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To Go or Not to Go – CES 2019

Emerging Tech

Planning for CES 2019

 

“Everyone should go to CES, at least once” is often heard throughout the 2.7 million sq. feet of the Consumer Electronic Show, held annually in Las Vegas, NV. The Consumer Electronic Show (CES) is the largest conference for consumer electronics products in the United States. Drawing over 180,000 creative and technical leaders from companies around the world, many people believe that not going to CES is the equivalent to starting the year off as slow as Las Vegas’s McCarran airport’s security line on a Sunday morning.

If you are able to push past the awe of being at the center of technology and innovation, the real question is, is it worth it?  Having been to CES for the past few years, I’m here to share my insights to help you make the right decision for you and your company.

Set your goals.

 

If your New Year’s resolution is to increase your industry knowledge, dive into the session schedule and exhibitor list. Highlight the biggest trends, sessions and booths that would be beneficial to explore and align with your business goals. With an open mind, you might find the right combination of sessions and products that could collectively drive change to move your business forward.

If your goal is building relationships with new and prospective clients, reach out and see if they will be attending. If asking directly isn’t an option, check out their social media accounts. If the list is long enough, CES could provide a unique opportunity to start, or continue the conversation, and move them forward through the pipeline. By planning early and booking meetings in advance, you can help build out your CES schedule and increase the ROI before the event even starts. Plus, you will be better prepared for a successful meeting.

Learning.

 

CES is a massive show with 15 conference tracks on a variety of topics all jam-packed with the latest insights. From immersive technologies and robotics, to autonomous vehicles and smart home gadgetry, the range of topics is extensive.  Additionally, CES has hundreds of speakers representing companies on a global scale, both large and small, from across virtually all industries. Check out the speaker list and see who might align with your target accounts. If you end up attending, sit in the front of their session and see if you can strike up a conversation before or after the session. It can be tough to stop busy executives, but the forum for sharing information and ideas is what CES is all about so many are very receptive.

Trending.

 

The CES show floor will have over 4,000 exhibitors showing off the most cutting-edge technology and innovation. If you’re there to take it all in, you will come away with a personal, visceral reference for what the future might hold.  Taking in each exhibit’s size, location and attendee engagement can give you a first-hand glimpse at the emerging trends and might even give you a leg up on your competition.

Networking.

 

Like all conferences, CES provides unique networking opportunities both built into the event schedule and just in the sheer volume of attendees. The number of brands that are present at CES increase dramatically year after year and the representative ranges from C-suite executives to the talented teams of designers and technicians. Whether you’re standing in line for a keynote or exploring the show floor, you never know who you will run in to.  It might just be your next big client.

Cost.

 

Once you’ve carefully and strategically considered all the reasons why you should go, you need to weigh in the cost of attending.  On top of your conference pass, there will be travel expenses, hotel rooms, and meals which add up pretty quickly, especially in Las Vegas. Hotel rooms and flights tend to double and triple their normal booking rates, so book early! And don’t forget to include extra spend for “wining and dining” your prospective clients.

 

Still unsure of what to expect at CES 2019 Check out our CES 2018 Recap for more insights!

With all that in mind, if your needle is leaning towards “go”, we hope to see you there!  Shoot me an email and let’s connect while in Vegas!

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Learn What You Love

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InfoComm 2018 , North America’s leading audiovisual (AV) convention and exhibition, was held earlier this summer in Las Vegas, Nevada, and TeamPeople was there to take it all in.

The Place To Be For Pro-AV.

Despite daytime temperatures reaching a high of 101 degrees, AVIXA , the Audiovisual and Integrated Experience Association (formerly InfoComm International), reports a staggering 43,000 registrants. When factoring in 964 exhibitors spanning 550,000 square feet of exhibits, demo rooms, and special events space, AVIXA is proclaiming this the biggest InfoComm ever.

