Introduction
Welcome to Volume 2, Issue 4! 
 Editorial: The Final Sayye by Gary Kayye
If You Can Only Attend One ProAV Show This Year, Don't: Attend Two!
News: 1. Sony Introduces Their Most Affordable Wireless Projector Yet
2. Revenues, Profits up, Conferencing, AV/IT Integration Driving Business: New ICIA Report
3. Beam Me the News, Scottie
4. ICIA Announces Post-Secondary Education Scholarships for 2004/2005
5. BenQ Announces XGA DLP Projector
6. Polycom WebOffice 6.0 Supports Linux, Mac
7. Even Mitsubishi Goes Sub-$1,000 with SE1U SVGA Projector
8. NSCA to Spotlight Digital Signage Technologies
9. InfoComm to Feature New Programs, More for the User and Buyer
10. DPI Gets Oscar Gig with DLP Projectors
11. Kayye to Deliver Keynote at EduComm at InfoComm
12. Dell's New DLP XGA Projector Under 4 Pounds
13. New Wireless Conferencing from Media Vision USA
14. ClearOne President Resigns
15. More MCSi Offices Acquired
Click above for more information
Introduction Welcome to Volume 2, Issue 4! I guess you could call this the Trade Show Teaser. There is a lot of news in here associated with both the NSCA and the InfoComm expositions. Why? Well, those are by far the two shows aimed squarely at the ProAV integrator and the only two shows where ProAV integrators, design consultants and sales professionals converge in one place. No, it's not NAB – cancel your plans to attend NAB and attend NSCA and InfoComm instead. I assure you that you won't regret it. Like CEDIA is the premier HomeAV show, NSCA and InfoComm share those honors in ProAV. Speaking of ProAV, in this issue we honor Mike Weems as a rAVe AV Hall of Fame Award Winner. Mike, a staple at the ICIA/InfoComm IPD (Institute for Professional Development), has been a volunteer educator in the ProAV market longer than anyone – except Fred Dixon, our first rAVe AV Hall of Fame Award Winner. I used to refer to Mike as the Broadcast god. Any time I've ever had a question on production or broadcast AV technology, I've called Mike. Having served Sony as their resident broadcast expert and trainer, Mike knew it all. Now at InFocus, Mike's one of the ProAV guys. He's remained a teacher at the IPD – something like 29 out of the last 30 IPD's – and he's now a projector god. Congratulations Mike! Gary Kayye, CTS
Click above for more information
Editorial The Final Sayye by Gary Kayye If You Can Only Attend One ProAV Show This Year, Don't: Attend Two! By Gary Kayye, CTS  Whew.
We're off and running. The ProAV market is back in business. Not that the past few years were that bad – ok, they were. But, 2004 is bringing us what we all hoped would materialize in 2003; cross your fingers. So far, 2004 is awesome. Sure, MCSi is gone, but most of you reading this predicted that in 2002. Manufacturers have ramped up production, dealers are hiring again and projects that have been on hold for over a year are finally being ordered to completion. All in all, 2004 is shaping up to be our long-anticipated market recovery. So, now that we're heading into the busy trade show schedule, it's time for me to try and convince you not to overlook the two shows in the ProAV market that matter – NSCA and InfoComm. As I said in the introduction, don't just plan to attend one or the other – attend both. NSCA (National Systems Contractor Association) held annually in early Spring, in recent years has outgrown its security and audio roots and now is a full-fledged ProAV systems integration trade show that encompasses everything defined in AV – audio and video technologies. Held this year in Las Vegas (which Vegas would you prefer to go to – the one with 80,000 NAB'ers driving hotel rates up over $300 per night, or the much smaller NSCA version where you can actually book a hotel virtually across the street from the show for less than $125 a night?), NSCA's Expo will be held March 19-21. NSCA is sort of like a mini InfoComm in that it has all the major display, audio, screen and systems glue manufacturers that appear at the InfoComm event, but also each manufacturer is given the opportunity to have demo suites in the convention center to actually demonstrate their new offerings in a controlled environment – rather than a