OK y’all, this is my first time as an Almo Blogger. Or is it Bloggist? Filipino by birth, East Tennessean by the grace of God, this Filbilly sometimes doesn’t rightly know what term to use. However, I do know the difference between these two terms: Pro AV Pharmacist v read more
Did You Experience the Samsung Showcase Experience?
Interview with Shari Sentlowitz Senior Manager New Product Launch Samsung Business On October 3, Almo Pro A/V hosted its final E4 AV Tour of the year in Irvine, CA. It was a great location to wrap up our year-long traveling training and networking event, read more
My Take on Samsung’s The Frame… The Most Beautiful TV You’ve Never Seen
Last week I was at CEDIA expo in San Diego and I got a firsthand look at the 2017 product of the year, The Frame. Does it live up the hype? You bet it does. Don’t worry if you missed it. You can check it out for yourself at the www.e4avtour.com. What impressed me w read more
Raspberry Pi Now Being Served
In an earlier blog this year, I reviewed NEC’s recent announcement to incorporate the popular Raspberry Pi (RPi) computer with selected new V-Series and P-Series panels by mid-2017. The addition of RPi continues NEC’s open platform philosophy utilizing OPS slots that pr read more
5 Reasons to Invest in Training
Whether you are the owner of a small AV integration firm or a manager at a large national integrator chances are you are faced with the same struggle of finding the time to attend training for yourself or send your employees for training. Often this can be costly and read more
Springing Forward on the 2017 Spring E4 AV Tour
A Behind-the-Scenes Interview with Gary Bailer, Director of Product Management, Sharp Ahh, spring is definitely in the air! The snow is melting, the birds are singing, we’ve changed the clocks and have more afternoon daylight…oh, and the Almo E4 AV Tour is on the road! read more
Almo Kicks-off New Hospitality Division with Full Day Hospitality Conference at E4 in Chicago Co-Located with Almo E4 Expo (March 21 & 22)
Almo Hospitality will unveil the latest technology trends and teach valuable skills to help resellers grow their business in 2017. Hospitality Conference at E4 (March 21st) includes a full-day of hospitality-dedicated agenda with opening presentation by Samsung’s read more
Digital Signage + Almo Pro A/V = Success in 2017!
READY TO GROW YOUR DIGITAL SIGNAGE BUSINESS IN 2017? HERE’S HOW! Life wouldn’t be fun without change. And 2016 was certainly full of exciting changes and new developments in the Pro AV Industry. Technology has “Moved Beyond Limits” with exciting products like Dual vie read more
Memory Bliss: Top 5 Moments of E4 Tour 2016
I’m going to be perfectly honest with you and say I’m a little glad the E4 events have wrapped up. It has been a busy year for the Almo team and we are all ready for a breather. Not so fast – Chicago is March 22nd and San Jose is April 19th (deep cleansing breathe). It’s time to reflect on the top 5 moments of the E4 2016 tour:
Top Moments of 2016 E4 AV Tour
1. Almo Becomes First Distributor to Live Stream a CTS RU Certified Class
We wrapped up 2016 with a bang by becoming the first AV distributor to live stream a CTS RU certified course on Facebook. With over 100 online attendees, we were excited to extend the education of the E4 beyond the Dallas, TX area to the whole world.
2. Almo Services Offering Launches
Although we introduced Almo Connect in late 2015, the first time Almo customers got to really learn about it was at the E4 in Atlanta. In talking about the bandwidth needs in the 4K keynote, it was a perfect foray into conversations about reselling Almo Connect services. Next we launched Almo Control at the Boston event, our new control systems programming.
3. E4 Experience Launches
We take feedback from the tour very seriously. One aspect that was missing from E4 was a more hands-on approach to product learning. So we launched the E4 Experience with two “experience rooms” – Design a Huddle Space and Create & Publish Digital Signage Content. Each experience was sold out for every event.
4. World’s First Keynote in True 4K
Last year Gary Kayye came to me and said he had a “killer” keynote idea. To present the keynote about 4K IN 4K! We did it with some magic from Barco in Atlanta and rocked the house. I’ve never had so many comments about an E4 keynote about how much they learned about 4K and all the myths dispelled.
5. Almo Announces Acquisition of IAVI at Washington DC Event
While in the middle of planning two E4 events, we were also gearing up for the acquisition of IAVI in April and announced the news to our vendors at what they thought was an appreciation event but ended up being more of a press conference. Surprise – we just doubled in size! Very exciting times!
Just because the tour is over doesn’t mean the learning has to stop! Check out our recorded classes, including Gary’s Keynote where you can STILL earn CTS RU’s, our videos, blogs and photos.
Digital Signage – Any Which Way
October finished up the last of the Almo Pro AV E4 AV Tours for 2016, the last of which was in Dallas, TX.
One of the many things to do is walk through the Exhibit Hall, where all of Almo’s manufacturer partners showcase their latest and greatest products…
I really “flipped” over the all-new R Series product displayed by Sharp at our Dallas Show.
This beauty will come in a 42”, 49” and 55” display, and with the extreme tilt capabilities opens up new mounting possibilities that gives more flexibility than ever before to digital signage installations. My imagination went wild. Not only can this series be mounted in portrait or landscape mode, imagine the 42” display mounted face up on a table in a sleek apparel shop, or the 55” face down from the ceiling in a planetarium…
While I wouldn’t suggest mounting it on a floor surface that would be walked on, the design of these monitors is robust enough that they can be suspended from the four corners of the rear housing using wires. I immediately envisioned a simple, elegant look for an office lobby, like an attorney’s office or accounting firm or a retail shop where information, daily specials or other content could be simply and beautifully displayed.
The ingenuity and creativity of our dealers and integrator customers is always impressive. And I can’t wait to see what they come up with when they let loose with Sharp’s new PN-R Series!
