Posted by Kelly | August 1, 2012, 9:16 am
INTRODUCTION
The Women in AV (WAVE) have taken on an outreach initiative to support the InfoComm AV Week, which is October 14 – 20, 2012. During this week, we’re asking members of WAVE to get involved in educating middle and high school students to build awareness of the AV industry.
There are three simple ways to participate in this WAVE initiative. Exploit your resources and choose whichever activity is right for you. If you want to do more than one, that’s even better! AV Week and WAVE’s program provide a prime opportunity to not only generate awareness of the industry, but also enables you to get involved within your local community. By joining this initiative, you will be directly helping to teach youth on how the AV industry can lead to a fulfilling, creative, and inspired career path! WAVE has outlined these as our group’s possible activities:
WORK WITH SCIENCE TEACHERS
Be a guest lecturer and offer lessons on the science of AV, including activities such as identifying the AV in use at their school. InfoComm can provide you with lesson plans, facts and statistics (www.avweek.org/toolkit.cfm.) A good resource is the National Science Teachers Association.
REACH OUT TO YOUR LOCAL TSA CHAPTER
The Technology Student Association is a nation, nonprofit organization for middle and high school students with a strong interest in technology as well as for their teachers who serve as advisors. Search the TSA website to see if there is a chapter in your state. See if they would like to have you speak to their members during AV Week.
DONATE TO A SCHOOL
Do you have any used AV equipment? Or do you want to raise funds to buy some AV that a local school needs? Check with your local school to see if there is a need and consider how you may be able to help.
DO A TECH TOUR
Check with a local school to see if there is interest from the science, film and theater students to tour your AV facility or a local venue to get a peak of the AV “behind the scenes”.
ACCESS WAVE AND AV WEEK LOGO BELOW:
WAVE Logo: www.womeninav.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/WAVElogoLarge.jpg
AV Week Logo: www.avweek.org/toolkit.cfm
ACCESS FULL PDF TOOLKIT: WAVE_AV_Week_2012.pdf
WOMEN IN AV CONTACT INFORMATION:
Please submit your activities, photos and information to Kelly Perkins, WAVE Marketing Director, at kperkins@womeninav.com or by phone at (612) 298-7688. We want to make sure your efforts are recognized in Women in AV press, womeninav.com as well as our social media outlets.
This is a great opportunity for us to get involved in supporting our industry and helping to reach the younger generations about what is special about being a professional in AV! We appreciate your involvement and ensuring AV will stay relevant and an important part of the future of communications technologies!!
Thank you Women in AV!!
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Posted by Kelly | June 20, 2012, 1:04 pm
“Daddy, do any girls work with you,” — Chloe, age 5 on the eve of Take Your Children to Work day (see earlier blog post)
I work, as you know, in the wonderful world of commercial AV, spreading the joys of audio-visual technology throughout the land. I’ve worked for two different integrators, worked for scores of clients including Fortune 100 companies with their own internal AV support staff.
Of team with whom I currently work?
Installation technicians – all male.
Service technicians – all male
Project engineers – all male.
Design engineers and sales engineers – all male.
Programmers – all male.
Project specialists (testing and verification technicians) – all male.
CAD technician – female.
That’s right. Of the twentysome people in various technical positions in our local office, there is exactly one female in a technical role.
Scenes from a day of AV Training
Lest you think this a local problem in the past six months alone I’ve taken part in vendor training from Biamp, ClearOne, Extron, Crestron, AVI-SPL’s in-house AV Project Management training, Crestron again, and Meyer sound. Those training classes alone represent contact with somewhere between a hundred and a hundred fifty of my fellow AV professionals.
Of those, exactly one was a woman.
