CEDIA is celebrating the successful completion of its 2024 Tech + Business Summits, after welcoming 697 people to the four events held across the UK.
The association headed to Bristol, London, Edinburgh, and Leeds with a fresh approach to engaging with smart home professionals that drew on the success of its 2023 Tech Summits. This year, the Summits were rebranded “CEDIA Tech + Business Summits: The Tech You Need, The Business You Want”, aimed at combining the dual focus of these events to support members’ success.
Free to attend, the events showed new technology and provided a platform for networking and education.
Ella Umney from Snap One, one of the sponsors of the events, said: “We’ve been coming to the CEDIA Tech + Business Summits for quite a few years now.
“They are always a good opportunity to meet with our existing partners, but also to talk with any prospects to learn more about OvrC, Control4, and all the other Snap One brands that we have here. It’s also a smaller, more intimate environment to talk to people in. I’d say if you’re wanting to get on a more personal level with people, it’s a good opportunity as some really high quality, valuable conversations always come out of these events.”
A line-up of business seminars was curated and presented by a selection of hosts. Leslie Shiner from The Shiner Group hosted two sessions over three events on “Better Job Costing and Labour Controls to Increase Profits” and “Growing Your Business Without Growing Out of Business”. Hazel Napier from BEB Consultancy held an interactive session on “Late Payments, Paperwork and Problems” also at three of the four Summits, and CEDIA’s Steve Carter delved into CEDIA Standards by hosting “Money Matters – Enhancing Business Profitability with Standards” across all four events.
This year, Bristol was a new addition to the 2024 itinerary, where the Tech + Business Summit tour began at Ashton Gate Stadium in March. This was the first time CEDIA had held an event in the Southwest city in six years and they were pleased with the turnout, with 25 sponsors signing up to showcase their latest products to integrators, electricians, designers, and technician.
“It was great to see the CEDIA Tech + Business Summits return to Bristol after a few years away,” said Owen Maddock, CinemaWorks. “The event came back to the city bigger than it was before, including more sponsors, better networking opportunities and with a wider focus incorporating the business seminars. The highlight for me was Leslie Shiner. If you ever get the chance to hear Leslie speak, you should take it as it’ll no doubt help your business.”
In London, 55 sponsors exhibited technology at The Business Design Centre. The London programme also held networking drinks following an event at the Silent Gliss showroom. In Edinburgh and Leeds more than 35 sponsors signed up to each event. CEDIA recorded an attendance of 697 people across the four UK events.
