Editor’s Note: Amala Reddie initially posted this coverage of InfoComm 2024 on May 16. Since, our editorial team has updated it with additional information and reporting.
As they counted down the days, #avtweeps could not be more excited to hit the show floor running at InfoComm 2024! Each year, the show brings together technological innovations and a range of education programs, and this month’s event was no different.
In an interview with Commercial Integrator, Rochelle Richardson, senior vice president of exhibitions and events services, AVIXA, gives an insight into what attendees experienced on the show floor along with a multitude of learning and networking opportunities.
This year, InfoComm 2024 took place June 8 to 14 at the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC), with exhibits open from June 12 to 14. Read on to see the exciting events that awaited the AV industry at the show!
Bigger Than Ever
“Every year we get the opportunity to create a new program,” Richardson begins. “And, each year, we try to make sure that it’s robust and comprehensive for all.” In her opinion, this truly includes everyone, right from a first timer to a returning, repeating attendee or someone that is a beginner in the industry to someone that’s an expert in several fields.
Richardson then reveals, “The program is based on feedback that we hear from the previous year’s show, and through our different councils and our different committee groups.” She proclaims that this feedback is especially pertinent as it ensures that the show keeps resonating and connecting with what the industry expects and needs. “The show depicts our commitment to the exhibitors, attendees and the industry itself,” Richardson emphasizes.
According to Richardson, about 800 well-known brands from around the globe participated at InfoComm 2024. She also mentions the four key solution areas for the show: content production and streaming, conferencing and collaboration, digital signage and learning technologies.
“We build out our program in a way that connects the dots to everything that we are doing in our education program to what you saw and experienced on the trade show floor,” Richardson says, “Not only that, but these solution areas also link back to the Integrated Tours Experience, thereby creating a cohesive and interactive experience for attendees.”
Emphasis on Conferencing and Collaboration
InfoComm 2023 show in Orlando, Fla. Courtesy: AVIXA.
This year, Richardson notes that the various collaboration partnerships brought an additional layer to the overall experience. “We had different partners like Digital Signage Federation, HETMA and our collaboration with NSCA on our business skills program,” she underscores. “In addition to this, we had embedded consulting with the Brawn Consulting team.”
In Richardson’s opinion, these partnerships allow AVIXA to do what it does well — provide content-rich collaboration around certification. She elaborates, “These partnerships, in collaboration with our programs, enable us to offer certification and training at the show.” This includes CTS, CTS-D and CTS-I certification programs, as well as training for important business skills and programming. “In essence, these partnerships showcase our professional audiovisual technology at its best,” Richardson proclaims.
Diversity of Tour Offerings
Alongside this, Richardson expresses her excitement about the diversity and breadth of tours that were available at InfoComm 2024. She reveals, “Attendees got to experience seven show floor.” Here, the tours covered topics such as audio enterprise, sustainability, content production and streaming, conferencing and collaboration, digital signage and learning spaces.
What’s more, outside the LVCC, there were two tours at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, covering both its engineering building and the medical school. There was also a tour of the Illuminarium, along with a visit to HyperX Arena Las Vegas at Luxor, which demonstrated dazzling technology and production capabilities. Attendees also visited Area 15, where they learned all about the immersive entertainment district.
To top it off, the organization also arranged An Evening at Sphere. During this dazzling event, visitors viewed numerous demonstrations, followed by the film “Darren Aronofsky’s A Postcard from Earth,” which offers visitors a glimpse into the immersive audiovisual technologies at play at the Sphere. For Richardson, this presented an unmissable opportunity as “…attendees had the chance to network and connect with visionaries while diving into the emerging technologies.”
Tying it all together, Richardson observes that these tours emerged as a major highlight for InfoComm. After all, they “…added to the momentum and excitement that dovetails very nicely with our solution areas.”
A Staple: The AVIXA Women’s Council Breakfast
Richardson spotlights the AVIXA Women’s Council Breakfast as a bread-and-butter event for visitors who attend InfoComm. “It is not only one of the most sought-after events at InfoComm but also one of our most well-attended events!” she enthuses. Richardson emphasizes that the defining aspect of the Women’s Breakfast is that it is open to all. “Everyone is invited, and you can actually see the diversity of those attending this event,” she says. “And because it is such an inclusive event, it is really nice to see so many people so early in the morning.”
From Richardson’s perspective, the address from the keynote speaker at the AVIXA Women’s Council Breakfast is also a huge draw for attendees. She remarks, “Every year, we try to select a keynote speaker that is going to elevate our thinking around women in AV and pro AV in general.” With this in mind, this year’s keynote speaker was Danielle Feinberg, visual effects supervisor at Pixar Animation Studios, and advocate for diversity. Richardson adds that Feinberg brought a unique perspective to the event given her influential role and passion for diversity. “Danielle has an incredible background and has worked on some award-winning movies,” she says.
