When discussing business matters with my dealer clients, most of the conversations center around finding ways to grow their revenue and increase profit margins. Ideally, we cover both. They’re both worthy objectives, and it’s something clients look to me to help them achieve. But they’re also only part of the puzzle. As important as growing […]

We’re fewer than 100 days from InfoComm 2021 week — the first InfoComm since 2019 and the first time two InfoComm shows will be in the same town two times in a row in over 20 years. I don’t think we need to review how and why we came to where we are with this […]

In March of this year, AVIXA released an Inclusive Language Guide through its Diversity Council, supported by TAD and Audinate. I highly recommend you take the time to read the guide: You can find it here. Better yet, I highly recommend you print it off and hang copies of it around your offices, workshops and […]

There’s a joke one of my sociology professors used to beat to death. It goes, “There are two types of people: the first type categorizes everyone they meet into one of two types.” I didn’t say it was a good one — my professor certainly thought it was funnier than we did as he always […]

I recently heard from a friend in higher ed that they had been laid off. This person worked in the AV group as part of the overall IT department in their college. Two things stuck out to me about this layoff: first, that any school would consider laying off parts of its AV team after […]

There’s an expression that has stuck with me for a while now: “The way you dress indicates the respect you have for other people.” It stuck with me partly because it’s not an expression I’d already heard a thousand times, like, “The early bird gets the worm.” It also stuck with me because, when you […]

WARNING: Might be best-read with incense burning. Symbiotic relationships. Yep, I’m going to go there. I’d like to talk about symbiotic relationships specifically as a design theory in relation to technology and AV. If that seems like a lot, bear with me, read on. In architecture, this principle already exists, and I truly believe this […]

By Gordon Dutch Re-Sauce Sales & Business Consultancy Ltd As I am sure regular rAVe readers will know, the regular ISE 2021 show in Barcelona planned for February 2021 was initially moved back to June 2021 and then canceled this year due to COVID. Shortly after, ISE announced a series of regional roadshows starting in […]

What does AV look like in other developed countries?  Written By: Kate Couch for AV Bend It’s easy to forget that many of the amenities and services we have in the U.S. are also available in other countries. Just because they speak a different language than us or have different customs doesn’t mean they’re not […]

Hello, #AVtweeps! On June 30, I hosted this webinar with Rob Ziv, vice president of business development and strategy at Almo Pro A/V, as well as Adrian Doughty, director of North American sales at Nureva. For this webinar, we discussed how virtual mic and mic-array technologies revolutionize meeting rooms and classrooms — and this is […]

It’s been a good year for retail AV sales. Surprised? You shouldn’t be. The truth is, there were winners as well as losers this past year, and the winners won big. BrightSign received the single-largest PO in its history right in the middle of lockdown. That PO came from a retailer.  Retailers whose business was […]

I’ve been grocery shopping weekly for over 20 years, and every week I’ve bought bananas. I’ve bought bananas over 1,000 times in my life; it’s crazy to think about! I really know how to buy a banana. I know how my family likes them, I know how long a banana will need to ripen depending […]

You don’t have to know rocket science to follow the arcane world of high-performance wireless, but it doesn’t hurt. The CEO of BridgeComm, Barry Matsumori, worked previously for SpaceX and Virgin Galactic and has served as a board member of the Space and Satellite Professionals International. BridgeComm, optical wireless communication (OWC) company, provides enterprise-grade broadband […]

Written By: Kate Couch and Tony Sprando  In 2019, Fox News reported the following: “Ajay Bhatt, who led the intel team that created the Universal Serial Bus [USB], told NPR the design of USB ports used to plug in devices such as keyboards, mice, printers and thumb drives is a bit annoying. Frustrated users have […]

As the world returns to some version of “normal,” change has been significant for churches — particularly with streaming. Even with millions recently returning to worship services, the streaming gains achieved in the last few months shouldn’t be discarded. According to Tim Dougherty, senior solutions engineer for Wowza Media Systems, streaming went from a “nice-to-have” […]

After a successful ISE London 2021, Gordon Dutch, CEO of Re-Sauce Sales & Business Consultancy, sat down (virtually) with Mike Blackman, managing director of Integrated Systems Events to discuss the event. Representing rAVe [PUBS], Gordon successfully snagged the first interview after ISE 2021 with Mike to discuss all the virtual and in-person show details. ISE […]

