Stories, in one form or another, comprise most of my day. I edit and write pages of stories and terabytes of articles, but I’m also thinking about the larger narrative, trying to see the bigger picture.
Margot Douaihy
“Story” is officially the AV vocab word of 2017, and with good reason. Its importance was underscored in September when InfoComm reorganized as AVIXA, a move that foregrounded the story of integrated AV’s value. As an in-house technology manager, you’re telling the AV story. Whatever your tech triage du jour—a dropped signal, a lost adapter, a live stream snafu, mic interference—you’ll solve it. This is where you excel. You think on your feet. You think outside of the square. It’s why you’re in the AV field. It’s why you’re a tech manager.
Our December edition of AV Technology is devoted to stories, including my report on AVIXA, “Promising Experience."
In our Big Ideas section, programming guru Steve Greenblatt dissects the IoT story (“One-Button Myth?"). He asserts that “IoT is not magic. Although it seems to work without much effort or customization, IoT relies on the availability and support of APIs that provide programmers/software developers the tools to write code that facilitates communication of devices and exchange of data.” Don’t miss Greenblatt’s hard-earned wisdom and his take on the growing IoT opportunities for AV/IT managers.
We investigate other opportunities, such as the demand for IP-enabled AV control in our feature “Hard Turn Toward Software-Based."
We shape our editorial calendars through research and interviews. We also use the process called storyboarding. Storyboarding shows you an aerial view and lets you see how one element flows into the next. It’s about sequence, and it helps logically organize the order of operations. It helps forms more solid and structured planning that feels cohesive. That process led us to our final cover story of 2017, Mitch Gelman, CTO of the Newseum in D.C. This Pulitzer Prize winning technology leader understands the value of AV as an educational and storytelling tool. Don’t miss “We Hold These Truths."
As we drop the curtain on the show that was 2017, I hope your takeaway from the AV Technology story is integrity. We try to bring passion and value to every touch point of our brand, from cover stories to digital pages to our live events. In every element of our brand, we want to inspire you and create a forum for learning about the tools, techniques, and best practices needed for agile IP-enabled AV. I am fortunate to be in a field that challenges me to chase the important stories. What story will you tell in 2018?
Margot Douaihy is the editorial director of AV Technology magazine and advisor at Franklin Pierce University.
