Podcast appearances and mentions of avi systems

The 16:9 PODCAST IS SPONSORED BY SCREENFEED – DIGITAL SIGNAGE CONTENT LED video wall technology is now so pervasive, and there are soooo many vendors, that it is increasingly hard for manufacturers to differentiate and compete. That's compounded by a lot of manufacturers selling on specs like pixel pitch, and the form factor of their products. Very few, however, spend much if any time talking about the why and what of video wall projects - as in why is this project being considered, what's it for, and also what's going to be on the screen when it gets plugged in. So I was intrigued when I was in touch with Chanan Averbuch, a South Florida LED industry vet. I learned he'd left his longtime executive sales gig with an LED display vendor to join a spinout that makes premium LED displays, but leads with creative. The company is called Blue Square X - with the X being short for experience. While most manufacturers just make the stuff, and ship it to integrators, Blue Square plans to bridge a couple of gaps - acting as consultants and producing creative for digital experiences ... with integrator partners doing the final install. Subscribe from wherever you pick up new podcasts. TRANSCRIPT Chanan, thank you for joining me. We've traded messages on LinkedIn and everything else and as we were saying before I turned on the recording, we probably had a brush by, “Hey, how are you doing?” I think at some trade show, but we haven't chatted at length. Can you tell me what your company Blue Square X does, because I'm unfamiliar.  Chanan Averbuch: Sure. Blue Square, I guess you could more or less call it the parent company has been in business for over 10 years. But Blue Sqaure X is a relatively new venture, leveraging more of my background and my partner's background in the space, and inside Blue Sqaure X, I'm focused on the innovation side more so than anything else. So Blue Square X is displays that are 90 inches and larger on the LCD side, and on the LED side, everything from, 110 inches all the way to unlimited sizes. We have projects we're doing that are a hundred-foot-long LED walls and 40 feet high, concave, convex, curved, all that stuff.  But Blue Square X at the end of the day is not another led company. We're focused on the experience first, which means content first, software second, and LED third.  Yeah, which is quite different because, through the years I've had no end of companies, relate stories about how they sold big LED displays, had them installed and then the customer would look at them and say, “This is great, what should we put on the screen?” like an afterthought.  Chanan Averbuch: I've gotten that over the years, time and time again, somebody will have the brain fart of, “Wow, it would be really cool if we did a sports bar instead of a bunch of TVs, let's do LED.” Okay, and then two weeks before the grand opening, “Wait, what are we doing on this thing from 8 am to 4 pm when we're not watching sports games when there's no live sports?” So we did digital art in those spaces.  So you're, the terminology I use is, a solutions provider in that you're not a pure play integrator because an integrator doesn't tend to think about content or experience so much. There's the odd one that does, but for the most part, we put together the projects we deploy, maybe we manage them, but we don't really think that much about what's on the screen. Chanan Averbuch: Spot on. I think one of the key issues that I've experienced over almost the last two decades in the AV industry is that most of the channel has thought about how to move a box and has never really thought about what the client is trying to feel from an emotional perspective in a space.  What are they trying to create when someone walks into a space, when they leave a space, how do they want them to feel? I think in the era now where you're trying to get employees to come back to work, right? It doesn't matter if you're in the US, on the Democratic side or the Republican side, it doesn't make a real difference. If you want employees to come back to work, you have to give them a compelling reason for what it feels like when you come to the office beyond the barista, the coffee bar, and the cereal crap, you gotta have more of an experience too, oh my gosh, I love going to the office. It makes me feel a certain way, and that's where experience matters.  Do you find that many end users have their heads around what they want to do? Because I know from my consulting experience that I will ask customers what they want to do and why, and quite often they'll lean back in their chairs and think, I haven't really thought about that.  Chanan Averbuch: To be brutally honest with you, what was always my struggle for the last 13 years is trying to get people to understand what to try to make a space feel like, and I've been blessed in the early days now in Blue Square X, when we, in a very stealth mode, went to market, our first projects were actually luxury retail and it's not luxury retail where you would historically imagine where they have a big TV or big LED wall. It's now digital art being built. In an immersive space within luxury retail, there are several stores that we're going to be coming to live with soon with some beautiful case studies, very similar to what we're seeing in the real estate market.  We have a bunch of case studies about to come to market now as well for a luxury real estate sales center. So when someone launches a $100M or $2B project, they want to sell units fast. So having a projector in a sales center doesn't quite do it, but having an immersive theater and immersive LED wall with custom content where it looks like the waves are coming at you and things of that nature in a real way, not the 3D naked eye stuff. I'm talking about the real anamorphic content where it feels like you're buying into a lifestyle. When you're able to translate that, condo sales come along with it.  Quite often, I've also found that those customers who understand that kind of thinking, then have their heads snapped back when they start to understand the cost of doing that. Is there a lot of work in getting them over the line or do they just understand that this is a $100M development, yes, we're going to spend $250,000 on content or whatever the number is.  Chanan Averbuch: So it's funny that you say that because I think when I was personally going through my own journey and starting in this space, it was hard for me to explain that value, right? The good thing is, that we've already done in a very short period of time, some of these unique experiences where we're able to talk about the cost of capital, and the return on their capital, because in the world of real estate, for example, it's all about return on your investment. And they have interest payments in addition to principal payments that they owe to the bank. So the faster they sell units. The less they owe the bank.  