Margot Douaihy
Last month, AV and IT thought leaders converged in The Mile High City of Denver, Colorado, to learn and share best practices at the AV/IT Leadership Summit. For two dedicated days, we set up shop in real time and dove into the key issues facing our technology community. Speakers included Harman Professional’s Paul Zielie (resident expert on AV as a Service and AV security), Oklahoma State University’s Rockford Todd (active learning guru), Gartner Research’s Mike Walker (technology seer), and Mersive’s Christopher Jaynes (collaboration visionary), just to name a few. It was an electrifying time and a meaningful idea exchange. Beers and stories were shared. Business cards were traded. Gripes were cheers’d. Products were demo’d. Lifecycle plans were sketched. Our live events are like retreats with teeth, invaluable opportunities for critical reflection as well as action. Is that what “leadership” is all about? Don’t miss my “Takeaways from the AV/IT Leadership Summit Denver" in our September edition.
I am also grateful to share AV Technology's cover story by NewBay Media’s associate editor Matt Pruznick. Matt took a day away from the office for a tour of the National September 11 Memorial Museum with Fernando Mora, the museum’s manager of audiovisual and multimedia technology. I will admit that I am the kind of person who gets emotionally invested in projects (just ask my fiancé), but I have never been on the verge of tears while editing a technology article. That’s exactly what happened when Matt filed this draft. This story is the distillation of what I love our industry: how AV can help immerse, educate, and commemorate. This story and the Museum itself exemplify the confluence of powerful narratives, design, and technical innovation. As with the tragic nature of 9/11 itself, the human story—the intimate human moment—often has the most profound impact. I hope that you are as moved as I am by Fernando’s insight and Matt’s reportage. Let this story inspire you to push the limits of your technological systems. As Mora explained, “Every device here has an IP address; I can get to anything remotely. The idea is to completely go AV over IP over the next three years.”
Mora also reminds us that, as technologists, we have tremendous responsibilities. “I feel that we’re kind of the custodians of this incredible content,” he added.
Please share your feedback on our coverage of the September 11 Memorial Museum via Twitter: @AVTechnologyMag. Technology managers, please join in the conversation at our AV/IT Leadership Summits, November 9-10th (NYC) and November 30th (DC).
