AVIXA’s AV Experience Awards program returns this year to celebrate how AV enhances our world.
When AVIXA launched the AV Experience Awards in 2020, it strived to celebrate how audiovisual technology enhances the human experience. In the first year of the awards program, we saw projects from more than 20 countries. Projects illustrated AV technology’s role in numerous areas of life. This includes making dynamic art and flexible spaces, improving collaboration, making experiences personalized and immersive, and enhancing the in-person experience. The winners were featured in Sound & Communications’ June 2020 edition.
With a new year comes the return of the AV Experience Awards. Entry is currently open, and it will close on March 12. Let’s look at some of the finalists from last year and see how AV technology enriched different types of experiences.
Dynamic Art
We’re witnessing artists employing AV technology as they would a paintbrush and canvas, and they’re leaving people in awe. The Best Dynamic Art Experience award celebrates AV as art—whether its purpose is to amaze, create a cultural centerpiece, energize people for their day, reinvigorate a functional space or display information
in a stimulating way. Ouchhh, a new-media studio, illustrated this perfectly with the world’s largest artificial-intelligence (AI) exhibition at the Atelier des Lumières (The Workshop of Lights) in Paris, France. The exhibit, Poetic_Ai, uses machine learning (ML) and AI algorithms to create immersive art illuminated by 50K pixels and 136 projectors. Ouchhh was inspired by the idea of a poetic breakdown of AI and the theories and text that it might create after being trained on a large quantity of articles and books by famous scientists on the topics of light, physics, space and time.
Immersive Experience
Have you ever entered a space and felt like you stepped into a different world or another era? The environment captures your senses due to the intricate design of the space’s lighting, sound and visuals. The Best Immersive Experience award celebrates illusionary or simulated environments that envelop individuals, delivering a multisensory experience. For the new Statue of Liberty Museum, ESI Design created an immersive environment through a multitude of AV elements. Speakers embedded in the walls recreate the sounds of building the Statue, including workers’ voices calling out to each other as they build wooden forms and hammer copper. Additionally, there are two transparent LCD screens that act as digital windowpanes, overlooking the streets of Paris and Brooklyn NY. They display historical content surrounding the fundraising efforts for the Statue.
Individualized Experience
Technology can create a unique experience for each person—an experience that makes a moment memorable. The Best Individualized Experience award highlights applications in which technology creates personalized experiences. Edel-Optics, a primarily online retailer, was looking for a way for its in-person shops to provide a fun, unique customer journey that would not be overwhelming during the purchasing process. To create a personalized experience, the team added a radio-frequency identification (RFID) chip to each set of its spectacle frames. Sensors in the store’s mirrors detect the chip and connect to the accompanying iPad. The iPad then shares product information (e.g., pricing, available colors, comparable frames) with the customers. LED shelves serve as an in-store product finder, and they show through colorfully marked points the exact location of the pair of glasses selected on the iPad.
In-Person Experience
You can do many things from the comfort of home. So, what makes you jump to your feet and head out the door? The Best In-Person Experience award celebrates the strategic use of AV to motivate people to get out into the real world and experience something they can’t see, do or feel anywhere else. To deliver guests the ultimate experience in sports and entertainment across more than 50 of Topgolf’s venues, the company sought to enhance its technology platform by transitioning from consumer televisions to durable, customizable commercial displays. AV integrator Diem Digital deployed more than 10,000 LG webOS commercial displays across Topgolf venues. Positioned vertically, the displays broadcast content in three sections, ranging from sports and other TV programs, to marketing messages, to Toptracer, which tracks the flight path of every golf shot.
Flexible Space
With space at a premium, large organizations are designing more flexible spaces that can be used for multiple purposes. A well-designed AV installation in these spaces helps them transform so they can accommodate different uses and audiences. The Best Flexible Experience award recognizes this concept.
Last year, Amazon opened a massive campus in Hyderabad, India, trying to accommodate 15,000 employees and intending to foster inclusion, creativity and greater innovation. The large cafeteria in the facility was designed as a flexible AV space to accommodate town halls, event production, team events and broadcasts, while maintaining functionality as the primary dining area. An AV system was created to support events for up to 1,200 users in theater-style seating, along with an additional 900 users in nearby spaces, as well as remote participation. The design also included thoughtful details like quiet zones configured for people to take quick phone calls.
Collaborative Experience
To ensure that all ideas are effectively shared, an environment that promotes collaboration is imperative. Whether we’re in a classroom, a workspace or other locations around the globe, a carefully considered approach to design and AV technology can boost collaboration. The Best Collaborative Experience award celebrates applications of AV that help enhance interactivity. Bank Itaú created its Customer Experience Center, located in São Paulo, Brazil, to learn more about its clients, to identify areas where the bank is already succeeding and to find areas that need improvement.
It envisioned a collaborative environment and worked with KVM Informática and Class Produções to achieve that through the curation of AV technology. Upon entry, a holographic mirror that features Itaú’s CEO welcomes visitors. He explains the company’s objective of engaging with clients and offering a better experience. In the center, video displays showcase client testimonials and social-media messages. After learning about client pain points, visitors move to an interactive table. The table shows the process for improving the customer experience.
Day in and day out, AV professionals are applying technology in imaginative ways to enhance our world. AVIXA felt delighted by the work the industry displayed in their award applications in 2020. We’re eager for applicants to ‘wow’ us again!
AVIXA is accepting entries for its 2021 AV Experience Awards program until March 12 at www.avxawards.avixa.org.
To read more from Sound & Communications, click here.