Jordan O'BrienCEDIA, joint venture partners of Integrated Systems Europe, has announced an extensive education programme for ISE 2017, designed to boost technical skills and help drive business improvements for home technology professionals across the region.
Attendees can access more than 30 training sessions over four days at the RAI in Amsterdam, covering a range of topics. They will also have the opportunity to progress in their careers by taking CEDIA’s Electronic Systems Technician (ESC-T), Designer (ESC-D) and Networking Specialist (ESC-N) Certification examinations.
All places in CEDIA’s ISE 2017 professional development programme are available for pre-booking, with attendees able to take advantage of a discounted ISE 2017 Training Pass, entitling entry to unlimited CEDIA education sessions at the event (exclusions apply) at an early bird price of €275 for CEDIA members, (€350 for non-CEDIA members). Individual classes from the CEDIA ISE 2017 Training programme are also available for attendees to take at a la carte prices. These exceptional prices are valid until 15th January 2017.
“ISE 2017 is the number one destination for home technology education in EMEA,” says Simon Buddle, CEDIA’s education director.
“Attendees can achieve a huge step forward in their professional development by taking CEDIA training at the event. We have an exciting range of courses, providing invaluable insights on emerging trends, new technologies and business practice and delivered by excellent, very knowledgeable presenters.
“Attendees can also advance their career by sitting important CEDIA Certification examinations. With such a fantastic programme on offer, and such a fantastic deal available with ISE 2017 Training Passes, I urge home technology professionals to make the most of their time in Amsterdam and book their places on these exceptional CEDIA training courses today.”
Education highlights include a full-day Home Cinema Design Course, a full-day Rack-Building Session and an Advanced Networking Course. There will also be sessions on Technology Integration for SuperYachts, Remote Management, Re-occurring Revenues, Immersive Sound, Design Thinking, Hi-Definition Audio, Voice Control, and much, much more.
To buy an ISE 2017 Training Pass for CEDIA Education or make bookings for individual training courses and Certification examinations, installers can visit www.iseurope.org.
Once the Training Pass is purchased, attendees should email education@cedia.co.uk, with their chosen course requirements to secure their places on individual sessions. Existing CEDIA Education Vouchers can be used to purchase individual sessions at the event by emailing education@cedia.co.uk but are not valid for use against the price of an ISE 2017 Training Pass.
Training Schedule
Monday 6th February
Home Cinema Design Workshop, 9:30 – 16:30 – Guy Singleton, Imagine This
Built around applying the CEDIA/CEA Home Cinema Audio and Video Recommended Practices documents, this interactive full day workshop combines teaching in the morning with an afternoon of practical design working on real world projects. We will cover topics including the new immersive audio formats, value engineering, designing for 4K, acoustic treatments and maximising audio performance. This is not a beginner’s course and it is recommended that all attendees have some experience in the specification, design and installation of home cinemas. Attendees are welcome to bring designs that they are currently working on for the design practical part of the class.
Rack Building and Wiring Fundamentals, 9:30 – 16:30 – Nick Pidgeon, Visualization
This course will provide attendees with the clear, structural methodology required for rack building from planning through to future servicing. The course will explore industry best practice, the importance of wiring choices and standard approaches which can be applied to projects of all sizes.
Attendees can expect to gain a deeper understanding into the different types of racks, and appreciate how to apply the correct knowledge for overcoming issues with equipment placement, wiring, connectivity and rack build as a whole.
Advanced Residential Networking, 9:30 – 16:30 – Geoff Meads, Presto AV
Once the basics of IP Networking are understood, there are many options to extend IP networks and create a truly integrated home environment. This course will advance on from the Residential Networking course, exploring in depth the skills and knowledge previously gained. Attendees will understand and be able to confidentially install a robust, secure and more complex network. The course features a combination of classroom and practical exercises using a variety of networking equipment. There will be plenty of time for attendees to ask questions and discuss practical scenarios and enhance their individual knowledge.
