Interview by Jonathan Kersting
Is your next digital project ready to launch, or is it trapped in a meeting about scheduling another meeting?
Josh Lowery and Greg Cunneyworth of Makeway join TechVibe Radio to introduce Workshop as a Service, a fast-moving, highly structured approach designed to help organizations turn complicated ideas into clear, actionable plans. By bringing the right stakeholders into the room, asking deeper questions and challenging hidden assumptions, Makeway helps teams find alignment before they invest serious time, money and energy into a new website, touchscreen experience or digital transformation initiative.
And these are definitely not ordinary meetings. Makeway’s workshops can accomplish a surprising amount in just a few hours, giving teams a practical playbook, defined action items and renewed confidence in where the project is headed.
The conversation also travels inside Makeway’s world of immersive digital experiences. Josh and Greg detail an interactive lens-education kiosk created for America’s Best, share emerging technology they discovered at InfoComm in Las Vegas and explain why the smartest screen is not necessarily the biggest or flashiest one. It is the screen that solves a real problem.
Plus, get a sneak peek at a secretive new immersive experience being developed for a distillery along Kentucky’s Bourbon Trail. We’ll drink to that!
Turn uncertainty into action. Learn how a focused workshop can uncover overlooked issues, align decision-makers and create a clearer path forward.
Avoid expensive digital detours. Hear why strategic discovery can reduce assumptions, prevent project breakdowns and improve the odds of a successful transformation.
Explore technology with purpose. Discover how touchscreens, interactive displays and immersive environments can educate customers, support sales teams and create measurable business value.
Peek around the next digital corner. Josh and Greg share what is catching their attention in emerging display technology and how Makeway decides what is truly ready for clients.
Produced by the Pittsburgh Technology Council, TechVibe explores Pittsburgh's technology and innovation ecosystem.
Transcript:
makeway
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[00:00:00] The birth point of where the workshops ultimately came from was we were already doing it for our existing clients Like, just start to tackle the problem with us. Get in a room with us and see what we can do. We pack a big punch. Yeah. We can, we can get a lot done in a few hours. We're here to suck the life out of you for the next four hours.
That's a lot. It's like, "Oh man, really?" Like- Yeah. Yep, yep ... "We have clarity, we swear." Yeah. "Just let us out of here. See? We told you we'd solve your problem for you." Unlock the door.
I couldn't be more excited to be hanging out today with my friends from Makeway. We have Greg Cunneyworth here and Josh Lowery. Guys, thanks for hanging out with me today. I'm excited to dive into this topic today because everyone wrestles with this, and I'm excited to learn how your workshop as a service kind of addresses it.
Plus, you guys are on the road a lot. You've got some cool information to bring back from some, conferences that you have been at out in Vegas, I wanna learn more about how you work with customers across all the things that you do, so there's a lot to unpack here.
But first, we need introductions. So my goodness, Josh, let's start with you. Sure. 'Cause you came all the [00:01:00] way from Norway- thanks so much for having us. I'm Josh Lowery, CEO at Makeway. And yeah, I live in Norway, but originally from the States, which is why I don't have an accent or at least a Norwegian accent. And yeah, we're really ex- really excited to be here and share what we've learned and what we're still learning and just, talk all things digital with you.
Yeah. And Greg, you've been hanging out with the Tech Council for a while. I love seeing you at all our events and things that we do. Yeah. You've mentioned this guy before. Yeah. Now I knew he existed. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. He came in from the great north. He's not just my a figment of my imagination.
Exactly. He's someone real. Yeah. And so, the way I like to introduce myself is I'm a managing partner, but I'm Josh's business partner, too. Yeah. We started the company 16 years ago. Amazing. And for the last 16 years, we've been just, building the ship as it sails so to speak, together.
And we've been given the chance to work on a whole bunch of different cool, fun projects, and I'm excited to be here and talk about some of those things today. Yeah. So yeah. Let us know more about what Makeway does. There's a lot of things that you guys do, and when you were showing me some of your work, I'm like, you get to have a lot of fun doing what you do.
I'm a little jealous. If you ever need any help, just let me know. Yeah. I'm [00:02:00] happy to pitch in. Yeah. We are hiring, so. Oh, well, let's talk after the show. Well, I think maybe the best way to articulate it is going back to our roots. We got our start actually in web design and branding.
