The Ride Along: Part One | 617 | Rolling Through Conversations, Ideas and Inspiration from CEDIA Expo and CIX 2025

This week, the Convo By Design studio went mobile inside the VW ID.Buzz at CEDIA Expo and Commercial Integrator Expo in Denver—bringing you candid conversations with leaders shaping the future of smart homes, design integration, and resilient technology. From energy resilience to invisible lighting, European design influences to smarter tools, these ride-along interviews capture the pulse of the connected design and integration industry. Join Soundman in the VW ID.Buzz for a road trip packed with insight, innovation, and the people pushing design and technology forward. CEDIA & CIX Overview CEDIA: The global association for home technology pros—advancing smart home, DenverDenverAV, networking, and integrated systems through education and advocacy. CEDIA Expo: The industry’s largest annual gathering with hundreds of exhibitors, demos, and training sessions. Commercial Integrator Expo (CIX): The companion event focusing on commercial AV, IT, and building automation solutions. Designer Resources Pacific Sales Kitchen and Home. Where excellence meets expertise. Design Hardware – A stunning and vast collection of jewelry for the home! TimberTech – Real wood beauty without the upkeep LOME-AI.com, simple, inexpensive, text to video harnessing the power of AI to grow your firm, beautifully. Buzz Delano | Delano Associates & Delano News AdvanceDelano Associates From hi-fi beginnings to decades of consulting and media leadership. Why designers, integrators, and architects must align earlier. The transformation of lighting into an invisible design tool. AI’s role in personalized home automation. Designing smart homes for resilience against wildfires and disasters. Eric Nakkila | Selective DesignSelective Design Bridging European manufacturers with North American design markets. The evolution of CI from intercoms to invisible audio and lighting. European influences: smaller spaces, longer product lifecycles. The rise of hybrid products—speaker-lights, invisible speakers. Tariffs, volatility, and what wireless power means for the future. Joe Piccirilli | RoseWater EnergyRoseWater Energy | CE Pro Masters Profile A 50-year career spanning retail, distribution, and energy resilience. Power quality as the hidden factor behind system failures. RoseWater Hub: surge protection, solar integration, and backup power. Energy systems in safe rooms, healthcare, and aging-in-place design. Why the built environment needs an “engineering mindset.” Andrei Matei | Robbox ToolsRobbox Reinventing power tools with digital intelligence. The touchscreen drill with depth automation. A digital measuring system that replaces multiple tools. Overcoming resistance from traditional tradespeople. The upcoming X-Trail drill and direct-to-consumer strategy. Richard Charschan | AcousticSmart Home Theater InteriorsAcousticSmart Home Theater Interiors Building world-class home theaters for over 30 years. Post-pandemic resurgence of family theater spaces. Regional trends: why Dallas thrives and Houston lags. Dispelling the myth of six-figure-only theaters. Acoustics and music as the soul of immersive theater design. Rushi Kumar | DMF LightingDMF Lighting Lighting’s evolution from incandescent to tunable LED. Warm dim, tunable white, and linear lighting as design tools. Balancing simplicity in control with intelligent systems. AI-driven predictive lighting for elder care and routines. Small, versatile fixtures reshaping design opportunities. Ruslan Polinofsky | DMF LightingDMF Lighting Making lighting tech accessible to designers and integrators. Demystifying with clear, plain-language education. PhaseX (DMX over Romex) expanding retrofit options. The rise of lighting demo rooms in showrooms. The payoff of early collaboration on project outcomes. Recorded live inside the VW ID.Buzz, this episode captures the energy and ideas driving CEDIA Expo / CIX 2025. From resilient energy to invisible lighting, these conversations remind us that design and technology are converging faster than ever—and collaboration is the bridge. Thank you to everyone and CEDIA, CEDIA Expo, CIX, Brand Definition, Julia, Dan, Ray, Irene, and everyone who helped make this an incredible experience. Thank you to VW. I enjoyed the ride and hope you did too! -CXD