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The Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association will begin operating a second major trade show starting in 2008. It will take place in Las Vegas, at the Sands Convention Center, April 8 to 11, 2008.

CEDIA already stages the consumer electronics industry's second largest annual trade show (after the Consumer Electronics Show) in September. The most recent CEDIA Expo took place in Denver, as will the next two.

However, with the September Expo moving to Atlanta in 2009, CEDIA wants to have large-scale events running on both coasts. Hence the spring show in Vegas. It will come three months after CES, the industry's largest annual event, and will operate in the same city, raising the question of whether manufacturers, installers, and other attendees will be able to support two shows in the same place within a 90-day span.

CEDIA has been staging small events for some time, including a recent April show in Vegas aimed at architects, builders, and custom installers. But the April 2008 Expo will be bigger, with a broader focus, and will presumably be more lucrative.

In a letter to exhibitors, CEDIA said the new spring show will "accommodate new exhibitors that are unable to participate in CEDIA Expo due to a continually sold-out show floor." That will allow them to "grow their booth and obtain a greater presence" among electronics systems contractors and "maximize your exposure with these individuals."

A CEDIA member who commented on the TWICE site had a different take: "This is a sad attempt by CEDIA to stave off the advances of the EH Expo. It makes me ashamed to be a CEDIA member. They have even gone so far as to 'dangle the carrot' in front of vendors by requiring them to buy booth space at the satellite shows in order to get a good booth location at the main Expo in Denver. Weak, just weak. The only thing this does is cost the vendors more money for show support and directly take money out of the pockets of the dealers because the vendors don't have as much money for incentives and dealer support."