Kind of a more sort of traditional start there. And then over the years we've kind of just started to evolve and add on to our core capabilities- Makes sense ... and team and service- Yeah ... and everything. I see that a lot. You get customers they come in for a website, but they're kind of looking for something else to go.
Maybe we could do that. Yeah. And so it becomes a specialty and stuff like that. Exactly. Yeah, and just I think, meeting new challenges and new requests from clients and sort of just trying to stretch and expand our skills without maybe going too far and getting completely outside of our lane, right?
So web, web design and branding at its core when we started the company, Greg's background is in design, in graphic design. Okay. So he's always been kind of the, design and visual aesthetic side of the company, and then mine is in development in the tech side.
Gotcha. And then now we've- ... kind of, we've kind of built the team around that over the years. You, yeah, you brought the two sides of the equation together here- Yeah, exactly ... which is so much fun. Yeah. I'm glad you guys ran into each other 16 years ago. Yeah. And then I think about 16 years and how much technology has changed- Yeah
how [00:03:00] design aesthetics have changed so much. You've been on a pretty cool ride. Yes. Yeah. And I'd say it's maybe, I don't know, four or five years in or something like that, we started to get into touch screen design and to, like- Yeah ... more immersive experiences- Okay ... and things like that as well, so- Yeah
AR, VR stuff, things like that. But it's funny some of the cutting edge technology and some of the cutting edge websites that we used to make 16 years ago now look so dated. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So, like that was a big deal back then, but now- I know ... and it's kinda funny when you look back- Yeah
and "We thought that was so cool." Yeah. And it was at the time. Yeah. At the time, yeah. But you know, things change. Yeah. We gotta do things. You gotta be quick. Yeah. But things evolve like- Exactly ... this, this industry in particular is fast moving, and it's only accelerating, right?
Like- Oh, yeah ... it's only getting faster. And I think part of what we have to do is when we can, be as strategic and timeless as we can, but also knowing that things are gonna evolve and change over the course of time, too. We have to keep our fingers on the pulse of what, what's happening-
and look down the road a little bit. Yeah, that's why literally you're stirring the pot to make something while you're looking at what the next recipe- Yeah ... is gonna be- Yeah ... over there. Yeah. And which is why 16 years goes by pretty [00:04:00] darn quick. Yeah. But you've done some tremendous work.
You've had some really cool clients, and as you said, you've been able to expand your services. And kinda jumping into the topic of the day, and then we're gonna bounce around a little bit today, 'cause I like to have a little bit of fun. Sure. But I'm just really curious about this workshop as a service and what inspired it.
Something tells me you've worked with a bunch of clients, and you've seen them struggling. Yeah. And you've probably brought something that you've done over the years to help kind of- bring this together. Well, one of the reasons why we just brought it out as a service is because it's something for a bigger project we ha- pretty much have to do anyways, right?
Like- Okay ... most clients that come to us- Interesting ... come to us with a preconceived notion of what the project may end up like. Yeah. But don't have all the details. And in order for us to have a really successful project and in order for us to go through that process strategically and efficiently and with all the perspectives in mind we do have to have good conversations and ask really good questions and go through it-
structuredly, right? So that's the, the [00:05:00] birth point of where the workshops ultimately came from was we were already doing it for our existing clients, and we wanted to sort of isolate the- ... the workshop itself to bring it out as a single service. That's kind of an aha moment when you're seeing this "We already do this-" Yeah
"but we can just break this out and build it as its own product." Yeah, and I think a lot of the projects that we historically have worked on have been pretty complex. Some of them are really large. I would guess, yeah. We, when we talk about web design we don't traditionally do a lot of, sort of like more of your, basic like Squarespace design or really simple websites.
Not that there's anything against that. Right. It's just our sort of specialty and the, our- the challenges that we've grown the most in has been in more of custom integrations and custom design and like- The tricky stuff. Yeah. Like the trick stuff. Larger things that's just like- Yeah
okay, how do we solve this problem? And especially when you're approaching those projects, there's, typically a fairly large investment up front from the team. And so there can be some I think- The, people just wanna have confidence that they're going in the right direction, that this is actually what we need- Yeah
and we're going to see a positive ROI, a positive- Oh ... impact on this. It goes back to when I think about, when you think about, talk about digital transformation, one of the key [00:06:00] things would be, like, a new website, right? Yeah. And that, with, that has the right integrations to it. And you think about the money you're gonna put into that- Yeah
and the impact that you want. It's like a nerve-wracking thing, 'cause- Yeah ... you wanna make sure that it works. And we know- Yeah ... many things can go wrong as a project goes together. Yeah. So being able to help kind of set the stage for this, this seems tremendous to build that confidence kind of moving in.
