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 interface). But, I am happy to do my part and protect everyone from myself as I, too, have parents in their 70s and 80s like many who work at rAVe [PUBS] and THE rAVe Agency. I’m lucky that my house is stocked with food as my 24-year-old daughter cooked for me before I arrived home. But I digress; this blog is supposed to be about the AVI Systems’ AVI LIVE event.

As I started writing about the AVI LIVE event last week in San Diego, it dawned on me that it may have been an industry-marker of sorts. It may very well have been the final AV show before the “coronavirus shutdown” we are all experiencing now. But, what a show! If AVI Systems was writing this column, the company would readily admit it was shocked by the turnout. It was the second-highest attended AVI LIVE event that I’ve attended (this is my sixth event with them), and except for one last-minute drop from Sharp, all the vendors showed up. We shot videos from nearly every booth at AVI LIVE — a total of 58 videos — so you can see all sorts of new stuff, including a new UCC product from Extron, the new WCD from Avocor, and the AV-over-IP NDI lineup from NewTek. It’s all here.

I also delivered a keynote to a full house.

My topic? Well, I have an all-new 2020 keynote dubbed: “The Future of AV Design: A People-First Approach.” It’s all about how we need to rethink the AV design process and consider thinking about the users first, rather than the technology or the gear. That followed a keynote from AVI Systems’ Brad Sousa, whose topic was: “Elevating AV from Good to Great,” where he talked about how organizations recognize that getting the most out of their AV technology requires a people-first approach (sound familiar?).

So, if you’d like to experience the AVI LIVE in San Diego yourself, our microsite is here.