What’s next for Pro AV? Find the answers at AVN2, a free, one-day virtual experience from AV Network and AVNation on Tuesday, April 5. 

The program begins with AVNation Media’s Tim Albright, who will host a fireside chat on the “State of the Supply Chains.” Later in the day, AV Technology’s Cindy Davis will lead the “Supply Chain Roundtable,” as industry experts consider the current issues and discuss solutions. 

Albright will also lead “Better Business Practices for Pro AV,” a look at how companies trying to recover from the last two years can succeed over the next two years. Plus, Mark J. Pescatore from Systems Contractor News will host “Improving the User Experience,” which will explore design success stories…and failures. 

Other sessions throughout the day will address cloud technology, distance learning, digital signage content management, audio installations, and more. AVN2 will bring the Pro AV community together through advanced virtual networking and an exhibit hall packed with the technologies you need to do your job today and tomorrow. 

AVN2 is for professionals working across the Pro AV ecosystems, including integrators, consultants, technology and IT managers and vice presidents, audio visual integrators, installers, architects, technology design practitioners, CIOs, CTOs, and all staff involved in Pro AV technology decisions. 

Why Attend AVN2?
• Learn about Pro AV/IT technologies from leading experts.
• Connect with the most important Pro AV brands and network with more than 1,000 industry professionals.
• Earn AVIXA Rus for CTS, CTS-D, and CTS-I holders.

For free registration and more information, click here.

As organizations across the board grapple with reconfiguring their physical spaces in line with new health and safety best practices, the AV industry is poised to help. And while many professionals and students will continue to work and learn from home well into the near future, the need for in-person collaboration hasn’t gone away, pandemic or not. The question is: what should—or will—the in-room post-COVID AV UX look like? 

Much of the discussion centers on how to create touchless environments by deploying voice-activated systems, or by leveraging personal mobile devices to interact with the space via tools such as QR codes, apps, or browser-based software. Michael Judeh, senior director of AV technology at Convene, an event facilities and flexible workspace provider, noted that while these are great tools, many users aren’t necessarily willing to take the time to interact with them. “This affects the user experience in terms of: how do we automate the spaces and tailor them specifically for users? How do we tie room scheduling and functions down to a specific user and what they need? How can they pre-populate those requests so that the rooms are ready for the user when they walk in?” In theory, he said, these spaces should be plug-and-play.

Related: Strategies for Returning to Work Safely

The challenge, however, comes down to funding: while many organizations wish to upgrade their systems in response to COVID, the current economic climate has mandated budget cuts. “We’re actively assisting many different types of environments—primarily in commercial office spaces and higher ed—to enable part-time use of their spaces, and there’s a tremendous amount of creativity being woven into that,” said Howard Nunes, CEO at enterprise AV solutions provider PepperDash Technology. “But as it settles out, we’re seeing a lot more folks moving into a cleaning regime rather than making a big spend on touchless, or voice-driven control. They want to make changes—they want to do the right thing for their people—but they’re financially hamstrung.”

“I don’t think much will change,” said Gladys Marroquin, audiovisual consultant at consulting and engineering firm Newcomb & Boyd LLP. Marroquin recounted that the higher education institutions in her region are offering a hybrid of in-room classes, remote learning, and even outdoor sessions. “If anything, [there may be] masks and the required PPE, but [I think] the professors will go back in and use these rooms as they’ve been using them for the past several years.” Students, she said, will utilize their own personal devices to limit their exposure to shared surfaces.

Another issue universities are grappling with are tuition fees for remote learning, Marroquin pointed out. “There’s a pushback from students not wanting to go back and not feeling like they should, but they don’t feel like they should be paying full tuition if they’re just going to have Zoom classes all day,” she said. If schools must decrease tuition fees for those participating in remote learning only, “it’s making an impact on [how much] capital is available to these higher ed institutions.” 

At Convene, Judeh explained that one of the main goals continues to be providing a smooth videoconferencing experience that accommodates all the different platforms out there. “Every customer has their own specific platform they want to use,” he said. “I even see this in large enterprises now: they’re providing their teams the ability to choose whatever system they want to use that works best for the team and helps them achieve their goals, in both the UC and VC space.” To support this, systems now must be flexible and, once again, plug-and-play. “Historically, the AV UX has been fairly rigid in architecture, so this is unexplored territory, I think, for a lot of manufacturers, end users, and the technology managers who manage those systems.”

To address present-day health and safety concerns, Judeh and his team have temporarily removed touchpoints such as HDMI cables in Convene’s workspace and meeting facilities, which forces clients into a wireless screen-share workflow. He noted that while wireless screen-sharing tech has advanced significantly, “the redundancy of an HDMI cable and the stability of HDMI cables is not something we would necessarily want to do away with [forever]—especially with specific customer devices that might not have the ability to load an application, or with IT restrictions that prevent them from wireless screen sharing,” he said. He added that Convene has also temporarily removed interactive touchpanels, again to provide as much of a touchless environment as possible. “[But] unless you can automate all of those things, or provide that experience on a user’s device, we’re still going to need [touchpanels] at some point.”

Back in 2017, PepperDash launched Mobile Control, a control platform that enables users to interact with in-room systems via their mobile devices through QR codes. Nunes explained that his organization’s choice to leverage QR technology was based on the desire to provide an intuitive user experience—users aren’t obligated to download an app, for example. “[It’s an] excellent user experience, but the infrastructure has to support that to make sure that you’re not controlling a room you shouldn’t be controlling,” he said. “Getting the infrastructure together to enable somebody to walk in with their own cellular connection, get on to the network, and get access to that control, it’s a pretty significant lift.” Significant enough that, with current economic conditions, it’s an upgrade some organizations are unable to deploy, he said.

Nunes also said that a number of his clients are pondering the placement of smart speakers in their conference rooms—another way to minimize touchpoints. While the concept may be valid, “the idea of having a device like that and AI behind it listening to every word still means that it’s listening to and processing every word,” he said. There is also the social element to consider: interrupting a conversation between humans to speak with a device can compromise the flow of a meeting. 

While reduced budgets are forcing AV/IT departments to work with what they already have on hand, Sumanth Rayancha, CTO at PepperDash, noted that the current circumstances present tech managers with the opportunity to resolve issues they’ve been trying to address for a while. “We’ve seen organizations forever trying to get on one meeting platform; they end up having this mishmash of Zoom, Teams, and WebEx,” he said. “This [situation] is forcing that need for one platform, [and] it can’t matter where you are.” The technology to make this happen exists; for tech managers, the challenge is getting their organizations on board. “Use this as an opportunity and pitch it as: we want to fix these things for COVID. It should help loosen some purse strings to get it done, and the effect is going to be lasting—you’ll solve a problem that you’ve been trying to solve for years.” 