So because we're focused more on the luxury and premium side, and they, I guess you could say the true experiential environments, the price is not necessarily as much of an issue. As the expression goes, price is only an issue in the absence of value, but because we're not trying to sell an LED screen. We're talking about the experience, we're talking about the content first, the software, how to get it there, and the LEDs, how you display it. It's a different conversation that we're having. We're talking usually to the marketing folks. We're talking to the innovation people. We're talking to the people who say, how am I going to get my ROI? And it's very easy to map that out, and that applies in luxury retail. That applies in real estate, and even because we're focused on the channel still looking with larger AV integrators, we're working with the AV integrators to help translate that value into how it's going to pan out and what it's going to do for their consumer or their buyers, whoever it is in their environments. So when you say you're working with the AV integrators, you wouldn't describe yourself as an integrator that's competing with them for business but as more of a partner?  Chanan Averbuch: Correct. So, thank God I've been very blessed with working with the AV channel to do control rooms, do experiential environments. That still has not changed for me. The only real difference in what we're doing in Blue Square X is that we are being engaged directly with the sports teams, we're being engaged directly with the architect or the interior designer, and then they'll say, who can execute this with us in addition to the Blue Square X pro services team, right? We don't run data cables. We don't run power. We don't put pressure on systems. That's not our business. We're not pretending to be an AV integrator. We're still going to be partnering with the AVI SPLs or the AVI Systems or the Diverifieds of the world, et cetera.  Okay. So you would quite possibly maybe own the customer, so to speak, but you're not doing the whole solution stack, you're gonna sub a partner with, I don't know, pull a name out, AVI, SPL, or whoever it may be.  Chanan Averbuch: Yeah, and I think there's a huge value added to that too, because not just because they have 5 employees, it's because, oftentimes when I would historically get a call in, my previous job, it was, “something's not working”. Well, screens are usually pretty dumb, right? If the playback is not working, that may be a different story, or it's often like a hiccup in the crash drone or whatever the control system may be, and having that first line of defense as an integrator who's down the block, perhaps. It's a lot more valuable for me than to ship my team to Brazil, ship my team to Korea, or ship my team to Qatar. You mentioned your previous work and experience and so on. I was aware of you when you were working for an LED company. What is your background in this industry?  Chanan Averbuch: So I really started 13+ years ago with Primeview, and there I started as a Regional Sales Manager, then Business Development Manager, then VP, then SVP, then EVP. I was initially just trying to provide for my family. I guess it was like, it was a trunk slammer or whoever it may be. I tried to do business with you when I first started. I just had to put numbers on, and then as things evolved in 2017 and coming to 2018, I was able to pioneer the all-in-one space back in 2018 out of a sheer lack of resources, to be honest with you, on an engineering side. It was funny how that evolved. But the all-in-one category is something that, I'm very pleased to say, had some of my first, with Microsoft, with Citigroup, and some really substantial clients, and then as that all-in-one category evolved and from indoor to outdoor to 32:9, that's when all of a sudden I started realizing, wait when we get out of the 16:9, what happens to the content? How does that work? And that sort of just blew my mind, this whole content space, and I started developing that further, and that thesis when working closely with digital artists, and I have some amazing projects that are about to go live now within Blue Square X, where a lot of times we're getting pulled into projects where we're not even involved in the LED. We're not even evolving the playback. We're just doing the content, and if I could quote one of my great friends in the industry, Britton Gates from Newcomb and Boyd, he always asked me previously, and we're going to be doing this now: if there are so many people out there that could use help, Even if you're not doing the lead, are you willing to do that? And the short answer is yes. I want to help people create experiences, even if They're not buying our LED today.  Yeah, you could make the argument that the content side of the business is more interesting and easier on a company just because you're not having to worry about shipping and everything else associated with the hard technology. Chanan Averbuch: Oh, a hundred percent. I think the same line of logic would imply that if it's an inferior quality LED, and it's just like another OEM, it could also make my content look bad. So I can take from personal example, I was traveling this past week for a very high-end install that our team was doing, and in part of the travels, I remember going through the journey of talking about what the content is, and once we figured out that it had to be not SDR, but HDR, our team had to get on a frantic and run 32 cables instead of 16, right? So talking through the content strategy early on also impacts infrastructure, not just hardware, really. I anticipate that almost everything that you're going to see from 2024 and beyond is going to be HDR on the experiential side. Everything, because the blacks and the grays, it's day and night.  And what does that mean for existing deployments out there?  