Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hosted by the dynamic duo Ifat Chowdhury and Neil Fluster, we're bringing you real conversations with real people tackling the topics that matter most. From tech trends and challenges to the stories shaping our AV community. Powered by Wildwood. Plus, this is not your typical studio. Sit down. This is AV. Unfiltered, unexpected and unapologetically wild.
[00:00:21] Speaker B: Hey everyone here at InfoComm 2025 representing Wildwood. And I've come over to the Avixa TV studio. It's like way down the end of the corridor here and I've grabbed Sam Minish, who is VP of delivery. Tell us how Infocom's been for you.
[00:00:34] Speaker C: Infocom's been amazing. The show has been packed. I've had so many fun conversations. I love running into old friends, meeting new ones.
I've gotten to. I got to go to a concert last night, which is awesome.
[00:00:48] Speaker B: Was that Brad Paisley?
[00:00:49] Speaker C: It might have been. It might have been.
[00:00:51] Speaker B: Were you doing hoedown? Did you have your boots and hat on?
[00:00:54] Speaker C: Oh, I had a good time.
I did go in my 80s guard. Cause I was at an 80s event before that. So, you know, just stacking them up.
[00:01:01] Speaker B: I love it.
[00:01:02] Speaker C: Yeah, that's how Infocom works right?
[00:01:04] Speaker B: Now tell me about being vice president of content delivery. What's that all about?
[00:01:08] Speaker C: It's basically all things digital. So all of our digital experiences, our website, avixa.org, the Exchange, and then of course Avixa TV.
[00:01:18] Speaker B: Hold that. No spoilers. Going to come back to you on that. But we want to talk about the awards. So I'm going to throw it over to IFAT to come through and talk about all the great awards because you're multi award winning. But again, no spoilers on that. Let's throw it over to IFAT to cover off the awards.
[00:01:30] Speaker D: Hi Sam. Thank you so much for sparing some time. I know this is the busiest day even though we have made it to the end of the week, right. It's Friday at Infocom.
I've got Friday eyes. How are you feeling?
[00:01:44] Speaker C: Oh, I'm here, I'm ready. I've had many cups of coffee, you know, just powering through. Right. It's. It's the trade show high that you just keep riding all week and then you crash on Saturday.
[00:01:55] Speaker D: But there's another shot in your arm because Avixa TV didn't win one award, didn't win two. They won five awards. Have I got that right?
[00:02:04] Speaker C: Correct. Yes. We won five telly awards this year. We were the fortunate recipients last year of Two, which was amazing. We were super honored this year. To be honored with five is wonderful.
[00:02:17] Speaker D: Talk us through those awards. What were they? Can you remember them all?
[00:02:20] Speaker C: I can remember most.
So one of our awards was for this stream that we did last year.
I do need to caveat that we were tied with the goat Tom Brady for that. So we're honored to be amongst such great giants as that.
We've got a couple of series that also won. So our how they do that series is. We love that one. It's case studies. All the behind the scenes. Right.
[00:02:47] Speaker E: That's where AV people can nerd out.
[00:02:49] Speaker C: About the AV that makes the world amazing.
Our other one, which is my personal favorite, we won for our Beyond Visual series. So that one is really about the.
[00:03:00] Speaker E: Human beings that make up the industry and make AV what it is.
[00:03:07] Speaker D: You know, that's one of my favorites because I was on it.
[00:03:09] Speaker E: Yes, yes.
[00:03:10] Speaker C: You're one of our very first stars on that series.
[00:03:13] Speaker E: So that series is one for.
In the DEI category.
[00:03:17] Speaker C: So.
[00:03:17] Speaker D: Yeah, and the others.
[00:03:20] Speaker E: So there were two individual videos that have won in the science and technology categories which are getting into. We got some behind the scenes look at some stadiums, which is amazing.
We also actually last year I tell the team, we had the audacity to go up against professional esports athletes and played Rocket League and they scored one goal and it was amazing. It's like scoring against Tom Brady. Right. And so we. That was one of our, one of our winning videos which we're very.
[00:03:56] Speaker D: That's brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. And what's been your highlight this week? Obviously the awards is. It's an important. It's a nice recognition, isn't it? When you get, you're not doing it to get the award, but it's great to have that affirmation and recognition from your peers and from, from, from other people in the industry. But what's been your, your best moment?
[00:04:16] Speaker C: Oh, best moment this week, Honestly, his. His was. Was probably celebrating that award with the people who made it happen. Right.
I mean, I'm honored to represent our team, but it is entirely a team effort.
The staff is incredible. They're creative, they're courageous, they're a little crazy.
