AV SuperFriends: On Topic

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Aug 2026

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The AV SuperFriends discuss design, installation, and support of classroom and commercial AV integrations.

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August 2, 2026Episode 7628 min

76: He's Got That People Power

Recorded July 17, 2026 In Part 2 of our conversation about building an internal AV integration team, the panel turns from the organizational obstacles to the practical question: how do you actually justify, staff, and scale the operation? We dig into translating outsourced labor costs into FTE requests, documenting hidden workloads, using dashboards and project data to make the case to leadership, and allowing a little strategic failure to expose where the existing team has reached its limits. The discussion also explores whether the next hire should be another technician or someone higher in the stack, such as a project manager, field supervisor, designer, or other knowledge-focused role. Along the way, we consider how student employees can free up full-time staff, why “internship” may be a better recruiting pitch than “student worker,” how good integrators can complement rather than replace an internal team, and why every staffing plan needs to be ready before a stray FTE or pile of magical, mystical money suddenly appears. Connect with Tim: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timdickson0ctsd/ Alternate show titles: A design apprentice, so to speak Don’t bring up your dirty math! Support Plus I could save them $100,000 a year I’m going to tag onto Marc and then change I can take care of you and you can take care of me The AV consultant doesn’t know how we do it on campus Just like a consultant would… That’s not the way levers are pulled Which isn’t a service we actually offer… but it’s a service we offer This was actually a good show It’s not like math… We stream live every Friday at about 315p Eastern/1215p Pacific and you can listen to everything we record over at AVSuperFriends.com ▀▄▀▄▀ CONTACT LINKS ▀▄▀▄▀ ►Website: https://www.avsuperfriends.com ►Twitter: https://twitter.com/avsuperfriends ►LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/avsuperfriends ►YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@avsuperfriends ►Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/avsuperfriends.bsky.social ►Email: mailbag@avsuperfriends.com ►RSS: https://avsuperfriends.libsyn.com/rss Donate to AVSF: https://www.avsuperfriends.com/support

August 1, 2026Episode 7546 min

75: Some of This Sounds Like A Spreadsheet Problem

Recorded July 17, 2026 Building an internal AV integration team sounds simple enough: hire a few people, buy some tools, and stop paying an outside integrator to discover that the display was unplugged. In reality, it means navigating staffing models, capital projects, facilities partnerships, student labor, service agreements, institutional funding, and the mysterious process by which everyone agrees an idea is excellent while still refusing to provide an FTE. Special guest Tim Dickson joins to discuss Clemson’s effort to expand its internal AV capabilities while supporting more than 300 classrooms with a very small team. The panel digs into which skills should remain in-house, where outside labor still makes sense, how to justify positions through savings and recurring service work, and how existing staff can grow into programming, design, field supervision, and other specialized roles. Note that this is Part 1 of 2 because the show is allegedly a 30-minute monthly roundtable, but no one involved appears capable of stopping at 30 minutes, or stopping at all. Part 2 will continue the conversation with no meaningful evidence that anyone learned from the experience. Connect with Tim: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timdickson0ctsd/ Alternate show titles: A design apprentice, so to speak Don’t bring up your dirty math! Support Plus I could save them $100,000 a year I’m going to tag onto Marc and then change I can take care of you and you can take care of me The AV consultant doesn’t know how we do it on campus Just like a consultant would… That’s not the way levers are pulled Which isn’t a service we actually offer… but it’s a service we offer This was actually a good show It’s not like math… We stream live every Friday at about 315p Eastern/1215p Pacific and you can listen to everything we record over at AVSuperFriends.com ▀▄▀▄▀ CONTACT LINKS ▀▄▀▄▀ ► Website: https://www.avsuperfriends.com ► Twitter: https://twitter.com/avsuperfriends ► LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/avsuperfriends ► YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@avsuperfriends ► Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/avsuperfriends.bsky.social ► Email: mailbag@avsuperfriends.com ► RSS: https://avsuperfriends.libsyn.com/rss Donate to AVSF: https://www.avsuperfriends.com/support

