Greetings!

Glad to see this board has been gaining interest recently.

Here is a challenge that I hope will spark activity, interest, and perhaps give us all some new perspective on how to look at what we do as an industry.

I ask peers at various industry events this question and get a lot of blank stares, a forum is a great place to ask this question, so here it goes.

For years I have browsed through the trade publications, consumer magazines, and ‘best installation’ contest entries looking for one thing…

The most definitive photo or illustration that captures and says what a CE Pro really does for a home and its occupants.

Based on the typical illustration I see year in and year out, it seems that even the best PR and Marketing Professionals that serve our industry cannot come up with anything more than a picture of a nice room, with a big screen, and a touchpanel positioned in the frame of view.

It always the touchpanel that makes the attempt at communicating that there is more involved here than a TV on the wall.

Most of the photos of drop dead brilliant designs that are well executed either say to me ‘CEO Home Theater’ - ‘Nice Kitchen’ - or ‘Beautiful Living Room - who is the interior designer?’

Look at the CEDIA calendar, year over year, the images depict a home theater or a multi-purpose room of sorts that shows video screens and some sort of complex control.

This focus on the TV and the remote seems natural since they are visible - but they short change the CE Pro big time - its more than just TV’s - right?

We all know it is so very much more, but it is how to capture and communicate it in a single image what is a CE Pro and what do we do for homes and their occupants that has been very illusive.

I seem to think an illustration or animation might be the way to wrap it all up into a single message that says it.

So, who has seen it?

Who already has it?

Who can create it?

I have loads of great photos of my own projects throughout my career, they are fun to look at, share, and talk about with others, but on their own, without explanation, they fall far short of telling the story quickly and completely.

OK, so some discussion is sure to occur over this, but to make it fun, I will put up $100 in the form of an Amazon gift certificate to the CE Pro that submits, posts, or even points someone else’s single photo or illustration that says it all to an industry outsider without explanation.

This is not a contest, think of it more as a scavenger hunt - I just want to make it real.

Best-

This is a classic.

Or go more modern.