ESX 2018 to Promote Competing at the Next Level
The Electronic Security Expo will kick off June 19 in Nashville with an opening celebration from 6-7:30 p.m. Here is your preview to the event, including educational sessions, special attractions and other goings-on.
Attendees stream on to the exhibit floor at last year's Electronic Security Expo. The event returns to Nashville June 19-22.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Electronic Security Expo (ESX) hits the Music City Center here June 19-22 with an array of peer-to-peer driven seminars, networking activities, keynotes and an exhibit floor with nearly 200 product and service vendors.
Owned and presented by the Electronic Security Association (ESA) and The Monitoring Association (TMA, formerly CSAA), this year’s event poses a straightforward question to establish a central theme: “Are you passionate about what you do?” And if indeed you are there is much here to indulge your enthusiasm.
A four-track educational program will feature subject matter experts from leading installing security contractors and manufacturers, plus a host of other stakeholders. The curriculum emphasizes best practices and ideas intended to help dealers, integrators and central stations improve their business operations under these themes: Grow Your Business; Maximize Your Monitoring Center; Rethink the Future; and Run Your Company, which focuses on innovative ways to lead and manage your company, including operations, finance and customer service.
Following are some suggestions to consider as you map out your educational schedule:
- SSI Editor-in-Chief/Associate Publisher Scott Goldfine will serve as moderator for a pair of sessions. On June 21 he will be joined by Comcast’s Derrick Dicoi, executive director of Xfinity Home product management, and Aaron Whitaker, founder of Preventia, for the “A View from the Porch — How to Drive Profit with Doorbells, Cameras, and Door Locks” session.
- On June 22, Goldfine will be joined by Bob Gallup, chief sales officer for Guardian Protection Services, to explore “7 Ways to Successfully Partner With Residential Builders and Realtors.” Representatives from the local builder and realtor communities will also take part to share their perspectives.
- SSI “Monitoring Matters” contributor and respected industry consultant Peter Giacalone will moderate the panel session “Top 5 Disruptive Go-to-Market Strategies Affecting the Residential Market” on June 21. The featured panelists are Chris Johnson, president and founder of LiveWatch; Bryan Melancon, Southeast region operations manager, Cox Communications; and Philip Pearson, president, Smart Home Consulting Group.
- Also June 21, Giacalone will take part in “Improving the Customer Interaction Experience: Strategies to Consider Before Implementing IVR in the Monitoring Center.” He will be joined by TRG Associates President John Brady and Rapid Response Monitoring’s technology guru and “Monitoring Matters” contributor Morgan Hertel to discuss how interactive voice response can improve your automated telephony system to better interact with callers.
- Hertel will be joined by Mark Matlock, senior vice president of United Central Control, also a long-time “Monitoring Matters” contributor, to present “Next Gen Monitoring — Do Monitoring-on-Demand or Pay-as-You-Use Models Really Work?” This four-member panel session on June 21 includes Security Central’s Mark McCall, senior vice president of operations and new business initiatives, and Thomas Nakatani, IT vice president, customer monitoring technology & product, for ADT.
- ESX Chairman George De Marco and Mitch Reitman, principal of Reitman Consulting Group and a member of SSI’s editorial advisory board, will present “Counterpoint of the Day: New Tax Law Explained and Enlightened” on June 22. This interactive session acknowledges the new tax law will likely deliver benefits to most businesses; however, owners need to curb their enthusiasm until their tax advisors explain how the changes will take hold.
View the complete education line-up here.
Lots More ESX Happenings
ESX hosts many of the ESA’s and TMA’s respective industry awards programs, national committee meetings, among other joint endeavors. The evening of June 19, a welcome reception will be held 6-7:30 p.m., which includes honoring the Weinstock Person of the Year and TMA’s Excellence Award winners.
ESX will officially kick-off the following morning with the OpenXchange Breakfast (8:30 a.m.) where a panel of thought leaders will discuss disruptive technologies and emerging trends that are impacting the industry landscape.
Also June 20, the Opening Keynote Luncheon will feature best-selling author and president of UnMarketing, Scott Stratten, who will address security professionals with a talk about today’s evolving business climate. His presentation, titled “The Age of Disruption: Everything Has Changed and Nothing is Different,” showcases his unconventional approach which has attracted clients including Walmart, Microsoft, IBM, Toyota, Pepsico and Edelman.
During the June 21 general session, Don Yaeger, an 11-time best-selling author and longtime associate editor for Sports Illustrated, will present “Great Teams Understand ‘Why.’ Yaeger offers a glimpse under the hood of what makes effective teams run so well, and how a sense of a greater purpose can help organizations achieve greatness.
“While it’s easy sometimes to look and say, ‘We’re in the security industry, nobody should doubt why what we do is important,’ the truth is, most of us get caught up in a daily grind,” says Yaeger. “So how do we engage those people who work for us, who get caught in the daily grind? How do we engage them to remember that sense of purpose?”
Yaeger will share his findings from interviews with successful athletes and businessmen like Duke University Head Basketball Coach Mike Krzyzewski, 2014 NBA Most Valuable Player Kevin Durant, businessman and sports executive Jerry Colangelo, five-time Super Bowl champion quarterback Tom Brady, thought-leader Simon Sinek and longtime Medtronic CEO Bill George.
During the closing keynote luncheon on June 22, titled “Stronger Security, Safer Schools,” a panel of industry representatives will address the recurrence of violence in our schools, and ways to bring a safer learning environment for children.
Among the participants will be Ryan Petty, an experienced telecom and technology professional, who lost his daughter, Alaina, in the February shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. He is an advocate for improving school safety through community action and public policy.
The diverse panel will discuss practical ways integrators can strategize with schools and universities to take a multifaceted approach to ensure safety and peace of mind for children, educators and parents.
“This topic is complex and emotional, and a strong community is required to raise the level of awareness and security in our schools, so all children can be safe and secure while they learn,” says De Marco.
Also during ESX, SSI and the Security Industry Alarm Coalition (SIAC) will once again present the Police Dispatch Quality (PDQ) Award. Each year the honor recognizes an installing security contractor that best demonstrates a proactive and cooperative effort to reduce unnecessary alarm dispatches.
SSI will also team up with TMA to bestow the newly created Marvel Award, which will be presented to one overall winner for the “best adoption of new technology to advance your business.” Submissions include implementations of the following categories: video verification, PERS monitoring, technology to build efficiency in monitoring, cybersecurity, new business model and migration to the Cloud.
And the ESX Club Crawl returns June 20 for nighttime networking and honky-tonk carousing along Nashville’s famed music club row.
For more information, visit esxweb.com.
If you enjoyed this article and want to receive more valuable industry content like this, click here to sign up for our FREE digital newsletters!
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.
Related Content
Security Is Our Business, Too
For professionals who recommend, buy and install all types of electronic security equipment, a free subscription to Commercial Integrator + Security Sales & Integration is like having a consultant on call. You’ll find an ideal balance of technology and business coverage, with installation tips and techniques for products and updates on how to add to your bottom line.
A FREE subscription to the top resource for security and integration industry will prove to be invaluable.
