2022 Spring Partners Meeting Recap
2022 SPRING PARTNERS MEETING RECAP
The 2022 USAV Spring Partners Meeting officially kicked off in Chicago, Illinois on Tuesday morning at the Almo E4 event. We connected with USAV strategic partners including Legrand AV, Sharp/NEC, Netgear, Sony, Jabra and Kramer on the show floor. We listened to Gary Kaye’s keynote which was well attended and included impactful information. The show floor was a great source of education, and everyone was happy to be back together in person.
Candice Aragon, Cheryl Walton & Patrick Whipkey.
After Almo E4 we headed to Windy City Wire, where their team rolled out the red carpet for us. We enjoyed a wonderful spread of food and drinks in their café area and then broke into groups of 15 to check out the manufacturing floor. The entire site was clean, and organized and was running like a well-oiled machine. A combination of humans and robots were working in unison to create all types of low voltage wires. We want to thank Windy City Wire for hosting such a wonderful event and letting us tour their impressive facility.
DAY ONE
Wednesday morning began with a networking breakfast, followed by a few words from Matt Barnette, CEO of PSA Security. He touched on the values of the partnerships, the network and the appreciation to the USAV members and partners. He also broke the news that Chris Salazar-Mangrum is leaving USAV and moving onto another role outside of the industry. Chris has been a key part of the USAV family for the last five years and will be missed. We wish him the best in his new endeavors.
Patrick Whipkey kicking off day one of the Spring Partners Meeting.
Exertis/Almo started the education meeting with Melody Craigmyle, breaking down their 75th year in business and showing us how they gave back to 75 different charities. There were many benefits for companies to put together a plan of giving back, from employee engagement to helping your community and even building your brand awareness. We are looking forward to seeing how others within the USAV community are giving back.
We switched over to the topic of “Hybrid Work and What Does it Mean?” ET Group has been working with the top 100 companies on defining what the hybrid model is and how to best implement it within your company culture. It’s not about when you work but how you work together. Synchronous vs. asynchronous learning and the company’s ability to provide platforms for both situations.
Next on the agenda was the Sharp/NEC tour where they captured the famous catchphrase “May the fourth be with you” from Star Wars. They executed it perfectly, their screens filled with Star Wars-themed content and character cut-out boards. They exhibited the different use cases in real-world environments for their display technology in different vignettes, retail, hospitality, theater, corporate, command and control, education and digital signage. We ended the fantastic tour with some great refreshments before we headed to Wrigley Field to watch the Cubs vs. White Sox game. A classic inner-city rivalry and networking was the best way to experience Chicago and end day one of the USAV Spring Partners Meeting.
Some great photos from the Sharp/NEC tour & CUBS GAME BELOW!
DAY TWO
Beginning day two, we had yet another successful networking breakfast with many conversations about the Cub’s game and the discussion from the day before. After breakfast, we started with a presentation from Liberty AV regarding the hybrid work approach and how integrators are adapting the hybrid selling model of service and projects. It was a very interactive discussion that provoked a lot of thoughts and opinions. Legrand AV was on the podium next to talk about all things sustainability, this topic has been growing within our group and we were curious to hear what a global manufacturer was doing to support the cause. It was interesting to see how big of topic sustainability was and how much people cared about it. Legrand AV has an entire plan on how they are going to improve their products, packaging and how something gets from point a to point b. It’s truly remarkable how much thought and action went into such a great cause.
Legrand AV was a great segway into our next presentation from Cleartech AV. Christina and Joe discussed how they developed a nonprofit organization specifically for AV integrators to help with sustainability. SAVe is a company that Christina and Joe have stood up for specifically focusing on how the AV community can help be a part of the bigger sustainability picture. Next, we broke out into two different breakouts. One was focused on sustainability within AV and the second was a deeper dive into the hybrid work model.
Cheryl presented the importance of dealer reporting, maximizing rebate potential, new manufacture introductions and upcoming USAV events such as the InfoComm Reception and Fall Integrator Meeting. Stay tuned for more information to follow.
We closed out the afternoon and the meeting with a visit to Shure’s downtown office. They gave us an in-depth tour and demo of the different conference rooms and their technology in each room. Since it was Cinco de Mayo, they had a great spread of Mexican tacos and margaritas on tap! The entire team was so passionate for their company that you could feel the energy as they gave the tour and talked about the use case of the products.
Some great photos from the SHURE tour BELOW!
Each Spring Partners Meeting looks and feels a little different each year but what remains unchanged is the networking that goes on throughout the meeting. From lifelong friendships to brand new business opportunities, this is certainly USAV’s flagship event. Thank you to everyone who attended and of course a big thanks to all our vendor sponsors. Next up, InfoComm in Las Vegas June 8-10, we will see you there!
