As the executive editor of CE Pro, one of my chief duties come CEDIA Expo season (which, if you haven’t noticed, is starting early this year) is to develop content for the Smart Stage. For the unaccustomed, the Smart Stage is the show floor forum to discuss trends, new technologies, industry initiatives, highlight innovative products, showcase the most outstanding projects in the industry, and highlight the people that make a difference in our unique industry.
Along with myself, Senior Editor Nick Boever, my counterpart Dan Ferrisi of Commercial Integrator, and CEDIA Expo/CIX show director Jason McGraw, we curated what we think is an absolute banger of a program that you can hit up as you’re walking around the Expo floor this September.
Some key things we’re focusing on are AI both in the home and in your office, home infrastructure like lighting and energy, working with the design-build trades and how the industry is supporting integrators with design-focused products, rising trends in home entertainment, the fundamentals of diversifying your revenue base with commercial projects, and so much more.
These sessions didn’t just appear out of thin air. They were the product of many conversations, both external and internal.
In many ways, the Smart Stage sessions are a product of the CE Pro and CEDIA Expo/CIX staff simply listening to all of you. Our days are spent having conversations with and interviewing integrators, manufacturers, industry groups, distributors, and more about just what they’re seeing and hearing on the ground. Those conversations inform our content decisions, and we bring that same process to the Smart Stage.
With that same thinking, I invite you all to chime in on these and suggest some questions that you want answered. Planning is well underway and some of the sessions are fully built-out with panelists and content, but if you’re interested in participating or want to sponsor any of these, we’re all ears. If you have some questions you want to see answered during any of these panels, let me know. Shoot me an email: [email protected].
Here’s a look at some of the sessions we’re particularly excited about.
Manufacturer CEOs Panel: Forecasting the Next Five Years of Custom Integration
The annual State of the Industry panel, featuring industry association and buying group heads, is a staple and will continue this year. However, we also thought it was important for you all to hear from manufacturing leaders about their take on the state of the industry.
We plan to ask questions about macroeconomics and remedial business strategies, emerging technologies, what these business leaders are doing to solve issues you’re facing at ground level, and other hot-button topics. Representatives from some of the industry’s biggest brands will be up there for this panel.
If you have something you want to ask these industry leaders, let us know!
Artificial Intelligence in the Home and Office
It wouldn’t really be a professional-grade smart home trade show without some discussion on AI. However, we’re coming at this from all possible angles.
This year, the AI topic has more weight behind it, as vendors are increasingly making the vision of the super-intelligent home a reality and not just a futuristic idea of what could be.
Recent releases from Josh.ai, Savant, Nice and others are more purposefully bringing more intelligent experiences to homeowners, pushing us just a bit further down the road towards an era where controlling and securing your home are truly seamless. We’ll hear from some of these thought leaders about what is possible today and what they’re working on.
Although it’s not nearly as sexy, the back-office benefits of AI are likely greater than the applications of AI to your clients. We’ll look at innovative ways industry players are using AI to streamline operations and become more efficient.
If your company uses AI in effective and interesting ways, hit me up.
Energy Management: Why Energy is the Real Issue Behind Smart Home System Issues
This session piggybacks off of our first-ever Power & Energy Management Deep Dive, which took a look at this growing market and technology that is truly becoming foundational to residential projects. Specifically, this looks at why power—and not other systems like control or networking—are often the cause of system performance issues.
At the same time, our research also shows that many of you still struggle with the fundamentals of power and energy management. Similar to the conversation around lighting and shading in recent years, power is a growing category that requires much more how-to education. We felt strongly that we should include this panel and facilitate those conversations about the fundamentals, and the “why” behind selling power systems.
Beyond the Big Screen: Video Walls and the Rise of Extra-Large Displays
Thanks to innovation in the display market, video walls are becoming legitimate contenders for home cinemas and other use cases in high-end homes. Once primarily a commercial technology, the residential channel is becoming much more open to the idea of replacing projection systems or just larger TVs with video walls. In fact, we’re hearing quite a bit from you folks about your increasing willingness to spec and install video walls.
There’s quite a bit of healthy competition in the market, with channel players Just Video Wall challenging industry giants like Samsung, LG and Sony.
Are you looking to start recommending and selling big-ticket items like video walls? You shouldn’t miss this for some actionable insights on how to do just that. Send me your burning video wall questions.
From Homes to Main Street: Scaling to Light Commercial Projects
CEDIA Expo is of course mainly a residential technology show, but we can’t ignore the increasing amount of commercial projects you’re all taking on. Our annual State of the Industry report found that about half of you all do some kind of commercial work in one way or another. And, according to CE Pro 100 data (that you’ll all read later this month), commercial work made up 12.5 of total projects, which is nothing to sneeze at.
In many cases, commercial projects require the same technologies integrators already deploy in homes. Depending on the size of the home, it has the technology capacity of a small business. However, they come with slightly different expectations around reliability, networking, service agreements and design workflows. The thought here is to explore how to take on commercial work while avoiding common mistakes that derail those early projects.
If you’ve been wanting to diversify your revenue base with some more commercial work, then check this one out.
A Few Sessions on Design-Build and Aesthetics
I’m not sure if you folks are aware, but interior designers, architects and custom home builders are important trade partners. That’s of course a joke, as you all hear about this at every industry conference, let alone in your day-to-day of navigating these relationships.
Despite this topic being ubiquitous in our industry, it’s still a challenge for a lot of you. Forming relationships with these trades brings you an endless stream of lucrative projects, but how do you present yourself as a credible trade partner?
We’ll explore how to do just that by shifting your approach to selling technology, leading more with design-focused solutions and technologies that bridge the gap between someone with a passion for technology and someone with an eye for design.
Are you still leading client conversations with AV or security, or are you leading with more design-focused categories like lighting and shading? What about the audio solutions you’re selling—are they traditional unsightly black boxes, or are they elegantly designed or integrated into the home’s architecture?
These sessions will look at all of these topics:
- Get Your Foot in the Door with Design Build
- Upsell Enablers: Lighting & Shading as the Front Door
- How Do You Want Your Audio to Look?
Awards!
The Smart Stage has always been home to our annual announcement of the CE Pro Home of the Year and BEST Product awards, and that’s not changing. However, what is changing is some of the award categories that we’re offering. We took a look at these programs and brought them up to speed with current trends in the market. The BEST Product Awards is now live and accepting submissions, and the Home of the Year program will follow suit next month.
We’re also very excited for the Smart Stage to host the first Best Booth Awards, which highlights the most eye-catching booths on the show floor.
It will also be CE Pro’s second year using the stage to highlight its Women to Watch honorees, recognizing women making a significant impact in the industry. Keep your eyes out for the impending call for submissions for this year’s class.
Check out the Smart Stage schedule
This is just a look at some of the sessions our editors helped create when we see you all in Denver this September, but you can view the full Smart Stage schedule on the CEDIA Expo website.
