On Target Selling: Using a Scope to See Your Target. Successful Selling Through the Lens of Project Manager.

In On Target Selling a salesperson not only sells by hitting bullseye most of the time and in the other quadrants (knowledge, skill, relationships and process) when needed, but they can also hone in on their target with sniper like accuracy and continually track it (the opportunity) because they can also view it through their scope. One of these scopes has the lens of a Project Manager.

Selling like a Project Manager has the sales person focused on the keys to project management during the sales process. This can improve the likelihood of a closing the deal and better yet a successful outcome. A sales person who knows the project is bound by the “Iron Triangle” otherwise known as the project constraints of time, scope and cost has the first major component of selling like a project manager down. Knowing the concept of the Iron Triangle is key not only to project management, but to consultative sales. The Iron Triangle shows us that time, scope and cost are all so closely related and that they impact each other greatly. The triangle shows us that if you change any one side, the entire shape changes. As is with a project, if you change one of these characteristics the others much change. Fr example, if you change the scope, the project will either take longer or it will cost more (because of added resources). Once the sales person knows this, they can help to clearly define these early in the process and lock them in early. If that is the case, they are acting in a role that better serves the customer.

Additionally, one of the first steps in Project Management is to gather all the stakeholders. In the case of selling like a project manager, the same holds true. A salesperson should include all of the needs of all of the customers, including the typical users. As salespeople we sometimes end up selling to the IT influencer and the people of power (C-Level check writers). As long as they can develop a scope of work with us, we can deliver a system, and everyone appears to be happy. Project Managers tend to spend a little more time in the Initiating Phase, gathering ALL of the stakeholders and getting the Voice of the Customer (VoC). When Selling Like a Project Manager your focus should be getting all the stakeholders together including the system’s typical users.

Lastly, an On Target Selling Expert will make sure they keep Quality, Risk and Customer Satisfaction in their sector buy using all of their available Resources. So there you have it, all 7 project management constraints applied to selling: Time, Scope Cost as the Iron Triangle and within it are Quality, Resources, Risk and Customer Satisfaction. Using the Project Manager’s lens in your sniper scope will help you sell better and allow you to focus on the best targets with the keen accuracy and incredible sales efficiency.

Your Sales Bank Account - Post Black Friday Assessment - How is Your Bank Account Looking?

Black Friday is when most retailer’s profits go from that red line to the black and start showing their annual profits. It all profits from here forward for them. So, now that we are past Black Friday, it might be a good time to take a look at your bank account and see if you are in the black too. But the Bank account I am talking about is your relationship bank account. This account does have debits and credits just the one at your financial institution, but these debits and credits come in the form of the way you contribute to or burden the people you interact with in your daily lives. Do you help to make other people’s day better or do you make their day a little harder? Credit or debit?

I used to use this metaphor with my kids. I would explain to them that they have an emotional bank account with other people.  Further explaining that when you sarcastically insult a person (even jokingly) you are making a withdrawal from your emotional bank account with them and if you haven’t made enough deposits (compliments and other ways of building them up) then you are risking becoming overdrawn. Take it a step further and you could even take it to the point of bankruptcy or being cut-off. Thus, the importance of deposits (credits) in your accounts.

So how does this apply to sales?

1.      Doing (and accepting) favors – these are easy credits and are double good. Not only can you build up your relationship account balance, but you can also establish credibility in subject matter expertise or as a trusted advisor. Just as important is allowing other to do favors for you. “Give the gift of giving,” This is a tough thing to do for some people, but allowing people to do favors for you is also a credit in some ways. You are allowing them to contribute to you and that is fulfilling to a lot of people. If you are in need of something and you don’t let your peers help, they can actually debit your relationship account for that.

2.      Empathy – knowing when to be in “sales mode” and when to be a partner and work on the relationship. As sales people, we all have quotas and we don’t have a relationship quota. We need to close. We need to ask for the business. But, you can gain relationship credits when you know when to ask for the business and when not to. I recently visited a customer who was talking to me about the last 3 jobs they lost to their competitor. Had I jumped into a mode where I stated asking where can I get my next sales from them, they would have debited my relationship account with the fact that I wasn’t in tune with the clues that they were struggling to give me business and maybe even needed my help finding some for themselves. I could have even gained a deposit (credit) had I asked where I could plug into their business and assist, as a partner, in helping them to win over this competitor of theirs.

3.      Making long term investments – just like in finances, the relationship investments you make should be long term ones. This takes aligning of goals and beliefs. It also takes a period of getting to know each other and above all else – LISTENING. If your partner knows you are listening and understanding their needs, you are making regular deposits day in and day out. Sure, it is okay to diversify your investments and have some short term, high risk ones, but that needs to be part of your strategy and not by accident. You very much need to have a healthy amount of long term stable relationships and that takes investing.

Using these and similar bank account building techniques, you will have strong relationships. In fact, you will be rich. The natural result will be increased sales and who knows you may end up being rich in other ways too.

Basic Rifle Marksmanship Training and Sales

Disclaimer: This is not about guns or gun control - I am well aware of the sensitivity of this particular subject. The illustration I am using here is an analogy to help paint a picture and to help people better understand the concept. Haters gonna hate, and I really can’t help that. Please take the time to get past the shallowness of knee jerk reaction to the initial thoughts and emotion that come with your reaction to guns, gun control and similar subjects. This is NOT what this is about. This illustration could use darts, arrows, those little ping-pong balls with Velcro strips on them (and a felt target), and anything else that requires you to hit a target dead center (but that is not my point of reference - I went with what I knew – so try to let it go!)

Here goes: For those who have been in the military or have gone through formal weapon/arms training this will click immediately. For others the analogy will take a bit more, but I believe the connections will get there for sure. When I was in the army, one of the most basic sections of my basic training was basic rifle marksmanship (BRM). I have learned that there are some lessons in BRM that apply really well to sales that I am going to share here.

BRM starts with the four fundamentals; steady position, aiming, breath control, and trigger squeeze. How do these compare to what we do in sales? Good question, I am glad you asked that. First let’s talk about a key to BRM and a key to sales. A key to sales is that we need to be accurate and we need to have 100% perfect timing. Accuracy, meaning hit right where the customer has the most pains and timing should be when they have the available budget. There is a great and easy to remember model called BANT (Budget, Authority, Need and Timing) that illustrates this. Do they have the budget? Are you working with the person with the authority to make the purchase? Have you uncovered the compelling need or pains? And is your timing right (are they in a buying season/cycle)? This can help us with our BRM concept because BRM training is used to prepare soldiers for combat and accuracy and timing are of paramount importance there.

