Payton Place

OK, what’s the deal? I just don’t get it. I’ve heard that bad things happen in threes for many years now. It’s an urban legend, right? What if I were to tell you that bad things happen in dozens? Would you believe me?

Today was truly a day from hell. Not only for me but also for multiple members of my family and extended family. Nothing went right today; Murphy’s Law was in full effect and with a vengeance! One of my boys likened it to?Friday the 13th on a Monday. How about a run-down of?semi-specifics to determine if I’m all wet or speaking the truth??Sound fair enough to you?

?Here is the sequence of events:

• Family member attempts suicide (3-timer) and doesn’t succeed (thank God!) but gets closer than ever before.
• Extremely restless (previous) night results in difficulty making morning time-lines due to fatigue.
• Last?(tardy) bell rings just as door closes on the family truckster while parked in front of school.
• Discover error (by others) in business event invitation data sent (by me) to 3000 folks. Need to draft/send a retraction notice.
• Fedex implements new interface; can select?no states in shipping addresses?and cannot?get responses by pushing the “SEND” button.
• Inbility to send shipments (no paper forms in stock) results in missed deadline on critical financial documentation.
• Missing family member (point #1) results in Wife forced to take off work to assist matriarch in need.
• DSL Data connection to the outside world drops for thirty minutes with no verifyable reason.
• Teen Nephew gets into fight at school; loses a tooth and?gets a broken jaw. Cops are called on way to E.R.
• Long time “Best in the world” pooch (yellow lab) wanders on to farm road and gets creamed by hit-and-run motorist.
• Attempt to to “Run and Get” shipping waybills to manually complete shipping data results in traffic jam. Not just one wreck, but two up ahead and prohibiting all movement in that direction!
• Niece travels home and has a flat tire. It’s raining . . . She cries.

So you tell me . . . does it get any worse than that??Well actually, ?it does get worse.?But the rest of that mess is either another topic posting or is a story that will never be told. After all, not everything is helpful to know.?Perhaps the best?experience we can?learn?about certain people is that they are all as busy as us, give them a break as often as possible!

~SP

I never thought I would see headlines like this. But I’m glad these events came to pass. In fact, I think the consolidation makes perfect sense, perfect business sense, that is.

If cooperation between the two primary organizations in my field of work/study didn’t occur, then one of them was going to experience diminishing returns until it was phased out of existence. The alternative was for the NSCA Expo to morph into a different trade experience completely. Here is the title paragraph from the press release:

NSCA and InfoComm to Consolidate Trade Shows

FAIRFAX, Va. — InfoComm International, the worldwide leader in professional AV exhibitions and NSCA, the leading trade association for the electronics systems contracting industry, have announced a cooperative effort to consolidate the leading industry events for both the professional AV and electronics systems industry. As part of this consolidation, the 2008 NSCA Systems Integration Expo?will now become part of InfoComm?s annual tradeshow in Las Vegas on June 18-20, 2008. NSCA will also transfer its ownership interest in Integrated Systems Europe to the remaining partners, as per a separate operating agreement.

In the past several NSCA Expos that I attended, a common topic in conversation was, “Seems like fewer people are here this year. What do you think?” or “Show seems a little dead this year, do you agree?”

Since I’m a “supporting” manufacturer’s representative, I felt conflicted indicating that I could also see the writing on the wall. The NSCA Expo was in trouble. The majority of folks with whom I discussed this concept were in alignment with this. InfoComm is the way to go. Not one single person (of dozens I spoke to) indicated they were NOT going to InfoComm. Most said such things without ever appearing at the NSCA shows. So I had business associates planning to attend InfoComm Expo without bothering to also come to NSCA.

My primary interest going forward is to watch development of the education and certification programs from both the NSCA University and the InfoComm Academy. In the same sense that dueling expos had the tendency to cause fatigue in the industry (one too many shows to attend) I suspect dueling certification platforms will be the next level of consolidation (one too many certifications to support).

I’m not interested in taking two tests to certify that I know what I’m talking about!!! If you don’t think I know such things, put my advice to the test in the real world. That’s where it really counts, eh?

~SP

Very interesting, indeed! What does the future hold for Telex EVI?

Von Heydekampf took control of the Telex EVI electronics division when Telex merged with Electro Voice in 1998. Four years later he was promoted to the position of global president of the pro audio division and relocated from the Telex offices in Straubing, Germany, to the US headquarters in Burnsville, Minnesota.

He is widely seen as being the guiding force behind the success of the various EV lines over the past ten years.

On the second morning of the show (March 28th) press were gathered for a routine briefing from the company, when von Heydekampf stunned the assembled journalists by saying he would be leaving the company by the end of April. He cited ?a clash of egos? with the head of Bosch?s new pro audio division, Peter Marks, who is now pumping millions of dollars into both the US and Germany bases.

Bosch bought the Telex group in the summer of 2006, but the deal became final on January 1st this year.

I know a few chaps within this organization and the outcome will definitely be interesting to see . . .

~SP