AV Growth and The Global Economy: It's Still About Your People

NSCA , the National Systems Contractors Association, held its 26th annual Business Leadership Conference last week. Thinking back to last year, I can remember how fantastic it was to be at an event, talking to folks in the hallway and after the sessions. It's where you get the real dirt that you don't hear anywhere else.

People talk about projects and products from heck, how they made things work, and how business is going. After hours, a couple of drinks in, and folks start to talk about The Big Issues. What's the economy doing? Is 'Work From Home' going to kill commercial AV? What's the economy doing to our clients? What's the Fed going to do to the economy?

I suspect that's why the NSCA invites its Chief Economist, Dr. Chris Kuehl , to open BLC every year with an Economic Outlook for Integrators. People want a crystal ball of what's coming. Like most years, 2024 promises to be a mixed bag.

Dr. Kuehl doesn't expect the Fed to drop interest rates until the third or fourth quarter. He says the "Worker shortage has been acute for years and no real relief in site." (One of my people wrote that down and underlined it about six times.) Our trade policy currently pushes domestic manufacturing, which is great if you remember the recent supply chain issues, though Kuehl says that will also bring higher prices. The folks at Biamp might want to argue with Kuehl over that one; they manufacture in Beaverton, Oregon, and Chester, Pennsylvania.

His insight is solid, but the economy is a lot like the storms I grew up with in Kansas. They're coming no matter what you do. The smart thing to do is make sure your roof is patched (and your storm cellar dug) long before things get ugly.

Or, in the case of a Business Leadership Conference, strengthen your team and its culture before things get ugly.

That's where a lot of my attention was focused. Steve Thomas's talk, Culture Is as Leadership Does, focused on creating a workplace where people "come to work and be the best version of themselves." He also calls out weirdness, alongside values and personalities, as part of what makes people what they are. Which becomes part of the culture. I've been leading people for decades; let's say it resonated.

Dr Jessica Kriegel 's talk, Empower Your Teams with Positive Accountability, tackled one of the biggest challenges any organization faces: getting folks to understand that what they do is critical to the success of the company they work for. It's easy to get my Regional VPs stoked about setting (and hitting!) Big Hairy Audacious Goals. It's easy to weight KPIs, Key Performance Indicators, so your people get a better sense of our critical goals. But getting people fired up to get to the job site, warehouse, or cubicle and know that the whole thing doesn't work without them? That's tricky stuff, and Dr. Kreigel has ideas.

We'll need all the ideas at CTI and throughout the AV industry. Pro AV is expected to grow over 30% between 2023 and 2028, from 302 billion to 402 billion a year. Asia Pacific economies continue to grow, and there's massive spending going into AV. Meanwhile, back in the US, software and AV over IP are taking over for the traditional 'black boxes' of pro AV.

There's a lot going on, which brings to mind Michael Bonner 's BLC talk on The Chaotic State of the Industry. His premise is solid: chaos and transformation aren't the same, no matter how fast your industry changes or how hard it is for your team to keep up. You need to take a moment, get a strategy, and make it work. (He makes it sound much more powerful and less obvious than I do typing it!)

Take a breather, make a plan, and take care of your people. Build the culture you want. And listen to those folks in the hallways when you're not listening to whoever's up on stage; there's much to learn.

As always, if you have any AV or Live Events needs, please reach out to us at CTI .

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