The fundamentals of BRM are steady position, aim, breath control, and trigger squeeze. To understand how I map the fundamentals of BRM to sales, it will help to understand one of the sales models that I have recently developed. It is important to say that I have never really developed a sales model per se. To me, sales models just seem to happen and then they are documented and optimized, then we repeat the best portions of them and combine a few until we have a catchy way of presenting it to others. I developed this one after observing and documenting some of AV’s best sales people and categorizing what makes them the best in their industry. I call this one On Target Selling. The concept is that there are four major characteristics that make up high performance sales people. They follow process, know stuff, relate and deliver results. The concept of the 4 quadrants is that if a sales person were to plot their skills in the quadrants, the goal would be to hit the bullseye. If you are not On Target, then your development path is to grow in the quadrants that will lead you closer to being On Target. See illustration for more details:

In the above illustration (the 4 quadrants of On Target Selling), I am showing the key characteristics of a high performance sales person. In this model, I first show (bottom left) that I believe a high performance sales person exhibits the characteristics of performance by achieving their target numbers and developing accounts for the long haul. They also follow process (top left) by using established pricing models and creatively implement programs to meet margin goals. High performers also have a high level of knowledge of their products, the market and solutions and systems (top right). Lastly (but not necessarily in order), high performers are great relationship builders, have great rapport and empathy (bottom right).

How do the fundamentals of BRM map to the quadrants in the On Target Selling model? Another great question. I am glad you asked. Let’s breakdown steady position, aiming, breath control, and trigger squeeze and how they fit into the On Target sales model:

Steady position is well worded for this because we are actually using it as the analogy for how we position ourselves in the market. Before you are ready to fire (pull the trigger in sales) you must make sure your pricing and programs match the customer’s needs. Are you selling to the right customer? I like to use three categories to make sure this is on track. Power, Preference, and Influence are these three categories. Have I covered all three of these categories? Then I likely have a steady position. If I have only covered power, then the possibility of someone of influence changing their mind (the IT guy coming in late and changing the spec) can lose me my deal. This would be showing I did not have a steady position.

Aiming gives us the example of being specific and focused. As a sales person, I have caught myself having finished a meeting with a feeling of great accomplishment. The meeting (in my mind) went really well. We had great rapport and the customer seemed to genuinely want to do business with me. After I returned to my office and started my trip report and got to the “subject” portion of the report I realized I may have made a great connection, but I neglected to use my knowledge of products and solutions to discuss the topics we needed to discuss (my products). At some point, it has to become about aiming the conversations and relationship towards to goal of selling or solutions.

Breath control the balance required to stay calm and not rush. This is a relationship and not all about the close. Take the time to breath and control the sale. No need to rush to close, but rather walk to solving problems and build towards the long term. But, if you wait too long even the customer gets antsy. Also, focus on the term breath control, not hold your breath. This is not stop everything and risk passing out. This is pace yourself and set a rhythm.

Trigger squeeze is the culmination of it all, but in BRM it is never one and done. It is about making sure you can fire again. Is the weapon well maintained? Did it jam? Did you squeeze the trigger and not pull or jerk it so as to be able to re-acquire your target and re-fire (make another proposal) if needed. It is squeeze not pull, so that you have a much better chance to not inadvertently change your aim (or for sales if you make your first proposal methodically and well detailed you will remain on target). You should also make your proposals (trigger squeeze) part of a flow and part of the rhythm of your sales process (breath control).

On target Selling, like BRM, requires practice. Moreover it is best done (like in the military or other places) with training, coaching and lots of feedback. In the case of BRM in the military, trainers are certified and they are assessed regularly. The bar is set very high for military marksmanship trainers. The major attributes of marksmanship trainers for the military are: knowledge, patience, understanding consideration, respect, and encouragement. These same attributes should be held by AV sales trainers. If you are looking for someone with these attributes to help get your team trained up as a team of expert marksman (making them a Sniper Sales Force) using the On Target Selling model and with 20 years of sales training expertise contact us today at max@gravitationtech.com or 775-MAX-AVIT.

Your #1 Competition - May Not Be Who You Think it is.

Let’s try something here, I will bet you get the answer to this question wrong: Who is your #1 competition?

Answer: ________________

WRONG!

Here is what I am thinking: Our industry is in for a big wake up call. Our industry is so busy looking for the competitor within that we do not see that we are about to have our butts handed to us by an outside force. WAKE UP! In my humble opinion, here is the real problem:___________ . When I said that, most people jumped right to I.T. and maybe their response to that was, “got it covered.”

WRONG AGAIN! - Electrical contractors? - WRONG! - Interior Design and business services and office management? -               NOPE, Not even close.

Okay, enough with the suspenseful game play. Your number one competition is most likely, “good enough.” We are constantly hearing “eh, good enough.” I see a poorly aligned and calibrated projector in a sports bar, so when I have the chance to talk to the owner and I ask him about it. I offer to make some adjustments and even point him in the direction of a Pro-AV solutions provider who can do it proper and give him a much higher quality install. His answer: “eh, it’s good enough.”  Think about it. How often do you encounter this phrase? When you are proposing a video conferencing solution with a proper PTZ camera and controls and the customer substitutes in the PC and Logitech desktop camera. When you explain the difference in depth of field and other features their answer is: “eh, it’s good enough.”

So how do we address: “eh, it’s good enough”? Here are my three (stories) strategies for addressing my #1 competition, “good enough”:

1. “I Am So Beautiful to Me, Can’t I See”

2. One of the Greatest Salesmen I’ve Known

3. The Puppy Dog and the Soda Machine

This week I will cover Strategy (Story) #1, next week I will get into Strategy 2 and then the following week Strategy 3. This week’s strategy story is “I Am So Beautiful to Me, Can’t I See” – This strategy is about the need for the customer knowing that you understand them. It is all about them, not you.

This story part of this goes back to when I was about 8 years old and my brother was about 10. At that age, we spend much of our waking hours on our bicycles. One summer day we were riding around in our cul-de-sac and just enjoying the day. My brother started singing. In his normal goofy, “hey, pay attention to me” way, he belted out, “I am so beautiful to me, can’t I see… I am everything I hoped for. I am everything I need. I am so beautiful.” Taking it up a few octaves, he hits the next line, “to me.” As we were riding, he wanted so badly to make sure the attention was on him that he was willing to take his silliness to the limit. It was about him, no matter what. To the point where he went hands-free and interlaced his fingers and put his interwoven downward facing hands under his chin, framing his face (as if showing the world his beauty). At that moment, THE CRASH. What is the point of this story? The customer will do whatever it takes to make it all about them. They will even look ridiculous, crash and burn or accept substandard solutions. All as long as the focus is on them, not you.