July 15, 2026Episode 7444 min

74: You're Not Allowed to Tell This Story

Recorded June 26, 2026 Freshly returned from the show floor at InfoComm 2026, the AV SuperFriends gather for a full-length roundtable on trade show regrets: the booths they missed, the sessions they skipped, the demos they should have recorded, and the party they may never emotionally recover from missing. This episode wanders through the aftermath of a massive conference week, including arguments over who should really be explaining AI to the AV industry, what happens when AVIXA TV is more networked than expected, why show-floor “hidden gems” are still somehow hidden behind the wrong booth wall, and how even seasoned attendees can come home realizing they saw only a tiny slice of the show. Along the way, the crew revisits booth tour challenges, suspicious conference sandwiches, tote bag logistics, USB-C mysteries, browser-based control, over-caffeinated presentations, and the now-legendary Panasonic dinner brownies. It’s part InfoComm recap, part confessional, and part warning label for anyone who thinks they can actually see everything at a trade show. Alternate show titles: It was a wet wrap Back door Uber ride Cold air blowing on your butt The brownies… like popcorn! Another Larry-free Friday Just a conference center with a bunch of tech That little bit of confidence was shattered Y’all got chili dogs? Just buy the damn meat We stream live every Friday at about 315p Eastern/1215p Pacific and you can listen to everything we record over at AVSuperFriends.com ▀▄▀▄▀ CONTACT LINKS ▀▄▀▄▀► Website: https://www.avsuperfriends.com ► Twitter: https://twitter.com/avsuperfriends ► LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/avsuperfriends ► YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@avsuperfriends ► Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/avsuperfriends.bsky.social ► Email: mailbag@avsuperfriends.com ► RSS: https://avsuperfriends.libsyn.com/rss Donate to AVSF: https://www.avsuperfriends.com/support

July 1, 2026Episode 7437 min

73: It Only 3/4s of the Way Plays Nice Together

Recorded June 12, 2026 In this Fourth of July–flavored episode of On Topic, the panel celebrates America’s birthday the only way they know how: by declaring independence from the worst habits in higher ed AV. This month’s grievances include single-vendor ecosystem lock-in, consultant-led designs that ignore campus standards, isolated “AV network islands,” overcomplicated touch panels, mystery DSP files, proprietary cables, terrible display home screens, and every “professional” product that somehow requires a cloud account just to configure the thing. Along the way, the panel debates automation versus user control, whether classrooms really need touch panels at all, and why interoperability always seems to mean “mostly works, as long as you bought everything from us.” It’s patriotic, petty, and painfully familiar: a fireworks show of AV complaints aimed directly at the systems, specs, and design habits we should have dumped into the harbor years ago. Alternate show titles: We might be making headway The future of buildings No new islands! At least a ferry service Press to start Blank and Freeze I want to agree with you, but… Sometimes people plug in things they don’t want to see No middle ground We stream live every Friday at about 315p Eastern/1215p Pacific and you can listen to everything we record over at AVSuperFriends.com ▀▄▀▄▀ CONTACT LINKS ▀▄▀▄▀ ► Website: https://www.avsuperfriends.com ► Twitter: https://twitter.com/avsuperfriends ► LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/avsuperfriends ► YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@avsuperfriends ► Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/avsuperfriends.bsky.social ► Email: mailbag@avsuperfriends.com ► RSS: https://avsuperfriends.libsyn.com/rss Donate to AVSF: https://www.avsuperfriends.com/support

June 1, 2026Episode 7243 min

72: We Won’t Do Anything Until That Form Is Filled Out

AV SuperFriends: On Topic - We won’t do anything until that form is filled out Recorded May 15, 2026 This episode of On Topic gets into the glamorous, soul-polishing world of how AV projects actually begin, which is apparently somewhere between a formal intake form, a support ticket that got out of hand, a hallway ambush, and someone discovering the room needs power, asbestos abatement, and lots of opinions. The panel compares how different campuses define and initiate projects, from TeamDynamix and ServiceNow workflows to informal emails, consultation requests, facilities handoffs, and the dreaded “this was supposed to be a simple fix” scenario. A big theme is the messy boundary between support ticket, request, incident, problem, and project, especially when aging systems, construction needs, or money get involved. They also get into the joys and failures of project management platforms, Project, Planner, Smartsheet, TeamDynamix, ServiceNow, and the eternal higher-ed struggle of trying to force real work, real communication, and real accountability into software that was clearly designed by people who have never been asked do any of that. In short: projects should start with clear scope, timelines, goals, funding, stakeholders, and process. In reality, they start with an email that says, “quick question,” and end with everyone arguing over whether it was ever a project in the first place. Alternate show titles: Is this directed to me? Wow, that’s big! I don’t touch tickets What if I email you? Hey, we’re going to do this thing We’ll have the meeting eventually Facilities doesn’t do power Requires a state employee to inspect the electrician We get requests every which way from Sunday We want to drive everybody to a ticket Rapid fire from wherever-the-hell-it-came-from That means it’s approved and no one wants to do that sh*t I don’t do projects, I do stories and epics We stream live every Friday at about 315p Eastern/1215p Pacific and you can listen to everything we record over at AVSuperFriends.com ▀▄▀▄▀ CONTACT LINKS ▀▄▀▄▀ ► Website: https://www.avsuperfriends.com ► Twitter: https://twitter.com/avsuperfriends ► LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/avsuperfriends ► YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@avsuperfriends ► Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/avsuperfriends.bsky.social ► Email: mailbag@avsuperfriends.com ► RSS: https://avsuperfriends.libsyn.com/rss Donate to AVSF: https://www.avsuperfriends.com/support

May 1, 2026Episode 7038 min

70: Why Are You Doing Speechlift from the Can?

