Emerald Eyes 10,000 CEDIA Expo Attendees, 300+ Exhibitors

CEDIA Expo owner Emerald Holding is expecting 10,000 home technology design and construction attendees and over 300 exhibitors, it emailed Friday, five days before registration begins for the custom electronics industry's Sept. 1-3 annual trade event. The last in-person CEDIA Expo was in Colorado in September 2019, drawing about 15,000 attendees, 10,000 buyers and over 300 exhibitors, an Emerald spokesperson emailed. Last year’s event was canceled due to COVID-19 when the Colorado Convention Center was reserved by Gov. Jared Polis (D) as a temporary medical facility through the remainder of 2020. This year’s Expo is in Indianapolis. “We’re all eager to connect again on a human level and get back to face-to-face events as we celebrate everything we value as a community together again,” said Emerald Group Vice President-CEDIA Expo Jason McGraw. Contracts are still in conversations and exhibitors are “still signing on,” the spokesperson said. The website shows major exhibitors including Control4, LG, Lutron, Samsung, Savant, SnapAV, Sonance, Sonos, Sony and Crestron, which planned to return to CEDIA Expo last year for the first time in five years (see 2005060060) before it was canceled. Brands exhibiting for the first time at CEDIA Expo this year are Hisense, Environmental Lights, Datum Project Processing and Launchpad, formerly Innovation Alley. One attendee's PR representative told us Friday his client's attendance at CEDIA Expo 2021 “is as definite as anything could be these days,” but “if things take a turn, they will take that into consideration.”