The late great Steven Covey wrote (in his 7 Habits of Highly Effective People [Habit 5]) seek first to understand, then to be understood. A customer needs to be understood before they can really hear (or understand) anything you have to say. Sometimes, their “eh, it’s good enough”, is a defensive mechanism used because they really do not believe their motivating factors. What is that drives them. A quick way to understand them is to ask questions that get to these subjects. What is their role, what are their interests, values, expectation and requirements? This can be made in the Acronym RIVER (borrowed from the book Delivering Knock Your Socks Off Service from Performance Research Associates). Or come up with your own acronym that covers the important things that drive your customer. Once you have done this, then you can walk them into developing a solution that makes better sense together. Help them become the hero according to their RIVER point. Then tie these into Strategy #2.

Strategy 2 (next week) - will be on the greatest sales person I have ever known – I will tell you about one of the characteristics of the late and very incredible Bill Sharer. This trait is about the difference between two scenarios. The first scenario is about telling a prospect what you have and them becoming a customer because they consider what you say. The second and better scenario is about teaching a valued colleague and them becoming a loyal partner for life because you added value and enriched them. Bill was a master at the latter and he mentored and coached me to be a sales person that adds this type of value to my customers rather than, just moving product. Come back and read the details on this strategy/story.  

Selling with Passion and Purpose

Did you know that a sales person who sells with a purpose (a mission or cause) out sells their competition 15:1 (source: Good to Great – Jim Collins)?

Selling with Passion and Purpose:

Why do I sell for Legrand | AV? Because it gives me the chance to give my partners access to over 2500 products, which equates to tens of thousands of SKUs in more than 7 different brands and lines. These are best in class quality and help to make highly innovative communication and collaboration solutions/systems and are supported and serviced by the industry’s leading teams. We significantly and positively contribute to our user’s everyday business endeavors, recreational lives and their domestic experiences. We have the pleasure of significantly impacting their ability to cure diseases, inspire learning and creativity, building wealth, ensuring justice, keeping the peace, solving complex problems, and increasing joy through simplifying and improving communication. Simply put, we transform spaces where people live, work and play. We build amazing experiences.

I don’t sell AV. I cure diseases, inspire learning and creativity, building wealth, ensuring justice, keeping the peace, solving complex problems, and increasing joy through simplifying and improving communication with the use of AV/IT technologies. When I assist an integrator with a design and product specification for a medical application I am curing diseases. When I quote some AV for an education bid I am inspiring learning and creativity. The sell is not the product, it is the experience that the end user has. And sometimes that end user is the student in the class room who struggles with math until they have it shown to them in a new collaborative and interactive way using interactive whiteboards and BYOD. The end user can be the child cancer patient at a Children’s Hospital and that child is looking at a big screen made to look like an aquarium. When that child sees Crush (the sea turtle from Finding Nemo) swimming up to the them and begins talking to them through the magic of AV and that child is the happiest they have been in a long time. If part of their healing process is their positive attitude, then I consider myself incredibly lucky to be “selling” the stuff that makes me part of that. So, what do I sell? I sell a positive impact on home, work and play environments. AND I do it with passion and purpose.

What do you sell?

Back to Basics – Looking Back to Leap Forward

Before I get to my point about looking back to leap forward, I’ll start with a referring to a recent press release that went out about a major personal career announcement for me, I have taken an awesome position with Middle Atlantic Products, Inc. as their Director of Training. This will allow me to focus solely on training and education and doing what is most important to me - serving others in their professional development path through training and education. This also allows me to fulfill the passion and purpose goals in my career path, where my position has true meaning and a high level of contribution to the organization I am a part of. Along with working for a company with the scope size that enables me to make considerable contributions in our industry through a much larger large group of people and diverse channel, this initiative also has visibility at the highest levels at Middle Atlantic and Legrand and therefore leave me feeling empowered and knowing that the impact I can make will drive me to thrive there. With this new opportunity and highly supportive team, I look forward to some great things for many years to come.

In the spirit of bringing in the New Year, this year I have decided that the best way to move forward is going to include taking a look back, way back. About 19 years ago I started training for AVIXA (what was then ICIA and then after that InfoComm). Long before that, I was a Training NCO in the Army. I tell you this to let you know that I have focused much of my professional career in training and have dedicated many years to the development of others. For 2018 and in the spirit of the relaunch of my career and going forward, I have decided to reignite that passion and to work toward that purpose. After all, what are we doing this for if we can’t be passionate about what we are doing and fully commit to the purpose of it all? I was recently reminded in a class in New York that training is where my true passion is and where I truly belong.

Looking back also means “Back to Basics” - I am thinking my approach (the looking back part) can be as basic as three key points: Education, Development and Improvement.

Education – The programs that I intend on developing will focus on the core knowledge needed to grow others in our industry. This will mean growing our internal team and our channel partners. I also will have an opportunity to get back into contributing to the industry as a whole through training for AVIXA. Whether it is product related, solution oriented or general technology understanding directed, the knowledge needed to grow will be key, and I am happy I get to play my role.

Development - Along with knowledge, the development of skill is equally as important. The ability to apply the knowledge or to synthesize the content is key, as well. These first two key points are simply knowing what to do and how to do it. This is where I will focus adding a lot of hands-on and working groups to the programs we develop.

Improvement – this part of the program requires the use of mentors and veteran industry experts to leverage experience. The statement “some things can’t be trained” is partially true. I intend on leveraging field experience. This experience is key, but the good news is that this experience can be shared and simulated through well designed and delivered training and education programs. This is the area I am most excited about. Our industry needs a formal mentoring program and the only way this can happen is as a grass roots effort. Middle Atlantic Products’ sales and business development team has a great mantra “Experts in Creating Experts”. What better place could I be, when the industry needs a mentoring program? So let’s get one going and engage AVIXA to grow this like wildfire.

Keep an eye on Middle Atlantic Products as we hit the industry with a focused and deliberate effort to grow our industry through training and development. As does whenever we look into the future, for me, this year and beyond holds great promise. I hope that all my friends, family and everyone in my professional network sees the promise the future holds that I see ahead of me and that they can join me in a big step forward (with a quick look back) with the Passion and Purpose for what they get to do and who they get to do it for!!!

