The year of the #AVSelfie - My Infocomm 2014 Tech Recap

#AVSELFIE!

Infocomm 2014 will always be known to me as the year of the #AVSELFIE. (That was probably the most exciting thing unveiled) If any of you reading this don't know what it is all about, it's not the hokey pokey! Crawl out from under the rock you've been hiding and read this: http://avshout.com/what-is-an-avselfie-and-how-do-i-use-it-at-infocomm14/

Anyway, the #avselfie thing was so much fun, AND I did get some real work done at the show. This was my first time as an attendee, and boy were my feet NOT TIRED! I'll tell you, it is much less work attending vs. exhibiting. (and I got to wear my most comfy shoes - checkered vans in case you were wondering) ;-)

As a Sales Executive for Synergy CT (www.synergyct.com) they allowed me to attend the show, and I am so grateful! I ended up not taking any classes, but maybe will try that next year. I spent a little time in the audio demo rooms. (Wow I have a new appreciation for live sound) I planned out each day to hit all my fave manufactures, and explore new technologies as well. I officially got about 30 booth tours. I didn't see anything super duper world changing, but here are the top five technologies I saw that I could actually sell to my clients. (in no particular order)

1.) wePresent http://www.wepresentwifi.com/ 
The President/CEO Cory Cannon gave the demo in their small 10x15 booth, and it blew me away! In short, this is a competing product to Crestron AirMedia. Their tag line, "wePresent is a 1080p HD wireless interactive presentation system that allows a group of up to 64 users to take turns wirelessly presenting from their Windows/Mac computer, smartphone or tablet to any display." What I loved about it was the super user friendly GUI and the built-in windowing. Also, the price point is SPOT ON! I've already requested a demo unit and hope to play with it up against other similar products.

2.) MiSEAT http://www.miseat.net/
The President/CEO Ron Carlson gave the demo on this collaborative customizable table at NEC's booth. I was impressed that he emailed me the night after I met him with info on MiSeat. Basically, it is a table with keyboard, mouse, and NFC built in. The table top is a sort of plastic/glass which can be printed to look like wood, granite, other surfaces, custom graphics, etc. You can even project on it! The surface is spill proof, scratch, and impact resistant. The top can also be customized to hold whatever table microphones, and the legs have built in access and space for equipment/cabling. Would be a great huddle space table!

3.) StarLeaf http://www.starleaf.com/
I toured the booth and was also invited to the Visitec/StarLeaf party after hours. I can't say enough good things about this solution. My company has been evaluating several cloud based providers in this space, and I think we've found a winner! StarLeaf has Cloud based infrastructure as a service.  They also have traditional hardware codecs, but soft codecs, as well.  Unlike others they have unlimited point to point calling. It is SO cost effective and extremely user friendly, yet it is built for business. (Firewall traversal, interoperability, full 1080p video with content sharing, uses port 443, so it is secure.) It is an amazing solution, and competes head to head with the big players like Cisco/Polycom. I love the back story of this company. The officers are the original owners of Codian, so they know infrastructure, and they aren't backed by venture capitalist. They truly care about changing the industry and bringing video every where. These guys will change the game as we know it!

4.)Evoko Minto http://www.evoko.se/products/evoko-minto/
I was intrigued by this microphone speaker combo. First of all it is beautiful! It is definitely aesthetically pleasing. The LED indicators make it easy to use. (Purple for charging, blue for blue-tooth connection, red for mute, green for go!) There are verbal indications as well, and with a swipe of the hand you can mute the 4 directive microphones, which supposedly can cover about 20 people over 32 feet. Battery powered for 8 hours, this little gem could fit in great in smaller collaboration rooms where table space is a must! I've requested a demo to test out the audio quality.


5.) Crestron http://www.crestron.com/resources/product_and_programming_resources/catalogs_and_brochures/online_catalog/default.asp?jump=1&model=TST-902
Crestron was all about 4K, and why shouldn't they be? They really have led the way with digital switching, and 4K is the next frontier. I completely trust them as the "pathway" to 4K, BUT you wanna know what my favorite thing was at their booth? THE NEW AND IMPROVED WIRELESS TOUCH PANEL. I can't tell you how happy I am that they improved the batteries. From their site, the new TST-902 touts, "a large-capacity, user-replaceable Li-Ion battery pack to enable several hours of continuous operation and several days of typical use between charges. Intelligent power management and Lithium ion battery technology afford a perfect balance of long battery life, light weight, and compact size." It even has voice recognition to boot! I can't wait to try it out at my next client install.

Check back on my blog, and I might do a follow up after I've testing out some of these sell-able technologies I saw at the show. For me Infocomm 2014 was the best Infocomm I've ever attended! Maybe it was a bit bland on the "wiz bang new big thing" frontier, but it was my first chance to experience it in a different way, and I loved it as an integrator. It was so awesome to meet some really cool #avtweeps, and the #avselfie just took it all to another level of fun! Can't wait for Infocomm 2015!!

Infocomm 2014!

 
Is anyone else excited for Infocomm 2014? Am I a total nerd for being excited? I’ve been to 8 or 9 Infocomm’s in my life. (lost count) Every single one of them I was stuck in a booth working for a manufacture. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always had a love hate relationship with Infocomm. Hate setup – Love showing off our newest stuff. Love seeing long lost friends from Infocomm's before, hate hurting feet. Hate Vegas, Love Orlando: (Or is it the other way around?) Anyway, this will be my first Infocomm attending as an integrator. *THAT* is why I’m excited.

