InfoComm 2021: The Real Impact of the Pandemic on AV’s Work and Workforce

The pandemic left lasting impacts on industry demographics and workflows; the AV industry is no exception. Our team on the ground at InfoComm 2021 wanted to get a pulse for some of the ways COVID left women in AV with less work and resources, as well as whether AV design work itself has shifted in 18 months. We spoke with Rebecca Sullins, Senior Design Engineer for Pro Media Audio Video, for insights. Rebecca, nominated for AVIXA’s CTS Holder of the Year and actively working to start an AVIXA Women’s Council chapter in middle Tennessee, shared her thoughts on how the pandemic impacted women in AV, her work around major stadium integrations, and how both work and workforce will benefit from an industry return to form.

Abridged Thoughts:

The Women’s Council has been doing a whole lot of data research into this kind of thing. And for the last 10 years, female involvement in the AV industry has been steadily growing. It stopped and is declining now, and I’m lucky in that I have a job where I work from home anyway, so that helps. And I also kept my kids at home when they were really young, so I’m used to working with my kids at home. I’m also really good at managing time and working odd hours, stuff like that. But if you’re thrown into that situation, it’s almost impossible to manage. And it is. It is very difficult, and I do see women leaving at a higher rate. And I’m in the South where there weren’t that many to begin with.

I am seeing just vast amounts of networked audio over fiber. That’s a huge one for us because of distance limitations. It allows you to have fewer pieces of gear in more concentrated locations, which helps. It helps with cost. It helps with install, it helps with changing out cables. Now we only have to change out one six pair of fiber, you know, as opposed to rerunning 15 speaker lines if something gets cut. That has kind of changed the game for large scale installs, which is really nice, and it’s really cool to see that become more robust and more just readily accepted. You know, 10 years ago, people were really hesitant to put audio on their network. Now, not so much.

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!

Image

Latest

digital freight invoicing
ODeX Is Leading the Charge in Digital Freight Invoicing
April 24, 2025

Global shipping continues to grapple with fragmented billing processes, often delaying cargo movement. According to McKinsey, adopting an electronic bill of lading could save $6.5 billion in direct costs and enable $40 billion in global trade. As vessels carry goods for thousands of shippers per voyage, the administrative burden of managing and reconciling invoices…

Read More
Human Intelligence Movement
Just Thinking… about Reimagining Education for the AI Era with the Human Intelligence Movement
April 24, 2025

As artificial intelligence reshapes education, work, and daily life, educators are grappling with how to prepare students for a future where human skills—not just knowledge—will be paramount. In fact, a growing number of reports highlight that employers increasingly value collaboration, communication, and emotional intelligence over memorized content. Amid this transformation, the Human Intelligence Movement…

Read More
The Value of a Restoration Team with Healthcare Experience
The Value of a Restoration Team with Healthcare Experience
April 24, 2025

In this episode of Inside Restoration & Recovery, host Martha Lewis welcomes Jason McClaren, Director of Facilities Operations at Reunion Rehabilitation Hospitals, to discuss the critical advantage of partnering with a restoration team experienced in healthcare. A former firefighter and military veteran, Jason has spent the last decade managing safety, risk, and emergency preparedness…

Read More
Science of reading
Educators Must Combine 1:1 Tutoring with the Science of Reading to Close the Reading Gap
April 23, 2025

Coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, the education system faced a seismic shift. Learning loss, especially in foundational literacy, was a national crisis. In 2024, only 31% of fourth graders in the U.S. were reading proficiently, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Meanwhile, tutoring exploded as a top strategy to recover…

Read More