Thank You | IT in AV
This month’s theme is Holiday Potluck and according to The Food Timeline, there are two meanings to potluck; with one of the meanings being “Community meal composed of food contributions”. (https://www.foodtimeline.org/foodfaq7.html#potluck) Community and contributions is what I will be discussion in this month’s article or should I call this more of a Thank You message?
#AVintheAM
The AV community has been a very welcoming since I started to get involved on the social media platforms. I feel like I have been part of this #AVFamily forever but in reality I started getting involved late 2019. I stumbled onto the hashtag #AVintheAM and I started to follow it. After sitting in the background I decided to provide comments on some of the questions. I never thought I would have much to add to any of these discussions. It did not take long before I was welcomed into the group and was shocked how respectful everyone was. Coming from the IT world I been in many tech groups and some were welcoming but nothing like the AV community. Now I look forward to every Sunday to see what questions that us AV folks will be talking about. There are times where the questions are not within my area of knowledge but that just mean I can sit back, read, and learn from other knowledgeable #avtweeps. I would like to take this time to thank Chris Neto, who started the #AVintheAM, as this has provided me a platform to contribute as well learn.
Higher Ed and HETMA
The next community I would like to thank is the HigherEd AV/IT slack and HETMA members. I am putting these two in one as many of the members are in both groups. I started the HigherEd AV/IT slack group to provide a location for us higher education av/it workers to contribute and build a community. This is another area I never imaging would take off like it has. As of writing this we have 183 highly-active members from all across the globe. Since starting this group and joining HETMA, I feel like I have found my people and building a great community who not only talk about AV but also care about each other; there are times that we just post “how is everyone doing” or come together to help out one of our own in need. I would like to thank every members in both the slack group and HETMA. These members are more than just members to me but I consider each one of them a friend.
HigherEd AV Media
The last community I am going to thank is the Higher Ed AV Media community. As I mentioned above I never thought I would have anything valuable to add to the AV community but Joe Way took a chance on me and brought me in for the IT in AV column. I have been writing these articles since October 2020 and it still shocks me to see people referring to my articles in discussions. I have been invited onto podcasts to discuss a article and just recently my last article, AVoIP, was featured on SDVoE Live. Not only do I write this article but I am also a crew member on The AV Life. I look forward to joining the outstanding crew every week (when I can) for our recording. I would like to thank all my readers and the listeners of The AV Life.
Joe Way
I would like to take this time to thank Joe Way. We all know Joe and if you don’t then you should. Back in Dec 2019 Joe invited me to be on his podcast, episode 60 if you want to check it out, which I will admit scared me. I never done anything like that before nor did I really know who Joe was. After we were done recording Joe made a comment ‘be prepare for your inbox to blow up’. I don’t even think Joe thought I would blow up like I did. I know most of that have to do with me putting myself out there and contributing but that would had never happened if Joe didn’t take a chance on me. Joe has helped me to come out of my shell so that I can contribute to the AV community. Again thank you Joe for all you have done for the AV community as well as what you have done to help me grow in this wonderful field.
Conclusion
Again I would like to thank the AV community for everything they have done for me. I do apologize if you came to this article wanting to read about IT and AV but thank you for allowing me to take this month to thank everyone. I will end with some advice for everyone. You always have something to add. You have value and if the people you are around do not see that then keep looking for those that see your value. Get out there and contribute cause the more you put in the more you will get back in return. We are a community and a community is only as good as it’s members.