Business screen magazine (1946)

a-v man i/ard W. Palmer, Audio-Visual Superlir. Public Relations Department, I* England Telephone Company, and sident of National Industrial Teleon Association, is our A-V Man in first of a series of profiles of leadfigures in the industrial audio-visfield. HIS LONG CAREER AS AN AUDIO JAL MAN, Edward W. Palmer has formed almost every task an A-V 1 is ever called upon to do. He producer (film and tape), he has r%ised distribution, organized ling activities, planned displays, deed and operated A-V communicas centers of great imagination and cicncy. In his spare time he is a tographer, a teacher, a writer, a lie citizen, and a lecturer. He is a iplete A-V man. one of a broad breed now developing almost as antithesis to the old characteriza of an A-V man as just a "manr of equipment." Vhen he took his first steps on the io-visual road back in the 1930's, Palmer studied the weaknesses iome of its practitioners then and :rmined to avoid them in his own ;er. "In the early days." Palmer i, "the A-V man in the schools often the "odd" teacher who Idn't tjach. so they put him in back room with the equipment. I the industrial training supervisor sometimes put in the job "bese he couldn't do any harm there". "Although the image is still there to haunt us, these things are now well in our past," Palmer believes now. "In industry today, I see the A-V man as an "architect" for training programs or communications activities. The A-V man has to have the broad ability to design the most effective visual communic.ilions system to meet each need of his company as it arises. He should be able to constantly improve the learning and retention ability of company personnel, and to devise media to enhance the relations of his company with the community and the overall g.-ncral public. As today's A-V directors are more and more given the chance to prove their value." he says, "ihcN are moving out of the "manager of equipment' category to become ■architects for training and develop iiieni'." Hd Palmer started with New Englantl Felephone 35 years ago. With the exception of time spent in the U.S. Navy during World War II. he has spent most of his career in the comp.un's Public Relations and Advertising Departments, including three years at Bell System Headquarters in New York as Display Supervisor. At present he is Audio-Visual Supervisor. Public Relations Department, of New England Telephone, and is responsible for planning, experimentation and distribution of CCTV and audio-visual media for training. A pioneer in CCTV for training, his ideas on practical uses of television in industry and his designs for multi-use centers have been widely adopted by business firms and educational institutions throughout the country. Palmer's spare time activities have included many community projects, including Town Meeting Member. Reading. Mass., six years as a member of that town's School Committee, and two years as its chairman. He has also served as president of the Reading Symphony Orchestra, and is now serving on its Board of Directors. He is best known for spearheading the civic campaign to save thj Battleship U.S.S. Massachusetts, and received the Silver Anvil Award for his efforts from the Public Relations •Society of America in 1966. Palmer is at present writing a textbook on audio-visuals for industry, anil has been working with teachers of the deaf on methods of television instruction for deaf children. Two years ago Palmer was among the founding members of the National Industrial Television Association, and is serving as its president this year. The association grew out of the interest of business people who met informally to discuss their television problems. Regional and local city area groups are now forming within the association, and Palmer sees a period of great growth as video cassettes and other display devices come upon the scene. Although a real television pioneer, Ed Palmer now sees a big future for Super 8 film. "With more and more businesses needing the convenience of cartridges and cassettes to play back their videotape productions, and with manufacturers of video cassettes having difficulty getting on the market with their products, we may see more of industry going to kinescopes of their tapes and placing them in Super 8 cartridges. When businesses who try this method as a 'temporary' method of distributing their taped material find the many added advantages of this method, they just may never switch to video cassettes when they do arrive on the market." Whichever way — Super 8. or \ideo tape cartridge — the software needs of the nation's industry will skyrocket. Palmer believes. "I predict that videotape software production houses will be so plentiful in the next ten years or less that Business Screen will need a second Production Review issue each year just for independent video producers." All about Super 8 Geo. W. Colburn was one of the first Labs to perfect the printing of the Super 8 format in both sight and sound. Over the years we have gathered much Super 8 knowledge, which we wish to share with you. Send today for this FREE Booklet "Colburn Comments on Super 8". GEO. W. COLBURN LABORATORY, INC. 164 N. Wacker Drive • Chicago, III. 60606 Telephone (area code 312) 332-6286 luary/February, 1972 17