This week's episode of Automation Unplugged featuring Daryl Friedman, Global President and CEO of CEDIA. Although we informed you on show 270 in late July that Automated unplugged would relaunch in mid September with our new weekly format, we decided to bring you this episode right away, to help you understand what is going on at the CEDIA trade organization and at the upcoming CEDIA Expo in a few weeks.

About Daryl Friedman:

Daryl has over 30 years of distinguished experience in nonprofit leadership, and brings a wealth of expertise and accomplishments to his role as CEDIA's Global President and CEO when he joined the organization in November of 2021. His career has been marked by an impressive track record in overseeing membership, advocacy, industry relations, and the technical wing for the prestigious Recording Academy, known for the GRAMMY Awards, prior to joining CEDIA. Before that, he was a senior executive at the renowned performing arts center, Wolf Trap National Park of the Performing Arts.

Daryl's academic journey began with an undergraduate degree in economics from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and continued with a master's degree in arts management from American University in Washington, D.C. He currently resides in the Washington, D.C. area.

Interview Recap

• How CEDIA is launching a consumer-focused campaign to raise awareness about the value of working with a professional integrator.
• Daryl’s advocacy on Capitol Hill, where he and industry members are educating Congress to help get integrators recognized as a stand alone industry at the federal level.
• How CEDIA is striving to meet the needs of their market by producing relevant and valuable educational content for the industry at Expo.

SEE ALSO: Show #270: Special Announcement From Ron Callis: What’s Ahead for Automation Unplugged

Transcript

Ron:

Hello, hello, Ron Callis here with another episode of Automation Unplugged. We're here for a special episode for CEDIA. In fact, CEDIA is around the corner. So I'm actually recording this here in mid-August. Today's August 15th. And we're early morning. And this is when I was free. I'm actually getting ready to head off on a little vacation with my family. Daryl, my guest, is also free. And I was like, Daryl, we got to connect and catch up on what's going on. First of all, within the association, and of course, what's going on in the Expo, which is just around the corner. And so I'm super excited to bring to you today my special guest, Daryl Friedman, the Global President and CEO of CEDIA, our trade organization. So let me go ahead and bring in Daryl and start the fun. Daryl, how are you, sir?

Daryl:

I'm good. Thank you for having me on this show. I've been wanting to be on. Long-time listener, first-time caller.

Ron:

It is my honor that you are here with us this morning. This is our new format, so I like to always be transparent with my audience. We're recording this on Thursday morning, August 15th. And we're going to get this show dropped here, I think within this coming week, so that everyone has a chance to give it a listen or a watch prior to CEDIA. Because we do have CEDIA right around the corner, at least the Expo. And I'm curious, what's life like for you and your staff right now in preparation for the show?

Daryl:

It's hectic. The staff is working very hard. Obviously, we partner with Emerald Expositions. They own the show, the CEDIA Expo show, but we do so much for that show in terms of promoting and programming the educational conference, special events, our own networking, of course, in our booth. So it's a pretty hectic time. And of course, all the other associational work that's happening at the same time, unrelated to CEDIA Expo. So this is not a lax time for the CEDIA team.

Ron:

I know so many CEDIA, so many members of our industry, I'm betting probably are curious, like what's the difference between the CEDIA Expo? Because so many, let's just be honest, so many folks think of CEDIA as the CEDIA Expo. And when that got sold to Emerald, who now runs the CEDIA Expo, they're like, well, what exactly is the CEDIA Association doing? And that's what you're running. And I know you guys are...you're always calm and cool, Daryl, whenever I see you, but I know you're like a duck on water and you're kicking really hard. And you and your team are always so busy. So there's so many different initiatives that you guys are doing that matter to everyone. Certainly, if you're listening to Automation Unplugged, then what you and your staff are doing is very critical to their success. And I want to get into that. I have a lot of different topics I want to dig into. But before we go there, where are you coming to us from? Where do you live? It looks like maybe we're in a home office right now.

Daryl:

Yeah, this is my home office just outside Washington, D.C., in Arlington, Virginia. So my last career was very D.C.-focused, and I went into the city every day. But this is kind of a comfortable place for me to do podcasts and do my normal day-to-day work.

Ron:

Got it. Understood. Well, let's go back. There will be some folks tuned in that don't know you. Maybe they've never met you. I'm sure they've seen you or heard you at a show speaking. Would you mind going into a little bit of your background? Just kind of tell us where you came from.

