Earlier this week, DSE show organizers confirmed what many of us had suspected for months — that DSE would not happen as planned in 2020. What came as a bit of a surprise was Exponation’s entry into Chapter 7 bankruptcy — such an abrupt and terminal move by the organization that lifted up our industry […]
On Tuesday, I attended the first-ever virtual iteration of NSCA’s Pivot to Profit event — P2Pv. The National Systems Contractors Association (or NSCA, as I mentioned earlier) puts on Pivot to Profit every year, but this time around the show looked a little different. In a great way. My recap from Tuesday’s event is here, […]
There’s no doubt that Microsoft Teams has been playing catch-up with Zoom for months; some would argue years. But, this week, Microsoft upped its game by adding a host of features that even Zoom power-users will love. Here’s a summary look at each one: Together Mode: Together mode re-imagines meeting experiences to help participants feel […]
This week, I was excited to cover my first virtual event on the first official day of fall (Yes! Fall officially began Sept. 22!) on what’s finally a beautiful (not deathly hot) North Carolina day. This show was one that I’d never attended, and one that would be all-brand-new to me — designed specifically for […]
How an “AVSM” mindset can supercharge growth in the AV industry. In the last few articles, I talked (ranted) about the gap between the AV world and our customers. This gap has been the source of misunderstanding, poor experiences and lack of relevance at the big kids’ table. I recently saw an article discussing how […]
Update: We reached out to Rich Ventura of Sony (formerly of NEC) to talk to us a little more about what the loss of DSE will mean to the rest of the DS side of the AV industry. Ventura is the chairman emeritus of the Digital Signage Federation and serves on its board of directors. […]
By Kane McKenna Futuresource Consulting The rate of growth in the office based headset market has been steadily increasing in recent years. A key driver of this has been the rising importance of video conferencing, explored in Futuresource’s 2020 Video Conferencing report. Many end users have been looking to improve their videoconferencing experience, leading to […]
It looks like the industry pundits that predicted the ISE’s demise for 2021 were wrong as Integrated Systems Events, today, issued a statement that their new 2021 dates are 1-4 June and it will still be held at the Fira Gran Via in Barcelona, Spain. The decision to reschedule ISE 2021 from February to June […]
By Bob Snyder It’s an image so large it would take 378 4K ultra-high-definition TV screens to display. The resolution is so high you could see the dimples’ texture on a golf ball even if it was 24 kilometers away. This month, a lab at Stanford University, operating on behalf of the U.S. Department of […]
Update from rAVe Editor Sara Abrons: We reached out to AVIXA to see how the rescheduling of ISE would affect InfoComm and if there were any plans to delay, with ISE moving to June, the same month InfoComm is scheduled to take place. Rochelle Richardson, senior vice president of expositions and events for AVIXA, said […]
As technology people, we in the AV world are not immune to being drawn to new, fancy, shiny objects. We know we need to ask the right questions, make sure it fits our needs (or our customers’ needs), but wow, that new tech can be exciting. On occasion, we are also drawn in the opposite […]
By James Manning Smith Futuresource Consulting The video gaming industry has risen to new heights in 2020, with prevailing market conditions stimulating consumer demand and console lifecycles coming together to create an environment of opportunity. According to Futuresource research, by the end of this year the gaming software market will be worth U.S. $154 billion, […]
Way, way before COVID-19, UCC saw explosive growth. Because of it, “collaboration” was not only the buzzword of InfoComm 2019 but also completely dominated ISE 2020 — the last great AV event of 2020. But, UCC doesn’t mean meeting room or huddle room, by the way. If you read the spec sheets of the plethora […]
We at rAVe were as excited about day two of LAVNCH EMEA — UCC Collaborative Day — as any other LAVNCH event we’ve hosted thus far. It’s like Chris Mcintyre-Brown of Futuresource said yesterday on ProAV Day and reiterated this morning: UC&C (unified communications and collaboration) is intertwined into every AV discussion today. How could […]
ClearOne and Shure continue to battle via the courts — with the latest ruling that Shure is held in contempt over its MXA910-A ceiling microphone. A judge in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Illinois ruled that “Shure has violated the preliminary injunction order and is found in contempt because it designed […]
Us rAVe-rs woke up bright and early — some of us never went to sleep, actually — to get online today. The occasion: LAVNCH EMEA, which kicked off Wednesday in an exciting start to two full days of AV innovations and solutions launched virtually through our live, online event platform called LAVNCH. If you’ve been […]