Principles of Project Management, 9:30 – 16:30 – Simon Buddle, CEDIA
Project management is the application of processes, methods, knowledge, skills and experience to achieve the project objectives. By its very nature a home technology project will have a unique set of challenges to be overcome. This course will focus solely on project management process; attendees will explore the time, cost, and quality triangle within the context of the home technology industry. Attendees will identify the key elements required to successfully deliver a project on time, in budget and within scope. This course is ideal for those who are new to project management; it will be a step on what may become a journey into professional project management all the way to degree level.
Tuesday 7th February
Future Technologies: The Silicon Valley Scoop – 09:30 – 11:00 – Rich Green, Rich Green Design LLC
This popular course provides a new perspective on stampeding technologies, their importance, and how they can make you more profitable. Learn about dozens of new technologies that are emerging from the secret labs of Silicon Valley. This course is a perfect precursor to the “Design Thinking & Client Discovery Workshop” where you will learn how to implement these new technologies into cutting edge designs.
New Technologies Update – 11:30 – 13:00 – Michael Heiss
Journalist, Consultant, CEDIA Fellow and long-time CEDIA presenter, Michael Heiss, brings his famous New Technologies Update to the “other” side of the ocean for the first time in almost ten years. This fast-paced and always interesting and entertaining presentation will bring you up to date on the latest technology trends including video content, display and distribution, audio format changes, connection and networking technologies, 4K, 8K and beyond, connected devices and how all of this will impact your business. This is the place to get the top level picture on the current state of the technologies that drive your business and where they will take us in the next 18 to 36 months.
Warning! Avoid these 10 Simple Things That Can Put You Out of Business – 14:00 – 15:30 – Leslie Shiner, Shiner Group
You work hard to make your company a success. It would be a shame to have a simple mistake put you out of business. Come away with a checklist of ten items that you need to focus on to keep your business afloat. Topics include: insurance, internal controls, and margin analysis.
The Evolution from AV to Building Control (and What it Can Mean for Your Business) – 16:00 – 17:30 – Marc Warburton, Ivory Egg
The seminar will look at how DIY AV and IoT solutions, building control (lighting, HVAC and blinds, etc) can provide a new source of revenue with a wider market reach than traditional home technology installations. This session will explore the market potential, the benefits, look at integrator success stories and discuss the best way to start working with building control products at a business, project and resource level.
Understanding and Trouble-shooting HDMI 2.0, HDCP and UHD – 9:30 – 11:00 – James Chen, Kordz
Understanding HDMI 2.0, HDCP and UHD and how they impact upon each other is an essential part of the successful integrator’s tool-kit. But it’s also an area fraught with problems for the home technology professional. This course takes a deep dive into HDMI operation. How can installers create a stable environment where all components in the system work together? How can we deliver an immersive 4K/UHS experience through better knowledge of HDCP 2.2, Chroma subsampling and HDR? We will also explore the root causes of common problems and identify how to quickly troubleshoot and fix problems on the spot.
Designing with Voice – 11:30 – 13:00 – Amazon Alexa
Voice is considered the most intuitive and natural of all forms of human communication. Recently, several new products and services have emerged that solve the technical issues impeding the adoption of natural language processing (voice recognition) as a customer-valued interface for CEDIA-level control systems. However, designing a successful voice interface requires much more than simply implementing a menu of commands. Find out about the skills you need to integrate voice control effectively and improve the client experience in your home technology installation.
Heating and Cooling Fundamentals For Smart Homes – 14:00 – 15:30 – David Edwards, Gira
The course explores the main heating and cooling systems used within a home technology installation. It looks at how these systems operate, the external factors that need to be considered in system design and how their control can affect the environment and the energy efficiency of the building. This session will also help you work closely with other professions to deliver a comfortable and integrated solution within the client’s property.
