Like so many industries, the AV industry has a robust and valuable community in the social media sphere. Many of us have dozens, if not hundreds of contacts and “friends” that we know only via social media. While we have opportunities to catch up and meet during industry events, including the always popular tweet-ups, the […]
Management guru Peter Drucker is often quoted as saying, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” I have long believed in this philosophy and work with my teams to make sure we are setting goals and measuring our success. While I think Drucker was right, he lived and worked in a much different […]
In order to deliver the highest value possible at scale and velocity to the house of worship market, your AV firm will need to learn how to fail faster and succeed sooner. ‘Failing faster’ may seem counter-intuitive because the idea of failing evokes strong, negative emotional responses. And failure is often seen as something to […]
Ask any AV firm’s marketing team this question: “How consistently do we create deliverables that have a significant impact on our AV business?” The answers to that question will frequently reveal a focus on activities (deliverables) instead of business outcomes (such as ROI). The reason there’s such a disconnect between what’s asked for and what’s […]
Two new wireless technologies are offering potentially important advantages for the audiovisual industry. 5G and Wi-Fi 6 have slowly become released and used over the past year. These technologies will both continue to spread in 2020 and beyond. Many of us have likely heard of 5G as it’s been regularly in the news over the […]
“It’s all going to be in the cloud” — that’s what researchers seem to be saying to the whole AV/IT world. Let’s dive into the hardware vs. software debate, for things are not always what they seem. Indeed, technologies like digital signage storage/retrieval and security archives are already on or are migrating to some conglomeration […]
I had this thought back at Zoomtopia 2018, but after Zoomtopia 2019, it’s clear: Zoom is the Apple of the AV industry. Zoom is what? All of the eyes in AV were looking at Zoom yesterday. If you don’t believe me, look at the social stats of tweets and LinkedIn posts about Zoom Video Communications, […]
Zoom Video Communications just announced at Zoomtopia 2019 (its annual user conference) that major additions are coming to its software platforms. All of these, which are outlined below, will be become available on the platform by the end of January 2020. New Zoom Rooms Appliances: These are purpose-built Zoom Rooms hardware devices that Zoom is […]
If you’ve spent any time in sales in a professional setting, you’re likely to have had your boss ask you, “What do you have lined up?” In some work environments, it’s an informal check-in where your boss wants to know what you’re working on, to give him an idea of upcoming project scheduling and, more […]
ISE 2020 registration opens this week. Show organizers say ISE 2020 is set to be the most compelling and undoubtedly the largest, Integrated Systems Europe show ever. Taking place at the RAI Amsterdam on 11-14 February, ISE 2020 is a leading event for the professional systems integration channel and end-users of AV technologies and solutions. […]
THIS IS A PROMOTED POST FROM T1V Last week, I had the opportunity to officially launch (using LinkedIn’s new Live video feature) the new T1V HubVC, a new collaboration board from T1V. You can watch the LIVE videocast here: What’s T1V HubVC? It’s a collaboration board that teams can use to wirelessly share devices, whiteboard […]
Almo Pro A/V will make its final 2019 E4 Experience stop in Atlanta on October 15th. E4 Atlanta features high quality courses worth AVIXA CTS Renewal Units (RUs), including a special session focused on the “next-generation workplace.” Other highlights include Almo’s new Zoom Room Bundles, an Almo Sound Options Audio Pavilion and an autograph signing […]
As long as I have been writing columns for rAVe ED, my aim has been to help integrators understand where they can provide value to the higher education market. The business has changed so drastically over the years, that the value propositions of ten years ago no longer exist. I write about this because I […]
The science of meetings is fascinating. How do we best communicate with one another when we find ourselves sitting across from each other in a conference room? How do we solve problems, build confidence in one another, share? It’s an interesting area of our lives to explore — particularly because the workday is composed of […]
Tripleplay has been acquired by Uniguest, the parent company of ONELAN. As part of Uniguest, this new division will be a key component of a global organization that enables Tripleplay and ONELAN to leverage the group’s financial and support infrastructure to drive significant global expansion and service plans. The acquisition presents the strategic opportunity for […]
It’s dark, cramped and dry. A single elevator slides more than 600 feet underground creaking to a stop to deliver a solitary visitor and their payload — a locked case carrying an original 35 mm print. What’s in that case? The original celluloid print of Star Wars? Something more modern like Christopher Nolan’s 35 mm […]