The event kicked off with a record-setting TIDE conference, drawing its largest crowd to date. Jason McGraw, Senior Vice President of Expositions for AVIXA, explained that the TIDE conference challenges AV professionals to “…. consider ways of applying human-centered design to AV solutions.” New programs such as Design Thinking for AV and Integrated Life Day were well received by the attendees and had participants collaborating in ways they’d never imagined.

Never Stop Learning.

In a sea of new technology and innovation, the true value of InfoComm is not just in its products, but in its passion for learning and education.  Inspired by AVIXA’s new motto, “Together, we can change the way people experience the world”, InfoComm attendees were digging in to learn what they love and empower the industry.

Among our TeamPeople representatives were technology managers, audiovisual technicians, integration technicians, design engineers and others, representing many of our clients as well as our corporate headquarters. Three TeamPeople employees became CTS -certified on their first attempt at the very challenging exam. Others attended classes and seminars ranging from audio, video and unified communications to emerging trends, live events and technology management. As expected, classes dealing with the AV/IT merger were at the top of everyone’s list.

The Future of AV Starts With A Packed Booth.

The exhibition itself is a collection of sights and sounds that would give the Vegas strip a run for its money. Arena-sized video walls could be seen everywhere you looked. Only a few short years ago there were a notable few, super-impressive, video wall manufacturers and almost everyone else struggling to compete for attention. Fast forward to the present and the challenge was to find a large format video display that didn’t impress its audience. Sony Corporation seemed to have won the attention battle this year with a stunning large format videowall that featured breathtaking content, detail, and color reproduction that had attendees shoulder-to-shoulder within the booth. Live audio continues to demand interest at the show with most manufacturers innovating in the direction of more compact, cost efficient designs. “Dante Spoken Here” signs were omnipresent throughout the exhibit hall as every manufacturer wanted it to be known that they, too, could deliver uncompressed, multi-channel, low-latency digital audio over a standard ethernet network.

Manufacturers are continuing to innovate in the direction of simpler and faster integration products that installers will love. Parts that are accessible and easy to swap, accessories that are interchangeable and snap in place, as well as product interoperability were all welcome advances for our industry. It’s difficult to pick a standout technology among so many innovators, but a few companies were displaying “holographic” images – seemingly floating in air – that demanded everyone’s attention. These large, 3D, multicolored, moving images seemed straight out of sci-fi and had dozens of attendees jockeying for the best position to video the strange, new, technology. Most attendees expect to see this technology make appearances in select settings in the coming year.

At TeamPeople, we believe in investing in our employees. Through training, certification, accreditation and exposure to emerging technologies and industry events, we ensure that our technicians, engineers, installers, and designers are consistently developing and evolving as technology professionals.

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Simplifying the Video Production Process

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Did you know that by 2019, video traffic will account for 80% of all global consumer Internet traffic? We are watching videos, every day, on every platform, and it’s not slowing down anytime soon.

Facebook, a brand known for its ever-changing, trend-based algorithms, is facilitating the growth of video on social and requiring companies and brands to get on board.  With Facebook Video posts increasing in the U.S. by 94% annually, they’ve amended their ad structure to compel business owners to leverage video in order to receive the impressions they desire. If you are a marketer looking to increase brand awareness on Facebook, you need to embrace video otherwise your content simply won’t receive the engagement it deserves.

Without a doubt, YouTube has helped to fuel this fire (a fire that they arguably started). YouTube reports a rise in mobile video consumption by 100% every year. According to Hubspot , with 400 hours of video content being uploaded every minute, the sheer amount of video content on YouTube is overwhelming, yet completely justified. People are searching and watching YouTube videos at a shocking rate of 1 billion collective hours per day.  Your customers don’t just want video- they expect it, and they are growing to rely on it. We are at the point where video is no longer a trend but a social normality and for companies and brands looking to connect with their audience, video marketing is no longer optional.