noisy, bright show floor. In addition, most of these demo suites are actually manned by manufacturer's product design engineers. So, you're actually talking to the designers, innovators and technology drivers. Most of the rAVe readers are well acquainted with InfoComm from its famous Projection Shoot-Out and the big Extron, Crestron and AMX parties and the incredible way that InfoComm is the place to see every display manufacturer on earth. If you make plasmas, LCDs, LEDs, CRTs, DLPs or LCoS display products, you have to exhibit at InfoComm and most of the major manufacturers actually time new technology and product introductions via the InfoComm calendar. This year's event, held June 9-11 in Atlanta, Georgia (ok, I realize that Atlanta doesn't offer the night-life of Vegas or Orlando, but hey, reserve judgment for June 12th). In any case, InfoComm, like NSCA, is a must-see ProAV event. Both InfoComm and NSCA are incredible educational venues and I will say that attending either of these events without attending a single educational course is a crime. Both offer a host of courses focusing on the AV/IT convergence trend and between the two of them, you have more than 180 classes dealing with everything from projection technology to microphone placement to rack labeling and dressing. So, check them both out at: InfoComm: http://www.infocomm.org NSCA: http://www.nsca.org
Click above for more information 
Kayye Consulting offers a resume posting service for readers. A number of employers have responded, asking if we can publish the employment candidates' locations. Since most of the candidates are willing to relocate, it might be a disservice both to the candidate and potential employer to focus on locations in these listings. Employers: To view all resume listings, go to http://www.kayye.com/resources/av_jobs.asp Employees: If you are a candidate interested in this resume service, write to: [email protected]
Click above for more information
News Got a news tip? Send them to rAVe Editor-in-Chief Denise Harrison — [email protected]
1. Sony Introduces Their Most Affordable Wireless Projector Yet
 Sony’s new 3-chip XGA resolution LCD projector comes in the form of the VPL-CX85 and includes wireless via the 802.11b WIFI standard. Like virtually all networkable projectors, presentations can either be served to the projector via a network connection or to be sent and played from the projector via the Sony standard MemoryStick flash media card port.
Specified at 3000 ANSI lumens and weighing in at 8.7 pounds, the CX85 includes two remotes – one a basic presentation remote and the other is a presentation remote that includes slide advancement buttons and a laser pointer. And, like all projectors in this price point, it includes automatic vertical and horizontal keystone correction. And, of course, RS 232 control. However, is this too late? Not only is this new projector a late-comer to the market, but Sony, once a top two projector manufacturer, seems to have lost its focus in the ProAV market. It’s unfortunate as they, along with Epson, basically dominate the raw component LCD market, but they can’t seem to keep up with virtually anyone in the projector market and their biggest OEM, Sanyo, has a larger, more appealing product line. Maybe grounds for another restructuring? I don’t think so. I think that they have good people in the display group, but they seem to be trying to run display like a consumer product in the ProAV market. In any case, the VPL-CX85 will be available in April for $3,700 (and, Sony noted that this price is subject to change). More information isn’t yet available but keep an eye out on Sony’s site:
http://displaysbysony.com/displayb2b/compare.jsp?pType=type&pCode=PRJ
2. Revenues, Profits up, Conferencing, AV/IT Integration Driving Business: New ICIA Report  ICIA’s 2004 Market Forecast Survey has some promising results for the channel. In a survey posed to mostly AV dealers, integrators and a few design consultants, median revenue climbed from $2.6 million in 2002 to $3 million in 2003, an increase of 9.1 percent, and is expected to grow another 14.1 percent to $3.5 million in 2004. Profits were also higher, they said.
