AVIXA has elected Visual Displays founder Greg Jeffreys as the new chair for its Standards Steering Committee, which advises the main board on issues relating to industry standards.
The Committee will provide recommendations for standards development within the context of AVIXA’s strategic plan, and approve completed standards before they are sent for American National Standards Institute (ANSI) ratification and subsequent publication.
As one of the committee’s founder members, Jeffreys had written the previously published projection best practice paper, in conjunction with international consultants, experts and dnp’s R&D team in Denmark. He subsequently served in leadership roles at InfoComm before becoming president in 2012, while continuing to lead the DISCAS (image size) standard group and undertaking other standards writing activities.
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Jeffreys commented: “When our first standards were published, we innocently assumed a grateful AV world would beat a path to our door and adopt them enthusiastically. The reality sadly did not match the expectation. At this point the InfoComm/AVIXA leadership stepped in. After producing articles, seminars and creating CTS courses I’m pleased to say the tide has turned and we’re now in a mature phase whereby impactful developments will affect the entire AV ecosystem.”
The overhauled 2020 Standards Committee was scheduled to meet at AVIXA’s Virginia HQ, but is now planning a series of Zoom-based working sessions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, beginning in June, where strategy and other discussions will take place.
The pandemic has also prompted Jeffreys to write and develop webinars based on AVIXA and related building and environmental standards. The programme starts with a series of five webinars for university technology managers in the LTSMG (Learning and Teaching Space Management Group – https://ltsmg.co.uk/). Subjects range from space design to space auditing – all with the common thread of using relevant standards. They will take place each morning from May 18 and webinars for the wider AV community start from May 25 (https://visualdisplaysltd.com/resources/webinars).
Jeffreys noted that as a result of social distancing requirements, his presentations have undergone a fundamental reassessment of what the built environment will need to offer occupants, suggesting that user wellbeing and smart buildings will be prioritised in future projects. Existing building, environmental and wellbeing standards have performance metrics that can link to AVIXA’s AV standards.
He concluded: “I believe this can signal positive outcomes for future users of AV. I also believe that the AV industry will play a leading role with these changes. I’m proud to see the AVIXA leadership step up to the plate in these critical times. My ambition is for my work within the standards movement to play a positive role in developing the status of our AV profession.”
