Are We Throwing Away Perfectly Good AV Tech?

A surprising amount of perfectly usable AV equipment gets tossed every year, not because it’s broken, but because the industry moves fast. At the CEDIA Tech of Business Summit, we sit down with Ian Morrish to talk about two ways the AV world can reduce waste and accelerate impact: Together for Cinema and GivingBack.tech.

Ian shares what it looks like when our day-to-day tools become something bigger. Together for Cinema works with manufacturers, distributors, integrators, and volunteers to install cinema rooms in children’s hospices and other deserving venues across the UK. The project has already delivered 61 rooms, with more on the way, representing roughly £1.7 million in donated products and services. We talk about the moment the lights go down, and the projector fires up, and why hospices, while heavy at times, can also be some of the most dynamic, joyful places you’ll ever visit.

Then we dig into GivingBack.tech, a practical platform for repurposing surplus AV gear. Instead of dumping B-stock, discontinued stock, or second-hand equipment, companies can list it, and charities or community interest companies can request what they need, with donors shipping directly to the beneficiary. It’s a simple workflow with a big payoff: less landfill, more working tech in the community, and real stories of corporate social responsibility that don’t feel performative.

If you’ve ever wondered what to do with that replaced projector, old display, or leftover audio kit, this conversation gives you a clear next step. 

Subscribe for more interviews like this, share the episode with someone in AV, and leave a review telling us what piece of gear you’d repurpose first.

Please sign up for the webinar on Friday, 22nd June - https://linkly.link/2iRcB

Transcript

Meet Ian And The Mission

SPEAKER_01 0:05

So, Ian, we're here today at the Celia Tech of Business Summit. Um you're obviously Mr. Um Mr. Together for Cinema, and you're now Mr. Giving Back.tech. So anybody who and I can't believe there isn't anybody who doesn't know because you do an amazing job, uh, as well as along with the board members and the patrons of the charity. Yeah. But um tell us a little bit about Together for Cinema and uh GivingBack.tech and and the news since we last spoke to you on camera.

SPEAKER_00 0:35

No, indeed. Uh thanks, Chert, for

Together For Cinema By The Numbers

SPEAKER_00 0:37

caressing my ego uh and another label for me in the industry, a positive one, I think, with Givingback.tech. But um yeah, Together for Cinema, for those of you that don't know, is um uh an AV charity good cause that um basically installs, works with the industry to install cinema rooms into children's hospices and other deserving venues in the UK. Uh as of today, we have installed 61 rooms in mainly children's hospices, but some adult hospices, some respite care centers um in the UK, and that's ever counting by ever growing by the end of this year. We should be on uh probably 68 rooms at a had they been paid for value of about 1.7, 1.75 million.

SPEAKER_01 1:19

Wow, so we're already up, because I know we had the million pound ball a few years ago.

SPEAKER_00 1:23

Um and so we're already up to about Well, we're up to 1.6 at the moment. Wow. Uh of value, and that's all donated, all products, all internation services donated. Your services, thank you, Stuart, for for recording and videoing the openings that we have and so on. You know, the industry really rallies to help make together the cinema happen. You know, everybody puts their bid in, which is fantastic, you know, an industry coming together. So thank you, everybody involved.

SPEAKER_01 1:45

I mean, I think bit for me, um you know, with the videos that we've done last year, I think it's really the first year we started doing them. For me, it's been great. I mean, I can remember the first one that I went to, and my wife turned around to me and said, Look, you know, today's not a jolly,

Why Hospice Spaces Feel Electric

SPEAKER_01 2:00

you're gonna see some stuff that and and I went there with an open mind, and I remember coming back and she said, How's today? I said, It was bloody brilliant. I know it's amazing. I said, the look on the kids' faces and just seeing how much enjoyment that these kids get out of these humble spaces that you know that we'll we all take for granted.

SPEAKER_00 2:18

Yeah, you know, we all take for granted a £25,000 cinema room, you know, sound barb, twinkly lights, big screen, great audio. That's day-to-day for us. But when you see the kids and the mums and the families and the staff and the care team and so on, enter a room, button pressed, lights down, projector fires up, it's it's electric to them. And and I think children's hospices particularly are perceived to be sad places if you've not engaged with them. They are the happiest, most dynamic places you'll ever go to, with moments of extreme sadness, of course. But every day is meant to be as sparkly, every second has to be as sparkly as it can be because we don't know how long these kids have got. So it's it's I mean, if I could bottle that emotion, fundraising would be very, very easy. I I can assure you.

SPEAKER_01 3:04

You could sell

Fundraising Reality And The 2028 Dinner

SPEAKER_01 3:05

that emotion and raise money for the charity that way, because it is and it's not.

SPEAKER_00 3:08

I'm not gonna give the Bob Geldoff appeal, but you know, fundraising is hard. We do need help. Um, but it's a great thing to do. The industry has really engaged with it. So yeah, by 2028, uh we will hold the the two million pounds celebration dinner, which will be on May the 11th, 2028, at Epsom Downs Race Course. And we will celebrate two million pounds worth of delivery, two good causes, probably 75 to 80 rooms that our industry has donated. It's a it's a hell of a it's a hell of a gig actually. You know, I had the best job, one of the best jobs in the industry.

