I disagree

Read this article on Commercial Integrator and come back.

Point #1
What he saw was most likely booths from companies that had nothing new to offer with no preshow buzz. If there is nothing new to see, there is no need to see the booth. That being said - Cisco's booth is always crowded from open to close and Polycom is rarely as crowded. There are booths that get minimal traffic due to location on the floor as well.

Most small booths are pretty plain to begin with due to:
1. Booth space limitation
2. Cost

In the small booths are small companies with little extra funding to have an impressive booth space. That people disregard these because there aren't flashing lights to catch the moths is appalling to me.

Point #2
We're working on it. His one week slice of a trade show isn't a fair cross section of the companies either attending or showing products. At least in the Unified Communication space, it's very incestuous with many people who work for company X having been with Company A, B and possibly C in the past. Sales people who work the booths got hired for their Rolodex and sales history in the space. That means they are typically older men. I've found more women in engineering and marketing and more men in sales and procurement. Which group do you think would be more represented at this type of show? Infocomm isn't an engineering show.

He may not know what a Rolodex is. Sorry. Smart phone contact list.

Point #3
They are trying that too for some reason. I haven't figured out why the need for name changes. Just browse NoJitter for 10 minutes and you'll see new acronyms flying around trying to define Unified Communication.

"Calling a whole industry by a name that young people do not understand cannot be sustainable. "

ok..."Car" is derived from a word meaning "two wheeled cart". But he may call it that (I know I do) and isn't looking to call it something else. AV is audio visual. That sums up a lot of things within the scope of Infocomm.

"there needs to be a greater reach in order to avoid the problem stressed in my second point."

This I agree with. Yet our leaders (business and political are both insanely at fault) dismiss technical/trade school insisting that a college degree, any college degree, is the key to something. Prosperity? Happiness? I don't know. This won't turn into a political post so I'll end it there.

Owl Labs and 360 degree cameras

I'm always excited when a new camera with new features hits the market. Owl Labs introduced their new camera apparently in private demos at Infocomm 2017 then for general release the week after.

Personally, I don't agree with the concept of using 360 degree cameras in a standard conference room setup. Putting the camera in the middle of the table, but having displays against a wall (like in a normal room) will end up capturing the side of your head for everyone but those at the opposite end of the table as the displays. See the below schematic:

So what about "intelligent" framing cameras? Yes, they make sense and camera technology has improved to the point where it's no longer a pan/tilt/zoom camera with several seconds of delay, but it's quick digital framing.

No appearance of eye contact though

Where Owl does this framing a little differently than others, it appears to be a smooth and quick transition, leaving the full room view at the top. The guy in the back is really brought forward and you can actually see his face. That's great, but...

Notice the above picture. The method of framing (at least from the product video on Owl's website), it frames a person from left to right without regard for your actual location in the room. These two people are looking in each other's direction, but you couldn't tell that from the framed views of them. Their location in the pop up frames should be reversed.

This can get distracting if you're watching two people in the same room have a debate.

If the framing can be changed where people "pop up" relative to where they actually are in the room, this is a nice leap forward in camera technology. It may be able to do just that. Without a full test though, I don't know.

Open for new projects

As you may or may not know I am a contract designer and some time has opened up for me to take on new projects either long term or short.

Past projects have included:

Product Design in the video conferencing space

Design and development of video conferencing cameras, room environments and other related products. I've also served as project manager for installations and product manager for individual products for the companies I've worked for. Duties also included detailed installation manuals, wiring diagrams and data sheets.

Video conference product testing

I've tested codecs (software and hardware), cameras and other ancillary video conferencing related equipment along with writing detailed results.

Architectural as built drawings

These were mainly for real estate agents needing offices measured and drafted into presentation drawings for potential purchase/lease. Drawing were also done within the scope of creating floor plans and elevations for future video conference product integration.

Commercial and residential floor plans/space planning

This included custom home design, veterinary hospital design and several other commercial interior remodeling projects. Projects have also included residential addition drawings.

Mechanical design/part modeling

3d part design and modeling. Creating assemblies. Designing parts for manufacture. 3d printed many parts in house to test for size and form.

Civil Design (master planning)

This work was done for companies wanting to build commercial, single family or multi-family developments. Duties included site visits to determine view, creating presentation drawings, creating construction drawings, lot/building layouts. Sites have ranged from less than a half acre to over 700 acres.

For design work I use AutoCad 2016 and Inventor Pro 2016

Located in Cincinnati, Ohio

I can be contacted via email at bhellard@gmail.com or via phone at 513-252-8517

I would greatly appreciate it if you shared my contact information with anyone you know who needs a designer.

Thanks!

Should Infocomm add a Fourth Day?

Recent Twitter chatter is revolving around adding a 4th day to the yearly Infocomm show. For clarity sake I assume this means a 4th day of the trade show as Infocomm is already longer than four days taking into account classes and lectures.

So:
Should Infocomm add a 4th day of the trade show?

No.

As any veteran of the show (attendee, booth worker, etc) will tell you, the show is all but over by noon on Friday. This is typically my favorite day where I can spend more time with people talking about products. Adding a Tuesday show opening will only decrease the necessity of Friday and then people will start leaving Thursday afternoon. Then in five years the debate will center around getting rid of Fridays.

Any thoughts of adding a Saturday to the show should be immediately discarded.

Here is what could happen instead. Make a bigger importance out of Tuesday. Tuesday should be the "networking" day with sponsored gatherings. Tuesday could also be the day for what could be deemed the "most important" lectures. Multiple keynotes from multiple parties can happen.

Rough Tuesday schedule:

6am open the badge receiving line
8am Sponsored breakfast for networking and meet ups
9am High importance Lecture
10am minor keynote or major lecture
11am minor keynote or lecture
noon MAJOR sponsored lunch for networking and meet ups
1 or 2 major keynote
3pm final keynote/awards
4-6 reception for networking and meet ups
6-? networking events hosted by various companies at various locations

Keep the trade show out of Tuesday or God forbid Saturday.

EDIT: I forgot this important point - opening up Tuesdays for the trade show means even more exhausted booth workers. A Tuesday networking day allows them to be part of the event in a different capacity than just working the booth.

PS - the Badge receiving area should be open early and open late. Typically I arrive on Sunday or Monday afternoon. By the time I get to my hotel, check in and freshen up, I am almost always about 10 minutes late to get my badge. Or figure out a way to use my cell phone and a stupid QR code to print my own badge. It works everywhere else...