Is HDR backward-compatible, so to speak, or do you either have an HDR display or you don't? Chanan Averbuch: Good question. I think when you think back two years ago when people started really talking about HDR on the commercial side, not consumer, but on the commercial side, I think you had people talking about HDR, talking about what they call HDR-ready. This means some of the components can potentially work with HDR, but to go and truly retrofit or change the hardware to now be able to be HDR is not as simple as one may think, even though the marketing materials on that spec may have said previously HDR-ready, it's not truly HDR. So I think in reality, retrofitting certain sites to be HDR is going to be difficult. I think they're gonna have to understand that SDR is what they bought and it's either they upgrade all their hardware to go and be able to truly be compatible with HDR or they're gonna have to just settle and stick to SDR today, as sad as that may be. What would that mean? It's not like SDR is going to look bad. It's just HDR is going to look really good.  Chanan Averbuch: Correct. I think even if you look at consumer playback devices as simple as an Apple TV, right? Even Apple TV today is HDR-ready, and it really can play back HDR, but like we're doing now a significant amount of work in the home theater business, it's not a business that I was actually pursuing, and I'm now seeing these massive home theater projects with commercial integrators. Yes, they're residential integrators, but they're sometimes bigger than commercial projects, these home theaters.  I had to go down the rabbit hole of what a Kaleidoscope is and what real HDR playback is and cinema-quality playback. So really only once you're in this space and focused on delivering the high-end quality do you understand all these little peripheral devices for playback and content are so significant in the ecosystem. But unless you're in it, you don't know it.  One of the things that I concluded walking around ISE at the front of the year, and then Ifocomm again, was that the LED display market has matured to a point where just about everything looks really good. Yes, some companies come over from China with, purposefully, low-cost, material that looks crappy, even when it's optimized on our trade show floor. But in general, the stuff all looks really good. It's all sub one mil now and everything else. Have we hit the peak of this? Where does it go?  Chanan Averbuch: Great question. So I think to your point, I think when you talk about what's market has called mini-LED or COB or some of these more standard technologies today, the COB at a 0.7 look really freaking good. But even within those LEDs, the differentiator between HDR and really great quality scan rates that what I would say is considered broadcast quality or production quality or luxury retail quality, there's a differentiator in the market at that point, because one is good enough, and the other one is truly providing a higher level of experience, and what that means is the quality of the components.  So on a simple level, you have Nova Star, A6, A8, A10, et cetera, right? You have all the different Nova Star receiving cards, for example. The different receiving cards produce different quality results and have a higher level of spec. That's definitely the case for the mass market. I think there are ways to build materials to change things, and then there are also certain instances where having a higher brightness panel or LED bulb is great. Sometimes it's not good. You have to know the real application because it generates different heat. But in that instance, we've gotten certain projects now in the last few months where having a higher nit bulb helped. We have instances where they wanted a lower nit bulb because they wanted to not have to redo their infrastructure and energy and power, right? So they were repurposing LCD and they wanted to stay with LEDs and if they had gone with a higher bulb, they would have had the max power draws where you require more power.  But on the evolution of LED itself, COG, chip on glass, that's something that's going to be coming out soon. There are some other new things within the LED world we're about to be launching a product that's almost like an x-ray where you're able to print patterns on an LED and shine through it, but at a high resolution, not low resolution like you see on the market today. So there are definitely innovative ways of producing technology where just imagine a Calcutta marble, finish backdrop, and we print that Calcutta marble on a physical LED, and you're able to still protrude through it with a high brightness bulb LED. So there's a lot of these technologies that are about to come to market that we're working on, but it's from an innovative standpoint, not everyone else is doing it. How do we just be cheaper? It's what's the experience that we're trying to create, and then how do we solve that in a way that has never been done before. So when you talk about chip on glass, are you talking about micro LEDs?  Chanan Averbuch: Correct.  That is a horribly abused and misused term.  Chanan Averbuch: Yep. I try to shy away from the specifics of talking about COB GOB or SMD. I honestly try to focus on what's your environment, what are you trying to do? I'm fixing other people's problems now, just not on the content, but where someone sold SMD in a public space that should have been COB and in other environments where it should have been GOB to pretty protective solution. Like I just saw a curved LED that was so chewed up, I told the end user, you may consider replacing it completely. And he goes, with what? I said with a glue-on-board version, because otherwise you have to protect this thing, because it'll look like crap.  Through the years, I have seen some SMD stuff in public spaces and I thought, what in God's name were you thinking? Did you somehow magically believe that nobody was going to scrape this thing?  Chanan Averbuch: But in truth, it's not just about specifying the wrong technology. A lot of things that we're doing now at Blue Square X is because we realize other people didn't do it, and it's not just about the content or the software side. It's also about the trim kit the cladding and the framing. For example, one of my friends I was talking to at Leon Speakers, where we talked about the idea of hashtag framing every TV.  The idea of framing every TV is not just so that it looks aesthetically pleasing in a residential environment or in your conference room. It's also to protect it to a large extent. So when I think about framing, there was a project recently, it was comical that we recently lost ironically. And I thought it was great that we lost it. My partner was like, what do you mean we've lost it? I said I'm so happy we lost it. He goes, why? I said because the other guy is putting a product that's going to get destroyed in this environment because there are no protective elements in the backside, and it's IP-65 front-rated. IP-54 in the back and they're putting this in the harshest environment, humanly possible. I'm happy that my name's not on that. So framing every TV, trim kit, cladding, mounting, and protecting the LED is equally as important as the technology that you're going to use. But people don't think about those things. I want to get the project. I want the box. That's not smart business  I wonder if the market is now at a point where it's like buying a high-end vehicle in that the salesperson can go on and on about what's under the hood and the typical buyer just doesn't care and in the same way, they don't care really whether it's COB or what controller is used or any of that stuff.  