The business/corporate market, as usual, is the biggest, with 23 percent of revenues in 2003. However, the largest market gainer was higher education reported at 14.9 percent, followed by government and military, meetings and events, worship and K-12 markets. Conferencing and collaboration seem to be market drivers (finally), and the AV-IT convergence is now a typical business decision. Wireless technologies and large displays, remote monitoring and management and even residential are playing sizable roles in increasing business. The channel is less than enthusiastic about a trend toward “retail” sales, be they direct from manufacturers or through mega-stores or the internet. Margin erosion continues, expectedly. So, what does this mean? Connectivity, for one. You can go to current clients and set up complete wired and wireless infrastructures so that you can add conferencing, collaboration, more projectors and electronic whiteboards and signage anywhere and everywhere and anytime in the organization. That includes corporate, education, government – everyone is going to need total networks. Patchwork solutions will only be done on top of these networks, not instead of them. So be sure you’re the one installing the ground floor, so to speak. Conferencing. It’s taken a while but it seems to be finally taking off. Simpler, less expensive systems (and of course, more sophisticated networking) means organizations will be far more open to conferencing, especially since the organizations are getting accustomed to the savings associated with less employee travel. However, it’s still a few years away from anything close to mainstream usage. It’s still unreliable and expensive for what you get – mostly a talking head meeting. No, it’s not all the manufacturers’ fault, either. The study is for sale on the ICIA Online Store – go to http://www.infocomm.org
3. Beam Me the News, Scottie  This isn’t directly AV related, but it’s so cool we had to cover it. A Netherlands company is setting up kiosks around the world that let you pick whatever newspaper you want and in about two minutes, it sends the paper via satellite to the kiosk and prints it. In fact, the publishers continually send the latest editions to Satellite Enterprises Corp, so if updated often, you practically get real-time news from anywhere.
So far, Satellite Enterprises Corp has 141 newspapers on board, including Le Monde, Toronto Star, Tiempos del Mundo, Shanghai Daily, USA Today, The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Los Angeles Times – tons more from the US and countries all around and in all parts of the world. It’s awesome for travelers, and for international sales forces, to keep up on local news. In fact you’ll catch some of the news even before the locals — because of the time differential, for instance, a Kiosk in Bangkok will get the British Guardian Newspaper before it is released in London. The kiosk looks about the size of a typical ATM machine. It has a touch screen that guides you through selection and it processes credit cards. There are just 125 kiosks installed so far but this is new, so expect to see it (or competition!) everywhere before long. In fact, they just signed a deal with a dealer in Asia who plans on installing hundreds per year throughout Asia. If you’d like to learn more, go to http://www.satellitenewspapers.com/
4. ICIA Announces Post-Secondary Education Scholarships for 2004/2005  Read this carefully! This is something that every AV Integration firm should be touting to their local community college or university.
ICIA has $60,000 up for grabs. Specifically, it’s for education awards for college and high-school seniors specializing in AV. They are awarded to college and high school students, and dependents of employees of ICIA member companies, and administered by the International Communications Industries Foundation (ICIF). Endowed in 2000 with $1.2 million to fund scholarships for students and AV industry workers, it continues to receive contributions from leading AV industry organizations to assist its scholarship programs. Since 2001, ICIF has awarded over 50 scholarships for post-secondary education. This year’s awards are offered in amounts of $2,500 to college seniors completing bachelor’s degrees or students in their final year of study for associate degrees, $1,500 to dependents of employees of ICIA member companies, and $500 to high school seniors. The college-level scholarships include assistance in finding paid internships, a requirement of the award. To be eligible, students must be majoring in audiovisual subjects or related fields, including audio, video, telecommunications, electronics, technical aspects of the theater, data networking, software development and information technology. Students with other majors may be considered if they can demonstrate a relationship to career goals in the AV industry. The deadline for applying for the scholarships is March 31, 2004. Award decisions will be made by a panel of AV industry leaders, based on their examination of the applications, grade point averages, work experience where applicable, and letters of recommendation. Application packets, including additional detailed information, can be found on the ICIA Web site at http://www.infocomm.org/foundation/scholarships 5. BenQ Announces XGA DLP Projector  BenQ announced a $1,795 DLP projector with XGA (1024 x 768) resolution, 1700 ANSI lumens and 2000:1 contrast ratio. The company is marketing the PB6200 for both business and personal uses.