Daryl:

Sure, yeah. Whoever is watching this that doesn't know me, please come up at Expo and say hello so I can meet you. I'd love to meet our members. But basically I'm an association nonprofit professional. That was my educational training. That was my work. I've been in a nonprofit my whole life. So mostly on the music side, the last job I had over 20 years was for the Grammy Awards. And I was the chief industry relations advocacy, government relations officer, and industry relations. So a lot of that was dealing with the same kinds of things that we deal with at CEDIA, which is membership and industry engagement, education, all those things but in a different industry, for the music industry. So when CEDIA called, I was very excited because I could transfer a lot of those experiences and those skills to CEDIA. One of the nice things was that the through line for me was audio. One of the portfolios I carried at the Grammys was I oversaw the producers and engineers wing executive. And those men and women taught me truly how to appreciate audio, how to listen in a way that I hadn't before. And so when CEDIA called, and I knew that was such a big part and the legacy of CEDIA, it really is audio visual. It was exciting for me to take that, but also take the associational knowledge that I had learned and bring that to CEDIA, because most of CEDIA, my predecessors, have not been nonprofit or association professionals. So that's kind of my story in a nutshell. I can elaborate on it, but you don't want to hear my...I worked with politicians and artists, two of the most interesting populations in the world. And I could go on for a couple hours on stories about that.

Ron:

When you were with the Grammys, would you go...I mean, so would you like...were you a lobbyist? Would you go and lobby people in D.C., and what's an example? I don't know if I understand what that means. I know I've always seen it in the movies and on TV, but like you go into D.C. and you try to get…what would you do? Like what's an example of something you could talk about, at least on the Grammys side, because then we'll transition that to the CEDIA side. What's an example of something you would go and do in D.C?

Daryl:

Well, to give you some background, when I started the job at the Grammys, we started to hear about this new thing called streaming and file sharing. Napster is just a new word. So literally we had to change the entire economics of the music industry. Going from selling physical product to selling streaming. So really, it took many years to get that. I was very proud to help pass the Music Modernization Act. The copy of the bill and a signing pen is behind me.

Ron:

I see it right there, yeah.

Daryl:

But that was an example. But a lot of what I would do, because my approach to advocacy is not to have a professional lobbyist talk to members of Congress. It's to have the community talk. So I would bring artists to Washington, and we did an event every year. And so those connections between artists and politicians were very good because they both kind of feel like the world revolves around them. But now that we're at CEDIA, we're doing the same thing, essentially. Bring our integrators to Washington and let them talk directly to our members of Congress to make sure that the policies important to this industry are also carried through. So that's pretty much what a lobbyist does, just advocate for their industry.

Ron:

When you were with the Grammys, was there an awareness for you at that time that there was an industry designing, installing, programming, servicing these technology systems, probably in some of those musicians' homes, but certainly in homes and businesses across the country? Did you know that that industry existed or did that awareness come later?

Daryl:

I did. I knew about CEDIA because actually the producers and engineers wing that I mentioned had endorsed one of CEDIA's immersive audio training years and years ago. So I was aware of CEDIA. I just didn't know the expanse of what CEDIA did. I really didn't. I had no idea of how much CEDIA did and how many areas it covered. But I was certainly aware when the recruiter called me. They said, have you heard about CEDIA? I said, I love CEDIA, of course. Yeah, we know all about it.

Ron:

That's awesome. You joined CEDIA in November of 2021. And here we are, August 2024. How would you describe the last three years?

Daryl:

It's been exhilarating. When I came to CEDIA, I saw so much potential for what it could be. So the first part of my first few months was really just listening to members, not trying to come in here and say, I know what's best for this industry because I was coming from the outside, and I knew that and I acknowledge that, but I wanted to hear from our members what they wanted from us. It was very telling. Those things that they told me in those first few months are the things that we've been working on and I think having some success right now. They had trouble with talent and talent acquisition. There was a labor shortage. Most association executives, by the way, when they go say, what's the most important thing to a member, they say, bring me more business. So I was surprised to hear my members say, I have so much business, I can't handle it. Bring me more talent, bring me more technicians. So that's when we started the CEDIA Next Gen initiative, which was to bring more people into the industry. But the other thing they emphasize was recognition of our industry to be on equal footing with the other trades, to have people aware of the need for a smart home professional. So that's been what we've been focusing a lot on specifically this year.

Ron:

You might expound on that. So the idea of raising consumer awareness, is that what you're describing?

Daryl:

Yeah, that's a big part of it. I think it's awareness from a number of ways. So one is governmental, which we've talked about a little bit, we touched on, to make sure that the policies are friendly to our industry. One is with other trades like the design and build community. But the third is with consumers. And I've told this story a lot when I started, which is because I knew CEDIA, when I started to interview for this job I went to my wife's upstairs, to her home office, and said: you don't have any history of your search, so just go search for finding a smart home installer. And CEDIA was very hard to find. And so that's one of the things we're working on right now. We'll be launching, we have a consumer campaign in place, some back-end stuff. You'll start to see CEDIA rankings increasing, a lot more people coming to our site, organic clicks and things like that. But we also have a consumer campaign that's going directly to the consumer to say: this is why you want to use a smart home professional. I think many consumers just think you can go to a big box store, find a product, plug it in, and you've got a smart home. And what we're trying to explain to them is you wouldn't DIY your electrical system. You wouldn't DIY your plumbing system. This is the same thing. You want to use a professional to make sure it's professionally designed and installed and easy and seamless to use. So that's part of this consumer campaign. We really want to elevate that awareness to the marketplace.

