February 2020 marks the first anniversary of the CEDIA Member of Excellence Programme, designed to celebrate outstanding members of our industry. Since its launch, over 25 CEDIA Advanced Members and Members of Excellence have benefitted from the programme globally.
CEDIA members who are able to demonstrate the following will be granted CEDIA Advanced Member designation: their company’s commitment to delivering exceptional experiences to their clients, investing in professional development and technical excellence, and serving their community.
Companies looking to achieve the highest level of designation, the CEDIA Member of Excellence, will need to fulfil the three requirements above as well as a record of award-winning craftmanship, and a dedication to advanced industry certifications. Building on the resources given to CEDIA Advanced Members, CEDIA Members of Excellence are given an even greater set of marketing tools, first placement in listings, increased access to cutting edge education, and more. Companies that achieve the Member of Excellence or Advanced Member status are the go-to group for CEDIA’s public relations outreach, and many of these elite members were featured in national publications last year as a result.
Aspiring Member of Excellence and Advanced Member companies must meet requirements including:
– Having one CEDIA Certified individual within the company and a percentage of all full-time staff must achieve 10 Continuing Education Unit points per year.
– Three client or customer references from three projects within the last 12 months and two references from CEDIA Trade Supplier Members.
– Either one CEDIA volunteer on full-time staff or at least one CEDIA Outreach Instructor (COI) on staff.
– In addition to meeting all Advanced Member status requirements above, Member of Excellence designees must be selected as a CEDIA Awards Winner or CEDIA Awards Finalist within the last three years and a percentage (based on size) of each company’s full-time technical staff must hold at least one CEDIA advanced certification — ESC-T, ESC-D, or ESC-N Certification (does not include ESC).
Once a company has been confirmed as a CEDIA Advanced Member or Member of Excellence, they carry that designation through two renewal periods. CEDIA will check with the company after the first year to ensure all of the original information that was submitted continues to be accurate. At the beginning of the third year, each company will be required to re-submit their information to receive the designation.
Full details on the requirements for each designation as well as the submission process can be found at cedia.net/excellence.
Alan Matthews, director, Automated Spaces Limited, CEDIA Advanced Member, said: “At Automated Spaces, we’re constantly striving to improve the service we deliver to our clients and the CEDIA Advanced Membership scheme is a natural extension to that core ideology. The criteria to become an Advanced Member aren’t complex and were realistically as simple as documenting the excellent work we’re already doing.
If you’re a CEDIA member already, then aspiring to and achieving an Advanced Membership status should be an intrinsic part of your company’s growth strategy and development plans. There are only upsides to the process.”
Ashley Shorey-Mills, general manager, Hughes Smart, CEDIA Advanced Member, said: “We wanted to become CEDIA Advanced Members as we are proud of the work we undertake, and being able to differentiate ourselves from our peers attracted us, as well as gave us something extra to talk with potential clients about. As soon as we are able to, we will be entering the CEDIA Awards and ticking the other boxes to ensure we can grow to the next stage and become a Member of Excellence.”
Owen Maddock, owner, CinemaWorks, CEDIA Member of Excellence, said: “It’s a fact that not all companies are equal — if you commit to training and certifications, if you’re featuring at the CEDIA awards, and if you’re volunteering for the industry then you want that to be recognised. When CEDIA announced the Member of Excellence programme, we were itching to jump on board.
The biggest change I’ve noticed is way more enquiries coming via the CEDIA Member Locator, that are pre-qualified, and from a wider area.”
