Every year, I write a column about what I experienced at InfoComm. In 2023, I made a large number of new acquaintances from June 13-16 by visiting many exhibitor booths, some sponsored events, a dinner, my own happy hours and participating in a streaming video. Let’s review what it’s like to make connections at one […]

Since joining the AV industry in 2008, I have attended many trade shows, events, on-site meetings and more. In my travels, I have noticed a significant increase in digital signage applications in corporate and hotel lobbies, including upgrades from standard definition displays to 4K (and higher resolution) video walls. As everyone knows, lobby signs are […]

I am very fortunate to have visited two countries known as tropical paradises: Costa Rica and Aruba. And while I find myself constantly looking toward digital signage experiences in my own surroundings, I thought it would be exciting to do the same on my travels. Here are some notable examples, and perhaps how some could […]

I attended DSE 2022, and my agenda for the show was to meet with people whom I had either only met over video, had not seen in a long time, or people I had not met before to find more opportunities direct or indirect. This was my first event show in the past few years […]

Although InfoComm 2022 was over five months ago, I wanted to share some of the unique things I saw and events I experienced — as InfoComm 2023 in Orlando will be different and many are starting to prepare now. First thing’s first, I decided to stay at the Vdara Hotel during the week of InfoComm […]

My first direct engagement with the AV consulting world was in 2015. I was working in the AV/broadcast technology integration business when one of my financial services clients decided to hire an AV consulting company for its very large NYC project ($1 billion total project budget with a $100 million AV budget). I had never […]

I remember going to Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey when I was a kid with my parents and sister. My father would drive through the safari section so we could watch the animals walk around or all over the car. I think the last time my parents drove through the safari section, one […]

My Favorites From the New York International Auto Show 2022 I have been attending business trade shows since the mid-1990s when I first worked for a relatively small but very successful CD-ROM OEM hardware/software technology company. As time went on and I changed my technology focus (from data storage and backup to telecom/network, then video […]

This is part two of a series discussing the power of the relationships you can make at an in-person trade show. After attending InfoComm 2021, I decided to write about my experience. You can find part 1 here. Enjoy! Day Two I arrived at the show shortly before 9 a.m. Thursday morning, Oct. 28, Day […]

When I was working in AV integration a few years ago, one of my vendors (thanks again, Matt) sent me a lead to follow up on and was able to meet the designer that day. We discussed his project (a build out in a new space for the USTA Stadium in New York). The end […]

This is part 1 of a series discussing the power of the relationships you can make at an in-person trade show. After attending InfoComm 2021, I decided to write about my experience. Enjoy! I have been attending/participating in trade shows for a very long time in every industry I’ve been part of (film/video production, data […]

This is the third installment of my series on getting — and keeping — the job you want by selling your value. The past columns in this series can be found here. I think of interviewing for a job as a similar methodology to meeting with a potential client to get to the next step […]

One of the many challenges of this pandemic is not knowing how people will react to different environments in an office, building lobby, hotel, mall, retail store, an arena/stadium, a train, a plane or even outside. If you are fully vaccinated, wearing a mask and inside a fully ventilated area (or outside), should you still […]

This is the second article in my “How to Get the Job You Want” series. To view the other articles in this series, click here. I had been working in data storage and backup for about 10 years when I got a Dell catalog in the mail. When I opened and skimmed through it, I […]

Since this pandemic is new to all of us and technology is being designed to aid in coping with this relatively horrible situation, I thought some information and things I have observed or read about over the past 18 months would be helpful. I am not specifying one technology over another nor one vendor over […]

Many years ago, I worked on a few Fingerhut commercials that still resonate with me to this day. In the commercial, the actress would hold up her finger and say the tagline, “That’s Value with a capital V.” My point here is the word “Value.” It has different meanings to different people. My focus when […]

I know this should be obvious and common sense, but to some people, it is not. Therefore, I always try to understand the reasons behind certain people’s inability to communicate clearly, whether on purpose or due to other circumstances. There are countless articles on this subject, yet I occasionally come across a situation that could […]

One of the topics from the sessions I hosted on my Pexip Platform (see my previous column, “What I Learned By Hosting 32 Sessions With Different Topics and Speakers During the Pandemic”) last year between April 2020 to July 2020 included a very interesting presentation and point of view from Josiah Hobson, managing director at […]

One of the first marketing/technology terms that I learned when I joined a video managed services company in 2008 — versus previously working at a telecom company — was the difference between a cloud-based service (not a weather system) versus on-prem (aka on-site) hardware products. I currently work for a digital signage company that provides […]

Many years ago, I worked for a facilities-based CLEC selling POTS (plain old telephone services), DSL, T1 (1.5 Mbps), bonded T1 lines (3 Mbps), phone systems and VoIP (voice-over-IP) solutions. This experience helped me to really understand the business criticality of quality-of-service internet bandwidth and continues to help me to this day. After IT/telecom, I […]

I thought this general term, “FUD,” used in two different connotations would be highly relevant and appropriate to many people (domestic and international), especially within the past year. I want to point out that I am not in the medical field and that these are my own opinions based on my professional (well over 30 […]

In my first column “What I Learned About the Digital Signage Industry (Year One),” I provided a lot of information (especially on my link to key words and definitions) about how to engage and focus on the human senses to enhance the digital signage experience. But what if your audience members have disabilities that could […]

I formally joined Zignage (CMS software solution company) on Feb. 3, 2020, and attended ISE 2020 in Amsterdam from Feb. 10-12. On March 3, I attended the New York Build 2020 Expo at the Javits Center and continued going into New York City for meetings — March 9 (my office) and March 12 (small vendor […]

I really hope everyone is doing the best they can to get through these challenging times. Allow me to share my professional experiences, which include working over the past 35 years in the following industries: film/video production, data storage and backup, network and telecom, video managed services; AV design and integration, and digital signage. Although […]