Episode 44.5

Speaker 0 00:00:00 Welcome back to the Get Ready podcast. And there he is, my friend on the other end. Mr. Joe m how you doing, sir? Great to see you. Hope you're well today. Good, Speaker 2 00:00:29 Good. Happy Thursday. Happy Speaker 0 00:00:32 Thursday is right, but it may not be Thursday for people that are listening, so we can't forget that. Okay. Speaker 2 00:00:36 Well, happy whatever day that ends. And why to you, <laugh>? Speaker 0 00:00:43 Absolutely. It's the best day for the best show at this time, for the next 30 or so minutes. This Speaker 2 00:00:50 For this time slot in this market, <laugh>. Speaker 0 00:00:53 That's right. You're working feverishly away at drawings today. Lots happening. Are you, uh, are you feeling the feeling the crunch at the, at the beginning of the year? Speaker 2 00:01:06 Uh, yeah. Things, things are really Phones ringing, lots of things going on. Uh, tour stuff's coming up, and, uh, as things kind of start to land in place, I can, I can plan and plot the rest of my year, but yeah, it's, uh, it's busy. Busy's good. That's good. Speaker 0 00:01:26 I, I wish I could plan and plot the, my entire year. That would be amazing. <laugh>. Speaker 2 00:01:31 I, I don't, I mean, it's usually a guideline, right? You just lay the tracks and you hope you didn't go into a ravine <laugh>. Yeah, Speaker 0 00:01:39 I, I do understand that problem completely. Speaker 2 00:01:43 Um, yeah. But at this point, we just kind of, uh, after 2020, I think we just take what's directly in front of us and attack that, and that's about all you can do. Yep. To, uh, to keep yourself sane. Speaker 0 00:01:57 Yep. Well, and, and it seems to me, I mean, my experience over the last 12 months has been that that's essentially how the clients have taken it on too, is whatever's right in front of me. And, you know, two weeks before a show, we're getting emails and phone calls about, oh, hey, can we do a, you know, an eight wide projection blend and it needs to be all 30 Ks because it's 190 feet wide and so on. And I, and, and I look at this and I'm thinking, wait, didn't, didn't we know that this was happening a month ago? I mean, I'd really have loved a call even, you know, two weeks before now to make it happen. Speaker 2 00:02:33 Yeah, yeah. I get, I, I've, I've on several occasions been ha in the, the receiving end of that conversation. Like, like, okay, you clearly knew this was happening. You could have at least just given me like a little whisper list, you know, Hey, there's an iron in the fire, it might come out hot. You better be ready, <laugh>. Yeah. You know, um, well, Speaker 0 00:02:56 E e exactly. And with the way that labor has been, um, I mean, getting labor less than two weeks out has been every single quote that I do for customers right now, I put travel for, for almost every position, because even in, or even in Orlando, I, I can't, I can't guarantee that we're gonna be able to find the right qualified guy locally. Um, wow. Speaker 2 00:03:19 Yeah. Speaker 0 00:03:20 It's just because everybody's booked. I mean, all of the best guys. Yeah. They're booked months out. I mean, I emailed one of my, uh, one of my preferred technicians a couple weeks ago for something in April, and he was like, bro, I'm sorry, I'm booked all the way through May and into June. Yeah. And it was just, well, Speaker 2 00:03:41 I think that's a result of last year. You know, like I said, last year, may, may was everybody turned on the faucet. Yeah. <laugh>. And there was no water pressure left, you know, so, so I think we're, we're, we're now seeing that trend where you can't, you can't take a gig, uh, with less than, than a couple weeks out, you know, four weeks out is kind of the, the zero barrier where you have to say, I can do this thing, or I cannot do this thing. Um, so what do you want to do <laugh>? Speaker 0 00:04:16 Well, and I, and I had a, we had a, uh, my general manager in, in Denver had a conversation with a customer just last night about this exact thing where schedule kept changing and changing and changing. And we got to a point where I just had to look at them and say, dude, I can't promise you that this isn't gonna be an absolute train wreck at this point, because, you know, you've moved general session load in from Tuesday morning at 8:00 AM to Tuesday night at 9:00 PM and mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you know, we're talking 40 guys and we're talking huge l e d walls, and we're talking all kinds of builds and everything else. And, um, you know, we're, we're working really hard to make sure that we can get every single person that we need for this job, but we're so close, and Denver is such a, such a unique labor market that Yeah, you know, two weeks out is really tough. Um, and, and having to have that conversation with, with customers saying, guys, you know, I, I, I want to make sure that you were 100% successful, but we need to do it in a way where I'm not the guy who ends up taking the fall for some sort of failure that happens here, um, when we could have been well ahead of this and we could have made good solid sound decisions well in advance. Speaker 2 00:05:32 Um, yeah. So, and I, I, I think that that's also, that's always been an issue, uh, especially in, in kind of the corporate world, um, because budgets are such that they can't always, they can't always contact you, uh, too far in advance. Yeah. Until the, until the PO is cut, right? Like, oh, we need to know how much it's gonna be, da, da, da, da. And it's gotta go through all the channels and all the process. Um, and sometimes it's just never there until your hair's on fire and it's like last minute. Um, but, um, based on, on, you know, trends and how, how, like you said, labor, um, I'm finding equipment an issue, trying to find equipment at the last minute is really hard, especially if it's something, you know, really specific. Um, you know, if you're looking for a, a sure 58 mic and a L E D package, I'm pretty sure you could find that pretty quick anywhere. But if you need, if you need something that's, that's, um, more specific to, uh, uh, an activation or an artist or a whatever, um, and you don't have, you haven't put in that, that request, uh, a couple months in advance, you're not gonna find it. Speaker 0 00:06:53 Understood. What, uh, speaking of all that, um, you know, I wanted to talk a bunch about trends today. Um, you know, we came out of a two and a half year freeze, uh, if you will. Um, you know, where everything kind of froze up. Manufacturers weren't, necess weren't really making new products, they weren't right. Weren't looking at tons of, of new gear rolling off the line. Many product trees were maintained and, you know, different launches were extended out a little bit. Um, what are you seeing over the last eight months or so, trends that are developing? I mean, for you specifically lighting, I know is, is your forte, but what are people, what are they picking? What are they choosing? Are they, are they sticking with the same stuff they've been doing? Or are they looking to, uh, make changes to some new product that's being released? I've noticed a lot of new lighting fixtures that have hit the market in the last six months. Speaker 2 00:07:55 So yeah, I think, I think L d I was, uh, this year's l d I was very strong. Um, I know a lot of, a lot of, um, rental houses picked up a lot of gear. Um, and, uh, I think, I think that's good. I mean, I think the availability of more, um, updated equipment, um, you know, low, low power, uh, high efficiency, um, all the bells and whistles, anything you can do to, to make our jobs easier is obviously gonna make, make everything smoother for the client's end product. Um, but, um, uh, but of course, everybody always wants the latest and greatest and the Yep. Uh, and <laugh> it, it's, it's pecking order and who's, who's got the longer gig. And, uh, you know, when you're, when you're the weekend warrior or the week long show kind of, uh, stuff, you, you kind of fall, fall to the bottom of the list versus the 12 month tour, you know? True. Speaker 0 00:09:00 Yeah. I have some, I have some friends that deal with that, uh, here in Orlando on a regular basis because the, you know, they, they work with companies that do prioritize those tours versus the, uh, versus the, the one-offs that certainly take up a lot more time and energy and effort than, uh, you know, sending out a 12, 14 week tour and just, Hey, see you guys, we'll talk to you in, you know, in three months when you get back. Yeah. So, um, what are some of the, what are some of the, the fixtures that you're seeing changing or new or emerging that people say, Ooh, this is something we really want? Speaker 2 00:09:36 Um, you know, IP 65 is, has become kind of the, the thing that, that everybody wants because, you know, you don't have to worry about bag and fixtures if it's raining or, you know, you can go indoors outdoors. Um, a lot of times they're just really bulletproof, um, as well because of the IP 65 rating, keeping the water out. Um, and, uh, and especially up here in Pacific Northwest, you know, Seattle and Portland, anywhere, it's raining, uh, all of California this year. Um, <laugh> has been, has been just saturated. Um, and as we get more extreme weather, you know, hurricanes and, um, flooding and all that stuff, you know, IP 65 is kind of the way, the way, uh, we all need to be going. Um, and so, but the availability is great. Uh, you know, all the big players, four walls, the PRGs, the, um, they, they are all carrying, uh, a large quantity of, of IP 65 rated stuff. So that trend has always, um, has been, been good for me, um, up here in, in a wet, in a wet climate. Um, but it's getting easier and easier to find stuff. You know, you can call Vegas the driest place on the planet and still get an IP 65 rated fixture. Yeah. Um, out of a creator out of CTS shop or, or a floor wall or something like that. So Speaker 0 00:11:12 Yeah. Interesting. IP 65, well, that was not on my radar in any way, shape or form, so <laugh>, I appreciate that. Good to know. Um, well, I mean, Speaker 2 00:11:21 Isn't there, I mean, there's IP 65 rated video wall stuff, right? Speaker 0 00:11:24 True. No, there is things you can Exactly. I mean, if I were to buy a 3.9 mil product these days, I would not waste money on anything other than an IP 65 rated product because it's, it's way more versatile. Um, yeah. I just, I spend 95% of my time indoors. I, I like the carpet and the air conditioning. So, um, you know, we're looking at, you know, for us it's like 2.6 mil is the new, is the new 2.9. Um, everybody's asking, everybody wants 2.6 now, 2.6, 2.6, 2.6. Um, yeah, it is, it is constant Now, uh, you know, we have 600 panels of 2.6 that's arriving in two months, and I'm excited to have it and, and upgrade a bunch of our stock, um, and, and deploy it in, in ways that make sense for our customers. Um, we've certainly seen people with some unique designs come out. Uh, we're doing, we're doing more curves. I definitely have had more curved l e D in the last six to eight months. Lots of people wanting curves. Um, Speaker 2 00:12:26 I've done three in the last year. Yeah, yeah. Speaker 0 00:12:28 Softer, softer videos, softer edges. Yep. Exactly. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, more and more ground support as rigging and things have become, um, have become more prevalent in cost wise, have become higher in hotels. I mean, I think 90% of the l e d that we did last year was ground support. Almost every single show. I don't, I can't think of more than one, maybe two shows where, you know, we hung, I hung an l e d wall in an arena in March of last year, and I think I hung one l e d wall in a hotel because I could, you know, it was a small 16 by nine wall. And, and that was it. Everything else was ground support. Um, and so learning to build ground support in a way that's fast and efficient and um, doesn't eat up a ton of time, cuz it is a time suck when it comes to building on the ground and building in such a way that, um, you know, can take up, can take up a lot of time moving panels, even though they, their lightweight takes time. Speaker 2 00:13:30 If you have your druthers, would you, would you prefer a hanging system versus a, a ground support? Speaker 0 00:13:35 Absolutely. Hanging flies flying is way faster. Um, you know, when I'm bringing panels in, you know, you're bringing panels up underneath in click one, two, locked in, locked the sides in, and you're done. Whereas, you know, when you get past head level, you're now dealing with ladders, you're dealing with, you know, the, the challenge of getting it up there. So you're now fighting gravity, whereas motors, motors help fight gravity, uh, very well. Um, yeah. You know, getting up high people, you know, going higher and higher. I mean, ground supporting 16 foot, 17 foot high l e d walls, I mean, it, it mm-hmm. <affirmative> it gets up there and, you know, we're not afraid to do it. But in the same token, you have to, you have to plan and be prepared, um, and not want to ship, you know, 5,000 pounds of dirt around the country on a regular basis. Yeah. You know, finding local, local sources for sandbags or counterweight or, um, you know, different, different things like Speaker 2 00:14:37 That. Well, you don't like trucking, you don't like trucking sand all the way across the country. Speaker 0 00:14:42 <laugh>. I, I don't, no. Um, you know, we, we actually bought and filled about 80 sandbags last week. We had, we had, everybody in the shop was out filling sandbags last week, <laugh>, because we were, we were short, we had two different jobs going out and we were, we were about, you know, 75, uh, bags short, but, uh, we got 'em out. And, uh, I actually use, instead of sand, I use Pebblestone for our sandbags, um mm-hmm. <affirmative>, because Pebblestone doesn't create such a mess when if, if a bag rips or it's, you know, pu pulled apart somehow it doesn't create the mess that sand does. Speaker 2 00:15:21 We did, we did something, um, interesting on a gig this year or last year, um, that I thought was brilliant. Um, uh, the company brought their l e d wall and it was a curved wall and, um, they had sandbags, uh, to go right on the, the uprights, but they also used and strapped, um, road cases full of water bottles. Huh. Like, they knew, they knew that they were gonna spend x amount of dollars in a year, cuz this was in Atlanta, so it's hot there, that they were gonna spend X amount of dollars on water for their crews. So they just have this stock that they keep in the shop and they fill, they put water bottles in the, in the road case and they take it to the gig site and then they, they used it to ballast the video wall. And I thought, that's brilliant cuz you know you're gonna use it. Yeah. And eventually the water bottles will be gone and you just have to re restock your water. But I thought that is just very, very smart. Well, I thought that was a big use of, Speaker 0 00:16:25 Of that. And it makes sense because I mean, geeze, you go to Costco or Sam's Club or BJ's or whatever, and the cost of a new, of, of a sandbag is the same cost as a, as a, you know, case of water. A Speaker 2 00:16:39 Bottle of water is cheaper. You Speaker 0 00:16:40 Sometimes it is Speaker 2 00:16:42 A, a sandbags 25 pounds and it costs you, you know, a couple 10 bucks to buy, you could probably buy 25 pounds in water easily <laugh>. Speaker 0 00:16:52 True. Well, and then Speaker 2 00:16:53 Just, you're not taking up a Speaker 0 00:16:55 Road kit. I'm talking about the empty sandbag. So the empty bag before it's filled. Right. And before there's labor put into it, the physical thing is, you know, four to $5 a piece. So now, there you go. Now that of course doesn't take into, you know, the, the couple, you know, the $2 worth of stone three, you know, $3 a stone and then the labor. And so I mean, it's probably costing Yeah. You know, 12 to $15 per bag to, to fill them and, and build them. Sure. Um, but, you know, then I do have them forever. However, you're right. If I ever needed something in a pinch, you know, bunch of road cases, you know, drop a bunch of go to go grab a pallet of water, roll it in the back door and just start piling up cases of water. That's very cool. I like that. Um, Speaker 2 00:17:41 Yeah, Speaker 0 00:17:41 I'm actually was working on a quote today or yesterday for a big l e d wall outdoors that was gonna need like 40,000 pounds of ballast. And so, um, Speaker 2 00:17:52 Well just don't, just don't like, you know, fill it with water bottles and then your crew starts taking it <laugh> and suddenly your wall falls over <laugh>. Speaker 0 00:18:00 No, this, this would be, this would be more, more to the tune of the big, the big huge water troughs that get filled at the base, the scaffold towers and stuff like that. The Speaker 2 00:18:09 Cubes. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Speaker 0 00:18:11 <laugh>. But that's a very cool, I like that idea. I mean, I've done, I've gone out to like Lowe's and bought, you know, 1800, 1900 pounds of sand tubes of sand before and just loaded them up and filled up the back of the S U V and tr you know, rolled right up into, it was actually in downtown San Francisco when I had to do that. Uh, we were at the, um, the Weston right there and pulled the s u v right up to the side and just started unloading like 50 tubes of sand or 60 tubes of sand into the ballroom <laugh>. Um, and uh, it, it was, I mean, it did the job, it, it worked, but it was a, uh, it was, it was certainly time consuming to just go and get it, buy it, bring it, move it, et cetera. Speaker 2 00:18:56 What's the, what's the silliest request you've ever had from a client? I know, I'm just completely changing gears. What, what's fine and, and I only, I only say this because one of the silliest requests I ever had was like, Hey, we need, um, I think it was like 200 sandbags. It's 25 pounds a piece. Yep. We're doing this show in Scottsdale, Arizona, mind you, and it's coming from Portland. So 200 sandbags being driven all the way to Scottsdale. And I thought 200 sandbags being Dr. Driven to the desert of Portland <laugh> doesn't make any sense to me. And then, and it was just a, a a a cover your ass kind of thing. And we never even cracked the case. Speaker 0 00:19:43 Oh Speaker 2 00:19:43 Gosh. So that was, that was kind of like the most ridiculous thing that I could think of that was like, why, why are we doing this? You could get sandbags for like a buck a piece from any rental house down there. Like Yeah. Why are we trucking sand in the desert? Speaker 0 00:20:00 I, you know what? I can't man. I'm not in the thick of it at the moment, so I can't really think of some unusual weird, I I know I've gotten 'em, you know, you get that email and you look at it and you read it three times and asking yourself, are they really asking for whatever that thing is? Um, yeah, Speaker 2 00:20:22 Please confirm Speaker 0 00:20:24 <laugh>. Yeah. I can't, I can't think offhand right now. What, um, what what something weird is. Um, I mean there's always the prank. All right, Speaker 2 00:20:33 Well then I'll get us, I'll get us back on track then. So, so from a video standpoint, cuz I've been, I've been doing a lot more, um, full production design where, uh, the client isn't necessarily like a, a marketing client who doesn't necessarily have a technical staff and they're asking me to, to do the lighting design, but they're als I'm also drafting the video projection, the video wall, you know, all that stuff. Inclusive of everything. Are you seeing a trend in video that, uh, l e d tiles and video walls are becoming more prevalent than projection? Speaker 0 00:21:20 Um, I just had this conversation with a good friend of mine, not more than like two weeks ago. Um, I think it depends on the company because for us we are a very deep projection house and mm-hmm. <affirmative> for big wide blends, um, they are still more cost effective than a, um, than l e d. So if I'm, so for instance, we're putting, we're, we're doing a show at the fountain blue at the end of next week where we're doing two, uh, two, two wide blends that are 12 tall by 36 hi, 36 wide. And that's eight projectors. So