Why InfoComm Belongs On A Cabler’s Calendar

InfoComm can sound like “an AV show,” but if you pull cable for a living, it’s really a massive showcase of where low voltage work is headed next. We sit down with Bob Neyens, VP at Vertical Cable and a long-time InfoComm regular, to translate the pro AV world into plain English and show exactly why structured cabling installers, project foremen, project managers, and designers can get real value from attending.

We talk about what you’ll actually find at InfoComm: professional audio video for commercial spaces like boardrooms, houses of worship, bars, stadiums, and even hospitals, with tons of crossover into IP networks and familiar infrastructure like Cat 6, Cat 6A, fiber, racks, and connectors. Bob shares practical exhibit hall tactics for first-timers, including how to avoid the most chaotic day, when to schedule booth conversations, and how manufacturer events and networking work after hours.

Then we get specific about skills and career growth: AVIXA training, CTS certifications like CTS-I and CTS-D, and why the show floor can teach you what a classroom can’t by letting you see complete systems running together. We also dig into tech that matters for 2026, including the move from Cat 6 to Cat 6A for higher bandwidth and distance, plus Power over Ethernet and why copper quality matters as current loads increase. If you want a new revenue stream that stays close to your current skill set, this is the roadmap.

Subscribe for more conversations that connect the low voltage community, and if this helps, share it with a tech who’s been curious about pro AV and leave us a rating or review.

Transcript

Welcome And Quick Housekeeping

SPEAKER_04 0:00

Hey Largies, welcome to another episode. Welcome to the show where we tackle the tough questions submitted by apprentices, installers, technicians, project foremen, project managers, estimators, designers, IT personnel, even customers. We're connecting at the human level so that we can connect the world. If you're watching this show on YouTube, would you mind hitting the subscribe button and the bell button to be notified when new content is being produced? If you're listening to us on one of the audio podcast platforms, would you mind leaving us a five-star rating? Those simple little steps help us take on the algorithm so we can educate, encourage, and enrich the lives of people in the ICT industry. Wednesday nights, 6 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, what are you doing? You know I do a live stream on TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, everywhere I can figure out to send a stream to where you get to ask your favorite RCDD. Questions on installation design, credentialing. I even do career path questions. But I can hear you now. But Chuck, I'm driving my truck at Wednesday nights, it's 8 meeting. I don't want to get there again. Relax. I record them and you can watch them at your convenience. And finally, while this show is free and will always remain free, if you find value in this content, will you click on that QR code right there? You can buy me a cup of coffee. You can even schedule a 15-minute one-on-one call with me after hours, of course. And you can even buy Lex Talk Cabling Merchandise. So as I mentioned, this week is Infocom. Infocom. I'm super excited about this show. I only learned about Infocom literally just maybe three years ago. And people kept telling me, Chuck, you need to go to Infocom. It's like Bixie, but bigger. I'm like, yeah, okay, whatever. So I decided last year to go to the one, it was last year or the year before, I can't remember which, in Orlando. And I got myself a day pass. And I'm thinking, okay, I'll just go visit the exhibit hall. Yeah. I couldn't get the whole entire exhibit hall done in one day. It was huge. It was huge. So Infocom is doing it, they do this once a year. And this year it's July, July. It's June 13th to the 19th. And it's being held at Las Vegas Convention Center. That's pretty cool. Get to go to Vegas on a business trip. Now the exhibit hall, the things I'm always interested in, is June 17th to the 19th. And we're talking about a show, an organization. I think it's I think it's pronounced Axia. I'll have to ask my my guest the correct way to announce that. But Avixia? Okay. So it's so it's Avixia, and they have 30,000 professionals and over 750 exhibitors. So I can't talk about InfoCom because I'm not a subject matter expert on that. But I did find one to talk to us about InfoCom. And this this individual has been to, if not all of them, 90% of them. So I think nobody better to talk to to talk about InfoCom and maybe why us low voltage cable guys should

Why InfoComm Is On Our Radar

SPEAKER_04 3:29

go to it. So I want to introduce Bob Nyans from Vertical Cable. How are you doing, my friend Bob? Good. How are you doing today? Good to meet you. I'm doing fantastic. Why don't you give us the uh the 50,000-foot view? Who's Bob? And why should the audience listen to you?

