In 2020, the big news early in the year — before that other big news — was that Crestron was going to exhibit at that year’s CEDIA Expo, marking the company’s first appearance since 2015. Of course, the in-person reunion with the industry’s largest tradeshow was delayed when Covid-19 took the show virtual. The big comeback would have to wait until 2021.
Not so fast. The pandemic did not give up easily, waylaying Crestron’s return for another year. But the day integrators have been looking forward to has finally arrived at the 2022 CEDIA Expo, and John Clancy, EVP of residential for Crestron, could not be happier.
“My first year at Crestron was our first year not exhibiting at CEDIA Expo,” says Clancy. “It was a goal of mine to get us back into that show. Of course, we never left the community or our dealer base, but now we are back, and we have a lot of news for our dealers and for those who aren’t already Crestron dealers.”
The large, can’t-miss booth is well stocked with the company’s latest and greatest, with an emphasis on game-changing technologies such as Crestron Home and the DM NAX audio distribution platform. “Everything we show off in the booth has a Crestron Home connection to it,” says Clancy. “The first thing you’ll see when you walk in is the end-user experience featuring a giant iPhone with the Crestron Home UI. Then the configuration stations show off how easy it is to configure.
“We are also talking about how DM NVX and DM NAX work amazingly well together — like no other system out there — and how Crestron Home and the features we continue to add can support our dealers in both the MDU and hospitality spaces.”
In addition to dealers getting valuable hands-on time with Creston’s products, the company is also using the event to provide training. “We have 10 amazing training sessions, including a great AV-over-IP training class that talks about not only our solutions but others as well,” says Clancy. “It’s about the linkage between DM NVX and DM NAX streaming audio and video over the network and having the flexibility of placing high-resolution content where you need it at lower resolutions elsewhere without sacrificing the quality of the source content. We also have some health and wellness training specifically around lighting and many more. CEDIA is a great platform for us to get the word out and train our dealers on these solutions.”
CEDIA Expo also provides many great face-to-face interactions with dealers, giving Crestron and other exhibitors insights into their needs and concerns. No doubt topping the list of this year’s concerns will be the ongoing worldwide supply-chain issues.
“Our biggest issue is more related to demand than it is supply,” says Clancy. “We are starting to see a big uptick in what we’re shipping these days, so that’s refreshing, and our shipments each day get bigger and bigger. When it comes to placing orders, there’s no risk on the dealer side — they can place the order and cancel at any time. We don’t take payment until the product is ready to ship. It’s just making sure that they’re planning ahead and getting in the queue. That’s the message we’ve been trying to articulate to our dealers over the last year.”
Make your introduction to Creston Home and all the other technology Crestron has on display at booth #16017.
For more information, visit crestron.com.