that's four, yeah. Four double stacks. And it is significantly less expensive for me to do those blends even with labor and setup and everything than it is to try and build two l e d walls that are 36 wide by 12 high five feet off the ground in a ballroom, um, you know, in, in the fountain blue in Miami. Speaker 0 00:22:30 So mm-hmm. <affirmative> blends anything, you know, 45 by 15, um, you know, different screen sizes that are not your standard 16 by nine, um, projection definitely has its place, um, in hotel ballrooms, you know, projection for your standard, you know, 16 by nine general session screen where you're doing two screens on, on the sides with some sort of backdrop logo in the middle, you know, special, uh, whatever saying whether it's signage or something for your event, plus some DSMs and such, you know, projections still reign supreme in that area. I don't, I don't believe that l e D will ever get so cheap that it will make more sense financially to replace that sort of an event with l e d. Now, what is becoming significantly more prevalent for L E D is staging backdrops, um, lots of totems, you know, lots of, uh, lots of, yeah. Speaker 0 00:23:33 You know, different positioned l e d for towers and things like that. Um, anything upstage of lighting for the most part, uh, is all l e d unless you, unless the big expansive projection screen. Um, we did a big, we did a huge 180 foot wide blend, uh, two weeks ago and it was pretty low to the ground, so it did end up behind the speaker. Um, and because it was so big, I mean, it would've cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to do the l e d and it, it costs less than a hundred grand to do, you know, the screen and the projectors and, and you know, the physical equipment. Not to mention the setup time for a wall that's 180 feet wide that's ground supported would take, you know, it'd take at least two days to, to, to, you know, two 10 hour days cuz you're talking, you know, 1500 panels ground supported at 15 feet high. Speaker 0 00:24:31 So yeah. You know, it's gonna take quite a lot of time to build something out of that nature. Um, so I think it really just comes down to time and, and where you're putting it, you know, I see a lot of upstage video walls where, you know, you're going wide screen three to one, four to one, uh, ground supported, maybe, you know, no higher than, you know, eight panels tall. So four meters, which is 12, you know, 13 feet. Um, lots of that where they're getting rid of their upstage drape line altogether. They're doing nice big beautiful l e d uh, l e d walls with, you know, great beautiful graphics and things like that. Um, you know, I, I've noticed, I definitely see lots of companies really paying attention to the fact that just because you have a cool l e d wall up there doesn't mean that that that takes the, the event, the the event experience up higher. Speaker 0 00:25:25 You have to have the content on that l e D to physically utilize it in the way it makes sense. And I've noticed, yeah, less and less customers coming unprepared for that. You know, everybody is thinking that's good about content creation. What are we putting up there on the screen? Are we planning for what's going on the screen? Do we know how we're gonna utilize it? Um, and then once they have that, you know, they build these huge, beautiful, ultra-wide, you know, 12 to one graphics for the big screen pixel for pixel, and they look amazing and it, and it really pulls people into that experience that they're there at that event for being in person. Um, and so that, that probably doesn't even answer the question for you, but I would say they still both have a place. L e d definitely is more of the creative side of things, filling that niche of backdrops and, uh, different types of visuals on stage, whether it's towers, whether it's, um, ways to expand a set wider in a room without actually physically filling all the space. You know, you do one big l e wall in the center with four or six towers going outside of that. Right. And then you can run video all the way across that it feels that big, but it's not actually that big. That's a, that's a big thing, but your general session two screen show with the e even with or without delays, you know, left and right, all that stuff. I mean, projection still has its place and, and I don't think it's going anywhere. And, and I don't think L e D's gonna replace projection. Speaker 2 00:27:01 No. And I, I, that wasn't what I was insinuating. I, I, I just realized, you know, talking about trends. I haven't been in competition with a projection, screen upstage kind of situation, you know, an RP or, or, uh, even front projection where I'm competing to balance the light with, with or bouncing off of a screen and getting in the way Yeah. Of what I'm trying to do. And, and, you know, I can't even remember the last time I did a, a, a blend where it was on stage versus the side screens, you know, the side screens I've, I've done a million times. But, um, but I I I, I've noticed a lot more availability of l e