Wire, Wireless and Fiber – Understanding Bandwidth – 16:00 – 17:30 – Simon Buddle, CEDIA EMEA and Geoff Meads, Presto AV, UK
Our thirst for data is huge. With 4K and even 8K video on the horizon it’s about to get even bigger! If you want to deliver reliable data (especially for video) then you need to understand bandwidth.
In this course we’ll start by looking at binary data. We’ll then use simple bandwidth calculations to understand how much bandwidth each system needs, and compare those bandwidth requirements with the capacities available from common carriers. Attendees will leave with a clear understanding of data, bandwidth and capacity. They will also be able to assess and apply bandwidth figures to real-world situations.
Create a Client Care Plan for Your Business & Generate Recurring Revenue Workshop – 9:30 – 12:30 – Michael Maniscalco, ihiji
If you’re sold on recurring monthly revenue, but can’t quite work through the concepts of creating a preventive service plan for your business, then this workshop is for you! This three hour session will feature real-life examples, group and individual collaboration, and plenty of opportunity and guidance to actively work on generating a service plan for your business. By the end of this course you will have the basic framework, including pricing, proposals, and a sales and marketing strategy to launch the plan when you return to your office!
Wireless Networking – 14:00 – 17:00 – Geoff Meads, Presto AV
WiFi devices are everywhere – in homes, businesses and in our pockets. Reliable WiFi isn’t just essential for smart home services like AV and control but is an essential for modern day living. The CEDIA Advanced Wireless course explores the physics behind a WiFi transmission, the fixed relationships between frequency, wavelength and bandwidth and the realities of WiFi hardware in buildings. Attendees will leave with a solid understanding of WiFi connectivity, be able to deploy a planned WiFi network using multiple access points and test a WiFi network for RF performance.
Developing your Brand Vision, Strategy and Tactics – An Interactive Workshop – 14:00 – 17:00 – Peter Aylett and Omar Hikal, Archimedia
“A brand is no longer what we tell the consumer it is — it is what consumers tell each other it is.” – Scott Cook
In an age of increasing commoditisation and disintermediation, your brand is your most powerful asset, helping you to rise up above both your competitors and mass market threats. This course will introduce you to the various levels of abstraction that are collectively referred to as “branding”, and leave you with a clear understanding of what branding is, what it is not, and how you adopt branding principals to help grow your business.
Wednesday, 8th February
UI vs. UX – Building Smart Home Interfaces For Human Beings – 09:30 – 11:00 -Geoff Meads, Presto AV
Ever wondered why you always seem to return to the same apps, websites and devices? Chances are that it’s because of a well-designed, thoughtful ‘User Experience’. User Experience Design (or ‘UX’) goes beyond the normal ‘collection of buttons’ type of interface. It’s a design ethos that seeks to present controls in an easily understandable, human-friendly manner and in a way that keeps users coming back for more. This session will look at the key factors that make up a great user experience. Using examples (both good and bad…) from hardware, software, apps and websites, it explores the emotive side of user interfaces and how, when designed well, they can deliver more than just function. It’s essential knowledge for those looking to build the very best Smart Home controls.
Sales Estimating and Proposals – 11:30 – 13:00 – Rich Green, Rich Green Design LLC
Estimating and proposal writing are a fine art and must always follow a thorough design process for client discovery and needs assessment. A good design process will reveal the right problems to solve.
This course picks up from problem definition and delves into systematic data gathering and estimating techniques that will result in more profitable projects. We will cover many styles of proposal writing with real examples from successful projects – large and small.
Lighting Control and the IoT – 14:00 – 15:30 – Sam Woodward, Lutron
Clients love intelligent lighting systems. But, as technology continues to evolve at a rapid rate, how do you create a control system that works in harmony with the property’s lighting scheme to deliver an easy to use, energy efficient and secure connected home? In this course, find out how you can specify, design and install an intelligent lighting control system that improves the lives of your clients and adds value to your business. You’ll also learn how IoT integration will enable remote operation and control when your client is away from their home. For the inside track on smart devices, network precision, geo-fencing and much, much more, then take this course. Lighting control will never be the same again.