Unfortunately, video production is one of the most complex and intricate processes in all of inbound marketing. To get a good blog, just combine a talented writer who understands SEO with a graphic designer and you’ve got Ebooks and Whitepapers galore. But video? Video is a different game.

What goes into making a great video?

It starts in pre-production. Before you even begin storyboarding, you need to have a good understanding of the capabilities and tools available to you. Being aware of the budget, capabilities and limitations of your video production software, and any editing or graphics talent you have at your disposal is important. Not only to the successful creation of the video but to your efficiency, and ultimately, to your ROI. Finding the facilities, actors and designers also falls into the pre-production process. On top of all those details and moving parts, the most critical aspect of pre-production is crafting the message. No matter how advanced the technology is, the quality of the content and message is paramount to the success of the video. A great video elicits a response in its viewers and drives engagement.

Next up is production. Chances are this is where you may need some outside help. Hands down, skilled camera operators, professional lighting and sound equipment can vastly improve the quality of your video.  In many cases, videos with a higher production quality have a higher perceived value of the message. Consider your audience, buyer personas, or ideal viewers and use that to gauge the level of sophistication that your video needs. Be creative and use what you have available to you to express the message you so carefully crafted.

The final stage of the process is post-production. You’ve put a lot of great work into your video so far, but post-production is where the magic happens. Exciting transitions, graphics or animation can enhance any video and really make it come to life. It can also help to extend the reach of your video and promotes viewer engagement. What’s not magic, is how long it can take. Post-production is a time consuming and detailed-oriented process. It is important not to underestimate the length of time needed when building out your initial timeline. Having an experienced editor or post-production designer in your arsenal can prove to be extremely beneficial, especially when trying to make a deadline. Don’t know of anyone fit for the job? One phone call to TeamPeople , and we’ll help locate the right professional for the job, within your budget. An experienced editor can also correct or improve quality issues from the production stage such as lighting and sound. Subtitles are also a highly recommended enhancement that can be made since WordStream announced that 85% of the videos watched on Facebook are watched with the sound off.

 

Outsourcing the help you need.

Needless to say, video production can be a complicated process. For many marketing teams without a dedicated in-house video team, creating a video initiative requires a great deal of commitment. From having the necessary tools to the required training and skills- skills usually outside of the standard marketer’s wheelhouse of expertise, it’s easy to see why outsourcing is a common solution. Outsourcing the video production and/or the post-production work allows the marketing team to focus on the content creation and marketing of the final video, playing to their strengths. Not only can it save you time, it brings quality and professionalism to your message and brand.

In whichever way you choose to incorporate video into your marketing strategy, it’s well worth it. According to Insivia , 52% of marketing professionals worldwide name video as the type of content with the best ROI. Still not convinced? Marketers who use video grow revenue 49% faster than non-video users.

Looking to take advantage of the flexibility of outsourcing? We’re here for you! TeamPeople has an international database of 40,000+ freelancers specializing in digital media, technology and creative. We can bridge the gap between great marketing and great video so that you don’t have to get lost in the cumbersome process of producing video.

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The Future of Media Leaders’ Summit Recap

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2018 marked the second iteration of the Future of Media Leaders’ Summit hosted by Al Jazeera in Doha, Qatar. While there were product demonstrations by a few of the supporting vendors, the focus was clearly on the information shared through key note presentations and panel discussions. The ever-evolving theme of the summit revolved around cloud technology and artificial intelligence (AI). During panel discussions, three simultaneous panels were held, one focusing on technology, another on workflow, and the third one on content and distribution. Panels consisted of media and technology executives that candidly shared their views on the topic at hand.

 

On the first day of the summit, cloud technology and cyber security were at the center of the presentations. Avid’s recent partnership with Microsoft Azure, both of which have partnerships with Al Jazeera, is evidence of maximizing the cloud by utilizing cloud-based applications that will give content producers much more flexibility to create and edit material on the fly and in the field. In regard to infrastructure, the impression I got from the panelists was that a hybrid solution, consisting of on premises and cloud-based storage, was the mixture that the majority of major film and media industry titans were either already utilizing or had plans to implement in the near future.

