The countdown to InfoComm is on! We’ve already seen some exciting industry news come out before the show with more on the way soon! This year, from June 10-16, 2017, Orlando will be swarmed by AV and IT professionals looking to share their wares or learn about the latest offerings to implement in their organizations.
Each year, it’s so difficult to decide which sessions to attend at InfoComm, as there are so many great ones and not enough time. Although it’s tough to narrow it down, I’ve decided to personally attend the following sessions (below) and wanted to share a few quick thoughts on each. For a complete list of all InfoComm sessions offered, please click here.
Note: Speakers and panel members have not yet been announced for all sessions yet. We’ll update this article as the information becomes available.
IMCCA Emerging Trends
The IMCCA is hosting a day of sessions on emerging trends. The sessions will be led by a list of 2017 Emerging Technology Fellow honorees. I plan on attending as many of these sessions as possible. Here is the complete Emerging Trends Day lineup.
- Future Trends Forecast
Pete Putman, CTS, ROAM Consulting LLC - The Year in Review
Dr. S. Ann Earon, President, Telemanagement Resources International - Microphones and Audio Processing
Mike Sinclair, Vice President/Owner, Audio Incorporated - Display Technology
Joel Silver, President, Imaging Science Foundation, Inc. - Digital Signage
Manolo Almagro, Managing Director, Innovations, TPN - Control Systems
Hope Roth, CTS, Lead Programmer, Riordan Brothers Integration - UC, Videoconferencing and Huddle Rooms
David Danto, Director of Emerging Technology/Principal Consultant, IMCCA/Dimension Data - Workstream / Team Chat (Slack / Spark / MS Teams)
Irwin Lazar, Vice President and Service Director, Nemertes Research - Collaboration via Apps and APIs
Tim Banting, Principal Analyst, Collaboration and Communications, Custom Data and Analytics, Current Analysis - The Cloud and XaaS
Brent Kelly, President and Principal Analyst, KelCor, Inc. - Monitoring and Managed Services
Ira Weinstein, Senior Analyst and Partner, Wainhouse Research - The Year in Review Recap
Dr. S. Ann Earon, President, Telemanagement Resources International
Workspaces of Tomorrow
Speaker: Ken Scaturro (Condeco)
Panelists: Mike Fitch (Revolabs), Brady Bruce (InFocus), Jason Moss (Logitech), Michael DiBella (Kramer), Beau Wilder (Plantronics)
Many sessions at InfoComm will tie into today’s new agile workflow while highlighting various new products and trends. This session however, appears to really dive deep into the workflows themselves and how they are empowering workers to be more productive, while enjoying life more than in the past. Remote working is a big part of today’s new flexible work/life balance so I look forward to discussion about hot to better support and appreciate these workers.
UCC Lunch and Learn: The State of the Industry
Speaker: Dr. S. Ann Earon (Telemanagement Resources International)
Panelists: Jedd Williams (Cisco), Janelle Raney (Zoom), Chad Constant (Intel), Mike Fitch (Revolabs), Danny Rogers (AVI-SPL), Brady Bruce (InFocus), Tom-Erik Lia (Videxio), Simon Dudley (Logitech), Greg Pelton (Polycom), Dan Jackson (Crestron), Mark Strassman (BlueJeans)
This full panel should lead a lively discussion over a pretty broad range of topics. Mobility, interoperability, convergence, the latest user applications, managed services, cloud service, and the latest disruptions are all on the menu for this lunch session.
Cutting The Cord – The New Breed of Wireless Presentation Systems
Speaker: John Antanaitis (ATeam6)
Panelists: Wayne Driggers (Zoom), Dave Buchholz (Intel), Neta Lempert (Kramer), Amy Barzdukas (Polycom), Ted Colton (Crestron)
Wireless presentation has been a hot market segment for several years now. I’m curious to see how much of this is hype due to undeniably cool technology, and how much of it is really serving the actual workflows of today’s working teams. In other words, are we adjusting the way we do meetings in order to use the shiney new toys, or are these devices a long awaited solution for a dire collaboration need.
Touch and Collaborate: Interactive Displays as the Industry’s Latest Craze
Speaker: Simon Dudley (Logitech)
Panelists: Ruth Nelson (Cisco), Janelle Raney (Zoom), Surendra Arora (InFocus), Paul Foschino (Ricoh), Jim Fairweather (TouchJet)
Everyone wants a touch screen. The market is quickly getting crowded with new entries from established industry leaders. It looks like this session will help us break down the market, find the biggest differentiators between the leading vendors, and see where the real value lies for these devices.
The Huddle Room Explosion: Finding the Right Solution for Your Space
Speaker: David Danto (IMCCA / Dimension Data)
Panelists: Wayne Driggers (Zoom), Holger Stoltze (Revolabs), Alan Smith (Logitech), Chris Thorson (Polycom), Michael Goldman (Crestron), Aurangzeb Khan (Altia Systems)
It seems that many of us agree that enabling huddle spaces for quick collaborative meetings is a worthwhile endeavor. However, there is no consensus on the right way to do so. From kits, to complete installed solutions, to BYOD tools, there is no shortage of options for the huddle room. This session should provide a good overview of today’s options, as well as the pros and cons of various approaches.
APIs and Apps: The Building Blocks of Advanced Productivity
Speaker: David Maldow (Let’s Do Video)
This year at InfoComm, I will have the privilege of presenting this session. There is a lot of buzz in the collaboration industry about APIs and workflow integrations. While some of it may seem a bit overwhelming or technical, APIs can actually be very easy to leverage and yield great results. In this session, we will delve into how APIs generally work, using common examples. The session will also cover how integrating and sharing information between your business tools can boost team productivity, using specific examples.
Whether you are a vendor looking to enhance your offering, a CTO or integrator looking to create a seamless service, or an end user looking to increase productivity, this session will get you started on your API journey.
Case Study: Organically Growing Video Adoption in an Enterprise Environment
Speakers: Neil Posnansky (Cigna), Mark Okern (Cigna)
Adoption is one of the enduring pain points of the collaboration industry. Cigna has managed to oversee massive adoption and use of video and related collaboration technologies in 2016, with growth expected to double in 2017. I am very interested in learning more about how they achieved this impressive adoption and exactly what the nature of the growing usage is.
Case Study: Organically Growing Video Adoption in an Enterprise Environment
Speakers: Christopher Dechter (Oregon State University), Marc Cholewczynski (Oregon State University)
While we often sing the praises of the BYOD workflow, it can be hard to support this in practice. I want to see what techniques the team at OSU have developed to design environments with BYOD in mind.
As always, InfoComm proves to be a can’t-miss event for collaboration technology enthusiasts. I’m looking forward to presenting, attending, and bringing you the latest news from Orlando. Make sure to follow Let’s Do Video on Twitter, as we’ll be live tweeting throughout the event!
