Providing Great Audiovisual Solutions in the State of Texas

While Daktronics is known for LED signage, video boards and scoreboards, we’re also providing many venues with audio systems as well. These systems integrate into video and scoring systems to provide a complete audiovisual experience at any venue, from football stadiums to basketball arenas to building lobbies and entryways to mall gathering areas.

To dive into this topic and hear more about some of our audio installations in Texas, Scott Luce and Mike Howell, regional Daktronics sales representatives, joined Matt Anderson and I on the Daktronics Experience Podcast.

Prosper ISD, Allen ISD and McKinney ISD highlight some of the recent projects in Texas. Prosper ISD and McKinney ISD both feature 12,000-seat venues while Allen ISD has a stadium with 18,000 seats. These feature both audio and video components as Daktronics provides a turnkey solution for these stadiums.

How did these projects come to fruition? A lot of discovery work up front. We asked Scott to give us a glimpse into the process.

“We do a lot of discovery and I ask a lot of questions. Sometimes, the customer could be representing varying different positions. They could be the facility director, athletic director or head coach, and they all have a different perspective or take on the equipment. So, we have to ask a lot of questions to understand how much knowledge they have of the technology and to find what they are really looking for.

“Next, we look at their venue. If it’s a new construction, you want to look at drawings and what they anticipate. What are their expectations? What are they looking for in a system? What do they want to get out of it? There’s a lot of discussion on the front end.”

Mike added, “On the outdoor stadiums here in Texas, most stadiums have a speech-only type of system. What that means is, in the stadium, you’ll throw up a couple anti-humidity speakers on top of the scoreboard and kind of aim them in this direction and that direction and that’s their sound system. And Daktronics audio solutions are full-range sound systems that form the highest high to the lowest low bump that fans feel inside their bodies when they’re at a stadium. That’s what we’re providing to most of these stadiums. Whether its outdoor or indoor, you want that full range, not just the speech-only type system out there. Again, as Scott was saying, there’s a lot of discovery to make sure the customers know exactly what they want and that we deliver exactly what they want. Because, again, they’re used to hearing that speech-only system, but we’re actually offering a full-range audio system.”

Once the system is decided and installed, the fun part happens. The guys visit the sites. They go to the games and watch and listen.

Mike continued, “Come football season, every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night, Scott and I are probably on the road and going to all these different games. It’s nice when you like football and you get to watch some great games here, too. But a lot of it is part of the job. We’re making sure our customer’s systems are being used properly and making sure it is performing as its supposed to be performing. We’re making sure the next customer, when they go to that facility down the road to see what it’s like firsthand, says, “I want a system just like that system right there.” So, yeah, we spend a lot of time out there in the field following up with our customers to make sure they are getting exactly what is expected.”

We also asked Scott and Mike, “What’s the best part about working on these types of projects?” Scott didn’t hesitate to answer.

“As a former educator for most of my career, the ultimate satisfaction is going to an event like that and seeing the end product that is very successful and knowing the kids are involved. They’ve taken to the event production craft and learned how to do it. They’re good at it. They’ve taken the knowledge from the classroom and the teachers that are teaching the video board curriculum and take it from the classroom and into the control room. Then, they put on a heck of a show.”

Mike was quick to agree saying, “That’s one of my greatest sources of satisfaction. I get out there and I see some students, I see the fire in them when they’re actually doing it. The students and teachers are taking these classes and using the system to its fullest potential.”

While these highlight football stadiums at the high school level, Daktronics audio solutions can be incorporated into many different arenas and venues.

To hear the entire podcast episode with Scott and Mike, click here.