I attended the event and it was great. Loved the interactions with vendors / other end users. It was helpful to share thoughts and have a better understanding of the current / future AV market industry.

Thank you for putting this together in Toronto.

I thought the meeting was great. The location was perfect, and I really enjoyed the tour of Microsoft. I think there was a good diversity of AV users in attendance, which was great for networking and contrasting our experiences during group discussions.

Not much to say about what didn't go well. I really enjoyed it and got a lot out of the whole experience.

The AV User Group event allowed me to discuss my ideas and concerns regarding devices and software directly with suppliers with no pressure to purchase, as we can only purchase through our frameworks. I believe that these types of events provide local government and the AV industry vital insight into upcoming technologies.

I had been aware of the AV User Group for some time but for various reasons I had not had a chance to engage with it.

I finally got the chance to sign up and attend as a user group meeting coincided with another meeting I had at the QEII in London.

What first struck me was the wide range of sectors that members came from. I am in the live events industry but the members I have met are from many other sectors such as education & corporate. This is a useful opportunity to understand and learn from others experiences in different contexts and see a problem and its solution from a different perspective.

The talks from manufacturers and vendors are well varied and whilst there are usually one or two items on the agenda that get my attention before the meeting it has often been something unexpected that has proved to be a revelation during the course of the afternoon. This of course means I dare not leave early now for fear of missing a gem.

The focused nature of the event and the desire from the speakers to deliver relevant and engaging content rather than a sales pitch sets the event apart from many I have attended over the years.

Whilst the refreshments offered are welcome at the end of the day the space created at this time to meet and discuss in more depth with the speakers is an equally important part of the event and the level of engagement here by the vendors and manufacturers is a good indicator of the value they get from this too.

All in all a thoroughly well-conceived and executed event and one I look forward to participating in for a long time to come.

Harper Adams University joined the group back in 2012. Since that point, we have attended most of the quarterly meetings hosted in a wide range of extremely interesting and varied locations. Being able to be informed about, investigate and scrutinise systems and ideas in an unpressurised environment has proved invaluable to us.