CEDIA Spins Off a Show

The Custom Electronic Design & Installation Assn. has canceled its CEDIA Electronic Lifestyle Expo and replaced it with the new CEDIA Spring Expo 2008, April 8–11 at the Sands Expo & Convention Center/Venetian Resort Hotel Casino in Las Vegas. It will be a spin-off of CEDIA's fall CEDIA Expo, No. 70 on the most recent Tradeshow Week 200. The events focus on builders, architects and interior designers who plan and install electronics systems for the home.

The Electronic Lifestyle Expo was held for the first, and only, time April 18–21 at the Sands. It comprised a conference and small exhibition, but the emphasis was on the conference. CEDIA Executive Director Don Gilpin said the focus will change with CEDIA Spring Expo, with the tradeshow being larger than at the now-eliminated Electronics Lifestyle Expo. The conference portion of the old event, now called the Electronic Lifestyle Forum, will remain in place with CEDIA Spring Expo.

Gilpin declined to offer projections for the Spring Expo, but said CEDIA Expo is expected to remain the larger of the two tradeshows for quite some time. CEDIA is making its spring show an extension of its fall event and beefing up the exhibition portion, he said, because CEDIA Expo has had an exhibitor waiting list for several years.

The spring event will give exhibitors another tradeshow option in a sector — residential electronics systems — that is growing quickly. Gilpin said CEDIA hopes to meet that increasing marketplace demand.

CEDIA Expo will be held Sept. 5–9 at Denver's Colorado Convention Center.