It was 1997 when AV entered my world through desktop videoconferencing. I was an ignorant twenty-nothing college student. On the invitation of a friend, I stumbled into an internship for desktop collaboration. I’ll save you the math, I’m 49 now. And in ’97, desktop collaboration technology was as immature as I was. How are people […]

In the fall of 2020, as I waited in the single line at my California grocery store (making sure to keep the federally recommended 6 feet of distance), a display on a makeshift stand showed a single number indicating which checker was available to help me. The line was long. As I waited, I had […]

Even though I’ve been in AV for 20+ years, it was not until June 2022 that I attended my first InfoComm in person. To be honest, for the first 15 years in the industry, I was supporting operations for corporate videoconferencing. I had never even heard of InfoComm and the organization that became AVIXA. To […]

We, the ProAV people, know better than anyone that video communication has been around a long time. The first official video call was in 1958. I remember working to help corporations define a return on investment for the videoconferencing infrastructure. They had an automatic message for every travel request. For example, “Could this meeting be […]

Once, as a new AV project manager, I found myself helping the warehouse manager unload the equipment at my biggest project. These were some big displays; we had to tilt them carefully to get them into the service elevator. “What happens if the displays don’t fit in the elevator?” I said to my companion.  He […]

Commercial AV works with the facility. It has always been necessary to take customer locations into account for the installation. AV was purpose-built to meet the needs of the users and the buildings they inhabit. Dozens of AV businesses were created to serve the corporate market. Businesses and offices have very predictable use cases and […]

Now that the new-year smell is wearing off of 2022 and everyone is getting into their routines, this seems like a good time to set up plans for personal upgrades. For the AV professional, there are a number of options for sharpening skills and gaining new ones. I cannot talk about AV training without bringing […]

With a new year comes new excitement. I know I’m not the only one who stayed up late to milk the excitement and toast the possibilities with friends on Dec. 31. I love the clean sheets feel of a new year. What will be possible this time? There is room to dream in this fresh […]

This Christmas season, I hear lots of talk about Santa and his list. I know I’m making lists. I have a lot of things I want to get done, and I carry that list around with me to make sure it happens. There are piles of notebooks next to my computer to keep track of […]

At the start of January 2020, working from home was a carefully guarded privilege. Some professions — and some job categories — had the chance to stay home and do work on their computers. Some people (mothers in particular) changed their lives to have the ability to work from home. Some employers embraced the idea. […]

As you step up to your door, you feel the cold wind blow on your face. We are deep in the fall season, and we know what that means: Halloween. Memories of the creepy, scary monsters take the chill at our backs and send it down the spine. Sure, there is candy to sweeten the […]

When customers come to AV resellers and installers to ask them to provide an AV installation, part of the service is project management. Someone has to communicate with the customer and stay on top of the progress and any changes that are made. Customers are familiar with project managers; they usually have a whole set […]

From my experience, AV installations are permanent. The rooms, digital signage, multipurpose rooms and auditoriums that line my portfolio of installations have that in common: They are set up and left for use for many years. At most, there is one specialist that will interface with the controls to make sure the audio and video […]

Like G-force when a roller coaster takes off, the COVID-19 lockdown shoved me deep into my own seat. Forces greater than myself took away the freedoms I was used to. Possibilities were restricted. But work still had to happen. I had to find new ways to reach out of my space to work with others. […]

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 […]

Ask the Right Questions An AV system brings in many devices, audio and video signals that must be sent to a lot of destinations. This kind of chaos has to be channeled through a control system — a layout simple enough for any user to handle. All but the most basic AV projects need their […]

“We need an engineer on-site today.” “Hello?” I said into my phone. “Um …Who am I speaking with?” “You are the project manager for Important Customer’s AV project, right? It is nonoptional that we get an engineer on-site today.” I was across the country at the office Halloween party receiving a call from the Eastern […]

Every job has a bill of materials. Telephone or network jobs only need a handful of suppliers. However, AV jobs get materials from everybody and their brother. There are enough quality manufacturers to fill a convention center — it seems they may even do that again soon. There are some lessons to learn here. The […]

“This means I’m going to have a very difficult conversation,” I once heard the project manager say. She had found out from the project team that a change was needed. Clearly, she dreaded the change order. It’s been said that no customer wants to be presented with a change order, and I’ve seen AV installers […]

“But they sent the wrong color. Did you know that this job has an open ceiling plan? We have to have gray or it will stand out.” The cable on-site was blue, and we needed 1,000 feet of gray right now or the schedule and budget would go off the rails. I called the cable […]

In my time as a project manager for users and integrators, I’ve supported many international projects. National projects inside my country — America — follow the practices and customs I know. When I oversee work done in other countries — even multiple countries at once — I have learned to look for specific gotchas. At […]

Any salesperson will tell you: Everything is sales. Of course it is. Isn’t our life and our work about convincing people to see the value and take action toward a goal? We want to come together and put some money on the table. Invest some capital into the idea. That’s the only way ideas become […]