They just want to know how good is it going to look, does it suits my needs and what's the budget.  Chanan Averbuch: So I think you're definitely getting more to the commoditized point of the marketplace, which is where I think you're going to see several players disappear. It's already starting to happen. Hence the reason why I've always focused more on what it's supposed to create and what it's supposed to feel like, how much you're supposed to be immersed, which is why it's content first, software second, LED third in our world, and then trim kit, cladding, framing to follow for that same reason. It really comes down to how do you not just differentiate yourself, but how do you actually demonstrate that difference. Having the right content obviously helps, having the right software helps, having the right LED helps, but one of the things that we're going to be investing heavily in on a national level to start within the US with Miami, then New York, then Chicago, Austin, then LA is physical experience centers throughout the US and that will be going global as well in the near future.  What I'd like to do is when a client from a sports team a luxury retailer or a real estate developer, whatever it may be, wants to see the product, Yes, I could do a Zoom. I can do a Microsoft team, whatever it may be, but I will, on my dime, fly you into one of my experience centers on my dime and I am a hundred percent confident that the tech stack between the content, the software, and the lead will be noticeably different when you come to the experience centers, noticeably, it'll be a finished product, a true turnkey, a real solution.  Now, the devil's advocate side of that, if I'm a buyer, this is a highly controlled environment where you're able to think about everything ahead of my visit and optimize the whole nine yards versus operating in the real world where power can be shaky. There's public, there's ambient lighting, and everything else that can play into it. How do you counterbalance people like me who walk in and say, yeah, but…  Chanan Averbuch: Great example, I just spent $20,000 to do a massive outdoor demo for one of our clients, and we did the demo at one o'clock in the afternoon at the harshest moment, exactly where the sun was hitting strongest. And you explained that?  Chanan Averbuch: Oh yeah, and he intentionally chose the spot, that was the harshest spot, where it's direct sunlight. I'm like, gentlemen, how do you think this looks? And they told me how it looked and they were pleased, obviously, I said, this is the worst it's ever going to look. He goes, what? He didn't understand what I meant. I'm like, you chose the most sun exposure, like the worst. If you think this looks good, it only gets better from here, and I explained to them why, and they're like, got it. But I spent $20,000 on that demo to do it the right way. So I agree with your thesis and what you're saying about that in a controlled environment, but with that said, in our experience centers in our showrooms, we have a complete AV system, multiple sources, multiple HDR sources, and multiple cable TV boxes. I could show four cable TV boxes. So if a Sports Park comes in here, like Dave and Busters, I could demonstrate that. If it's a home theater, I could show it with surround sound, Dolby quality, as well as HDR with the collide escape. I could show. Exactly in an indoor environment. Yes, but outdoors? Absolutely. There are environments where you have to put it outdoors and do the real stress test. No question.  So if you're going to market as an LED manufacturer and your marketing focus is on: here are all of our technical specs for all of our different pixel pitches and this and that, and basically blind the person at the other end, the buyer with all of this flurry of buzzwords and jargon, does that work anymore? It strikes me that the LED market is now somewhat commoditized.  Chanan Averbuch: So frankly, you're a hundred percent correct. I'm not focused on the tech specs of the LED whatever.  Does the customer care about it?  Chanan Averbuch: I think there are some exceptions in the market. There's an artist that I'm working with who really understands the technical spectrum. They understand color parameters. They understand DCI like some of them understand this stuff, but that's like the 1%. But the 1%loves us because we're able to produce, and deliver those exact results.  But to your point, the conversations we're having are very different in the sense that for example, we just closed a deal with a major sports team. They originally wanted a 3:3 LCD. I said to them, I'll work with you on pricing to get you to the LED world. Because I know for a fact, the LCD is the wrong approach for your application. You're going to be doing spreadsheets, and you have a bezel in between, and now bear in mind, that Blue Square, the parent company, has a ton of LCD business that we do with Samsung, right? On Blue Square X, we want to make sure that if the requirement is there to do an LED, then it should be there, and the reason why we're able to successfully take a 3:3 or 4:4 and turn it into a lead project is that we're asking the right questions. We're educating, not just the marketing person, not just the facilities director, not just the branding team, but everyone along the way is saying: Where's your seat? Where's the closest viewer? What's your content strategy? We're not asking about the LED. We're talking about what the actual application is. Because you're right, in a commoditized environment, what's the difference between the first 30 Google searches they come up with an LED? It's hard to differentiate. But those other 30 companies are not asking those questions. They don't want to. They just want to move boxes.  Yeah, they just want to know how much wall space there is. Chanan Averbuch: That's it. But they're not asking about content playback. They're not asking if have you partnered with Novari, or do you have experience with with Samsung's MagicInfo. They're not asking the right questions because that requires education and training, that requires industry experience.  