Last week I had the privilege and pleasure of attending InfoComm 100. Established in 2009 by the InfoComm Leadership Development Committee , the event brings together 100 executives from all aspects of the audio visual industry to discuss trends and the future of our industry. The event represents a cross section of InfoComm members from consultants, integrators, end users, manufactures, independent reps, and architects. Some of these members came from as far away as New Zealand and South Africa. All 100 attendees got together in one room for two days of intensive discussion and collaborative learning. Designed to be a “think tank” approach, guest speakers would deliver information of current statistics. Then, attendees would break into small groups and discuss the information, how it is currently relevant, and how it might affect the AV industry in the future.
The guest speakers knew their material extremely well and took questions and comments from the attendees and the attendees then collaborated on what this means to each one in their own businesses and our industry as a whole. There was a great deal of information being discussed over the two days. Here’s a quick snapshot of some of the high level topics from the first day:
- Millennials will control the workforce in 2018; out numbering Baby Boomers & Generation X.
- We need to make room for them and we need to consider “reverse mentoring”. They work and communicate much differently and they have a great deal to contribute to us.
- Sustainability is important to our customers. It’s required.
- Social Networking is not a fad, it’s here and networking is the new currency. This is a key tool for team collaboration.
- We need to design our businesses and our organizations to be resilient and adaptive.
- Understand that AV is not a “thing” but rather an experience. We need to stop selling and talking about “things” and we need to be able to sell and talk about the “experience.”
- Projects will become collaborative and we need to build teams that have mutual trust. Teams will include all members; the end user/owner, the architect, the integrator, the manufacture.
The networking opportunities were also outstanding with high level executives in our industry that we seldom have the opportunity to network with. We have some amazing people involved in our industry.
My experience at InfoComm 100 was fantastic and I felt honored to be a part of this event. I have many take-a-ways including implementing much of what I learned into real actions to help my company and our industry. I’m excited to download as much as I can. There are so many ideas and thoughts I want to share with the leadership team at Listen. I feel a strong obligation to “pay it forward” because being included in this event was such a privilege.