For Judeh, the in-room AV UX is made up of two experiences, one being “customer-facing” and the other being that of the administrator. Post-COVID, he is interested to see how both will evolve, “especially now, [where] there’s probably a diminished on-site presence to help with troubleshooting,” he said. “How does this user experience support troubleshooting? How does that affect our device choices? What are the things that we’re willing to deploy to make UX simpler to reduce the number of issues, but then also maybe reduce functionality and seeing that trade-off as a result?” There is also the question of how many of these modifications will continue to be adopted into the future. “What are the innovations that come out as a result of COVID? I don’t think we’ve necessarily seen that yet because we haven’t had the opportunity to get enough people back into the office and measure that. But again, I think it will impact things like automation and reducing touchpoints, and making things smarter as a result.” 

Back to BYOD

In the early days of BYOD, many tech managers were hesitant to allow people to connect to corporate networks with their personal devices—it just wasn’t that secure. Post-pandemic, many believe that a BYOD-based in-room AV UX is one of the safest options out there.

Still, BYOD continues to present its challenges, acknowledges Michael Judeh, senior director of AV technology at Convene (which has historically leveraged BYOD to provide clients with a flexible workspace). “Every time you bring a new device into the room, it has a different operating system, a different device type, and a different connection type that presents a challenge—especially across larger enterprises that might have a range of infrastructure from older to newer,” he said. “Being able to provide the same experience to everyone in a BYOD environment might be very challenging, plus the inherent issues that are going to happen with BYOD, whether they be human error, or compatibility errors, or system errors or failures.”

Carolyn Heinze is a freelance writer/editor. 

“Dialed in” and “always on” doesn’t just apply to workplace technology — it describes the modern worker. BYOD and wireless connectivity are transforming the optics of offices as well as business culture itself. Teams are collaborating on the road and from home. Remote working is the new normal. Whether on- or off-site, all employees expect hyper-connectivity and seamless workflows. There are more software and hardware options than ever before. As we inch closer to 2020, corporate leaders are asking: how will choices today shape the workplace of tomorrow? 

Keeping Pace

To stay current with the shifting landscape, corporations are making technology a priority. Companies perceived to be more tech-centric are better positioned to recruit top talent. The 2019 Gartner and Senior Business Executive Survey revealed that “about 68% of midsize CIOs expect to increase investment in information technology in 2019 over 2018.” 

Bandwidth and a robust network are essential, but workplace designers and technologists are also keeping track of broader trends. 5G, edge computing, and the cloud are merging to create a new economic infrastructure. C-level leaders are looking to leverage tech to enhance the employee experience digitally, with personalized apps and software solutions, advanced audio and video tools, and high-tech engagements. The demand for agile, “digital-first” communications strategies has never been higher.   

Face to Face

Consumer trends often drive employee expectations. The ubiquity and ease of FaceTime and Skype influence how and when teams connect. People are more comfortable and confident communicating via real-time video. The challenge for corporations is how to procure products and systems that will best support collaboration at a distance while giving on-site workers the most reliable tools.  

UX Marks the Spot

While Millennial employees are digital natives, Gen Z, the cohort born after the Millennial generation, between 1995-2015 (approximately), takes it a step further. “Gen Z also understands that there’s a need for constant skill development in order to stay relevant,” according to Forbes.

It’s therefore essential to invest in products and systems that can adapt as an organization’s needs evolve. New technology must also meet the needs of a diverse user base. If a system is not easy to operate by all team members, it won’t be used. RoI will fall short.

Flexible Yet Fully Featured

Finding intuitive solutions that are also feature-rich is a tall order. That’s why tech managers, facilities directors, and AV integrators alike are turning to LG's engaging 130-inch, all-in-one Direct View LED Screen. The new cloud-friendly, ultra-bright LED solution is flexible enough for varied spaces, compatible with AV control systems, and so fully featured it can transform virtually any environment into a smart meeting room. With no bezel on this model, all barriers are removed—the result is a more immersive, immediate, and rich viewing experience. Quick to set up, simple to use, and equipped with HDR10 support and Immersive Surface Sound, LG’s 130-inch, all-in-one Direct View LED Screen gives teams the tools they need to succeed in a competitive business landscape.  

Additional Resources

Optimize Your Meetings with Engaging Visual Displays

Lead Smarter Meetings with Increased Engagement

This article is sponsored by LG

The modern workplace has been transformed by the rise in remote workers, causing a shift from permanent offices, cubicles, and dedicated meeting rooms to transient, multiuse work areas. This trend, paired with the increased desire for collaboration by the millennial generation, results in reduced fixed office space and more huddle spaces, open floorplans, and flexible meeting areas.

A byproduct of fewer workers reporting to the office is a decreased need for office space and less justification for dedicated conference rooms and complex AV installations. As a result, technology managers are being tasked with more closely managing the costs and justifying the investment and return on technology purchases. As needs change and less money is dedicated to permanent office space, there is a greater focus on equipment and solutions that can satisfy more requirements and provide greater value, yet offer consistency, reliability, and ease of operation. These shifts in needs present challenges for technology managers, AV service providers, and manufacturers alike; however, they offer new opportunities for ingenuity, creativity, and innovation for products and solutions.

As organizations are doing more with less office space, technology has to support greater flexibility for multipurpose use, reconfiguration, and a variety of applications. Fixed installations of furniture and wiring are giving way to movable surfaces, wireless connectivity, and more centralized equipment. Additionally, with the adoption of software-based solutions for conferencing, collaboration, and control, paired with the increase in network-based audio and video transport and control communication, the demand for complex wiring and proprietary, single-purpose equipment is diminishing. To support this changing demand and maintain effectiveness, the AV industry needs to think differently, invest in understanding users’ and stakeholders’ needs and objectives, and adapt to the new way of working.

AV systems are not what they used to be. In some respects, they are becoming simpler with less equipment, less wiring, and more basic operation. In other respects, they are becoming more complex with the need to support multiple applications, configurations, and user needs.

Here are a few thoughts to consider when designing and planning for multipurpose AV spaces.

One area that faces challenges resulting from flexible spaces is audio. Audio systems work best in fixed environments, where ideal microphones and speakers can be selected, placed, and tuned to support the design and acoustics of the space. When spaces are repurposed, the focus of the room changes and technology cannot be permanently installed around furniture; the result is that sound quality, intelligibility of microphones, and echo cancellation of conference calls suffer. One particular example is the use of ceiling microphones with ceiling speakers. Despite the flexibility ceiling microphones provide, they present challenges that require careful consideration in order to optimize performance.