Now with Blue Square X, do you have preferred manufacturing partners or are you getting your own led custom manufactured by white label or how does that end of it work?  Chanan Averbuch: Great question. So we are day one, day two, and day a hundred, and from here on out, focus on the premium side. So nothing that's off the shelf in the market is of interest to us. Nothing that exists today on the LED production line is of interest whatsoever.  We are designing specs for the higher end of the spectrum. That's where we want to be. So our LED partners are not people I've worked with in my previous role or others, it's, I would say, the higher-end side of specs and therefore we are designing to our needs from day one. So it's definitely custom spec to something that's not available to the mass market.  So does that mean you're doing the technical design over in the United States and then getting it a contract manufactured by a high-end production line, probably in China or Taiwan? Chanan Averbuch: And Mexico as well. Yeah.  Oh really, in Mexico?  Chanan Averbuch: For TAE purposes. It is a market for governments as well.  Interesting, and on the Mexico side, is it final assembly or are they manufacturing the LED?  Chanan Averbuch: So there is some manufacturing done here, and assembly. So there are certain components, obviously, that don't make financial sense to do complete production here. It really depends on what the next president of the United States looks like because I think that'll determine some of the taxation side of things and how tariffs come into play. So we're just ultimately preparing for the doomsday scenario and the ideal scenario simultaneously. How do you deal with the cost end of it? It sounds like you're going after premium clients, is cost not as big an issue if you can, as you said much earlier on, really go after the ROI model and what the real benefits are?  Chanan Averbuch: While I definitely believe in my heart of hearts, price is only an issue in the absence of value, at the end of the day, the clients that we're talking to understand that there's a way to hit something that should be a $100 and pay $60, and there's a way that if you get the $60 solution, it's not going to look or perform like a $100 product either. We communicate the values of both extremes. Like we'll go and say to the customer, if you want to get this $100 solution, I don't feel comfortable giving you the $60 solution. But if you only have the $60 solutions, this is what it looks like, and what we'll try to do is we'll offer the financing option as an OPEX model so that they don't have to get to that, I don't want to say it, but the crappier option, the lesser quality. We'll gladly take the OPEX model and work with them so that way it fits within their budget because I wouldn't want a lesser experience for myself. Why would I want that for my clients?  Is that an increasing demand these days? Can you help with the financing on this?  Chanan Averbuch: So, I think it's coming up more. Is it actually translating to the numbers or percentages that I thought? No, they're not, but it's evolving and growing in the markets. I'll give you an example. If someone is in the car wash industry, okay, and they're used to doing static signage, and now they're trying digital to jump from zero digital CapEx expense to spending half a million dollars. It's hard to get approvals for, but now if you break that down to $5,000 a month or $8,000 a month over three years, whatever it may be, all of a sudden it looks a lot more palatable.  So I think it depends where the organization, where the institution, and where the non-profit is in their experience with digital and how their internal approval process works. Now there's a harsh environment, car washes.  Chanan Averbuch: Oh, it's so much fun. So much fun. We went to the car wash show in Nashville and I'll tell you the most amazing thing that I discovered. There's people like you alluded to that get it and they realize it, and there's people that don't. The ones that get it realize I can't buy crap, right? I can't buy inferior quality. The ones that don't get it, get burnt usually. So I wish them only the best.  Tell me about the company. Where is it based?  Chanan Averbuch: Blue Square X is based in South Florida. Home of no state income tax here in Miami, and the market is actually a bit on fire here on a regional level where others say the real estate markets are slowing down, Central Florida, Northern Florida, and South Florida has not slowed down just even a bit. Velocity here is amazing. This is our home base for us but we're about to finalize a few other locations here in the US as we speak.  What's the size of the company, both, Parent and, just the X side? Chanan Averbuch: Under 20 employees currently at this moment, but we're hiring and growing rapidly.  For Blue Square X?  Chanan Averbuch: Yep. And for Blue Square itself?  Chanan Averbuch: So it's hard to say right now because some of the resources are shared at the moment. But that's obviously been a change from the install professional services and the creative side, again, we're very focused on the creative side more so than anything else.  But one of the partners also is very strong in the rental and staging business and has a whole plethora of warehousing and service support models throughout the US so we have that extra tier of support from one of the partners. All right, and where can they find the company online?  Chanan Averbuch: Great question. If someone wants to reach out to me directly, you could definitely reach out to me on LinkedIn. As for the latest to the company, it's bluesqx.com and you'll be seeing some of the press releases coming up about it I really look forward to engaging with customers. I know people get scared a little bit when we talk about premium, they assume it's price. It's all about the experience, and if you work your way backward through the experience, then everything else that seemingly doesn't matter matters now.  And the clientele you're going after would tend to understand that more than maybe a certain car wash operator. Chanan Averbuch: Oh yeah. But as you alluded to, the ROI is there if you're trying to evoke an emotion or an experience, that's what we care about. We want people to walk away from a retail experience, from a school, from a broadcast studio, from a control room, from a real estate and say, holy cow, how did you see that? It has to be Instagrammable. It has to be something that creates that wow moment. We want to create those wow moments.  All right. Thank you for having the time or taking the time to chat with me.  Chanan Averbuch: Absolutely. God bless, and thanks again for your time as well.