In January, as part of my 2021 predictions (dubbed Kayye’s Krystal Ball), I wrote “Epson will debut a new technology.” Well, my prediction came true today as Epson announced a hardware and software solution for enhanced lesson plans and student engagement — the BrightLink GoBoard Wireless Collaboration and Integrated Whiteboard Solution. BrightLink GoBoard will be […]

For each column in this series, rAVe writer Paul Konikowski takes a deeper dive into a recent security event or data breach, shedding light on supply chain vulnerabilities, infrastructure and cyber-physical security. In my last “SecuringAV” column about the Nashville Christmas morning bombing, I did my best to define what “infrastructure project” meant using the […]

There are 1,001 blogs on the hybrid workplace and hybrid classrooms. Heck, I may have even contributed to that total. But before you dismiss this one, I’ll tell you it’s short, intuitive and not quite the same as the others. If you’re doing hybrid meetings or classrooms, you already know the main components: Audience facing […]

By Tom Kehr Almo Pro A/V Sustainability. Sometimes it’s about sustaining the humans. When designing an audiovisual system, we often discover that our main challenge is the actual room. Crazy, isn’t it? We try and work around and implement, as best we can, a technology solution when maybe a better solution could involve a lot […]

By James Kirby Futuresource Consulting The professional power amplifiers market, and professional audio in general, has been an area of long-term market growth. Despite the rise of powered speakers, the amplifiers market has continued to see regular replacements and new opportunities over recent years, driven by innovation and demand at a macro level. However, moving […]

  Health and wellness is a booming industry but does it involve audio and visual?  Written By: Kate Couch The health and wellness industry is a much bigger industry than most people realize. In fact, according to the Global Wellness Institute, the wellness economy is currently valued at 4.5 trillion dollars and represents 5.3% of […]

There’s no Anna Kendrick, but in many ways, it’s like a Hollywood movie. The collaborative presentation platform Pitch just raised $85 million more. Pitch began as just another startup in Berlin; it set out in 2018 to change the way we present and collaborate. Not exactly a new and novel idea. Hundreds of companies have […]

When designing a project for a house of worship, how often do you go back to the drawing board to ask the question, “Hmm, what should I include in this system?” Hardly ever, I assume, considering the requirements of houses of worship are mostly the same: assistive listening, environmental lighting, fixed installs and more. These […]

I’ve been talking to quite a few integrators lately and the good news is that there seems to be a large backlog of projects coming back online. As exciting as that is, the past 15 months are still creating shockwaves that mean for most integrators, these projects are potentially going to be a lot less […]

By: Naftali Feniger Hagai Gefen passed away suddenly at his home in Malibu, California on June 8. His wishes were to be buried next to his mother at Hamaapil Kibutz cemetery in Israel. Hagai leaves behind his wife, Jill, and their three sons, Noah, Ari and Ilan. After having completed his military service in the […]

Working As a Team It’s down to the wire. It’s going to take all hands on deck to save this install. We have to get it done — too much is on the line. Twelve hours of work today? Could be more. This one is going to take as long as it takes. Every integrator […]

Common ground for all salespeople, regardless of the channel they’re in, is that they need to let their boss know what’s going on. I had one boss who asked, “What are you working on?” so often it was like the catchphrase from a TV sitcom. Those check-ins cover an entire spectrum. There’s the less formal […]

In my March 2020 blog, written before COVID-19 changed the world, I wrote about “Digital Transformation.” At the time, very few organizations had truly invested in a digital transformation strategy. It was still a buzzword corporate leaders did not understand or were not able to fully implement. Before we move any further, let’s get a […]

In recent months my company has seen an uptick in requests to consult on acoustics solutions and installations in commercial spaces. Some of these clients reached out for assistance on new builds, but most of them were looking for solutions to integrate into existing spaces. In many cases, the request stemmed from the need to […]

What AV systems can be put away? Written By: Kate Couch and Tony Sprando Design over function is often an argued topic amongst the design community. We think that these things are in lieu of the other, but that isn’t always the case. In many circumstances, the ability to get maximum function and purpose out […]

I like to assume that, as time goes on, we grow and learn; at least I hope we do. Everything changes over time, and as we gain experience (and some things we’ve understood are reaffirmed), we come to view things differently. As the saying goes, “Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose …” In […]