CEDIA 2015

Because CEDIA was close enough to home (9 hours), I was able to drive to Dallas rather than suffer the indignities of flying through DFW—and it was cheaper than flying, too. Since I’m cheap, I stayed at a cheap hotel in Oklahoma last night on my way here. I don’t expect much out of a hotel. A bed. Running water. Maybe a toilet, too. This particular hotel included, of all things, a DVD player and a flat-panel TV! (Bonus, right?)

It also included one of the most horrendous installs of electronic equipment I’ve ever run across in a public place. Years and years ago, when the term “trunk slammer” was a popular slur for amateurish installers who rarely knew what they were doing and gave a bad name to the entire custom installation industry, this type of install wasn’t quite state of the art but close.

CEDIACEDIA was founded in large part as an association that would help educate and train professionals in the CI business in order to improve standards and procedures. The fact that there are now so many CEDIA-certified installers is one reason why we don’t come across more of the sloppy installs such as the one pictured above. If you’re a homeowner, it’s definitely worth it to hire a CEDIA-certified installer. We all owe a big debt of gratitude to the many, many folks who helped incubate and grow CEDIA over the years.