SPEAKER_01 3:44

Yeah, thanks. Uh I'm Bob Nyans, Vice President at Vertical Cable. I've uh been in the uh kind of the cousin industry to you all. The you guys are in the uh the IT and and in the A V, we also use a lot of the same cabling, but for different uses. You know, uh we use it for a little bit more fun stuff, maybe for home theaters and speakers, you know, hi-fi audio, things like that. So that's the A V market. But I I started uh doing that market back in 2002 uh at Liberty Cable, and I've been selling low voltage cabling in the commercial and residential markets ever since. So my whole career has been low voltage cabling.

SPEAKER_04 4:26

Yeah, the the uh in fact when I always talk about the the low voltage tree, right? Because I always try to explain, people always ask me, you know, what is really low voltage encompassed? And I say, think of a tree, right? You got the major trunk, but then on one branch you got voice systems, another one you got Ethernet systems, another one you might have security, another one you might have AV. So you guys are definitely, definitely one of the branches in the low voltage tree. And I like the fact that you said, we're your cousins. I like that. That's got that's actually a great great description. Now, for someone who's never been to Infocom, we're gonna talk to the to the audience members. For one of my people listening to the audience who's never been to Infocom, how would you explain Infocom without using the the trade show lingo that Vixia likes to

InfoComm Explained Without Jargon

SPEAKER_04 5:10

use?

SPEAKER_01 5:10

Well, uh Infocom, the the I'll describe it as a pro audio and video market, professional audio and video, uh, for the commercial market. So the the three main types, you have uh the rental and staging market, you have uh broadcast audio video, and that includes like TV and radio. Um, and then you have um what we call light commercial, which would be like boardrooms, uh house houses of worship, uh, you know, like a projector hangs, um, or uh bars, things like that. Those are what we call light commercial. So uh it's uh, but they're all quote unquote professional audio video. So you're you're talking about speakers, televisions, projectors. Uh a lot of it's controlled by IP equipment. Um, but it's it's the use of that equipment in uh in a commercial environment. It could be uh churches, houses of worship, stadiums. Uh my wife's a nurse, she works at a hospital, so we saw hospital cabling is another type of low voltage cabling. So uh that's really the pro AV, is this the commercial side of the audio video market?

SPEAKER_00 6:24

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SPEAKER_04 7:11

Well, you just listed probably four or five types of buildings that we do cabling in, right? Um you know, the uh you know obviously the house of worship. I know several companies, that's the that's what they that's what they specialize in is house of worships. And then uh and then you know the A V market, you know, for me is looking from an outsider. If I'm a low voltage, you know, structured cable guy doing voice and data systems, if I'm not doing AV, that's something I might want to look at because it seems to me you you're you're you're gonna make more money. Because again, you get we have people we have people in our industry that literally are doing high-end AV solutions in mansions, in people, you know, in big, big mansions. Lots and lots of money there. But what I really want to ask you, Bob, is you know, a lot of people on my side of the on my side of the family, they hear A V and they immediately go, their eyes glaze over. Kind of like I mentioned in the intro how when I said, hey, go to Infocom, and yeah, okay, whatever. Why should I go to Infocom, right? They their eyes glass over, right? And they think that show's not for them. Tell me what's in the Infocom that's gonna be of interest for them.

Why Structured Cabling Pros Should Go

SPEAKER_01 8:20

Well, that's a good question. I think, well, first of all, the cabling side is automatically gonna be familiar because you'll be using, you know, CAC 5, CAT 6, 6A, the same types of connectors, like crimp and feed-through connectors. Uh, you'll be using racks and you'll be pulling wire through the same in exact environments. Uh, the equipment is also IP addressable in many cases, so you'll be working with equipment in the same way. Uh, it it is a uh very common career path I've seen in Infocom for the uh for IT people because there's there's so much crossover. So um ideally, if you're an IT guy and you've ever hooked up a stereo in your house, which I think a lot of us have, or if you've ever hooked up your TV, you know, it's kind of IT mixed with just the the TV, you know, the entertainment part of it. And it's really not I'm I have a little bit of a computer background as an Apple technician, but you know, it's been a while since I've done that. And I I actually went from IT into A V because it was, you know, they're there again, they're similar markets, and there is, since you already have half the training, you know, on the cabling side, it's just a matter of learning how to integrate, instead of integrate a, you know, I don't know, a new monitor or something, you're you're integrating uh speakers or uh you know distributed audio in a house or uh or in a build a commercial building, things like that. So it's just a it's a little bit new learning curve, but it's it's for something that you already know. You know music, you know movies, and it's so it's using that same technology for those types of applications.