AV SuperFriends: On Topic Why are you doing speechlift from the can? Recorded April 17, 2026 In this episode, the crew turns a simple question about classroom speakers into a full-blown AV theology fight. Should small classrooms use ceiling speakers, front-wall point-source speakers, voice lift, program audio, or whatever happens to be lying around in the warehouse? Naturally, the answer is “it depends,” followed immediately by 35 minutes of everyone insisting their version of “depends” is the only sane one. The discussion gets into the real-world mess of higher ed classroom audio: even coverage, voice lift thresholds, ceiling lay-in speakers versus cans, front-of-room program speakers, accessibility systems, bad acoustics, noisy HVAC, amplifier/speaker mismatches, and the eternal question of whether “good enough” is actually good enough. Along the way, the panel debates physics, budget, installer convenience, student experience, and how many speakers it takes before a room becomes less of a classroom and more of an ersatz municipal warning siren. In short: if you’ve ever looked at a classroom audio system and wondered, “Why did they do it that way?” then this episode provides several answers… all of them wrong, all of them defensible, and most of them louder than necessary. Alternate show titles: It’s diapers… it depends Do we still do speech just from the cans SAR method: sounds about right How many rooms do you have like this? Could they add a column in the middle? They can hear all the accounting numbers, they just can’t see ‘em Not the EASE software, but ease of install I had to throw them away We stream live every Friday at about 315p Eastern/1215p Pacific and you can listen to everything we record over at AVSuperFriends.com ▀▄▀▄▀ CONTACT LINKS ▀▄▀▄▀ ► Website: https://www.avsuperfriends.com ► Twitter: https://twitter.com/avsuperfriends ► LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/avsuperfriends ► YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@avsuperfriends ► Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/avsuperfriends.bsky.social ► Email: mailbag@avsuperfriends.com ► RSS: https://avsuperfriends.libsyn.com/rss Donate to AVSF: https://www.avsuperfriends.com/support

April 1, 2026Episode 6942 min

69: It's Functioning, But Not Fully Functional

AV SuperFriends: On Topic It's functioning, but not fully functional Recorded March 13, 2026 This episode of On Topic tackles “Spring cleaning” by focusing less on tidy closets and more on the grime higher ed AV teams create for themselves. The panel trades stories about delayed refreshes, inherited programming messes, legacy systems that refuse to die, rushed project deadlines, and the temporary fixes that somehow become permanent. Before you get clean, revel in the filth… It’s a funny, brutally honest look at technical debt, bad design choices, and the institutional rot that keeps old problems hanging around far longer than they should. If your campus has mystery cables, aging systems, and one room everyone’s afraid to touch, this episode will feel painfully familiar. Let’s get filthy! Alternate show titles: Budgets are optional Those are sticky weird situations Normally I’m shady and gross I wasn’t a pro, so I used two plusses Good luck, I’m sorry Museum of AV decisions It did what it did Be here when the tree falls on the house I feel like the whole university is guilty of this Just everybody calm down! It’s gonna be… not bad If y’all didn’t take an entire month off for Christmas… We stream live every Friday at about 315p Eastern/1215p Pacific and you can listen to everything we record over at AVSuperFriends.com ▀▄▀▄▀ CONTACT LINKS ▀▄▀▄▀ ► Website: https://www.avsuperfriends.com ► Twitter: https://twitter.com/avsuperfriends ► LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/avsuperfriends ► YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@avsuperfriends ► Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/avsuperfriends.bsky.social ► Email: mailbag@avsuperfriends.com ► RSS: https://avsuperfriends.libsyn.com/rss Donate to AVSF: https://www.avsuperfriends.com/support