World Wrestling Entertainment is a sport that relies on fan engagement and interaction more than any other. A big reason for that is the fact that it is staged. Yes, there is a substantial degree of physicality that goes into it, along with choreography and excellent timing. Yet, in the end, we know it is […]
I’d never heard the term “double join” until a few months ago on a call with one of our board members, John Case, who is a great resource to talk with if you’re researching the world of video conferencing. John spent a long time at Microsoft building the Office 365 product family and now puts […]
Suppose you’re active in social media at all. In that case, you may have noticed that quite a few strong opinions are resurfacing about AV’s “Experience” movement that has been happening since InfoComm became AVIXA. I believe the sudden rise of cloud-based conferencing, AV-over-IP and the retraction of hospitality, live and experiential events due to […]
The ClearOne and Shure legal battle continues with a new decision filed Friday. The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) issued a decision regarding Shure’s U.S. Patent No. 9,565,493 (the “’ 493 Patent”). However, this most recent legal battle confirms that both ClearOne and Shure claimed […]
The problem is not your technology. The problem is that you can’t pivot fast enough to keep up with the changes (set in motion by a global pandemic). The reason you can’t keep up is that your management system is based on a static, backward-looking, historical view of the AV market because it’s always worked, […]
According to Kenny Chesney, “We all have a song that somehow stamped our lives, takes us to another place and time,” I know that I certainly do. But can technology do that too? Here are the facts: We know that numerous studies have shown the effect of technology on teenagers, along with the results of […]
No one is immune to COVID-19. This is a defining moment in world history that our kids, their kids, their kids’ kids (and so on) will learn about in grade school for generations to come. Likely, everyone will eventually know someone directly or indirectly affected by this pandemic, either personally or professionally. As you probably […]
After reaching $93 billion in 2019, the Americas ProAV market is set to drop 8% to $86 billion in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the new 2020 AV Industry Outlook and Trends Analysis (IOTA) Americas Summary produced by AVIXA (the Audiovisual and Integrated Experience Association). However, a strong recovery is expected, with […]
I think I can confidently say that we’re tired of hearing about “Unprecedented Times” and “The New Normal.” The truth is that things are always in flux, and there are always businesses that are making money hand over fist while others are struggling to get by. Sure, a global pandemic and economic meltdown has caused […]
Back in the late fall of 2019, I first heard of Teleportivity. It was in a demo video that Gary Kayye posted right here on rAVe [PUBS]. My initial thought was that the idea was great, but I wondered about the product’s efficacy at smaller institutions like mine, or even mid-size colleges and universities. My […]
I received an email last week telling me about Poly’s (formerly Plantronics and Polycom) latest virtual event, introducing its study on the market. The report, dubbed “Hybrid Working: Creating the ‘Next Normal’ in Work Practices, Spaces and Culture,” was made to “highlight the shift in focus from place of work to purpose of work as […]
Digital Signage Expo, originally scheduled for March 31-April 3, 2020 and then moved to September 15-18, 2020 in Las Vegas, has been moved to November 11-13, 2020 due to ongoing concerns related to the COVID-19 worldwide pandemic. Access to the exhibit hall will be on Thursday and Friday, November 12 and 13, with pre-show conferences […]
I’ve worked for Gary for a long time — 16 years or so now, by far the longest of anyone else at rAVe. But the person who’s been there the second longest is our accountant, Kelly Johnson, who has been with Gary and me at rAVe for 12 years. She died Monday from complications of […]
Like many of you, we’ve decided to keep THE rAVe Agency’s physical offices closed at least through the end of the summer, but I think it’s unlikely that we will actually gather our team together, physically, fall. In fact, nearly every business will face the significant hurdle of dealing with people who are creeped out […]
We are excited to announce the winners of our ninth annual 2020 Readers’ Choice Awards. Our awards are different from ANY other industry awards, and the stats speak for themselves: We had more than 205,000 votes for the final awards! Nominations for the awards came SOLELY from you — the AV community. We don’t charge […]
I spend some time on Twitter, and yesterday I noticed a lot of online chatter happening around a panel rAVe put together for LAVNCH WEEK 2.0. Kudos to the staff at rAVe for curating the speakers, because to my knowledge, the people on the panel and the groups they represent had never been assembled together […]