Stop Feeding the Pig (THE DATA (CRM) PIG) and Enjoy Some Sales BBQ Instead

Speed, quality and complexity are paramount to sales (and just about every other service related business) success. One of the biggest challenges in sales has been on the operations side or with the sales process. For as long as I can remember, we have been looking for ways to improve it. We have been seeking the sales process magic bullet. I can tell you from my experience that many seem to think the magic bullet is the Customer Relations Management System (CRM).

While I agree that the CRM can be a great tool for the sales team to be more effective, I caution that the CRM is all to often the “PIG” in many organizations. The problem is that this “PIG” must be fed at all costs. This pig’s food is data. Executives and sales managers spend much of their time sending email after email telling everyone to feed the pig. Of course, their emails may read that all sales people need to update their sales data (projects and forecasts) in the CRM, but the message is the same: “feed the data pig.” Why do I refer to this as a “Data Pig”? Well, a Data Pig does nothing but consume data. It serves no other purpose. The data is only consumed. Once the data is in the Data Pig it is useless to the sales person. The CRM (Data Pig) was not built with the sales model in mind and it does not provide tools, techniques to outputs that are useful to a salespersons process or needs. This Data Pig (CRM) only serves to provide management what they need to justify numbers (it is a show pig for the county fair). The only time this Data Pig will be useful to the salesperson is when it is put to slaughter. Do your team a favor and see if your CRM is a Data Pig and if it is, put it to slaughter. Enjoy the BBQ and get productive.

If your CRM is actually a tool and has the necessary elements to make your sales team more productive then they will not feel they are feeding the Data Pig, rather they will be using a system that is helping them complete their job more efficiently. The responsibility of the sales manager and sales executive is to provide the tools and techniques necessary to remove the junk from the salesperson’s way, so they can work most efficiently. The CRM system should make them MORE productive and not be a burden. To make it this way, you may have to relook your CRM.

One of the approaches I took was to apply Six Sigma process improvement and apply it to sales. Since sales is a process. Six Sigma is about improving speed, quality and complexity. Speed, quality and complexity are paramount to sales (and just about every other service related business) success and therefore the process of sales (and other service businesses) is an example one that is optimal for Six Sigma improvement.

As we look at what the Six Sigma DMAIC methods will bring us, I feel I need to first tell you what Six Sigma and Process Improvement are and are not. Refer to the table below to see what is and is not Six Sigma Process Improvement:

What I am trying to say is that a CRM system is not a substitute for good processes and process improvement and it is not a substitute for developing your sales force. If you are considering process improvement and deploying a CRM system or if you are re-examining your process and CRM deployment, you need to make sure that the processes and systems support the sales team and not the other way around. I remember working for a VERY large company and one of the people I respect in this industry said, “If a sales person wants to submit a PO on a bar napkin then we need to have a system that supports that.” At that time, I was a gung-ho analytical IT type that was a stickler for the process and the CRM system. I learned then that the needs of the sales force far outweigh the needs of us sales support people (if you are not in sales, then you support sales).  The first and most important aspect of a CRM, reporting and data mining system, is that it supports the needs of the sales team. I have seen too many times where a CRM system is implemented so that upper management had “visibility” and middle management has “accountability.” If your system’s goals are visibility and accountability it just might be missing the most important aspect – usability.  So, fix it and enjoy the ribs, pork chops, and bacon while you are at it.

Leadership and INFLUENCE

Leadership begins when Words = Actions

It may seem like such a simple statement, but when a person is true to their word they become so much more influential and isn’t that what leadership is? So, you can narrow down leadership to the core as being someone who is consistently believable, credible, and trustworthy. That makes a person a leader through influence. Meaning they lead by example. But, leaders that take charge and inspire others to do more have other characteristics as well. They also make others feel capable and trusted. They also don’t need to tell people what to do and how to do it. They inspire people to get things done based on a shared mission, values, and principles. Then they provide the tools, techniques, and certain enablers to get these things done. They also mentor people and help make these individuals be the best individuals they can be (meaning they don’t try to clone the way they do things and their own techniques in someone else, instead they empower others to use their own methods to be their best selves).

So, why do I bring this up. In considering my next big step in where I want to contribute in my workplace, LEADERSHIP is where I am being called. I am constantly being reminded of the importance of influence and leadership at all levels. I read a book a long time ago that was life changing and will share it now as I often do. John C. Maxwell’s - 360 Degree Leadership – was one of the most important books I have read and taken to heart in my career. Remember this word – entelechy. One definition of entelechy is the quest to fully understand or “that which turns potential into reality.” When I read 360 Degree Leadership I really wanted to apply this word because of the power of the concepts of 360 Degree Leadership. In its simplest form, it means leading in every direction. To do this, you must lead yourself first. This is something I struggle with every day. We all make mistakes, so, self-leading is always a challenge. The concept is then to lead in all directions. This means INFLUENCE not leadership through position or power.

Let’s focus on the word INFLUENCE:

INFLUENCE = Integrity, which we already stated is when your words and your actions are consistently the same and you are believable, credible, and trustworthy. Nurturing is when you genuinely care for the wellbeing of those around you. This is not about just a performance impact care factor, but a genuine quality of life and desire to develop people (as leaders we are stewards of other people’s careers). Faith is about believing in people and as discussed earlier it is a leader’s ability to trust and empower people to do what needs to be done and having the faith in them to do it. This is KNOWING they can and will succeed. Listening is the art of VALUING what others have to say. There is a difference between hearing and listening. Listening is an action and requires a leader to do things based on what they hear and not just go through the motions of hearing. Understanding is the leader’s ability to see other points of view. A great leader surrounds themselves with people with skills, knowledge and experience beyond their own. The key to understanding is actively using those points of view to plot courses of action. Enlarging means that a leader can grow the others around them. A great leader may someday work for someone who once worked for them. Navigating is when a leader can guide others to be greater and mentor them rather than giving exact tasks and micromanaging. Connecting is the important aspect of leadership where relationships are built, and the leader focuses on being a positive force in the lives of those around them. Empowering is one of the most important aspects of leadership because it is when a leader can have the ability to make people feel valued. A leader can empower people and make them feel capable and trusted.

Lastly, I will leave you with the thought that no where here did I mention that leaders are charged with providing raises and bonuses. Sure, that is nice. A fair wage and compensation structure is important, but leadership is about inspiring people through INFLUENCE. Somewhere else in the management structure is a place for these matters. Leaders should inspire and influence and not worry about the management tasks. Management and leadership are equally important, managers take the tasks off the leader’s plate, so they can truly lead. Leaders should empower and trust them to do as such.

Happy INFLUENCING!