The PB6200 is compatible with NTSC, PAL, SECAM and NTSC 4.43 video systems is HDTV-capable (480p, 720p and 1080i) with direct YPbPr/component (through VGA port) and, of course, includes S-Video and composite video inputs. Aimed at the so-called “take-home business projector” market, the PB6200 has PIP, digital keystone correction, and supports all the standard DTV formats. For more information, go to http://www.benq.com/index.html
Click above for more information 6. Polycom WebOffice 6.0 Supports Linux, Mac  The Polycom WebOffice now supports Linux and Macintosh with the new version 6.0. WebOffice lets users launch and direct conferencing activities such as instant messaging, voice, video, data and web conferencing. Version 6.0 allows for instant, ad-hoc video calls for groups or individuals on desktop video systems. Selfishly, being a MAC user now, I applaud this!
Besides the expanded operating system support, WebOffice 6.0 now includes a detection feature that checks to see what conferencing system users are on, then makes the connection. The new version has improved control, including the ability to adjust video and audio, such as volume, layouts, muting, and participant icons. WebOffice 6.0 also includes improved collaboration functions, and the ability to host more than one conference on a single server. Pricing now ranges from $25 to $200 per seat based on volume.
For more information, go to http://www.polycom.com
7. Even Mitsubishi Goes Sub-$1,000 with SE1U SVGA Projector  Mitsubishi has a new 4.5-pound sub-$1,000 LCD projector, the SE1U. It’s a pretty basic projector and almost identical to all the other $999 projectors, but the specs aren’t bad — it is specified at 1200 ANSI lumens and 400:1 contrast ratio. Pricing is $995.
The SE1U has 4:3 aspect ratio (native 800 x 600), vertical digital keystone correction and measures a compact 11.4” x 2.1” x 8.1". For more information, go to http://www.mitsubishi-presentations.com/proj_se1.asp
8. NSCA to Spotlight Digital Signage Technologies  NSCA will feature a special Digital Signage LIVE Showcase – 5,000 square feet housing 17 companies. This is a fantastic idea since digital signage is such a hot application but sometimes such a tough sell without the ability to see all the products. It’s sort of a shoot-out of flat-panel displays designed to highlight the strengths of each digital signage technology including LCD, plasma and even DLP.
Integrators can really study the systems – ease of setup, sophistication (and ease) of the software, network options, level of support – all that, and do some comparisons that otherwise could take months. The Digital Signage Showcase LIVE will be open during the NSCA exhibit hours 10am – 6pm March 19 and 20 and 10am – 2pm March 21. It is free to all NSCA attendees. As mentioned in my column in this issue (above) the show is in Las Vegas this year and is a must-see for any ProAV integrator or specifier or designer. In addition to the static display of all the digital signage technologies there will also be a free seminar, "Demystifying Digital Signage," hosted by ActiveLight Sunday, March 21, focusing on ideas for designing and installing digital signage. The showcase is sponsored by NSCA, ActiveLight and Systems Contractor News. For more information, go to http://www.nscaexpo.org/
9. InfoComm to Feature New Programs, More for the User and Buyer  The InfoComm team gave us a sneak peek recently of what to expect at InfoComm ’04. 380,000 square feet of exhibits, an increase in attendance and a number of what they call “In-Conjunction” groups.
