We’re One But We’re Not the Same

We’re well into trade show season. I’ve done a few shows this year and that’s a few more than I usually do in a year. CES, USITT, ISE, NAB and most recently Infocomm. Some years I haven’t done any. I visit from anywhere to a few hours to a few days. Prior to retiring from touring I’d try to hit every one I could tour schedule permitting. For a while I was exhibitor.

Infocomm is where I spent the most time this year. The rest were between a couple/few hours on the floor compared to USITT where I flew up, did 4 hours at the show turned around a flew back. And boy were my arms tired. The last time I attended Infocomm was 2022 for an hour or so. I’d been working two gigs, putting a show in during the day and my “day gig” at night. Around 70-75 hours a week, 7 days a week for the better part of a year. I went to pick up my badge and see what I could for the limited time I had there. Long story short a health issue chose then to surface and led to me taking a one way ride to Sunrise. It took a while but I recovered. I needed to go this year. It was personal.

I was determined this year to go at least a couple of days. One of those days would be to take the CTS test. I wanted to take the test for a couple of reasons. First, because I just wanted to and secondly to flex a bit to others that I could roll in the contractor side of things. These days we’re integrators and techs. We used to be contractors and installers. Things change but in this case it was only a nomenclature change. The tech got more complex but that’s been happening for decades. The biggest change (that’s really accelerated since the pandemic) is the corporate IT sector adopting or in some cases absconding with the term “AV”.

In the corporate world the reasons for IT taking AV under its wing are largely operations based not engineering based. Network engineering ends at the device network interface. It’s more than and endpoint. It’s a form of compute device that in this case takes sound and pictures, manipulates them and packs them for network transport. From that point the network is a high performance wire. Like multicore and coax on steroids but really nothing like those. It’s a complex transport for content.

Corporate conferencing and collaboration has reached the point where it’s a unique application. Part networking/IT engineering, part audio and video engineering. This new thing can fit in the old structure but the skillsets are not like the old structure. Avixa is helping train and certify IT techs in AV but that in and of itself won’t cut it. They’ll need experience. Just as an audio or video tech gets a new cert or training in networking doesn’t mean they’re ready for prime time. There are some that are fluent in both but there aren’t near as many that are needed.

What is AV and does any one single discipline own the term I’ve asked myself. Distilled to the simplest terms AV is audio-visual applications. Not all audio or all video are AV apps though. The construct has developed into AV becoming more a marketing term for things you can see and hear. It’s difficult to impart the limitations of using the terms as a broad umbrella to many people.

Corporate conference and collaboration is AV, you bet. Signage, kiosks and the like, for sure. A murky area is the plethora of interactive experiential venues and events. I can tell you what’s not AV. Entertainment. Theater, live events, concerts, motion picture and television. If you want to show someone you’re not familiar in the space ask them who did the AV for the Eras tour or what AV is the production company using for the next Marvel action flick.

The first day on the floor I spent over in the video portion as that’s where the CTS test was. It was neat to see though not my jam. Regardless of what the test thought. The second day I hit the other hall where the audio was. As I entered it became more than apparent the pivot toward conference and collaboration had become a major, perhaps the major market. Avixa sells that sort of info but too rich for my blood. Or more accurately I’m not interested enough to buy the info for what they ask for it. Still though good to see that data available for the industry.

As I stopped at a few booths of brands I’ve used and worked with for decades the booths were dedicated entirely to conference and collaboration. They were packed, asses to elbows. Day two and the place was still a madhouse. The entire day. As I checked off stops on my list (am I the only one that doesn’t full dig MapYourShow?) I started to think this could be a bust. There were still some demos I wanted to see and hadn’t seen many of the brands our lot normally use. As I traversed to the northeast corner of the Central Hall I saw an oasis. These are my people.

The number of exhibitors was smaller than I’d hoped (though many of the others weren’t showing their event related gear lines) but mighty in stature and quality. Even the smaller outfits have impressive wares to display. There is still a push toward spacial sound systems. Most of the purveyors of the solutions have started using the term spacial instead of immersive. I concur. I never liked the term immersive. That’s not so much due to the fact some spacial designs don’t immerse you in audio.

