InfoComm14 - The Final Booth Babe Commentary (hopefully)

I've been quietly reading and observing from the sidelines all these posts and comments regarding “booth babes” at InfoComm this year (and I use that term reluctantly) but now I feel I need to throw my 2 cents into this discussion.  I've been in the A/V integration industry for about 10 years now.  There are many tremendous women in this industry, some of whom I've had the pleasure to meet and get to know.  I can’t stress this enough:  I truly believe that if you keep doing what you are doing and at the high level you are doing it at, the mindset at these shows will evolve to the point where the booth babe mentality will be a thing of the past.  Your actions will help create growth and opportunity in our industry not only for women but for all people.

For 25 years prior, I was in the musical instrument industry where we attended NAMM shows twice a year. I worked for a guitar manufacturer and it was a lot of rock and roll.  The sexist, booth babe presence was much more rampant throughout those shows.  I think that human nature dictates that after a while you get immune to it all.  Unfortunately, that’s probably what happened to me, so when I go to the InfoComm shows I really don’t think twice about it, until now.  Leonard Suskin’s initial blog post brought that into the light and it really sparked a lot of comments. That’s good.  It gets us all thinking.  That is the first step to induce change, right?  I believe the people in our industry are smart and influential and we will evolve to the point where this becomes a thing of the past.  If you keep seeding your lawn with good seeds the weeds will eventually choke out and die.  Enough said.