Because, I think McKinsey had a cool quote where it's like almost 75% of companies realize that they have to be, they gotta be thinking digital transformation- Yeah ... at all times, or else you're gonna get left behind. Yeah. Yeah, you, it's sort of demanded. You have to evolve. Yeah.
And if you don't, you'll find out pretty quickly that you haven't really given enough focus and attention to that, but u- usually in a sort of a, a bad way. But yeah, I in, in addition to just, giving people the confidence that's the right direction to go, a lot of times this, this process that we go through early on is a way to kinda c- get a quick litmus test- and also team alignment too. Because sometimes- Interesting ... internally- Oh, yeah ... your executive team might want- Yeah ... or think they need something differently than everybody else. Yeah. And so we kind of come in and we have the right framework and the right tools to say, "Okay, [00:07:00] this is the way that we need to think through this together."
And we can kinda help you make sure that, is this the right solution that we need? And not even just do we, are we, does our gut tell us that? But can we actually back it up with, you know- Yeah ... the right inputs and the right sort of data and signals to sort of give us the confidence that yes, this is exactly what we need, and this is how we're gonna execute it.
It's a great point you brought up, the alignment. Yeah. That word really sticks with me, having gone through many digital transformation projects here at the Tech Council, just thinking how important it is to have the whole team thinking this is what- For sure ... this is how it's gonna work. Yeah. We agree this is how it's gonna work.
It can be a disaster if not, yeah. And you take that for granted. Well, yeah. But going through this, make sure that you have that before you move anything forward, right? And sometimes clients do come to us, and they figure out that they're not aligned. And that is- Yes ... actually something that we have helped- consult, help figure that out.
Help them get aligned because I think sometimes a, a lot of assumptions get made through- throughout the process of going, "We need, X thing made," or, created, website, touchscreen, whatever it is. And they come to us thinking they're aligned, and then when we start asking questions- and [00:08:00] then start asking deeper questions, it's like- ... "Oh you think one thing and you think another." Yeah. You have to decide together now as a team how to proceed. I think I would rebrand this for you guys, and I would call it digital transformation therapy. Yeah. Yeah. 100%.
Yeah. You need a couch. Yeah. They come in, they lay down- Yeah ... and you start asking questions. You're like, "Very interesting." Yeah. Go on. "Tell me how you feel about your father." It is a requirement. All of our virtual meetings have zen music in the background. Exactly, yeah. It's a safe space. We, no judgment.
See, I'm onto something- All good ... 'cause and the, I just feel like it's just so foundational because so many times within a project you see teams just wanting to rush through it. Think, "Oh yeah, we'll go through. We'll build the site. Things will be fine." And it's just no- ... no. This creates that pause- Yeah
and everything. And now that you've taken that pause and created it as a service, you can just use this for almost probably any kind of project really. I mean- Yeah. Yes ... no matter what you're doing, you can probably walking through the steps you're gonna walk them through in order to kind of get the alignment and figure out what's next.
Yep. Yeah, it's almost like a palate cleanser or like- Okay ... in between what the initial conversations you had- Yeah ... and where you [00:09:00] ultimately wanna be. A lot- Gotcha ... a lot of things have to happen in between that and some of those workshops really end up just being like, okay, this is a...
we kinda started with, maybe a lot of like- meetings that ultimately weren't very efficient or, a lot of meetings internally that didn't really go anywhere. Now, when we actually sit down with Makeway, like we're moving the ball forward. Like this is the- ... time to pause, you're right, think, think about exactly what's gonna be next, and then make a- good action items to move forward to those next steps that ultimately make a pretty big difference.
Yeah. It's a good reminder. The difference between the workshops too is like they, they are not meetings. Like it, sometimes those can feel a little bit like, windy- Yeah ... and sort of like we don't really know exactly what we're trying to solve for here. There is not too much structure where it's like too rigid and we can't, evolve the conversation where we need to, but there's enough structure that we have a plan and we have steps that we're gonna work, we're gonna workshop this with you and, and- Yeah
lead you through this process- Yeah ... that has proven to been, t- proven to be very effective. So it's, yeah, it's not just showing up and being like, "Okay, let's see if we can figure this out." It's like, "No, this is how we're gonna figure this out." I love it. And let's just give the [00:10:00] time and attention that we all need- Yeah
together to get there. So it's very codified steps- Yeah ... that to make sure that you're- Yeah ... hitting milestones along the way. Yeah. It doesn't get too squishy. Yeah. That way you're getting the... How long does a typical engagement last for? It depends on the type of workshop- Okay ... we're doing and the, the, and the problem we're solving for, and then the client.
