Yet another InfoComm 2025 is in the books, and what a successful one it was. Typically, SCN's director of content, Mark J. Pescatore, has his trade show takeaways, but five days in Orlando provided plenty of food for thought.
While Mark's thoughts are sure to come later this week, I thought I'd share a little bit about what we saw on the show floor.
It's Alive! Attendees Come Out in Record Numbers
Tariffs were a looming uncertainty heading into InfoComm 2025 week, but it didn't slow down end users and new attendees from swarming to Orlando. There were 817 exhibitors, just a hair down from last year's 833, but the visitors kept pouring in—just check out some of these numbers:
- The show set a record for end-user attendance, representing 35% of verified attendees.
- A total of 30,998 verified attendees—slightly up from last year's 30,271 from—97 countries.
- International attendance made up 18%, showing the importance of the U.S.'s Pro AV showcase.
Convergence Is Everywhere
The convergence of the broadcast vertical into the Pro AV world was on full display earlier this year at NAB Show 2025. Trends and standards, like AVoIP and broadcast-quality cameras, continued to blur those lines at InfoComm 2025.
[Pescatore from NAB Show: Tariffs, Convergence, and the AI Killer App?]
But that convergence is also seeping over into the residential market. If you visited the Crestron booth, you saw this to be true, as its AVoIP solutions were displayed powering a sports bar, conference room, and yes, even home systems with the 'Content. Collaboration. Control.' theme from the week. You'll see these same ideas with ADI | Snap One and even some of the booths, like Chief and B Tech, which specialize in mounts.
Over AI? Too Bad... It's Everywhere
It has been the talk of trade shows for well over a year. Whether you were at ISE, NAB Show, last year's InfoComm, or heck, even your local car dealership, you are certainly getting overwhelmed with all the AI talk. However, this year at InfoComm, instead of showing off new AI-enabled tools (which almost everyone did), there was less talk of the what, and much more focus on the how and why.
Remember that broadcast and Pro AV convergence? One of the many panels from the week in Orlando focused on AI in the production process, exploring not only how pros are using it—but do they trust it to get the job done? There were an endless number of panels with some of Pro AV's brightest and most knowledgeable thought leaders diving into AV in the workplace, and not just the AI tools available for productivity, but how to use them.
The bottom line is that AI is now the expectation. You should expect many of the devices and solutions used in today's installation to be equipped with AI, whether it is directly in the unit or accessible via app. The important conversation that can no longer be ignored is how we can truly harness these tools and push forward for a more efficient and easy-to-use Pro AV industry.
Show Stopping Displays
If you are a frequent reader of SCN or the AV Network, you know we love immersive displays that bring you right into the action. I mean, seriously, if trade shows beat AI into the ground, I admittedly will write an article about any 3D display simply because it is fun and 'cool.'
I say all that because I think the LED or dvLED or invisible screens from the show floor are still the most underrated trend that isn't talked about enough. It is amazing what these things can do in a confined unit or how easy it is to expand them into massive, shiny, swirly things hanging from the ceiling (I'm looking at you, Planar and PixelFLEX).
Simply put, you may be there exploring options for your next house-of-worship or classroom install, but with some of these setups (like that video wall at ROE) you are simply drawn in to take a look around and sometimes, even get interactive with the display!