Today we're talking to Brad Sousa, CTO at AVI Systems; and we discuss what determines the “creepy meter” of AI; the phenomenon of AI creating more data than humans; and why radical giving can be the key to your growth as a leader. All of this right here, right now, on the Modern CTO Podcast!  Check out more of Brad and AVI Systems at https://www.avisystems.com/!

Commercial Integrator continues its celebration of 40 Influencers under 40, Class of 2022. On this AV+ podcast episode, host and editor-in-chief, Dan Ferrisi is joined by 40 under 40 honorees: Kate Adkins, UX engineering manager, Root Integrated Systems; Eric Jingst, enterprise architect, AVI Systems; Kaylie Shaffer, senior manager of public relations, Crestron Electronics; and Annie Foster, associate director of classroom technologies, Washington and Lee University. They discuss how to avoid stagnancy and embrace new challenges. 

Enterprise Connect is back in person, and we talk to many industry professionals about the collaboration space.

Enterprise Connect is back in person, and we talk to many industry professionals about the collaboration space. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Enterprise Connect is back in person, and we talk to many industry professionals about the collaboration space.

The COVID pandemic crushed sales for many businesses...but not at AVI Systems. When building a world-class sales team, an organization needs to implement a formal sales process proven to improve sales performance. This formal sales process is like the back office for sales. Joe DiDonato (BCI) and Don Mastro (AVI Systems) join host Maureen Metcalf to discuss their experiences, as well as the case study they wrote about what Don did to get his AVI Systems team through the pandemic -- and then skyrocket sales. This is part 2 of a 2-part series.