InfoComm traditionally has a huge education schedule. But some felt when the Projection Shoot-out was cancelled due to changes in technology (images basically became equally great, so there was less information to be gained from side-by-side comparisons), it created opportunity for other activities. Enter the In-Conjunction groups. Now, this is an interesting idea as it gives our industry a chance to work face-to-face with users and buyers of AV in different applications. It’s a chance to educate them, and learn from them, and if successful, it provides another guaranteed segment of attendees. The In-Conjunction groups are users and buyers in different industries. Returning are the Building Industry Consulting Services International, Continental Automated Buildings Association, Consortium of Colleges and University Media Centers and Society for Marketing Professional Services. The new ones include: Interactive Multimedia & Collaborative Communications Alliance, which will conduct its annual meeting and seminars. The association is also a sponsor of the conferencing pavilion. EduComm, which we’ve covered in rAVe past issues, is a new conference within InfoComm directed specifically at higher education and K-12 users and buyers. It’s sponsored by District Administration and University Business magazines. Also, on the InfoComm show floor, special markings will designate exhibits as education products, so EduComm attendees can easily spot them. Media Communications Association International, a group of corporate and independent video producers, will conduct 12 two-hour sessions and hold its annual meeting. Returning is the Projection Summit, a two-day pre-show conference addressing trends in display technologies and market analysis. Digital Cinema Forum, Impact on Pro AV, new this year, is a one-day, six-session pre-show market trends conference sponsored by Digital Cinema Report. Unlike past digital cinema events, this one specifically focuses on the applications open for ProAV manufacturers and integrators today. Within the InfoComm show are a number of special pavilions designed to house certain technologies together to make it easier to get a full view of what’s available – pavilions such as lighting and staging, streaming media, a large display venue gallery, etc. Probably more than ever, you’ll want to very carefully plan out your InfoComm week way ahead of time, especially since many of you will be attending courses as well, because there is far more than can be done during the week and just tons to see, depending on your interests. And, we haven’t even headlined the educational offerings, yet. To get started on your planning, go to http://infocomm04.expoexchange.com/
10. DPI Gets Oscar Gig with DLP Projectors  The Academy Awards again contracted for DLP projectors for the presentation. This year, Digital Projection Inc will provide 17 DLP projectors around the outside of the theater so audiences can watch, inside the theater in areas such as the green room, in the lobbies and on stage. This is the fifth year the Academy has used DLP projectors.
PR Extreme We often hear about these gift bags given to Academy Award presenters. This year Samsung and Voom are giving them 43” DLP TVs. I don’t even know what to say.
11. Kayye to Deliver Keynote at EduComm at InfoComm  Gary Kayye will deliver the keynote speech at the first EduComm Conference, which runs in conjunction with InfoComm June 9 – 11. EduComm has a full slate of sessions in two tracks, one for Higher Education and one for K-12, mostly designed to attract end users and education buyers.
“We are thrilled to have Gary Kayye as our keynote speaker,” said Joseph J. Hanson, Chairman of Professional Media Group. “Mr. Kayye has distinguished himself for many years as a visionary technology leader and friend of education, and there is no one more qualified to set the tone for the first EduComm Conference at InfoComm.” Kayye was named the ICIA 2003 Educator of the Year by ICIA. “Gary has made tremendous contributions in helping organizations use AV and presentation technologies effectively,” said Randal A. Lemke, Ph.D., Executive Director of ICIA, “and his keynote at EduComm will provide a dynamic vision that education leaders can take back to their school districts and campuses.” “EduComm is a tremendous opportunity for education buyers to keep on top of today’s system capabilities as well as to know what to expect next year and the year after that,” said Kayye. “It will serve as a central location where manufacturers, systems integrators, buyers and end-users can learn from each other.” EduComm is sponsored by ICIA and Professional Media Group LLC, publisher of University Business and District Administration magazines. For more information, go to http://infocomm04.expoexchange.com/expoexchange/UserContent.asp?ID=204&EventKey=1
12. Dell’s New DLP XGA Projector Under 4 Pounds  The new 3300MP DLP projector weighs just 3.99 pounds and has pretty nice stats for the price of $1,699. The projector is specified to have a contrast ratio of 1700:1, 1500 ANSI lumens, and, of course, uses a single-chip XGA (1024 x 768) resolution DMD.
