CEDIA 2017 is set to have the largest slate of educational sessions ever offered by the association, according to Dave Pedigo, vice president of emerging technologies at CEDIA. The show, which takes place September 5-9 at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, will have 150 classes.
“The classes are evenly divided between technical sessions and business sessions,” says Pedigo, who spent a few minutes with CE Pro discussing the upcoming event. “For those purchasing the Training Pass it is a great deal.”
He notes that you must be a CEDIA member to obtain a Training Pass.
CEDIA has also added educational sessions on Tuesday, September 5… a full two days before the exhibit floor opens. Those sessions are not part of the Training Pass, but that day will include the CEDIA Rackbuilding Course. It debuted last year to incredible demand from attendees.
“We did not realize that the rackbuilding course was going to be so popular last year. We ended up with almost 90 people on the waiting list,” comments Pedigo. To solve that overcrowding, CEDIA is offering the rackbuilding course three separate times on September 5.
CEDIA's courses are divided into five main categories:
- Technician
- Designer
- Project Manager
- Business
- Customer Relations
Dave Evans Keynote, New Hire Training Package
The keynote speaker for CEDIA 2017 is Dave Evans, who is the co-founder of Stringify. Evans coined the term “Internet of Everything” at Cisco. The keynote will take place Wednesday, September 6 at 5:30 p.m.
“I have followed Dave Evans career for probably the last 10 or 15 years,” notes Pedigo. “We have used his data research for years. He is about the most inciteful keynote speakers that I have ever seen. Those who attend the keynote are going to get a ton out of it.”
Beyond CEDIA 2017, Pedigo hailed the response the association is receiving to its New Hire Training Package of online courses. The courses are aimed at new employees so dealers can rapidly onboard them in the technical areas of custom installation. Each section has quizzes that must be passed. In all the package is about 10 hours of time that can be taken at the leisure of the technician.