Some of them are virtual, some of them are in person, some of them we do hybrid. Typically speaking, we can do them for as small as a couple of hours. Really? Some of them can be- Okay ... full day sessions if we really need to go. Okay. And sometimes we only need, two or three k- stakeholders.
Sometimes we need a larger team. Gotcha. We have a whole page on our website that ha- outlines a lot of this stuff. It kind of breaks that down as to what- Yeah ... to expect and everything. It put- So actually you're surprising- Most problems ... that's very efficient. Yeah. I was thinking- yeah
it'd be like a multi-day where, it's like, "Oh, these bagels are getting stale now. We've been here for so long." We tr- we try to keep them pretty low effort because we, honestly we don't want people to be too scared of the initiative. Like just get... It's all about that inertia and that momentum- Okay
right? Like just start to tackle the problem with us, get in a room with us and see what we can do. And then if we need further, steps from there- Okay ... then we can always like, help teams, It's- ... unpack that with them. But [00:11:00] we can, we pack a big punch. Yeah. We can get a lot done in a few hours.
It seems very sensible to me. Yeah. So when you get through the process, first off, I'm thinking people are probably like pretty pumped- Yeah ... because you see something where you realize, like here's where we're going. Like you've kind of overcome some of these things like are we in align- all, all these things that would maybe just hold something up are now kind of been cleared away, and you're on this launchpad.
Yeah. What becomes that next step then? Obviously it's jumping into the project and people having clarity with that. Yeah. Yeah, we always like to leave workshops with action items. Yeah. We don't want that to just be a a question mark at the end of, like, where do we go from here? Right. Well, I think what you said was is very true.
They leave with clarity. They sort of- ... it's gonna be different for everybody, right? Depending on what the project is- Of course ... in terms of what the next steps actually are. Having w- having a distinguished sort of playbook to, to move forward with the project is ultimately what we're trying to achieve.
But having clarity is the key. That is what people walk away with. They may have come into the workshop feeling, a little uncomfortable or a little ambiguous about what those things that they even have to do. Yeah, for [00:12:00] sure. And it's it really just sort of helps rally the, the team together, bring everyone together and align them so that knowing, so that the team knows what they're gonna, you know- Yeah
proceed with afterwards. Well, I'm really excited to see, as you roll this out and you start gathering metrics, 'cause I'm assuming, obviously, with digital transformation, it's very easy for a project to go south, right? I'm gonna assume that as people go through this process, you're gonna see a higher success rate of those projects- 100%
when all is said and done. It just has to. Yeah. Yeah it's hard for us to measure that sometimes because I think we save a lot of the projects that wouldn't have gone there because we- Interesting. That makes total sense ... we do sort of, like- Yeah. Yeah ... very strongly re- recommend or maybe even require sometimes "No, guys, we have to go through this," because we- Yeah
we've seen it go the other way before where it's just if we don't, if we skip this step or if we make assumptions or things like that and we don't get that alignment it could just, it could go south. Yeah. We wanna avoid that, of course. So you have to be very excited to be rolling this thing out now.
Being able to get this out there I think is just fantastic. I think about how you could just A, help your current clients with new projects, [00:13:00] attract new people coming in with new projects and so forth. So I'm excited for you guys. Yeah, thanks. I think this is the type of thing I love getting the word out about because I just feel like I see it all the time.
I see so many of our member companies going through, like they- All types of new technology done. Yeah. It's always this like, it's a very... Even for a tech company that's going through digital transformation, it's just "My goodness, this is very scary." Yeah. And to know that there's resources out there that can make that project more successful is really cool to me.
Yeah, and I think it's also about sort of demystifying what- Yeah ... will ultimately be, a pretty challenging, h- high investment project, right? The, whatever you're getting into, whether it's a website or a touchscreen it's a big investment on a lot of different people's parts.
