Whilst talking to my wonderful friend Laura Frank during the recording of the first Surroundscapes episode of season 6, we got onto the topic of communication. Although we covered many subjects (and I’d heartily recommend you listen to the episode), I wanted to focus on this particular part of our conversation and highlight two areas where we need to communicate better.
The first is communication between creators and technologists. Conferencing is the only area of the AV industry where we generate our own content. In every other part of our industry, we manufacturers, consultants, and integrators rely on the work of talented artists in the audio and video domains to make our customers’ experiences memorable. It is vital that we, as an industry, talk to these creators for two reasons.
The first is to help them understand the capabilities of the systems we install so they can use them fully to realize their creative visions. We need to speak in language they understand and listen carefully to what they say. We must identify where creators struggle with technology and work on improving those areas. User experience (UX) is central here, since the “users” include not only those operating equipment once it’s installed but also the people creating content for it.
The second reason is to learn what creators would do if anything were possible. In an industry where commodification is increasingly common, this is the key to true differentiation. It’s how we’ll design products and specify and install systems that genuinely lead the industry.
Laura works in the visual side of the live events industry and, through the organization she founded frame:work she brings together creators and the technologists who help realize their visions. She explained that this collaboration is essential because in live events things happen quickly, often at the last minute. Everyone involved must operate as a single team to make it work. There can be no barriers or walled gardens; creatives and technologists must collaborate seamlessly. The installed AV sector can and should learn a great deal from this.
The second area of communication is between those of us in the industry and our customers. Part of frame:work’s mission is to educate clients, and I asked Laura how they approach this. She admitted it’s still very much a work in progress. In her world, she explained, they deliver “magic” so seamlessly that clients rarely see the immense effort involved and therefore don’t fully value it. That struck a chord with me, and to some extent I think the same applies in the installed AV sector.
However, I believe that for us, echoing the conversations with creators, the key is to talk to customers in a language they understand, framing outcomes in terms that matter to them. For us, great audio or video is a passion; its core to our lives. For businesses, the priority is how technology helps them run more effectively and profitably. We must articulate benefits in those terms, and, crucially, listen carefully to hear what truly excites and engages them and then lean into that.
What ties all of this together is the act of communication: talking with the people at each end of our industry, creators and clients, in language that resonates with them, and most importantly, listening carefully to what they are saying.
