I apologize in advance. This post is not going to focus on UC, collaboration or digital signage. I am not going to mention AVaaS. There will be no debate about 1 Gbps vs. 10 Gbps AV-over-IP. Instead, I want to share a thought I had the other day about the future of the hologram. Real […]
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 […]
For those of you who don’t know me well, I am pretty active in networking with other AV professionals, technology managers, designers, content producers, etc If there is one thing most of them agree on, it’s that doing a proper needs analysis is the only way to assure that our systems meet all of our […]
No other AV publication or agency produced as much content around InfoComm19 as rAVe. I mean, it wasn’t even close. Gary did a ton of pre-show interviews and previews, Johnny and Victoria ran the podcast booth on the show floor at the Peerless-AV booth and were booked day in and day out, and an army […]
What do you do when you’re in Atlanta? You hang out at Good Word Brewing & Public House with Jarrett Jones, Director of Commercial Engineering at Baker Audio Visual. We talk about bourbon and pick-up trucks as well as how we inspire and train the next generation of AV professionals. (There may be an Easter […]
Back in the spring, I launched a series of blogs on The Hard Truth about Selling Soft Service(ices) focusing on why AV has had a hard time turning the corner to managed services, software, video over IP and AV as a Service (AVaaS). I wrote about the first two hurdles in separate posts dealing with […]
If you’ve read my posts before, you’ll notice that I have rarely predicted the death of any particular technology or business model. Sure, I have my ideas on where the industry is heading or which technologies may ultimately win out in the end, but I never go so far as to say this is the […]
InfoComm 2018 is a month behind us, and over the last few weeks, people have been writing about the trends they saw at the show. We’ve seen blogs discussing increasing end-user attendance as well as several people’s lists of their favorite products or the ones they saw to be the most innovative or disruptive. There […]
Unless you’ve been in a hole the last few years, you most likely have noticed the increasing conversation in AV about software, managed services, and IP based signal distribution. Given all of the buzz and apparent end-user demand for all of the above, surprisingly, only a select few AV companies have turned the corner on […]
Each week, I am highlighting some of the incredible people who are in the Audio Video Industry. Today we are profiling Mark Coxon . Here is a brief introduction. Mark is a 15 year AV and IT veteran. He has worked on projects for Digital Signage, Video Wall, Interactive systems and various other AV and […]
Just in case you were hiding under a rock this month, the big news in the business world was that Toys “R” Us will close or sell all of its 735 stores in the U.S., ending a 70 year legacy for the retailer and also putting 31,000 workers back in the market for a job. […]
I was recently in Jacksonville for our annual sales meeting. One of the highlights of that meeting was when our guest presenter, Amahl Hazelton, director of communications for Destinations at Moment Factory, shared a plethora of interactive AV experiences they developed around specific public spaces. Now, I have heard the term “place-based entertainment” many times in my […]
Legrand announced the acquisition of Milestone AV early this morning but the rumors of a Milestone AV purchase had been flying for weeks. (Here’s a link to our breaking news story.) There was no question they were selling, but this is a merger of two giant, awesome companies. I can see nothing but fantastic things […]
It is InfoComm season and the new products and their associated press releases are flooding the AV airwaves. With the plethora of information circulating, it is hard just to keep track of what’s new, let alone wrap your head around what it may take to actually integrate it into your next project. One category of […]
If you have gone to any AV leadership event over the last several years, ranging from the Commercial Integrator Summit to InfoComm’s AVEC to NSCA’s Business and Leadership Conference, you know that developing a revenue stream based on service has been at the forefront of the conversation. Many integrators have started offering managed services to their […]
I have the opportunity to work with an amazing group of integrators here in Southern California. Their expertise vary widely, their company cultures can run the gamut, and they range in size from a handful to hundreds of employees. I also worked on the integration side of AV from 2002 to 2012, and those three […]
