At InfoComm 2026, UC At this time spoke with Mariana Atencio, Journalist, Public Speaker, and Belief Professional, about why belief has grow to be one of many defining points for collaboration expertise, hybrid work, synthetic intelligence, and ProAV.
The dialog adopted Mariana’s keynote on the AVIXA Ladies’s Breakfast, the place she explored how authenticity, communication, and human connection may also help leaders navigate an more and more unsure expertise panorama.
Why Hybrid Work Is dependent upon Belief
For Mariana, belief shouldn’t be a imprecise management idea. It immediately impacts whether or not groups can collaborate successfully throughout screens, platforms, and places. In hybrid work, organizations want confidence that their conversations are safe, their information is protected, and their expertise can help significant human connection.
She explains that even small particulars, from how folks present up on video calls to how leaders talk by means of uncertainty, can form whether or not distributed groups really feel related or disconnected. That makes belief central to the way forward for office collaboration, particularly as companies rethink assembly areas, worker expertise, and AI-enabled hybrid work.
AI Raises the Stakes
The interview additionally explores synthetic intelligence and the dangers that include fast adoption. Mariana says AI ought to improve humanity, not change it. Nevertheless, deepfakes, artificial content material, and misinformation are placing new stress on expertise suppliers to create accountable guardrails.
For patrons, the query is now not simply whether or not a platform works. It’s whether or not the corporate behind it may be trusted. That’s particularly vital within the ProAV sector, the place a lot of the expertise is invisible when it performs effectively. Folks might not discover the infrastructure behind a profitable assembly, occasion, or collaboration expertise, however they depend on it fully.
Belief as a Aggressive Edge
Mariana believes the dialog has shifted sharply over the previous yr. Belief was as soon as handled as a mushy ability related to authenticity. Now, it’s a aggressive edge throughout expertise, cybersecurity, finance, healthcare, and communications.
As organizations look to safe hybrid work with out sacrificing productiveness, Mariana argues that belief in leaders, platforms, and human judgment will grow to be much more vital.
Regardless of the tempo of change, she stays optimistic. Drawing on her expertise leaving Venezuela and rebuilding her life by means of storytelling and function, Mariana says folks can overcome extraordinary challenges once they come along with the precise intentions.