But what’s different for this over most of Dell’s previous projectors is its fully-featured control via an RS 232 port. Not something the average Dell phone representative will have a clue about, but it means Dell may be getting closer to addressing the ProAV market – much like Gateway is doing via their new, yet to be seen, ProNet Channel. For more information, go to http://www.dell.com/projectors
13. New Wireless Conferencing from Media Vision USA  Media Vision USA will show a new wireless conferencing product at NSCA – the Close-Talk conference and voting system — a unique niche product.
The system has a central unit, delegate units and one or more transceivers. The wireless system uses up to six infrared communications channels to transmit sound from the transceiver to delegate units, allowing multiple speakers to speak simultaneously, and eliminating bugging and interference with other wireless systems. It includes an RS-232 port, the ability to set both speaker and headphone levels in the delegate stations, and Media Vision claims it’s the only wireless system that is fully secure. The system is expandable, with the ability to handle up to 256 speakers and support up to 10 transceiver units. Also, the fact that the microphones are detachable, and with the carrying case, make the Close-Talk something that will impact the rental market if it’s durable. For more information, go to http://www.mediavision-usa.com
14. ClearOne President Resigns  Greg Rand, who joined ClearOne in 2002, has resigned his position as president and COO. He cited personal and family reasons for his decision. CEO Mike Keough will handle the responsibilities while the company searches for a vice president of operations to fulfill the role.
“It was a very difficult decision to leave ClearOne,” said Rand. “I have enjoyed working with all of the tremendous people at the company, and I’m confident that I’m leaving at a time when ClearOne is poised for future success.” “We understand and support Greg’s decision, but will miss his contributions and positive attitude, both of which have been critical over the last 18 months of change,” said Keough. “Greg has been an integral part of ClearOne’s executive management team during a difficult time, and we are extremely appreciative of his leadership and unflagging efforts on behalf of the company and its employees. We want to thank Greg for a job well done and wish him and his family the very best.” For more information about ClearOne, go to http://www.clearone.com
15. More MCSi Offices Acquired  CIM Audio Visual of Columbus, Indiana, acquired the MCSi offices of Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio, and Louisville and Lexington, Kentucky. This acquisition impacts 25 ex-MCSi employees.
Prior to this expansion CIM Audio Visual had offices in Columbus, IN; Indianapolis, IN; Greenwood, IN; Bloomington, IN; Evansville, IN; Ft. Wayne, IN; West Lafayette, IN; Vandalia, MI, and Waterford, MI. MCSi has so many, many good people. It's great to see the industry absorbing them. For more information about CIM Audio Visual, go to http://www.cimav.com
Back to top
Feature Article
Gary Kayye's rAVe AV Hall of Fame  Featuring Mike Weems, CTS, MCP
By Denise Harrison
Editor
 It was a time before 24/7 news channels, in fact very few TV stations at all, and a place where kids played outside from dawn until dusk. For Mike Weems, growing up in Jackson, Mississippi was pleasantly insulated from most of the outside world, well, the parts of the outside world that didn’t include baseball and Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts and tennis and later, photography.
Weems’ interest in technology began when he was drafted by the high school yearbook staff, who plopped a camera in Weems’ hands and pointed him to the football field to shoot the games. “I went on to work for a professional photography studio shooting Little League groups, weddings, and headshots for yearbooks,” says Weems, “then went from that to United Press International, shooting everything from car wrecks to rodeos around Mississippi. I continued with photography in college, working for the alumni association, then one day I just got tired of being in the darkroom.” About that time, the cameraman for a local television station was drafted for the Vietnam war and Weems got the job. He shot a variety of subjects for the station, including Mississippi’s version of American Bandstand, called “Teen Tempos.” At one point, the cameraman returned and got his old job back. But Weems wasn’t out of work for long – he soon was hired by the local CBS affiliate, where he ran the camera and was soon directing news segments. All this while still a full-time student, studying music, specifically voice, in college. “I did 18 operas before I decided I wasn’t going to be the next Luciano Pavoratti,” says Weems, “and knew I didn’t want to teach choral music.” It was his minor in college that intrigued him most. During his technical theater studies, he worked quite a bit with lighting and sound, worked with some rock bands and worked with mobile trucks that came to town. He decided that was the way to go “In the middle of summer after my senior year I got a fateful call from a friend of my father’s who asked me if I wanted to be the media director at Utica Junior College,” says Weems. “I had two questions: what is a media director, and where is Utica?”  He quickly had the job, which turned out to be just 40 miles away from home.
