Humans like to put everything we see and experience into neat, or fairly neat, categories and frames. This inborn tendency allowed our species to describe our world and explore just why things that look the same are not always unrelated.
It is the same with trade shows such as InfoComm. When explaining to the uninitiated how the show relates to the pantheon of other technical trade shows, we tend to lean toward what we have always known.
Peanut Butter and Chocolate
As the thinking goes, CEDIA is focused on residential, LDI caters to the theatrical, NAB is Broadcast, and AES is all about the recording studios and live trucks. InfoComm is generically placed in the box of commercial integration, centered on board rooms, class rooms and business distribution systems.
The truth is that all have a mix of seemingly disparate disciplines blending together in ways that might not have been expected. It is the ‘you’ve got your chocolate in my peanut butter’ moment.
In actuality it should not be all that surprising, and the declaration of who got what in whose is dependent on your starting perspective. Regardless, the mix can only lead to better things for the show, though it may take some convincing at first.
It may come as a bit of a surprise for some to learn that InfoComm has a sizeable segment of live events and staging exhibitors. Whether or not you were aware it is likely that you have walked through this section as you headed toward the Pro Audio booths. The only Indication being the floor tape indicating the squeezed a nook on the exhibit floor is indeed a staging section.
What is in a Name?
Part of the confusion is what defines the term “pro.” A few years ago a bit of fracas ensued when a group of integration folks suggested using the #proav hashtag over some existing, established industry collectives. The debate was not necessarily about the suggestion of the new hashtag as it was about what the tag meant.
Some like to define pro AV as the special event folks consisting of staging, live events, theater and broadcast. Others take umbrage at the exclusion and consider all professionally installed AV systems as pro AV. Two distinct communities, both claiming the same name, who is right?
Well, both and neither. The pro AV of system integration consistently pushes against the limitations of the channel offerings and has begun to include more theatrical based technologies, such as DMX and ACN.
The staging folks can create wonders with projection mapping that are a specialty beyond compare. It is also true that the live events systems have begun to incorporate more ‘prosumer’ interfaces and system topologies.
Middlemarch Metaphor
Then there are those who live betwixt the two. These George Eliot-esque houses shift from boardrooms and bars to live venue, houses of worship, music houses and stadiums. Melding the two distinct ‘pro’ methodologies these shops show that cross pollination and commonality in fundamentals is possible. It also requires a special skilled staff who can understand the proclivities of both.
In recent years there has been a public push by InfoComm International to grow this portion of the exhibit floor. More vendors who offer non-traditional AV support systems have begun to stake a claim. IATSE has been ever more present here with demonstrations and training of trade specifics skills. In addition this year the stagehand organization has some special InfoComm classes bringing audio and video fundamentals to stagehands.
It is well worth your time to wander over to the north forty of the show floor and look over the technologies and people who you are to become and become you.