I’m excited to possibly be the client at the dinner. I’m excited to walk the floor, for more than 5 seconds on the way to the bathroom. I’m excited to go to classes!! I have my whole trip planned out. I’m having to miss the first day, but I have 2 days of Infocomm to live it up.

Day 1 – Thursday

Sessions/Training

Thur 8:00 AM - 10:00 AM        AV Connectivity in an Information Technology World

Thur 10:30am – 12:00PM        INTRIGUE: Create Interest and Win Buy-In From Decision Makers

Thur 12:00pm – 2pm                 State of Collaboration Tools Lunch and Learn: What do we have,   what do we need, how is it working

Thur 2:30 PM - 4:30 PM            Unified Collaboration-The Next Big Opportunity or Market Disruptor?

PHEW! I’m tired just thinking about Thursday June 19^th. Anyone else taking any of these classes? I had a hard time choosing. I really wanted to take some audio classes, but I had to maximize the information I was getting for my specific role. I am in sales. As much as I feel I need to learn more about audio, I do have really amazing engineers at Synergy that take care of the design details.

Day 2 – Friday

Show Floor Walking – I will be wearing the most COMFY shoes I own for once!

Fri 9am Crestron Booth

Fri 10am Microsoft Booth I want to fully understand why they are at Infocomm. I think they are pushing Lync and a wireless networking solution. I want to hone in on UC/collaboration, mobile UC/BYOD.

Stewart Filmscreen Booth

Pointmaker booth

Everything else in between!

Vendor Gatherings/Night events

I’d really like to go to the Crestron party, but I don’t have a pass….yet…working on it!

I bet there is a Drunk Uncles (band) night and I’d like to go to that!

Anything else going on that’s fun? Feel free to comment! See ya’ll soon at Infocomm 2014! Let’s make it a year to remember!

Tech support!

I served in technical support exclusively for 5 years straight. I still give tech support to this day, and even as National Sales Manager at Boeckeler I'd take tech calls. It is definitely a 2-way street. There's the tech support giver and the tech support receiver. I've read a couple other blogs about being on the receiving end of nightmare/bad technical support, but I'd like to share a view from the tech support giver side. I've discovered a handful of constants throughout the years about giving technical support.

Here are my top 5:

1.) "I need to speak to an engineer" - I used to answer the incoming lines some times when I was in my tech support role, so I was the first person most guys would hear on the phone. I'm female, and have a young sounding voice, so guy says, "Uhh tech support please." Me, "Oh okay I can help you." Him, "Oh no I really need to speak to an engineer or a technical person." Me, "Umm yup I can help you. What's the issue?" Once we got past that it was usually smooth sailing, but I just thought it was funny how many times that happened. A very few times they just refused to speak with me at all without even giving me a chance. That was when I'd pass them to my Director of Engineering, and he'd pass them back to me, "Oh you really should be talking to Victoria" haha

2.) The Scientific Method - Ahh the scientific method. I think we all probably learned it around the 6th grade. You have a question. An issue in the field. We come up with a hypothesis. A guess at what could be causing the problem. Then we test that hypothesis with a variable. If you change multiple variables you'll never find out the answer to the question - WHY! Why is the problem is happening? I don't understand how some people do not get this. When trouble-shooting you must apply the scientific method! I know, I know, sometimes they have a consultant breathing down their neck, or an end user screaming. You just need it to work! I get it! Although, in order to solve the problem permanently, we have to know why it is happening. Sometimes it takes jumping through some hoops to figure it out. Back tracking, or removing points from the flow is not always the fastest way, but it usually the surest way to fix the problem and fix it for good. The only way to truly figure out the WHY is to apply the scientific method, one variable at a time...

3.)  "I didn't press that button" - Are you sure, because that is the only possible way your equipment could be in that status. Some people just don't listen. "Please remove the power cord from the back of the unit." CLICK. "Ok the unit is off." "Did you just switch the power button on the front?" "Yea." "OKAY r-e-m-o-v-e  t-h-e  p-o-w-e-r  c-o-r-d" Maybe I have to talk slower.

4.)  "Can you hear me now?" - There's one guy in a deep dark basement, behind a rack, in another room from the main displays, and on a cell phone....Need I say more?!

5.) "What's a ground loop?" - Believe it or not I've had this question a number of times. Believe it or not ground loops can cause some crazy stuff to happen more than just buzz and hums.

As I saw these and other things over and over, it gave me small insight into human nature, and ultimately, it was a very rewarding role for me. You have this guy who is an "expert" in his field. He has come to stopping point in his job. He is frustrated. He maybe has read a datasheet or flipped thru the manual. Something just isn't right. He has tried everything he can think of, so he picks up the phone. He is now relying on me to fix his problem. I was a young whipper-snapper answering these calls and helping these guys out in the field, in the trenches, on the front line. I liked being in that role where they needed me, and I didn't get off the phone until the problem was resolved, whether it was my equipment causing the issue or not. My goal was to always have the call end with them saying, "Thank you so much! You were so helpful! We got it fixed!"

What have been your experiences on the tech support giver or receiver side?