When the AV and smart home community comes together for the annual CEDIA Awards, it’s not just a night of celebration, but a union of connection and creativity. And for all of us at Wildwood Plus, it’s a key date in the calendar for exactly those reasons.
As the team helping to run the CEDIA Awards on behalf of our longstanding client, CEDIA, we see first-hand how this event brings together the industry’s brightest talent and fosters genuine connection. As an agency with a foot in both tech and build sectors, it also offers the perfect chance to highlight our interior design and technology intersect, showing the potential of creative collaboration.
An Industry Spotlight
The CEDIA Awards shine a spotlight on the incredible talent, innovations and professionalism found across the home technology sector, that much is clear. But beyond the trophies and applause, the experience offers something even more valuable: a room full of ideas, relationships, and stories waiting to be shared.
As Jeff Hayward, co-owner at Wildwood Plus and host of the Integrated Home Podcast puts it, “The CEDIA Awards works fantastically, shining a spotlight on the high quality and professionalism of CEDIA members and the work they do. But it’s also an event that brings the industry together.”
That sense of connection is what makes the evening so important for us as a specialist PR and marketing agency. With around 400 people gathered from the likes of integrators, manufacturers, suppliers, partners, and media – it’s an unparalleled opportunity to engage and learn. For our team, those conversations fuel our understanding of where the market is heading, what challenges our clients face, and how we can help them tell their stories in the most relevant and impactful way.
Authentic Participants
Events like the CEDIA Awards are a huge part of our job, not as spectators, but as authentic participants in the ecosystem helping to drive the industry forward. Our role isn’t just about crafting messaging or writing press releases. It’s about being there, fully immersed in the environment our clients operate in, and understanding how every piece fits together.
“We had a great opportunity to have some face-to-face time with our tech journalist guests this year – chatting about the articles they’re working on, offering editorial ideas, introducing them to our clients and letting them see the winning projects and products up close. That’s what PR is all about: developing relationships and creating opportunities you just can’t make happen from behind a screen,” shares Shereen Russell, Senior Account Director at Wildwood.
Involving Interior Designers
That’s also why we host tables that bring different elements of the field together. This year, we spread across two tables, one featuring leading technology journalists, helping to bridge the gap between companies and the media who share their stories. Another brought interior designers and journalists into the fold. As the industries merge closer and designers increasingly collaborate with integrators to create homes where design and technology work in harmony, these conversations at our tables are where connections can spark to go on to shape future partnerships, projects, and coverage.
Jenny Parker, Divisional Director for our Build clients, joined the CEDIA Awards for the first time this year, hosting our interiors table. “Bringing design and build professionals together in that setting was genuinely exciting,” she said. “You could feel the energy around how these worlds are overlapping more than ever. Sharing the evening with interior designers, integrators, and manufacturers really highlighted how much potential there is when we collaborate.”
Representing Our Clients
Ultimately, events like the CEDIA Awards remind us why what we do matters. Great communication doesn’t happen in isolation or from behind a screen, it happens through presence and a genuine understanding. Being there allows us to represent our clients authentically, spot new opportunities, and showcase the innovation and creativity that make this sector so very exciting.
At Wildwood Plus, the awards extend further than the celebration of excellence, they’re also a reminder of the vital role that strategic storytelling plays in keeping this industry connected, visible, and always moving forward.