Why/When to Use Consultants/Designers

With so many products available out there for collaboration and huddle spaces that could be considered “off the shelf” one would have to ask themselves why a consultant and/or design engineer needs to be in the mix at all. In this article I will discuss some of the considerations a design engineer and consultant take when working together so solve the collaboration conundrum for their customers.

I attended a sales training this week with some friends and the topic was something like “Asking Dumb Questions.” The gist was that to provide solutions to clients, salespeople must be able to simply ask, “why do you do things this way?” I stayed quiet since I was a guest in the session, but my thought was the training was way too simplistic for my taste and in my estimation, for the other attendees. This training was being delivered to a team of salespeople who solve multi-million-dollar problems on a regular basis and if they needed to be told to dumb things down, there are worse problems afoot than a need to teach them to play dumb. I say this because I believe the more important lesson is one that is contrary to this and one that Henry Ford uncovered for us. He stated something to the effect of: If I delivered what the customer asked for, all I would make is faster horses. Henry Ford knew that he could deliver services and products far beyond what his customers could imagine and that is what they needed. That is where consultants and designers for AV/IT come into play for collaborative systems. Sometimes customers don’t know what they don’t know and the consultant’s (consultative salesperson’s) job is teach them to dream bigger.

When looking at a potential collaborative communications space a designer must understand first how the space is intended to be used and how it is currently used (maybe that training I attended address this part). This is sometimes best done with a covert study (watching the user when they don’t know they are being watched.) This study should be done while keeping in mind the Hawthorne Effect (anything studied changes its behavior). It is best to do the study when the subject does not know it is being studied so as to not affect the outcome. Here is where I believe designers and consultants (consultative sales people) can take it farther, the next step is to gather data and provide analysis on how the space is intended to be used. This includes facilitated discussions and stakeholder meetings. It also includes setting expectations, teaching some lessons on what can be done and a complete understanding of the business. AV/IT design consultants need to be a hybrid of business professionals and technologists (taking it FAR beyond “asking dumb questions”. A lot of times it is best to have these types of specification and analysis done by a third party who can delineate between what is needed and what is wanted and what is possible. This is where INTELLIGENT questions come into play where a knowledgeable person asks questions that allow the study to take a direction that allows them to solve complex problems that are based on explicit and implicit needs as well as ones that delve much deeper into the space, technology and the business model.

An AV/IT design consultant knows more about human factors, usage models, technology, technology implementation and several other details than the typical IT support person or a standard IT integrator. Having an IT integrator to simply hang an interactive display on the wall and running wires is already taking them outside their core competencies. There is so much more to creating truly collaborative environments. A consultant and design engineer look at the usage models, technologies, business models, social aspects and business policies to begin to develop a system that will enable full collaboration.

Even with just looking at human factors Design Consultants and Engineers determine the proper viewing angles to make sure every participant will see the screen from every seat. With a proper design, the least favorable seat in the room and the closest seat in the room will be able to view the content in a comfortable way without creating viewer fatigue is a simple answer to why one should use a consultant or designer, but there is so much more.

When you look at the list to the right, you can see that there are so many considerations to be taken when designing a full collaborative space, you can see that there is so much more to collaborative systems than “off the shelf” can do. I jokingly say that a consultant is someone who borrows your watch to charge you to tell you what time it is. In all seriousness, consultants and consultative sales people take all of their knowledge and experience and solve your problems with the appropriate resources. As Henry Ford taught, they may even solve problems you didn’t even know you had.

Better than Being There – Three Keys to Delivering UC&C

I want to preface this by stating an important point. Nothing will ever replace the value of face-to-face meetings. A firm handshake to close a deal or the ability to spend time with people building strong relationships is incredibly important. This article is about building on top of the personal relationships and handshakes by using technology, processes and space planning. The emphasis has to be on the building on and adding to and not trying to replace.

I can’t help but get incredibly excited about where we are heading with Presentation, Collaboration and Conferencing or Unified Communications and Collaboration (UC&C). This message is really directed at the AV/IT players in the industry. When we look at UC&C and what AV/IT can do with this space, the impact is fascinating. The AV guys are already masters of the physical space with lighting, acoustics, displays, sound and control options, but when you add in the full offerings of UC&C, the usage model changes in unbelievable ways. Let’s explore some examples together and then we can break them down into a few categories to see what really makes this work for us.

I feel I have to re-emphasize that when I refer the UC&C, I am referring to a system that includes all that the telephony systems, IT systems and audiovisual systems have to offer. In this article I am going out of my way to emphasize the audiovisual part.

These are just three of the many advantages of AV/IT delivering UC&C:

• The Environment - These advantages include a more natural environment for videoconferencing with proper audiovisual integration that includes proper lighting, acoustics, camera, microphone, loudspeaker placement and display sizing and placement. All of these things can give the users the feeling that the remote participants are in the room.
• Collaboration - Another advantage is the ability to use audiovisual integration by placing document cameras in the ceiling and using processors that can support the ability to literally slide a document across the table to remote participants and have them edit and collaborate on these documents using the network.
• Escalation and Integration - One more advantage is having the systems fully converged so when the users are on a VOIP call and they need to move it to a videoconference, they can just shoot an Instant Message to invitees and open a video call on the fly. The user should even be able to book resources on the fly as needed for Ad Hoc meetings and escalate a meeting from a call to a full-fledged collaborative videoconference with just a few clicks.

One thing that is mind-blowing to me is this thought: what if we actually put cameras, displays, loudspeakers and microphones in the chairs of “remote participants?” Some UC&C integrators (AV Systems integrators) are doing just that to give participants the feeling that remote participants are “in the room.” Schools do this for kids that can’t attend school because of illness. As a product there are robots that travel the halls and attend classes via videoconferencing for students and allow the students to be a part of their regular school environment while they recover from a medical procedure or medical treatment. Why can’t we do this for business remote collaborators as well? See. Told you. Mind blown.

When looking at how UC&C will evolve in the near future, we see how UC&C meetings will actually be better than being there (remember I said that it will never replace the handshake, but at times when added to face-to-face it can be better). How can I say that? I say that because there are times when these meetings take place that participants will need access to resources that are only in their home office locations. Having a UC&C meeting means that participants can be in two places at once. This means that they can have access to all of their resources that are in their home location and be in a remote location at the same time. To me, at times, that can be better than being there.

These days I have the pleasure of working for an amazingly advanced company, WolfVision. WolfVision has one of the most powerful collaborative, presentation and conferencing products on the market. I am humbled by the products that this company produces and the people I get to work with here and abroad.