March 1, 2026Episode 6836 min

68: The Ten Suggestions

AV SuperFriends: On Topic The Ten Suggestions Recorded February 13, 2026 It’s March (yes, March– deal with it), the AV SuperFriends gather to lay down the law… higher ed AV law, that is. This month’s On Topic tackles the Top Ten Commandments of AV: the rules you should follow, the ones you sometimes break, and the ones you pretend you’ve always believed in. From protecting audio at all costs and designing for serviceability, to avoiding 4K hype, over-automation, USB abuse, and unlabeled cables, the panel debates what actually matters when building and supporting campus systems. It’s a fast-moving mix of standards, safety factors, lifecycle thinking, and a healthy dose of “why are we still doing this?” Opinionated, practical, and just irreverent enough, consider this your stone tablet for smarter AV design… subject to revision next month, that is. Alternate show titles: Sometimes you find yourself walking around thinking a lot Today’s commandments are… Do you want to disservice half the room? How do you get away with that? Is that in your scope to check? The university as a whole… Yes, if you’re touching the wall We stream live every Friday at about 315p Eastern/1215p Pacific and you can listen to everything we record over at AVSuperFriends.com ▀▄▀▄▀ CONTACT LINKS ▀▄▀▄▀ ► Website: https://www.avsuperfriends.com ► Twitter: https://twitter.com/avsuperfriends ► LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/avsuperfriends ► YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@avsuperfriends ► Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/avsuperfriends.bsky.social ► Email: mailbag@avsuperfriends.com ► RSS: https://avsuperfriends.libsyn.com/rss Donate to AVSF: https://www.avsuperfriends.com/support

February 1, 2026Episode 6737 min

67: If It Happened Last Year, You Can Ignore It

AV SuperFriends: On Topic - If it happened last year, you can ignore it Recorded January 16, 2026 In this episode of On Topic, the panel leans hard into the “Groundhog Day” reality of higher ed AV, where every semester feels like a rerun of the last one. From the same classrooms and support tickets to the same mysterious $7 HDMI cable failures, the panel reflects on why our work so often feels stuck on repeat, even as we insist “this time it’ll be different.” With their usual mix of sarcasm, experience, and self-awareness, they review the projects, services, and processes that keep coming back year after year… sometimes for good reasons, sometimes because no one ever really fixes the root problem. It’s a funny, honest look at institutional memory, consultant déjà vu, and the strange comfort of knowing that no matter what changes, some AV challenges are forever.Alternate show titles: What failed last time? I’m a shopping cart Not every year… every DAY I’m afraid to ask the question Room with too many TVs In cloud or on prem again Cloud-based whatchamadoolie I’ll track your life Does everybody get access? Hybrid bastardized version What does that mean for YOUR internet of things? In my secret cloud Check in to get the services I’ll flag it, but I won’t unflag it We stream live every Friday at about 315p Eastern/1215p Pacific and you can listen to everything we record over at AVSuperFriends.com ▀▄▀▄▀ CONTACT LINKS ▀▄▀▄▀ ► Website: https://www.avsuperfriends.com ► Twitter: https://twitter.com/avsuperfriends ► LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/avsuperfriends ► YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@avsuperfriends ► Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/avsuperfriends.bsky.social ► Email: mailbag@avsuperfriends.com ► RSS: https://avsuperfriends.libsyn.com/rss Donate to AVSF: https://www.avsuperfriends.com/support

January 1, 2026Episode 661 hr 4 min

66: KFC Classroom

Recorded December 12, 2025 It’s the AV SuperFriends New Year’s special, which means one part retrospective, one part speculation, and several parts nonsense. The panel looks back at their predictions for 2025 to see who deserves credit, who gets partial credit, and who should maybe stop predicting things altogether. From conference room technology to AV-over-IP realities, the team grades themselves with the kind of honesty only friends (and live chat hecklers) can provide. Then, eyes turn cautiously toward 2026. Expect bold takes on where AV is actually headed, which “next big things” might finally show up, and which trends are still just vaporware. Dante AV, displays, digital twins, medium conference room solutions, and the ever-present gap between marketing promises and real-world deployments all get their moment under the microscope.As always, it’s opinionated, occasionally insightful, and completely Larry-free. If you like your year-end AV and IT technology analysis served with sarcasm, self-awareness, and honesty, this one’s for you. Alternate show titles: 50 percent with an asterisk A-S-T-R-X Hot Dog Crap I’ve got a few or a couple or some number here PoE Toilet Which Kinda Works This might be a run-on sentence We’ve never been closer Room Classic KFC is world wide We stream live every Friday at about 315p Eastern/1215p Pacific and you can listen to everything we record over at AVSuperFriends.com. ▀▄▀▄▀ CONTACT LINKS ▀▄▀▄▀ ► Website: https://www.avsuperfriends.com ► Twitter: https://twitter.com/avsuperfriends ► LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/avsuperfriends ► YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@avsuperfriends ► Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/avsuperfriends.bsky.social ► Email: mailbag@avsuperfriends.com ► RSS: https://avsuperfriends.libsyn.com/rss Donate to AVSF: https://www.avsuperfriends.com/support