For example the wide, flat front panorama approach. An effective technique that enhances the experience but it’s not immersive. It’s deep, granular, high level panning. Like AI this year (I’ll beat that in a minute) immersive became a go-to marketing term that was beaten into the ground. The adoption expectations or promises were never able to be met. At one of the demos I got a chuckle out of hearing one of the presenters riff on that exact thing. Good to see those plying the craft not using the term.

These days I need to sit and rest more than for my last visit to Infocomm. With the demos on lunch break I found my way to the Avixa stage in the Central Hall. There I was met with two more dreaded buzzwords. AI and technologist. The run up to the show had a big push on AI. So much so if you were to drink a shot every time there was a press release or show promo that mentioned AI you would have tanked your liver by the time the show opened.

AI is artificial all right but it’s not intelligent. It can’t reason. There is no nuance. It’s a souped up data scraper right now that assembles the worst posts from Reddit and recites them with authority. This panel was discussing the future of AI in the AV world. Right now talk is big, apps are few. I rocked up with the discussion well under way. It was just in time for me to hear the guy from the big software company telling me how AI was going to change the way I did audio. Not now but sometime in the future. When will then be now? Soon!

That’s great because I could have sure used help touring with unloading trucks, freezing my feet standing on Homasote over the ice on the arena floor and convincing a hungover guitar player he’s too loud on stage. Not every problem can be solved by software or computers. Not to say AV can’t benefit from some of this tech. Camera tracking, automixers for presentations, noise and feedback reduction are a few. Some of this tech is showing promise. Others are pie in the sky with smoke blown up your butt. Just like with “immersive” don’t oversell and under-deliver. The tech will stand up on its own. Introduce it and educate us. Don’t beat us with endless promises.

As the panel concluded I was informed that I was now a technologist not simply an audio or video tech. I’m down with that as long as it means more dough. Or free lunch. Or both. Truth is we’ve been technologists since the dawn of the industry. The tech has gone from the equivalent of striking flints for fire to riding a rocket to Mars. Technology is all around and not limited to a single domain. It’s an exciting time no doubt. We need to temper that with the reality of now. That’s hard. I couldn’t do it when I was younger. There was some old guy back then telling me the same thing I’m saying now. Except we didn’t have the internet then. He had to send it Pony Express.

I became certified while still certifiable. The CTS test is an interesting mix of questions and technologies. If you’ve been in the business for any length of time, say 10 years or so you should be able to pass relatively easily. Study up with the book and use the resources at Avixa. Some tips are study the cycles of construction projects, basic tech, AV math and how to deal with customers. It’s an academic focused test. Not so much application.

Like 4 year degrees it’s not for everyone. If you’re gigging live it’s not going to help. You’d be better off with learning the drive systems of all the big PA companies and other manufacturer training. If you are doing integration if you want to do more than land wire and load racks you’re going to need it. Guaranteed. Avixa still is pushing a live component into the test and learning materials. I didn’t find that part relevant or accurate to what’s happening in the live event industry. Gigs aren’t construction projects or integrations and shouldn’t be approached in the same manner. Gigs are gigs. Installs are installs. They’re similar in many ways and you can go between the two but you need to realize the differences. That said I’m going for my CTS-D now. Knowing that it won’t do anything for me on live events. But everyone needs a hobby.

At this point it seems like I’m focusing on the negative. Like ranting to get off my lawn. Not the point. While differences need to be respected we also have to realize what those differences are as well as the similarities. As technologies converge and co-exist new roles and understandings need to happen. That time is now. It will require the industry as a whole to adapt to the era of ever increasing tech requiring collaboration between many diverse skill sets. Not everyone is going to be able to master all the skills just as no one trade builds a building. With the growth and opportunities available in the industry now more than ever collaboration key.

We get to carry each other. Carry each other.

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