Higher Ed AV Podcast with Joe Way

Kari Martinez is back on the show with a follow up to her original Girls + Women in AV Lifestyle Study (see it here). This time she has partnered with Women In AV to examine the professional side of the industry. We go over the results as well as her key takeaways. We also catchup with Kari to hear about her new role at Water of Life Church, AVIXA Women, as well as being named to the 2020 class of...

After months of COVID-19, we actually bring you an episode that took nearly 50 minutes before we discussed the pandemic. I welcome Mark Eggert, Audio Visual Technician, from Macalester College to the show. We discuss his path from working for a rental and staging integrator to moving into higher ed. Mark has covered all areas of AV for Macalester, and we cover it all. Hear about his attempt at get...

It's another crossover episode with Justin Dawson from University College Dublin and the All Things Techie Podcast, who also happens to be a fellow AVNation "AV Professional of the Year." We discuss the COVID-19 response from the Ireland and UK perspective, while exploring how the impact will drive workplace change moving forward. How and what should we be doing in higher ed to adapt and prepare f...

The stars have aligned for an epic crossoverpalooza between AVNation’s EdTech Podcast and the Higher Ed AV Podcast. Bill O’Donnell, host of EdTech Podcast and AV Network Design Engineer at William Paterson University, joins the show to continue our discussion about COVID-19 impact and what we are doing at our institutions to prepare for the future. Joe may have again been fanboying a little bit. C...

John Cheatham, Senior IT AV Systems Engineer at the University of North Georgia joins the show, discussing practically all things AV! We jump from his path from undergrad student worker to being back on campus as staff to his MDiv and how the ability to counsel can help with customer service. As a campus that's 99% in-house integration, we talk about how to best serve multiple campus while balanci...

We all love a good success story, and there is none better than that of Lex Peters, Learning Environments Support Analyst at the University of Southern California, and recent inductee into the 2020 Class of Systems Contractor News (SCN Magazine) “The Nine.” Lex began her AV journey as a student worker at California Baptist University, graduating with a degree in public relations. She then joined t...

I'm not really sure why I agreed to this, but the parody Twitter account @itsjoesjoe takes over the show to turn the tables and interview me. There's really no rhyme or reason to any of the questions, but here are some shenanigans with my two staff members, Jimmie Singleton and Lex Peters, who enjoy finding ways to drive me crazy. You can connect with ItsJoesJoe on Twitter at @itsjoesjoe. You can...

Justin Curtin from the Cal State University Office of the Chancellor joins the show, discussing how to support and serve as a resource for 23 campuses spread across California. As IT Support and Multimedia Specialist with a programming background allows for the Chancellor’s Office to continually be ahead of the curve. We talk about the CSU COVID-19 response, the demographic difference in campuses...

We welcome a true Higher Ed AV Rockstar to the show. Chris Dechter, Principal Learning Space Engineer, from Indiana University, Bloomington, and I discuss what we are doing on our campuses in light of COVID-19 and what changes we will be making moving forward. Oh, and what is an AV Superfriend?!? Connect with Chris Dechter via email at cdechter@iu.edu or on LinkedIn. Learn more about Indiana Unive...

It's been a long couple weeks! 28 of us serving the higher ed vertical took a couple hours to just relax and reflect over a beverage of choice while discussing how COVID-19 is impacting our institutions. Take a listen to our conversation and see who joined me for a live podcast recording over a virtual happy hour.

On Monday, March 16, 2020, the Higher Education Technology Managers Alliance (HETMA.org) hosted a Virtual Flash Conference to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on our universities. We had great SMEs, Raul Burriel from Oregon State University and Gabe Moronta from Zoom Video Communications, along with our steering committee members, Joe Way from the University of Southern California, BC Hatchett from...

Our student workers are the core of everything we do. They make the day-to-day happen, and they are why we do what we do. After my first seven months on staff, I sit down with my three USC ITS Senior Lead student workers Atsina Corrington (Junior, Game Design), Salome Yosef (Junior, Aerospace Engineering, and Fernando Jauregui (Junior, Business and Psychology). We discuss our daily operations, USC...