d wall and, and companies willing to, to pay for it to be the, the upstage piece. Yeah. Um, so we have, from your perspective, I wanted to get that. Speaker 0 00:28:00 Yeah. I mean I've definitely, the one thing I have noticed is that as the prevalence of l e d walls has come out, uh, or, or increased, I've noticed a lot of people don't necessarily know how or choose to take care of them in the way that I believe they should be taken care of. Uh, Speaker 2 00:28:19 How should you take care of them? Speaker 0 00:28:21 Well, to me, Speaker 2 00:28:22 Let's, let's, let's make our, our gig ready listeners Speaker 0 00:28:26 To Speaker 2 00:28:26 Me understand how that they need to take care of their walls. Speaker 0 00:28:29 Any l e d panel that has a burnt out pixel is an unusable panel. I mean, you should have, I mean, every single pixel that leaves your warehouse should be ready to go. And, and there are people that I've noticed over the last couple of months that, you know, stuff will show up, oh, there's a pixel out here or there, oh, it's only one pixel out of 10 million. I mean, that, you know, it's not that bad, but when you put that big white backdrop up on screen mm-hmm. <affirmative> that one little black.it, you see it very visible and it's there very Speaker 2 00:29:03 Visible. Speaker 0 00:29:04 Um, and I am very much on the side of like, you know, there's a reason that we charge what we charge for our panels because we're gonna make sure that it's right. And, uh, we, we just did a show, actually, it's going right now, um, here in Orlando, 160 panels, not a single pixel that had to be s not a single tile, had to be swapped for a bad pixel. Everything. That's awesome. It was perfect. It was a, I was, when, when, uh, when Matt called me and he was like, dude, 160 panels not one bad pixel. I was, I was so happy I couldn't even Yeah. Express how happy I was for that to happen because, you know, it, it happens. I mean, I get it, you know, bashed, banged, hit, whatever. But, um, I think we're starting to notice that the quality of repair that that, that I've been able to employ through some of the contractors that we have here in Orlando, um, they really deliver just a great high quality product that makes sure that our, our l e d is gonna last and be of high quality. Speaker 2 00:30:04 How long does a video wall or video wall panel last? Like, like what's your expectation on a panel wall, uh, panel when you, when you purchase? Speaker 0 00:30:13 My expectation of what I own is about five years. Speaker 2 00:30:16 Okay. Speaker 0 00:30:16 So, um, so when I look at the five year lifespan of an L e D wall, um, I want, I want l e d panels to last me roughly that long. I mean, I own some panels that are eight or nine years old now, um, that still work great. And people still use them. You know, there's some older three mill, uh, stuff that, um, you know, certain customers are, they like that pixel pitch. It's cost effective for them, and it does really well. And, you know, I've sold, uh, a lot hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of 3.9 mill panels that people, that does very well for them. And they can go out and they can make it into a product that their customers like and want and wanna keep bringing back. And they're very happy with it. So, um, you know, the great thing about L E D is that it does have a long lifespan. Speaker 0 00:31:05 It doesn't consume a lot of energy. It doesn't consume a lot of electricity and, um, it, it can go for a long time. I mean, what happens for us is we'll run an l e d panel for three, four years and then we'll find a good home for it in an installation somewhere, a church mm-hmm. <affirmative>, a theater, a, um, you know, somewhere that people that they need l e d that's not gonna go anywhere, you know? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I mean, over time the locks and the, the, the connection mechanisms of l e D end up, uh, wearing, you know, the, the, the connectors and everything wear out over time. They're only made for a certain number of times to connect and de disconnect. So, uh, you find a home for it and you install it and it stays there and people love it, and it looks, and it continues on for years to come, you know, is side screens or an upstage video wall or, uh, any number of other things that can be used for. Speaker 0 00:31:56 So, you know, I think that one of the, one of the trends that I would like to see grow in the industry, and we've done a good job of it with equipment, is how to reuse things that we have without just making them disposable. Um mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you know, I really appreciate the fact that we have so many auctions and so many companies that sell equipment and that it just sells it down the line to other companies Yeah. Who can then use it again. And it continues to get use and it continues to create value. Um, correct. You know, un until it gets to the point where it is, it is no longer valuable, it, it, it is then trash, but then finding a way to recycle it or turn it