The vSolution Cynap is an example of one of the phenomenal products that these amazing people produce and support. Cynap is a multifunctional collaboration, presentation and conferencing system. It is an all-in-one collaboration and presentation solution for BYOD, recording, streaming, with a document and media player. The Cynap system is equally suitable for both education and business. It has an attractive intuitive user interface with unique flexible control options. It's perfect for standalone usage, or further enhanced when used with a WolfVision Visualizer. Cynap has powerful processing and a proprietary FPGA that ensures smooth handling of all content materials and best in class graphics processing (allows simultaneous 1080pHD 30fps recording and streaming when needed). The supported output resolution is 4K / UHD and it has 2 HDMI OUTPUTS that support separate independent outputs for dual screen mode when moderating content in presentations or collaborating.

Here is an overview of the major features of Cynap:

• Cynap has a Media Player – that can play, display, record, and stream all commonly used media. This provides incredible versatility during meetings, lectures, and collaborative sessions. Information is easily available, whether it is recalled from a locally connected USB stick, accessed via a connected network drive or accessed via the cloud. The Cynap is not bound by many of the limitations often found on other devices in this category.
• Cynap does Webcasting – Lectures, presentations, and meeting content can be streamed, and additionally, students or work colleagues on the same network as the presenter can receive and record a stream using our vSolution Capture app. Recipients can even personalize their own copy of the recording by adding notes and annotations in real-time.
• Cynap has Recording built in – Cynap is ideal for recording online content material for use in classrooms, online learning / distance learning environments. For business applications, Cynap offers a quick and easy way to record and distribute meeting content.
• Cynap integrates with OpenCast LMS as a Capture Agent - When automation of content distribution is desirable, recorded files can be tagged with identifying metadata, enabling automatic file upload to specific destinations on an FTP server. This enables easy access to materials via LMS such as Blackboard or Moodie, and means that Cynap can operate as a fully integrated lecture capture or meeting recording solution if required.
• One of the keys to the Recording and Streaming features is that both can be done simultaneously. Being able to do recording and streaming at the same time is unique for products in this class.
• AND BYOD - The Cynap System offers an BYOD solution, suitable for smartphones, tablets, and laptops alike. Using an iOS, Android, Windows or Mac device enables information to be accessed from almost any source. AirPlay, Chromecast, and Miracast mirroring is supported, and up to 4 different devices can connect wirelessly to Cynap, and display on-screen content simultaneously in up to 4K UHD output resolution.
• Additional System Benefits:
• Web Browsing – Cynap has an embedded web browser. Users can go straight to the web and present or use content in collaborative environments without having to bring in additional computing devices. Cynap is a computer and needs no other devices for this type of feature. This also means that Cynap can access
• Cloud Services – like Google Drive, Dropbox or Box and make all of the resources that a user would normally have available to them when using their own computers available when using Cynap. This also hold true when the user wants to access Network Drives. Because Cynap can access Network Resources and FTP – Cynap is perfect for enterprise environments where everything exists on the network as a resource. And when users need to conference in other rooms or other people to have face-to-face meetings,
• Conferencing: - Cynap can use USB connected cameras and microphones and use the Integration with WebRTC – to host standards based conferencing in real-time. This is where true collaboration and presentations take on a whole new meaning, because adding the elements of annotating over all of your content for all participants (remote and local) to see and also annotate along with you truly allows for full collaboration..
• Annotation/Whiteboarding – . You can use the annotation in a conference or you can just use standard whiteboarding and make up your own content on the fly or do some good ‘ol brainstorming. The moderated collaboration within annotation feature brings a whole new element of collaboration to annotation allowing for up to 100 users to collaborate via the network at the same time.
• Sanpshots - While you are presenting, whiteboarding or annotating you can take snapshots of what you are doing and save them to USB, the network or wherever you would like for retrieval at a later date and time. The Snapshots – can come in quite handy for meeting notes, lecture capture support along with the recording feature and for the capture of brainstorming discussed earlier in this article.
• Cynap has an optional feature pack to integrate with your existing O365 accounts and point-to-point Skype for Business conferencing. There are also feature packs for live streaming for webcasting and learning management systems.

These are just the major features of Cyanp. Contact WolfVision to learn more - www.wolfvision.com or sales@wolfvision.us

Now, WolfVision is truly one of the industry’s best examples of when Presentation, Collaboration, and Conferencing or UC&C can be better than being there. 

Tesla Teaching – Make it Personal – Inspire Learning

In this article (another excerpt from the book Tesla Teaching) I discuss how to get personal and connect with your training group. A lot of trainers think that the introduction and icebreaker is where this is done. I recommend shifting the introductions to a little later in the training or after the first break so that people get to the purpose of the training right away and understand why they are there and what is in it for them first. My recommendation here is, don’t jump in and go through that typical introduction where everyone introduces themselves one at a time. Think about when you have been in a class and that happened. Did you remember any of the other people’s introductions, or did you just wait for your turn to talk? Be honest. I have a whole section on how introductions can be done in the book that I will save for a future article. But, let’s discuss making training personal and making a connection here. This may be contrary to what many books out there say. I believe that training is a conversation and that to gain credibility and to show sincerity you need to truly engage your audience and to do this you need to connect. To connect you need to take it to a personal level. This works for me and this is why I put it in the book and shared a part of it in this article. Three are two major things I do to make it personal that I recommend here.

Tell stories about kids and or family (or what really matters to you)

I like to tell stories about my family and include ones about my kids. This helps the students to connect with me on a personal level. They know I am human and that I have a life outside of where I am now. The important thing here is to make these stories topical and to make sure they tie into the lesson in some meaningful way. I usually teach about technology, sales or sales management. I can usually tie a family story into one of these major topics.

Set the environment / own the space

It is important to set a classroom space that allows for open communication and that is as intimate as it can be. For example: we recently conducted a training that had lower attendance than was expected. Because attendance was low, we had much larger space and more tables and chairs than were needed. In order to make the space more conducive to open and intimate communication, I removed a few of the tables and closed in the training space. This is counter intuitive, because, generally, people tend to think the more space I have the better. But, in training it is better to have smaller space so that people are closer and feel more open to communicating with each other.

It is also important to set the stage for collaboration. This is tough to do when you are using rented spaces such as hotel conference centers and such, because they tend to not know how to set up collaborative spaces. When you tell the hotel, you want to collaborate they go with “Rounds”. But, rounds are not even really what we are looking for because we need to be able to go into presentation mode and collaboration mode. Using rounds doesn’t allow for presentation mode because many of the students will have their back to the presentation/presenter. This may require a space that you can change the configuration on the fly. Be flexible and own the space. You as the presenter need to be able to call the shots.