The workshop is really designed to bring everyone down to the level of okay, this is a t- a solvable problem. This is something that can be ch- chopped up into certain bits- Yeah ... executed in this format. You're essentially get- getting this playbook put together.
And it helps in a fun way and, in a very engaging way you sort of, get these plays put [00:14:00] together and I think, our clients leave not only invigorated about the project and happy about, the fact that they have all this clarity, but it's a fun process to also go through.
Like- It is whether it's a half-day session or a full-day session an en- an engaging, fun, communicative process to go through. And I think that's also what makes these workshops interesting is 'cause they're not- Yeah ... they're not boring. Okay, good. Yeah. They're not, like, sucking the life out of people.
Yeah, because- they're invigorating. We're here to suck the life out of you- Yeah. ... for the next four hours. Suck the life- It's like, aw, man, really? Like- yeah. Yep, yep. We have clarity, we swear. Yeah. Let us out of here. See, we told you we'd solve your problem for you. Unlock the door.
Unlock the door and let me out. Oh, my goodness. So first off let's switch gears a little bit and talk about some of the cool projects that you do have. After going through this process you get to work on some cool - digital transformation projects. Yeah. And we can't always name names and all that kind of stuff 'cause some of the stuff you're working on is kind of top secret.
Yeah. But you were showing me some cool stuff on your phone there, Greg. Yeah. So can we talk about the America's Best? Y- yeah. Yeah. Okay, [00:15:00] good. Yeah. 'Cause it's too late now. Yeah. What we're talking about. Yeah. It's- But it's just so much fun to me- Yeah, it's just- ... to show you, like, how this is digital transformation for America's Best.
The idea you install a kiosk that's gonna be in some piloted... That's gonna be piloted in 60 stores, I think is what you said? Yeah. It was piloted in 60 stores, and those were successful, and I think they rolled it out to another... I don't know the num- number off the top of my head, but it was, like- Okay.
Yeah ... 100, 100 other stores- Wow ... or something after. Okay. Yeah. So that's cool. Tell me about this kiosk, 'cause I- yeah ... you showed me pictures. I'm like, this is so cool how you've worked on it, how you built this. So, because g- lens technology has been changing over the last years, in the last number of years America's Best b- basically figured out a way to communicate the different types of lenses- and technology that are going into glasses. Yeah. So they utilize the touchscreen to help educate not only the managers that are in the store, but also the, the potential employees to go through that process to... and to visually see the difference- Yeah ... between polarized and unpolarized. As, as the example we used before, the transition lenses, those, you know, that's a brand itself where they fi- you know, transition from clear to- Yeah
sunglasses, right? It's great 'cause ob- Yeah ... when you [00:16:00] showed me the kiosk you see the person, like, picking that lens, and then it looks at a beach environment, and you can see how it dims it down. Yeah. So you can see just how much it's gonna- Yeah ... shade it out and everything. Yeah. It's... And you could see then the clarity that something would come in based upon different types of lenses.
Yeah. It's like this is- And- ... kind of a neat way to interact. Yeah, exactly, and help, kind of helps again, sort of demystify what would ultimately just be like, "Ah, I'm trusting you on your advice 'cause you're the expert," but now I can actually physically see- Exactly ... the difference between this lens and this lens, concave, convex.
What, like, all those different sort of, like- specific- Yeah ... lens technology. You probably know more about eyewear than you'd ever planned on knowing. Well, yeah. Well, now I know. I know. I know. At the end of the project, you're like, "Wait a second. I got the digital lenses, man." Yeah. No glare, all the good stuff.
And they block out the blue light too- That, that- ... 'cause, you know- Yes ... my poor eyes. That actually is a thing too. It is. Yeah. Yeah. It's one of the, one of the modules. See? Yeah. Maybe I could've consulted with you guys on that. Yeah. Remember me next time. Next, yeah, next one. That's awesome. The, those are the types of things where you don't think about that when you're in a store.
Someone built that application- ... to [00:17:00] make me as a consumer make a better decision, a more informed- Yes ... decision and feel confident about that, and you're helping them sell services that they need to sell. Yep. Yeah. And do it more efficiently. That's awesome. Yeah, and it helps the sales team through their process as well too.
Yeah. Some- like you, if you only have a couple of people, and you've, you're busy that day too, you've got essentially another- Yeah ... another tool in your belt for that. Eas- exactly. Some people, honestly, they don't wanna come up directly and talk to another human being when they're shopping.
