The Daktronics Experience

How has COVID impacted the billboard industry? To hear one perspective, Justin and Matt are joined by Ike Wingate, president of Wingate Media Group, to hear how he’s adapted during the pandemic and the importance of his digital inventory. He also shares how he got started in the billboard industry and much more.

• Wingate Media Group Webpage: wingatemediagroup.com
• Ike’s Good Business News: goodbusiness.news

As Daktronics Big Stream option starts to catch on, Justin and Matt visited with Joey Struwe, Activities Director at Lincoln High School in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to hear about his experience with the streaming feature. Joey also shares his role with the school, the features of the product that they enjoy and much more.

• Daktronics Big Stream Webpage: www.daktronics.com/bigstream  

During COVID-19, financing capital improvement projects can be tricky. So, Justin and Matt talked with Larry Leckonby, Catawba College’s Director of Athletics, to hear how they were able to finance the new video board at their stadium and how they will use the display in the future.

• Daktronics Financing Webpage: https://www.daktronics.com/en-us/services/financing
• Catawba College Athletics Webpage: https://catawba.edu/athletics

How has Daktronics been handling project management during COVID-19? Justin and Matt sat down with Seth Hansen, Vice President of Project Management for Daktronics, to find out. He also covers the company’s approach to project management as a whole, how they work with multiple parties to coordinate a project and much more.

• Daktronics Project Management Website: https://www.daktronics.com/en-us/services/project-management
• Syracuse University News Release: https://www.daktronics.com/news/Pages/Syracuse-University-Debuts-the-Largest-Centerhung-in-College-Sports.aspx
• Auburn Arena News Release: https://www.daktronics.com/news/Pages/New-Audiovisual-System-Installed-Auburn-Arena.aspx
• Alabama Tunnel Display: https://www.facebook.com/AlabamaFTBL/videos/1286345688381759/

To learn more about the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAA), Justin and Matt are joined by Phil Rison, the Associate Executive Director of NIAAA. Phil shares the organization’s goals, details of their upcoming national conference, how they’ve adapted due to the impacts of COVID-19 and much more.

• NIAAA Webpage: https://members.niaaa.org/
• NIAAA Conference Webpage: https://www.adconference.org/
• NIAAA Professional Development Webpage: https://www.adconference.org/professional-development
• NIAAA Registration Webpage: https://www.adconference.org/register

From working on airplanes to working on video boards for Air Force, Jeremy Webb, scoreboard and scoring systems technician at U.S. Air Force Academy, has some interesting experiences. To hear about those experiences and the sports Jeremy works with, Justin and Matt visited with him for this episode.

• Daktronics Digital Audio Facades: https://www.daktronics.com/en-us/products/audio-systems/digital-audio-facade 
• Air Force Academy Photos: https://www.daktronics.com/en-us/photos/details?pn=WP-19843&cid=103725

Working with a multi-use venue is always interesting. To hear about our recent projects with Iowa Event Center, Justin and Matt are joined by AJ Johnson, their Production Manager. AJ shares details of their audiovisual system, how they use it, the multitude of events they host and more.

Justin and Matt recently spoke with Sara Kealy, River Falls High School’s head volleyball coach, to find out what it was like to sell sponsorships for their new video board this summer. She shares her experience in reaching out to local businesses, her team’s excitement for the new display’s arrival and other details of her journey to help their vision become a reality.

• Daktronics Sports Marketing website: daktronics.com/dsm

To talk about some recent projects, Paul Plinske, Colorado State University-Pueblo director of athletics, joins Justin and Matt on the podcast. He shares details of their football project for audio and video as well as the more recent audio upgrade at their arena and the new scoreboard they received for baseball.

• Thundertron - https://www.csupueblo.edu/news/2017/08-24-csu-system-gift-thundertron-thunderbowl.html
• CSU Pueblo Arena Video Board - https://daktronics.widen.net/s/glqphdljdh
• CSU Pueblo Audio System - https://daktronics.widen.net/s/nbo9aoq7mt

To catch up with things that are happening in our audio division, Justin and Matt are joined by John Olsen, Daktronics large sports venue audio sales. John shares a rundown on how our audio team works with customers and some trends he’s seen for audio in other applications.