I admit it. I’ve been trolled. Typically when someone trolls you for a response on social media it means it’s time to take a deep breath and just move on. Convincing someone you don’t know to move away from a point of view they already hold rarely if never happens. It’s a futile effort. But […]
If you are a student of technology adoption, you’ve most likely seen this curve. Image via Wikipedia It’s the Technology Adoption curve and it reveals how people adopt technology over time. Looking at the curve as an integrator, you may use this curve to justify a delayed […]
We’ve all heard the saying that in a digital world, content is king. Some still stand by that saying and in the face of a never ending avalanche of content out there, others have started modifying it to include variations like relevant content is king or context is king. I don’t disagree with any of […]
Let me start by saying that I know this blog is going to draw criticism from both sides. This is a long standing argument in the AV community, one that has yet to be universally agreed upon, and I’m certain this piece will NOT change that fact. There will still be people who fall on […]
Every integrator is all too familiar with the dreaded scope creep and thanks to a fantastic article by Mark Coxon, we are now familiar with scope leak. While those are both challenges that require more actionable strategies that we’ve seen tabled up to this point, those are topics for another day. Have you ever head […]
Have you ever been abducted by an alien? No? Well, me neither, but I think we’ve all heard the tales. One night, while out in the woods, a light shines from above. Someone looks up to be blinded by the light and instantly levitates off of the ground and is pulled into the ship, where […]
I will admit straight off that this post is somewhat of a rant, but I am tired of bad customers. The customer, despite claims to the contrary, is not always right. My wife does a lot of marketing work for everything from Comic Con to auto shows to demonstrating espresso machines. She is amazing at […]
Sometimes the genesis of a blog is a funny thing. I listened to a TedX talk about a month ago on open source culture, and immediately had the inspiration to write this piece but just hadn’t found the time yet. Then last week, Alan Vezina of Jydo, a company I’ve heard of but still need […]
I want to start this off by making sure you all know I have a bias. I served on the InfoComm PETC (Professional Education & Training Committee for 12 years and as its chairman for four years. During that time, we developed the on-line CTS program, the CTS-I (CTS-Installation) certification as well as the CTS-D […]
I seem to have acquired a spool of glowing glass. OK, it’s an architectural sample of Corning’s Fibrance light diffusing fiber, and it landed on my desk as an architectural sample of something which intrigued one of the members of the design team on a project I’m working on. What to do with it? That […]
Some time ago, Mark Coxon wrote a compelling editorial entitled “Stay in Your Box” and other Bad Ideas. Mark did his usual great job, and compelled me to want to build on his thesis: that it’s imperative to challenge yourself with taking on new directions. Looking back, the cognitive framework that makes the most sense […]
This week I did something I have never done. I took down a piece of content at someone else’s request. What happened with AV Power Up! 5 Reloaded? Please spend a few minutes with me in my audio blog to find out, and then hang around to have a larger discussion about how the legacy […]
Another week has come and gone and it is finally Friday or Friyay and it is time for the Weekly Wrap-Up! Every week we give you five or so top stories from the week that you can’t miss. This week’s wrap-up features the latest Crew Call column, 100 things about the AV industry, the the […]
A zoologist, an amateur fighter and an AV systems designer all walk into an InfoComm reception… No, that’s not the beginning of a joke, and it’s not three separate people — it’s our friend and blogger Mark Coxon, all rolled into one smart, dynamic person. Mark is all over the AV industry. He’s a dedicated […]
The show is over and it looked to be a very successful venture for many of the manufacturers and solutions providers in the industry. Collaboration, digital signage, high end projection, interactive display technologies and more seemed to be the major focus and the largest draw looked to be Microsoft with their 84″ Surface Hub interactive […]
Here it is — Episode 7 of The cAValry Rides Show: Hijacked! Women, AV, Pirates – Don’t Touch That Dial! After 6 episodes of a show that began in late November 2014, we believe that each show builds bigger and our guests have all been terrific. Each show has been unique in its format and even […]
