Transforming AV education to fit digital age
Over the last decade AVIXA has embraced the online delivery of audiovisual education. Through webinars, reports, and white papers the AV industry association has evolved with the technology available. It’s looking to do that again.
As we move into 2021, AVIXA’s recent reorganization sets the stage for a prioritization of education at a global level.
“Enhanced educational content when and where our members need it,” AVIXA’s Joé Lloyd said. “We cover both business thought leadership and technical education and will provide enhanced instructor led training and on-demand content in our hub that puts education at the tips of our members fingers to access at their own pace. It will give our members the ability to consume the CTS RU content they need, while keeping updated on their own schedule.”
The COVID-19 epidemic has certainly accelerated this move. However, if you’ve been paying attention to the moves AVIXA has been making this was their course all along. The increase of both live and on-demand webinars, leveraging their CTS instructors to record content for content teams, and partnering with groups like Almo Pro AV and SCN for their AV IT Summit are all virtual offerings.
“Our members consume content in a much different way than they did 20 years ago”, Lloyd added. “It’s time we meet them where they live.”
This means topical information when and how the members need them – it will be an experience that allows the binging of content in much the same way consumers do on a personal level. Whether it be Netflix, Amazon or that research for a next vacation spot – members will not be limited by back-end platforms or the phrasing typical of B2B websites.
“Imagine wanting to get up to speed on rack design and in one easy step a visitor to the hub has access to thought leadership, opinions, webinars and other virtual events, to CTS education and standards. This is the type of UX our members expect and this what our reorganization has primed us to create,” says Lloyd. “We saw the need for global education to be better, to be easier to access, and understand that scalability is a top priority. We want to remove the barriers to entry such as big city availability, travel and in-person only requirements.
Tim Albright is the founder of AVNation and is the driving force behind the AVNation network. He carries the InfoComm CTS, a B.S. from Greenville College and is pursuing an M.S. in Mass Communications from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. When not steering the AVNation ship, Tim has spent his career designing systems for churches both large and small, Fortune 500 companies, and education facilities.
