Nine local independent manufacturer’s rep firms and three distributors in Northern California will host the 2016 CI Expo, which is expected to be the largest event yet.
They are combining their efforts in the eighth annual event on October 13th in Oakland, California, at the Hilton Oakland Airport Hotel.
The event will feature over 90 manufacturers on display along with live demonstrations, product trainings and featured speakers from CE Pro presenting insights and recommendations on growing dealer’s business in 2016 and beyond.
The 2016 CI Expo will be a focused on a combination of education, demonstration and cutting-edge products from manufacturers. In addition to hands-on displays, the CI Expo is feature hot new products from Artison, Epson, Denon, Marantz, HEOS, Pakedge, JL Audio, Future Ready Solutions, Parasound, Totem Acoustic, Vutec, Wilson Pro and many more.
The 2016 Expo will be focusing on 4K, high-def audio, IP addressable products, networking and high performance AV. New this year will be vendors talking about and presenting security solutions.
CHECK OUT CE PRO'S FULL INDUSTRY EVENT CALENDAR
New this year, the CI Expo will feature a lunch and learn with Jason Knott, editor-in-chief from CE Pro.
He will present key benchmark data that integrators can use to gauge their business against terms of revenues, profit margins, product purchasing pattern, commission rates and more.
The session will also look at average labor rates being charged to clients and compare that against the average wages and salaries being paid to 10 different job positions in custom electronics (from entry-level technicians to programmers).
The analysis will help integrators determine their true break-even point when they send a technician into the field.
Lastly, CE Pro will present various “specialization” business models being adopted by various integrators across the country, and take a look at some new technologies coming down the pike.
The CI Expo makes all of this information and technology more accessible. It is not always practical for dealers to send their entire staff to CEDIA. Although many dealers would love to do so, they are faced with real word constraints, especially as their company’s activity is expanding.
By teaming up with local reps and distributors, the CI Expo brings vendors directly into the territory and allows them to showcase new products and new technologies where they are geographically accessible.
The event will have dedicated display vignettes for all the vendors as well as several live demonstration areas both inside and outside the venue. The dealers in attendance will also have several opportunities for one-on-one interaction with factory personnel.
The CI Expo is more than a typical line show. These companies are looking to help dealers learn from vendors and some of the top business minds in our industry.
“If we can help them improve their skill set, their customers will benefit and the dealers will expand their business as a result of their efforts,” says Jim Knight of Redwood Marketing. “As the technologies we deal with on a daily basis keep changing, our dealers and business partners need to change and adapt if they want to thrive rather than simply survive.”
Free parking, lunch and snacks will be served and dealers will have the chance to win multiple door prizes.
The first CI Expo event was a collaborative effort between three firms: Redwood Marketing, Jan Tulloch Company and the Steven Lester Company. Feedback from these events has been overwhelmingly positive.
This year the CI Expo is expanding to include nine local rep firms, three local distributors including ANSR, Fielder Marketing, Media Delivery Strategies, Paul Fitzpatrick Company and Zone Pacific Sales will join the three original firms along with distributors Sierra Select Distributing, Profit Line Distributing and Custom AV Solutions.
For event details and to register please go to www.ciexpo.org and click on “events.” For additional information please contact Jim Knight at Redwood Marketing at 916-912-4115 or via email at [email protected].
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