For our August Xchange Community Spotlight, we're featuring @David Allara, Managing Director of konnectus. He initially became interested in the audiovisual world when he briefly lived in New York and noticed the growing trend of digital signage.

“I was living in New York for five years, in a completely different industry,” began David. “But I had been seeing an uptick in digital signs around the place. I thought that could be an interesting business to get into because I'd seen all that activity.”

Once he moved back to his home country of Australia in 2006, he applied and was hired for his first job within the AV industry, working with signage. But Sydney, Australia, was a long way behind New York in terms of where digital signage was at during that time, so he quickly realized that he would have to pivot. However, since he enjoyed the industry so much, he worked to gain more AV experience. After expanding his knowledge, he decided to take a massive leap in his career.

He co-founded konnectus, a business that has helped corporate, government, and education sector leaders implement AV technology solutions to facilitate high-performance outcomes for their staff and customers. Since its launch, the konnectus team has delivered audio and video systems to more than 1,500 spaces. And throughout his AV industry journey, David has gained plenty of exposure to what works and what doesn’t.

“When we're working with a customer, it's not just about the technology, or just about the user experience, and not even just about the support,” he said. “You need to have all three things considered so that you can get to the center of what customers are always looking for – their optimized and balanced AV solutions. When it comes to the technology and support side of things, we want to have a proactive approach rather than a reactive approach. But it always starts with the user experience. So, we start with the people – the people that are in the business, the staff, and how they're going to be using the systems.”

David often utilizes AVIXA’s Xchange to connect with others globally. He writes informative articles that you can find on his profile and likes to keep his finger on the pulse using sites such as Xchange.

“In the AV industry, I've got lots of contacts and connections in Australia but when it comes to the international landscape, I don't have that many. [On Xchange, there] is an opportunity to hear from people, see what they have to say, learn from people, connect with people. Even just the headlines can be enough sometimes to get a good feel for what's new, what's happening,” expressed David.

Thank you @David Allara! Check out previous spotlights by clicking on the badge labeled Community Spotlight. And remember to follow the Xchange Community Spotlight page as we post monthly spotlights!