Today we have Brad Sousa, CTO of AVI Systems, hosting Howard Boville, the Head of IBM Hybrid Cloud. And they discuss how to propagate your vision throughout an organization. IBM's recent innovations in hybrid cloud, and why it's important to find engineers that not only have the right talent, but also the right attitude for the job. All of this right here, right now, on the ModernCTO Podcast!  To learn more about IBM Hybrid Cloud, check them out at https://www.ibm.com/cloud/hybrid To learn more about AVI Systems, check them out at https://www.avisystems.com

The COVID pandemic crushed sales for many businesses...but not at AVI Systems. When building a world-class sales team, an organization needs to implement a formal sales process proven to improve sales performance. This formal sales process is like the back office for sales. Joe DiDonato (BCI) and Don Mastro (AVI Systems) join host Maureen Metcalf to discuss their experiences, as well as the case study they wrote about what Don did to get his AVI Systems team through the pandemic -- and then skyrocket sales.

AVI Systems acquires Avyve. What it takes to bring two companies into one fold. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

AVI Systems acquires Avyve. What it takes to bring two companies into one fold.

AVI Systems acquires Avyve. What it takes to bring two companies into one fold.

AVI Systems acquires Avyve. What it takes to bring two companies into one fold.

Today we are talking to Brad, the CTO at AVI Systems. And we have a follow up discussion to part one of “Faith In The Workplace”. We discuss how to redefine the definition of productivity, and the importance of finding a community where you can make real relationships.   All of this, right here, right now, on the Modern CTO Podcast!

Capturing people's attention as they pass by is one aspect while entertaining them while inside is another. To hear how LED displays play a part in both aspects, Justin and Matt talk with James Fuchsel, Sign Consultant for La Crosse Sign Group; Alan Harper, Executive Account Manager for AVI Systems; and Chris Ebben, Attractions Director for Wilderness Resort. La Crosse Sign Group Website: https://www.lacrossesign.com/ AVI Systems Website: https://www.avisystems.com/ Wilderness Resort Website: https://www.wildernessresort.com/

Today we are talking to Randy Bezet, the Pastor and Founder of Bayside Community Church. And we have a special discussion on Faith in the Workplace, understanding and overcoming doubt and leadership lessons from a lifetime of service. All of this, right here, right now on the Modern CTO Podcast! If I didn't get your questions answered on this episode we are having a follow up discussion with Brad who is a pastor and CTO of AVI Systems. Please email me your questions.

Brad Sousa, the chief technology officer at AVI Systems, joins the podcast to talk about how to write an IT business plan. 

What a COVID vaccine could mean for the industry, AVI systems acquires Avyve, and Planar expands for the US government market.

What a COVID vaccine could mean for the industry, AVI systems acquires Avyve, and Planar expands for the US government market.

COVID-19 has challenged everyone. So when AVI Systems’ CEO and president, Jeff Stoebner, issued a challenge to his team that if they produced a record-sales month, he’d dye his hair green, they responded. How’d he do it? Simple — watch!  

Today we have another special episode with Brad Sousa, the CTO at AVI Systems about going remote, fun ways to keep the team positive, and how AVI systems is helping other companies be successful with their remote transition. All of this, right here, right now, on the Modern CTO Podcast!

Schools around the world are beginning to use esports to connect with students. AVI Systems executive Robert Mathews joins the show to talk about the uses of esports in STEM education, how schools are building out esports curriculum and the added social benefits of esports programs in schools. If you enjoyed the podcast, please rate and subscribe, it helps us out a ton! Multiple new episodes each week. For daily esports news, check out the Esports Minute (https://esportsminute.fireside.fm/). Follow Mitch on Twitter @Mitch_Reames (https://twitter.com/Mitch_Reames) Follow Esportz Network on Twitter (https://twitter.com/EsportzNetwork), Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/esportznetwork/), and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/EsportzNetwork) @EsportzNetwork Or visit our website esportznetwork.com (https://www.esportznetwork.com/) for updates on what's to come! Special Guest: Robert Mathews .