SPEAKER_04 10:07

You know, if I if I'm truly honest, Bob, the biggest reason why I went to Infocom, I used to be on the church tech team. So that kind of stuff always interested me, the equipment side of it. So that's kind of what really drove me to g to go in there. And one thing I one thing I noticed as an outsider from the that side of the family looking in is you know, so Infocom, to me, and I correct me if I'm wrong, they there's two major kind of things going on, right? You've got you've got the the presentations and the learning, and then you've got the exhibit hall. And and kind of what I did wrong was I misjudged how much time it would take to go through the exhibit hall. Um, because I only made it through maybe half of the exhibit hall. And maybe that's because with the one I went to, they had a whole bunch of those robotic dogs. And that that cut that always catches my eyes, right? Because I've got dogs, I'm like, oh, and then you know, I like I like tech, right? So let me let's let's talk about that show floor right now, right?

Exhibit Hall Strategy For First-Timers

SPEAKER_04 11:01

What advice would you have for someone like me, with the first time going to Infocom, what what advice do you have for them for walking the exhibit all that so they don't miss anything?

SPEAKER_01 11:11

Well, you know, this is my tip. If I've always been an exhibitor, uh so you know, all those 20 plus years I've been at Infocom, I've been kind of tethered to my booth. But one thing I've noticed is on the first day of the on the first day of the show, because it is a busy show, everyone has their most important meetings on the first day of the show. Uh everybody wants, as soon as the doors open, they want to rush to whatever the most you know exciting booth is. Um and and you know, at being being at the shows, the first day is by far the busiest. The last day is dead. So if you're looking to have more meaningful conversations with people where you get to learn and have more of an opportunity, I would actually schedule maybe the second and third day of the show instead of the first and second day of the show, just because even the second day of the show is a lot less busy. Uh going in the afternoons is a lot less busy. Uh, but yeah, first thing in the morning or morning of the first day, it's just you'll be run over. Like, you know, there's just too much, too many people to really sit down and have meaningful conversations. But by the third day, you're you'll be able to really focus in.

SPEAKER_04 12:28

You know, let me ask you this question.

After-Hours Events And Networking Tips

SPEAKER_04 12:30

This is not one of our pre-arranged questions, but you can probably answer pretty easily. You know, when you go to like a Bixie show, you know, there's the show during a day, but then there's always events afterwards, like you know, manufacturers have events and stuff like that to where they invite customers, potential customers. Does that same kind of thing happen at Infocon?

SPEAKER_01 12:45

Yeah. Um, it But there used to be like the glory days. I don't know if you guys had like the glory days of like, you know, IT or whatever. We used to have the glory days, uh, which are not really, especially at Vegas, uh, which have gone down. Um, but there absolutely are events, uh, manufacturer events, um every night, you know, you it's just uh and a lot of the same manufacturers that sell an IT also sell into the AV world. So you might look at some of the vendors you already purchase from, and you'll probably see them on the show floor. And that's a good way to get invited to some of the parties, or you know, they have beer and stuff on the show floor, and you know, at the end of the day, at you know, so that's another good way. Uh there's a lot of crossover, so you'll probably have some familiarity with some companies there already, would be my guess.

SPEAKER_04 13:42

Yeah, you you know when you said the the heydays, yeah, yeah. You look 20 25 years ago at the Bixie events, some of those parties were legendary. And now when people go to them, you know, who've been to those ones in the past, they kind of look at it and go, huh, it's not quite the same. Well, it's because companies have evolved and changed and stuff. And I love the fact that you tied in that a lot of the people that you'll see at a Bixie show, you know, the the structured cabling type events, you'll also see at Infocom. Now you work for Vertical Cable. Does Vertical Cable have a presence there at Infocom?

