CEDIA Expo Education Attendance Up 16%

In the case of CEDIA Expo 2011 educational sessions, "less was better."

According to Jeff Gardner, director of technical training at CEDIA, the association's training offerings in Indianapolis were highly attended, up 16 percent overall from 2010, even though there were 28 percent fewer sessions. And there were 37 brand new courses, which is about one-third of the entire slate.

For example, the Electronic Systems Business (ESB) slate of sessions was scaled back to 11 courses at CEDIA Expo 2011. Many of the other valuable training classes focused on how to run your company are being transferred to distance-learning webcasts.

Overall, the average attendee who purchased an Education Pass sat in three courses. That equates to the average attendance per class being up a whopping 40 percent compared to CEDIA Expo 2010 in Atlanta.

The training attendance trend is opposite of the overall attendance, which was down 15 percent. The logical conclusion is that the integrators who were in attendance are very serious about their businesses.

"It was decided that, in order to better meet the needs of membership, the education menu at EXPO 2011 would be leaner, more focused, more dynamic, and tuned into emerging trends and how they affect our industry," Gardner explains. "And that is exactly what was done. The Learning Labs were reconfigured to put the seating and hands-on element back in the same room. Lots of the new classes were led by great new instructors. Many of the emerging technology topics were delivered by a panel of experts rather than just one. This encouraged more discussion and involvement; attendees sharing their opinions and experience with others.

Gardner says a new course was added just days before CEDIA Expo 2011 on mobile sources and it garnered 25 registrants almost immediately.