Selling the Outcome: How Design, Construction, and Technology Align Around the Client Experience

The CEDIA Design Build Training Course is an exclusive opportunity for CEDIA members to position themselves as trusted educators and industry leaders within the design and build community. This course is designed to empower members to deliver continuing education to architects, interior designers, builders, and other design and construction professionals—helping to foster valuable business-to-business relationships while elevating the profile of the smart home industry. Upon completion, participants become CEDIA Smart Home Continuing Education Instructors, gaining access to a robust library of approved educational content. This enables them to host professional development sessions for their local design and build partners, driving awareness of CEDIA, its members, and the integrated technology solutions that define modern smart homes. This programme is exclusively available to CEDIA members, offering a unique platform to build credibility, enhance industry influence, and grow your business through strategic education and engagement.

As technology becomes a fundamental part of every built environment, it’s essential that designers and architects understand how to accurately represent low voltage systems on construction documents. This class will provide a practical introduction to the newly updated J-STD-710 standard symbol set designed to bring clarity and consistency to drawings that include AV, networking, lighting control, and other integrated technologies. In this session, you’ll learn: the purpose and value of using low voltage symbols and plans in design, engineering, and construction documentation, how to interpret and apply the updated J-STD-710 symbols in your drawings, best practices for coordinating with integrators and other stakeholders during the design phase.

Real-world examples of how clear documentation improves outcomes, reduces change orders, and enhances collaboration. Whether you're working on residential or commercial projects, this course will give you the foundation to confidently incorporate connected technology into your plans—and improve communication across every stakeholder in the project.

  Older homes have character, history, and charm — but they weren't built with smart lighting, whole-home audio, or high-speed networking in mind. This panel explores the unique challenges and creative solutions that come with retrofitting legacy properties for modern technology, from working within existing architecture and avoiding costly structural changes to setting realistic client expectations and pricing retrofit projects profitably. Whether it's a mid-century modern in the hills or a historic estate, integrators who master the retrofit will never run out of work.