Leveraging the network for audio, video, and/or control signal transport to simplify installation and provide added flexibility provides great upside value. But it is also not without its own set of risks and responsibilities. As we move further away from our closed AV ecosystem and rely more on the client’s IT network, we forego control of our own destiny and the path to success becomes less clear. Working on the client network requires coordination, planning, and trusted relationships between the AV service provider, technology manager, and IT. This is especially true for high-bandwidth functions like video transport or control communication that are verbose or require specific security settings; requirements should be defined upfront and IT buy-in is a must. Additionally, the responsibility of commissioning and troubleshooting endpoints and configuring network switches requires proficiency that is not inherent in all AV service providers.

The user experience stands to be the most challenged by the need to support multi-use spaces. Although sensors can be used to identify room configurations and control systems can support varied modes of operation, the ability to provide an optimal user experience is jeopardized by the requirement of flexibility and adaptability. When systems are sole-purposed, the ability to design and program a simple, straightforward, and easy-to-operate user interface is much easier than when provisions need to be included to support multiple applications, modes of operation, and likely varying types of users and needs.

Typically, the tradeoff for flexibility is ease of use. Thus, it is important to understand that the best way to provide user-friendly operation is to manage system capabilities and requirements. It is easy to get caught in the lure of needing to accommodate any possible configuration or need from a single user interface. Despite the perceived value and security in knowing that the operation of the space can be truly maximized, the 80/20 rule can be a great reminder: 80 percent of the system use will likely come from 20 percent of its capability. Trying to support all of the possible needs and outcomes from a user operation standpoint will not only be detrimental to the user experience, it will also increase cost and likely have a negative impact on reliability. Ideally, user experience for a multipurpose space should provide the same comfort, simplicity, and ease of use as a single-purpose space.

All hope is not lost in the effort to maximize capability while maintaining usability. A few ways it can be done is by designing purposed-based user interfaces that support subsets of capabilities and operation. Either by defining “presets” for typical user applications or supporting the ability for a technology manager or support staff to configure the user interface for a specific use on a case-by-case basis, the simplicity of the system operation and optimization of the user experience will be maintained. This concept can be carried out through the use of backend configuration tools programmed into the control system that allow the user interface and operation to be adjusted by a “user,” rather than requiring a programmer.

As an industry, it is important to understand that we need to adapt to the changes in the workplace, so that we can continue to support the ways that our clients conduct their business. Understanding workflow is one important part. The other is getting to know the users better. We have to listen more closely to them and offer solutions that support the way they work and live, rather than trying to push them to adopt what we provide.

The changing workplace is a reality, and it is important that the AV industry demonstrates humility by listening to requests, responding to needs, sharing expertise, and responding to the changes that are being presented. Although the needs are changing, AV professionals possess the experience and expertise to satisfy the new requirements and offer value as long as we recognize the need to work with users hand in hand.

Steve Greenblatt, CTS, is president and founder of Control Concepts, a provider of specialized software and services for the audiovisual industry.

There are many important aspects you must keep in mind when beginning a major digital media installation. Hours are spent analyzing the best products to use and the right content management system to install, but the most important element has always been the user experience (UX).

Every element that goes into the install is chosen with that in mind. Will this placement be best to engage with the end user or consumer? Will this content grab the consumer’s attention? How can the user engage directly with the technology? With advancements in UX happening rapidly, it’s hard to keep up with all the different trends.

This Thursday—September 27—I will be discussing this exact topic at the SCN Think Tank in Jersey City. Here's a sneak preview of some of the trends you can expect to hear more about later this week.

Finding the right balance between content and technology can be tricky. A digital display is nothing without the right content to show off the display’s quality and engage with the user. So much focus is now being placed on creating the right content to fit the digital display network. A great example of this is at Westfield World Trade Center on the 4mm LED display in the East/West Concourse. The display measures 280 feet and visitors walk along aside it as they travel throughout the complex. At times you can see cars traveling down the canvas or people walking alongside the viewers, utilizing the canvases length to its advantage.

Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) are constant buzz words you hear throughout the industry. This technology is still more of a spectacle than part of the UX , but slowly you’ll start to see more and more instances of it as the tech improves. One day, you may be able to swipe up to visually browse plates of food you are interested in on a menu before you order or sit in a car you want to purchase and test drive it without ever visiting the lot.

Responsiveness is now expected of most technology. Everyone has a device in their pocket that allows them to do anything imaginable with the click of a few buttons. This same type of responsiveness is now becoming expected of digital signage technology. We see this successfully deployed in a variety of settings, like shopping malls and fast food restaurants, and I think the possibilities are continuing to grow. The key with this type of technology is speed. Without it, engagement is loss and distrust in the technology is something that is hard to overcome.

Want to continue the discussion on UX?

Don't miss the "What's Next for the UX?" discussion on September 27 at Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, NJ.

Register for free using code "SCNGuest" at https://www.scnthinktank.com.

Do you smell that? The smell of bonfires and pumpkin spice lattes are in the air. Fall is officially here and I am loving it. Autumn has always been my favorite season. Hoodies, hot chocolate, my birthday, and long walks on blustery days? Sign me up.

I am basking in my joy for fall. But then, the unthinkable happened, my friend told me she hated fall. I stopped dead in my tracks and I wish someone had recorded my reaction. What—who hates fall?!? I can honestly say I had never heard that before in my life. She spends an inordinate amount of time raking up leaves and cleaning them from her pool. “My dog thinks a team of navy seals is descending on my house every time an acorn plinks on the roof; there’s months of barking,” was her direct quote.

So…hmmmm…something that I loved and gave me so much joy was hated by someone else. And with good reason. I probably wouldn’t enjoy fall as much if it created a lot of extra work for me and made my beloved dog go mad.

It’s just like an AV install. One user may love the newest widget in the conference room; she finds it intuitive and appreciates that particular technology. The next user despises that very same widget; he thinks it’s difficult to operate and doesn’t like the way it connects with other devices in the room. One technology, two very different experiences, with the installer stuck somewhere in the middle.

Experiences are based on opinions and feelings—not facts. How do you create a positive experience without living in someone else’s head? Truthfully, I don’t know, and it’s probably not even possible. It’s an age-old conundrum that I’m certainly not going to solve in this letter. It’s something we’ll all have to ruminate on and come up with an answer. Until we do, I’m stuck in the middle with you.

Since its founding in 1925, Shure has been a staple in professional audio. The company is known for producing high-quality performance microphones and a variety of solutions that deliver a great audio experience—and the company ensures that quality is also applied to its business applications. To show off the latest products it has created for business meeting spaces, Shure set about creating a state-of-the-art demo facility that reflects the modern workplace.

