InfoComm Blogs

Weekly Reading: Bonjour, Plus Apple Events and Cardboard Gadgets

Thu, 01 Oct 2015 15:21:21 +0000

Je vais Montréal ce mois-ci. Which is to say, I’m shipping off to beautiful Montreal this month, for an InfoComm Roundtable on Oct. 22. We’ll be talking exceptional experiences: what they are, how you create them, and why. If you’ve never been to an InfoComm Roundtable, we hold them all over the world, including in […]

Drone Video Systems Poised to Revolutionize Business Operations

Mon, 28 Sep 2015 19:29:27 +0000

The demand for drone technology by organizations across the United States, and indeed around the world, is exploding and the numbers exist to prove it. As of September 2015, more than 1,400 organizations are approved by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to fly drones for commercial use, up from only 12 at the beginning of […]

Weekly Reading: Francis is Pope. OLED is King?

Wed, 23 Sep 2015 18:08:54 +0000

Washington Beltway traffic alert! Pope Francis is in town this week. When he addresses Congress, it’ll be full-on pro AV, broadcast live to jumbotrons around the Capitol. It’s all pretty exciting, even if it means the area’s already stressed Metro system may redefine stress during the Pope’s visit. There’s really no simple segue into this week’s […]

Back to School with Digital Signage

Wed, 23 Sep 2015 14:28:42 +0000

I love back-to-school. Not just as a parent of young kids (who demonstrate their genius of getting on each other’s nerves over the long summer months), but because I adore school supplies — that feeling generated by unblemished folders and paint sets, crispy packs of paper and a wonderful new collection of pens. And new technologies […]

Don’t Go It Alone

Mon, 21 Sep 2015 14:33:53 +0000

Running and growing a successful AV business is not meant to be a solitary pursuit. After all, the core of our very business is connecting people, facilitating collaboration, aiding in decision making, entertaining and delighting a crowd. To achieve this, we need to form a bridge between various stakeholders — the customer, the technology lead […]

Weekly Reading: ‘AV’ Careers Five Years Out, Plus AV Over IP, Football Tracking and 8K

Thu, 17 Sep 2015 18:48:25 +0000

I’m in the process of editing an InfoComm special report on ensuring quality of service for AV applications across enterprise networks. We’ll put it on our site in the coming weeks where we put all our special reports. It’s a good read, with lots of insight from AV and IT professionals. Like this one, from a […]

The Disruptive Power of Ethernet

Fri, 11 Sep 2015 17:17:24 +0000

Gigabit Ethernet has been crystallizing as a major pathway for audiovisual (AV) signals, partly due to the fact that current uncompressed video transmission standards can’t quite cope with the full load of the 4K resolution without significant improvisation. InfoComm 2015 saw several manufacturers showcasing new, IP-based, low-latency solutions. One of them was AptoVision, a young engineering […]

Weekly Reading: Audio Ascendant, Plus Apple News and GoPro Rigs

Tue, 08 Sep 2015 19:36:36 +0000

I wouldn’t call myself an audiophile (at all). As a Weekly Reading reader, you know I stream music over a wireless speaker that I (and others) call Alexa. But I’m trying to nurture my inner ‘phile. For example, I’m rehabbing a nice Yamaha CR-1020 receiver from the 1970s and a pair of old Yamaha NS-690II speakers. I […]

How to Design for 4K: Q&A With Practitioners

Fri, 04 Sep 2015 13:10:45 +0000

On August 12, InfoComm International® hosted a webinar titled How to Design for 4K. You’ll want to check it out because it’s jam-packed with tips and guidelines for designing 4K projects, from boardroom to live events. You’ll even get a comparison of a conventional versus an IP-based system. The webinar is a complement to 4K and Beyond: Technical Challenges and Opportunities, […]

Menu Board Rules Are Good for Digital Signage

Wed, 02 Sep 2015 18:39:03 +0000

With food caloric counts becoming a menu-board requirement for all restaurant chains, the benefits of digital signage dramatically come into play for this market. The new requirements, courtesy of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), have shaken more of the quick-service restaurant (QSR) industry into considering digital over static menu boards. Digital signage is the total package — […]

The Final Countdown to InfoComm

Wed, 27 May 2015 15:55:10 +0000

Wow! Can you believe we’re only three weeks away from InfoComm 2015?! I’m looking forward to seeing you there (you are coming, aren’t you?). I’m going to give you some advice on how to make the most of your time at the show. Even if you are the ultimate procrastinator there is still time to […]

Have You Started Writing Your Prospect Letters?

Tue, 12 May 2015 14:00:31 +0000

If I were you, I’d be writing a letter like this to every one of my prospects this week. Maybe it’d be a bit less wordy by the time it went out but it’d definitely be going out. Just saying … Dear [CLIENT NAME] My firm [INSERT NAME HERE] is very interested in partnering with […]

Reflections on China

Mon, 20 Apr 2015 16:00:45 +0000

I just returned from InfoComm China 2015. What an exciting experience! I’m always impressed by the grandeur of the ancient society juxtaposed over the amazing energy, can-do attitude and raw entrepreneurial spirit that permeates virtually every conversation that I have when in that country.

Read to Lead

Mon, 06 Apr 2015 15:00:08 +0000

I love to read. In fact, I maintain what I admitted long ago would be a perpetual reading list. Perpetual, because no matter how much I read, there are more books added to it each month than I can get through.

Chili, Controversy, Civility and Other C-words That Matter…

Mon, 23 Mar 2015 17:00:14 +0000

Much to their chagrin, it seems that I often turn to stories about my (somewhat private) family members when I reflect and write these entries. I think it is because I so desperately don’t want to sound as though I’m pontificating when I latch on to an issue that drives me to pull up a […]

Time is the New Money. Spend it Wisely

Wed, 04 Feb 2015 17:30:18 +0000

Let me date myself here for a second… “My bags are packed. I’m ready to go…” Next week marks the start of the 12th Integrated Systems Europe show in Amsterdam. Did you know that this show actually started in Geneva, Switzerland and had less than 3,500 attendees?

In 2015, Make Decisions and Accept Consequences

Fri, 09 Jan 2015 21:20:33 +0000

I talked with my 21-year old son yesterday while I was on the way home from the airport. We got to talking about making decisions — the costs and the benefits. Of course, that’s my perspective of the conversation, as a “wise and all-knowing” Baby Boomer father. I’m sure his perspective, as a brilliant and […]

An Exceptional Experience Was Had by All?

Thu, 03 Jul 2014 16:48:20 +0000

But, despite that success, and maybe because of all that success, the issue of booth staffing has been raised as a reflection by attendees, exhibitors and others. As many of you know this is only my second show as CEO of InfoComm and as such I don’t see myself as an expert on a lot […]