Editor’s Note: This article featuring Misty Chalk and her 2025 reflections is part of Commercial Integrator’s series that will run throughout the month of December. In this series, we’ll highlight 2025 reflections from some of the industry’s most notable luminaries. Be sure to check out our complete list of voices for a comprehensive look at the year’s key trends and insights.
As the pro AV industry reflects on the year 2025, it’s clear that this has been a period of both growth and transformation. To gain deeper insights into the trends, challenges and opportunities that have shaped the industry, Commercial Integrator turned to Misty Chalk, vice president of sales, Americas, at BrightSign.
Misty Chalk 2025 Reflections
The pro AV industry has seen significant shifts in how it engages with customers and end users. Chalk reflects on 2025’s key trends, including the rise of micro-experiences, AI-driven innovation and the growing integration of pro AV within broader IT infrastructures. Below, she shares her insights on the challenges, surprises and opportunities that have defined the year.
Commercial Integrator: What kind of year has 2025 been for the pro AV industry?
Misty Chalk: 2025 has been a year of change and advancement for the pro AV industry. An evolving customer and end-user base demanded new ways of engaging with providers and audiences. Businesses across industries adopted and integrated tech more rapidly, which sparked innovation in pro AV offerings.
Conversations centered on increased demand for dynamic content, interactivity, immersive experiences and flexible technology. AI was at the center of much of this. The result was an evolution in hardware, improvements in software, and new collaborations as pro AV attempted to both advance every digital touchpoint while simultaneously making deployment, management and support simpler.
CI: What has been the most surprising development in the pro AV industry this year?
Chalk: The rise of the “micro-experience,” which has come at speed. When we think back to the “experience economy” of recent years, the focus was on creating digital experiences that attracted and engaged audiences, at scale. Those that led the charge were able to quickly understand that true value extends well beyond hardware, encapsulating the software and service models that make any enterprise technology successful.
Micro-experiences will shift how the industry measures and monetizes the impact of pro AV — What is happening at each interaction? How do we determine what is effective or delivering value? How can each engagement be individualized to captivate all audiences? Are people inclined to act on the experience, via purchasing a good or sharing with friends?
In a highly social, highly personalized culture, these are the questions that customers want answered. All while organizations want to better understand, manage and measure each touchpoint within the overall customer journey. The providers and ecosystem partners who can offer evidence in the form of real-world, deployable use cases will prove the most valuable.
CI: What has been the most important change we’ve seen this year in pro AV?
Chalk: The industry has moved to a new way of working to meet customers and end users where they are. Right from the outset of 2025, challenges spurred new industry partnerships, new go-to-market strategies, and new ways of servicing and supporting pro AV. We are zoning in (if we aren’t there already) on a world in which today’s pro AV and — in many cases — digital signage systems are competing for the same airspace as any enterprise technology. We now fit as an integral part of a broader IT infrastructure. This means security, reliability and management of these digital endpoints take on heightened importance.
As an industry, we must get this equation right if we are to help pro AV reach its potential. There isn’t one answer, but providers who can simplify this equation for customers – often through a mixture of technology integrations, and alongside integrators or service partners — will be best positioned. As with any IT infrastructure, this means real-time and remote management, predictive and proactive maintenance, and the right security and protection measures. Too much is at stake for businesses to ignore these realities.
Stay tuned with Commercial Integrator as we gather year-end insights and reflections from the brightest minds in the industry. If you’d like to be featured, contact our editorial team (Alyssa Borelli, Amala Reddie and Dan Ferrisi).