SPEAKER_01 14:16

Yes, we do. We are at booth C5034 and uh in the central hall, uh Hall C. And um this is actually Vertical's first Infocom. So we have never done Infocom. So one of the, you know, I've done Infocom, but vertical is not. So it'll be a new experience. So while if any of you guys there, if you happen to go and you're feeling new and or you know you don't know anyone, well, you can come by the vertical booth because we are also new there. Uh, we've been in business 25 years, 20, 30 years, but it's our first uh Infocom because it's just a a market that we haven't really focused on. So it'll be our first show.

SPEAKER_04 14:56

Yeah, and and vertical cable used to also go to the Bixie shows too. So there's a time. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So let me

IT And AV Crossover Reality Check

SPEAKER_04 15:03

ask you this. So I talked a little bit about you know the the structured cabling side for us guys doing voice and data, right? And and how we kind of viewed A V as kind of being for some of us, not all of us, that that that other market that we don't really know if we want to get into. Has the relationship really changed? Or is there are there A V contractors, in your opinion, maybe looking at structured cabling? It's like we're like structured cabling people looking at AV cabling?

SPEAKER_01 15:29

That's a good question. I don't know if I have the right answer. I think my feeling is that uh I feel that the IT is coming into A V. I don't necessarily feel that A V is going into IT because the uh the knowledge level of the IT that you need is not very deep. Uh to like the the IT knowledge to hook up the equipment that we do is like pretty basic. I mean it's hooking up cables and IP, you know, any I think any IT guy could easily do the A V stuff that we have to do. But the the IT stuff that you guys have to do is far more I mean it's far more complex, like data centers. I mean, we don't sell into those types of things. I mean we do on occasion, but it's more extreme. So I I would say it's harder to go A V into IT. I think it's easier to go uh the opposite way.

SPEAKER_04 16:29

Yeah. Well, one thing, one thing that uh that might be kind of misleading is because right now you hear data centers all over the news, right? They AI data centers and you know, all this other stuff. That is a portion of the structured cabling industry. Um, but when you look at the the number of installers, the number of companies, the vast majority of them are doing cabling for veterinary offices, law offices, you know, um small commercial jobs like that. That's what the the vast majority of structured cabling, that's what they're doing. Data centers is like a it's like a niche, right? It's not something that everybody does. And if you can get into it, I hear it's good. I used to work in data centers many, many years ago, and there's a lot of similarities, but I in fact I would I would consider brain thought, I would consider data centers a different branch on the low voltage tree. I would say I would consider voice data, and when I say data, I mean like regular networking, like local area networking, right? And then data centers, and then AV. So data centers would kind of be their own thing.

Who Gets The Most Value Attending

SPEAKER_04 17:29

Um let me ask you this for Infocom. So many of my people watch this show, a lot of them are installers, a lot of them are project managers, some are even designers. I even have some owners, even some manufacturers watch this show. Who do you think is going to get the most value from attending Infocom?

SPEAKER_01 17:45

I think installers would benefit because they are um they'll see a different different equipment that they can hook up. Uh in this, it's like uh like kind of like new toys, I guess, to hook up. Like you already have the skills to to work on on the equipment, and then now you have some more um some more options. Uh designers, I think would would definitely benefit because they would see what different options are out there to hook into an IP network. Um and so that would be, I think, interesting because you would see a whole different realm of things you could do from like lighting control, shade control, um, security systems that are all IP cameras. Um, I mean, you would see the whole gamut of of all of that stuff. So you would it would kind of broaden your horizons on your designs for sure.

SPEAKER_04 18:44

For the field tech, when they go into the booth, since since you used to do a lot of booth duty, um are the people who are manning the booths uh I can ask this. The people are manning the booths, if a if a if an installer comes into the booth, not not a designer, but an installer, are you guys engaging with those people and having conversations with them to try to get them interested in in A V?