“We wanted to establish a facility where anybody would be envious of the technology represented in our boardrooms and conference rooms,” said Rick Renner, director of professional audio, Shure.

The Shure Experience Center in the Chicago City Center is the result of that goal, a destination where visitors can experience Shure products and other collaboration tools within working rooms designed for the corporate enterprise.

So that Shure could demonstrate those solutions, AVI-SPL—number one onSCN's 2017 Top 50 integrators—was entrusted with integrating them on time and on budget, while making sure the result met all the needs of the project’s key stakeholders.

Exploring Solutions

The Shure Experience Center has two sides: one for its own personnel, including sales and marketing staff, and one for the guest experience. Those customers include architects, consultants, AV vendors, and the end users looking to evaluate Shure’s products in a working environment.

Visitors explore solutions within four areas—huddle room, conference room, boardroom, and training space—all of them based on Shure’s global standards. Staff and guests can hear the quality of Shure products and experience the collaborative solutions of trusted vendors like Cisco, Biamp, and Christie within meeting rooms that are highly automated and driven by control systems that make it easy to run those spaces for various uses.

Front and center are Shure’s audio products, including its Microflex microphones and IntelliMix P300 processor. The P300 has all the functionality for digital signal processing—including audio processing and echo cancelling for all room mics—in one compact unit that fits behind a display or below a table.

Cisco solutions are the basis for Shure’s unified communications platform. Throughout the center, participants can video conference and share content with remote and in-room participants. For BYOD collaboration sessions, they use the Christie Brio presentation system, which supports wireless sharing of content from laptops, tablets, and iPhones to the displays.

In the training room, where staff can learn about new products, Biamp Tesira handles the networked distribution of audio and video sources. Cisco video conferencing works in conjunction with camera tracking that responds to the audio of the Shure microphones to focus on speaking audience members.

Many of the solutions in these demo areas can also be found in the Hub, a versatile open space where staff and guests come together for informal meetings and functions. There, presenters can connect laptops to displays to present material, have open collaboration sessions, and host impromptu demos.

To complete these ambitious spaces in time for the center’s opening in early 2018, the AVI-SPL team was committed to open communication and long evenings and weekends. “They gave us daily and weekly updates, and they were often proactive in heading off issues that could arise,” said Dave Feldman, Shure AV engineering and IT executive. “They would do whatever it took to get the job done during that day.”

Rave Reviews

In the few months it’s been open, the Shure Experience Center has welcomed a variety of customers to see, hear, and test products in areas that reflect the spaces where they want to integrate audio and other collaborative solutions. Shure facilitates this discovery through demos for end users at the enterprise level as well as for those who would integrate or recommend products and systems. “We’ve had rave reviews from people that have come through,” said Renner.

Throughout these spaces, guests experience the differences among the Shure microphones, so they can see what makes sense in their environment. The Microflex Wireless, Microflex MXA910 ceiling arrays and MXA310 table arrays demonstrate their ability to pick up every speaker at a conference table and provide 360-degree coverage of the participants.

“They can come in with an idea of what they’re looking for, and we can show them how it’s going to perform within their space,” said Kevin Smith, Shure director of integrated systems.

As for the staff, they quickly took to their new home since the spaces are standardized on solutions used throughout Shure offices. “They were very comfortable and productive from day one,” added Feldman.

During the center’s opening ceremony, which was held in the Hub, the digital signage, presentation system, and overhead voice reinforcement blended seamlessly together. For the first three weeks of the Shure Experience Center’s opening, an onsite AVI-SPL tech assisted with training, helped kick-off meetings, and was available to troubleshoot any issues.

Through AVI-SPL, the property management firm, contractor, AV consultant, and its own team, Shure dedicated itself to ensuring that this new experience center would be a success. “The main thing that impressed me about working with AVI-SPL was their openness to ideas and understanding what our employees were comfortable with,” concluded Feldman. “Working with AVI-SPL was a true collaborative effort.”

As the AV industry moves from being product driven to experience driven, Systems Contractor News is going to release its first ever Who's Who of AV Experience Designers list. The self-submitted list of design firms will be published on avnetwork.com in October 2018.

"The SCN team is proud to publish this first-of-its-kind industry resource," said Megan A. Dutta, the magazine's content director. "Our hope is that this guide will further encourage the collaboration of consultants, end users, and integrators with AV experience design firms by making it easy for them to connect with one another."

Entries for the Who's Who of AV Experience Designers list are being accepted now through September 15. AV experience design firms can submit their free listing here: https://nbmedia.wufoo.com/forms/zgko1fj0qnooou/

• This summer, Mercedes Benz opened a pair of pop-up stores in high-end shopping malls in Miami and Chicago. These new stores—opened for a limited run of just two months—are designed to showcase some of Mercedes Benz’s newest models in a relaxed setting. Space constraints that limit the number of automobiles on display are offset by liberal use of technology to create an immersive, informative customer experience. BrightSign’s media players were used throughout the space, with design and technical consultation provided by Gorilla Production Group and Red Dot Digital Media.

“Limited square footage required that we think creatively about how to utilize the space as efficiently as possible—and that’s where digital signage offers a huge creative advantage,” said Paul George, president, Gorilla Production Group. “The video walls we installed function not just for the sake of information delivery, but as artistic focal points to draw-in customers and serve as striking backdrops to the cars on display.”

60 displays were carefully distributed in each of the Mercedes Benz stores, 16 of which create a traditional 4x4 video walls that display videos, vehicle specifications, and other anecdotal information about Mercedes Benz. The displays—32-, 43-, or 65-inch—are all from the LG SM5KD Series; the screens are hung with a custom wall mounting system designed by Gorilla Production Group,

The two other video walls are mounted on separate walls that join at a 90-degree angle where dozens of displays are tiled together in a mix of vertical and horizontal orientation, mounted at various depths to create a unique three-dimensional look. These video walls synchronize to create a single piece of art, displaying a mix of artistic photography and animated art, interlaced with Mercedes Benz branding. The remaining displays are wall-mounted horizontally in a casual seating area framed by leather couches.

BrightSign’s HD223 media players feed content to all 60 displays in each store, including 41 43-inch screens, 15 32-inch screens, and four 65-inch screens. BrightSign’s BrightWall feature within BrightAuthor was essential in creating and publishing content that synchronizes perfectly across all three video walls, according to the company.