SPEAKER_01 3:41

So talking about gigs, are we gonna have Chesney there?

SPEAKER_00 3:46

Chesney uh has yes Chrissy, his wife, and Chesney have said that they would barring any catastrophes be there on May the 11th, 2028, as well. Maybe um a couple of special video guests as well. We'll see, it's been spoken about, but yeah, I think Chesney wants to do it again. So Chesney and Chrissy have are patrons of the have just confirmed themselves as patrons as a couple, not just Chesney. Chris Chrissy is a is a is a great great girl, actually, and um great girl, sorry, she's a grown woman. Um don't worry, she'll probably appreciate it. She'll be delighted with it.

SPEAKER_01 4:20

It's a certain point you get to an agent that you're like, Oh, you're a nice young boy. Well, thank you.

SPEAKER_00 4:25

Yeah, okay, we can cut that out if we need to. Um but yeah, Chrissy and and and uh Chesney are both very supportive and uh and nice to have them both. As uh, you know, not just Chesney, the name, yeah, uh, but Chrissy who drives you know manages him and and has a lot of emotion. They're both involved with uh a couple of the installs that we've already done, place called White Lodge Centre, it was very personal to them, and a place called Chess Chestnut Tree House in Aronville. So they they have an involvement with the work we do. Um, and they're local, they're in Surrey, close to me. So they're that yeah, they're they're they're good and supportive and committed.

SPEAKER_01 4:57

And for people to learn more about together Cinema, what's your website address?

SPEAKER_00 5:01

www.togetherforcinema.co.uk, all letters as opposed to numbers, togetherforcinema uh.co.uk. And any queries you have, you can donate on that page as well. Um, or you can contact us directly if you have any questions or queries.

SPEAKER_01 5:17

And you've also got a new if you're not

GivingBack.Tech And The Waste Problem

SPEAKER_01 5:20

busy enough already, I know uh you've now got the new tag of mrgivingback.tech.

SPEAKER_00 5:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:26

Uh tell us a little bit about the idea behind that.

SPEAKER_00 5:28

Well, really exciting. Um, yeah, the idea was I had a sort of slow, slow drift into retirement, but um, you know, rather stupidly, I've I've set up givingback.tech, which is um I mean an idea really to uh repurpose and give XS AV kits in our in our world an extended life and an extended, more productive life almost, by donating uh B stock, discontinued stock, and second-hand items to charities and community interest companies in the UK. We all know millions of pounds worth of AV kits get dumped every single year. We know it's a crime, it's a crime we all accept because that's the commercialism of our industry. We we understand that. However, so much of that kit can be reused. So givingback.tech is a website medium where our industry, integrators, distributors, manufacturers, end users, can post excess stock on the website, and then charities and community interest companies in the UK can say, yes, I'd like that item, and then you as the donor post it directly to the beneficiary. It that's a very simplistic uh explanation. You can go onto the website or you can contact us um and we can tell you more. It's something we need the industry to engage with without question. It will be slowly, slowly catchy monkey. It's not going to happen overnight, but we have about 80 items on there at the moment. We have a webinar um very soon to explain more about the uh about the process, and we have over

How Donating Gear Works

SPEAKER_00 6:55

125 companies already registered for that webinar. Whether this is shown before or after the webinar, it shows the interest in what we're doing. So there's a real engagement to take excess AV equipment and repurpose it to good causes. Not recycle it, but repurpose it to make a difference.

SPEAKER_01 7:12

So with the webinar, which is gonna be this Friday. Two days' time, yeah. Are you recording it? Yes, we're recording the webinar. Okay, so so if we are watching, depending on how quickly I get this up, sitting in my premiere in tonight, um, before I drive eight hours back home, if I get this up in time, then this Friday we've got the webinar coming up. Uh, if you've watched this afterwards, uh or you're watching this video afterwards, um, the webinar will be recorded and then be available for people to watch at a later time.

SPEAKER_00 7:40

Yeah, I'm not sure how that'll be available, but it'll probably be through the website givingback.tech, uh www.givingback.tech, as it says on the on the sign there. So I'm sure it'll be available on the website.

SPEAKER_01 7:51

Um well we're if you want to send it to us, we'll put it on the inside CI's YouTube channel as well. Yes, please, thank you. And we'll get it up on the website. So either you go to givingback.tech and you can see it there, and obviously we'll put stuff on it in the inside CI as well.

SPEAKER_00 8:05

That's great, thank you. I mean, you guys are so supportive, so thank you. That'd be brilliant. But no, it's it's really exciting. I mean, what I think I'm really excited about is that you know, we we know at the moment it's it's it's hard to get people to stop, post five, ten, twenty products on the website, takes time, and so on. But we know that we're gonna get there because there's enough engagement and enough support and enough interest um from various companies. We have Creston as our first founding partner, we have Midwitch Posting Products, we have All Trade who are we're looking at a really good strong relationship to engage with Giving Back.tech to test it. Um, it's gotta work. We're shaping it. We need everybody's help to shape it, we need everybody's help to post products. We can't do this on our own. This is an industry thing. This is not a an Ian Morris or a giving back.tech thing. This is an industry thing. So we need everyone's help to make it happen. It's it's well worth it, and the end results will make such a difference in our community.