SPEAKER_01 19:09

Yeah, absolutely. Well, you know, for the installers, the we, I mean, personally at our booth, uh, we do competitions like how fast can you terminate an RJ45? And and you know, we have That's good. We have a comp we give away a trophy and and uh you know we try and make it fun and and then but you get hands-on with the tool and the equipment, that's the thing. And I think uh not only our booth, but uh a lot of other vendors. The the point is to get hands-on with the equipment, and so we we encourage people to use it. We we have uh actually have a technician at our booth who is there to teach people and and that does A V. And and so uh, you know, I I think that's pretty common is to be inviting to those. So we we definitely see a lot of IT type people come through the you know, first time through the show. Uh I've seen that every year, and you know, it's always an eye-opening experience and it's a different revenue stream for them to make it, you know. If if you like music movies, live shows, you know, things like that, then you know, radio TV, then if you have an interest in that already, then it it you should pick it up pretty, pretty quick.

SPEAKER_04 20:16

I think they probably do because a lot of a lot of technicians in the field, you know, A, they like working with their hands, right? And and they always like that, you know, there's a lot of people like putting in servers and routers and stuff, and and so you know, matrixes and video switches and cameras and D VRs, that kind of all fits right in that same that same bally wick, right? That so a lot of them would be interested in doing that as well, too.

Common Mistakes Plus CTS Credentials

SPEAKER_04 20:42

Um what's what do you see, what are some of the mistakes that you see people make their first time attending an Infocom?

SPEAKER_01 20:49

Uh well, I mean, I'll go with the old school stuff, not drinking enough water. They're in Vegas and they're in Orlando, and you walk around a lot, and uh I, you know, I would that's kind of an obvious one. People get like legionnaires disease and things like that. I mean, not to scare anyone off from Infocom, but uh long distances walking. Um, you know, I I would make a a schedule on on Infocom's website. There's a map of the show floor, and you can, you know, uh it's broken up into sections. So you have like lighting, staging, uh, you know, and there's certain sections that you probably as a as an IT guy or gal, you may not necessarily need like unless you in rental and staging, there's not there is IP, absolutely. But um what I recommend is the light, what I call light commercial, which is like the bars, the boardrooms, um, houses of worship, like I mentioned, because those have like the simplest, it's like the it's the easiest jump. Um, you don't have to become like a like a rental like you know, Taylor Swift's band roadie, you know, to like get into it. You could just uh You know, use your skills in the same like house of worship, like you mentioned house of worship. So in that same house of worship, they're doing the networking, they're gonna do a projector, they're gonna do a screen. Um, Infocom has uh their own training module, which is uh that they do you can become CTS certified. Where uh I know in your market you have the you have different certifications. Well, uh they have in the Infocom market, they have certifications as well, so that you can uh become certified in the technology, which uh helps you. And and you really don't you don't need to get too deep since you already have the the IT knowledge. It's really just how do I now integrate these new components into what I already know, it's basically so you so they got those Avixia certifications like CTS?

SPEAKER_04 22:44

I think it's CTS-I, right? And CTS-D, if I remember right.

SPEAKER_01 22:48

Yeah, the D is the design. And the I is the installer? Yes.

SPEAKER_04 22:52

So I'm assuming when you get one of those credentials, and you may or may not know this. I'm assuming when you get one of those credentials, you have to get a certain amount of continuing education credits. Yep. Very too often. Do they have those kinds of CEC events at Infocom? So somebody who has who decides to get that credential and they go to InfoCom, can they get their CECs at Infocom?

SPEAKER_01 23:11

Yep, they do. That's part of the part of the deal on the website, the continuing education. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 23:17

Nice. I love that. I love I love those kind of training atmospheres. And you know, I'm I'm one of those geeks. I I admit it, I'm a geek, that when I go to like the Bixie show, see a lot of people go to the Bixie show and they'll use it for a family vacation. So they'll go to Bixie in Orlando, they'll bring the whole family down, they'll just attend that first day Bixie, then the rest of the week they're out going to Disney World with their family or going to the beach. I'm the geek who shows up at all the training events.

SPEAKER_01 23:42

The early days before, okay. You're that guy.

SPEAKER_04 23:45

Gotcha. And I and I and I and I do and I so my what I typically do, and this wouldn't work for Infocom because it's so huge. But at Bixie, what I do is um so the the aisles are numbered, like 100, 200, 300, 400. I literally, when I come into the door, I hang a right, I go to the very last row, and I just work my way up and down all the rows until I get through the whole entire thing. But Bixie, again, like I said, you can do that in in like three hours. Um the Infocom one, like I said, I walked there for eight solid hours, and I only saw half. Half of what they had. Now, some of that too is because I get I get distracted by the shiny lights, like the big displays, and and I get distracted by and the robot dogs. I get distracted by the robot dogs. Um but so it's a it's I highly suggest it.