“Creating three video walls in a relatively small space required that we space the individual displays just right, and that the content displayed perfectly on each screen to create the impact we desired,” said Darryl Kuder, president, Red Dot Digital Media. “BrightSign’s hardware and software works seamlessly and are essential to perfecting high-visibility projects like our latest collaboration with Mercedes Benz.”

TransAudio Group, a U.S. distributor of equipment for professional audio recording, announced its new Las Vegas-based in-house service department. The service will cover most of TransAudio Group’s major national and international manufacturers, including ATC Loudspeakers, Subwoofer Pros, Bettermaker, Daking, Drawmer and Tube-Tech. The TransAudio Service Department will remain true to the company’s longstanding mission by providing timely repairs of equipment at fair prices, regardless of whether the equipment is under warranty or not.

Veteran pro audio gear tech Tony Marra will serve as the chief technician for the new department, which is housed within the current TransAudio Group office and warehouse complex. Marra brings 45 years of experience working with audio and electronics to the department, including college electronics training and employment with Focusrite, Ted Nugent (live sound engineer and tech), Soundcraft, and Neve. Upon moving to Las Vegas 22 years ago, Marra started his own audio design and installation company for area recording studios and casinos. He repaired equipment between installation jobs and grew the business from a small home office to an entire repair facility servicing every major brand of top level manufacturers and dealers.

“We’re excited about the new TransAudio Service Department,” said Brad Lunde, TransAudio Group founder and president. “It is a crucial building block as our company continues to grow in ways that best serve our brands and gives our customers peace of mind. They know that we know how valuable their time is and how badly equipment repairs can wreck a schedule. Our goal is to expedite repairs and get our end-users up and running as quickly as possible. Plus, we thrilled to have a pro like Tony Marra heading up the service department.”

Key Digital has launched a new website and iAVC (Integrated Audio Video Control Professional) training content.

Key Digital’s new website has been designed to provide a user-friendly experience with improved navigation and functionality throughout allowing customers to easily access detailed product information and training content.

"Key Digital is excited to unveil our new website design which features a clean layout with simple and clear navigation buttons. We offered customer incentives for extensive evaluation of the previous website, and after gaining valuable feedback the site visitors will now find it easier to find the information they need for our ever-evolving product line, training materials, and Key Digital resources," said Masha Lakhter, vice president of marketing for Key Digital. “Keeping the user experience firmly in mind, the redesign will boost site users' satisfaction with the website and with our industry leading company.”

The new website includes extensive updates to product information to help customers master Key Digital’s complete range of audio visual and control system solutions. Product specifications, training content, and the press center work together to provide a detailed overview of the Key Digital ecosystem offerings across a range of markets, including corporate, bar & restaurant, digital signage, education, government, and house of worship applications.

Along with the updated website, Key Digital has now posted iAVC (Integrated Audio Video Control Professional), a new online training certification course. Dealers can create a user profile and view content to achieve the highest level expertise on the “when, why, and how” to integrate Key Digital’s products. iAVC is arranged by product category delving into product uses, primary applications, system design, features and benefits, and troubleshooting tools.

The new training modules were designed to be approximately 15 minutes long on average so that integrators can gain essential product knowledge without a superfluous investment of time. The expansion in formats and learning tools comes from extensive studies on delivering straightforward and succinct course content.

The Key Digital team will continue to examine measures to make every user experience a satisfying one.

I recently spent time at the Kimbell Art Museum and chanced upon Annibale Carracci’s “Butcher’s Shop”. It’s amazing in a gallery with the Old Masters to see a depiction of skilled butchers with clean white aprons, fiercely proud of the work they do, but not doing anything more than their daily routine. 400 years later, and Carracci and I still marvel at the beauty on display in their shop.

It’s the same devotion to the daily grind that makes AV an art form. The process of pulling wire, managing schedules, ordering equipment with bulk discounts, maintaining client relationships, and working together to exceed expectations is where the beauty and simple joy resides for us AV nerds. Our clean aprons are racks dressed well and flaunted on Twitter for all to see! The sharp knives these butchers used skillfully are the same as strippers, soldering irons, and Ohm’s Law—powerful in the hands of a skilled tradesman.

I would be awfully embarrassed if, in a few hundred years, folks looked back and saw that my work was lacking, just a little short of magnificent. The beauty comes from the details and from the men and women who strive for excellence, understanding the work they do impacts people on an individual level.

My vision is for our industry to look past low-cost solutions that are good enough, to train eager workers into skilled craftsmen, and to provide experiences that inspire the folks that take part in them. The way to do this is to focus on people over profits, and to think further out than what you will be a part of. I am raising my son as if he will own my company one day, because, if he does, I don’t want a spoiled brat at the reigns. So the moves we make with our employees, partners, and clients are all aligned with a goal to create lasting things of value. I guarantee that the butchers depicted didn’t do just enough to get by—that’s not how you get remembered by Italian masters!

By providing value above cost and protecting the relationship with key clients and partners integrators can create a brand that transcends individual projects—and that is how you make a masterpiece!

Radial Engineering announced the launch of its new website, www.radialeng.com. The site has several features that improve user experience while maintaining the information rich content that Radial users have come to expect and rely upon.

Users of the site will see a streamlined and simplified look which, combined with robust back-end features, will better serve the user and make it easier to find what they are looking for. The site is also optimized to be responsive to all devices—whether accessed by phone, tablet or laptop, users will all enjoy the same upgraded experience.

“Personas” on the home page include: Acoustic, Electric, Bass, Keyboard, Pro Audio and Recording. Once a persona is selected, all of the applicable products are revealed. A “quick view” of each product allows users to glean product features before choosing to dive deeper into the associated information. This will be particularly helpful for Radial dealers and media who are seeking part numbers, high resolution images, and other resources. A convenient search feature with an auto complete makes it easy to immediately find products.

An improved artist section features individual artist profile pages, which includes quotes, videos, photos, and a list of owned Radial gear.

Finally, Radial's award winning Tonebone line, which previously had its own website, has now been integrated in the Radial website. Products are color coded red for Radial and blue for Tonebone.

Yorktel announced that Mike Brandofino has joined the company as chief operations officer (COO), overseeing global operations for the organization. Brandofino has over 20 years of industry experience, having held executive positions with leading audio/video communications and unified communications companies. As Yorktel’s COO, he will drive efforts to expand and enhance Yorktel’s service offerings, improve operational efficiency and increase overall customer satisfaction.

Brandofino is the most recent addition to Yorktel’s C-suite, joining Ken Scaturro, who was appointed as Chief Revenue Officer earlier this year. Both appointments reflect Yorktel’s commitment to delivering industry-leading service, support and counsel to the company’s diverse and growing customer base. As COO, Brandofino will be responsible for global operations, which comprises integration delivery, managed services, maintenance help desk services, staff augmentation / on-site staffing, and media services.