Citing Feinberg as an inspiration, Richardson underscores that “…it is nice to have more women coming into the pro AV space and see how they’re growing and developing in their fields.” She hopes the AVIXA Women’s Council Breakfast enables people to place diversity and equity at the forefront of their conversations and actions. “Diversity, equity and inclusion is a part of our DNA at AVIXA, and we aspire to share that with others,” Richardson says.
Education Sessions at InfoComm 2024
Annette Sandler, senior director of live content, U.S. and Canada for AVIXA, gives an insight into some of the education program at InfoComm 2024, which featured more than 150 sessions.
Given the rising trend of AV-over-IP in several verticals, Sandler states that there was a new AV-over-IP workshop at InfoComm. “This is originally an exclusive on-demand offering that we are now able to offer in person at InfoComm,” she says. Here, the class gave attendees a solid basic framework to understand the key issues involved in the new AV-over-IP landscape. “Basically, attendees learned all of the key components and concepts to make transporting AV-over-IP a reality,” Sandler remarks.
Turning to the buzzword of the year — artificial intelligence (AI) — Sandler states that the topic was not a standalone education session, rather it was embedded throughout the program. “AI has so many potential applications and ways it can be used,” she explains, “So, we decided to add a new tag on the website where interested attendees could filter for AI sessions in all of our education tracks.”
According to Sandler, partner workshops rounded out the education offerings at InfoComm.. “HETMA [Higher Education Technology Managers Alliance] increased the higher-education workshop to a day-and-a-half program for the higher-ed tech managers,” she reveals. Along with this, NSCA hosted its BizSkills workshops, offering strategic business insights for integrators. “Our newest partner is Sustainability in AV (SAVe) where they presented a revamped SAVe certification workshop,” Sandler adds.
In summation, Sandler hopes that, through these sessions, attendees got to connect with another attendee or even one of the speakers as a resource for projects. “I think these in-person connections are what make InfoComm really special!” she enthuses.
Sandler also intends these sessions to bring a new perspective for attendees on how to approach future projects. “There’s a lot of new skills and technologies that you can explore, but it all depends on how it comes together when they work with the next client,” she underscores.
Esports Live 2.0
InfoComm 2024 will be bigger than ever, according to Rochelle Richardson and Annette Sandler of AVIXA. Photo courtesy: AVIXA
Last year, InfoComm introduced InfoComm Esports Live. Now, the popular space is back — and it was even bigger and better than before. Richardson remarks, “The Esports Live 2.0 is our second year of having the opportunity to collaborate with AVI systems and nine other manufacturers to provide the technology powering the area.” She adds that these manufacturers included Sony, Logitech, Planar, NETGEAR and Q-SYS, just to name a few.
Richardson also acknowledges that Esports Live kicked off after a tribute to the late Brad Sousa, who was instrumental in developing the space. “He was a great partner and collaborator, and I had the honor of working with him closely on the launch of Esports Live at InfoComm 2023,” Richardson reflects. Heralding the tribute was Sousa’s family, along with Jeff Stoebner, president and CEO of AVI Systems; David Labuskes, CEO of AVIXA; and Sarah Joyce, chief global officer at AVIXA.
Richardson adds that this year saw an expanded footprint of Esports Live. “We’ve made it a lot larger with three days of competitive play and a double elimination in the top,” she says. At present, there were six different higher-education teams from different colleges and universities who competed in Esports Live. “We also had live presentations as part of the Esports experience,” Richardson proclaims.
Networking Sessions
Turning to networking sessions at InfoComm 2024, Richardson reveals that they held Market Insights lunches on digital signage and on the state of the industry, along with Congreso, the all-Spanish program. “We also had the First-Timer Tips with the Rising Professionals Council in the Member Lounge area,” she states. Along with all that, there were daily meetups ranging from the Enterprise IT meetup to the All Women in AV meetup. “There was also additional programming [sessions] taking place in the AVIXA Xchange LIVE area and Member Lounge areas,” Richardson says. “We hope attendees got to take advantage of all these sessions to reinforce new and old connections on the show floor!”
Final Thoughts
All in all, this month’s InfoComm 2024 delivered an engrossing and immersive experience with a myriad of opportunities for all attendees. As Richardson concludes, “InfoComm reflects how far the [AV] industry has come and showcases the possibilities for the future!”
Want to read more about InfoComm 2024? Check out our hub page for all events, products and latest networking sessions at the event in Las Vegas!