Show Floor Learning Versus Classroom

SPEAKER_04 24:31

Let me ask you this. So you said you've been to you know numerous Infocoms, right? What's the biggest benefit that you've gotten personally from attending Infocom?

SPEAKER_01 24:40

Well, I mean, it's for me, it's the relationships, and you know, it's it's uh people that I've worked with in the industry uh a long time. Um, and it's also seeing what's new in the industry because you know, maybe one year to the next it's not all that much different. But you know, if you miss one year and you and you come back, certainly, you know, the river is moving, so to speak, and things are always changing. So let's talk about the technician.

SPEAKER_04 25:06

Okay, so they they go to Infocom, they get hooked on the the credentialing from AVIXA, and now they want to get their CTSI, their, or maybe their CTS-D, right? What would they learn at Infocom that they wouldn't necessarily learn in a training room?

SPEAKER_01 25:23

Well, they probably just would see all the equipment that's possible. So, like when you go to a training, because I, you know, I've done the trainings before, the trainings are real specific. Like, like uh I did a training on screen color um for a projector screen, and I had to learn that you know they have new neutral density gray and then white and and different types of colorings that they put on it, but it was very, very specific. So, like the trainings that I did were like, like I said, color of screens. You know what I mean? When you walk the uh show floor, uh, you know, you see all the different types of products that are available from you know, cabling, which most people uh, you know, we're nerds, you know, we like cabling, but uh as far as the wow factor, cabling is pretty low down on the list. You know, you have to be a nerd to kind of come by our booth, which believe me, there there are nerds who come by our booth, but um it's not the giant monitor, you know, it's not the we don't have a theater set up like a lot, so sometimes a lot of like professional theaters set up and stuff like that. But you know, it's so we don't have the wow factor, but um but nevertheless, uh there's a lot to uh when you see the whole picture of everything, uh it gives you it gives you a better idea of of really what's possible, what you're there doing. And it the training is I I would say walk the show floor, and then that'll give you some perspective when you're in the training to see like that. This is just one you know small part of a much bigger and you can start small. That's the other thing, too. You you don't have to start you already being an IT professional, you already have the base knowledge that you need. And so uh this is additive. It's like uh it's it's fun. I don't know how else to do it like so. We already know how to work on cars, it's like you get to you know take it off roading now or something, you know. Like you already got the you already know how to drive, now you get to go take it on a different road or something that you haven't driven before. So so it's uh it won't be too hard to learn. You already know the basics, and I think uh it'll be a good experience to see, and and if something clicks, and I I almost guarantee there'll be something there that someone something will show you that will be a new revenue stream that will be in your comfort zone that you didn't know you could do. Maybe it's terminating fiber, maybe it's uh uh hooking up boardrooms, uh like uh a boardroom or uh house of worship or a church or I'm sorry or a uh a bar. Um all those locations I think are within reach of someone with you know I I I would argue with you about the wow factor because uh I don't know when I went when I walked the exhibit hall, I was in the I was in the wow factor the whole entire day.

SPEAKER_04 28:03

Uh like I said, every everything there just was so cool. And and I think you know, probably one of the benefits here for you know maybe maybe a guy who's gotten their CTSI in a training classroom, right? Yeah, you looked at pictures of them in a book, but then when you get there, you actually get to see it installed, you get to push the buttons and see how it looks. There's yeah, it's one thing to say, okay, well, you know, well, we have an O L E D screen, but something different to be standing in front of that screen actually seeing that difference, you know.

SPEAKER_01 28:31

Well, funny you mentioned that we always get stuck in there's not a cabling section in the that's not a department. So they have to put you somewhere if if you're a cable manufacturer. So cabling guys will be spread out. Usually you can find us in one of two sections. We're always in the loudspeaker section, or we're in the LED lighting sections. And so it's either we got blasting speakers where we can't hear what you know we're trying to say, or we got like we're having like seizures because there's like lights flashing in our eyes the whole time. But but yeah, that's for some reason that's where you'll find out.

