Onsite: Vendopalooza: Dec. 12, 2012
Jan 24, 2013 4:10 PM,
By Cynthia Wisehart
On a blustery Wednesday, the vast parking lot at AVAD’s California branch was nearly full. At one end, near the building, a wedding tent ran right alongside the modest fence that separates AVAD’s property from the working runway at Van Nuys Airport. Inside, approximately 50 vendors—including Panasonic, Bose, Sharp, QSC, Gefen, and the Harman brands—packed in like souks at a Middle Eastern bazaar, shouting good-naturedly over the intermittent sound of passing aircraft.
Much more casual than a tradeshow, this Vendopalooza event felt more insider. That makes sense when you consider that most of the attendees are already close to AVAD and the brands. The event spilled back and forth from the parking lot to the building—where the AVAD staff was hosting the event, running breakout sessions, and packing for a planned renovation that was to begin the next day. The atmosphere was busy, informal, and very upbeat.
Arguably the highlight of the event was the west coast debut of JVC Professional’s new ProVérité 84in 4K LCD monitor.
“The availability of high-performance 4K displays represents a great new opportunity for dealers,” said Jim Annes, vice president and general manager of AVAD, in a statement that foreshadowed the wave of 4K at this month’s CES. “Through our partnership with JVC Professional, we’re able to offer our dealers an exclusive opportunity to learn more about how these new product offerings will enable them to further grow their businesses.”
JVC’s ProVérité 4K LCDs is native 3840×2160—four times the resolution of full HD. The displays are specifically designed for custom installations, featuring an IPS LCD panel with a 120Hz refresh rate and 10-bit color depth. The slim bezel frame allows for an extra-wide 178-degree viewing angle, which was easy to see at the demo.
Attendees were able to test the latest products, participate in prize giveaways and raffles, and purchase products at special discounted pricing. Throughout the day, AVAD also conducted special workshops designed to help attendees manage and grow their businesses.
Training sessions included “Theater and Projection Gems: Becoming the Expert” presented by JVC, “How to Program Your First Compass Control System” presented by Key Digital, and “How to Sell More Audio (& Everything Else) and Why it Matters” presented by Atlantic Technology.
AVAD’s broad portfolio includes products and integrated solutions for residential and commercial video, audio, lighting control, content management, whole-home and business automation and control, as well as digital signage and commercial solutions. In addition to using the Vendopalooza platform to give dealers and integrators access to that portfolio, AVAD also took the opportunity to better familiarize attendees with AVAD’s free technical support (8 a.m. to 5 p.m. CST, Monday to Friday) and free system design services.
In particular, AVAD wants to raise awareness of the AVAD System Design Group, headed by longtime AVAD executive Cynthia Menna. The design group is a natural outgrowth of AVAD’s outreach and training efforts for residential and commercial integrators. A free service, it is available to help integrators respond to RFPs, critique and fine-tune a systems design, or create designs from scratch to assist in a sale.
For more information on AVAD’s 24 North America locations and the first quarter of the 2013 Vendopalooza Tour—scheduled for Jan. 24 in San Diego, Feb. 20 in Houston, and March 19 in San Jose—visit www.vendopalooza.com.