Ron:

At One Firefly, we've been members of CEDIA since 2007. And I've been going to CEDIA trade shows since 2000. So this is like 25 years of attending the show. I know everyone thinks I'm 25 years old, but I’m a couple of years older than that. So I'll describe, I've had lots of conversations with lots of people over many years about CEDIA. For and against anywhere from the spectrum of big fans to like, what is it and why does it matter? And one theme that I've heard, and I'll just go into the past because I'm blending lots of years of input, is that there would be statements such as, well, the customer doesn't know what CEDIA is. Or the customer doesn't care if I am or am not a CEDIA member. And something I've never heard CEDIA do is to actually go out to the consumer and to try to raise awareness. I don't recall any initiative in all the years, and I could be misremembering, but I don't recall any initiatives where CEDIA was actively doing that. Is that something, Daryl, that you've brought to the table from some of your experiences in your past, to say that this is a smart place for CEDIA to spend time, money, and energy to try to raise that awareness? And that sounds really hard to do, and it sounds expensive. So can you just maybe take us through how you're thinking about that?

Daryl:

Yeah, I actually think it's a very important initiative. It's something that's mattered to CEDIA since...I've seen in the founding documents literally saying like, you know, to raise the awareness of this industry, the professionalism of this industry. But 35 years ago, it would have been pretty hard to do. You're not going to buy a Super Bowl ad. So today, because we can do this video and have OTT placement of this and other things that we can do behind the scenes like SEO work that we're just starting now, I think it's much easier.

Ron:

Did you say that dirty word called marketing? Oh, my God.

Daryl:

Yeah, I know. I love it. My first job was a marketing director for a nonprofit, so I love it. But I do think it's time for CEDIA to have that awareness, because you're right. And the members who've complained have been right, that when they go to a home, the consumer doesn't necessarily care or know whether or not they're a member. We want to change that. We want to make sure the consumer understands that if you want to get this job done right, you want to use someone who's trained, who's a member of a professional association, who's ideally certified. And that's the approach behind this consumer campaign. And it is expensive, I will say. We have our financial house in order now. There have been many years of red that I came into, but last year we had a balanced budget. This year we're forecasting a profit, and the board has been very supportive of this, understands the need for this, and have authorized a budget for it that I think is going to be an effective campaign.

Ron:

I think that's amazing. Are you allowed, and you mentioned some high level, I heard you drop some buzzwords there. You said SEO and you mentioned a video and are there specific activities that you could go into more detail and what type of audiences that you're trying to put the brand in front of or the message in front of, or is CEDIA the show in a few weeks, is that the place to hear that message from you? When could the members hear that? More detail in terms of how you're doing that outreach.

Daryl:

Yeah, I think the CEDIA Expo is primarily a B2B show. We do utilize it as a springboard to try and get press and other things. But I think our attempt is going to be year round to reach the consumer through the things we've talked about, but also through media relations. We're starting to see now through the efforts of our communications department, more placements in non channel media.

Ron:

I have one of those, Daryl. I grabbed it. I'm going to put it on the screen and maybe you could tell, is this an example of what you're talking about? Let's see if I can get technology to behave. For those that are listening to this in audio, I'm about to share my screen. There we go. I just did it. And my team, actually Allison on my team, found this mensjournal.com story. And the story is titled: Is it safe to buy a smart home? Homebuyers should consider these tips. And this article is clearly talking about CEDIA. And there's a quote from you, Daryl. There's a quote from you in the article. In Men's Journal, it says properly installed smart home automation can differentiate a property and add tremendous value, notes Daryl Friedman, CEDIA Global President. Is this an example of some of the PR outreach that you guys are doing?

Daryl:

Yeah, it's one of many that you're going to be seeing. This one was on Men's Journal, but it was picked up by Yahoo. So we've got millions of more views through that platform. Others we've had done, some are coming. We have a potential for a monthly column in a consumer publication. All of this does two things. One, every time we get in front of the consumer, they understand the importance of using a professional, using a CEDIA member, but it also just gets our name out there. The backlink goes back to our site, so that helps our SEO. All of this works in tandem, so we can get just that awareness level back. You're going to see another one we're posting today from Homes and Gardens. Anytime we can get in front of the consumer directly through media relations, we will use that opportunity. I'm very happy with the approach that we've taken with that.

Ron:

So the marketing educator in me just has to make an educational point here. You just said something very specific that those that are out there could learn from. You've done a piece of PR. It's been placed on a valuable high traffic site. And the fact that that high traffic site, which probably has a high DR, high DA, high domain authority, is linking back to your website, in this case, CEDIA.org, that's gonna give your CEDIA.org website lift. Not only is it gonna give it traffic, but it's also gonna give it what's called a quality link, which Google thinks very highly of. So for those of you that are out there saying, why would I ever do a PR strategy for my business? There's the obvious and then there's a little bit less obvious, more nuanced benefits of doing things like that. And I know you have Christine on your team, and she and you are experts at marketing. And so that's really cool to see that you're practicing strategies like that.

