Taking Stock of ESX 2013
Installing security and monitoring providers are heading to Nashville for the annual show jointly owned by ESA and CSAA. Here’s a handy preview of the various educational sessions, plus many other happenings on tap.
The Electronic Security Association (ESA) and Central Station Alarm Association (CSAA) will present the annual Electronic Security Expo (ESX) June 17-21 at the newly christened Music City Center in Nashville, Tenn.
Now in its sixth year, the event will offer a wide assortment of seminars, networking opportunities and an exhibit floor with almost 200 participating manufacturers and service providers. ESX is billed as the only major, national trade show focused exclusively on the needs of installing electronic security and monitoring companies. Revenue generated by the conference remains within the industry and is used to fund year-round programming, education, legislative and public relations efforts.
There will be numerous ancillary goings-on and awards presentations all through ESX. Highlights include a formal affair at the Country Music Hall of Fame to present ESA’s Morris F. Weinstock Person of the Year and the Sara E. Jackson Memorial Award. Among assorted speaking engagements, a keynote address will feature marketing guru Roy Spence who helped grow some of the country’s most successful brands, including Southwest Airlines and Wal-Mart. Various ESA and CSAA committees will hold meetings throughout the week. The Alarm Research and Educational Foundation (AIREF) and ESA’s Young Security Professionals group will host their director and council meetings, respectively. A complete list of meeting times and dates are included in the event schedule at esxweb.com.
The Nashville nightlife will also be fully engaged during the ESX Crawl. Here, revelers will make the rounds through entertainment venues located in Nashville’s famed Lower Broadway. In the following conference preview, you can learn more specifics about the educational session tracks along with other activities being held during the course of the event.
Educational Agenda Emphasizes Creating Recurring Revenue
Executives from regional and national installing security contractors, vendors, plus a host of other subject matter experts will lead the more than 50 educational sessions that comprise a nine-track agenda. The tracks (see sidebar) include curriculum geared for business development and management, central station operations, installation management, new business trends, sales and marketing, technology, and more.
In particular, ESX educational offerings emphasize growing and maintaining recurring monthly revenue (RMR), which is considered a core financial asset for security integration and monitoring companies. As part of that mission, this year’s show will feature a new Mobile Apps and Interactive Services track. Included are such session titles as “Using Remote Video/Door Control and Cameras to Power Your Residential Growth” and “Taking Interactive Services to the Light Commercial Market.”
Now in its second year, The NexTech Zone will once again place a special spotlight on the areas of IT/networking, automation and A/V products as security providers increasingly add these technology categories to their portfolios. This supplementary event combines seminars and a channel audience-only expo geared toward helping integrators and vendors alike create new business. The NexTech Zone will host 15 exhibiting companies that seek to associate with integration firms that are expanding into new product categories and developing recurring revenue models around them.
All ESX conference seminars provide 0.1 National Training School (NTS) CEU credits.
Lots on Tap at IceBreaker Luncheon
SECURITY SALES & INTEGRATION is the sponsor of the ESX Industry IceBreaker Luncheon. Held June 18, the event will feature a keynote address by Newtown, Conn., Police Chief Michael Kehoe, who directed emergency response efforts during the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy.
Kehoe, who has served as police chief in Newtown since 2001, is chairman of the Statewide Narcotics Task Force Policy Board, a member of the Connecticut Coalition for Drug Endangered Children and the board co-chair of the Newtown Prevention Council. He will delve into the critical partnership between public safety and private security entities as part of a wider discussion about how the security industry can best equip public safety officials to respond to threat risks.
“We’re extremely proud to welcome Chief Kehoe to ESX’s Industry IceBreaker Luncheon,” says ESX Chair George De Marco. “I look forward to hearing his thoughts on how the public and private safety sectors can work together to protect our most precious assets — our families, our children.”
The luncheon will also host the presentation of the Police Dispatch Quality (PDQ) Award, which annually recognizes an installing or monitoring company that follows established industry practices and partners with law enforcement to achieve the highest quality in police dispatch requests. Launched in 2005, the program is sponsored by SSI, Security Industry Alarm Coalition (SIAC), False Alarm Reduction Association (FARA) and the Installation Quality (IQ) Certification Program. SIAC will also present its annual William N. Moody Award to an industry volunteer who has demonstrated exemplary leadership and dedication in maximizing false dispatch reduction across North America.
And there’s more: CSAA and SSI will bestow the annual CSAA Five Diamond Marketing Marvel Award. Each year the program honors a central station that uses its CSAA Five Diamond status in creative ways to gain a competitive edge in the marketplace. An in-depth report of this year’s winner will be featured in an upcoming issue of SSI. Lastly, the luncheon is home to the ESA Youth Scholarship Awards, which provides $10,000 to a first-place winner, $5,000 for second place, $3,500 for third and $1,500 for fourth.
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About the Author
Rodney Bosch, Senior Editor
Although Bosch’s name is quite familiar to those in the security industry, his previous experience has been in daily newspaper journalism. Prior to joining SECURITY SALES & INTEGRATION in 2006, he spent 15 years with the Los Angeles Times, where he performed a wide assortment of editorial responsibilities, including feature and metro department assignments as well as content producing for latimes.com. Bosch is a graduate of California State University, Fresno with a degree in Mass Communication & Journalism. In 2007, he successfully completed the National Burglar and Fire Alarm Association’s National Training School coursework to become a Certified Level I Alarm Technician.
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