Years ago, when I was working in live event production in Boston, I ran an internship program for students who wanted to break into the industry. One of those runs of shows was with Ladysmith Black Mambazo. The shows went exceptionally well.
At the end of the final performance, the lead vocalist took time from the stage to thank the people who had made the run a success. He thanked the merch table staff, the front of house manager, the caterer, and his own tour manager. He did not mention the AV team.
One of my interns came off the stage visibly discouraged. She had worked as hard as anyone there, and the omission stung.
After the load-out finished that night, I brought the whole crew together. I thanked them for their work, and then I told them something I have repeated to every team I have led since: what we do is supposed to be unnoticed. If we get the design right, the rig right, and the show right, the magic just happens. The audience never thinks about us, and that is the point.
The next night reinforced the lesson in a way I did not see coming. The next show was unusually complex, and one of my light operators missed a single cue. The performer stopped the show to make a comment from the stage about it. She was singled out in front of the audience for the one moment that went wrong, after weeks of getting every other cue perfectly right.
That was the lesson, finished. AV techs do not get noticed for what they do well. They only get noticed when something fails.
That principle has shaped how I think about every system I touch, and it applies just as strongly to installed AV as it does to live events. A boardroom system is doing its job when the executive team forgets it is there and starts the meeting. A worship space is doing its job when the congregation hears every word without thinking about how. An airport paging system is doing its job when the passenger understands the announcement and walks to the right gate without ever looking up to find the speaker.
The best AV is invisible. It does not call attention to itself. It enhances and facilitates the experience and then disappears into it. If you do not notice the system, the system is working.
Complex systems. Seamless experiences.