Daryl:

It's nice to talk to someone who knows about this and obviously knows this world. You've probably forgotten more than I'll ever know about this. But yeah, this is all part of just creating authority for CEDIA. You know, on the website, and in Washington and, you know, among other adjacent trades, it's just making CEDIA the authority.

Ron:

No, I love it. I grabbed some other recent press releases from the CEDIA Association website, CEDIA.org. And Daryl, I was wondering if I could kind of rapid fire, go through these and have you maybe just speak to them. What are these topics or initiatives and kind of get everyone informed or brought up to speed? Would that be okay? Sure.

Ron:

All right, so back in March, I noticed that a bunch of my friends with you guys were out there in D.C., marching on D.C., on Capitol Hill. And by the way, again, if you're listening to this, I'm sharing this press release from the CEDIA.org website. And this, the title of this release is: CEDIA takes on Washington, the FCC and More. Can you maybe walk us through what exactly you guys were doing in D.C. and what you hope to accomplish?

Daryl:

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, CEDIA has done a great job for many years on state work because that's so important to the licensing of our profession and making sure that we don't have to be electricians to do the work that we do in low voltage. And CEDIA's just, before I came on, CEDIA had so much success on this. I was so proud of what they accomplished, including making integrators essential workers during the lockdown. But we hadn't really worked much in Washington at the federal level. So the first thing we did was when the FCC was trying to put an imprimatur on boxes about cybersecurity, we wanted the FCC to know that we exist. And that was the first time that CEDIA went on the record with the federal government. And that was earlier in the year. So we filed comments with the FCC. But more importantly, then later in March, we brought a delegation to Washington of some board members, some major manufacturers, and really educated the Congress on our industry. We spent a whole day doing meetings, breaking up into groups, and we had a number of different objectives. One was to kind of just explain who we are and introduce ourselves. One was to talk about this workforce bill that's going to help people use their 529 savings plans for technical education instead of just four-year colleges. But the last one was really about this technology integrator occupation code. We don't exist as far as the federal government is concerned. They consider an integrator a telephone repair person. So we want to make sure that part of this expanding awareness means that we have a profession that is recognized by the United States government. And we just filed comments in that proceeding, and we're asking all of our members and non-members, anyone in the industry to please, contact their member of Congress through their CDF website. And there's a very easy way to do it. It takes two minutes. You can ask your member of Congress to support our efforts and that will actually amplify this, this whole campaign.

Ron:

Where could anyone listening or watching get explicit detail on what you want them to do? Is it on this press release or do they come in, maybe approach you or your team at the CEDIA Expo in a few weeks? How can the team, how can anyone listening, support what you're describing?

Daryl:

Yeah, I think, if it's okay and post run up, I'll give you a link that goes directly to the action site. And so when you go to this action site, there'll be a link. You can go directly to it. All you do is put your name and address in. It will automatically tell you who your member of Congress is if you don't know. It will have a pre-populated letter that you can alter and customize if you want. And it'll send that letter to your member of Congress. The whole thing takes two minutes, but it's so powerful because that member of Congress then understands, oh, I have something in my district, something called an integrator who cares and who's watching and who's voting. And who's my boss. And I have to do what they say. So I'm encouraging everybody in this industry to follow that link. Take two minutes and just send that letter to your member of Congress.

Ron:

That's awesome. What we'll do is we'll drop that link down into the show comments to make sure that everyone on social media sees that. And then we'll put that down into the show notes on the website so that everyone gets easy access to that. Awesome. All right. I'm going to jump to the next. Well, actually, you know what? I did have one question. Did you guys succeed? Like, did you succeed in making the integrator a type of job, or is that a long, slow process, or what's the timing of that?

Daryl:

So by government standards, it's a short process. But by normal standards, it's a very long process. It's once every 10 years, the government evaluates the job classification. So this is our moment. We have to act today. But in terms of just getting this done, the first stage of this was filing comments. And then that will be a couple of years before they finalize the rules. So it'll be, I think, 2028 before this is all finalized. But in the meantime, there are steps that we need to take to keep this going. So we did succeed in Washington, because we got in Washington members of Congress who agreed to champion us and start this letter campaign to the Department of Labor to do this. So it was a great day and I think it was very successful.

Ron:

Okay, that's awesome. Next, well, you have ongoing activities regarding the CEDIA Tech Summits. And so I wanted to share that. I know One Firefly is actually going to be there through our Amplify People talent acquisition business. We're actually going to be at a bunch of the Tech Summits this fall. And so if you maybe could give everyone kind of an update, what's going on in the world of CEDIA Tech Summits? What can people expect at these Tech Summits? Why should they go? Who should go? Tell us, tell us everything.

