I only attended my first Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) show in 2014, so I’m hardly the best qualified to preach about the benefits it brings any smart home installation business but I’ve drawn on those experiences to put pen to paper for this blog post.

In the early years of forming my install business, I never looked beyond the UK-based shows to gather the product information I needed. At the time I was spoilt by having a CEDIA Expo in the UK — this show was basically the Mecca for UK custom installation.

Another show in the UK that was growing year on year was the Essential Install Live Northern Show. Now the Essential Install shows, North and South, rule the roost in the UK for smart home installers. Their evolution has been fantastic and I was very proud to play a small supporting act in both regions events. There is no gap from CEDIA pulling their UK show; Essential Install has filled it and bettered it, in my opinion.

ISE is the new Mecca for me now. Here are my three reasons for making this an annual pilgrimage:

1. Business Advantage – you owe it to your current and potential clients to attend this show.  Your customers are investing a lot of money in their new “Smart Home” expert. They expect you to have the answer to all their tech enquiries. In their decision making process when choosing their home technology professional they will draw on their memories of your company having a great relationship with your suppliers, a company that is continuing their development and providing the most up to date technology information.
2. Continual Professional Development — a trend for smart home installation businesses is to deliver the CEDIA CPD presentation to architects and interior designers but where are you getting your own CPD.  ISE is the perfect platform for this; networking with international partners, direct communication with suppliers marketing and sales staff and face to face discussions with technical experts in the products you work with everyday are just some of the development opportunities available at ISE.
3. Training – the training on offer at ISE cannot be matched. Whether you are looking for residential or commercial training, there will be a course for you at ISE. Taking time off work is always difficult so to combine a trade show and your annual training into one week is ultra-efficient for you, your employees and customers. Don’t think the training is always classroom based too, the seminars at the various theatres around the show are often the best fountains of knowledge.

ISE is not a holiday — it is a vital week of training, development, networking and business growth… with a lot of laughs along the way. Make 2017 the year you block off your diary for ISE.