News

CEDIA's Regional Training And AGM Prove A Fast-Moving Success! (29/11/2004)

Delegates attending CEDIA's recent Regional Training Event and Annual General Meeting can claim to have improved their business, custom installation skills and their driving abilities following an intensive two days at Whittlebury Hall in Northamptonshire.

A total of 95 CEDIA members took part in this high profile event which was jointly sponsored by Crestron, Helvar, LG, Lutron, Square D and Veda Products.

Among the highlights were two new CEDIA courses; one on staff recruitment, motivation and retention and another which focussed on the preparation of tenders and the specification process. Both courses were well attended and, from the feedback forms provided by delegates, well received too.

Established CEDIA courses on offer at the event included the popular CPD "Designing Future Ready Homes" course and the CEDIA Foundation courses: The Transition From Retail to Custom Installation and Growing Your Custom Installation Business. Delegates were also able to visit the sponsors' exhibition stands at Whittlebury Hall to catch up on all the latest product innovations and network with other delegates.

The Autumn Regional Training Event also hosted the CEDIA Annual General Meeting. In front of a packed audience of CEDIA members, the outgoing CEDIA Board, led by Chairman, Stephen Gough, presented an overview of all CEDIA's activities over the past twelve months. These included a review of the year's many notable successes in education, installer certification, training, PR and marketing, and an outline of plans to move forward on all these fronts in the year ahead. There was also an update on CEDIA membership - numbers now stand at 385, up by almost 20% on the previous year - and an announcement of an initiative to expand European membership.

A detailed review of the AGM is available to all CEDIA members on the CEDIA website at www.cedia.co.uk.

Aside from these business aspects of the event, delegates also participated in the LG Adrenaline Challenge where the driving talents were put under the spotlight. Eight teams competed for the top honours in vehicles ranging from Argocats and Quad Bikes to Hovercraft and Scalextric racing cars.

Team One emerged muddy, wet, relatively unscathed and ultimately victorious from the afternoon's activities. The team featured Stephen Gough, Hometech Integration, James Ratcliffe, Tru-Fi, Wendy Griffiths, CEDIA UK (surely some mistake?), Simon Williams, Olive, Robin Courtenay, SMC, Jo Sewell, Auto Audio, Stuart Jones, Controlwise, Paul Allen, The Plasma Warehouse and Scott Stidston of Webline.

Special mention is also reserved for Andrej Godina of Sevenoaks Sound & Vision (Weybridge) who scooped the overall Worst Driver Award in a very close contest, fighting off an especially tough challenge from CEDIA's own PR Consultant Jeff Hayward to claim his prize. Tristan Ashbourne of The Hi-End was also singled out for his unique performance in all categories over the course of the afternoon. All his hard work finally paid off as Tristan was duly awarded the much coveted Instructors Award for the most difficult contestant of the day!

www.cedia.co.uk