Daryl:

Yeah, this is part of a multi-stage platform for us. Our pillars, or we call our ACE, is advocacy, connection, and education. So we talked about advocacy, and the Tech Summits really are those second two pieces, connection and education. We want to be everywhere the members are. So not everyone can come to ISE, not everyone can come to CEDIA Expo. So we bring these Tech Summits all over the world to have a one-day version of that, to see some products, to get some education, to network. And so we think that's a great approach. So we're taking a little hiatus now from the first half of the year. We were in California and other places around the United States, and the UK and India and Australia. And then we're coming up to the second phase after the CEDIA Expo, which will be in Florida, New York, and other places around the world. So this is really a way of just getting our message out to wherever they are. And we want our members to be able to experience CEDIA in their home city.

Ron:

Well, I love that. And if someone goes to these events, is it vendors that are at the event and they can expect a little bit of a mini CEDIA experience? Is there education? And if so, what type of education would they expect there?

Daryl:

Yeah, it's a very scaled down version. Nothing like CEDIA Expo, which is so expansive. And I encourage everyone to come to Expo to see these full booths. Tech Summits are more tabletop approach. So it's smaller sponsors just showing something, you know, certain products, talking about their products, but still very valuable because it's local, it's in your community. You know, a company may not be able to send their entire staff of 20 to Denver, but they can, if Tech Summits come to their community, they can send all their technicians. So that's the advantage here. But the education pieces range. We have some aspirational things about building your business, and folks like you and others have talked about finance and business and marketing. And then we have technical education as well. One of the things we're focused on at a lot of these is our new recommended practices in immersive audio, which the industry has embraced. And that's just to raise the bar and increase the quality on immersive audio. So a lot of that training will be at the Tech Summits as well as at CEDIA Expo.

Ron:

Love it. All right. Well, in my rapid fire effort here, I'm going to click to my next press release. This one just came out a week ago and this says CEDIA. Okay. So this is what you had already talked about. CEDIA leads industry efforts to establish technology integrator as U.S. recognized occupation. So that release officially came out last week. By the way, if that, if you aren't successful, I mean, you're going to be successful because I have faith in you, but if you aren't successful, what does it mean? Like what's the ramifications to everyone in our space?

Daryl:

I'm going to answer that question by telling you what the ramifications are when we are successful.

Ron:

I love it. You're going to plant that positive vision in the future. You will succeed. What will it do?

Daryl:

It means a couple of things. One is it could mean some very basic economic improvements such as a decrease in the cost of insurance. Because if you're under this category that's electricians, you may have a higher insurance cost. So it could be some value there. It could mean more recruitment for talent. When we're trying to do the CEDIA Next Gen and trying to bring people in the industry, they have to see it as a recognized industry. Also, our Vice President of Education, our new gentleman, Paul Dolenc, is working on potentially having an apprenticeship program in the United States. That's also tied to having an actual industry occupation. But also for the consumer, this all kind of ties back together. The consumer needs to understand that we are a profession and having the United States government endorse that and claim that and have that category will benefit everything we're doing.

Ron:

And we are going to be successful.

Daryl:

Yes. Well, we'll do this podcast again in 2028.

Ron:

2028. We're going to have cakes and candles and fireworks shooting from that cake, and we're going to be celebrating.

Daryl:

With our robots.

Ron:

With our robot minions doing the dishes downstairs.

Daryl:

Yes.

Ron:

All right. Next. This is pivoting. You guys have been busy with your releases because, oh my gosh, you guys have a headliner coming to keynote the CEDIA Expo. And this is the CEDIA Association coordinating this keynote at the CEDIA Expo. Is that correct?

Daryl:

That's correct. And thank you for making that distinction because the CEDIA Association still has a lot of stake in CEDIA Expo, even though we don't own it anymore. We partner very closely with Emerald Expositions. And one of the things that we do is we program the educational conference, but also the keynote that goes along with that. So very excited to have Barry joining us, you know, very acclaimed film director and also a tech enthusiast. So this really, he'll be able to speak to something that's so important to many of our industry members, which is the value of having quality home cinema and as a director, you want to as the creator, you want to have the person watching that movie at home see it the way you envisioned it. So this all sprung from a very prominent member of our industry, Richard Charschan, who spearheaded a new book to try and motivate people to have high quality home cinema. And Richard connected us with Barry. And so now we have him as our keynote, and it's going to tie in nicely to a lot of the things we're doing at Expo, which is focusing on really what's part of CEDIA's DNA, which is AV. And as I said, this industry has embraced the new recommended practice for immersive audio. And so Barry's going to tie in all of that together to make sure that we have a great emphasis on high quality AV.

Ron:

I love that. And I think I actually have Richard scheduled to come on the show in September.

Daryl:

Great.

Ron:

So he's going to be talking to us in more detail. I'm excited for that.

Daryl:

Richard's one of the people I've known the longest in this industry because he was a member of my last association. And we realized when we met at CEDIA that we had met previously at some of the Grammy events.

Ron:

So two quick topics. Again, staying on the association, I'm just curious about membership. Where are you guys at with membership? Is it growing? Is it declining? Are you guys staying the same? What are you seeing? I'm going to call that, what's the temperature of the space out there? And if people are joining the association, I'm going to call that a super cool sign. So what are you seeing?

Daryl:

Yeah, I think people are starting to see the value of the association beyond what it used to be, which is producing a trade show. Last year we had the highest number of new members that we've ever had in our history. And this year we're doing a campaign to really kind of educate people even more. We're calling the campaign: CEDIA is the home for home technology professionals. CEDIA integrators, they take care of other people's homes. They're so focused on making everybody else happy in their home, but they need a home too. And we see CEDIA as that home. So that's kind of the theme of our campaign that we hope will bring in more members. Also, as people see the work we're doing beyond the trade show, like advocacy, we had people joining us and we'd also do a state advocacy day in Lansing because there was an issue on licensing there. So we had some non-members from Michigan come to that lobby day. They joined the next day because they understand the value of what CEDIA is doing in this world. So really, it's part of the educational process. I see nothing but upside and growth for our membership in the coming years.

Ron:

You, I know, I believe this is not a secret. So, and if it is, you could say, Ron, I can't talk about it. But I think that you have announced, maybe at ISE, or you had mentioned it somewhere, about new technology or whether it's a new phone, whether it's an app or access for the members to get more information about CEDIA and to make that information more at their fingertips. What was that? And what can you talk about here?

Daryl:

Yeah, I'm happy to give you the scoop. The exclusive.

Ron:

It's not breaking news. It broke somewhere else, but you're going to reiterate whatever that is.

Daryl:

Yeah, we mentioned it at the annual meeting at ISE, but we're now in beta testing for a new app, the CEDIA app, which will be a way for our industry not sitting behind a computer. They're out on the road in people's homes. They need a portable solution. So it's going to be a way for us to convey all of the things of all of our pillars: advocacy, connection, and education. But connection is really going to be the most important piece of this because it's going to have forums and groups for people to be able to share knowledge and talk to each other and have special interest areas for immersive audio or lighting and ambience or shading or just about CEDIA. So we're excited. It's in beta now. We hope to have a demonstration of it at CEDIA Expo and launch it this year.

Ron:

That sounds very exciting. It sounds very exciting. Will people at CEDIA Expo be able to download it or try it out? Or how do you see that getting rolled out?

Daryl:

Yeah, we'll do some demos at CEDIA Expo. It'll probably be later in the year before everyone has it. Again, this will be primarily a member benefit. So if you're a non-member of CEDIA, you know, certainly download the app when it's ready and you'll see some of our press releases and some things that we're working on. But to really get into that rich content and that community feel, it's for members. But there'll be a very easy way to join on the app. So there you go.

Ron:

Love it. All right. So CEDIA Expo. What do we need to know? Tell me everything.

Daryl:

It is the greatest moment in our year. I mean, it really is the exciting thing to see that trade show open when that ribbon cutting happens. It's just like, I still get sort of, this will be my third, but I still get kind of an excited butterflies feeling. CEDIA is focused on promoting and producing the educational content. So you're going to see a lot of very interesting tracks in the education conference this year. It's a thematic approach. In addition to the technical training, we're doing a track that's going to be business and project management. We think that's very important for the industry to have that training. Many of the people who own businesses have said to me, look, I started as a technician. I grew and I wanted to open my own business. Now that business is growing and I need to know more about how to run that business. So that's part of what we do. You know, we have some great trainers such as Leslie Shiner and others on the business and project management track. I will note, you didn't ask me to do this, but I will note that it is sponsored by One Firefly. So we're very grateful to you for that. And in addition to what I talked about earlier, which is the AV piece, I think about this as, CEDIA is our legacy and our future. So CEDIA's legacy, its DNA, is AV. That's where CEDIA started. So we're really leaning into that with Barry and some of this RP22 training and other things. But the future's so many new sectors are opening up. There's an expanded lighting and wellness conference as well as expanded lighting and ambiance exhibitors on the floor this year. So I think that's an area that integrators are telling me is great margins, great new growth area, and we're seeing that in our own research as well.

Ron:

Daryl, will they be spread throughout the floor or is there a designated, or what's the word I'm looking for? Segmented area where those vendors are.

Daryl:

Yeah, they're concentrated, but you'll find them all over the floor. So I encourage anyone who's coming to see the Expo, walk that entire floor. Some of my great surprises and delights have been from corners of the room where I didn't even know about the company. But yeah, we're excited about it. And then, of course, we have our own awards program that will be honoring the best in the Americas. Projects, and just, you know, so many sessions, you know, certifications, conversations with design and build professionals, how to work with designers and architects and builders. So I would encourage everyone to go to cediaexpo.com and really drill down in that conference program. And if you haven't bought the conference pass, you can purchase that through your registration. But it's going to be an exciting few days in Denver.

Ron:

How is education, bookings for education? How's that looking so far pre-show? I know that in recent years, it has looked gangbusters. It's looked really packed and you go into any classroom and it's, I know in many classes last year, it was standing room only. So I'm just curious, what are you seeing so far?

Daryl:

So far so good. There's still some space available and there's still all conference passes available. So I would encourage you to grab those, but there are some very popular programs already in the hundreds of learners in the room. And again, we're trying to meet the needs of our market and produce content that is relevant and valuable to them. So I hope we succeed. And again, I think both the balance of business training and technical training is what this industry needs.

Ron:

So talking about the future, There's some things or technologies that are happening. You mentioned lighting and some power energy automation, and there's some new topics that are becoming more and more popular within our space. And then there's some even more out there. So I'm going to go a little bit out of the box here. And to do that, I'll go back to last year. So in 2023 at CEDIA, that we did a one day, I say we - you, CEDIA, did a one day AI conference and, you know, 2023 was kind of the breakout year for AI. And so I think it was very appropriate to kind of get people acclimated to that. And I've continued to stay tapped into that. And it feels like you're drinking from a fire hose every single day, how much innovation and change is happening in that regard. I was curious, what are your thoughts as to AI technology? And just the impact it will have on our industry. I mean, obviously there's vendors like Josh AI that are integrating AI into their product mix and solutions. But what are your big picture thoughts on AI and for those folks tuned in?

Daryl:

Yeah, what a great topic. That's something of interest to both of us, I know. So last year, we did the CEDIA Symposium for the first time, which was focused on AI. Of course, you spoke at it. And this was an outgrowth. We talk about bridging the legacy of CEDIA to the future. Tom Doherty is the personification of that to me. So Tom was a founder of CEDIA, but he's very interested in AI. And we started to have these conversations, and he really organized this symposium from the ground up. So we, it was the beginning of conversations. So what I'm seeing now in our industry is people using AI for the tools that many others are using AI, which is essentially, you know, proposal writing, marketing, things like that. I think what we're going to be seeing is this industry being on the leading edge of bringing AI into the home. I see our integrators as the ones who will be introducing this concept of true artificial intelligence in the home, where you walk into that home and it recognizes who you are, your needs and your desires, and it adjusts to you. So I really think that the CEDIA integrator can be the leading edge of this technology.

Ron:

Do you think the integrator has to become the expert on that? Or do you think it happens at the manufacturer level and they integrate it into their product mix and it just becomes normal?

Daryl:

Yeah, it's got to be a partnership. And the manufacturers, of course, are going to create this. So Josh AI, which you mentioned, which is a great example of this, very intuitive, very easy to use, very AI driven control system and voice system. But they work with these integrators, do a lot of training with the integrators to make sure that that integrator who is the front line to the homeowner understands that as well. So we all have to be knowledgeable about this, but I think it's a great opportunity for the CEDIA integrator to be that expert in the home.

Ron:

I appreciate you sharing that. I want to go even further out. And some people are going, all right, Ron's lost his marbles here. But I think it seems probable or likely, if you're paying attention to the world of robotics, that there's going to be a next wave of innovation. It's already happening very actively right now around humanoid robotics. And specifically, Elon Musk is the obvious one. Tesla's got their humanoid robot. But there's actually a couple of different manufacturers that have pretty advanced prototypes or products out there. I think BMW in Germany is already testing out some humanoid robots on the floor in some of their plants. And so it seems like we aren't too far away. I don't know if it's three years, five years, seven years. But it seems like we're between the advancement of robotics and the advancement of AI, that we're probably going to have robots in our house before too long. And I think initially, there'll be humanoid robots. And maybe down the road, there'll be more specialized robots based on tasks. And I think it seems reasonable that the integrator is the person bringing this technology to the consumer. I don't know. Is that crazy talk? What do you think about that? Have you put any thought energy into this or is it too far out?

Daryl:

No, it's fun to imagine and think about the role that our industry can play in this. For me, the big question is, will robotics keep up at that same pace as AI? So AI is exponential growth. We know that every day it's getting smarter and smarter. It's teaching itself. It's improving. Where robotics isn't quite working at that same pace. So we want to see that those pair up. And so you can have intelligent robotics in your home. But I think this is a great opportunity for the integrator. I think just like AI, they're the ones who are talking to the homeowner. They're the ones who can be the expert. And, you know, I wouldn't be surprised if next year or the year after you start to see some classes at CEDIA Expo and there are other events dealing with these. We're already talking about AI, we have been for years, but dealing with robotics, pairing up to the AI to make sure that, you know, you have an intelligent servant in your home essentially. And it's a great opportunity. Everything that's new is coming down the pipeline for a homeowner. The CEDIA integrator has the opportunity to be that expert because they are on the front line. They're the ones talking to the actual homeowner and they can become knowledgeable and be that expert.

Ron:

Are you going to put a humanoid robot in your home to help wash the dishes?

Daryl:

I have one.

Ron:

Oh, you have one?

Daryl:

Yeah, I have one right here. Actually, I need some coffee. Not yet, but hopefully we'll be...all of us at CEDIA will be the beta testers. Well, maybe not the beta testers. I don't want the robot to kill me, but you know, ultimately when the products are ready, we'll be able to have those.

Ron:

You watch the Jetsons, right? I watched the Jetsons, the cartoon from the sixties or seventies. I know, I was a child of the late seventies and eighties. So I was watching the reruns, and George Jetson had his robot and, what was the robot's name? What was George Jetson's?

Daryl:

Oh, I can't remember now. I don't know. I know we're all still waiting for those jetpacks. So much of what has been predicted by science fiction has come true, but we're all waiting for those damn jetpacks. Where are they?

Ron:

Jetpacks and those flying cars. But the robots in the house, I think it's eminent. It's eminent. We'll have to pay attention.

Daryl:

It's funny, yeah, just one more thing at our awards ceremony, which I would encourage people to come to. The awards ceremony is free if you're at CEDIA Expo, so please join us.

Ron:

What day is it?

Daryl:

It's fFriday evening, right after the member reception. But the theme of this year is: the future is now. So you're gonna see a lot of Jetson type predictions from the past of what the future would look like and then of course what our people are doing now which is very, very, very much on point for what was predicted and even beyond that.

Ron:

And the name of the robot was Rosie.

Daryl:

Rosie, yes.

Ron:

There you go. We all are going to have a Rosie in our house before we know it. I'm pretty confident. Daryl, we're going to wrap up here in just a few minutes. So I have a high-level question for you. What do you think is the biggest challenge for our industry's continued growth? What are the obstacles that we all need to be focused on overcoming?

Daryl:

Well, there are a number of challenges, but I think the sort of umbrella challenge of all of those is the awareness level of our industry and making sure that we are in equal trade with every other household trade. Plumber, when the construction is happening and you're sitting around a table, that first meeting and the architect is there and the electrician’s there and the plumber’s there and the designer’s there, that integrator needs to be there. Everything else we're doing is all tying to that goal, that vision of having that integrator be at that level. Really everything we've talked about today from, you know, the governmental work to the consumer work, to apprenticeships, to training, is all kind of leveling up to that one big vision, which is to make the integrator that indispensable partner for every home.

Ron:

And I'll inverse the question and say, what has you most excited about the road ahead?

Daryl:

You know, I just think CEDIA has so much potential. I often tell the story when I was at the Grammys, I felt like I was presiding over maybe the end of an association. I don't mean that with any disrespect. I love the organization I worked for. But it was based on a model that was 65 years old of a network television show that everyone would sit around at the same time and watch a TV show. And that just doesn't exist anymore. And so ratings were going down, things like that. And at CEDIA, when I came here, I felt like we're at the beginning of something. I know CEDIA is 35 years old and has done so much great work. But especially after the lockdown, people fully understood the importance of their home, the value of their home and what their home can be. CEDIA is now poised to just be incredible growth. So I'm just excited about the potential and the growth for us and really creating that indispensable industry for the consumers and in the consumer’s mind.

Ron:

Daryl, I'm honored that you're able to join me on this special episode of Automation Unplugged. It's actually our 271st show.

Daryl:

Congratulations.

Ron:

Yeah, thank you. And I just really appreciate you coming on. How can people get in touch with you or learn more about you personally and or the organization at large? Well, I encourage our members to always just reach out to me directly. I'm happy. I love it when they do. I love it when they send me an email to CEO at CEDIA.org. My phone number's in my email signature. It's 317-912-1297. And I just love to talk to our members. So please reach out directly. You can also follow me on LinkedIn. I'm fairly active. So the more I hear from our members, our best ideas come from them. So please do reach out.

Ron:

Awesome. Daryl, it was a pleasure having you on the show, sir. And I'll see you in a few weeks. I'll see you in Denver.

Daryl:

See you in Denver at CEDIA Expo. Thanks, Ron. Great to be on.

Ron:

All right, buddy. Take care.

Ron Callis is the CEO of One Firefly, LLC, a digital marketing agency based out of South Florida and creator of Automation Unplugged. Founded in 2007, One Firefly has quickly became the leading marketing firm specializing in the integrated technology and security space. The One Firefly team work hard to create innovative solutions to help Integrators boost their online presence, such as the elite website solution, Mercury Pro.

Resources and links from the interview:

• CEDIA NextGen Smart Home Career Toolkit
• EContact Your Representative in Congress
• Daryl Friedman LinkedIn page
• CEDIA Official Webpage