Completing a Project: The Last Five Percent – 16:00 – 17:30 – Simon Buddle, CEDIA
Enhance your project management skills by exploring the most common problems with completing projects and the tried-and-trusted techniques for conquering them.
By identifying factors at each stage of a project that help or hinder completion, you will achieve increased efficiency and the potential for increased profits!
Making the Most of HD Audio – 9:30 – 11:00 – Richard Hollinshead, Meridian Audio
Hi-res audio presents a fantastic opportunity for home technology professionals. This course will educate attendees on the difference between standard and high resolution audio, the available audio formats, sources and the demands in using them. It will also explore the requirements for maintaining hi-res audio performance, and explain how to effectively deliver hi-res audio in a home technology installation.
The Evolution of Remote Managed Services – 11:30 – 13:00 – Domenico Crapanzano, Domotz
This presentation will cover the technical aspects of implementing Remote Managed Service schemes. It will look at the evolution of remote management and the components that make up Remote Managed Services today. The course will explain the differences between conventional external network access versus cloud based services and look at scalable solutions and roll-out. It will also address the latest features in Remote Managed Services, including customer facing apps, remote access, remote power and more. Finally, attendees will find out how they can sell these services successfully to customers and successfully meet their security and privacy requirements.
New Display Technologies– 14:00 – 15:30 – Michael Heiss
Displays have changed significantly since they were big round tubes inside wooden cabinets showing, depending on where you lived, 405, 525, 625 or 819 lines of resolution. Today we have advanced flat panels and projectors with enough acronyms to fill a dictionary – HD, 4K, UHD, 8K, HDR, WCG, HFR, HDR-10, OLED and many more. How do all of these things work, what is hot today, obsolete tomorrow and what is coming down the display pipeline? What’s the “next big thing” and how does it all impact your business? CEDIA Fellow and long-time presenter Michael Heiss will bring you up to date on everything you need to know to select, install, sell and profit from the world of flat panel and projection displays.
Immersive Audio – unified 3D speaker layouts for multiple listeners – 16:00 – 17:30 – Arnaud Laborie, Trinov
Immersive sound offers the possibility of new life-like experiences in home cinema, but also raises challenges with new formats and more specifically their non-compatible 3D speaker layouts. This presentation covers the concepts of Immersive sound, the three immersive sound formats and their recommended speaker layouts. It also explores the specific additional constraints found in high performance home cinemas and proposes unified speaker layouts for multiple listeners. The course also offers the opportunity to provide a practical implementation in a real project.
Designing A ‘Super Cinema’ – Building the Best of The Best – 09:30 – 12:30 – Guy Singleton, Imagine This
For most integrators, a good cinema is all about managing compromises. Restrictions in budget, room size and aesthetics are in just about every project that comes along. So, what happens when there are no restraints? What happens when the budget isn’t limited and the home theatre can be any size or shape you like? This course looks at just that scenario. From reference level performance to military grade engineering in HVAC and power delivery. All areas of design and build will be on the table in this fast paced but fascinating trip into extreme cinema.
Design Documentation 14:00 – 17:00 – Keith Jones, Design Flow
This course will explore and explain the documents that make up a successful project from architectural plans, schematics, wiring schedules, change order forms and specifications to final client sign off. Attendees will learn how to read and understand documents issued by others during the project process and how to prepare, draw and write their own. Along with detailed drawing and documentation packs, the course will examine power requirements, heat output for racks and spatial considerations amongst other important factors.
Securing Your Customer’s Network – 09:30 – 12:30 – Michael Maniscalco, Ihiji
With every subsystem now potentially touching the network, it is critical that wired and wireless networks are correctly secured. This is a combination of managing hardware, software and wetware (ie the users). Every day there is a new story in the press that tells tales of how people’s privacy has been violated, and their data stolen. This essential seminar will discuss the privacy and security risks, and then suggest some simple ways that both wired and wireless networks can be secured. We will also be discussing how best to implement a backup strategy. Though some previous networking knowledge is preferable, this course is suitable for anyone who needs to sell, install and manage wired and wireless networks.
