The concept of Smart Buildings is not new. For over two dozen years, the construction design and management industries have been implementing the standards of Building Information Modeling and making each building “smarter” than the next. Gone are the days with manual security systems, manual fire control systems, camera-less buildings or floors and nowadays everything is connected to some sort of networked backbone. And, for good reason.

The average 20-story besieging can save well over $700,000 a year in HVAC, security and power costs by going “smart.”

But, it’s only been recent that BIM has been implemented in the world of AV. We’ve always been an afterthought. But, now, we are part of the model — our CAD drawings can be implemented right in to the building drawings as a layer of the original design — even before construction.

That’s key as, if you’re an integrator, you can get in on the ground floor of a building — literally. Meaning, you can be specified to be the AV contractor before the building is ever built by being the system designer that provides systems and sight-line drawings to the general contractor before construction starts. You’re drawings will be a layer of the overall system. Solidifying you as part of the integrated design and installation of everything AV.

But, this means you, the integrator, has to actually design the room well in advance of it ever being built. In addition, the design has to include everything — not just a list of AV gear. It has to include 3D drawings of where each and every piece of AV gear (and cable) goes — yes, every single piece.

This takes a special type of AV designer — and one with way more skills than just CAD.

Well, my Being Smart About Smart Buildings keynote to be delivered at the Almo E4 AV Tour — next week in Chicago and then next month in LA — is all about this. In fact, I will tell you everything you need to know and do to get into the Smart Building segment of AV design. The opportunities are huge and, to be frank, eventually BIM will be required of nearly every AV system that you design.

So, get in on the ground floor an again an understanding of what you need to know for Smart Building design and integration NOW! Attend. Register here.