Barco just announced a strategic collaboration with Unilumin, a listed Chinese company that’s an LED manufacturer. Barco says it’s engaged in a wide-ranging partnership with Unilumin to secure a supply of LED display components, which allows broader penetration in its core markets with differentiated Barco LED visualization hardware and software solutions. But, isn’t it logical they will […]
Sonance, a 36-year-old audio company known for its architectural speakers, announced today it has entered into an agreement to acquire James Loudspeaker. James Loudspeaker, a provider of both residential and commercial audio solutions (an marine), was established in 1999 by “a group of dedicated audio engineers, craftsmen and entrepreneurs.” “We could not be more excited […]
IT Service Management and ITIL define processes for information technology professionals to follow in order to deliver the best value for their customers. The processes defined are agnostic to whether the clients are internal or external. Some in the industry think of AV and IT as separate, however we are very similar and in many […]
Change isn’t new to the ProAV industry, but the rate of change may be the downfall for even the largest firms. After all, the innovations, inventions and the integration with AV over IT have made for a robust industry with $186 billion in revenue for 2018 and projections calling for $229 billion by 2023 (source: […]
I have worked in education for over twenty years. When August hits, we know that summer has ended for us. The pace picks up quickly as the days get closer to September and the level of anxiety begins to rise. By the end of the month, we are in an all out sprint. Will all […]
Everybody says they have standards… but what does that even mean? Are we talking about a locked bill of materials? Did you mean that certain gear is non-negotiable but other stuff you have the flexibility to substitute (you mean whatever manufacturer you have the best back-end rebates from? yeah… we know)? How tightly are those […]
For some time now, I have meant to do an article about sales and marketing for rental and staging, how they are different from the rest of our industry, how they are the same and how they are changing. I was not sure when I would put this on my schedule, but this week I […]
QSC says the Q-SYS NV Series (NV-32-H) 1G-based AV-over-IP system (AES-128 encryption) is shipping. As a native peripheral to the Q-SYS Ecosystem, NV Series allows integrators to add HDMI video distribution to an existing Q-SYS system without any control programming. The NV Series video endpoint is software-definable as either a video encoder or decoder. The […]
In seven years of sharing practical insights on how to sell audiovisual (AV) to churches, we’ve posted over 70 articles focusing specifically on the opportunities and challenges of selling to buyers and influencers in the house of worship market. During that same time, the church AV market has gone from hundreds of millions of dollars […]
I participated in a unified communications panel at InfoComm about three years ago. It was a great panel with representation from companies like Cisco, Polycom, and (the now defunct) Tely Labs. I was the oddball of the bunch; promising the audience that a focus on software to improve proximate meetings was needed at least as […]
If you’re a movie fan, you’re well aware of the ongoing conflict often portrayed between humans and machines in a dystopian future. Think “West World,” “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “Terminator,” “I, Robot” and “The Matrix.” I can’t help but wonder if these movies are so popular because they reflect our own personal experiences of the […]
In late June, Andrew Davis posted a blog entry here on rAVe in which he declared that “in 10 years or less, what was once the AV industry is going to be a be a footnote in the history of business technology.” In the post he made the argument that software will, essentially, take over […]
Welcome to the 2019 Best of InfoComm Awards! Unlike ANY other awards program at InfoComm, manufacturers can’t pay to enter — in fact, they can’t even nominate their own products. We are NOT pay-for-play. What do we mean? Well, EVERY OTHER product award program in and around InfoComm are what are known as pay-for-play. Pay-for-play […]
ClearOne today got word that the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Illinois granted ClearOne’s request for a preliminary injunction preventing Shure Incorporated from manufacturing, marketing, and selling the Shure MXA910 Ceiling Array Microphone for use in its “drop-ceiling mounting configuration.” The Court determined that such sales are likely to infringe ClearOne’s U.S. Patent No. 9,813,806 (the “Graham Patent”). […]
By Paul Konikowski On June 24, 2019, former Special Counsel Robert Mueller III testified before the House Judiciary Committee and the House Intelligence Committee about his team’s Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election. Throughout most of the day, Mueller kept his answers brief and referenced the report. Oftentimes, he […]
If you’ve been reading my blogs lately, you already know I’m a huge proponent of escalating the rate of evolution in our industry in order to best meet the needs of our customers and continue to be relevant. I’ve been promoting developing better business acumen and having earlier conversations with our customers on a deeper […]
