The LightHouse | IT in AV

After returning from InfoComm23 I sat down and did some reflection on the week and the show. There are many things that I reflected on but the thing I would like to share is how HETMA and HETMA’s booth was a lighthouse in a sea of booths. This hit me on the first day of the show floor. I was visiting the QSC’s booth and had a discussion with Tammy Fuqua. During the discussion, she asked ‘where is the HETMA booth?’  I turned quickly and pointed over in the direction of the booth. While I was trying to point out the booth’s location I could see, peaking through the sea of booths between, the HETMA top banner. Seeing this reminded me of a lighthouse shining its light on ships.  The HETMA banner acted like the light cutting through the fog but through the ‘noise’ of booths. This beacon of the HETMA booth allowed me to navigate my way back and not get lost in the sea of booths.

Besides being a beacon to guide, the HETMA booth reminded me of a lighthouse by standing tall and proud no matter what was going on around it. Growing up in NJ, near the beaches, lighthouses were something that I saw a lot. These lighthouses would always stand tall and proud to do the job they were designed to do. No matter how busy the sea was, nor the weather, the lighthouses would do their job of guiding ships home/to safety.  The HETMA booth was just like a lighthouse in that no matter how busy the show floor was, no matter how busy the booth itself was, it still stood tall and proud to guide the higher education community home/to safety. What I mean by this is that in the sea of booths, it is easy for a higher education member to get lost or feel overlooked. The HETMA booth would bring them into the community so that they did not have to face the sea alone.