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 time consuming however the benefits of a highly trained workforce will almost always outweigh the short term costs.  Here are five reasons you should consider training for yourself or for your staff:

1.

Staying on Top of the Latest Technology Trends

I think we can all agree that like many industries the world of commercial AV technology is constantly changing and evolving, not only with the technology itself, but with the needs of our customers.   A recent example of this has been the explosive growth in “huddle spaces” within corporations, and the technology advancements developed to meet these needs.   If you are not aware of the latest trends and equipped to handle them you will likely find yourself losing business to competitors.

2.

Enhance Customer Service

Think about a time when you were interested in making a purchase, any type of purchase, it doesn’t have to be technology, and you felt your sales person was not educated about the product. How did that make you feel about that company? Your customers will always get better service from a well-trained employee, whether it is your sales person, project manager or installation technician.

3.

Keep Your Certifications Current

While there are many certifications in our industry, the most common and well recognized is infoComm’s CTS. The CTS, CTS-I, and CTS-D are important designations and require a significant amount of time and effort to achieve. Any CTS holder understands the importance of continuing education and obtaining CTS RU’s in order to maintain their certification. RU’s can be obtained in a variety of different methods including live classroom training, various trade events like Almo’s E4 AV Tour, and webinars.

4.

Less Supervision

As an owner or manager you are faced with the difficult challenge of running your business and managing employees often while being involved in work that could be handled by properly trained employees freeing you up for other tasks. Well trained employees will be able to work more independently without the need for constant guidance, and will help your staff be more confident and satisfied in their job.

5.

Reduce Employee Turnover

Hiring new employees can be time consuming, expensive, and involve risk if the right hire is not made. Providing training opportunities for your employees shows them your interest in advancing their professional skills and will enhance company loyalty and increased employee contributions to your business. Often, employees thrive on knowing they are a key contributor to their company as much as they enjoy monetary compensation.

Almo’s E4 AV Tour has stops in New York on September 19th and in California on October 3rd , and in addition to an exhibit of the newest technology from over 35 top manufacturers, attendees will have the ability to earn InfoComm CTS RU’s throughout the day via classroom training.

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!

Each year, the tour visits two cities in the spring and two cities in the fall. In March, we stopped to spend the day with a record number – MORE than 500! — of attendees in Chicago.

The tour moves on to San Jose April 19.

HAVE YOU BEEN TO AN ALMO E4?

Post your experience in the comments section of this post and earn a $5 Starbucks Gift Card!

Months and months and MONTHS of planning goes into preparing for an E4! And it’s not just Almo working around the clock to make it happen. Our manufacturing partners take an ENORMOUS amount of time planning which products they will showcase in their booths and what they’d like to discuss with attendees on the exhibit floor. For the spring E4s in particular, our exhibitors oftentimes show products that were previewed at ISE and DSE or “sneak peek” those that are launching at InfoComm in June!

Did you know that SHARP has been on EVERY stop of the E4 AV Tour since it began in 2009! So this will be the 30th time that Sharp has gone through this process with Almo Pro A/V!

Recently, I put on my “investigative reporting” hat and had a chat with Gary Bailer, Director of Product Management for Sharp:

Darren:

Gary:

What do you like best about Almo’s E4 AV Tour?

Hands down, E4 is the BEST networking event for the commercial AV community. It has all the benefits of a full-fledged tradeshow but in an environment that lends itself to more in-depth discussions and relationship-building. Almo puts on a first-class event — each one has been better than the one before!

Darren:

Gary:

Is Sharp showing any new products?

Yes! We are showing the brand NEW PN-C705B AQUOS BOARD interactive display with Direct Bonding technology. This product is currently available and shipping! It is a 70- or 80-inch value-priced display that is made for schools and businesses. E4 attendees absolutely have to come by to take a look at it. We introduced this product in January.

Darren:

Gary:

Any new initiatives from Sharp that we should know about?

Our NEW PN-L401C Capacitive Touch Huddle Display with Mini OPS Expandability (cards that allow the panel to be more versatile) will be shown in San Jose. This product is 100 percent AQUOS BOARD in that it’s an interactive display — it can be used in either landscape, portrait or face-up orientation — and allows for wireless collaboration, annotation, screen sharing (wirelessly) and whiteboarding.

Darren:

Gary:

Will you have any booth contests or prizes?

Yes!  We’ve invited a local artist to use the Sharp PN-C705B AQUOS BOARD® Interactive Display to draw caricatures of visitors to the booth.

