Showcasing a 50-foot product integrated demo wall in one location is no small feat for any company. How about taking it to 7 locations across the southeast? For the second year, this is what 21st Century Distributing has done. The show kicked off in Raleigh, N.C. with a second stop in Charleston, S.C. The following weeks’ shows included stops in Orlando, Fla., Tampa, Fla., Charlotte, N.C., Atlanta, and finished up in Nashville,Tenn. Keeping with last year’s trend, the integrated wall showcased participating vendor products focusing on wireless protocols such as Ethernet, WiFi, Z wave, and RF in residential and commercial audio, video, security and surveillance.
New this year was a training series on networking and integration lead by 20-year industry veteran, Michael Pote, 21st Century’s System Integration Specialist. Several locations were standing room only for latecomers as Pote’s integration seminar covered integration and automation via customized control and/or automated solutions. He also touched on control platforms including Clare Controls, URC and RTI (among others) to demonstrate how they combine with other systems for whole house automation. The networking seminar covered the benefits of building a robust, reliable network. Utilizing Luxul products, Pote discussed TCP/IP Subnets, DNS, DHCP, QoS, Port Forwarding, Routing, Switching, POE, Wi-Fi bandwidth, Range, Load balancing and Interference Issues. 21st Century is keeping the good times rolling by continuing the popular Roadshow Training Program throughout the summer. The trainings are now certified by CEDIA and count as CEU credits. From now until August, dealers can sign up for 3 different trainings in 7 cities across the southeast!
Over 30 vendors’ including Sonos, Yamaha, JVC, Wyrestorm and Clearview attended to talk with dealers and showcase their products. Every dealer left the show with some roadshow swag! As attendees left they spun the Wheel of Prizes which was full of discounts, gift cards, and other fun prizes. Vanco, Panamax and Platinum Tools also sponsored some goodies for the wheel. Several grand prizes were announced the week after the show wrapped, including Big Green Egg Grills, Swagtron Hover boards and Omnimount RE18 AV racks.
“The feedback we have received from our dealers in regard to the show has been wonderful and is what makes the Road Show a huge success. As always, our industry is full of amazing manufactures and their support is invaluable. We look forward to continuing to share this experience with them,” said Vanessa Zitzmann, Marketing & Sales for 21st Century Distributing. “We are already looking forward to the 2017 show and are excited to announce Sony as our first sponsor!”
For more information about 21st Century Distributing or the Roadshow Training Program, go to www.21stCenturydist.com.
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