This week, Commercial Integrator releases the next chapter in our popular #AVLivingLegends series, featuring Bill Apter of Avitecture. CI created this series to celebrate the remarkable individuals whose contributions have shaped the commercial AV industry.
In this edition, Bill Apter reflects on his memorable and anecdote-filled 40-year journey as well as his upcoming retirement in the AV industry.
And if you’d like to read even more coverage relating to our #AVLivingLegends, check out our hub page, which includes direct links to every living legend!
Commercial Integrator: What motivated you to join the commercial AV industry? What has kept you motivated and engaged in the decades that followed?
Bill Apter: Ever since I was given my first camera at the age of 13, I’ve been a passionate amateur photographer. But I never aspired to become a professional photographer. I went from job to job, the way young people often do. In the mid-80s, while working as a ceramic-tile installer, I was hired for a house remodel project of a multi-image slide show producer named Jack Silver. The GC for the remodel was a friend who knew I liked doing photography; he suggested I talk with Silver. Jack invited me to see his work in his DC office, and from the second I saw the power of multi-image slideshows, I knew that was my next career move.
I sent out a resume to all the multi-image producers in the DC area. The first follow-up call I made was to AVWashington (now Avitecture), where I was invited for an interview. I met the company’s founder, Sid Lissner, and his business partner Steve Prindle, and was hired that day to help in the office, answer phones, do the shipping and receiving, etc. The company and the industry were a perfect fit for me. I am still there after 40 years in the world of AV!
AVWashington was there at the very beginning of AV integration. We sold slide projectors, overhead projectors and accessories to producers and companies — box sales. Then we got requests to set-up rooms with multiple stacks of projectors, specify the right lenses and audio and put them in. AV integration had begun!
AV is a technical world and moves at the speed of technology. I enjoyed working at Avitecture because it was never “another day, another dollar.” The range of projects that were happening simultaneously was so fantastically varied that I was never bored and always engaged with learning.
Additionally, AV integrators build things, which is such a privilege! The communal effort of a whole range of construction specialists and trades results in a space that people use. Getting to see the fruits of our labor in such a physical way has always made me proud.
For my entire career at Avitecture, I’ve been in sales and design. That role is a challenge because it requires me to live in the past, present and future each day. Taking care of existing clients, developing designs and proposals for potential projects, dealing with the swirl of immediate requirements of active installation and reaching out to people to try an establish new business — all in one day. It keeps me sharp and engaged (and often overwhelmed).
CI: Reflect on your role as both a mentee early in your career and as a mentor. Who helped shape the trajectory of your professional life, and how have you tried to help shape others’ careers?
Bill Apter: AVWashington/Avitecture was a lively brain trust. Sid Lissner hired good people and created a corporate culture that gave each person the freedom to operate in a way that was most successful for them. It was not a work environment that had a structured “this is the way we do it” culture. My growth as a professional was based on this collaborative camaraderie. Also, I constantly looked to manufacturer’s reps and technical experts for ideas and explanations; this has kept me fresh and engaged.
With 40 years of experience, I have a base of knowledge of the AV industry and what makes for successful collaborations. Presently, as I drift towards full retirement, I am being given further opportunity at Avitecture to mentor and train newer salespeople.
Avitecture’s name is based on “AV and IT in architecture,” and a hallmark of my work is a close attention to the aesthetics of AV integration as well as the technical soundness of the design. I try to emphasis that perspective when training our people. The success of every AV project is based on how well the end user experiences and interacts with the system. Look at every detail to determine “how does the client experience operating or interacting” with what is installed. Learn from that, carry the best parts forward and improve where possible.
AV has been a perfect workplace for me, and I try to share the personal satisfaction that comes from being able to serve both my clients and this company. There is a joy in learning how to connect with clients and all the various talented people that are involved in the construction process. I try to communicate that to Avitecture’s employee/owners, both in training sessions and my day-to-day interaction with people.
