To be relevant today in the electronic industry one must be online. By online, I mean online on all of the relevant platforms. How do you determine which platforms are relevant? Well, as the new (and first) Marketing Director at Metra Home Theater Group I started using the platforms I used personally. With that being said, it’s easy to get overwhelmed if you don’t start with a strategy. I have pared down this list and decided to start with a blog for Metra Home Theater Group with the goal of giving our customers more information that they can use in their businesses.

In a few hours our staff is flying back from Amsterdam after exhibiting at the Integrated System Europe Show. Unfortunately I did not attend this show but I was in hourly communication with the staff to say informed and engaged on social media. Trying to cover a show while not being at the show was a challenge and sometimes humorous.

Here is a list of the top ten things I learned from ISE 2015 while not attending:

A month after CES 2015 in Las Vegas and one topic keeps popping up everywhere: Wearable Technology. The wearable technology market is set be a game changer especially the fitness wearable. As the various newsletters and emails are delivered to in boxes every morning the topic of “fitness wearables” can be found. I cannot get away from hearing about all the different types of products out there that can help one lose weight, track runs and get healthier. The various wearable fitness products are set to change the workout world much like the waffle running show did for runners in the early 80s.

The term "Internet of Things" (or IOT for short) is everywhere. Do you know what this means? Do you know how this effects you? I took some time to read up on the Internet of Things to educate myself because frankly, the phrase annoys me. It sounds pompous. This phrase reminds me of rich people saying “money does not solve everything.” Really? Money does not solve everything? I am pretty sure money would have solved my problem of trying to figure out how to pay for books for college. With that being said, the IOT sounds like it might solve everything. The IOT is being thrown around in articles about everything from kitchen appliances to smartwatches. Yet no one has explained exactly what the Internet of Things means. There is a hashtag to following and everything – yet no explanation.

Until last Friday.