They want a little bit of passive discovery time for themselves. This is a great way to make them feel comfortable in the store. That's a great idea. So those are all conversations that we had in terms of what is the role and the objective this needs to play- Yeah ... within that environment. We don't wanna ever to be a source of friction in the environment.
We want it to, just only be a s- a source of value. Yeah. And make sure that we're also, measuring those things, measuring the effectiveness of what is the dwell time here, how much are people interacting with it- ... what things they're looking at the most. Like, all of those signals are so important- to make effective business and sales decisions after the fact too.
All day long. Yeah. We- you kinda hit, for me- Yeah ... you hit the nail on the head- Go ahead ... in terms of why we're doing what we're doing, because when we create a touchscreen [00:18:00] like this, it has a true purpose, unlike another sort of like digital display where you're just put- putting something up for art's sake or- Yeah
For, ge- Maybe it'll attract people to check it out. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Like- This is something people are coming to 'cause they, they need to learn about these different lenses, so there's a thing there to show them without having someone- I know ... "hey, Joe Perri, like here, try these on and you can see the..."
It's like, "No, yeah, I can just see right now by clicking the screen." It's not gimmicky. Yes. It's not a, it's not a, flashy thing. Like it's an educational tool. Yeah. It's a tool for the team to use, and that's part of what I love about my job is, is- Yeah ... and Makeway itself, is creating these, these tools that are adding value, that are- adding purpose and not just there just to take up space, basically. Yeah. 100%. Yeah. What are some of the newer technologies that have you kind of fired up right now? This probably leads us into what's going on when you just- Yeah ... came back from Vegas. We just came back from Vegas- the thing, yeah
at Infocomm and J- Josh was doing s- he was walking around quite a bit. Just doing some recon. Yeah, exactly. Doing some recon. He had a backpack on and everything. Yeah. Going like this. So much free swag too. Exactly. Yeah, everyone was passing out swag. He's got more stress balls now- Yeah.
[00:19:00] than you can shake a thing at. Yeah. There's a lot of really exciting stuff out there, whether it's either on the, the software side or the hardware side of things. Honestly, like especially coming back from Infocomm, like you, you can put a screen on anything and, whether it's a durable screen or whether it's- gonna be a see-through screen or whatever- Yeah ... it is. So a lot of those things, we make sure that we continue to invest in events like that just so that we can make sure that we always are- Yeah ... have our eye on okay, what are we missing, what's out there? What's actually ready for us to recommend to clients and implement in solutions versus it's still maybe too early on and let's give it a little bit of time to breathe and see how it works.
But, it's kind of hard to pick a favorite right now. There, there- There's a ton of them ... it's so overwhelming. Yeah. There's so much. Yes. Yeah. I remember, like, when I was at CES two years ago, they were showing swimming pools with displays on the bottom. Yeah. And it was kind of great.
They had sharks swimming around. That was, like, to keep people out of the pool. But I'm like- Yeah. ... okay, so I need a screen on the bottom of my pool apparently. Yeah. But it's yeah, but that, that could be a great- Nobody's gonna read the sign. Put sharks in it. Ex- exactly. That could be a, that could be a great marketing tool to use for- Yeah
someone trying to make a splash, dare [00:20:00] I say. Yeah. But, that's the one thing about Vegas is there's no shortage of places to put a screen. Like- Yes. ... there's just i- if there's an empty wall, there's an opportunity to put a screen there. Exactly ... and I think that's one of the reasons why it's in Vegas.
And it's more... the question's more like where should I put a screen? Yeah. Yeah. Where is it going to, create, noise versus, like, actual value? Yeah. Yeah. That's what we're here to try and answer. We actually ended up seeing one of our clients too. So TSI Touch, they're based here in, in the Pennsylvania region.
Okay. They create some of the hardware and the touch... the touch device technology- yeah ... right here in Union, Uniontown. Wait, in Uniontown? Yeah. No way. Yeah. That's cool. So we saw them. They're a client of ours. They're a partner of ours. We we actually mutually provide each other business.
So they provide us some clients and we just worked with the, Use their products, man. Yeah ... yeah, so another client, Yeah ... that used their device that we actually, we had them, used. So that was exciting to go see them 'cause they're always... they're just the literally the, the best group of people ever.
Yeah. The big thing I hear when it comes to these types of shows, and I see this, is that you can meet all your cl- 'cause they're all gonna be there. Yeah. Yeah. So you can catch up with [00:21:00] people super fast. For sure. You're seeing all the trends that are going out there, and then you bring that back.
