09.04.2008 — The Learning Lab Experience at CEDIA Expo 2008 could be the successful formula that combines classroom education with hands-on, boot-camp training for integrators.

The program made its debut yesterday at CEDIA Expo in Denver with two sold-out sessions, covering cable connectors and video calibration.

For years, the three-day boot camps as part of CEDIA University have been enormously popular, but the association has not been able to transfer that hands-on experience to its CEDIA Expo … until now.

In the Learning Lab, attendees sit in three-hour lectures then immediately move into adjacent rooms and actually do the work they learn in the classroom.

The sessions are sponsored by ADI, which brought together products from 38 different manufacturers for the labs. CEDIA held a champagne toast and ribbon cutting to celebrate the inaugural seminars.

The three labs are:

• Cable, Connector and Testing
• Video Technologies and Calibration
• Home Theater Audio Calibration

Attendees earn three CEU credits for the classroom portion and one CEU credit for the lab portion.

A total of 15 lab sessions — all part of seven Electronic Systems Technician (EST) College course — will take place during the week, each one facilitated by CEDIA certified instructors.

The best part is the labs are open to ALL CEDIA Expo attendees throughout the show when the sessions are not taking place.

When CE Pro ducked into the Cable, Connector and Testing Lab, there were a handful of integrators making terminations. Likewise, the Video Calibration lab had eight different workstations where dealers could get instruction from three to four proctors. An area in the corner of each lab is where vendors displayed some of their products.

The Learning Labs were the brainchild of Michael Creenan of M+R Digital Innovations and chair of the Content Action Team, and David Shafer, head of the EST training content action team.

Jeff Gardner, director of technical training for CEDIA, says the sessions bring the most popular parts of CEDIA University to the Expo.

Ken Erdmann, CEDIA vice president of The Erdmann Group, says the labs “create amazing opportunities for training.” He called ADI “the most generous partner possible.”

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