3 Things I Hope to See at CEDIA Expo 2009

The Georgia World Congress Center is home to CEDIA Expo 2009 in Atlanta.

Here are three things I hope to see at CEDIA Expo 2009 in Atlanta.

Positive Thinking

Attendees seemed optimistic at InfoComm … seriously.

The recession hasn’t hit the commercial market as hard as it hit the residential market. According to InfoComm’s July 2009 Economic Survey, 55.4 percent of participating companies perceive their company’s position as much better or somewhat better than six months ago.

Meanwhile, 31.5 percent perceive it as about the same. That means that only about 13 percent perceive their company as being in a worse position than six months ago.

Hopefully this positive thinking carries over to Atlanta on Sept. 9-13.

Product Enthusiasm

There needs to be a “this is the next big thing” attitude at CEDIA Expo. That attitude was directed towards digital signage at InfoComm. Everywhere I turned manufacturers where showing their latest video walls, people were filing into digital signage training and were talking about how the digital signage market is about to explode.

A “next big thing” product category needs to emerge at CEDIA Expo. Will it be gaming? Will it be 3-D video?

Maybe digital signage is also the next big thing for CEDIA attendees. If we’ve learned nothing else in the last few years, it’s that companies should be diversifying and doing more commercial work.

Lots of Residential-Focused Companies

Yes, I realize that CEDIA Expo is a residential-focused show.

I just hope attendance remains pretty strong. I talked to a lot of residential integrators at InfoComm, who were looking to diversify into commercial. I also saw several manufacturers normally associated with residential products exhibiting at InfoComm.

It takes a lot of money (and manpower) to attend tradeshows. I get that. During tough times, though, is when it’s most important to make new contacts with manufacturers and take in lots of training.