SPEAKER_04 29:03

One of the coolest things I saw when I went was they had this room, and you you would walk in a room, it was like a big box. I mean, I want to say big box, I want to say it was probably 20 feet wide by 10 feet long, and it's probably six or six or eight feet tall. When you walk in, and I don't know how they do that, did this. Maybe you do, going to Infocom and being used to that stuff. They literally projected the beach on all four walls, the ceiling, and the floor. So it literally felt like you were walking on the beach, but you weren't walking on the beach.

SPEAKER_01 29:36

That was yeah, I haven't seen that one. Yeah, seen there's lots of cool stuff.

SPEAKER_04 29:41

That's what I said when you said you maybe lacks the wow factor. I'm like, no, no, I think I think I think InfoCom has the wow factor.

SPEAKER_01 29:46

I no, I said cable, cable lack.

SPEAKER_04 29:49

Yeah, yeah, I okay, I get you.

SPEAKER_01 29:50

That's what I'm saying. Like compared to like, yeah, it's hard unless you're a nerd, it's hard for like like, hey, come check out my Keystone connector when there's a room that has like four walls. The beach all around. And I'm I'm trying to show you the small finer points of a keystone connector.

SPEAKER_04 30:09

You know, it's yeah, we're all really distracted by stuff like that. We're all chasing squirrels. We we

2026 Watch List Cat 6A And PoE

SPEAKER_04 30:15

truly are. So let me ask you this since you've since you've been plugged into this community for so long, what technologies, what what installation practices, what new things are coming out that the structure kid people need to pay attention to for 2026?

SPEAKER_01 30:30

I would say the main thing that we've noticed is the transition from Cat 6 to Cat 6A, uh, because of the issue with it's it's actually a similar issue that I imagine you guys have on the IT side, which is uh a 10 gig cable can only go, what is it, 30 meters uh on cat 6, uh, but on cat 6a you can go the full uh 90 plus 10 meters uh 328 feet. So uh a lot of the networks that we use in the A V side are 10 or act at act like 10 gig networks. They they aren't necessarily called 10, they're not 10 gig base T standard, but they if you look at them under a scope, they're basically the same. The network traffic is similar to a 10 gig network. So like the balance that we use, uh a balance is something that converts uh like an HDMI signal. I guess you guys use HDMIs on your side, it'll convert an HDMI to a networking cable. Uh like if you use Cat 6A um and you're using uh like 8K video, which is a higher resolution video, you need uh uh better, stronger cabling. So one thing is uh a switch from cat 6 to cat 6a, and then another uh big change is power over Ethernet, which uh I know you guys use a lot of as well. Um, and the key on that is uh copper content. And uh one of the things that we look at on the cabling side is making sure that the cable has enough uh the core size of the copper is correct because the cabling is is is carrying more and more current, and the larger copper that you have, the more heat it can disperse, the more uh it has less resistance. So uh that's one of the things those uh cheap cables and PoEs, you know, we we try and look out for that, and then using 6A instead of.

SPEAKER_04 32:23

That's actually something you'll hear people argue about on the internet all the time. Is you because people don't get on here, well, we're doing Cat 6, and somebody said, Well, you should be doing Cat 6A, and like, well, we don't need Cat 6A, and you hit the nail right on the head, right? Cat 6A is a 23 gauge conductor, cat 6 is a 24 gauge conductor, as you mentioned, bigger conductor, less resistance, less heat, you know, you know, more bandwidth, you know, out to that full full 90 meters. And so if you put Cat 6A in today, when they come out with that new equipment that that requires that 10 gig, now it's just a matter of swapping out maybe the projector or the TV or whatever, because the cable's already there. You got the good solid, solid foundation, right? Now you mentioned that you did a lot of booth duty, right? A lot of booth duty. So what do you what questions do you wish attendees would ask for you attending the booth when they come into your booth?

