Dan Goldstein on the New AV Experience Awards
AVIXA recently launched the AV Experience Awards program. AVIXA is partnering with existing awards programs in different industries to gather entries for these new awards. I recently spoke with AVIXA Chief Marketing Officer Dan Goldstein to learn more.
Dan Goldstein, Chief Marketing Officer, AVIXA
Q: What are the AV Experience Awards?
A: The global AV Experience Award program recognizes the innovative integration of content, space and technology to create or enhance an experience. It is unique in that the awards categories are defined by the kind of experience created, rather than the application. The program seeks to find excellence in projects where that experience could only be achieved through the use of audiovisual technology. These awards showcase the ability of AV technology to expand human capabilities, or excite, inspire, or enhance an experience crosses all markets and industries.
Q: How did you choose partner groups?
A: Our market research has revealed specific vertical markets that are the largest consumers and innovative users of AV – or those where the fastest growth in AV is happening. We took that info and purposefully looked for partner groups that had great awards programs within these vertical markets, and who saw the value in working with us. Operating in this manner allows our partners’ audiences to get further recognition for a different aspect of their work, and it allows the AV industry to have a wider perspective on how AV is valued by different market verticals.
Q: When working with these new partner groups, what are their impressions of the AV industry?
A: This differs greatly from group to group. Those groups that have a heavy IT component or educational background tend to have an awareness of AV as an industry – or very quickly grasp the concept and how it fits into their work. Other groups, where the AV work is typically a couple layers removed from the end users we are speaking to, get excited about the applications – so that is where we start in our conversations. Often these groups were unaware that AV existed as an industry, so when we meet and talk, and bring them along to events and trade shows, it is an eye-opening experience.
Q: What’s AVIXA’s larger goal in creating these awards?
A: These awards will enable us as an association to highlight the impact that audiovisual solutions have on people and projects, and also give leaders in multiple markets the inspiration to envision new applications and solutions in their own industries.
Q: How will these awards be judged?
A: We have begun work with a Market Trends Advisory Board at AVIXA, which is a cross-vertical, cross functional group of business leaders from vertical markets such as hospitality, corporate, education, and sports venues on the one hand, and the supply side of AV on the other. We believe this group is uniquely situated to act as the judging panel for an awards program that incorporates projects from numerous different verticals. You can look at the category descriptions for individual criteria, but as a general guideline the entries will all be judged on their impact as an experience – what did it accomplish, and how well did it do it? Special attention will be given to innovative solutions, but so long as it accomplished what was needed, then that is the threshold criterion.
Q: Does working with these existing awards programs raise the AV industry’s profile?
A: I believe so! In each instance where we are participating with a partner awards program, we are sponsoring their awards as well. So AVIXA and the AV industry will have visibility at many of the premier awards programs in the vertical markets we know are most key to our industry’s growth and future. The awards program itself will pull in new audiences to AVIXA, as many of these projects would never have been submitted through the traditional AV channel – but now these project owners are in the running for an award and will be learning about a new industry, plus publicizing their win back into their own markets. It’s a win-win situation in that we meet new people, new people meet us, and two industries can get closer together in their understanding of where technology is creating great results.
Learn more and enter your project in the AV Experience Awards.
Allison Tardif serves as Industry Advocacy Manager at AVIXA, the Audiovisual and Integrated Experience Association, where she leads AVIXA’s efforts and initiatives to raise awareness of the power of AV in dynamic markets such as higher education, design, transportation, sports, and hospitality.
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