Online AV training and courses to remain engaged while working remotely

Kelly Perkins has put together a list of online trainings and classes to help us weather the storm and make us smarter

For a lot of us in the industry work is drying up faster than fifty cent nailpolish. Events are getting canceled, projects are getting pushed out for months and we’re stuck at home with nothing but the Internet for relief. By the way, could you imagine if this happened ten years ago without video conferencing capabilities, food delivery or decent bandwidth?

If we’re going to be stuck at home with nothing but Internet, let’s use this as an opportunity to learn something. We can only watch so many episodes of Breaking Bad. Let’s take some of those online classes we’ve been putting off because we’ve been too busy. We’re not bringing in any money, but at least we’re bettering ourselves, and in some cases, not spending any. 

I thought I’d put together a list of online trainings and classes to help us weather the storm and make us smarter. 

AVIXA’s full online catalog is FREE until June 12th. Get that CTS you let lapse three years ago. https://www.avixa.org/avixa-stands-with-the-av-industry

SynAudCon’s gone completely virtual this calendar year- good timing! They’ve added some new classes, including a basic intro to sound systems and will be adding more over the next several weeks. https://www.prosoundtraining.com/

NSCA offers some high level trainings for AV business leaders – less on the technical side – more on the project management, sales/marketing and operations side. https://www.nsca.org/csip/

CEDIA offers online training courses as well for those looking to brush up on their residential skills. https://cedia.net/education/training-search

CompTIA offers extensive online training and certifications in anything IT including A+, Security, Network Infrastructure, etc. https://www.comptia.org/training

The BICSI Learn Academy offers training in voice, data and video distribution design and installation, as well as project management. https://www.bicsi.org/education-certification/education-@-bicsi-learning-academy

For those looking to learn more about security, PSA/USAV offers training specific to cybersecurity – one of the latest hot topics. https://psaeducation.com/

SIA also offers a Certified Security Project Manager program. https://www.securityindustry.org/professional-development/

Below are just a sampling of online classes offered by manufacturers – and I’m sure there are MANY more:

• Shure Audio Institute: https://www.shure.com/en-US/support/shure-audio-institute
• Crestron Technical Institute: https://www.crestron.com/Training-Events/Training
• Harman Professional University: https://pro.harman.com/training
• QSC Training: https://training.qsc.com/
• Biamp Essential AV Training: https://www.biamp.com/training
• Legrand University: https://go.bluevolt.com/Legrand/s/
• AtlasIED: https://www.atlasied.com/training-and-education

Kelly Perkins is an AV industry marketing consultant. You can find her on twitter @KellyPPerkins.

Photo by Nick Morrison on Unsplash.