“The first day I walked into the building, I saw more equipment than I’d ever seen in my life,” remembers Weems. “They had every piece of AV gear known to mankind – 16mm projectors, slide projectors, opaque projectors, overheads and even a thermafax machine. I think I made more transparencies than the law allows. But the crowning jewel of the equipment was the dial-access audio retrieval system. You could play sound from a rack of tape machines in one room and listen through headphones in another. That was a really big deal in the early 1970s.” Weems envisioned much more for the college, however, and began writing grant proposals, enough so that before long, the college replaced its ½” black and white videotape equipment with a full color television production studio. Weems also wired the campus for closed-circuit television, personally riding a cherry picker to run cable from building to building. At this point, he was now also a photographer for most of the arts organizations in the area, including the symphony, opera and ballet. He also earned his master’s degree in educational media and technology by taking night classes at the University of Southern Mississippi. “In the middle of my second year at Utica the United Board of College Development came to our college to see our fancy media center,” says Weems. “They were so impressed that they offered me a job teaching and I started going to Atlanta every other weekend to do courses about media for representatives of different colleges and universities. I would look at their current curriculum and make recommendations on how they could apply technology to the courses.” In 1974, the same friend who recommended Weems for the job at Utica phoned Weems and said Jackson State University could really use him. The university planned to put in a new color television production center and needed someone with his skills to supervise the creation and to run it. “We had some of the first Sony color cameras at Jackson State and another thing I didn’t have before was a video retrieval system,” says Weems. One day, when out shooting promos for the Mississippi Arts Festival, two women asked Weems if his crew could shoot commercials with the type of gear they had. “We were using Sony ¾ U-Matic field gear and color cameras so yes, we could,” says Weems. “The woman hooked me up with some clients and we formed our own company, TransVideo Limited. “We could shoot a commercial in the morning, edit in the afternoon and have it on the air that night at a time when most field commercials were done on 16mm. We probably put five film production companies out of business.”  TransVideo had a stellar client roster, including McRae’s department store, Delta Airlines, Ford Motor Company and more, but after almost two years of working 16 hour days, seven days a week, Weems decided they were entirely too popular for his own good and accepted an offer from a subsidiary of Hanna-Barbera, which planned to build a theme park in the area.
“We had guys sitting at drawing boards designing everything from rides to trash cans and my part was designing the mobile teleproduction truck,” says Weems. “The first equipment was starting to arrive and that whole project might have gone well except the head man ran off with $600,000 of the money,” laughs Weems. After that, Weems went to Virginia State University to help set up a degree program, to teach and to work with the campus TV facility, then moved back closer to home for a position with Louisiana State University Medical Center in the department of medical communications. At LSU Medical Center, Weems produced and directed educational programs for both the medical students and for the continuing medical education program. “We shot it all, from infant burn victims to eye surgery to orthopedic surgeries, quadruple bypasses, you name it,” says Weems. “About that time, I started getting into computers and got pretty good at using them, to the point where I ended up teaching a course to medical students on how to computerize their practices. I even ended up consulting with a few medical firms in the area.”  It was the early ‘80s, and computers were still relatively new so, to not only know how to use them but to also know how to apply them to businesses, was a somewhat unique skill.