into something that would allow it to be remade into something else versus Sure. I mean, how much metal do we go through in our industry in, you know, TV stands and equ, you know, projectors and I was, Speaker 2 00:32:49 I was thinking wood and carpet. Well, well, Speaker 0 00:32:52 Wood and carpet, sure. It's, it's much harder to recycle wood and carpet than it is to recycle metal. Yeah. Uh, and precious, precious materials, things of that nature. So copper, you know, one of my, oh man, I, I almost lost it on my guys the other day. I walked out and I looked into the, into the, uh, dumpster and someone had thrown a hundred foot piece, a ten five into the trash can. What? And I was, and I, and I looked in there and I was like, oh, no. And I jumped in and I pulled it out and threw it up on the dock. And I was like, guys, I, I notice, well, it's Speaker 2 00:33:24 A dumpster diving everybody. You're on Speaker 0 00:33:26 <laugh>. I know that the end is burnt, I get it. But we can just chop this end off and replace it. It it, it's not trash. And even if it is trash, there's a recycling place right up the street, and we'll take it up there and we'll get a dollar a pound for this copper because it, because it is that, you know, that valuable. So, uh, it was a good education moment to teach them exactly what we can do with that kind of stuff. Speaker 2 00:33:52 Well, that, you know, that, that also goes back to like our generation versus the generations after is, you know, they've, they've all kind of grown up in a disposable world, right? Everything's, everything's one time use or it's just packaged for your consumption and then, and then it goes away. So, uh, I guess it's a mindset that we were taught by our boomer parents <laugh>, uh, to, to save everything. You know? My mom used to like, save every receipt and save every you Speaker 0 00:34:24 True. Very, very true. <laugh>. Yeah. We, you know, we've been, it, it, it's been good. My, my wife has been over the last year or two, we've really looked at, at minimizing the things that we own and buy and have, um, finding the things that are important to us that we do need, and then making the right purchase for them and, and purchasing the right thing. Not necessarily first. You may try a couple of iterations of the same thing to find what's right, but then once you find it, sticking with it, you know, we don't need excess. I don't need too much stuff because one, when I have it, it just takes up space and it's very cluttered and, you know, helping to, to create a minimalistic lifestyle. You know, I have one backpack that I carry with me when I travel, and it has exactly what I need in it, plus an extra iPhone charge cable and an extra pair of headphones, because those are two things that are very critical to what I do. And, and then that's, you know, that's what I carry with me. I'm not, you know, I'm not dragging, I used to drag this huge laptop bag with me with like, everything under the sun that I might possibly need at any given time. Um, Speaker 2 00:35:31 I have a Best Buy a Radio Shack and a Home Depot all in my backpack, <laugh>. Speaker 0 00:35:35 Yeah. No, and I, and I get that. Um, but, you know, trying to, to carry, I mean, metaphorically and physically carry less baggage, um, yes. You know, looking at, looking at how I pack my bags, looking at, at everything that I do, um, and even down to like the gigs that we do, you know, I encourage my guys send the, the extra that we know might be needed, but we don't need to send every single piece of gear out to every single shop. Speaker 2 00:36:05 So send the shop. Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 0 00:36:07 W w we don't need to, because our planning should get us 99% of the way there. And yeah, there might be some little, couple extra power strips, couple things like that that, I mean, you know, if I put 60 power strips on a, on a show with just a standard corporate general session, they're gonna need 70. It, it, it's like Speaker 2 00:36:28 <laugh> never fail Speaker 0 00:36:29 The way that it goes. But, you know, I, I would love to continue to see people grow in their ability to think through those things and, and minimize the excess and minimize the, the, the extra things that necessarily might come on site that we just don't need. I mean, 200 sandbags that are probably never gonna get used Speaker 2 00:36:53 The, think about the amount of gasoline that was used to For sure. To push, to push that across the country. Exactly. Exactly. Speaker 0 00:37:02 Yep. Speaker 2 00:37:03 That alone to me was like, this is asinine <laugh>. How, how could we do this? Speaker 0 00:37:07 Well, and, and it's also about the trade off. It is about the idea that what are we, what are we trading off here? Like why would I ship dirt across the country when I could rent it somewhere close by, and it might cost the same amount of money, but we have to, we have to take into account all of the parts of that chain that we're working to accomplish that one thing. And that as a business owner, that's one thing that I've been