SPEAKER_01 8:58

Well, that's it, because as you said, you're not you personally or are not physically handling the stock. It's if I put my immersive cinema rooms t-shirt on, I've got many t-shirts these days. Um I have said projector from client that I've swapped over. I then go to give itbat.tech, I list it, same as you might do on some of these big auction sites. Yeah, and then the charities can look at you know their projectors broken down or their old TV's broken down. They engage with you directly, they engage with me, I get it to them. Correct. And then they they install it.

SPEAKER_00 9:28

Yeah, and the benefit is there, you don't have to worry about dumping it. You know, there's no wee costs. You can you can PR it, you can engage with whoever it is, let's say Dougie Mack Children's Hospice, and say, look, can you send me a quote? They send you a good strong quote. It's good PR for you, it's good PR for Giving Back.tech, great PR for our industry, uh, and good PR for Dougie Mack Children's Hospice if that was if that was the the the circle. So, you know, it's it's benefit to everybody for what would be I don't know, 35 pounds

Getting Pulled In After One Visit

SPEAKER_00 9:55

to send a projector up to Stoke for the sake of argument. Yeah, worth every penny.

SPEAKER_01 9:59

You might even find that it's not a million miles away from you, so you could drop it off and actually strike up a relationship with them at the same time. I mean, I know when I've done the I don't know four or five videos for you so far, you know, I've given every one of those hospices my business card and just said, look, if you ever need any media stuff done for you, I'm happy to donate my time. And it's you know, it's the same with those.

SPEAKER_00 10:19

So no, and uh, you know, when you get involved with these venues, uh, as you know, Stuart, and I think a lot of people who've been to the openings or engaged with together the cinema, once you once you go to a venue and and if you haven't try to go to a children's hospice, adult hospice, and understand the difference we're making. You know, you're sucked in. You just okay, I'm in, what can I do to help? Oh, they are. I know that's the way you feel.

SPEAKER_01 10:39

I mean, Chestnut Tree House that you mentioned is my first one, I think.

SPEAKER_00 10:43

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:44

I mean, as I think I've said to you before, uh, it wasn't to do with the room, but you have you had all the kids in there who are on there, you know, there for whatever reason. And the nurse went, right, guys, it's the seashell painting competition, yeah, and just the sheer energy and excitement from those kids.

SPEAKER_00 11:01

Every second's a sparkle.

SPEAKER_01 11:02

As a father myself, and you know, the the father yourself, it's like you couldn't help but just take a tear in your eye and go, do you know what? People must look at these charities with different eyes, but when you're inside them, they are phenomenal places. They are they're incredible for the pay for the involved.

SPEAKER_00 11:19

Don't get me wrong, they're to they're tough to engage with. And the first few that I started seeing, you know, in 2010, uh, when I when I sort of started this, you know, you walk out, you sit in your car, and you break down. It's it was too intense. Yeah, um, you know, you were taken to the room where the children lay when they passed and so on. It's heavy, it really is. But as time goes on, you know, you you get that as said to you a few times now, you know, every second has to be as sparkly as it possibly can be. Yeah. Be it seashell painting, be it you know, Chesney coming and they're doing a gig, which he's done at some of the venues, you know, whatever it might be, you know, that's gotta be fun. And it is. I mean, they're they're the most inspiring places um I have ever been to in my life. And uh I concur with that one, yeah. But tough as well.

SPEAKER_01 12:02

Yeah. So so Together for Cinema

Where To Watch And How To Help

SPEAKER_01 12:05

um is the best place for the website for Together for Cinema, and then obviously the new initiative, givingback.tech. Yep. Um, yeah. So well look, thank you for your time.

SPEAKER_00 12:14

Thank you, Shirt. Thank you very much for watching.

SPEAKER_01 12:17

I'll be seeing you in a few weeks at another opening, I think we've got, haven't we, at the start of June? We have an opening in uh in uh it's in Luton.

SPEAKER_00 12:25

It's in Luton, not too far from me this one. Keats Children's Hospice in Luton, yeah. Yeah, that's the next one. So then after that, we've got Oak Oak Haven in Lymington somewhere, and yeah, it's uh we have we'll have seven or eight openings this year.

SPEAKER_01 12:38

Yeah, well uh, if you obviously, as we said, you know, we've been doing stuff for together for cinema, so do pop over to Inside CI's YouTube channel. I'm gonna put the videos post and new ones up there as well. So if you want to see one of these openings and you want to see some interviews with I think it was Alice at Chestnut Tree House, um, yeah, and just feel what it feels like to get involved in these projects, then uh pop over to the YouTube channels and uh please, yeah, so sponsor Ian in Together for Cinema and give him back.tech. But uh thank you for your time, my friend. Thank you so much, Jurt. Cheers, Ian. Appreciate it. Thank you, mate. Cheers.