CEDIA, which has started handing out gongs and senior positions to dodgy Australian installers and custom installation business owners, is facing a major problem with organizers of the recent CEDIA Expo in the US appearing to be hiding the “real numbers” of attendees.
CEDIA, which depends on revenue from its annual trade shows, has not said whether revenue from the latest show is also down.
Data from the September 2024 CEDIA Expo in Denver, run by Emerald Expositions, has revealed a worrying trend according to US industry website Strata Gee with numbers this year falling to just 12,239 attendees from a worldwide audience.
Of these, 305 were first-time attendees with only 8,567 previous visitors to a CEDIA show passing through the door.
At this stage we do not know the number of participants from Australia or New Zealand.
The 12,239 official attendees include both CEDIA Expo and CIX, as well as integrators and all exhibitor staff.
Verified attendance data on the exact number of attendees to this once-a-year fair is measured by the verified attendance of those who actually pass through a scanner to enter the fairgrounds.
The decline in participants comes as integrators in Australia struggle and CEDIA hands out awards purportedly for excellence and contribution to the industry to the likes of Matt Manalis, CEO of EXperienceONE and a Captivant shareholder who is being pursued by the ATO after the Australian Tax Office launched proceedings in the federal court in Australia to wind up Captivant Pty Ltd over a $500,000 tax debt.
Three of the four shareholders in the company in June this year were Matt Manalis, chairman of CEDIA’s certification commission, Regan Webb who was recently sent to the US by CEDIA to receive an award and Brendan Cousemacker who we believe has a really good company. .
Despite questions to CEDIA, the US-led organization has failed to answer why they saw fit to bestow awards on custom fitment managers who are credited with multiple custom fitment business failures.
As for CEDIA Expo, the organizers Emerald Expositions suddenly have number amnesia telling Stra Gee that they “don’t” have a meaningful breakdown between the number of attendees at CEDIA Expo vs. Commercial Integrator.
“I find it hard to believe because a modern company like Emerald generally has tons of data about their events,” Stra Gee said.
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