 

Over the last few years, there have been multiple attacks on cloud-based storage, which was the primary focus of the cybersecurity talks. Most of the cloud-based attacks were a result of security tools not being properly used and the discussion moved to providing training and convincing non-technical users to take advantage of two-factor authentication and various other cybersecurity tools to ensure only authorized people had access to sensitive material stored on the cloud, but it seemed to be accepted universally, that the cloud was more secure than traditional storage systems, due to the fact that cloud providers had an army of cybersecurity specialists working on defending and developing tools, whereas, the media industry did not. Additionally, in the realm of cybersecurity, “Fake News” also played into the narrative. Keynote Speaker Haroon Meer, founder of Thinkist, demonstrated how his team used “Weapons of Mass Distraction” and was able to easily manipulate trending news feeds on major news websites such as The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. In the end, the panelists didn’t have many recommendations on how to combat “Fake News” beyond making sure their organizations continued to deliver fast and accurate news to their viewers.

 

Day 2 of the summit shifted focus to Artificial Intelligence or AI. Over the last 2 days, no topic created more buzz in the summit, than AI did. From concerns of machines taking over the world, to journalists potentially being out of jobs, everyone agreed that AI can be useful to augment the capabilities of the media and should be sought after to implement in the media industry. One panel focused on the creation of the position “Chief Algorithm Officer” to determine how AI should be used in an organization to meet its goals, which the panel all seemed to agree on. My favorite quote from the AI discussion came from Dr. Yaser Bishr, the Executive Director of Digital for Al Jazeera, saying “AI is not the industrial revolution… The speed of evolution we are experiencing with AI far exceeds anything that we have [seen] before”. He went on to say that any machine that can produce knowledge that has not previously existed in a matter of hours, is dangerous to humankind.

 

Lastly, the afternoon panels combined cloud technology and AI to demonstrate what the newsroom of the future would look like. There was much disagreement on what it would look like exactly, but everyone agreed that cloud technology and AI would help media organizations greatly. I am personally excited to see what’s next in the coming years and to be working in an industry where both cloud technology and AI are going to have a huge impact.

 

Did you attend The Future of Media Leaders Summit? What were your biggest take-aways? We’re heading to Avid Connect and NAB in April and InfoComm in June! If you’ll be there, let’s connect!

 

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What will the future of work look like?

CMMA Blog

In the US, there are more than 53 million freelancers, making up about 35% of the labor force. A recent report  from McKinsey illustrates that while there is a group of workers that is working on a freelance basis position, the large majority of independent workers are getting great satisfaction from working this way.

Employee engagement and overall satisfaction is unquestionably good for business. Flexibility is known to breed creativity, so if we can provide an effective way for this working-style to succeed, we have the potential to create a progressive system in which everybody wins. By leveraging a flexible and nimble staff, businesses are positioned to better adjust to ongoing project demands, tight deadlines and unique skill-sets required to reach success.

Companies that are successfully utilizing independent contractors have taken the leap to structure their business towards the independent worker- from the very core of procurement, legal and finance, to HR, how they find, source and manage their talent.  It is only a matter of time before all businesses will need to do the same. That’s where TeamPeople comes in. Not only do we have a talent cloud of 40K creative and technical talent, but we have experts in HR, legal and procurement and we take the weight of that pressure off our client’s shoulders. If you’re interested in learning more on navigating compliance with a freelance workforce, join us in our Webinar with IHAF on October 25th where we’ll uncover the legal and compliance issues surrounding the variable labor model, helping identify the pros and cons, and better understand how to operate within the boundaries of the law.

What will the future of work look Like 2

Are you looking for qualified and fully-vetted creative or technical talent? Whether you need a UX designer, mobile app developer or a post-production editor, we find the right person for the job- every time. Get a quote today.

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