Never “Just Another Room”: Starting With Why in Higher Ed AV Empowered by Design — with Chris Kelly Picture this: a professor can’t get an image on the projector five minutes before class. We remote in, unmute the video feed, and—voilà—picture restored. Ticket closed. On to the next one. But if our job ends there,... Read More

Higher Ed AV Media is proud to debut a new regular column: Empowered by Design with Chris Kelly What in the world is WCAG/WAI and why should HETMA folks care?  Digital accessibility isn’t just a box to check—it’s both a moral responsibility and a practical necessity. In higher education, students, faculty, and staff rely on... Read More

It’s More Than an Alliance – It’s a CommunityBy Chris Kelly Why You Should Join HETMA: It’s More Than an Alliance—It’s a Community Let’s start with the most obvious reason: there’s no reason not to. HETMA is free to join—and it always will be. For anyone working in higher education AV/IT, this organization offers a solution to... Read More

By Chris Kelly At InfoComm in July 2025, I attended a valuable session on neurodiversity and inclusive design led by Kay Sargent, Director of Thought Leadership at HOK—a global design, architecture, engineering and planning firm. Kay’s expertise and engaging presentation style were excellent, but a highlight of the session was receiving a copy of her... Read More

My Take: My Take: Behind the Screens: AV Security Gaps in Higher EducationBy Chris Kelly At InfoComm 2025, HETMA coordinated a series of compelling presentations, with cybersecurity taking center stage. Inspired by those discussions, I began reflecting on my own university’s AV security posture and wondered how we compared to others. Curiosity led me to... Read More