 If you are on the solutions side of the digital signage business, you have likely, at some point, had to open up and look over an RFP document from an end-user, quietly praying it won't be too onerous and/or stupid. A lot of digital signage RFPs still - in 2019 - lead with technology, going on and on and on about specs and requirements, and only making a passing reference to content. Which is nutty, because the screens have only nominal value and impact if the content on them isn't timely, relevant and at least kinda sorta visually interesting. Dan Baker handles the sales engineering for digital signage at AVI Systems, a big Minneapolis-area integrator. He's seen those kinds of RFPs, and knows through experience there's a better way. He contacted me, offering to talk about his take, and his company's take, on a methodical process that, at minimum, gets end-users thinking about objectives and the content needed to meet them. Some companies are mandated to do RFPs - it's just how their procurement department rolls - but in a perfect world, end-users are usually better skipping RFPs and working with people who know digital signage. The right advisors can help them get to the content and technology model that will actually deliver on objectives, and keep them from spending big on tech they need, while largely forgetting what will go on the screens.   Subscribe to this podcast: iTunes * Google Play * RSS  

Today we are talking to Brad Sousa, the CTO at AVI systems. And we discuss how different generations consume technology, the most important factor in selling your team on change, and the promise and perils of early adopters. All of this, right here, right now, on the Modern CTO Podcast!

Interactive flat panel displays continue to grow not only in popularity, but capabilities. They're making their way to businesses, venues and even college campuses in volume. According to MarketScale's recent higher education technology study, 47 percent of college campuses have a video wall. Persistence Market Research is putting the flat panel display market at a 4.4 percent growth rate over the next several years. It's clear that people are craving the aesthetic, interactive and unique value of these displays in their spaces; how is this affecting Pro AV professionals? What design changes are the most exciting, how is supplemental technology adapting to this IFP growth, and how does more interactivity mean more challenges with the convergence of AV and IT? On today's podcast we're joined by Aaron Rubner, President of AVTEQ and Wes Burkett, Sr. Account Manager for AVI Systems, who have seen first-hand how the rise of IFPs has affected Pro AV. "You're taking the technology that people are using and putting it into the environment that works for them," Burkett said. Rubner and Burkett describe a brighter (pun intended) future where flat panel displays continue to get thinner, lighter, more seamless and more accessible. With these improvements come new ways of implementation. As manufacturers and resellers, Rubner and Burkett explain how Pro AV professionals should adapt their deliverables to clients, and which applications are the biggest game-changers. "One thing that I think we do a good job of is listen to feedback from partners like AVI Systems on the aesthetics of our carts and stands," Rubner said. "The things need to look good."

Dave Hatz guest started his career at Disney World Technical Services where he learned about integrating show control with AMX systems. He’s held several other positions in lighting and sound before zeroing in on AV programming and project engineering at Roscor Corporation and currently AVI Systems. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this week's episode, we're joined by Kelly Perkins, the Marketing & Communications Director of AVI Systems! We talk about the marketing aspect of Pro A/V and what companies need to know as they look at investing in content paradigms and market strategies. Make sure to follow us on Twitter @ProAVMKT as well as rate, review, and subscribe on iTunes! For more articles, videos, and news about the Pro A/V industry check out - marketscale.com/industries/pro-av

In this episode, David and Justin sit down to chat with Joe Baer, Regional VP for AVI Systems. They discuss the changing use of environments and technology in an interconnected world.

In this AVsocial episode, our co-hosts, Dawn Meade of Net-AV and Kelly Perkins of AVI Systems, are joined by CEO, entrepreneur and author, Peter Shankman, to his latest book, “Zombie Loyalists: Using Great Service to Create Rabid Fans.” Host: Dawn Meade & Kelly Perkins Guests: Peter Shankman – Shankman.com

When should you keep your marketing plan within your team and when do you hire it out? What are the best practices for your social media campaign. Host: Dawn Meade & Kelly Perkins Guests: Coleen Sterns Leith – Marketing Matters Kelly Ahern – Caster Communications

Sennheiser joins Dante, Brightsign has a new 4K product and the NAB wraps up. Plus, we talk about the security company coming after your business and “bad a$$” microphone covers. Host: Tim Albright Founder Guests: Kelly Perkins from AVI Systems and Michael Braithwaite of Clear One and the AVnu Alliance. Record Date: 4/12/2014 Running Time: 57:25  Story Links Sennheiser joins [...]

Sennheiser joins Dante, Brightsign has a new 4K product and the NAB wraps up. Plus, we talk about the security company coming after your business and “bad a$$” microphone covers. Host: Tim Albright Founder Guests: Kelly Perkins from AVI Systems and Michael Braithwaite of Clear One and the AVnu Alliance. Record Date: 4/12/2014 Running Time: 57:25  Story Links Sennheiser joins [...]