Amazon has taken on the smart home, and it’s not missing out on an opportunity to mingle with the smart home industry. CEDIA has announced that Sarah Zenz, general manager of Amazon’s Smart Home Services, will present a sponsored keynote on Thursday, Sept. 7 at CEDIA 2017 in San Diego.
The keynote will be hosted from 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. in San Diego Convention Center Ballroom 20A. Zenz plans to share how Amazon Smart Home Services supports the business of CEDIA home tech professionals.
This is the second year Amazon has presented a keynote at CEDIA. In 2016, the association tapped Amazon director of Alexa Smart Home, Charlie Kindel, as the Friday morning keynote speaker. Kindel spoke about “Creating Voice-First Experiences for the Smart Home.”
“Last year, Amazon showed the CEDIA audience that they were serious about driving new and innovative solutions that would help drive profitability for the CEDIA channel,” says Dave Pedigo, VP of emerging technologies, CEDIA. “We are excited to see what they bring to the show this year.”
Amazon will also offer three Manufacturer Product Training classes:
- “Growing Your Business with Alexa” will be held on Thurs., Sept. 7 from 4 p.m. – 6 p.m.
- “Designing with Alexa Today” will be held on Thurs., Sept. 7 from 4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. and Fri., Sept. 8 from 10 a.m. – 12 p.m.
- “Integrating Alexa Far-Field Voice Capabilities into Your Product with Intel and AVS” will be held on Fri. Sept. 8 from 3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
These classes, as well as the Amazon keynote, are free to all CEDIA 2017 attendees.
Amazon has been on a roll this year, first releasing the Echo Look in April followed by the Echo Show in May.
While people expected the Echo Look to be some sort of security camera, it turned out to be aimed at fashion-focused consumers.
The Echo Show on the other hand, is a voice assistant with a screen that received security camera support this past June.
Attendees may add the Amazon Keynote and the Amazon training sessions to their schedules through the CEDIA 2017 registration process at www.cedia.net/register.
