Joel gives his impressions and shows us some photos and overall wrap-up of his experience in Amsterdam at ISE 2013. Having trouble listening to the podcast on this page? You can subscribe using RSS or iTunes.   Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSS

Joel gives his impressions and shows us some photos of the first day of ISE 2013 in Amsterdam. Show links: rAVe Scoop: Dataton intros WATCHPAX Magician Marco Tempest Wows Crowd With Augmented Reality at ISE Keynote Mitsubishi demos its cloud projector the WD390U-EST Having trouble listening to the podcast on this page? You can subscribe using RSS or iTunes.   Podcast: Play in new window | […]

This is a particularly special episode with enhanced podcast features. If you use iTunes, you’ll be able to see links, slide and illustrations for each topic. Joel also covers AVB at ISE, Extron’s DMP-128, upcoming DSE news, ISE OnDemand coverage and finally irritating industry buzzwords. Having trouble listening to the podcast on this page? You can subscribe using RSS or iTunes. Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSS

I sit here after the holidays, with (as usual) a list of people that I forgot to get gifts for, but I have figured out the gift that I am going to give everyone this year. For 25 years, I have been everybody’s tech support. My relatives, my employees, my friends all call me when […]

This week, Joel speaks with Lee Minich, President of LabX Technologies and Chairman of the Marketing Work Group of the AVnu Alliance, about the alliance, the AVB standard, and the importance of interoperability standards. Having trouble listening to the podcast on this page? You can subscribe using RSS or iTunes. Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSS

This week, we conclude our interview with Dr. Peter Bocko, Chief Technology Officer at Corning, about his presentation for Digital Signage Expo on the future of the display industry. Register for DSE and get a discount with the code “rave”! Having trouble listening to the podcast on this page? You can subscribe using RSS or iTunes. Podcast: Play in new window […]

This week, Joel Rollins speaks with Dr. Peter Bocko, Chief Technology Officer at Corning, creators of technical glass products from fiber optics to Gorilla Glass. The keynote speaker for this year’s Digital Signage Exposition, Dr. Bocko is also one of the creators of a video that has become an internet sensation – “A Day Made of Glass.” He […]

You’re in for a special holiday treat this week as Joel Rollins interviews Santa’s AV guy. Having trouble listening to the podcast on this page? You can subscribe using RSS or iTunes. Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSS

No one was left unaffected by the Sandy Hook tragedy that took place on Friday, and Joel’s most recent blog post really hit home. Having trouble listening to the podcast on this page? You can subscribe using RSS, iTunes or the Stitcher mobile App Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSS

Joel Rollins talks with Chris Gibbs of Exponation about the upcoming Digital Signage Expo – and why you should be there. Visit digitalsignageexpo.net and be sure to use the discount code: rave when signing up! Having trouble listening to the podcast on this page? You can subscribe using RSS or iTunes. Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSS

By Joel Rollins Yesterday, I was hunting through quotes by one of my favorite authors, Robert A. Heinlein. I was looking for the exact text of his famous quote about technology sufficiently developed being indistinguishable from magic. But I came across another quote, attributed to this groundbreaking author of science fiction, although I’m sure it is probably […]

This week, after commenting on a number of AV items in the news, Joel speaks with Bill Waldman, a technology educator and advocate of the Maker movement in technology education. Find out what Makers and Maker spaces are about, and whether they will help us get more qualified job applicants in the future. Show Links: […]

This week, I talk with Ike Eckstein, president of Visual Word Systems in NYC, about the unique challenges of being a Manhattan-based AV company, and what it has been like since Sandy. Ike is a genuine NYC character with a unique viewpoint, and I think you’ll enjoy the perspective of a colleague who describes his company […]

This week, Joel talks with David Stout of KBZ, a longtime New Orleans resident and Hurricane Katrina survivor, about the AV industry’s recovery after Katrina, and what we can expect after Sandy. Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSS

Joel speaks with Mario Maltese, executive director of the Association for Quality in Audio Visual Technology, about adopting quality metrics in the AV industry. Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSS

Joel Rollins speaks with Jennifer Willard and rAVe’s Sara Abrons about Women in AV not being just for women — and they also discuss the effect of Hurricane Sandy on New York and the AV industry. Story Links: Sandy by Joel Rollins: www.ravepubs.com Please Help Our AV Friends by Jennifer Willard: http://bit.ly/Uu1vkd WAVE Demographics Survey: http://bit.ly/PriUN5 Podcast: Play in new window | […]

By Joel Rollins Well, after last month’s column, I received a lot of email and even a number of telephone calls from old acquaintances. It tells you a lot about the issue that the calls accused me both of being pro- and anti-union. Please let me disappoint both groups to say that I am neither. I […]

Joel Rollins talks with Randy Lemke, retiring CEO of InfoComm International, about his time at InfoComm, his successor and the future of the AV industry. Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSS

THE WEEK talks with Jim Smith of Polycom about Telepresence, Unified Communications, the future of conferencing – and the mistakes we all make in getting there. Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSS

By Joel Rollins Of all of the relationships in our industry, none is more important, or more misunderstood, than the relationship between unions and audiovisual suppliers. This relationship is as shrouded in myth as a Greek tragedy. In fact, the greatest sources of trouble are the misconceptions on both sides. Sadly, misunderstandings can also be expensive […]

In this episode of THE WEEK, host Joel Rollins introduces us to Bayardo Carrillo, an industry veteran who has done everything from live events production to web and mixed media. This busy corporate media and event producer shares tips about the life, the technology — and even what to do when things go wrong. Podcast: Play in […]

Joel Rollins talks to Terry Friesenborg, CTS, Senior Vice President, International DevelopmentInfocomm International about the world-wide AV market of today.   Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSS

Last month, we talked about some of the “Heroes” that made our craft what it is today. I gave you a few of my nominees, and we had great response on the blog and via email with suggestions for others. Some were obvious entries, others were surprising, but all contributed to the growth of the […]

Any of you who have been reading my column for a while (thanks, by the way) know that I’m addicted to news. Television, the Internet, magazines, newspapers — it doesn’t matter. I’m fascinated by what goes on in the world because it’s usually stranger and more interesting than fiction. Two really significant things have gone […]

One of the real tricks in business is to know when to hold. When to stay with a service or product offering from a vendor, when to hold your own pricing, when to keep (or make changes in) what you offer to your clients. It is especially hard in our business, being driven by technology […]

Well, I am just back from InfoComm, and I have decided to do something that I’ve never done before. Each year, before the show, I tend to write an article about what I expect to see at the show. But I very rarely write anything afterwards about it since a tradeshow is primarily about product, and […]

Last month, we talked about the difficulties that we encounter when training rental staff internally. And, although difficult, it is inevitable that lots of your staff training will need to be done this way. But another source of training is classes given by manufacturers and distributors. But this can be either awesome — or awful. […]

A lot of my last 25 years in the industry have been spent on training rental and staging techs. I still don’t claim to be an expert on the subject, but I have noticed a few things that have seemed to ring true through the years, and I thought I’d discuss them this month, because […]

Well, it’s January, and time once again for me to exhibit the same holiday-induced lack of imagination as every other columnist, and write a predictions column. OK, OK, I’ll do it. I’m as lazy as the next writer. But you’ll have to listen to me whine about it a bit first, because its harder work […]

We interrupt our regularly scheduled coverage for this special bulletin. This month I was going to continue our discussion of the arrogance that can be present among manufacturer personnel, and how to avoid it. We’ll continue next issue, and for all those of you who have emailed me about it with their comments, thank you. […]

By Joel Rollins, CTS-R Sometimes, there is little difference between the needs of the rental/staging company and the mainstream AV dealer. We use the same equipment (albeit sometimes in different ways) and are driven by the same technological changes in the overall market. But often, our special circumstances call upon us to deal with a […]

I’m sorry – I’m writing this article on an iPad, and auto-correct changed my text to the title above when I typed in “Buzzwords”.  But the example saves me the trouble of defining one of the biggest buzzwords: “Intuitive.” But now that THAT one is taken care of, I’d like to review the actual AV […]