Strategy in TECH...
In a communication with dealers this week, Nice North America, the global holding company for many important custom integration brands, announced it has pulled out of the CEDIA Expo 2026. The company says this is a “strategic” move as it seeks to focus its marketing investments on “initiatives that deliver greater value…”
The past couple of years there’s been a lot said about the value and effectiveness of CEDIA Expo. While some of the criticisms may be valid, it does not mean that industry professionals should skip the event because its usefulness has passed.
Here are my thoughts on some of the powerful, but intangible, benefits of attending our industry’s most important trade show.
Emerald Expositions, part of Emerald Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: EEX) and owners of CEDIA Expo and CEPro, has reported that final attendance at CEDIA Expo 2025, “the premier event for the custom systems integration industry,” establishes it was yet another year of declining participation. This rather sobering news is consistent with feedback I received from several exhibitors at the event this year – almost all of whom told me that attendance was noticeably off, with several saying it was significantly down from last year.
Now we know with certainty, even with Emerald’s attempt to hide the real attendance figures, that attendance at Expo 2025 was in fact appreciably below attendance at Expo 2024 last year.
Another CEDIA Expo has come and gone, and the version this year, Expo 2025, had its share of disappointments, minor advances, AND pleasant surprises from several companies. In this post, I will share a brief synopsis of the items I saw that caught my attention. Many of these will be the subject of a more extensive article later, but this gives you an overview of some of the items I found interesting.
CEDIA Expo 2025 wrapped last week, and show-owner Emerald Exposition’s Group Vice President Jason McGraw gave the event a solid thumbs up. In an email to Strata-gee, McGraw told me that, “All reports we’ve received from exhibitors have been positive and we’ve had a very successful rebooking for next year’s show.” But my survey of exhibitors and attendees – and my own observations – uncovered some dark and disturbing undercurrents that – absent any corrective action – portend a troubling future for the event.
Just two-and-a-half short weeks prior to the launch of CEDIA EXPO 2025, I reported that LG Electronics had decided to exit the show floor of the event, but was reviewing “alternative exposition options.” I noted that the major global electronics brand did have a meeting room reserved (MR#210), which could be repurposed as a smaller display area, but otherwise had no large exhibit space on the floor as they have had in past years.
Now the company has updated its plans to include a display on the floor…just not in an LG booth.
CEDIA, the trade group with the new tagline The Association for Smart Home Professionals, has announced that it has selected Chip Wade, a TV personality from certain Home and Garden Television (HGTV) shows, as the keynote presenter for CEDIA Expo 2025, taking place in two weeks in Denver, CO, from September 3-6. Wade’s presentation is titled Beyond the Blueprint: Where Innovation Meets Intention.
Multiple sources over the last several weeks have reported that LG Electronics has decided not to exhibit at the upcoming 2025 CEDIA Expo, which begins in less than three weeks at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver, Colorado. While many industry people appear to be aware of this fact, most have no idea why the leading TV maker has made this decision.
Data from the 2024 CEDIA Expo in Denver, CO this past September shows a troubling trend – attendance actually declined…and declined appreciably – from the 2023 version of the event. And this decline took place even though the promoter has combined CEDIA Expo with a new event (new last year), the Commercial Integrator Expo (CIX), which was probably an effort to boost attendance numbers.
Once again, the industry gathered to celebrate the world of custom integration last month at the CEDIA Expo 2024 in Denver, Colorado. An annual event that is part business conference, part education/training confab, and part social get-together & party, many in the industry look forward to this one-time seminal event in anticipation of finding the seeds of future business growth in the innovation shown there.
This week, Emerald Expositions released the registration numbers for CEDIA Expo & Commercial Integrator Expo 2024 (CIX), but did not disclose the verified attendance number. At first, I thought this was an oversight…
