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2004 CEA Industry Forum Celebrates Industry Growth - More Than 600 Leaders in Technology Come Together to Talk About the State of the Industry (1/11/2004)

Technology leaders from across the country convened last week for the consumer electronics industry's premier event for networking, leadership and education - the Consumer Electronics Association's (CEA) annual Industry Forum held in San Francisco. The event, which concluded Wednesday, was co-located with the Home Theater Specialists of America's Forum and the Optical Storage Technology Association's Symposium.

"By all measures, our 2004 Industry Forum was a phenomenal success," said CEA President and CEO Gary Shapiro. "Our attendees gained new insights into consumer electronics industry areas such as media servers, digital imaging products, product returns as well as the upcoming holiday sales season. They were able to network with other leaders from throughout the industry and hear from leading industry strategists. Providing these educational opportunities and networking is a key part of our mission to grow the consumer electronics industry."

In addition to the release of several new consumer surveys, CEA's Industry Forum featured membership division meetings and panel sessions headlined by luminaries from across the consumer electronics industry.

"The Next Big Thing," co-moderated by CNET editors, Brian Cooley and Patrick Houston, looked at the factors that will affect the widespread adoption of the digital home. Panel attendees participated in a live interactive poll via handheld devices that were placed at each seat. The immediate audience polling results were then contrasted against Tech Enthusiast: Home Networks and Automation, a study conducted jointly by CNET and CEA, to see how in tune attendees are with consumers. Attendees were surprised to find they were not in sync with consumers when asked, "What are the biggest obstacles for consumers to network their home?" Attendees said it was too complicated to operate while consumers responded there were no clear benefits to them. The panel agreed it was critical to better convey the value proposition to consumers to grow this market.

Panelists from SBC, Sony, Samsung and Dell addressed digital homes, exploring an array of questions including: Where are we in the market today? What are the biggest obstacles to overcome? What is the timetable to evolve into big business opportunities? Asked to sum up the digital home in one word the panelists individually said, simplicity, affordability, connectivity and seamlessness. The Webcast of the session can be viewed on CNET.com on Nov. 1.

Dr. Dale Rogers, Professor of Supply Chain Management at the University of Nevada and Chairman of the Reverse Logistics Executive Council, presented a session entitled, "The Road to Returns" which examined consumer insights regarding product returns. Film clips of male and female focus groups indicated differences between the way men and women react in similar retail situations. The session also looked at results from an online survey conducted using avatars. Dr. Rogers said that stricter return policies do not inhibit consumers shopping at those stores because consumers feel more comfortable when there are standard rules. He also argued that, "The consumer does not feel the manufacturer's pain when they return products. The industry needs to ask, 'How can I get closer to the consumer?'" He summed up by advising manufacturers to "Design for return avoidance. Simplicity reduces returns and wins in the marketplace."

"The Entrepreneur as CIO" panel presented by the Small Business Council, explored how small businesses can leverage technology especially those without a dedicated IT department. Intuit's Dan Levin said, "Small businesses need to focus on technology at price points that they can afford." Maximizer's Tom Bennett added, "Technology allows you to know your customer better and market more effectively to them."

During the session entitled "Digital Cameras Get Competition" - sponsored by CEA's Digital Imaging Special Interest Group - panelists and audience members investigated the rise of the digital camera phone and debated its impact on the digital still camera market. CEA Director of Industry Analysis Sean Wargo opened the session with highlights from a new consumer survey that revealed that 29 percent of camera phone owners don't even use the device's camera function. Twenty-eight percent use their camera phone for disposable pictures, while 19 percent store the photos captured by the camera phone and only 15 percent send their pictures via email, according to the CEA survey.

Wargo also presented eye-opening data regarding consumers' growing digital image files and the corresponding need for more storage. Based on current image capture rates for the 40 percent of digital camera households in the U.S., Wargo predicted that by 2009, more than 141 billion photos will be captured, taking up 296 million gigabytes.

For the first time at Industry Forum, CEA's Small Business Council focused a day of sessions on issues facing small business. Wednesday morning got a jumpstart with bestselling author, Oren Harari's keynote sponsored by CEA's Small Business Council. A dynamic speaker, Harari warned attendees not to get complacent coming off a great year. He said that today's numbers are the scorecards of what happened yesterday. "We are in a copycat economy so that whatever you do, someone else can radically improve upon the business platform that you have built," he stated.

Harari advocated selling a "total experience" because competitors can't easily replicate an experience but can replicate a product. He also urged attendees not to forget the "WOW" factor that dazzles customers and to create an environment that is fun to work in to attract employees who can think outside of conventional wisdom to help the company stay competitive.

"Been There, Done That" a panel moderated by Skip West looked at lessons learned from some of the industry's top leaders including Robert Borchardt, president of Digital Science Associates; Loyd Ivey, founder and CEO of Mitek Corp; Kathy Gornik, co-founder and president of THIEL Audio and Harvey Wright, president and founder of Autosound Inc. Each of the company leaders spoke candidly about their business experiences. Ivey said, "A goal is a dream with a deadline." His advice: "Be honest with your people and partners, lead by example, manage by consensus, do business with people you like and invest in your relationships. If you can't have fun, do something else." Gornik advised, "Make sure you share your vision with your people and embed your values and principles in your company to make you unique."

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