POST YOUR CARICATURE IN THE COMMENTS SECTION OF THIS BLOG AND YOU’LL BE ENTERED TO WIN A GIFT FROM SHARP!

Darren:

Gary:

What’s your advice for those attending an E4 event?

Absolutely make time for this one-day event! The contacts you will make, the technology you will have exposure to, and the courses and workshops you will take are going to be invaluable to your business.

We are taking a lot of photos and videos from the Sharp booth during the spring E4 tour.  My next post will reveal some of these moments. We look forward to seeing you in San Jose!

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 dynamic Vice President of Hospitality TV, Jonas Tanenbaum with Hospitality Industry Update & Trends Driving Integration.

THE FOLLOWING SESSIONS ROUND OUT THE AGENDA:

  • · Driving Revenues & Customer Loyalty with Hospitality Installations (Steven’s Digital)
  • · Catering to Hotel Guests & Drive Revenues with Samsung REACH
  • · ALMO Connect: The Ultimate Shopping Service for Free-to-Guest TV, Bandwidth & Voice (Comcast Business Solutions)
  • · RoomCast: How Today’s Guests Watch TV (TeleAdapt)
  • · The Significance of Brand Standards in the Hotel Industry (Peerless-AV)
  • · Charged Up! Drive Revenues & Guest Satisfaction Ratings with the Latest in Hospitality Charging Trends (Kube Systems)
  • · BrightSign Digital Signage Experience LIVE Workshop
  • · Navigating the World of FF&E with Hospitality Furniture & Furnishings (Ramler International)

The Hospitality Conference at E4 wraps with an energetic and interactive discussion led by the authentic Kiwi, Almo’s own Stephen McKay, Senior Vice President- Special Markets.

This action-packed day concludes with a fun yet relaxed customer appreciation and networking dinner at a local Oak Brook area gem hosted by Almo Hospitality along with Samsung and other manufacturer partners where customers will have the opportunity to mix and mingle with our hospitality team and get to know our family of customers and vendors over a memorable dining experience!

Hospitality Conference at E4 attendees will automatically be registered for a full-access pass to the Almo E4 Tour & Expo the following day (March 22nd) where they will see the very latest technology and tech-trends from 35+ leading vendors in the Pro AV space including: Pro AV, Digital Signage, Audio, Electronics & Charging Solutions, Appliances & Furniture and Furnishings- PLUS a special Almo Hospitality Exhibit featuring some of our most in-demand product offerings for hotel properties, including solutions from: Samsung, Peerless-AV, Harman/AMX, Kube Systems, TeleAdapt, Danby, Hanover & Ramler International; even our hospitality-dedicated installation partner, Steven’s Digital and free-to-guest provider, Comcast will be there to talk shop!

Space for the Hospitality Conference at E4 is limited so register today to confirm your spot! 

Resellers are welcome to invite their customers to join them for the E4 Expo (March 22) as a resource to help end users see the latest technology and talk with on-site experts so resellers can help them with full implementation; E4 Expo Registration.  Both events are free to attendees and resellers; free breakfast and lunch is also provided (as well as dinner for registered conference attendees).  We look forward to learning your “lightbulb moment!”.

Please contact Apryl G. Lamberti, Director Business Development Hospitality with Almo Professional A/V with any questions or for more information.

 

This Guy’s Top Five Products from the Almo E4 Fall Shows

Each Spring and Fall Almo’s E4 Tour swings through two major cities and brings along with it an entire day’s worth of CTS accredited educational courses and gets roughly 40 of the top manufacturers in the professional audio video industry all in one room showcasing their newest product offerings.

As a technology professional and a self-proclaimed “AV Geek” these events are always exciting to me as I am often one of the first people to see new and emerging technology.  Sometimes it’s electronics, or perhaps software, or even bent metal making the installation of said technology easier and more efficient.   There were a handful of stand-out products that were featured at our Fall shows this year that are worth checking out.


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 ATEN VM3909H – 9×9 HDMI HDBaseT-Lite Matrix Switch: Remember way back when where the number of hot dogs in a package did not always match the number of buns in a package?  I realize it is a silly reference, but try doing a 3×3 video wall with an 8×8 matrix switch.   The folks at ATEN were mindful of this when they introduced this 9×9 HDMI matrix switch earlier this year.  An addition to the 9 HDMI outputs it has 9 HDBaseT Lite outputs allowing the switch to be located up to 70m away from the video wall using the appropriate HDBaseT receivers.   A simple front panel control and GUI interface to create simple video wall layouts round out the feature set of this Red Dot Award winning product.

