When the final curtain fell on the general session of the American Society of Echocardiography (ASE), a transformation began. AVW-TELAV technicians busied themselves dismantling video bays, sound reinforcement systems, and lighting grids. In the distance could be heard the quiet march of 175 high-resolution monitors being wheeled through the back hallways of Boston's Hynes Convention Center Ballroom (where this year's session was held).

In less than 16 hours, this ballroom would be transformed from a 500-person convention to a state of the art testing facility. The National Board of Echocardiography (NBE) is a not-for-profit corporation established (principally) to develop and administer examinations in the field of Clinical Echocardiography. Echocardiography is essentially an ultrasound of the heart used to diagnose heart disease, valve disorders, weakened heart muscle, fluid around the heart (pericarditis), and other abnormalities or defects. Physicians who have passed any one of the three gruelling examinations have taken the first of two steps in earning "Board Certification" and proving expertise in their field.

As part of the transformation, the ballroom was now to house one high-resolution monitor for every four people taking the "Examination of Special Competence in Adult Echocardiography". The six-hour exam featured full motion ultrasound images displayed simultaneously on each of the monitors.

With the general session equipment down and on its way to the loading dock, our team began the tedious task of placing and wiring each of the monitors to display the exact same image by using a combination of 11 Extron RGBHV distribution amplifiers and 35 Extron VGA distribution amplifiers. Simultaneously, another crew began assembling and placing doublewide projection stands, which served as the platform for each of the monitor units.

To ensure the smoothest possible installation, the legs of the projection stands were pre-measured and pre-set in the store room during the week of the ASE conference, and a Mini-CAD drawing of the testing space was also done in advance. The drawing included cable layouts, cable lengths, and exact quantities of each type of cable used. At 1:00 a.m. the last of the monitors were placed and the crew departed to their hotel rooms only to return at 7:00 a.m. to begin color matching each of the monitors for the 10:00 a.m. customer walkthrough.

During the walkthrough, our NBE representatives commented that this was the best images match they'd ever seen. By noon, all the cables had been taped down and the final adjustments made - the transformation was complete.

The doors swung wide, and 700 hopefuls entered and sat down to begin their 6-hour journey into the world of Adult Echocardiography.