“We are proud to have Mike officially join the team as Chief Operations Officer,” said Ron Gaboury, CEO of Yorktel. “Mike is a proven, well-respected leader who is eminently qualified to oversee operations during this exciting and critical phase of expansion and growth.”

Brandofino brings to the role of COO an extensive level of expertise in the services and UC industries, serving as CEO for Glowpoint, and executive committee member, as well as EVP at AVI-SPL. Immediately prior to accepting the COO position, he served as CEO and managing partner of Department 60, a consulting service Brandofino established to help companies who lack the executive level experience to foster change in their organizations.

Yorktel has been very active in expanding its reach and service portfolio with three global acquisitions in the past six years and investments in new business segments, most notably with the launch of its Univago Healthcare Edition (Univago HE) telehealth platform to capture the growing Healthcare segment. This has resulted in the company’s strategic account sales, enterprise sales and strategic alliance divisions realizing considerable success through organic growth with the addition of numerous new accounts.

When discussing VR, thoughts often conjure up images of people wearing VR headsets or perhaps, for the more knowledgeable on the subject – a VR CAVE (Cave Automatic Virtual Environment).

But hidden away in an unassuming and unremarkable looking former TV studio on the outskirts of Lille, France – VR takes a new form.

“We believe this is the most immersive example of VR ever built,” proudly proclaimed Yann Coello, director of the SCALab laboratory (Science Cognitive Et Sciences Affectives) at the University, and coordinator of the Equipex IrDIVE investment program.

Designed, built and installed by Antycip Simulation – a French integrator of virtual reality solutions and 3D immersive rooms – The Open Reality Experience (or TORE as it’s more commonly known) marks a technological leap forward to existing flat-sided, walled VR CAVEs.

Capable of housing up to 20 people, TORE – which cost €2.5 million to build – uses a half sphere shaped painted acrylic screen (creating a room within a room) to provide a 180-degree view display with no visible walls or edges, thus removing any sense of depth and height once inside.

“The opportunities are enormous and the possibilities incredibly exciting”

Measuring four metres high by eight metres wide, the screen is eight metres deep. The projection surface is made of eight 30mm thick curved acrylic elements and two flat ones. These had to be delivered on site before being assembled using liquid acrylic; once the material cooled down, the structure was sanded to obtain an even projection surface. The team at Antycip Simulation had to design specific tools in order to assemble the elements. Different coatings were then tested before opting for the one that would offer the best visual performance. The painting process took two weeks to complete.

World without boundaries

Powered by 20 Christie Tri-DLP projectors (placed out of view behind), and using custom-made mapping/warping software (called myIG), the sphere is designed to create an immersive realistic 3D environment to walk around in.

In fact, Antycip claims it’s so realistic, they’ve had to put measures in place to ensure people don’t physically walk into the walls, with the image blurring or disappearing if they get too close.

“TORE represents a major scientific breakthrough for both scientists and technologists, enabling them to benefit from a totally innovative visualisation space that goes beyond the capacities of an immersive CAVE,” gushed Coello who’s been part of TORE since funding was granted in 2012.

“It really does set itself apart from any other CAVE, annihilating the visual disruption caused by cubic shapes. A traditional VR cave would have a front, sides and sometimes a top and bottom. In these environments, the content is not always fluid because you have different sharp angles that break the feeling of immersion. With TORE there are no break in the vision and there is no other structure like this in the world.”

Seeing is believing

To get a clearer understanding, AVTE was invited to test it out for ourselves, with the firm offering three different user cases by example.

But before entering the half sphere – there were two things required by way of preparation.

Firstly, due to the importance of keeping the acrylic CAVE in tip-top shape and the VR illusion unhindered, all those that step onto its surface must wear a set of slippers.

Secondly, and most crucially, users must don a pair of 3D glasses – comparable to those you wear when viewing a 3D movie at the cinema or at home. But, as you can see from the images, these are no ordinary 3D cinema glasses. Equipped with infrared sensors (see picture), these communicate directly with TORE’s tracking system (hidden), which follows the individual’s every movement, including where they happen to be looking, adjusting the image viewed accordingly.

"The glasses decrease visual fatigue, and more readily reinforces the immersion in the virtual world being projected"

VR without the headache

The glasses, so says Yann, provide significant benefits over VR headsets, removing eyestrain, allowing for longer usage, and improving balance due to the wearer being able to see their own body.

“The glasses decrease visual fatigue, and more readily reinforces the immersion in the virtual world being projected,” Yann explained. “After 10 minutes wearing a VR helmet or goggles, it can cause you some problems.

“The main difference with TORE is that you are physically embedded into the scene. So, it’s your body in the scene. When you wear a helmet you cannot see yourself, only the visual scene. Here it all feels real. There’s no feeling of claustrophobia and no feeling that you could be about to trip over something.”

Down to a fine art

With my slippers (forcing me to shuffle around like a moody school child) and glasses on, I stepped into TORE and was immediately transported back in time to 18th century Paris.

The location was Pont Notre-Dame, the most famous formely inhabited bridge in the history of Paris.

Today, the bridge is an empty open space providing pedestrians and vehicles with scenic 360-degree views of the river Seine and surrounding areas – including Notre-Dame cathedral. Back then however, the bridge (think Florence today) was lined with 60 or more buildings and a hive of activity. One of those buildings was (is) engrained in Parisian history – a tiny art boutique called Au Grand Monarque (later A la Pagode), occupied by Parisian art trader Edmé-François Gersaint.

“Careful where you walk,” someone shouted from behind me. “They didn’t have toilets back then”

Despite being demolished by 1788, a multidisciplinary team of scientists specialised in computer and historical sciences and 3D computer graphics professionals were able to bring the boutique back to life digitally for people (such as historians) to view, walk around and experience for themselves today.

“It was rebuilt using a 3D scanner,” explained Yann. “We have taken a lot of different examples from various different pieces of art and literature. It’s exactly how it was at the time, with real images of the pictures on the wall and the size and design of the building.”

Mixed reality

Being a digital recreation, the experience of walking around the boutique was a surreal one – like being absorbed into a computer game or animated film (think Mary Poppins or Tron). But that’s not a criticism.

The objective of being truly immersed was achieved instantly – with no visual boundaries to be seen and a real sense of space and freedom.

The tracking system worked with minimal (if any) latency, ensuring that views will always remain clear and adjusted accordingly.

From there, the setting was changed by a watching technician, sending me out into the street to give me a full view of the boutique from the bridge, whilst also taking in the sights of the surrounding areas.

