Danto’s 2024 Year-End Reflections And Wishes

It’s around this time every year that I send out my annual “holiday card” video and write a blog about predictions for the year ahead. But as I reflect on 2024, it’s clear this isn’t just any year. The era of annual predictions has likely passed…

The holiday card tradition continues – it’s a video featuring holiday music and snapshots of my travels, both for business and with family. (Here it is if you haven’t seen it yet.) This is something I’ve done for nearly 30 years, not only to save trees – something important to my family – but also to send a simple message about priorities. No matter how corny photos with family and friends might seem, they reflect a truth I hold dear: there’s nothing more important than time spent with people we care about. Through the ups and downs of life, family and friends keep us grounded. Sharing this part of my life with colleagues in the industry is my way of honoring that truth. So, if you think it’s corny, fair enough, but I hope you don’t miss the deeper message.

As for my souring on predictions – if I’d told you back in 2019 that a global pandemic would force us to work from home, that remote work would succeed beyond expectations, and that corporate leadership would largely forget the lessons learned as soon as it ended, you wouldn’t have believed me. Reflecting on that, I’m starting to question the value of annual predictions. With technology advancing at breakneck speed in some ways, and practically standing still in others (will AI take over this year) perhaps we need to predict things on a monthly basis instead of yearly – or perhaps not at all. (See Dave Michels and I discuss this on our year-end-recap webcast here.)

Still, keeping an eye on trends remains critical. That’s why I attend CES every year, and I’ll share updates again during this year’s event the second week of January. CES offers a glimpse 18-24 months into the future of general technology. This year both my TalkingPointz team and rAVe will carry my almost daily coverage from CES. Be sure to follow me on Bluesky, LinkedIn, and here for updates.

Right now, the key trends shaping our industry include:

• The transformation of collaboration firms into AI-first, business productivity players – and the relentless overhyping of this shift.
• The commoditization of endpoint hardware, where the importance lies less in who makes the devices and more in the firmware powering them.
• The magic of machine learning and intelligence in devices, enabling features like automated sound cleaning algorithms, intelligent directors, and enhanced video and audio quality – even in suboptimal conditions.
• “Agentic” everything…..sigh….

From a broader AV perspective, these trends signal a need to blow up all our old rules. Microphones need to be near the person speaking…meeting rooms need to have soft walls to prevent reverberation…video cameras need to be at the eye-level of the people…you need to produce an agenda and action items for every meeting…displays need to be rectangular..etc.Those are just some examples of what it’s time to throw out. Technology has made them nearly or completely irrelevant.

As we prepare for 2025, it feels like we’re on a roller-coaster ride, hurtling through loops without a clear view of what’s next. One thing’s for sure – the ride isn’t over yet.

Here’s hoping you and your loved ones are having a wonderful holiday season and have a new year filled with joy, good health, peace, and prosperity.