“Work Smarter, Not Harder” Workshop – 14:00 – 17:00 – Leslie Shiner, The Shiner Group
Getting busier is a good problem, but more business doesn’t mean you have to work yourself to the bone. You can achieve the same (or even greater) success by learning how to work smarter. It’s difficult to find the time though, to take a step back and truly address the growing pains and challenges. What better time to do so than at CEDIA ISE – when you are with your peers who share similar experiences! Get the down and dirty details about how others manage the same issues with which you are dealing. In this fast-paced, three-part, peer-to-peer workshop, hear from a panel of business owners about their business successes, regrets, and lessons learned. Throughout the session, roundtable discussions, which are broken out by similar-sized companies, are facilitated to share best practices across all attendees. By the end, you will not only create a personalised action plan to take back to your office, but obtain frank and honest feedback from your peers. You asked for more time to dive into the details of running your business – this is your chance to network, swap best practices, and share (and receive) solutions with fellow business owners!
Thursday, 9th February
Future Technologies: The Silicon Valley Scoop – 09:30 – 11:00 – Rich Green, Rich Green Design LLC
This popular course provides a new perspective on stampeding technologies, their importance, and how they can make you more profitable. Learn about dozens of new technologies that are emerging from the secret labs of Silicon Valley. This course is a perfect precursor to “Design Thinking & Client Discovery Workshop” where you will learn how to implement these new technologies into cutting edge designs.
New Technologies Update – 11:30 – 13:00 – Michael Heiss
Journalist, Consultant, CEDIA Fellow and long-time CEDIA presenter, Michael Heiss, brings his famous New Technologies Update to the “other” side of the ocean for the first time in almost ten years. This fast-paced and always interesting and entertaining presentation will bring you up to date on the latest technology trends including video content, display and distribution, audio format changes, connection and networking technologies, 4K, 8K and beyond, connected devices and how all of this will impact your business. This is the place to get the top level picture on the current state of the technologies that drive your business and where they will take us in the next 18 to 36 months.
Designing the Intelligent Superyacht – 14:00 – 15:30 – Vince McAtamney, MESL
How can you provide a rock solid “design”for the audio-visual, IT, control and communications systems for modern superyachts? This course will look at the demands of working on board these luxury vessels and how best to meet the expectations of superyacht owners. It will explore the differences and similarities with high-end residential installations and how designs can be successfully implemented to create an outstanding user experience, using real life examples including yachts built by Lürssen and Feadship. Both new build projects and major refits will be discussed. This is the perfect introduction for home technology professionals keen to broaden their skills by drifting into the marine environment.
Achieving Success with LED – 16:00 – 17:30 – Sam Woodward, Lutron, UK
We now live in a world where LEDs have become the dominant light-source in both our homes and businesses. Promising high efficiency, long life and many exciting new optical options, LEDs might be the wonder-technology that we’ve all been waiting for… However, the reality is that successful LED lighting installations requires a deeper understanding of control techniques, dimming issues and system design. This seminar examines common challenges, and gives attendees a range of strategies for success.
Understanding Labour Cost, Productivity and Efficiency – 09:30 – 11:00 – Leslie Shiner
Do you really know how much it costs to do the work that you do? First, you create estimates to sell jobs and then you must track the costs of the jobs to know if you made a profit. And, you should be able to compare these on an apples-to-apples basis. This session will also help you determine the cost of your labour, including an adjustment for labour efficiency, so you can price jobs correctly.
HDBaseT 18GBPS Solutions 11:30 – 13:00 -Joe Fletcher, HD Anywhere
Ultra HD distribution presents multiple challenges for home technology professionals. This class takes a close look at the HDBaseT 2.0 spec, and examines potential 18GBPS solutions for Ultra HD. It will also discuss bandwidth implications, source content, connectivity options, and overall system design requirements.