And that makes for really compelling content. You know, every time I show up and I'm like, guys, what if we did this crazy thing? They're in for it. And they know if they say, hey Sam, we're gonna go do this crazy thing, they go for it. We've got some incredible partners and those partners we would absolutely not be able to do this without them.
We are so grateful they are part of our team. We are all just one big happy family. So being able to celebrate that with them before the show even opens was just, you know, it's not every day. You know, you get to see, you know, you get to stop and really.
[00:05:12] Speaker E: Appreciate what you're doing.
[00:05:13] Speaker C: But it was a moment where we stopped in the middle of the chaos and we just celebrated with people who made all of this go.
[00:05:20] Speaker E: And it's nice to be together.
[00:05:22] Speaker D: That's amazing. And what I'm hearing is you don't have to be crazy to work with Sam, but it helps.
[00:05:28] Speaker C: It doesn't hurt anything. It doesn't hurt anything.
[00:05:31] Speaker D: That's really, really good. I mean, celebrating your team is so important and absolutely huge. Congratulations to all of you. I'm going to hand back to Neil now. And let's get those tired feet to the end of the day.
[00:05:47] Speaker B: I'm back here. AFA's done an amazing job talking about the awards, but Sam, talk us through Avixa tv now. I'll be completely honest. I'll throw myself under the bus. I'm not a subscriber.
How dare I? And. But I do feel a little bit inferior because I bought my Sony rig over here to film you, my lovely Shure SM58. But I'm blown away by this. This setup is like proper high end. But where can all the people in that black lens there, where can they find Avixa tv? What's it all about? Where are you? And how can me and everyone else out in the world find Avixa TV and get great value from it for us?
[00:06:20] Speaker C: We really design it. You can find us everywhere.
[00:06:23] Speaker B: Omnipresent.
[00:06:24] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. Just, you know, in this sphere. Yes.
We've tried to be wherever you're watching content, wherever you want to learn about av, wherever you want to talk about av, we want to be there.
We have sort of a little mantra of, you know, if it happens in AV, it happens on Avixa TV.
So, you know, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, Avixa TV has all of our latest stuff as well.
Yeah. So wherever you're watching video, come watch us. We're making content year round.
So our guys have their own small setup and they go everywhere and, you know, it depends on the situation. Right. So this situation calls for big and.
[00:07:04] Speaker B: Green screen behind us. You've got the virtual set here.
[00:07:06] Speaker C: Oh, yeah. No, we go huge and every time I turn around, it gets a little bigger. So it's your show.
[00:07:13] Speaker B: You can do what you want?
[00:07:14] Speaker C: I guess my team asks for forgiveness, not permission. So, yeah, we just keep getting bigger. But we do small shoots, too. We were at the X USC party where we were interviewing folks and having a good time. We created perhaps a little glambot. Little glambot situation, which.
[00:07:31] Speaker B: I need to know more about this, but that's after press record.
[00:07:34] Speaker C: Yeah, we, you know, we've done live streams at the International Women's Day event up in New York, which was amazing. We loved being there. So, you know, know the situation and figure it out from there. That's kind of our philosophy.
[00:07:49] Speaker B: So now what about, again, creators like myself, how do we, again, we obviously consume this great content that you're creating, but again, as a creator, selfishly, how do I, IFA and everybody else creating this great content again, how can we get involved and create content for you? Maybe?
[00:08:03] Speaker C: Oh, we love content partners. I don't think we need to be the source. We want to be a source and we want to elevate all the voices of the industry.
So reach out to us on social media.
I'm all over LinkedIn. You can reach out to me. My team lead, Mark Metzger, is amazing, and we love to highlight content on our YouTube channel and through Avixa TV and bring your voices forward.
You know, if you've got your own setup, it can. That's amazing, right? Create your content, send it to us.
[00:08:33] Speaker B: We do, like, delivery vehicle for us.
[00:08:35] Speaker C: To get that 100%. Yeah. We've got the audience, and we can help amplify your message and your intelligence and make you seem really cool.
[00:08:43] Speaker B: Cool already. Come on.
[00:08:44] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:08:45] Speaker C: Um, we also. If you don't have a setup, but you got something to say, we've got a whole podcast series all year, weekly. Every Thursday. We're going live.
That's a great way. We love hearing new voices. You know, if you're somebody that talks a lot and you know somebody else who's really smart, pass the mic. Right? Share that with them. Tell us about them. We want to hear from the voices of the industry.
[00:09:09] Speaker A: That's a wrap on this episode of AV in the Wild. Big thanks to our guests and to you, our listeners, for joining us on this journey through the AV landscape. If you liked what you heard, don't forget to subscribe. Share. Leave a review. It helps us keep the conversation going. Catch us next time as we hit the road again with more voices, more stories, and more of what makes AV wild.
Until then, stay curious, stay connected, and stay wild.