“Careful where you walk,” someone shouted from behind me. “They didn’t have toilets back then.” I checked, but it was all clear – perhaps something to add in the future? Perhaps not.

A room with a view

The second of the three-user case demonstrations transported me to a room inside the Château de Selles in Cambrai, which was once used as a prison and not accessible to the public.

Unlike the boutique, the visuals creating the room were put together using a 3D camera scanner. The small room provides the opportunity to walk around as if you were there; crouching down to view different carvings and marks created by prisoners during the era it was used.

“It’s all real content, so you are seeing what’s actually there,” said Yann. “For many this would be the only opportunity to experience, view and study this room.”

The third and final room, reverting back to digital again, was a garage holding a Ferrari. This scenario provides the ability to explore the car with great detail, viewing from every angle possible. The 3D effects were so real you could almost feel the car. I even repeatedly moved my head to avoid banging it on an overhead light.

Business case

All three examples are designed to demonstrate just some of the business cases the project can provide.

In total, the project has received €17m in funding as part of a ten-year plan (see box out). Antycip is aiming to have the business commercially operational (and viable) within the next couple of years and is already in discussions with prospective clients.

Its main area of focus includes academic research (computer science, historical science and social science), but the company believes there are some big opportunities for businesses and governments when it comes to design.

This is an expensive toy and needs to be monetised

“This is an expensive toy and needs to be monetised,” said Olivier Colot, CRIStAL laboratory director.

“The idea is to try and emulate some of the ideas with brands. It could be architecture, it could be automotive, oil and gas, telecoms, energy – you name it. The idea would be to bring some funding from projects.

He continued: “If you’re an architect, you can use TORE to make sure the design, the space the lighting – everything is perfect. Perhaps you’re a car manufacturer and you want to test out a new design, so you allow consumers to take a look and sit inside first. It’s basically a decision-making tool. If Audi for example wants to have a new door and they want to make sure it slams correctly, they can test it in a VR setting first.

“On a bigger scale, if you’re the mayor of a city, you could look at and test out different examples of designs – bringing in people involved with the building of cities, politicians and people within public transportation.

“The opportunities are enormous and the possibilities incredibly exciting.”

What’s next?

With audio already possible, adding to the experiences (although not demonstrated on our visit) the next phase of the project will be in the form of interaction during the VR experience. This would provide feedback and the sensation of touching something physically.

“We’re not there yet, but that’s the goal going forward,” said Yann, concluding the tour.

With more than 100 researchers and companies all occupying its head office, all focused on advancing gaming, AV, VR and AR technology, it may not be too long before VR again takes another important step forward.

Quick Bio

Name: George Stromeyer

Title: Senior Vice President, Enterprise Divisions

Company: Barco

SCN: What is your position, and what does it entail? What are your responsibilities?

George Stromeyer: I lead the Enterprise Division at Barco, and our team commercializes networked visualization technology integrated into smart workflows for applications across the enterprise. Our solutions create unique experiences that solve the productivity and knowledge-sharing challenges we all have in the professional or education domains.

My biggest responsibilities are threefold: assuring a continuously evolving business strategy in response to industry demands, building a great leadership team, and setting financial direction so that our investment dollars make an impact across our global footprint.

SCN: How long have you been at this position?

GS: I joined Barco 27 months ago, but who’s counting?

SCN: How has your background prepared you for your role?

GS: Barco recognized the opportunity to assemble several diverse businesses into one division to address the needs of the modern enterprise. Increasingly, we see companies making centralized decisions favoring integrated solutions delivered through consistent, high-quality customer journeys. To take on this challenge, Barco looked outside for someone with modern enterprise technology and commercial experience. My years with Cisco, Scientific Atlanta, and Raychem gave me this knowledge base and diversity across several industries.

In addition, I brought an extensive international experience (including seven years in Belgium) while also being resident in Silicon Valley, where Barco hopes to benefit from more ideas, unique talent, and business relationships. On some days, I am also a nice guy….

SCN: What are your short- and long-term goals?

GS: I am very pleased that, after two years, the business is healthy and growing, and I’ve worked hard to assure that every key position on the global team is filled with the right talent. Now we are focused on three objectives: predictably delivering exciting innovation, wrapping a perfect customer and partner journey around those technologies, and building out an enterprise-level commercialization engine working together with our partners worldwide.

Long term, we have this breathlessly attractive opportunity to solve big problems for a very large market that already recognizes our brand and reliability as a supplier. We have a bigger goal to consistently bring innovative experiences that incorporate a Barco-better-together value into the AV ecosystem; our partnerships at every level are extremely critical to our success. I am excited about what we are doing in the market already today, and we are extremely ambitious about where we can go.

SCN: What is the greatest challenge that you face?

GS: Like in many businesses, the challenge is internal. In some ways, we feel fortunate that there are no market, technology, or resource challenges beyond the normal constraints that every business faces.

Anticipating the customer needs, riding the right trends, selecting partners who share our vision, and consistently executing in a timely manner on a global scale: these are more than enough to keep us productively happy and challenged.

SCN: Where do you see the AV market heading?

GS: The good news is that the roles of our eyes and ears are not going away—the need for the most effective way to leverage these critical senses into our workflows is becoming more important in the accelerated world of information sharing and faster decision making. We all thrive on great sensory experiences when they seamlessly support what our minds want to do. The AV industry can not only solve the problem, but can do so in a way that professionals and students emotionally connect with—greatly increasing their engagement. So, I see the AV industry evolving to become central to the workflow that happens in classrooms, meeting rooms, control rooms, experience centers, and so on.

SCN: Are there new initiatives we are likely to see from Barco?

GS: We are well on our way in making the transition from a strong hardware company with embedded software to a hardware + software + services business that delivers “bright outcomes.” In short, we are leveraging the world of digital, cloud, IoT, AI, etc. to deliver smarter and faster experiences in a variety of business models. This is no small challenge. Look for changes in the way users interact with and consume our offers to streamline workflows and collapse learning curves.

SCN: How can systems contractors better position themselves to profit from products and/or services you have to offer?

GS: We truly view these relationships as partnerships. First, they should know we are stepping up our game to ease their journey with us across every touchpoint they have with Barco. Leverage this commitment and ask us for what you need to be successful. In return, invest in getting to know us and our products. Much too often I hear, “I did not know you could do that.”

Secondly, integrators should invest time in understanding the total cost of ownership (TCO) with our offers, for both themselves and their customers. Long-term customer satisfaction, business growth, and improved profitability only result when lowest TCO is achieved while uniquely solving the customer’s problems. I’m proud to say, we do that better than most.