SPEAKER_01 33:14

Let's see, if they were new in IT, I would uh ask, I would say that ask, I would identify that this is what I would do. I would if you're new in IT, I would say that exact thing to the person, like you go to a cable, like our booth or another cable company and you're looking at cabling, um, and you want to see uh what's new, I would just tell them, like, hey, because I've had that happen to me a bunch of times, where someone comes up, we're IT guys, this is our first show, and you know, what's new? What do you guys do? And just ask the you know, an open-ended question on what do we do that's different. And and I'm sure, you know, the the A V, we we tend to do things a little simpler. Uh, we like to feed through connectors. I know on the on the IT side, you guys like the at least from my understanding is the more the the standard crimp down. Oh, you I'm sorry, the keystones. You guys like keystones, yes. Uh on on the A V side, a lot of guys like cable mount connectors, even though it's not the Bixie approved standard. We like to be crazy and and just do cable mount connectors. Uh, we like on the AV side, a lot of guys like clear line, the fiber that's easier to use, that doesn't poke through your finger. We don't sell clear line, we sell a more traditional type of uh of uh fiber, but that's a popular option. Things that because the AV installers are not as uh uh like the IT guys are repetitive with their connectors. I bet you could do a Keystone in like three minutes. Three minutes. The AT guys are yeah, they're doing speaker cables, they're doing uh HDMI, they're doing USB C and they're doing network. So like they're not just like doing networks all day long, you know, and so uh they're not quite as quick, I would say. I'd say the IT guys are faster than the A B guys, and I bet I'll get myself in trouble saying that, but um, so I you know, just show show you what's new, and maybe there's some different ways, like easier ways of doing stuff where it's not mission critical, you know. Uh so I just ask open-ended questions.

SPEAKER_04 35:10

That's great advice because you know, you you know, as as somebody who's new to that world, you may not necessarily know what to ask that person who's meaning that booth. And asking that, like you said, asking an open-ended question will absolutely do that. Let me ask you this one final question.

Post-Show Follow-Up That Preserves Value

SPEAKER_04 35:25

So for someone who uh attended Infocom, right, what what should they do after Infocom to make sure that they get the value from the money spent going to Vegas and attending the show?

SPEAKER_01 35:37

Well, uh, I I could tell you one thing some people do is they put a fake email address in their badge so that they don't get a thousand phone calls uh after the show. Um you could turn your badge around so you don't get as many scans. That's another thing, I guess. I'm thinking of always like little tips now. But uh to get the best uh after the show, you know, you're gonna get a lot of follow-up, which is why I mentioned, you know, the email that's on there. You might consider uh what email address you use. Um you uh want to take notes, uh take pictures. I know a lot of people are visual, and uh, I know sometimes people come by with phones, and if they see something particularly interesting, you can ask the person at the booth to let you film a demo. And you know, I've had demos filmed to me a bunch of times of like if if I'm gonna do a demo of a Keystone or or whatever, they'll be like, hey, do you mind? Just ask them, do you mind if I film and then you know you can make your own video? Uh I've done that. Just have your business cards there, take people's business cards, make sure you know you write.

SPEAKER_04 36:35

Yeah, those are all great tips. Make sure you have lots of business cards. Uh wear comfortable shoes, as you mentioned, drink lots of water. Um, and you know, when you said turn the badge around backwards, I'm notorious for doing that at the Bixie show. I turn around backwards all the time. And and because, you know, just I don't know. I just I just do it. I'm I'm not sure why I do it. But I never thought about the fake email address though. That's pretty cool. That's a cool idea. Any any final parting thoughts about Infocom or or what you might want to say to attract the the wire monkeys like me to come to the show?

SPEAKER_01 37:11

Well, it's Vegas in June, so you know, uh, it's gonna be hot. I actually had my shoes melt, uh, one Infocom. Uh literally, I still have the pair of shoes. They're upstairs here, but uh I had I had a pair of shoes melt. Um, so you know it's it's it just be prepared for super hot weather. And uh, but it'll it'll be fun. It's air conditioned, you know, it'll be good. But uh it'll be a fun show. Vegas is always fun, and um, you know, safe travels for those who get out there. Try and go the last two days if you can, avoid the first day. And um, yeah, I think it'll be a learning, it'll be a learning experience. You don't gotta go, you don't have to go every year, but uh it will it would be back out.

Final Vegas Tips And Wrap

SPEAKER_04 37:50

Bob, thank you for coming on. I appreciate the information that you gave us about Infocom. And I hope some of my people follow my show, stop by and say hi to you guys at the booth. Yeah, come by booth C5034. Till next time, everybody. Remember, knowledge is power.