My family moved to Columbus when I entered 7th grade and the junior high school I attended had a projection crew. Kids would show movies for classroom teachers instead of going to study hall. I started my projection career there and continued through high school. (I still have my membership card and RCA projector pin.) Then in college, I started showing classroom movies and providing auditorium support to work my way through school. As a result, I’ve seen probably every bad educational film ever made (and a lot of good ones too.)

While an undergrad at OSU, the AV department I worked for began making 3-screen 6-projector slide shows. It was another epiphany, just like in elementary school. I talked my dad into buying a second slide projector and a dissolve control, and I began making slide shows at home for fun, and for college credit.

Just before I graduated with a secondary education teaching degree in 1973, a job opened in that production department at OSU, and I became a media "professional". I managed the production department for over 6 years. In that era I was part of the introduction of digital controls for multi-media systems, including the first digital Multi-Image system, the Arion 100 Command Performer system, and later the Arion 848 Micro Programmer (shown), the first slide show programmer to use time code.

It was during this time I began writing content for clients, including a slide show on academic misconduct prevention that was used for more than a decade by OSU, and general employee training for the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station (through an arrangement with the College of Engineering, Nuclear Engineering department).

In 1979, it became increasingly clear that the opportunity to be an independent producer was "now or never." So I left the university, purchased my own Arion 848 system, and began Puffenberger Projections, housed in my dad’s basement. My first show as an independent producer was a 12-projector widescreen show for the Ohio Department of Education, "1980 - The Year of the Schools in Ohio," which screened for the 15-day run of the Ohio State Fair in 1979. Yes, after all these years, the 848 still works!

We also completed fundraising projects for the Harding Hospital (now part of OSU University Hospitals), promotions for office parks, vocational training modules for marketing education, and several projects for churches.

My client base grew and in 1982 (and about to be married), I needed to grow beyond the basement, so I incorporated Advent Media, Inc., and moved to my first office. "Advent" started with the letter "A," and means a time of preparation - which fits what we do for our clients' AV content needs.Three years later, with 3 employees, we moved to a 3600 square foot office in a new development in Northwest Columbus. and grew to 5 employees. As the economy ebbed in the late 80’s, the strategy to get “lean and mean” took root, and a singular approach was apparent: one man and a lot of very smart equipment. We also found a new home for Advent Media, in a special studio space of our home in Northwest Columbus. The year was 1990, and this arrangement has served us well for 20 years.

In the late 90s, the demand for slides diminished, and so began the transition to electronic media. In 1997, I added nonlinear video editing, and in 2000, the transition was complete with the addition of a video projector and the official retirement of the slide show gear and darkroom. The roots of PainFree Presentations™ services grew as we produced "Synchronized PowerPoint" which produced a high-resolution image far surpassing VHS or even DVD. Clients with presentation and video needs also desired Internet exposure, so Websites became a natural extension of our services. And as our internal technology needs grew and servicing our own computers became a necessity to meeting client's needs, we began servicing our clients' technology needs. (My guide to computer IRQ conflicts became a top download on the Web.)

In this, the decade of High Definition and digital media, we've added HD video, bringing quality back to the big screen. We've adapted DotNetNuke® as our dynamic Website platform, and started hosting our customer's sites on our own dedicated server. We also published PainFree Presentations™, the book that shows how to adapt time-tested presentation practices to the digital age of PowerPoint.  We're also now offering training tutorials and live training in how to use PowerPoint to make presentations the right way.  And we've expanded our presentation services with comprehensive presentation management. Alongside all of this we've rebranded our services with the PainFree™ brand, in recognition that we're here to help people communicate with technology.

2011 marks our 30th year of continuous audiovisual excellence, and now the 2nd generation is taking the reins. My son, David Puffenberger, has been named Vice President, and is leading our PainFree Web Services™ and our PainFree Tech Services™ divisions. Together we look forward to helping more clients Communicate PainFree™!

- Steve Puffenberger

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