AV integration is an “under the radar” field. Very few young people know it is a profession with a vast career potential. In interactions with people outside of AV, I look for opportunities to promote the field and encourage them to investigate all the ways that are available to plug in.
CI: What’s the most memorable story/anecdote of your career in commercial AV?
Bill Apter: I make a point of being the one to do the client training sessions for most of my projects. Years ago, I was doing a lot of work at various CIA offices in the area. On the day of training for a large project, I unknowing nicked the bottom of my ear while shaving. I put on my professional dress clothes and headed off for the 40-minute drive to their office. I was only a few minutes away when, glancing in the rear-view mirror, I saw a bead of blood just about to drip onto my shirt. Looking down I saw, with horror, that the shirt was covered in blood that had dripped down!!! In this time before cell phones and knowing that 20-plus people were attending the training, I felt I had to choice but to continue driving to their office.
You can image the reaction of the guard at the outer gate when a person pulls up with half of their shirt a bloody mess. He went for his gun as I called out “I cut myself shaving, it’s okay!” I was on the entry list, so he let me pass. Visitor’s parking at this CIA facility is far from the building for security reasons, so I had to walk several minutes in my bloody shirt to the front door, where the security guards there had the same pulled guns/high-alert reaction. Again, I repeated the ridiculous phrase of “I cut myself shaving” and asked to use a bathroom to wash out the blood. So now, I am shirtless in a CIA bathroom, washing my shirt in the sink as a number of quizzical employees come and go. To stop the ear bleeding, I had to stick a bit of toilet paper on the cut, which, as you all know, is not your best professional look.
My CIA point of contact was called, and she came to escort me to the room. To her great credit, she did her best to ignore my appearance and said how much they were looking forward to the training. So up we went, and I stood in front of all these people in a soaking wet, stained shirt with toilet paper stuck to my ear and had a very successful, memorable training.
CI: What has been your greatest professional accomplishment to date? What has been your biggest professional regret to date?
Bill Apter: Having completed hundreds of projects over 40 years, this is a tough question to answer. In terms of pushing the envelope, I would say that the development of the United Therapeutics Biowall system tops the list. We designed a 16-foot-by-9-foot display, using Planar’s just-introduced Matrix panels; the display faced an outdoor plaza from inside. The entire solid wall of the building was opened up and the display panels were located in a narrow employee hallway that had to be kept clear.
We also developed and fabricated a ceiling-mounted sliding support structure that was pushed into the hallway for installation and service access and then pushed into the 16-foot-by-9-foot window. Every element of the Biowall was a challenge; right from cable pathways, cable management and support structure to the AV system design and installation of this new technology.
The Biowall, christened on Earth Day 2012, was a complete success and ran 24/7 for 20+ years. Based on Avitecture’s excellent and innovative work on the Biowall, United Therapeutics had us design and install most of the AV systems in three major buildings in the years that followed.
I can’t say I’ve had any significant regrets, for which I am most grateful! Recently, I’ve been conducting training for salespeople and becoming more active with marketing, both endeavors I find interesting and engaging.
Over the years at Avitecture, I’ve had the opportunity to migrate to a management role and have always chosen to stay with sales. Being the front-line person for project sales is a FULL time job. So, it is not compatible with “part-time” management. It might have been nice to become more involved with marketing and overall direction of the company — but there were not enough hours in the day to be effective with that additional responsibility.
CI: What’s the best advice or pearl of wisdom you either received during your career or came to realize on your own?
Bill Apter: At a hotel check-in during a business trip, I saw a front-desk employee wearing a nametag with a phrase that has become my motto – “I’m new and I’m learning.” I have that nametag on my bulletin board to this day. This wonderfully challenging, ever-changing industry rewards people who continually use all available resources to learn and put into practice that knowledge.
Would you like to nominate a peer or colleague — or perhaps yourself! — to be featured in this #AVLivingLegends series? If so, just email Dan Ferrisi, editor-in-chief of Commercial Integrator, at [email protected].
