With over 26 years of experience working with Internet Videocommunications, Wayne has invaluable knowledge of the industry and how it's changed. Here he takes us through what he sees as the next big things in the industry and offers some pearls of wisdom from his dojo.
How long have you been working for Internet Videocommunications and what do you do?
I have been working for Internet Videocommunications for nearly 26 years.
I started my career as an Installation Engineer, honing my wiring, termination and rack building skills in the workshop and also installations at clients sites. After a few years of installations I moved into the Technical Support Department, providing remote and onsite support for many of our clients both in Europe and further afield in the U.S, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Africa and many other locations.
After several years in the Tech Support Department I looked for a new challenge and Project Management seemed a good fit for me as I had a little experience in the construction industry coupled with some room design and engineering, I felt I could communicate to all the various trades from, I.T, Mechanical & Electrical to the Construction team and at a reasonable level to ensure all elements of the project came together to accommodate the AV and / or Videoconferencing Integration.
From Project Management I moved forward to Managing the AV Department for a couple of years and was again involved in all aspects of the delivery and implementation and more AV system design.
My current position is as an Audiovisual and Communications Consultant in a more Sales orientated role, providing existing and new clients with new AV & Videoconferencing solutions for their existing or new facilities and also trying to ensure that whatever their budget Internet Videocommunications provides the best solution to ensure it accommodates their needs both now and for some time in the future.
What’s your favourite thing about working for Internet Videocommunications?
Working with the wealth of knowledge and experience within the company and still being able to continue to learn from everyone in order to progress.
The opportunity to be involved at the early stages of a client’s conceptual ideas and providing guidance and advice, to delivering a final solution that hits their brief and business case, gives great satisfaction.
What do you see as being the next big thing in the industry?
Hard to say really but perhaps more voice activated functionality and automation within corporate facilities providing ease of use, without staff having necessarily to be trained to use AV & VC within their facilities (obviously security would need to be factored in) but just entering a Boardroom and saying: ‘Screens On, dial Amsterdam Office & unmute microphone’ to start their meeting, may be a way.
I’m thinking holographic /3D images would be a great feature which has not really seemed to develop much…sort of a ‘Minority Report’ type scenario and control to view 3D content!
As I said it’s hard to predict as some say we have nearly hit the AV ceiling and there is not many great strides to be made apart from even higher video resolutions so I think whoever cracks 3D properly for content sharing between devices and also for possible virtual reality walk-through, may be on the right track….but that’s only my opinion!
When you are not working what do you like to do?
I’m always working!!
Generally I try to keep fit and am still boxing a little bit (training rather than sparring these days!), as I think my kickboxing days are probably over, due to stiff joints and lack of flexibility.
I am currently building a sort of man cave / training Dojo in my garage as I like to practice a little with weapons (Long sword, Bo-Staff etc.) as it keeps the mind focussed and sharp and it’s easy to slash an arm or leg with a sword if concentrating too much on the 14:15 at Kempton!
My eldest boy is heavily into his Kung Fu training in Manchester so we sometimes train together or try to take lumps out of each other…I’m the one that sometimes has to take a knee now….old age is a cruel reminder!
Other than that, a little bit of property development, socialising with friends and just a little responsible gambling!
What talent do you wish you had?
The ability to read minds, as it would help in my job!
Seriously though I would really like to be multilingual. I was studying a little Spanish and French (the language not the women, I’m not a stalker or anything) and I found I was picking it up pretty well but as often with these disciplines if you don’t practice you’re back to square one but am always in awe of people who can communicate well internationally and I will keep plugging away.
Name three famous people you would like to have dinner with and why?
Judas Iscariot – to ask him if it was really worth it? No-one will call their son Judas since that day!
Bob Marley – I went to see his house whilst in Jamaica and I would have really liked to find out where the inspiration came from and who guided his talent to create such timeless and moving music.
Lord Mayor Marvin Rees – to tell him to stop messing around with sorting the Bristol Arena as we’ve all been waiting for it for ages and it’s a disgrace that a city the size of Bristol has no sports or concert Arena and it has been backwards and forwards for 10 years! And most Bristol people are fed up (and a little jealous) of having to go to Cardiff every time to see any of the top events! (Yes it’s a bone of contention for me).
What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?
So many but probably the two are:
