Over 120 industry professionals attended the CEDIA Tech Forum and AGM on 25th November at the British Library, where they benefited from a full day of training, and enjoyed an informative keynote speech from Frost & Sullivan. For CEDIA members, the day concluded with CEDIA revealing its new EMEA Board of Directors and announcing exciting industry news, including an accreditation with City & Guilds and its plan of creating a Smart Home Wiring Standard.

This year, event sponsors, Aldous Systems, Anthem AV Solutions, AWE, Genesis, Gira, Habitech, Loxone, Lutron, Meridian, Orluna, Teleste and Wyrestorm showcased their latest products and innovations, whilst a selection also held product and technical training throughout the day. These well attended sessions provided an insight into LED lighting, a guide to Home Cinema Solutions and other industry topics.

Following a full day of training, over 80 members attended the AGM, where CEDIA provided a detailed review of its education, marketing, membership growth and finance activities in 2015. CEDIA revealed that 128 companies have joined the trade body in 2015 so far, bringing the total up to 714, its highest point ever for the region. International membership continues to grow, and the EMEA office now represents members across 40 countries.

This comes after CEDIA revealed its major rebrand last month at the CEDIA Expo in Dallas. As part of CEDIA’s investment into a major awareness campaign to leverage better communication between integrators, manufacturers, distributors, specifiers and consumers, this new brand strategy and sophisticated visual identity will better represent both the industry and its membership to a wider and more relevant audience. In line with its new awareness campaign, CEDIA EMEA announced an investment with international marketing agency, Purestone, to push CEDIA’s message further into the specifier and consumer markets in 2016 and beyond.

CEDIA also revealed news on reaching its latest education milestone in being recognised by City and Guilds. This new development means that those who successfully complete either a Smart Home Technician or a Smart Home Designer pathway will receive a joint certification from CEDIA and City & Guilds and become accredited within this area.

Another big announcement at the AGM was the news that CEDIA is working with the British Standards Institution to produce a British Standard PAS (Publicly Available Specification) for smart home wiring. The aim is to turn CEDIA’s Smart Home Recommended Wiring Guidelines into a British Standard that will increase professionalism and awareness in the industry.

The AGM concluded by revealing CEDIA’s new Board of Directors. Four new members have joined CEDIA’s board, including Philip Turner (Philharmonic Audio Visual Ltd, UK), Sawan Nichani (MacBee, India), Rob Sutherland (Inspired Dwellings, UK) and Melanie Malcolm (Bespoke Home Cinemas, UK).  Re-elected members, Laura Lazzerini (Studio LgL, Italy), Hamish Neale (Barco Residential, UK) and Tom Butler (Artcoustic, UK), once again join Kris Hogg, CEDIA Chair, Giles Sutton (James + Giles, UK) and Christiaan Beukes (Sphere Custom Design & Installation, South Africa) to complete the CEDIA EMEA Board of Directors.