Integrating Voice Control for the Whole Home – 14:00 – 15:30 – Alex Capecelatro, Josh.ai
Voice control is the new frontier in input technologies and represents a significant business opportunity for home technology professionals. This course will inform attendees on the available voice control options today, the current capabilities and limitations of the various technologies and take a close look at real world installations, with insights into how these projects were realised. Attendees will learn how they too can deploy voice recognition and provide clients with a fully customised experience, even in complex installations. They will discover how they can fully integrate voice control with established control platforms from Crestron, Control4, Savant and others and also take a look into the future to see where this emerging product category is heading.
The Future of the Smart Home Industry: IoT vs Professionally Installed Systems – 16:00 – 17:30 – Philip Schuster, Loxone
This session will look at the consumer demand for professionally-installed, fully integrated smart home automation versus IoT devices. What will be the driving factor for mass-market adoption of professionally installed smart home solutions? The course will look at the need for a value chain that can offer the consumer more than just control of their lighting or heating, but rather an automation solution that changes the way they live in their homes for the better. Unpacking data from various surveys carried out in the smart home industry, this session will look at what the consumer is telling us and how we should be responding to move smart homes from the early-adopter phase to mass-market adoption.
Building Management Systems – 09:30- 12:30 – Dave Robinson, Sensible Heat
Building Management Systems (or BMS) is a catch-all term that covers electronic controls used to control mechanical services in buildings. BMS is now increasingly being found in many high-end residential properties. Home technology professionals are often required to interface with these systems, or sometimes asked to provide the BMS themselves. This course will explain what systems are typically covered by a BMS, and why there is a requirement for a dedicated specialist system, with its special HVAC functions and algorithms. Other topics covered will be the importance of energy management, and how the BMS can help. Typical interfacing techniques, and the complications and pitfalls of dealing with contractors who may be more familiar with systems in commercial buildings will also be covered. There will be a hands-on workshop session, where we will demonstrate integration of two different BMS/HVAC systems with a third party touchscreen controller.
Design Thinking and Client Discovery – 14:00 – 17:00 – Rich Green, Rich Green Design LLC
This workshop provides hands-on practice using the methods of design thinking for client discovery and needs assessment. Built upon the “Future Technologies: The Inside Scoop from Silicon Valley” class, this workshop focuses on conducting client interviews by stressing communication techniques to discover true needs. It also covers how to incorporate cutting-edge technologies into your future designs. We’ll discuss the path to end-user empathy and create actionable points of view upon which system designs and user experiences can be optimised.
Mastering Online Marketing Including 20 Website ‘Must-haves’- 16:00 – 17:30 – Geoff Meads, Presto AV, UK
How organised is your online marketing? Are all your communications coordinated and serving an overarching plan or are they more sporadic and ‘opportunity’ based? This course looks at strategies for combining online marketing activities such as social media, email and website content to form a complete plan of attack. End-to-end customer journeys will be explored, all with a coordinated and defined voice. In addition this course will present and discuss the 20 website ‘must-haves’ for any business website. A great website for your company isn’t an option, it’s a necessity. Even if the majority of your business comes from referrals, your customers WILL check your website before contacting you. In short, your website is now your most powerful marketing asset and this course will provide a complete checklist for success.
Certification Examination Session – ESC-D, ESC-D, ESC-N, 14:00 – 16:30
CEDIA certifications are credentials that reflect defined areas of expertise in the home technology industry. Earning and retaining certification allows installers to demonstrate that they have completed the required study and field experience to master a particular skillset and body of knowledge. AT ISE 2017, attendees will have the opportunity to take the three main advanced certifications available – Electronic Systems Certified Technician (ESC-T), Electronic Systems Certified Designer (ESC-D), and Electronic Systems Certified Networking Specialist (ESC-N).