Now with a family, including two children, Weems decided to augment his income when, after he established a TV ministry for his church, other churches came knocking. So did Sony. “I was mostly putting Sony cameras in these churches and that brought me to their attention,” says Weems. “Sony was looking for district managers in several territories, including the Louisiana/Arkansas, the Oklahoma/North Texas and the southern Texas districts. “They asked which territory I’d prefer and I responded that there was no business in Louisiana and not a lot in Oklahoma and north Texas so I’d take south Texas. I think that response is what got me the job.” He joined Sony in the last job change he would have for a very long time, as the south Texas district manager in 1985. Only five years later, his achievements were recognized by induction into Sony’s Samurai Society. In his first position at Sony, Weems spent a good portion of his time training and supporting his dealers regarding new Sony products and technologies. He also helped market Sony products at trade shows and seminars, and helped dealers’ marketing programs by assisting with promotions, as well as helping with complex installations. Ten years later, he became a market development specialist for Sony, developing markets for the systems product line of switchers, editors, digital effects units, cameras and later, nonlinear editing.  “At the time, the transition from analog to digital was phenomenal,” says Weems. “Watching the new DVCAM format and seeing its marketshare grow and grow and grow, along with the explosion of nonlinear editing. It was a very exciting time.”
After six years, 16 total at Sony, the position was scheduled to be eliminated. Weems had plenty of other opportunities at Sony but while teaching an ICIA class, he met InFocus’s Max Kopsho, who had other ideas. ”Max walked up to me and asked if I’d like to be senior technical trainer with InFocus and that sounded good,” says Weems. “Soon after, I became responsible for InFocus University. Then, when we’d basically trained everyone who needed training, I transitioned into consultant liaison and systems integration support for the company. “At InFocus, it’s been great to see the product line become stabilized, and to see the efforts of management in bringing new and exciting programs in spite of the economy and the competition that’s out there.” His travel schedule doesn’t allow for much spare time, but when he grabs some, he likes to play golf, go to movies and read as well as volunteer for the Boy Scouts and school organizations. He’s also an elected official, serving as a director on the local water board.  But there’s always room for education, specifically, educating others as he has his entire career both as a profession and, as it happened, as one of the most active educators in ICIA.
“I was just three weeks into the job at Sony in 1985 and ended up in a classroom in Bloomington, Indiana teaching my first ICIA institute,” says Weems, “all because I was completely set up. Someone said, ‘Oh, you need a teacher? We’re about to hire this guy’ and that’s how I got started with ICIA.” Now, almost 20 years later, Weems has taught 35 institutes, developed and chaired five different courses and chaired the Professional Education and Training Committee and been a member of the ICIA Board of Governors the last three years. In fact, he was named ICIA’s Educator of the Year in 1999. To get a glimpse of Mike’s award-winning teaching skills, go to http://mslive.sonicfoundry.com/Live/LiveViewer/FrontEnd/View.aspx?peid=2d04babc-dc76-4d59-964e-8f491c44c04c
Well, that's it for this edition of rAVe! Thank you for spending time with me as we muse the industry's happenings. To continue getting my newsletter, or to sign up a friend, click the link below. To send me feedback and news tips, don't reply to this newsletter – instead, write to me at [email protected] Click here to forward Gary Kayye's rAVe to a friend Click here to subscribe A little about me: Gary Kayye, CTS, founder of Kayye Consulting. Gary Kayye, an audiovisual veteran and columnist, began the widely-read KNews, a premier industry newsletter, in the late 1990s, and created the model for and was co-founder of AV Avenue – which later became InfoComm IQ. Kayye Consulting is a company that is committed to furthering the interests and success of dealers, manufacturers, and other companies within the professional audiovisual industry. Gary Kayye's rAVe was launched in February 2003. The new rAVe Home Edition co-sponsored by CEDIA launches in February, 2004. To read more about my background, our staff, and what we do, go to http://www.kayye.com Back to top
Copyright 2004 – Kayye Consulting – All rights reserved. For reprint policies, contact Kayye Consulting, 400 Meadowmont Village Circle, Suite 425 – Chapel Hill, NC 27517 – 919/969-7501. Email [email protected] Gary Kayye's rAVe contains the opinions of the author only and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of other persons or companies or its sponsors. | 