learning tremendously is, you know, an example is this, when I'm driving home and I need to put gas in my car, many people go out of their way to go to the place that's the cheapest, because it feels good to go buy the cheapest fuel. But let's say you saved 5 cents a gallon and you put 20 gallons into your car, you saved a dollar on gas, but if it took you 10 minutes to get to that gas station and then to get back mm-hmm. <affirmative> that 20 extra minutes, you're now saying that, that your time of that 20 minutes is worth a dollar, which is $3 an hour. So now it's saying, well, my, my, you know, I'm worth $3 an hour. Well, no, you're not. You're worth much more than that. It's likely that 20 minutes would've been better spent doing something else that could have either improved you or your business, or been with your family or whatever else. And then, okay, you know what? I spent an extra dollar on gas, I think I'm gonna be okay. Speaker 2 00:38:32 Yeah. You're stepping over dimes to pick up pennies as they say. Yes. Speaker 0 00:38:36 Yep. Or stepping over dollars to pick up dimes. My, my general manager in Denver, he constantly reminds me of such things because I'll ask him to do stuff and he's like, bro, no, we're not doing that. We're <laugh> we're Speaker 2 00:38:49 Gonna do this. Well, that, that also begs the question as to, um, just processes. You know, should I be like, yes, I have the ability to do anything in my house. I can do plumbing, I can do electrical, I can do drywall, I can paint, I can do whatever I can roof. You know? But should I, yeah. Because that's, that is not an effective use of my time. Yep. Um, when I can hire a professional, they'll do it in this less amount of time than I would, um, and I'll still get the result I want. Um, and, and I'm providing to another, you know, another vendor, another company, another local that needs to pay their family's mortgage and, and whatever. So I, I used to try and do everything myself, but, but I realized I was wasting my, my time, um, by for sure by doing that. Yeah, Speaker 0 00:39:45 Absolutely. And I, I, Speaker 2 00:39:47 I do like to buy thing once, buy things once though. Yeah. I do. I'm a, I'm a researcher when it comes to buying stuff. <laugh>. Absolutely. Absolutely. Like, I'll read every review I can and be like, okay, that's the one I want. Speaker 0 00:39:58 Absolutely. I'm, I'm actually researching MacBook Pro Docs right now to find the right one for me at the office, cuz I need something different than what I have. But, um, finding the right thing, buying it, what you were just talking about, you know, using your time effectively when it comes to like, hiring other people to do things. Um, I, I have fought with that for years as a, as as an individual and as a business owner, cuz I can do, you're right, I can do the same thing. And I've discovered that when I choose to have someone else do it, I do have to exercise a good modicum of discipline to utilize that extra time I gained back to do things that would have been lost had I done that work myself. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> Speaker 2 00:40:44 Mm-hmm. Speaker 0 00:40:45 <affirmative>, you know. Yeah. And so it's, um, it's a way that I can, for me personally, can know that I'm getting the value from what they're doing, not only from providing and giving them the ability to do the good work that do, but then also for me getting that with the time that I just saved to then apply that to whether it's spending time with my kids out in the backyard throwing the baseball. That's Speaker 2 00:41:10 What I was gonna say. Yeah. Playing Speaker 0 00:41:11 Football or, um, utilizing the time effectively so that it, you know, it's just not something that gets thrown away and then you're like, wait, what did I do at that time? Um mm-hmm. <affirmative>, but making sure that I'm planning effectively through it. So there you go. Sorry, lots of, uh, <laugh>, lots of anecdotes there. Um, but it has been a very, uh, weaving meandering show today, and we've run right up on the end of our time. And so we'll have to continue this conversation in a couple of weeks when we come back and, uh, we'll absolutely, we'll dive a little bit more into trends. I think that, um, you know, what's gonna happen over the next year. Uh, January was an outstanding month. I mean work and, uh, lots of productivity, lots of great things getting done. And, uh, I'm, I'm looking forward to mar to February and March and the, the things to come. And it looks like 2023 is gonna be a great year for the audiovisual industry, and I'm excited for it. Speaker 2 00:42:18 I agree. A hundred percent. Speaker 0 00:42:20 Awesome, brother. Well, hey, we'll see you next time. I hope you have a great week. Enjoy your drafting four, five drawings at a time and don't, uh, we'll get it. Don't get those lines crossed. Speaker 2 00:42:33 We'll get it done and then get on the plane. Go to the next one. Speaker 0 00:42:37 There you go, buddy. All right. We'll see you next time. Speaker 2 00:42:40 All right. Talk you later.