At Extron Training - this was the highest female/male ratio of any training I attended this year
At Extron Training – this was the highest female/male ratio of
any training I attended this year
Why do I see this as a problem? The quote with which I lead is the first hint; inequalities like this create a self-perpetuating division between “women’s jobs” and “men’s jobs”. Your psychologist, your kids’ schoolteachers, and the receptionist in the last office you visited are probably women. Your car mechanic, your computer programmer and, yes, your AV technician are probably men. This drives young people to specific industries by an idea of where they’d “fit in” and what’s “appropriate” for them rather than what their natural talents and interests would lead them; if you’re a young man and all of the psychologists you encounter are women, then it’s hard for “psychologist” to be an aspirational position for you. If you’re a young women and all of the technical people you encounter are men, it becomes a role in which it’s harder to see yourself. If you’re a teacher and have a promising young female student, she likely doesn’t look like a potential engineer to you, even if you never consciously recognize this bias.
The second problem is one for the industry; we rob ourselves of half the potential talent available by closing the door to half the population. This is a truism for all industries; greater diversity of candidates breeds greater diversity of viewpoints and, in the long term, better results.
So what do do about it? The good news is that the culture is changing, from greater acceptance to less of a “boys’ club” atmosphere. For example, most AV professionals today are reluctant to use sexually suggestive test media when commissioning a system. It is worth noting that at least two of AVI-SPL’s local offices are being run by women. I’m very proud that the Women in AV group (an industry group of some very talented and successful people working towards mentoring and promotion of women in the industry) chose one of our account managers (Alexis LaBroi from the Atlanta office) for their inaugural mentoring award. Having women not only in leadership positions in the industry but using those positions to help others follow in their footsteps is one step towards a more inclusive industry. It’s the slow, organic way to grow.
Are there wider, better solutions possible? That’s very hard for me to say. I suspect it would take an overall change in how we look at men and women for the AV industry – or any technology industry – to become truly gender blind. It’s still an ideal worth fighting for and one towards which we’re currently – albeit it slowly – working.
About Leonard Suskin:
Leonard Suskin. Father, husband, writer, AV professional. I live in the greatest city in the world with a beautiful wife, two lovely children, and two cats.
In my spare time I write fiction. Mainly short fiction, often with a fantasy element.
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Posted by Kelly | June 20, 2012, 10:17 am
This year, Women in AV (WAVE) is honoring a female AV professional for outstanding mentor service with the Women in AV Mentor Award. Alexis LaBroi, account manager at AVI-SPL, was highlighted for her contributions to their mentees and others around them as women in the AV industry.
LaBroi has been in the event technology industry for 16 years, holding leadership roles in operations, training and sales. Starting her career at Renaissance Chicago, LaBroi has worked with companies such as PSAV, Swank and Swisscom.
Candace McPherson nominated LaBroi and said she looked up to LaBroi from the first meeting.
“She challenged me to test my own knowledge, and taught me to be a better, more knowledgeable professional,” McPherson said. “She inspired me to have faith in myself, and be confident in what I know.”
McPherson said LaBroi also inspired her to never give up, even though there were challenges as a woman breaking into in the AV industry.
“She gives 100 percent…even when others would throw in the towel,” McPherson said. “She is also a loving and warm family-centered woman. Her nurturing quality is evident in the way she serves those around her.”
Jennifer Willard, WAVE founder, said she is excited for LaBroi to be the first recipient of the award.
“LaBroi’s mentoring efforts to support and encourage women in our industry are remarkable,” Willard said. “Her accomplishments demonstrate why she is a very deserving winner.”
Willard also thanked Listen Technologies for sponsoring the award and their continued support of the organization.
“It is critical for us, as women, to recognize each other for the great work we do for others,” Willard said.
La Broi will was honored at InfoComm 2012, which will was June 13 – 15 in Las Vegas. As the largest AV trade show in the nation, Infocomm brings experts from all over the world to showcase products and lead education sessions.
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Posted by Kelly | June 5, 2012, 8:05 am
The Women in AV (WAVE) have announced plans to raise money for charity at the conclusion of the InfoComm 2012 show.
“We work in a fast-paced technology industry,” said Jennifer Willard, founder of WAVE. “We spend a great deal of time and energy at the InfoComm Show in Las Vegas doing business, but we would also like to be good corporate citizens. With all our thanks to FSR president, Jan Sandri, for launching this initiative, WAVE and our industry have the chance to give back in support of a non-profit organization that addresses the challenges women face in balancing work and family responsibilities.”
