Once again, the Women in AV have blown my slippers off with the power of our group to pull off an amazing feat for the AV industry!! This past week, we hosted our first WAVE Tweet-Up (they’ll be more in case your missed). It was spectacular, and, worldwide~ we might add! 10 cities across the US hosted local events and many #AVTweeps joined us on Twitter!! But, that was just the finale of a week’s long journey together as an industry…

…Allow me to explain. rAVe [Publications] and NEC sponsored our contest–Thank You– which went on all week on Twitter prior to the Tweet-Up. Every day we asked questions and shared conversations– from AV gear, being a woman in the industry, to upcoming holiday traditions you share with family! It was wonderful to learn about and talk with each other, presumably, while many of us should have been working on other things 🙂

What inspired me the most about our 1st WAVE Tweet Up actually occurred outside Friday’s Tweet-Up. Don’t get me wrong, the event was thrilling and I can’t wait until we do it again! Truth be told, it was a bit overwhelming trying to keep up with everything! We are ladies and naturally love to converse.

You add in the ferocious speed Twitter moves and I was caught beside myself saying WOW, how do I keep up!?!! The best problem we could ever ask for as women in our industry. We broke down geographical and technological barriers, dare I say, that dominated what any of our wonderful #AVGents have ever been able to pull off!

And, that’s exactly my point. What truly inspired me was to watch our week-long event take on a life of its own and become about ALL of us taking chances and trying new things. We had so many #AVGents who joined in and help us with our contest, and, many ladies opened a Twitter account for the very first time!

We truly came together as an industry, it wasn’t about being a woman or a man, it was about being surrounded by people who make you feel comfortable to take risks and know you have friends– to cheer you on and be there if you need a soft landing or help figure out some technical “thing”. That is SO exciting and it was only our first try!

Cory Schaeffer, Listen Technologies and WAVE Planning Board Officer, said it the best, “Even a small group of AV Women is a mighty group.” We sure did it again!

Check out our own rAVe Blog Squad’s Dawn Meade for the DC breakdown of the WAVE Tweet-Up. Thank you so much Dawn for you kind thoughts, let’s get started on our WAVE InfoComm12 party!! And, couldn’t agree with you more in the kudos it takes for everyone to make something like this happen! http://is.gd/NvqfuL

Thank you to rAVe [Publications] and Gary Kayye for being the biggest supporter of Women in AV since our group started! SaraAbrons, an amazing Woman in AV, who knocked out the contest day after day for the lucky winner @Vaddio_Hailey! And, @NEC_Display who’s supported both our contests with an awesome, commercial LCD TV. As a long-time customer, I know the highest quality of display our winners receive! Thank you all!!!

Special thanks goes to Olivia Dumanovsky, with Pakedge Devices and Software. Olivia was the champion of what we all came to see in our Tweet-Up!

To our Women in AV Tweet-Up Coordinators, thank you so much for putting everything together, promoting the heck out of it, and making this a milestone for everyone to remember!! Are you ready for the next one!?!

Most importantly, thank you to my fellow Women in AV Planning Board members. You have no idea all, how much these ladies are rocking it out everyday for the women in our industry. They give with the enthusiasm of Queens their ideas, support, time, and commitment to advancing and supporting women in the AV industry. Thank you Laureen Jones, Kelly Perkins, Gina Sansivero, JanSandri, and Cory Schaeffer.

So, tell us what you think in the comments! Were you there and did you have fun? What can we do to make sure you are at the next one?

And, stay tuned for some of the best and most fun events, photos you missed! Happy Tweeting everyone and may you enjoy your holiday season like no other!!