If you work in the Audio Visual line — or even breathe near a screen, mic, or cable — you’ve lived these moments. 

This isn’t a how-to guide. It’s a painfully accurate comic strip of daily AV life I imagined with AI. These are all moments I’ve seen — and sometimes faced — whether as an integrator, consultant or end-user. It’s about as real as it gets.

Whether you work in AV, support it, or just try to use it without breaking anything — these 10 scenes will feel familiar.

Ready? How many of these have happened to you? Scroll and find out.

1. Digital Signage - If You’re Still Using USB Sticks… We Need to Talk.

The horror when I find out that my client need to update 500 digital displays in the building using USB pen drive, on a daily basis. Time to move on to a centralized Content Management System!

2. AV Retrofit -  Site Survey, Where do I start?

You did not order pasta for lunch but was served up a messy plate of "cable spaghetti".  In some parts of Asia, we call it fried bee hoon (炒米粉) — equally tangled, just less delicious.

Proper cable management is a skill. Value your integrators who do it well. 

3. Corporate AV - Less is more

The overzealous end user who wants every possible function on the touch panel — until it looks like the cockpit of an A350. User-friendly should be the priority — advanced controls can live behind a password wall called “For AV Wizards Only.”

4. Corporate AV - "You need to whitelist all your IP addresses"

When was the last time you had to convince the IT department that AV gear deserves to sit in the same room, rack, or network switch as their precious servers?

Today, with audio, video, control, lighting all converging on IT network, the battle is fiercer than ever!  

5. Corporate AV - Retrofitting Like It’s 2000 (Backstreets Back, Alright?)

I’ve faced this in integration and heard it again in consultancy — retrofitting old systems can be more painful than starting fresh. Sometimes, it’s just time to let go and move forward. 

6. Broadcast AV Production -  “Perfect Event, Interrupted by Windows”

Sound, Camera, Action. You rehearsed for hours. Every cue was perfect.
Then Windows decided it was the star of the show. That critical moment, captured in ultra-cringe HD.

7. Corporate AV - Welcome to Meeting Room 7: Let the Games Begin.

Both teams arrived with Outlook invites, confident and prepared. Neither realized they were walking into a high-stakes scheduling showdown.

Welcome to Meeting Room 7. Let the 🦑 games begin.

8. Acoustics/ AV/ Architecture: Built to Impress. Sounds Like a Mess.

Invisible speakers and glass walls might look stunning, but sound has nowhere to go — and everywhere to bounce. Great experiences aren’t just seen — they’re heard, clearly and comfortably.

9. AV/IT: Network Bottleneck Brought to You by a Misconfigured VLAN.

Everything looked fine — until video stuttered, audio dropped, and the whole system crawled.
Turns out, AV was stuck in the same lane as everything else… and the network wasn’t having it.

In AV over IP, the right switch and proper configuration make all the difference.
Get it wrong, and expect bottlenecks, glitches, and angry users.

10. Live Events/ Corporate AV: Mic Wars: The Signal Strikes Back

Too many mics. Not enough clean channels.
The battle for clear audio has begun — and not everyone will be heard.

In crowded RF environments, planning your wireless channels isn’t optional — it’s survival.

I hope you enjoy this lighthearted take, inspired by real experiences I've had in the AV world. What's your score? Leave it in the comments below.

Score Card:

• [ 1 to 3 ] Rookie Zone: Fresh. Optimistic. About to learn the hard way.

• [ 4-7 ] CTS-Ready: You've wrangled cables, dodged feedback, and earned your stripes.

• [ 8-10 ] AV Legend: You are the manual. You don’t panic — you power cycle.

  *Note: All visuals and concepts in this post were conceptualized and creatively directed by me with generative AI. If you’d like to share or repost any images or content, I’d appreciate a tag or credit. Thank you.