Not many schools can stake claim to having a hospitality building equipped with a pro shop and professional chef’s kitchen, a library with a maker space, podcast and video production studios, and a Dolby Atmos theatre. Of course, most schools aren’t located in the entertainment capital of the world. Frank Alaimo, Senior Audiovisual Systems Specialist, at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, joins...

Kevin Jahnke is the Manager of Classroom Services at the University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee and has been with UWM for over 20 years in progressively responsible roles in addition to completion of both BA and MLIS degrees through UWM. In his current position he is responsible for technology oversight of 170 General Assignment Classrooms, 7 full time staff and 15 students. This position requires a co...

What happens when you're the IT person and all of a sudden in charge of the AV department? What is the transition like? What do you need to know and how do you find the right resources? Ben Lewis, AV Manager at the University of Oklahoma, discusses his transition from the IT side to the AV management side at OU. We talk about where resources can be found, building industry relationships, and trans...

ISE 2020 has come to a close. What were the takeaways? Did it live up to the hype and did Coronavirus or the weather truly impact the feel? I discuss the show with Adam Harvey, Stephen Bell, and James Scutt from the University of Hertfordshire. We cover the products that stood out to us, the issues facing the show, their award winning service team, and a synopsis of the LTSMG conference. Learn mor...

ISE 2020 is off the a crazy start! I am excited to kick off the conversation with two incredible women in AV, Amy Redfearn from Involve VC & AV Jam UK and Alesia Hendley (aka The Smooth Factor) from Access Networks. We talk about the major issues facing the show including CoronaVirus, travel weather, and trends in AV. The ladies offer their top three predictions for this year’s show. Oh, and Jason...

I love when I get a chance to chat with some of our incredible #AVTweeps! This week, I welcome on Jon Bannan, Associate Director of Media & Technology Support Services at The College of New Jersey, located in Ewing, NJ, where he has been for over 22 years. Jon started out working for a private IT support firm. Fast forward a couple of years, a marriage and his first child on the way and Jon made t...

While giving the keynote at the Northwest Managers of Educational Technology (NW/MET) Conference last year, the event quickly became my favorite regional AV event. This year’s conference is being held at Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA, April 22-24, 2020. Jon Loney, Manager of Instructional Multimedia Services (IMS) joins the show to discuss this year’s conference by giving us a preview of the...

Technology on campuses is always evolving. The longer you’re around, the more change you see. No one knows that better than Willie Franklin, Senior Technology Specialist at Otterbein University in Westerville, OH. We discuss the changes throughout time, his current and previous roles, and campus projects including digital signage, active learning classrooms, servicing live events, and networked vi...

AV in higher ed is more than just making sure our classrooms are functional, there is a human factor as well. How should we communicate with our teams, run meetings, deal with generational differences, and even have the hard conversations of performance management and disciplinary actions. Kathy Dooley joins the show to discuss.

In what ways do the women in AV have to sacrifice their femininity in order to thrive or even just survive in the industry? Do women have to be “one of the boys”? Are there resources available to find other women with similar life situations in order to support one another. Kari Martinez explored these issues in a groundbreaking “Girls/Women Lifestyle” survey. I welcome her to the show to explore...

That’s a wrap! The inaugural HETMA Virtual Conference closed with a bang. This week we bring you the audio recording of the “Ask Us Anything” AV Happy Hour moderated by Gary Kayye of rAVe Pubs. Along with the HETMA Steering Committee, we explore all the hot topics that came up during the week’s sessions including AV-over-IP (AVoIP), AV as a Service (AVaaS), eSports, managed services, and more. We...

What is the State of Higher Ed? The 2019 Higher Education Technology Managers Alliance Virtual (HETMA) Conference is happening this week. Co-Founders Joe Way of USC and BC Hatchett from Vanderbilt deliver the opening keynote address to discuss where we are as an AV vertical, as well as give a preview of the sessions to come. What issues are we facing today, and what do we need to be aware of in th...

The most important thing we have in higher ed is our team. Hear James King, Audio Visual Speciality at Stockton University, discuss the importance of them investing in one another, even to the point where many of their current staff were former student workers. James started as an AV student worker at Stockton University, moved into IT, and finally back to AV. After a re-org, he and his team fall...