Quick Bio

Name: John Murphy

Position: Global Chief Marketing Officer

Company: AVI-SPL

SCN: How long have you been working as Global COO at AVI-SPL and how has your background prepared you for your role?

John Murphy: I joined in June of 2017. My background was incredibly helpful in advance of my transition into the professional audiovisual industry. I spent about 16 years at Johnson Controls, and was responsible for the global building controls business. While the technology scope was different, both AVI-SPL and Johnson Controls have similar models, which made for a smooth transition. Immediately prior to AVI-SPL, I worked with enterprise clients, and at least once a week, I would have a discussion with a client who was wrestling with some workplace collaboration problem; they always wanted to know how to connect offices around the world so their global workplaces could collaborate efficiently. The benefit of this conundrum is that I’ve seen the collaboration problems we’re solving for our clients through the eyes of our client.

SCN: One of the components of AVI-SPL’s vision statement is to create meaningful experiences. How are you doing that both internally and externally?

JM: Our staff is geographically diverse, but our people have a firm understanding of our core values, our expectations of excellence, and we’re all here to deliver superior experiences for our customers. We have outstanding regional leadership who cascade the culture and core values across the board—events, like our Sales Acceleration Summit in March, ensure everyone is aligned and moving forward with the same mission directive.

In terms of customers, whether it’s one office or a hundred offices around the world across different verticals, there’s actually a lot of commonality when it comes to what they’re looking for. They want the assurance of working with a partner who has listened intently to what their needs are. The implication for us is having really proficient sales and design engineers in our organization who work with our customers consistently across offices.

Having excellent products based on the end user’s needs is also important. We want to make sure we have the most compelling solution portfolio, whether it’s an integration project or the services that we offer after the install is done.

Those are the three key ingredients in the recipe for success that we talk about: great products, great people, and a product/service delivery engine that is consistent and efficient, and focused on delivering great client outcomes.

SCN: Another one of AVI-SPL’s focuses is unparalleled support. What does that mean to you?

JM: It’s being able to ask the right questions to get to the heart of what the customer is trying to accomplish, what business outcome they’re expecting, and then bringing them the right AVI-SPL solutions and services. It’s a journey and it’s different for everybody.

You can’t lead with technology. You need to uncover the problem. However, to have that conversation is pretty foreign to our industry at this point, but it’s not foreign to our employees. We provide continuous reinforcement to help them evolve and ensure they’re asking the right kinds of questions.

We’re leveraging training to continue to develop the way that we go about our day. We have a program called Sales Foundations; it focuses on the sales motions they need to do every day to be better at accomplishing those new initiatives. We need to have tremendous insights into the performance of the equipment of the systems that we design, install, and maintain.

SCN: They say getting to the top is easy but staying there is hard. What are some non-classified things AVI-SPL does to stay at the top of SCN’s Top 50 integrators list?

JM: We have a never-satisfied kind of culture—we are always focused on continuous improvement and getting better. As we’ve all seen in this industry, customers’ needs today will be dramatically different than they will be in a year from now.

When we wake up every morning, we get excited about solving our customers’ needs for today. But what really excites us is being an incredible partner and resource for our clients so they can understand the art of the possible and be a part of the process of moving innovation forward. Our work is never finished. We’re always focused on trying to get better and stronger.

SCN: AVI-SPL’s preferred partner program is really important to you. How do you ensure continual engagement with manufacturers?

JM: As a leader in this industry, we naturally get a lot of attention from manufacturers. We want our manufacturers to view us as a fantastic partner to help them understand the needs of the marketplace. We’re providing them access to direct feedback from end customers about the performance of their equipment, and we hope they can then use those insights to help form product development strategies for future generations of technologies. It’s a win-win for both our preferred partners and us—we all gain tremendous business intelligence when it comes to continual improvement.

Then we need to make sure we have a very flexible and responsive supply chain so that we can replace those items when needed—even before they have problems, just when we anticipate they could have an issue. When an item does have some kind of performance problem, we need to ensure we have great responsiveness from our partners to get that item replaced. It’s really that simple.

At the Society of Experiential Graphic Design (SEGD)’s Branded Environments during the Digital Signage Expo (DSE) in Las Vegas, NV, Justin Wood of Dimensional Innovations discussed extending the brand experience in sports.

Here’s quick recap of his thoughts, broken down into four different categories one should consider with the audiovisual user experience (UX).

1. Experiential

“The days of sponsors being okay with that [just a logo] as their brand recognition—those days are over,” Wood said. “They need to be experiential. Whatever we do in the space needs to support the brand, it needs to support the team, and ideally, they’re in really, really close alignment.” Experiences need to have a wow factor so people stop and spend time there, which brings values to the fans and the sponsoring company.

As an example, he pointed to the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team, and credits the success of their sponsorship program to the alignment of the company’s sales team in putting the right brand sponsors with the right activation. For example, aligning the Blue Cross Blue Shield with the Kids’ Zone when the company had “really deep roots” with amateur hockey leagues in the area, or connecting their hall of fame with a media conglomerate that was able to help with hall of fame members.

“Everything was in alignment, everything made sense,” he said. “Nobody ever had a head-scratcher like ‘Why was that brand here in this space, or vice versa?’”

2. Physical

“We like to think that our stuff is the most important, but it’s absolutely not the most important,” Wood said. “The most important thing is the fans find their seats, they can find restroom, they can get to the concessions—the kinds of things that are the basic level of fan experience, and our stuff shouldn’t impede that.”

Wood advised attendees to ensure the AV UX is being additive and not a distraction. “We’ve all seen experiences out there that are a distraction. They become a visual noise along and on top of the signage, the wayfinding, the concessions, the other stuff that happens in the space, and all of the sudden it becomes this visual noise that we can’t get through.”

3. Visual

The goal of the project should be to make an entire area work together as one holistic system instead of a series of random sponsor activations. For Wood, the design process has to include a constant balance ensuring “the architecture, the design, and the sponsorship spaces all sing together.” For example, wayfinding, lighting, and artwork need to work in concert with the concession and retail design.

4. Sponsorship

Sponsorship can be the trickiest part of designing the experience. Some people have worked on similar projects and have a strong vision, while others haven’t done a major activation and don’t even know where to begin—and there’s often a steep learning curve, even with a brand-savvy company.

Wood frequently has to remind sponsors that “their space is not going to keep this stadium from opening, so you got to stay on path, got to stay on target.” Hitting those deadlines is crucial.

“The design process is a very iterative process to help them make sure we’re hitting all of the goals but also make sure we’re staying within budget, and can actually build what we’re going to build,” Wood said.