For me, being open and transparent as a presenter is what works. I make it personal and I try to connect with my students. You cannot fake genuine and you students will know, connect and be inspired learners.

The "You Factor" - AV/IT Integration and Tesla Teaching

This weekend marked the launch of my new book - The Art and Science of Tesla Teaching- The Seven Keys to Training Like Nikola. The following is an excerpt from the book.

This is about the “You Factor” – this is the key to training, presentations, and communications as a whole. Presentation, collaboration, and conferencing is made up of three intersecting points. Technology, place, and people – these three points combine together to form a complete communication infrastructure. The technology is made up of the electronics and physical systems used to support the content. The place is the environment, lighting, acoustics, and ambient conditions. The people has to do the with presenter and the content being communicated. Most importantly, the “You Factor” is the unique way the people interface and use the system and space.

In Chapter 3 of Tesla Teaching, I go into detail about the “You Factor”. The “You Factor” is the realization that the value comes from when the combination of the presenter, the space, and the technology (the system) are blended for maximum impact. All too often, we as presenters or communicators become too dependent on the system and the content to be the crux of the message.

The emphasis here is on the communicator's ability to tie all of these together and their ability to add their individual value to the three intersecting points. The most important element of getting the most from the communication system and to obtain "The Evolution of True Communication" (also explained in detail in the book) is making sure that we consider the presenter and presentation materials as part of the system. The presenter is the most important part of The Evolution of True Communication.  It is important to consult with, train and keep an ongoing partnership with customers (presenters/communicators) to ensure that they are the best presenters/communicators they can be and that they are fully equipped to use the highly optimized technical tools that were specified and designed into a system that was fully optimized for the space. Also making sure they are completely comfortable in the enhanced space. As an AV/IT design and integration support team the goal is also to be considered part of their cohesive team. Part of the goal is to be embedded as part of their team.

For the customers, The Evolution of True Communication is so much more than attending or hosting a meeting, presentation, or conference where information is forced at the audience/students in a “death by PowerPoint” fashion. When you have successfully achieved The Evolution of True Communication, everyone is involved in the creation, sharing and the care of the content and everyone is better for it. In the Evolution of True Communication presenters become mentors, the audience/students become collaborators and everyone has added value to the message. This is all accomplished because the best tools and technology are available, the environment is optimal and the presenter and materials are appropriate. Most importantly the sweet spot was found where the presenters/collaborators are able to add their "You Factor". When this happens, it is a beautiful thing. The bottom line is that, the best designers/integrators in AV/IT include the presenters/collaborators as part of the development of a system throughout the whole process. They assign a great deal of importance to their “You Factor.”

Da Vinci Sales in the InfoComm 2016 Show Bookstore

The Book - The Art and Science of Da Vinci Sales - The 7 Keys to Selling Like Leonardo will be available at the #InfoComm16 Bookstore.  

Buy your copy at the show.  Some extra benefits to doing this are that the book is registered under the InfoComm RU program for 2RUs and it is a great value for spending your vouchers from attending the manufacturer training.  Last but not least, as part of the #AVGivesBack initiative 50% of the profits from the sales of this book will be donated to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in honor of my wife Christine Kopsho and in memory of Brad Weber (an Atlanta based AV industry veteran who lost his courageous battle against Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia in September of 2014.)  If you are at the show you can get this great book, earn additional RUs and do some good while you are there.

No matter what - I hope to see you at the show!

UC&C Requires a T.E.A.M Approach

The audiovisual industry has been converging and will continue to converge with the IT industry to deliver unified communications and collaborative solutions.  The convergence of these markets bring the best of what AV has to offer with the best of IT has completely together.  AV brings to bear the enhanced lighting, acoustics and collaboration technology to make the communication seem more natural.  IT delvers the infrastructure and standards that have proven to be trusted in mission critical areas for over 40 years.  Together these truly converged technologies and practices enhance communication and collaboration in astounding ways.

The real question is: what truly makes unified communication and collaboration work in a corporate environment?  Experience has taught us that despite all the technology and environment changes and enhancements we can make that there are a lot of organizations that don’t improve their collaboration or commination with that alone.  Despite the considerable investments in technology and infrastructure, many of these organizations have not improved their communication and collaboration.  Whether it is local meetings or collaboration quick-connects in small huddle spaces or videoconference meetings or group sessions in cloud based bridged sessions online the tech and tools alone have not made them more productive. The lesson we have learned is that a shift must also be made in the attitude of the entire organization.  As an industry, the AV industry can offer consulting services to help customers with proces improvements to help with this shift.  In order for collaboration to become part of the lifeblood and spirit of any group they must adopt the TEAM mentality.  

TEAM stands for: T = Trust   E = Empowerment  A = Accountability  M = Managed      

Let’s breakdown the TEAM approach to collaboration:

Trust – Open communication in collaboration is paramount.  In a recent article Cory Schaeffer talks about the trust factor in AV/IT sales.  Full open communication does not happen without full trust.  Knowing that you can share ideas without repercussions is key.  The organization must promote and support an environment of complete trust.  Each person in a small group or project team must be able to completely depend on the rest of that team.  This trust can be as simple as having a spirit of doing what you say you are going to do and knowing all others will do the same.  It also goes as far as each person in the group knowing that the others “have their back.”  There should also be a common goal (a mission) and each member of the group needs to know that the goal is known by all and everyone can count on every team member is working toward meeting that goal.  This trust also includes the belief that each person is being completely open, honest and candid in all interactions.  When you have complete trust communication is much more effective and collaborative meetings are much more productive.

Empowerment – Each person in a collaborative meeting should be empowered.  Making decisions and sharing ideas is not a presentation or class; collaboration requires that everyone is on equal standing and that they have the ability to make decisions and act on those decisions.  One of the major concepts in collaborative meetings is that it be creative and productive.  People cannot be creative nor productive if there are constant limitations set on them.  The team should be given guidelines and direction as to how to make decisions, but then they should be set free to make decisions.  When a collective can collaborate and solve problems creatively and decisively they will come up with incredibly unique and sound solutions to complex problems, but this requires true empowerment.  The other aspect to this empowerment is that the other members of a collaborative meetings are TRUSTing that each member has come to the meeting prepared and empowered to make decisions and act.

