final Cut Pro X… super cool in my book.

So did I think it was worth the trip to NYC to attend InfoComm Connections? To me, the show reveals itself in its name — Connections — and that was the theme of the day for me. I thoroughly enjoyed spending the day talking to manufacturers, industry peers and friends. It was worth the trip for me and I’d do it again!