If there’s a massive pileup on the freeway and 50 injured patients head to your emergency room, will you be ready to receive and treat them? If an earthquake damages your corporate offices, do you know how to evacuate everyone quickly and safely? If a military helicopter collides with a commercial airliner at your airport, are you prepared to coordinate a multi-agency response? Just as simulation training has become an integral part of healthcare education, it is increasingly used in disaster preparedness training as well.

If you are trying to decide between two pairs of navy blue socks and one costs $5 while the other costs $25, the decision is likely a no-brainer. When it comes to comparing and choosing simulation software, however, you shouldn’t make your decision based on price alone. Unlike socks, going with a lower-priced simulation system could cost you the functionality and ease-of-use you need to meet your objectives. And low quotes on simulation systems often don’t include AV installation and other ancillary costs, so your “good deal” often ends up being more expensive in the end. So, if you can’t choose between simulation systems based on price, what should you be looking for? Here are 3 questions to ask yourself before you choose a simulation solution.

They say it takes a village to raise a child, but a lesser known proverb says that on every successful audiovisual systems integration team is an AV design engineer. AV integration projects are rarely the work of a single person—they are a group effort. And making sure the right people are in that group is critical to your AV project. With an AV design engineer on your team, you can rest easy knowing that the planning, implementation, and installation of your AV system is in good hands.

Have you ever watched a video of yourself and wondered why in the world you were talking so loudly, playing with your hair, or doing something else that you weren’t aware of at the time? Video can reveal a lot of details that get overlooked in the moment. Simulation training is quickly becoming the most effective way to provide healthcare education, but for best results, you should take it a step further and record then evaluate the training.

You might know a car enthusiast who dropped a lot of cash on some fancy rims or a movie buff who invested a little extra dough equipping a killer home theater, but when was the last time you heard someone bragging about tricking out their corporate boardroom? When it comes to meeting spaces, companies often try to get by with the bare minimum in audiovisual solutions, but without the right boardroom technology, you could end up losing more time and money in the long run.

If you’ve ever seen a holiday blockbuster film then you’ve probably been transported to a faraway place—a planet at the outer reaches of a futuristic solar system, backstage at a rock concert, or the front lines of World War II—maybe without even realizing it was happening. Healthcare simulation labs require a similar suspension of disbelief for students to receive a truly immersive and effective education. There is an ever-growing body of tools that can help accomplish a high-fidelity simulation environment, including manikins, AV technology, and medical devices. But creating a seamless, realistic simulation doesn’t come cheap, and most universities and other training facilities don’t have the same budget as a Hollywood studio. So, how can you get the tools you need to create a high-fidelity simulation experience, and how do you get them on a budget? Get your popcorn ready and keep reading to find out.

There are some instances—for example when you are choosing formal attire or a piece of decorative furniture—when form trumps function. In the case of audiovisual technology for a command and control center, however, form and function go hand in hand to help operators quickly receive and process information required to monitor and respond to specific incidents quickly and effectively.

If you’ve ever invested in technology only to learn later that it needs to be rewired, reconnected, or even replaced, you know that can be both frustrating and expensive. You may end up spending more by having to replace cables, tear out walls or ceilings, or even find a more effective solution altogether. It’s especially discouraging if you hired a company to help but you still didn’t get the results you needed. If that’s happened to you, you’re not alone.