_MG_00202.) Chief SYS Projector Mount System Series: The engineers at Chief really did their homework on this one keeping the installer in mind with features not found in other mounting systems.   This system not only saves time on the install but is aesthetically pleasing.  Installers will love the fact that the mount and column come pre-assembled and even the box is designed so that the parts needed first are packaged on top.   Micro adjustments for perfect alignment can be made without any tools and the 0”-12” adjustable column has separate cable management channels for both high and low voltage cabling.

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3.) tvONE ONErack – Universal Rack Mounting System for Small Devices: While small devices such as HDBaseT transmitters, format converters, small audio products and more are convenient because of their size they can quickly make a mess of your equipment rack since in many cases they are not specifically designed to be mounted or secured into a traditional 19” rack space.   Not only that, but they also generally have large wall-wart type power supplies which can clutter power distribution units within the rack.   Available in 4RU, 5RU, and 6RU chassis models, this system converts randomly sized small AV devices into slide-in modules while consolidating power for all devices within the system.   An optional active cooling system is available for situations where you are populating a large number of devices.

_MG_00434.) Atlona AT-UHD-HDVS-300-KIT – Soft Codec Conferencing System: As more and more companies adopt PC-based conferencing codecs like Skype, WebEx, & GoToMeeting in place of traditional hardware based codecs for smaller conference rooms and huddle spaces the need for external USB microphones and cameras has increased with the desire for quality meetings.   In order to accomplish this typical systems require AV extenders, USB extenders, USB hubs, multiple remotes, plus all of the required cables.   Atlona’s system accomplishes this with just two devices and a single category cable.   This unit also is a 4 input auto sensing AV switcher and provides automatic display control via CEC, IP, and RS-232 allowing users to start meetings quickly and easily.

_MG_00345.) Almo CONTROL – Control System & DSP Programming Services: Almo got into offering services two years ago with the introduction of digital signage content creation and since then have added services for installation as well as telecom services.   Almo CONTROL is the most recent introduction and was launched at the E4 Fall tour this year.   With Almo CONTROL integrators can potentially take on more projects with access to additional programming resources, or where they have expertise in one system but need resources for another.   Our programmers have been providing outstanding control system programming and system commissioning support services since the year 2000.

With all of the changes in our industry and constantly evolving technology I look forward to see what lies ahead in 2017.

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.

services todd

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 Eventalmo+iavi

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.

Building Customer Connections Through Technology Show and Tell

As a product manager in Pro AV Sales, or any type of sales, really, it’s critical to be able to connect with your customers.  While establishing a relationship using only the telephone is not impossible, I’ve discovered that connections and rapport can be made more quickly and become much stronger in-person.  A great way to personally connect with partners and resellers in the Pro AV world is through technology training and product roadshows.  It’s a great way to say, “check this new gadget out” and “thank you for your business!”

At Almo PRO AV we bring the future of AV to you via our E4 AV Tour.  These one-day events, held in different cities across the country offer product exhibit halls, educational classes for CTS renewal units, demonstrations, and one-on-one engagement with our Almo Pro AV Business Development Managers and their respective manufacturers.

For me… it’s all about LG!

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At our most recent E4 AV Tour stop in Boson, Commercial Integrator Magazine named LG a leading manufacturer with “Standout Products” for its OLED technology, suggested to be “one of the most eye-catching displays on the exhibit floor.”

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LG’s 4K dual-sided OLED straight displays are available now.  The curved models are coming late this month.

At the end of September, Almo sponsored an invitation-only reseller event at the LG Business Innovation Center in Lincolnshire, IL.  Approximately 25 resellers attended this event and enjoyed in-person training on LG’s exclusive OLED, IPS technology and a private tour of the facility.  Product demonstrations showcased a full assortment of LG products, including LG Stretch, 4k, OLED dual side and curved models, video walls and the soon to be released 98” display.  Steve Stacy, Almo’s VP of Sales for the Midwest and Northwest Regions delivered a summary presentation on Almo’s Value Add services such as Content Management, Installation and Connectivity.

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Our events provide hand-on technical training as a component of social learning and partner collaboration.  I look forward to building new partnerships and strengthening the existing ones in a comfortable, friendly setting that opens lines of communication.

Looking ahead, the Almo E4 AV Tour makes its final stop in 2016 on Tuesday Dallas in the Lone Star State.  As we wind down the year we’re continuing to plan new and exciting ways to bring our partners and resellers emerging technologies.

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