If you're in AV and on Twitter (I stand corrected, "X") even once a week, then you know @chris_neto. He's the king of the AV social sphere. Since 2011, he has racked up 166.6K Twitter posts, and that's just under his persona.
In 2018, Chris Neto, CTS, Market Development Manager at Starin, started a group on Twitter called #AVinTheAM. Every Sunday at 8:00 a.m. ET, with few exceptions, you'll find Neto and several passionate #AVTweeps discussing all things AV, having a lot of fun and caffeine along the way.
Neto does a great deal of legwork to provide a framework for each Sunday discussion with five questions specific to a topic. On Sunday, May 5, the #AVinTheAM topic was "AV Wars: Rise of Opinions."
Neto's dedication to the AV industry is exceptional.
I was curious about #AVinTheAM and asked Neto a few questions.
Davis: How on earth did #AVinTheAM begin, and why?
Neto: #AVinTheAM started on Sunday, January 21, 2018. It all began when I was making breakfast for my kids. I woke up early and got a pot of coffee going while I was making pancakes. I remember taking a pic of my coffee cup and saying good morning on Twitter. In my next tweet, I answered a question someone asked about Amazon Alexa in a corporate environment. My answer prompted a bunch of early birds to respond and debate if I was right or wrong. We chatted for the next few hours, and by noon, the conversation came to an end. The following Sunday, I woke up early, started my pot of coffee, got onto Twitter, and said, 'Good Morning,' and someone responded, 'So what are we talking about this week?'
Davis: Okay, that's two weeks of discussion. How did you keep it going and decide to create a brand around it?
Neto: I believe #AVinTheAM started as a chat but developed into a community. People are passionate about our industry, and through #AVinTheAM, people became united in that passion.
Consistency is crucial to any social media. Quickly identifying that there was an AV audience on Sunday mornings was key. Then, I came up with a hashtag and a logo that people could identify with. It all happened very quickly.
Davis: Do you have anything special planned leading up to or during InfoComm?
Neto: I always have something cooking in the background, but you will have to check out Twitter (X) to see what I do. I don't like giving away too much ahead of time, but there is always something in the works. Last year, I brought 200 people to Starin's booth to pick up some limited edition #AVinTheAM stickers and a bracelet.
Davis: You're also the creator of #AVSelfie. How did that happen?
Neto: #AVSelfie started with the idea of breaking the internet. In the early days of 4G, cell phone companies complained that pics/selfies were slowing down their services. I took the idea to Tim Albright, who loved it but added that we could do a compilation video of all the pics captured. The beauty of #AVselfie was that there weren't any gamification rules. Just snap a pic and use the hashtag; the rest was social media magic. The folks really took to it, and it grew year after year to include a song and a parody video starring Phil Cordell, the AV Rapper.
Davis: I'd like to tip my hat to you, Chris. I don't know how you keep the magic going.
