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The Stimson Group Newsletter
June 2010
Vol 4 Issue 6
In This Issue
My InfoComm Schedule
R&S Roadshow
Best Practices Series
About The Stimson Group
Quick Links
Welcome Back,

With Infocomm kicking off in just a few hours, you would think I'd be resting up. But, no! The Stimson Group announces its new website! Thanks to the extraordinary efforts of my friends at Azure Marketing and a bit of midnight oil on my part.

On there you will find an easier to read and searchable catalog of my articles. Can't remember where you read that piece on relationship marketing? Now you can search by content or keywords. Take it for a spin and let me know what you think. I will adding even more content in the weeks to come. Plus now you can add my blog posts to your RSS feed!

Also in this issue are the results from our May AV Trends Survey - just in time for InfoComm! You can also read the full report here.

Thank-you for taking the time to read and please feel free to forward to your friends. I do enjoy your comments and questions and respond to every one of them. So please feel free to send me an email.

Thanks for reading,
 
Tom Stimson, MBA CTS
My Direct Email
*NEW* Website

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Presenter Where's Tom?
A quick guide to where I will be at InfoComm

One of my goals at InfoComm is to meet everyone I can. I know I won't have as much time to visit as I would like, but if you catch me at the right time - I am all yours. I will arrive on Sunday, June 6 in time for my first dinner appointment. Monday is a full day of InfoComm Board of Directors and committee meetings. By Tuesday I will begin to be findable:

Tuesday, June 8
2:00pm InfoComm booth for the SCN and Rental & Staging Magazine Product Awards
4:00pm Hilton Ballroom A for the Opening Keynote address from Marthin De Beer, Senior Vice President of Cisco's Emerging Technologies Group.
5:30pm Hilton Barron Room and the Opening Reception

Wednesday, June 9
8:40am Central Hall Main Entrance for the Adele De Berri Pioneers in AV Award and Ribbon Cutting Ceremony that will open the expo
4:30pm Hilton Ballroom A - the Lighting & Sound America Staged Event Awards
5:00pm Hilton Ballroom A - The Rental & Staging Reception
6:00pm Hilton Pavilion 1 - International Reception

Thursday, June 10
8:00am LVCC Room N255 - IS38 - Rental & Staging Business Survival Kit Seminar
10:30am LVCC Room N255 - Systems Integration Business Survival Kit Seminar
12:30pm LVCC Room N263 - Past Presidents' Luncheon (invitation only!)
2:00pm Verrex Booth N2024 - To celebrate Verrex's Young AV Professional Award winner Joseph A. Legato IV, CTS-D, CTS-I
5:00pm Hilton Pavilion 2 for the International Technology Rental Association reception
5:30pm Hilton Ballroom A for the InfoComm President's VIP reception
7:00pm Hilton Pavilion 1 for the NSCA VIP Reception

Friday, June 11
9:00am LVCC Room N252 for the InfoComm 100 Forum
10:30am LVCC Room N252 for the unveiling of InfoComm's Sustainable Technology Environment Performance Rating System.

Somewhere in all this I hope there is time left to spend on the exhibit floor. This is my one and only show as President of InfoComm International so I plan to make the best of it. If you want to meet up and talk some business - just send me an email and I'll make the time to visit. See you there!

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Roadshow 2010 Dates Announced
The Rental & Staging Roadshow kicks off its 2010 tour in New York and continues its mission of providing timely and vital business advice from Tom Stimson, CTS and expert technical advice from InfoComm instructor Andre LeJeune, CTS.

2010 Rental & Staging Roadshow ScheduleRoadshow Logo 2010
July 28, 2010 | Metropolitan Pavilion, New York, NY
August 18, 2010 | Chicago, IL
September 29, 2010 | Pasadena, CA

To register visit the R&S Roadshow Website
The Sky's Not Falling!
A quick analysis of the May survey results

It's been a few months since we last surveyed our readers and apparently there were some pent up opinions. We had over 200 completed responses and plently of illuminating comments. The big news is that 45% of the respondents have seen a slow, steady upward revenue trend over the past six month, and 15% say that business is booming. Only 10% indicate that business is down or worse, plummeting.

May 2010 Survey chart 2

A Sampling of the Comments:
"After considering 2009 being flat a major success, we realized the most drastic effects of the economic downturn in Q1 2010.  That was a result from decreased bookings in 2009.  However backlogs have crept back up to pre-downturn highs and the outlook for Q2 and beyond is strong." - AV Integrator

"As per usual,  the workload seems to come in waves...definitely headed in the right direction." - AV Stager/Integrator

"Although we finished a strong 2009, most of that was backlog from 2008 and early 2009 sales closed - the latter part of 2009 was slow and 2010 has been abysmal." - Systems Contractor

"We had our first same location sales increase in 18 months in February and are enjoying double digit increases from March through June.  Everything is very short term though with visibility about 60 days.  Not really sure what this fall will bring." - AV Rental/Stager

"It's scary to report that my first five months of 2010 are the best five months in the last 15 years.  I can't explain it.  We've done nothing any differently than in previous years." - AV Rental/Sales

"Business opportunities are fewer and there is exteme downward pressure on margins.  Bid prices are extremely low with bidders seemingly doing work at cost." - AV Integrator/Systems Contractor

For the full survey results and a download-able PDF that includes all the comments, visit my new website's Press/Media page.
Stimson PortraitAbout Thomas R. Stimson, MBA, CTS

Tom Stimson is celebrating over twenty-five years in the communications technology industry.  As a Consultant, Tom helps companies determine their next goal and then execute the plan that takes them there. For more information visit the website.

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