The charity selected is Southern Nevada Children First. This non-profit organization provides safe environments in which youth are supported through mentoring, advocacy, education, counseling and intensive case management. They take in homeless mothers and children, pregnant and parenting youth, and provide housing, education, employment training, parenting skills, social skills, etc.
WAVE is asking for donations. Cash or checks will be accepted (checks made payable to Southern Nevada Children First).
Donations will be accepted at the NSCA Women in AV Reception, and at the InfoComm WAVE Luncheon.
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Posted by Kelly | May 8, 2012, 8:58 pm
WAVE to Present Mentoring Session at E4 D.C. Event on May 18
Philadelphia, PA — May 8, 2012 — The Women in AV (WAVE) today announced it has joined Almo Professional A/V, the nation’s fastest growing audiovisual distributor, on its E4 AV training and networking tour. WAVE will present a session titled “What Is Mentoring and Why Is It Important to You?” at the next E4 event, which will take place in Washington, D.C., on May 18.
“The Women in AV (WAVE) group is thrilled to join Almo Professional A/V’s E4 Tour to present on mentoring and its critical role in advancing our professional careers and furthering our industry,” said WAVE founder Jennifer Willard. “We all have something unique to offer each other and with four generations currently in the workforce, it’s essential we look at what we can share in terms of experience, expertise and collaboration. WAVE has recently launched a mentoring program to help women advance professionally and personally. And we value the important role men play, not only in being our mentors, but in what they also can gain from this type of experience.”
“In recent years the A/V industry has been increasingly well-represented by both men and women,” explained Melody Craigmyle, vice president of marketing for Almo Professional A/V. “While WAVE is an organization founded by women in this profession, the session being presented at E4 will benefit anyone in this field looking to become involved in mentoring and reverse mentoring. The topic helps round out the E4 training agenda so that attending partners can expect to learn new information that allows them to grow from both a business and a personal perspective. Whether you want to be a mentor or be mentored, are female or male, this course offers new opportunities to become involved in advancing the careers and development of others, which is crucial for the future of our industry.”
The WAVE mentoring course will teach that as important as an individual’s life achievements are, mentoring is the process of guiding, supporting and promoting the training and career development of others. It’s not only for the younger generations in our industry; seasoned professionals now have an opportunity to learn how to implement a social media strategy from those just entering the workforce through reverse mentoring. This course will teach about the different types of mentoring and why implementing a company-based program can help improve morale, provide a sense of camaraderie and increase productivity.
An overview of the Almo Pro A/V E4 tour can be viewed here.
The E4 D.C. event will take place on Friday, May 18, at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and is free, including parking, to Almo Pro A/V’s reseller, integrator and consultant partners. To register, go to www.e4avtour.com.
The E4 AV program can be accessed on demand during and after each event for instructor videos, copies of the course presentations and live Twitter updates.
About Almo Professional A/V’s E4 AV Tour
Launched in December 2009, The E4 AV tour is a free, full-day program with an intense educational focus that allows partners to earn valuable InfoComm International CTS RUs while networking with the industry’s top manufacturers. Close to 4,300 attendees have experienced the benefits of the E4 events and in the process have earned nearly 3,000 InfoComm CTS RUs. For more information, go to www.e4avtour.com.
About Almo Professional A/V
Almo Professional A/V is the nation’s fastest growing distributor serving the needs of professional audiovisual integrators, dealers and consultants. With a highly skilled sales team, reseller education programs, 10 distribution centers across the U.S. and product lines for the Pro A/V channel, Almo Professional A/V provides customers with the full distribution experience on a local and a personal level.
The Almo Professional A/V sales team is InfoComm-trained and the majority is CTS-certified. Almo Professional A/V has aligned with InfoComm International to offer courses worth CTS renewal units that enable partners to stay ahead. At the same time, the division works with industry vendors to bring live and online product training opportunities directly to channel partners.
Almo Professional A/V is a division of Almo Corp., the nation’s leading independent distributor of consumer electronics and major appliances. For more information about Almo Professional A/V, please call 410-560-2890 or go to www.almoproav.com. Almo Professional A/V can also be followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/almoproav and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/almoproav.
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