Sitting on a plane flying to Riviera Maya, Mexico, to attend i3Innovision 2008, a conference hosted by i3DVR International Inc., Toronto, Ontario, Canada, I had the good fortune of sitting next to a woman who’d been traveling to Riviera Maya for 20 straight years. After assuring me that I would love it there, she also shared a few pieces of advice she’d learned over the years. In addition to pointing out a restaurant in Playa de Carmen she loved and throwing out a few pointers on tipping and bartering, she also stated that I should always, ALWAYS, have transportation lined up before landing at Cancun International Airport. “Otherwise, it can be a little crazy,” she said. I assured her that I was getting picked up by my host, i3DVR, which she seemed very happy about, and I thanked her for her advice.

While I appreciated her advice, I didn’t really appreciate it until I walked through the double doors leading out of Terminal 2 at the airport . I was surrounded by a swarm of non-stop voices and people all saying the same thing: “Do you have a taxi?” “Do you have a taxi?!?” and reaching for my luggage. Over and over again. “Do you have a taxi?” “Do you have a taxi?!?” It was absolute chaos. There was definitely no organized taxi line like at most airports I’d been to. In that moment, I definitely was glad I had a ride, and I truly realized the value of her insight. Her experiences have taught her something useful that anyone traveling to that airport for the first time would appreciate knowing.

 

i3DVR, founded in 1990, has grown into a company offering cutting-edge technology solutions for many reasons, one of which is valuing the advice and insight of others in the industry and tapping into their experiences and demands for the market. When someone talks, they listen.

 

i3Innovision 2008 is a continuation of that effort. Over the next three days integrators, manufacturers, representative firms, distributors and end users will all come together to share ideas, get insight from one another and learn. They’ll get to see what i3DVR has been working on, hear the company’s visions for the future, contribute their own ideas for the future and otherwise take place in an extended conversation that will potentially enrich other’s knowledge base and generate new ideas.

 

 

In addition to two animated and seemingly productive break-out sessions on what everyone thought about Business Activity Monitoring (BAM) software and Central Management Software (CMS) and hoped to see available in them, three guest speakers addressed the group. A key point from each:

 

Ralph Mellanby, a sports and entertainment television producer who has produced more than a dozen Olympic Games broadcasts, produced Hockey Night in Canada for 20 years and won five Emmy awards (among many other things) shared his insight on “Building the Team.” His best advice? Hire the financial guy first... and always hire the best. Tell them what you want, give them parameters and then let them do it.

 

Mark Ryski, founder and CEO of HeadCount Corp., presented a case for using video analytics for retail store traffic counting and customer conversion data analysis designed to help businesses measure results, drive performance and manage expenses. In the current economy with potential end users asking for more applications for hardware and software, this one stands out. His best comment? Whenever companies ask him why they should invest in traffic counting and data analysis of this nature when they are already successful companies, his response is, “To be even better!” There's something to be said for always getting better.

 

Larry Bounds, the founder and CEO of ESG Group, Birmingham, Ala., helps his customers design and install audio, video, lighting, conferencing and security systems. He founded his own company because he didn’t want to keep giving customers the same things. He has a passion for the industry and for creatively approaching each system. “I didn’t want to always just offer a speaker and a stick on a box [when someone needed audio], I wanted to start offering them systems that popped.” In the five years since he founded the business, he’s been doing just that – making things “pop.”