Accountability – In a collaborative meeting each person is required to participate and add value.  Each participant is held accountable and must bring their knowledge, skill and/or experience.  You may have been in a meeting where you have seen a few participants there that you wondered: why are they here?  When you encounter a meeting participant who does not engage and does not share their knowledge, skill or experience, everyone loses.  That attendee misses out on the full collaborative experience and losses trust and the rest of the team does not gain from their knowledge, skill or experience.  It is the team’s responsibility to hold the rest of the team accountable and even assign tasks and to almost demand participation.  An easier example of this is a board or council.  When a board or council meets the group can go around and ask each member one at a time to participate or to address a subject.  I am not saying that every collaborative meeting should use a roll call and have each member address every subject, but I am saying that every member should be held accountable to share their knowledge, skill and experience when applicable.  Most importantly each member should hold themselves accountable to participate and add value to the meetings they attend.

Managed – A truly collaborative group has a coordinated effort and is managed in some way to meet an objective.  The group acts in unison to meet the shared goal and this often requires a facilitator/manager.  Sure the concept of collaboration is that everyone shares equally and that the result is a unified thought that ends up on a unified resource recorded and accounted for in some form of repository whether on the network, whiteboard or a document, but this usually does not happen without orchestration.  A good team has a great facilitator that has the ability to manage from within.  When collaboration is being done there is a member of the collaborative team that helps to guide the collaborative effort to maintain the unified effort and coordinate the documentation of the combined inputs of knowledge, skill and experience.  This person usually does this as somewhat of an art form.  This role can shift from person to person, but the bottom line is that the team needs to have direction and focus which usually requires a single facilitator.

The TEAM concept is one way of illustrating the concept that unified communication and collaboration tools and technology don’t necessarily increase productivity.  I am reminded of a quote I have read: A genuine change must first come from within the individual, only then can he or she attempt to make a significant contribution to humanity. – Dalai Lama.  I believe this is an appropriate quote here because the core of any organization is the people.  In order for an organization to make a significant change, the people must first change.  To make your unified communications and collaboration integration solutions work best you may want to include an element of helping an organization shift into a TEAM mentality (as a LEAN Six Sigma company we have added it to our process improvement consulting services at Thorburn Associates).  Working with customers on a business to business level is a key part of adding value and being a true trusted advisor.

The Top 5 InfoComm Certification Renewal and Training Myths - Dispelled by an AV/IT Training Dummy.

I have spent the last 18 years training for InfoComm and/or being an InfoComm RU provider.  It still amazes me how many people are confused about the training and RU process with InfoComm.  I have decided to compile a quick list of the top 5 myths and try my best to dispel them for everyone.  In my new role as Chairperson for InfoComm's Independent Consultants for Audiovisual Technology (ICAT) Council I get to be an ambassador of sorts.  Even though I am not directly working with the training side at InfoComm, I do think it is helpful for everyone in our industry to understand these myths and to have them cleared up. 

Myth #1: InfoComm Certified Training

Dispelled: There is no such thing as “InfoComm Certified Training.”  Training that is good for InfoComm Renew Units comes from a registered Renewal Unit Provider.  Their courses are RU approved.  There is no certification process and therefore no certified courses or certified providers.  The RU Provider status is granted to individuals and companies who go through the application process and submit courses that are in accordance with the ISO and ANSI accreditation and standards that InfoComm must maintain to remain ANSI accredited.  The courses are not approved based on content accuracy or topical nature.  The courses are approved based on administrative accuracy as it applies to the certification process and objectivity not content.  There are only approved RU courses and approved RU providers.  Stop using the term “certified” people!

Myth #2: InfoComm (or my company) Tracks All My RUs

Dispelled: It is the student’s responsibility to track their RUs.  Your company can do this for you, but if they don’t, InfoComm cannot help.  It is the student’s responsibility to make sure this is done.  As a student you can submit your certificates to InfoComm throughout the three years you are accumulating your RUs so that they are in your transcript.  The student can also track check their progress at any time during those three years.  However, InfoComm does not automatically receive these certificates from the RU Provider.  The student must get their certificates from the RU provider and submit them to InfoComm via the online process, via email or fax them in with their renewal application.  The most efficient way is to maintain the transcript as one goes along and then renew online.  Students can login to InfoComm University to find out how to submit certificates to add to their transcripts at any time.

Myth #3: The Only Way to Get Renewal Units is to Take InfoComm Courses

Dispelled: There are so many different ways to get renewal units.  Students can go to http://www.infocomm.org/cps/rde/xbcr/infocomm/CERT_RU_Sources.pdf to find a list of RU Providers.  There are other ways to obtain RUs as well.  It is important to read the RU handbook: http://www.infocomm.org/cps/rde/xchg/infocomm/hs.xsl/33721.htm to find all the ways to obtain RUs.  Another resource to find a summary of ways to get RUs is the RU Options Chart: http://www.infocomm.org/cps/rde/xchg/infocomm/hs.xsl/33508.htm.  This chart shows that you can get RUs from reading a book, writing and article or whitepaper, taking an industry related college course, teaching and RU approved course and/or becoming an InfoComm volunteer.  There is really no reason to let your certification expire.  An additional note to this myth is that a lot of people believe that InfoComm decides what gets RUs and what doesn't.  It is the renewal unit committee that does this.  Interestingly enough even InfoComm has to submit their courses to the RU committee for approval.

Myth #4:  InfoComm Courses are Too Expensive

Dispelled: Many of the webinars and InfoComm courses come at no cost to members.  Most of the people reading this are members because their companies are members.  Make sure your company is a member and that you are on the company roster with InfoComm.  Take advantage of the available resources that InfoComm offers that come at no cost.  The online courses that do come for a fee are usually intermediate and advanced level and when you are ready for them, they are well worth the fee.

Myth #5: I Am Not Experienced, Knowledgeable or Skilled Enough to Be an InfoComm Instructor

Dispelled: InfoComm always needs volunteers at all levels.  Whatever experience you have I promise you that you will learn more and gain more than you give when you get in front of a class of AV professionals.  It has been my experience that it isn’t always about what you know, but more about how much you care and how well you can facilitate the knowledge that is in already in the room.  Moreover, we are our own worst critics.  I often find that the people who are critical of themselves and think they can’t teach are the ones who take it most seriously and take the time to study, research, prepare and rehearse.  Those people are the ones who deliver the best classes.  InfoComm will never throw you to the wolves. They have a great cadre of staff and veteran instructors that can co-teach with you until you are ready to go it on your own.  So give it a try.  Next time there is a call for presenters; throw your name in the hat.

Summary:  The InfoComm training and certification process is an efficient process once you learn it and embrace it.  It is the best AV certification program out there.  There has been a lot of discussion about what is wrong with it and how to make it better.  There is one answer to that question: volunteer.  InfoComm is a member driven organization and as such much of the training and certification programs are defined by the membership.  If something needs to change…change it.

Volunteer – Engage – Mentor - Change