You get all fired up, and you're like, "What can I integrate into my next project? Where is this going?" And th- that to me is just that's what keeps it fun. It's great, and yeah. It does keep it fun, and that's that's also part of InfoComm is just having everyone in o- one place and networking and getting to know new people.
P- people are always willing to, share a name or, go for drinks or whatever, so. That's what it's all about. That's, that's the other side of what we provide when it comes to workshops and just general, client relationships too is, we have a large network now of, there's a lot of things in technology that we don't offer and that we don't do because- it's not really in our lane. But we know a ton of people in this business because we build these relationships, and we, kind of create that library and that archive of contacts. And so a lot of times, something might come up in a meeting or a workshop, and it's like, "That's a great idea.
We're not the ones to provide that for you, but I can put you in touch with somebody who does." And a, a trusted source that, like- Yeah ... we have already kind of vetted in terms of how they- It's community, man ... yeah, exactly. At the end of the day, isn't that right? It's so important. It comes down to this community that helps you just bolster your business, so you're- There, there are s-
you're not messing around. Yeah. There are so many options out there, so many ways that I could do this. But, [00:22:00] like, how should I do it? What's gonna be best for me and my situation? And- Yeah ... I think being able to get people to that answer pretty quickly is important to us. And just knowing what other technology's out there 'cause I think a lot of times we're asked, "Okay, we have a problem to solve."
Is there... This was the idea that I had in my head, but also we just got back from InfoComm, so there, there might be like this new technology that we just happened to see while we were there. It's kind of like understanding what is up and coming so that when we actually have a, a new project for XYZ Museum or whatever we can actually suggest some of those, those cutting edge pieces of technology that, we are, keeping in basically a vault of information.
Exactly. No, it's very cool. I just, I'm just- I love what you guys do, and I'm very excited about this, this workshop as a service. I just feel like I said, I see people struggle with this all the time, and it's nice to know there's a resource out there that can get someone through something pretty quickly, get them on the right way.
And I think about the projects you've been working on over the past 16, 16 years, and you guys still like each other. Yeah. [00:23:00] Yeah. Well, you are like many time zones away, but still. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think it... And thank you for coming all in from Norway just to be here on Tech Vibe- Yeah ... because, and I guess the Makway- Happy to be here
the Makway jet w- made a safe journey and it did its thing. Yes. Is this your first international p- podcast? I think he would be at this point. Yeah. Yeah. Like in Ted D. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. I appreciate this. That's very sweet. It's a proud moment. No Canadian. We- I have a customs agent on the way out that you're gonna have to- Yeah.
sign off before we go. Yeah. Yeah. August. But seriously, good stuff. I just love having these conversations. I've learned so much today, and I just think you guys can be a tremendous resource out there, and it's a great story how your company came together, the problems that you solve. You guys are awesome, man.
Totally love it. Thanks for having us. Thank you. We appreciate it. Anytime. You guys get the official open door policy here on Tech Vibes. So I think once- Yes ... w- we should, we will be back because we are working on this special secret project right now that's gonna be- I know. I wanted to bring that up- I know
but I didn't know if I could or not. I know, yeah. You can bring it up. You just can't, we can't say the name. , we are in the process right now. We were just in Kentucky the other day.
We're in the process of checking in a project. It's under, [00:24:00] it's being built right now. It's a distillery on the Bourbon Trail. Okay. And there is a, a ton of digital signage and a very immersive experience for the tour. When it is public, we can officially announce it, and it will be so awesome, and you should buy your tickets and go to it because they- Yeah
first of all, make great bourbon, and second of all, they're, like, great people, and third of all, our experience that we're building this is gonna be really cool and fun. Yeah. Very- super unique I can drink to that. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Very cool. Yeah. So you guys- Hey, we'll have you down actually.
We need to bring friends down and- There you go ... enjoy it, so. Well, you just, you, there, see, you're just endearing yourself to me now. I love this. You've just punched your ticket back. That's right. You passed all the tests. Exactly. Exactly. Ingratiated me a little bit, and gave me something cool, so this is perfect.
No, seriously, guys, what a fun time talking to you. Yeah. Cannot wait to hear more about this distillery. I cannot wait to know what's going on. Yeah. Thanks, guys. Yeah. You're the best. Thanks so much. Thank you. Thank you.