News

Almo Pro A/V's E4 AV Tour set to kick off in April

March 6, 2011

Audiovisual distributor Almo Professional A/V, in partnership with InfoComm International, is revving up for its 2011 E4 AV networking and training tour, which is set to begin in San Francisco on April 6 and then continue on to Dallas on April 21.

The 2011 tour features a lengthy list of trainers who will provide insight on critical industry topics during sessions worth valuable InfoComm Renewal Units (RUs), along with an exhibit hall filled with the top audiovisual manufacturers, many of which will provide sneak peeks at products that will launch during the InfoComm show in June, according to Almo.

"E4 attendees have told us that the top reason they come to our events is to become educated about industry trends and business information," said Sam Taylor, executive vice president and COO for Almo Professional A/V. "The new 2011 season includes a highly specialized day of training sessions that deal with strategies in digital signage, AV/IT convergence, audio integration and sales techniques. These sessions are worth a total of 10.5 InfoComm CTS RUs — the highest amount ever offered through E4 — to give attendees as many opportunities as possible to learn and earn."

Max Kopsho, Kramer Electronics USA's director of training and consultant relations and the InfoComm 2010 Educator of the Year, is one of several new presenters to join the Almo E4 tour: "Kramer shares in Almo's dedication to providing systems integrators with relevant and timely information and to supporting the Pro AV channel's profitability through the understanding of new technologies. Our goal through this training is to enable our partners to provide the highest level of system design, installation and support."

The San Francisco and Dallas tours will include the following training sessions:

• "Left Behind: How Pro AV Guys Are Losing the Digital Signage Market Race" — 1.5 CTS RUs — Gary Kayye, chief visionary, Kayye Consulting
• "AV/IT Convergence — Audio and Video Over IP" — 2 parts, each worth 2 CTS RUs
• "Projection Screens: The Science, Design and Application" — 1 CTS RU — Alan and Jonathan Brawn, principals of Brawn Consulting
• "Emerging Trends in Configurable Control Systems" — AMX
• "Analog Sunset Demystified" — 1.5 CTS RUs — Max Kopsho, director of training and consultant relations, Kramer Electronics USA
• "Digital Signage Revenue Past the Install: NEC's Revolutionary Business Platform for the Digital Out-of-Home Market" — Greg Patrick, account manager, NEC Display Solutions
• "Video Wall Basics: Technologies and Applications" — 1 CTS RU — Alan Brawn, Brawn Consulting
• "Basic Acoustics and Quantifying Background Noise" — 1.5 CTS RUs — Paul Streffon, InfoComm Academy staff instructor

The E4 San Francisco and Dallas events will also include a "Projector Shoot-Out" where different types of projector technologies and screens will be shown to demonstrate how all products are not created equal. The industry's top manufacturers, including AMX, Chief, Christie, Hitachi, Kramer, LG, NEC, Panasonic, Premier Mounts, Toshiba, Samsung and Sharp, will exhibit at both E4 events. At the same time, more than $5,000 in prizes as well as breakfast and lunch will also be available to resellers, consultants and integrators who attend Almo's complimentary E4 events.

The E4 AV program can be accessed on demand during and after each event for instructor videos, copies of the course presentations, video product reviews and live Twitter updates.

Almo's E4 San Francisco event will take place from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the South San Francisco Convention Center. The E4 Dallas event will take place from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Hilton Anatole Hotel. To register for either event, click here.