AV SuperFriends: On Topic - Chargeback Nation
AV SuperFriends
Recorded May 1, 2026 In this episode, the crew tackles the cursed middle ground of campus AV: spaces that are technically classrooms, sort of event venues, occasionally multipurpose rooms, and absolutely someone else’s problem until the microphone dies five minutes before the dean walks in. The discussion starts with classrooms hiding inside dorms, performance venues moonlighting as lecture halls, performing arts spaces being asked to behave like standard teaching rooms, and the eternal mystery of “who exactly is moving the lectern back?” From there, the panel wanders into the even...
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AV SuperFriends: Off the Rails Episode 137 - Markdown APIs
AV SuperFriends
Recorded May 8, 2026 This week on Off the Rails, the gang celebrates finals week the only way higher ed AV/IT knows how: by watching a major cloud platform wobble and quietly whispering sweet nothings to the on-prem rack. The Instructure Canvas mess kicks off a discussion about cloud dependency, LMS integrations, sketchy APIs, cyber insurance, and the comforting lie that “hosted” means “not our problem.” Then it’s on to upcoming NWMET and InfoComm sessions about building local AI tools for AV design, documentation, math, and workflows… because sometimes the best cloud strategy is...
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AV SuperFriends: On Topic - Why are you doing speechlift from the can?
AV SuperFriends
Recorded April 17, 2026 In this episode, the crew turns a simple question about classroom speakers into a full-blown AV theology fight. Should small classrooms use ceiling speakers, front-wall point-source speakers, voice lift, program audio, or whatever happens to be lying around in the warehouse? Naturally, the answer is “it depends,” followed immediately by 35 minutes of everyone insisting their version of “depends” is the only sane one. The discussion gets into the real-world mess of higher ed classroom audio: even coverage, voice lift thresholds, ceiling lay-in speakers...
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AV SuperFriends: Off the Rails Episode 136: It’s IT with cameras…
AV SuperFriends
Recorded May 24, 2026 This week, the AV SuperFriends rummage through the NAB grab bag without actually attending NAB, because nothing says “industry analysis” like judging announcements from press releases and email blasts. But first, the crew starts with Marc’s field report from Biamp’s 50th anniversary event, including factory tours, anechoic chamber weirdness, voice lift demos, ClearOne gear being reborn in Biamp boxes, and the very real threat of an electric Hummer rental becoming a police chase subplot. Then it’s on to the blurred lines between production AV and presentation AV:...
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AVSF Perspectives - ETC AETM SCHOMS Global Higher Ed AV Tech Day 2026
AV SuperFriends
Recorded April 17, 2026 AV SuperFriends goes global! In this quick episode, the gang chats with Darryl Krall about the new Global Higher Education AV Technology Day, a joint event uniting ETC, AETM, and SCHOMS for a worldwide day of higher ed AV conversation. There is talk of presenters, time zones, sessions, time zones, topics, time zones, and the hope that this turns into a long-running annual tradition, plus the usual AVSF nonsense about naps, calendars, and making the whole thing just a little worse in the best possible way. Also, time zones. Join the event on April 29: Join your...
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AV SuperFriends: Off the Rails - I don't vacuum my carpet
AV SuperFriends
Recorded April 10, 2026 In this episode, the goon squad takes a swing at the AI gold rush, the made-up drama of “AV-over-IP 2.0,” and the growing industry tradition of rebranding the same old nonsense with shinier buzzwords. If you’ve ever wondered whether cloud creep, interoperability promises, and subscription pricing are solving real problems or just creating newer, dumber ones, this one’s for you. Then the panel gets into one of higher ed AV’s favorite recurring fights: why everyone thinks classroom tech should cost about $600, why “just throw a TV on the wall” is never the...
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AV SuperFriends: On Topic - It's functioning but not fully functional
AV SuperFriends
Recorded March 13, 2026 This episode of On Topic tackles “Spring cleaning” by focusing less on tidy closets and more on the grime higher ed AV teams create for themselves. The panel trades stories about delayed refreshes, inherited programming messes, legacy systems that refuse to die, rushed project deadlines, and the temporary fixes that somehow become permanent. Before you get clean, revel in the filth… It’s a funny, brutally honest look at technical debt, bad design choices, and the institutional rot that keeps old problems hanging around far longer than they should. If your campus...
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AV SuperFriends: Off the Rails - AV Network Security (There's no such thing as an island)
AV SuperFriends
Recorded March 20, 2026 In this episode, the panel tackles one of the most overdue conversations in higher ed: AV network security. The regular panel is joined by the founding members of AV Trust, Doug Schaefer, Colin Birney, and Frank Padikkala. The news segment focuses on cybersecurity education pipelines, exploring how earlier hands-on exposure and employer partnerships could help build a more prepared workforce for technical fields. The main segment discusses the newly launched AV Trust initiative and the broader challenge of securing AV systems that increasingly live on shared...
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AV SuperFriends: Off the Rails - BDubs Active Learning Room
AV SuperFriends
Recorded March 6, 2026 In this episode of Off the Rails, the panel opens with a conversation about AV Trust and what it means for cybersecurity, standards, and the growing expectation that AV systems have to be treated like serious networked technology, not mysterious boxes that somehow get a pass. Join us on March 20 when we’ll have the whole team from AV Trust on the show to talk network security. From there, the crew turns to a much deeper discussion on design drawings and schematics. Where different designers start, how they think through a system, what belongs on a drawing, and how...
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AV SuperFriends: Off the Rails - I'm the only Eric
AV SuperFriends
Recorded February 20, 2026 The panel this week is full of guest voices. The news segment examines AI-driven collaboration tools, particularly automatic recordings and transcripts, and the governance risks they introduce. The focus isn’t hype, but ownership, confidentiality, consent, and what happens when institutional policy lags behind platform features. Then the panel explores storytelling as a leadership skill. The discussion centers on intentional framing, timing, and how AV professionals can better communicate impact to stakeholders beyond technical specifications. The final...
info_outlineRecorded February 13, 2026
It’s March (yes, March– deal with it), the AV SuperFriends gather to lay down the law… higher ed AV law, that is. This month’s On Topic tackles the Top Ten Commandments of AV: the rules you should follow, the ones you sometimes break, and the ones you pretend you’ve always believed in.
From protecting audio at all costs and designing for serviceability, to avoiding 4K hype, over-automation, USB abuse, and unlabeled cables, the panel debates what actually matters when building and supporting campus systems. It’s a fast-moving mix of standards, safety factors, lifecycle thinking, and a healthy dose of “why are we still doing this?”
Opinionated, practical, and just irreverent enough, consider this your stone tablet for smarter AV design… subject to revision next month, that is.
Alternate show titles:
- Sometimes you find yourself walking around thinking a lot
- Today’s commandments are…
- Do you want to disservice half the room?
- How do you get away with that?
- Is that in your scope to check?
- The university as a whole…
- Yes, if you’re touching the wall
We stream live every Friday at about 315p Eastern/1215p Pacific and you can listen to everything we record over at AVSuperFriends.com
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