Not long ago, while on LinkedIn, I had a brief but interesting exchange that made me stop and think. A seemingly innocuous post and an ensuing comment by a connection on the platform generated an internal dialogue that I’m not sure I’ve completely resolved. I share it here because it may not only have ramifications […]
Let’s face it, in March and April of this year, the best we could expect to deliver was very reactive. Unless you were already streaming services each weekend, it’s unlikely you had time to respond proactively to COVID. And, this summer, as states and countries started partially reopening, adding streaming via consumer platforms like Facebook, […]
Reflecting on the year, it’s been a scary but eye-opening but wild but exciting but exhausting but fun ride. On the events side, I thought surely, with everything that’s happened, we’d have fewer opportunities to learn and network this year while home. I was wrong. rAVe had the pleasure of hosting all the SYNNEX LAVNCH […]
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, it’s been a tough year for lots of companies, and indeed entire sectors. When business is slow, we’ve all got an imperative to look for new opportunities. But you have to be smart about it. In the past, I’ve seen manufacturers or their distributors see declining […]
In the beginning of April and again in May, I wrote updates about the state of higher education for integrators, who may be wondering what their business model would look like for the rest of the year. Paradoxically, it seems like a lot has changed since then, and nothing has changed at all. We are […]
It’s officially December, but the year isn’t over yet. Neither are the virtual events. Taking place Dec. 8-9, D=SIGN: The Digital Conference, powered by LAVNCH, is one to look forward to. And it starts just a week from today. D=SIGN was born from two key industry associations — AVIXA and the Digital Signage Federation — […]
Seoul extends its “destination marketing” by being the first city to offer a virtual meetings platform for event organizers. In response to the COVID-19 era, Seoul Convention Bureau (SCB) launches the “Virtual Seoul Platform” to be used for holding MICE events in the digital world. According to the organization (and our own knowledge), this is […]
Shure has acquired California-based Midas Technology, Inc., also known as Stem Audio, which specializes in table, ceiling and wall microphones as well as loudspeakers, control interfaces and hubs. According to the press release from Stem Audio, Shure will expand and its solution offering for organizations of all sizes with the acquisition. At the same time, […]
As we continue to struggle worldwide with the pandemic, I try to keep my eyes open for what is changing in the industry and how we can react to it. I think both about temporary opportunities that we should be working on to keep our businesses afloat and permanent change(s) that will outlive our experiences […]
Yes, we compete professionally. But, together, we BELIEVE in #AV. We know that, due to COVID, many of you have been laid off, but 2020 will NOT define you, and it will not define us. Even though we may compete for your eyes and ears, we are joining forces to bring #PositAVity to the AV […]
Updated Nov. 16, 2020: I reached out to both Kevin Morrison, CEO and Frank Pellkofer, president, Utelogy Corporation for their thoughts and, interestingly enough, they praised Barco and the Overture system with this quote: “Barco is a fantastic company that make world class products. These are extraordinary times and companies across all industries including AV […]
By: Steph Beckett & Leah McCann Wednesday marked the start of the seventh-annual Audio Collaborative conference put on by UK-based Futuresource Consulting. Over two days, the 2020 conference, a virtual version of the show this year, tapped a lineup of industry experts to inspire a listening audience. Who was that audience? AV, technology and IT […]
We’ve all heard the phrase “a meeting that could have been an email.” Add in today’s additional methods of communication and you’ll get “a meeting that could have been a Zoom call, that could have been an email, that could have been a phone call, that could have been a text.” I put this idea […]
For years, many of us in higher ed have used the various laws associated with the Americans with Disabilities Act to determine what was required for accessibility in classroom and campus spaces. We thought about things like closed captioning for movies, support for hearing aids and the ability to view a screen properly. However, this […]
Effective Nov. 1, 2020, Sharp Corporation (hereinafter “Sharp”) and NEC Corporation (hereinafter “NEC”) completed the previously announced transaction to form a joint venture by Sharp acquiring 66% of shares for NEC Display Solutions Ltd. (hereinafter “NDS”), a subsidiary of NEC. The new website is here. In connection with the completion of the transaction, NDS has […]
I love an industry trade show as much as the next person. But COVID-19 had other plans for us this year. “No trade shows for you!” it said. “No fun for you!” it said. No sir/ma’am, the AV industry responded. Instead, it got creative in a collective effort to meet virtually and connect the world’s […]
After 20 years in the audiovisual and control industry, I got to thinking: How did I get here? I’m sure we’ve all wondered that at some point or another in our careers. Let me be clear: I don’t mean in some existential way. More so, I mean who helped along the way, who kept the […]
Every year, the DPAA, or Digital Place Based Advertising Association, hosts an event called the Video Everywhere Summit. The event is traditionally held in New York City, positioned as “the largest one-day omnichannel marketing event of the year.” It usually, impressively, includes big household names — last year, it was Adidas, Deloitte, IBM, HP and […]
Like many people who work in AV, my journey to the industry came about through music. I’m a lifelong, passionate multi-instrumentalist musician, and both a studio and live sound engineer. I’m even lucky enough to have been in a band that had a Billboard chart-topping #1 single some years back. On the business side of […]
CEDIA announced today that CEDIA President Tabatha O’Connor would depart the organization at the end of her contract in January after an 18-year tenure, during which the industry and CEDIA itself went through much transformation. In 2016, the association integrated its North American and worldwide operations to form a single integrated global organization. In 2017, […]
THE rAVe Agency, the AV industry’s only creative agency, is pleased to announce Amanda Beckner, CTS, as president and chief operating officer. Beckner brings more than 20 years of strategic, operational and educational success to THE rAVe Agency. She will be instrumental in driving long-term strategy and capitalizing on operational success for THE rAVe Agency. […]
Dear Zoom, We began using Zoom three years ago as a corporate replacement for Skype. The technical staff and our faculty and staff absolutely loved it. Slowly, we acquired more and more licenses. Then in March of 2020, COVID hit, and Zoom went from an essential tool to a business-critical application. And that is when […]
From “Hey, Cortana” to cloud-enabled interactive sound for HoloLens to Windows Sonic (Windows 10 comes with support for virtual surround sound), Microsoft invests heavily in research on audio. And the company is convinced the ProAV market fails to recognize this. They have a point here. Did you know speaker detection technology developed by Microsoft researchers […]
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 […]
