I had the unique opportunity to sit down and talk, face-to-face, about CEDIA’s Management Conference plans for March 3-6 in New Orleans, when CEDIA’s volunteer Content Action Team members were in Indianapolis recently.
Among that group were several of the volunteers responsible for creating the structure and selecting the guest speakers for the annual conference. Included among these organizers was my good pal, Jared Blackford, president of NuSystems Inc., in Gardnerville, Nevada, who seems to have become the unofficial “spokesmodel” for the event. A quick Google search of “Jared Blackford” will illicit at multiple video clips of him speaking on the subject.
Residential Systems has served as premier media sponsor for the CEDIA Management Conference over the past several years, and we also print a conference daily newsletter at the event. Needless to say, we believe in the conference and put our full support behind it being successful. After talking to Blackford, I’m confident that the quality of the event will be just as strong as ever, and I hope a lot of others in the industry agree.
Central to the theme of the 2010 event will be the “Rockefeller Habits” and “one-page strategic plan” concepts. The 2009 conference featured a similar focus, but this year the content team took it a step further by hiring a Rockefeller Habits trained coach, Patrick Thean, to open and close the conference with his keynote addresses. The idea is to bookend the core message of the conference with Thean’s expert guidance.
In addition to other guest speakers and break-out sessions with recognizable moderators from the CEDIA channel, CEDIA also has chosen a hotel that offers much more competitive room rates during these difficult economic times, and they’re also providing complimentary books from three keynotes speakers as “gifts with purchase,” if you will, for attending the conference. The message is “added value” for next year’s attendees.
Last but not least, I’m really excited that the conference is being held in New Orleans, a town that is still a fun destination despite all that it’s been through. It’ll be my first time back since Katrina, and I look forward to enjoying a little free time around the French Quarter.
I hope you agree that CEDIA Management Conference is a must-attend event in 2010. Learn more about this wonderful event in this video recording of my conversation with Jared Blackford:
