The Home Cinema Alliance - Tech Talk Podcast
A consumer-facing podcast hosted by industry veterans, Stuart Burgess from Immersive Cinema Rooms and Simon Gregory from Cinema Rooms.
Each episode, we bring you News, Reviews, and Interviews from inside the industry covering Home Cinema, Home Theatre, and all things tech.
Get involved podcast@homecinemaalliance.co.uk
The Home Cinema Alliance - Tech Talk Podcast
Co-Locating Two Industries Will Open New Doors For Integrators And Contractors
Big shifts rarely happen by accident; they come from bold bets that connect the dots others ignore. We sit down with All Things Media CEO David Kitchener to unpack a strategy designed to grow the smart home market by bringing two adjacent worlds under one roof at the NEC Birmingham: EI Live and the new ECN Live. Instead of chasing the same attendees every year, co-location invites integrators, distributors, and manufacturers to meet a larger, highly relevant audience of electricians and electrical contractors who are already on-site and ready to expand into smart home work.
David takes us behind the scenes of Essential Install’s editorial principles—tight audience targeting, strong design, and trade-first reporting—and explains why print still excels in specialist sectors. We also explore Intelligent Homes, the quarterly consumer magazine mailed to 25,000 targeted households per issue. With case studies, lighting features, and home cinema explainers written in clear, benefit-led language, it turns curiosity into demand and gives integrators a powerful awareness channel outside the echo chamber.
We dig into the practical upside of the NEC move: central access, abundant hotels, and space to scale. Exhibitors gain a bigger pool of qualified prospects; visitors can plan two focused days—one on the “blue” smart home side, one on the “red” contracting side—and leave with new suppliers, new categories, and new accounts. Along the way, we touch on the role of video, from factory tours at Niko and Barco to storytelling that shows how products are tested, built, and proven before they reach a rack or ceiling.
If you care about where the smart home industry is heading—and how to find growth beyond your usual circle—this conversation maps the terrain and the playbook. Subscribe for more deep dives, share this with a teammate who needs to hear it, and tell us: which side will you start with at the NEC—blue or red?
So hi David. Thanks for having us uh to your offices today, to the All Things Media offices in uh Chatham. You're welcome. Though we are we actually Chatham? Uh Lordswood, part of Chatham, yes. Yeah, because Chatham for me feels a long way over that way from what I remember. Yeah, we're we're the nicer part of Chatham. Just off the motorway. Yes. Yeah. It always really brings me a weird way when I come here, which is one reason I brought the van and not the car this morning, was because it always brings me to country lanes, which I get very paranoid when I'm driving my car down them. Well, if you brought your car down, you might see it in blocks afterwards, but on blocks, but you'll be okay. I'm not saying anything about Chatham. That's you said that. So, right, so obviously we're here today at the All Things Media um offices. Uh, we've got some big news to reveal, which if you look at the video you now at things around us, you might get the idea of where this conversation's going. But for people that don't know uh David um and don't know all things media, introduce yourself, obviously, your role at the company and and how the company was founded and started by yourself.
SPEAKER_01:Sure, sure. Well, uh welcome to ATM, Stuart. It's good to see you here. Uh I'm the my name's David Kitchener, I'm the CEO of All Things Media. Uh I founded the company 17, 18 years ago with the launch of Essential Install magazine. I identified the market. I've actually been in the publishing and exhibitions industry for 40 odd years. I I look 25, I'm just a little older. We launched Essential Install 17 years ago. When you publish any magazine, whatever magazine it is in the world, you need to get three things right. You need to get the editorial direction right, you need to get the circulation right, so therefore the people the magazine's delivered to, distributed to, they need to be able to buy the advertiser's products and design. Design's very important, and people don't realise that in magazines because uh I always say in publishing that a magazine needs to look like it wants to be read before you pick it up and read it. So it's very, very important those things. We, having been in the business as long as I have, I knew how to do that. Obviously, I was taught by some of the best in the business. So Essential Install was born 17 years ago, the rest is history. It's a monthly magazine still now, the leading residential A V and Smart Home magazine.
SPEAKER_00:So for anybody who's not read the magazine, obviously, some people might be outside the industry, but fundamentally for us inside the industry, you know, as an integrator that's been here for nearly 20 years now, um, it's always something, as you say, it lands on our doorstep every month. Um, quite bright and vibrant. You pick it up and you either take it home to read uh or you take it in the van on site to read on your lunch break, and and it basically just encompasses new products, new services, new businesses, and it's almost like a I don't know, like a Bible, isn't it? Really? It's a Bible for the inside the industry.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's it's our responsibility as a magazine to keep the marketplace, the marketplace being the installers and integrators. They are our readers. We're not an end user publication, we are a trade publication going to the integrators installers that will go into your home, people's homes, and obviously fit the kit. And it's our responsibility to keep them abreast of what's going on in the marketplace from a news point of view, from a product point of view. Uh we produce a lot of case studies. Um and yes, we we we struck a chord all those years ago. Uh we've redesigned it slightly over the years. There is a major relaunch coming, actually, from a design point of view. So we're going to revamp the publication. It's been the same format for for quite a few years now. But like everything else, it's cyclical and things need refreshing. Um it's still doing very well as a publication. Uh we still go out to the entire market. Part of the circulation is uh architects and interior designers because, as you know, Stuart better than I, they are part of the the mix, like it, like it or not.
SPEAKER_00:Well they're always they're involved in a project quite long before us, yes, as an uh as my integrator shirt on. So quite often we will get brought into a project from the inter from the sort of like the um interior designer, the architect, the ME consultant, yes, um, which they may well have read the magazine or see the magazine and then reach out to get those products integrated.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, absolutely. Um so therefore we have an element we cover the majority of. I'm sure there's one or two people that probably don't get it, but I'm sure we'll catch up with them. But we cover the majority of people in terms of readers, integrators and installers in in the country. Um it's arguable how many installers there are in the country, uh in the UK, but of course, whereby now the there are electrical uh electricians and electrical contractors who are becoming installers. When people arrive at the number of uh installers-integrators they believe there are in the UK, it's often a false figure because there are lots of electricians and electrical contractors who are now becoming installers-integrators.
SPEAKER_00:And you're seeing that, I mean, you look at some of our distributors who were heavily involved in, you know, maybe you look at someone like uh All Trade, you know, who were heavily involved in TVRs and satellites. And in the years that I've known the guys, specifically at Brighton and Maidstone, um, you see them slowly strike up partnerships with CI manufacturers and distributors to because you've got those guys are coming into the market, because you've you've also got ECN magazine as well, so you must obviously see it on the ECN side of it.
SPEAKER_01:Well, I'll I'll come to that, but it makes perfect sense if you think of the electricians and the the again the electrical contractors, um, they're in people's homes. So what do they do? They wire a home up. I always make a joke, you know, they're in someone's home wiring plugs up. Obviously, they're doing a lot more. However, um, if the electricians and the electrical contractors get to know the CI industry better, they can stay on, they can upsell when they're in people's houses. So therefore, once they've wired the house, for example, they can stay on, uh, hang some flat screens, put some uh in-wall, in-seating speakers in. It's another string to their bow, of course, and it's another financial string to their bow as well. But interesting, you mentioned about ECN. Uh, having launched the the essential install, as I say, um 17 odd years ago, it was very soon after that that I launched what was then called Essential Install Live, because we had the magazine Essential Install. We then called the show, it was a one-day exhibition in Manchester, you may recall. I I can't so you don't remember that?
SPEAKER_00:No, I can't believe it's that long ago.
SPEAKER_01:Uh you know, I was 2010, uh Essential Install Live was born. And it was born as a one-day show in Manchester, because um, which is which is fair enough, Cedia had their national show down south at the XL Exhibition Centre in London. It was quite clear to me, actually, that their show was very Southern Bias in London. And of course, as you know, there's a lot of business from from Birmingham upwards to Manchester to Scotland to Northern Ireland, there's a lot of business up there. Now, those people weren't coming down to visit the London show. So that's why I put a one-day show called Essentially Install Live, uh, a year after we'd launched the magazine into Manchester to cover that part of the cover that part of the UK. Um CD's show, unfortunately at that point was getting smaller year on year. Uh they decided to go into the gory details, but they decided to cancel it after a couple of years, I think, at Excel. We then took the business model that we had in the north of England in Manchester. We bought that business model down south, and the first venue we took was Sand Down Race Course. You probably remember when it was.
SPEAKER_00:When was that? When was Sandown?
SPEAKER_01:Uh well it was it was 2020 oh 2010. Um it would have been probably 2016, something like that. I'm terrible on dates, so forgive me.
SPEAKER_00:No, it's it's just like I was reading the sheet that you sent me, the press release for the new venture, which we'll get on to. And and it's another one of them where I read these when people send them to me, and I'm like, really? Yeah. Which makes me feel really old. Because I c I can remember the first show at Sand Down, and then obviously on to Farnborough.
SPEAKER_01:But I had the the first show at Sand Down was a one-day show. Now traditionally, exhibitions are two days, three days, and so on. I mean, look at IC, it's four days. Yeah. But traditionally, there's always a two-day show. But okay, I was edging my bets, I bought it down, um in uh launched it at Sandown, but still a one-day show, but much, much bigger. So we're we're we're down south basically. It was such a success, people were queuing up at the door, people were queuing up at stands. In fact, the exhibitors uh were trying to talk to people and couldn't because they had so many people on their stand. They all came to me, the industry basically came to me and said, Look, this has got to be a two-day show. So then we put it on the next year as a two-day show. It it stayed at we'll talk about it a bit more in a sec, but um so so let's hold that thought. Along the way, having launched Essential Install magazine, having launched the show, there was a growing synergy between two market sectors the smart home industry, which is what Essential Install is all about, and of course electricians and electrical contractors. There was a growing synergy. I identified a company, but they approached me actually, they they they uh a couple of chaps that were really quite old wanted to get out of the publishing business, but they published a magazine called ECN. ECN stands for Electrical Contracting News. This was actually in 2016. So we bought the company, um media, we bought the company for really to take ownership of ECN because it was a successful title. Um we've since made it a lot more successful, having published it for that amount of time. But it's been around for some forty odd years. So we bought the company, we took ownership of ECN. The company at the time kind of helped me to ransom and said, well, if you if we we sell you ECN, you you you got to buy two of our other publications. So they sold us a magazine called Data Center News, and they sold us a magazine called Network Communication News. We we are in the data center market as well as a market sector. Uh we relaunched those two as DCNN, which is data center and network news. So we took those on board. But the main prize for us was ECN uh uh ECN magazine, Electrical Contracting News. So we bought it. It's been very successful ever since. It's now the leading electoral contracting magazine in the field. We carry all the what I call the blue chip companies in the electrical business in terms of advertising and uh and sponsorship. We're producing a hundred-page issue every month, which um and that's fact, which you know people say to me, and I know you have a question about print and and so on, but you know, ECN, we're producing a hundred-page issue every month. Now it's a a it does very, very well revenue-wise, as you will appreciate, um, but certainly print is is absolutely paramount in that industry.
SPEAKER_00:I think because like my my comment about it lands on the doorstep and you take it with you. And I think that you know, when you are in the middle of nowhere and you've got no mobile reception and and as uh still an integrator uh on Monday to Wednesday, um I it's still nice to have that magazine. Uh you know, I still sit down and read the magazine, still feel through the magazine.
SPEAKER_01:The the old joke obviously is that you know you take a magazine in the toilet. When you're in the toilet, you read a magazine, you read a newspaper.
SPEAKER_00:Didn't want to go there, but yes, it starts off in my van and goes to my toilet. The wife would argue they're both the same place most of the time.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Yeah. Well, uh uh uh No, there is an adage there, but I won't say it. Um But you of course you take a I know you read your phone, everything else, and I do, but you take a magazine on the train. People do want to read magazines. Um can I can I can I preempt a question that you were you wanted to ask about print being being dead or alive, or do you want to pick that up later?
SPEAKER_00:I think we'll pick it up later. I th one thing I do want to mention is uh above you, and I think you might be able to see this on the wide camera, you also have got Intelligent Homes magazine. Yes. Um, which is a direct-to-consumer magazine. Yes. Um and I think that actually, even though the conversation we're having is uh ultimately about the magazines and the show, sure. Tell me a little bit about Intelligent Homes, because I think as a as the HCA were or are an advertiser in there now, but were an advertiser on some of the other more cinema-related high street magazines which don't exist anymore. What was the theory behind that direct-to-consumer magazine?
SPEAKER_01:The theory behind it is quite simple. Um the CI market hasn't changed in ten years, it hasn't progressed in terms of the awareness to the end user. Yep. Why? Simple. People don't have uh deep enough pockets because if you're reaching out to the consumer, there are of course millions and millions of them out there. Reaching those millions is very expensive. Nobody's got those deep pockets. We have an idea. I mean, given my background in publishing, I've done an awful lot over those 40 odd years. Um so how do we reach out to the to to the public and create the awareness for our industry? Bearing in mind that essentially install the magazines we talked about, uh uh and and uh ECN are B2B, so trade titles. Intelligent Homes, as you rightly say, is a consumer title. Now, we distribute 25,000 copies of Intelligent Homes direct to home addresses. Now we choose those as as as m as you will know. There is a lot of uh uh data in the public domain where you can buy postcodes. Now we buy the the postcodes that we know reflex the marketplace in terms of intelligent homes and in terms of the, shall we say, luxury upmarket uh CI market. So we choose the postcodes to deliver the magazine to. We get it delivered to 25,000 homes. If you assume that there are two people per household reading that, you've got 50,000 pairs of eyeballs looking at intelligent homes. No other publication in the consumer world can reach that. Least of all, things like what hi-fi, they're selling a fraction of what they used to do on the news agent, but they're selling them. We are sending the magazine free of charge to uh households, so it's pushed through their letterbox. And can people subscribe to the magazine? They can. We have uh an ad in every issue whereby people go on. We've probably got about a thousand subscribers now. Because you try and do one a quarter. It's every quarter. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So demographic, so like South, Midlands. Yes. So every year Holmes in the South will get it once a year. But if you want the other three copies that are available that year, then you can subscribe.
SPEAKER_01:You can subscribe to those. It's a free subscription, I hasten to add. Um, and that's why we've got about a thousand people uh at the moment. But you can always argue the fact that there is wastage, and of course there's got to be wastage. It's the old newspaper adage. You buy a newspaper, you get a million readers. So you're paying handsomely for a page ad, for example, in a national newspaper. What do you get for that? Maybe a million or two million readers. Ah yes, but what about the wastage? Well, even if you half the wastage, if you've got 50% wastage in a national newspaper, you're still hitting a million people. Well, you apply the same logic to intelligent homes. We're sending out 25,000 copies. We've got 50,000 pairs of eyeballs, assuming two people per household read it, and possibly more. But if you take away 25,000 of those people who are not interested, you're still back to 25,000 people. So you take in the wastage, but you're still putting out and and getting your magazine and the message to a lot of people. That's our way of actually trying to expand our market because I and we are there with our publications for the marketplace. How do you expand it? As I say, deep pockets, consumers, etc. etc. We are reaching out to those 25,000 people via the way we're distributing it because it's our way of expanding the marketplace and creating that awareness to the marketplace. Now you you mentioned it goes out to four regions. Now, those four regions is 25,000 new people every time it goes out. So we are going out to a hundred thousand pairs of uh a hundred thousand homes during the course of four issues, and so therefore, you have to assume uh that you've got two hundred thousand pairs of eyeballs looking at intelligent homes.
SPEAKER_00:And I think it is, you know nobody can match those figures. You've used the same philosophy that I see in essential install, which is it is a nice magazine. You know, you you as an advertiser you send us a copy every month.
SPEAKER_01:But you see, it doesn't matter who you are, you should deserve quality. And and and it's you could you you could kind of compare little with perhaps uh Waitros. But I believe it doesn't matter who you are, whatever social economic uh uh status you are on the scale, provide them with a quality magazine.
SPEAKER_00:And it's it is a good read. I mean it's a nice magazine to pick up, it feels good. Um obviously you've got nice adverts in there, but more importantly, you've got good editorials in there for which is useful to the end consumer. So, you know, we we run uh uh one in there a few issues ago, which was basically, you know, what is a home cinema? Yeah. Um so it goes into what, and then you have articles and conversations on intelligent lighting and maybe security and all of those things. So it is actually a for the end consumer, it is a factual read. And it's something that you want to if you see that land on your doorstep and uh against you know a leaflet for uh no disrespect to a window cleaner, the window cleaner one generally goes in the bin. You pick up that and you just have a feel of it. Even if you're about to pick it up and throw it in the bin, there's gonna be something to stop. Actually, I might read this.
SPEAKER_01:That's the beauty of our industry, it's very pretty because some of the houses, you you could see these houses in how uh Homes Beauty uh in Vogue magazine, in uh House and Beautiful magazine. The case studies are very pretty. Um but but we so so therefore we publish a lot of case studies so the consumer can see what they can do. But to to the point of the way it's written, which is very important, the way we write my journalists write essential install is for you guys. It's very technical, it it talks about the technicalities because you understand the absolute technicalities, but of course the consumer doesn't. The consumer wants to know it's a great looking box. Um I don't really care about technicalities. What can it do for me? Oh well that box can give you music in every room you you you walk into on a sensor basis or on a on a flick switch basis, and that's the difference with a consumer and trade title in what we do. It's written for them so that they understand what our industry can do for them rather than you want to know how many I don't know, I'm not how many zones of audio you can run off on one amp and how many Us it's a rack.
SPEAKER_00:And that would of course go over the consumer's head. So yeah, you're preaching to the converted as far as I'm concerned, because you know the whole premise of the HCA is to to not teach but to communicate our industry to the end consumer. I think you're completely right in respects of that there are a lot of consumers out there and they are your customers, aren't they? Yeah. Whereas you are my customer. Yeah, yeah, you know, and and the end of the day, it is a case of that there's a there's some consumers out there that want to know the intricate detail, and there's consumers out there who just want a whatever cinema room, multi-room audio system. And I think that as an industry, we're really good and we have really good vessels within our industry, including your magazines, which we're great at talking to ourselves about ourselves, but it's great to see you know all things media and yourself looking at that market of the direct consumer because as you say, there's there's many magazines like Home Cinema Choice magazine, which are no longer. Um, and I think that the more of those magazines that disappear, the less that our customers know about our industry. One thing that we're very keen on in the HCA, you know, like we're sitting here now, this is will be released as an audio podcast, but we are sitting here in front of four cameras as a video podcast. I know that you guys have done a uh quite a bit of video this year. You recently did a thing with Nico out in Belgium, wasn't it? I think it was. Yeah, Antrup. Lovely place. So, how are all things media embracing sort of video marketing? I'm very keen of like getting the integrator to show their product to the end consumer, um, their maybe their future consumer. Um are all things media looking at, you know, the video platforms, social media platforms to to drive the customer's knowledge of our industry.
SPEAKER_01:As ATM here, we have uh we are a multi, it sounds rather grand, um, me being an old school publisher, but we are a multi-level media company. So we have print magazines, we have digital magazines, we have online, uh uh all our websites are uh obviously we we monetize our websites, but my journalists are loading up between five to ten stories a day on our websites. Um I like to use the phrase, a well-warned phrase, that that they are the newspaper of the industry. The the um the stories and everything we s we load up on the websites don't clash with the magazine, they're two separate things for obvious reasons. Um we have weekly newsletters going out to all of our industries. Uh so we we have everything from a media point of view except video. So therefore, we yes, some was some would say I I I love video personally. Uh some would say that video is the future. So we need as a company to get into the video aspect of of the business. But just a funny, silly little story, actually, to make you laugh. When I was in Nico in Belgium, of course, we went to Nico. Nico, great company. If you ever get a chance to go to their offices, knock your eyes out. They look stunning, yeah. But the whole thing is, of course, we went over there and did a factory tour. I think factory tours are important. I mean, I think they're a great thing to do, and of course, video has to be part of that. It has to be, because it's got to be a visual thing. We as a company needed to get in video. Uh, we still knew we we we still do need to to exploit the the video side of the business. Um but of course you're in it, and uh you are loving it, aren't you?
SPEAKER_00:I mean, I was fortunate enough to be out at Barco um last Friday at a press day for them. I know Barco very well. Barko's in Belgium, our Barco. You could ask me that, I can't remember. Never mind. Never mind. Begins with K. Oh, okay. If you watch the video that's coming up with Barco, maybe early November, uh Bart will tell you exactly where they're based. Um but it's about an hour and 25 minutes from the La Shuttle. Okay. As I know. Um but again Everything in Belgium is about an hour and 25 minutes from the Bible. Which is brilliant. But again, I know Barco very well. They produce very, really good projectors. Their facilities there were stunning. But I think what was good for me was that was to see some of the stuff that we don't necessarily know. So their involvement in, you know, theme parks, in their involvement in museums, their theme park, their um their involvement in medical, um, you know, their involvement in Barco HDR in commercial vehicle uh uh theatres as well as uh residential cinemas. But also, and uh we got some footage, but was the behind the scenes again was they showed us they were taking a projector out of a minus 15 freezer because they want to see what happens when it thaws. You know, does it affect any of the circuitry? You know, some of the stuff they had there, they put a projector in when it's uh X amount metres or feet above sea level. So if this projector's in a place in Chile, let's say, is it going to work? And I think that I think we're both on the same uh stream there where we see it every day because we're invited to those things, but the end consumer doesn't.
SPEAKER_01:But you see, uh and the the majority of people don't see that.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:But that is very, very important and it goes to the quality of their products, clearly. Yeah. But not many people see that. And and that is again, we're in the media. That's our responsibility to translate that kind of information to the to to the wider audience.
SPEAKER_00:Those behind the scenes you did with Nico, the one I did with Barco, you know, next year we're hoping to go out to the new facilities at Trinoff. I think that we get to see them within reason every day. Um, and I think that what's great about what you're doing with all things media is you know you're showing that to people in respects of um, you know, uh physical printed media as well as digital media, um, you're showing that or communicating that with you know Intelligent Homes magazine. But if we go back to the shows, um obviously it's a trade show. So you have some big news in 2026 about essential install live. We do.
SPEAKER_01:Um having said, going back to what it used to be called Essential Install Live, um, people referred to it all the time as EI Live. So we simply rebranded it to EI Live. But it the the EI stands for essential install. Makes it design cheaper, less letters to print. Exactly right, yes, yes. So it it's it's now EI Live. Um and it's in its uh its 14th, 15th year this year. However, um I I am the first one to admit, and I'm very honest about these things, I I know lots of other ex uh exhibition organizers that will have you believe that, oh yes, we had thousands and thousands and thousands of uh visitors, but of course you know by walking the floor they don't. Now we didn't get the attendance we wanted to this year, but it was quite good, everybody enjoyed it. But what we did get from an attendance visitor point of view was quality. We had quality people there, um, and that made all the difference. But nevertheless, shows are cyclical. So again, I'm the first one to admit that EI Live needed needs a bit of a shot in the arm. Well, the big news is the shot in the arm is that firstly we're relocating it to NEC Birmingham. We are launching a brand new show called ECN Live, ECN, as we've already said, Electrical Contracting News, because the the rapidly growing synergy between the two market sectors. Everybody I've spoken to about it, a lot of people know about it because we haven't embargoed it. We haven't kept it uh excuse me, we haven't kept it as a as a secret.
SPEAKER_00:We sent out an email a few weeks ago to the exhibitors saying this is what we're planning, could you give us our feedback?
SPEAKER_01:Well, and I have to say the majority of them have come back and said we'll be there. Um because a lot of them, a lot of the exhibitors you see, distributors, it widens their audience. Whilst they get guys like you as a visitor, guys integrators visiting, and that's who they sell to. But by halving the show, which is pretty much what we do, we go, the the show will be twice as big as the ER Live show this year. It's uh Hall three, quite a big hall at the NEC Birmingham. And it will be half ECN Live and half ER Live. The show will be colour-coded accordingly, as you can see here. The corporate colours on ECN Live is red, and of course the blue is our corporate colours on ER Live.
SPEAKER_00:Feel like we're about to have one of those, you know, those boxing competitions. I'm in the blue corner, you know, with my blue sign, you're in the uh red corner over there. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:But of course, what it does, by bringing in, by co-locating the two, it's very trendy now and in vogue to co-locate shows. Um there is a big uh big group of companies out there that are co-locating a lot of shows, cybersecurity, health and safety, security, and all that, because the industries themselves sit side by side, so therefore, why not co-locate them into one show? And that's precisely what we're doing with EI Live and ECN Live. So the the co-location of the shows will give the exhibitors at EI Live much more, a greater pool of people to sell to. Um, and that makes all the difference. Why do you go to show you want to sell products? You know, you you you never never get away from the fact, why am I here? To sell something. I want to sell products, I want to sell services. Well, that's why we put on our shows. But of course, as I say, sounding repetitive, the the EI live exhibitors will have a greater pool of people to sell to and open new contracts and new uh new accounts.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I think also any industry, regardless of what industry it is, you could be blinkered. And and my eyes were opened when I I went uh with Nikki and Andy at Mostech. Um, I was there a few months ago doing some uh their new showroom launch opening with their Nico stuff, and I actually that's the first time I got to look at like Nico better.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Um, and I I will be honest to say that beforehand I'd be like, I do A V, I'm not looking at that. But I can honestly hand on heart say I walked away from the three days I spent with Nikki and Andy, also their enthusiasm for the brand. Um, and I was like, actually, this is a good little product. So I think from what you're doing here, from the both point of view, whether you're the red corner coming over to the blue corner and having a look around, there's gonna be products that you don't know that we do and relationships you don't know that you could have, but also from the blue corner coming over to the red corner. Like I found with Nico, it could be exactly the same. You know, one of the big markets I always think in the smart home is energy monitoring. Is is and you've got companies out there who are doing, you know, energy companies together with people like Alan, who writes drivers for, say, like control four, that you can actually put that energy monitoring into your home. So your smart meter that you get free from your electrical provider, which let's face it's not that smart, you can go one step further and actually blend these two, have a good synergy between them.
SPEAKER_01:As an industry, we've been calling ourselves custom installers. What a mistake that was. What is a custom installer? This is another reason why the the awareness to the outside world is not there. What's a custom installer? What do you do? But if I'm a kitchen fitter, or I'm a plumber, or I'm a bathroom fitter, I know exactly what you do. But the word custom installer has never been descriptive. There lies a problem. But of course, it's evolving now, and a lot of guys are calling themselves smart home technicians. But the word smart home is coming into the into play big time. So it's not just AV now, you know better than I. It's not just AV and home automation now, it's smart home. So you've got uh with with the likes of um uh Apple coming into the marketplace, talking about the connected home, uh Google launching their their their thermostat talking about the connected home. You've got the bigger players in in the business now talking about the connected home. So therefore, smart home is the smart home, which of course takes into not only AV now, as much as we love the sound and vision of the industry, but of course it takes in heating, uh air conditioning, uh lighting, of course, lighting is a big part of it. So the smart home is is I think coming of age. Now, the guys who read essenti uh uh uh ECN are wanting to come into our market. They it's another like I've said before uh early on, there's another string to their bow. They can walk over to the blue side, as you call it, and they can see what they can do and they can expand their business and they can increase their their their business, uh their own businesses, by getting into and involving themselves in in um installing smart home AV stuff. That's a benefit on the ECN side. Of course, we've got some of the key players and heavy hitters in the electoral contracting business who have put their hand up and said, Where do I sign? The benefit to the EI Live people, as already said, the benefit to the blue side is of course they've got more people to sell to, and it represents new business. One of the criticisms with EI Live is that they see they see the same old people. Now that's always going to be the same case with a show. But our industry, the essential install industry, is not large. I mean, for example, CEDIA in their latest survey will tell you that the marketplace, the the the CI marketplace is worth three billion. I I would question that personally, but they did a survey, they come out of three billion. Now the market the market size in the UK for the electoral contracting is 20.5 billion. So it's almost ten, fifteen times larger than that particular industry. So it makes perfect sense to put them together. It makes perfect sense to all of these guys, the manufacturers and distributors, mainly distributors, because of course we're distributor led in this country as opposed to the United States, which is manufacture led. But it provides the the blue corner with many, many more people, well, basically to increase their business. And of course, the red side of the the show to the blue side represents completely new business. How do you expand your business? I want new business.
SPEAKER_00:Well, we um when I sat down with Andy at Mostec and we were talking about Well, he's an electrician by trade. He he's uh stocking trades electrician, isn't he? Yeah, yeah. Well he was a RAF engineer that went Yeah and um but like we were saying about this was before EI Live and and you know and they were saying that they were on the with Nico on the stand. And we both said the thing the thing about the exhibition is that you and I'm guilty of this, you go to the exhibition, you wander around and see the people you know, actually don't do that, you know. So actually, from from my point of view, or people might look at this and go, oh god no, you know, uh m fusing the two up, and it might even be on both sides, I don't know. But actually, from my point of view, it's like, well, okay, like EI Live this year, I didn't go and see I went and saw more people that I didn't know than people that I did know. Because the people that I do know, I know what they do because they send me their stuff. And they're your customers anyway. Yeah, and actually, I think what's what's great about that you merging the two shows or combine the two shows is that you know it is a is it a two it's a two-day show still, isn't it? Yes. So you can almost go, right, it's Birmingham, I'm gonna go up there. I mean, I live I live so far on the south coast that half my demographic is in France when you do the Google Google search. Um, I'm gonna go up there, I'm gonna stay overnight. So I'll tell you what, the first day I'll do my blue side, and the second day I'll do my red side. Yeah, because actually there is things to learn on both sides. And yes, and what did you say? You're you're going for about 75 in each, 75 exhibitors, about 150 exhibitors, hopefully.
SPEAKER_01:That's the key. That's that's what we're aiming for. Uh, and we're aiming for between three to four thousand visitors, uh, and I think we'll get that across both both uh both areas.
SPEAKER_00:Um Well, I was speaking to people like Stuart Lillis, uh Lilith Ultimation, yeah, yeah. Mel who Mel and Gifford we know very well, Dad Orange at Electric Electric Orange. It's on their back door. So they're like, Well, we're definitely gonna go. So, you know, first of all, um it's it's gonna get more people because it is more central.
SPEAKER_01:Well, we used to get we we have you you get criticism with everything, Stuart. As you know, you you can't please all the people all the time. So we get criti the farmer gets criticized for its location. Uh as Birmingham has been criticised for its location. But having said that, if you you're in a helicopter and you look at the UK, Birmingham is actually bang smack in the middle of the whole of the UK.
SPEAKER_00:And it's also very easy. I mean, when I go to I mean, we used to exhibit the NEC for a couple of years. Um it's just so bloody easy to get to.
SPEAKER_01:It is, and a little shout out for Bert for the NEC in Birmingham. Um I've been going there for literally 40 years. Now, when I used to go there in the earth back in the day, it was quite primitive, but it's an amazing place now. It's the biggest centre in this country, one of the biggest in Europe. But they've built something they call Resort World, which is full of huge huge place full of restaurants, shops, big hotels. So there's lots of hotels on on on the on the um on the uh on the whole area. Uh it's around a lake, so it's a very nice place to go. So it it ticks a lot of boxes now. Some some good hotels, and I think they're very affordable hotels. See, as an exhibition organiser, I've always been conscious of my exhibitors. Um for example, if I took the show to London, what would I be forcing on my exhibitors? London prices in terms of parking, London prices in terms of uh hotel rooms, London prices, typical London prices. That's why I didn't really want to go to London.
SPEAKER_00:We're lucky in the South to have you know people who have showrooms right on our doorstep where the further north you go, you haven't got the likes of you know some of our major distributors and manufacturers because they all are for for reasons of uh location M25 based. So I think actually, yeah, taking it up there, you've got places to stay, you've got hotels to stay, you can make a nice two-day trip of it. And it uh the early signs are for for me as the integrator side of it, it it's a it's a plus plus. Yes. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Well, it it's it like I say, it's been received very well. Um I reached out to the uh ECN industry, they are loving it.
SPEAKER_00:Uh they didn't have a show before, did they?
SPEAKER_01:Not in the contracting area, no. There's a few electricians shows, but that's all they are. Yeah. But this is this is a contracting show and there isn't one now. So it fit it fits the bill from their point of view, it ticks their box from that point of view. Um again, I've I've I've reached out to them. It's officially being launched, as you know, all the details with floor plans and everything else on Monday, this Monday coming the third.
SPEAKER_00:So as you're watching this video, it will probably be out. So where would where will people go to see that? Obviously, your own website.
SPEAKER_01:Well, our own website, yes, we we're doing we we've got a big database here. I mean, we've actually got a hundred thousand database here across three industry sectors. So we'll be mailing that with eShots. We are going to have a prolific, you'll see this slide. Uh we have a prolific um social media campaign as well. We're advertising in other competitor magazines, not so much in the the AI Live side because there isn't any competitor magazines, but of course, there are in the East End side of the business, there are several, so advertising in there. So we're getting across everywhere. My journey is for writing stories on the on on the websites as well. So uh hopefully you won't fail to see it.
SPEAKER_00:So no exciting times. I say it's you know, I've been a big fan of EI for years. It's been a staple magazine on the front seat of the van and in the toilet. Um, and you know, EI Live is always a good one.
SPEAKER_01:As long as you don't punch a hole in the corner and hang it up in the toilet, that's okay.
SPEAKER_00:A wife wouldn't let me. Plus, there's a lot of magazines in the toilet. I had to clear it out the other day because she's like, you can't get any more in here, right? Got to get rid of those. Obviously, with uh EI Live, there was the awards in between the two evenings. Do we know yet what's happening with the Smart Building Awards? No. You've obviously got the ECN Awards, haven't you, as well?
SPEAKER_01:Well, we have the ECN Awards, uh they're November 27, and they're held in Coventry. Uh Coventry Birmingham area, same area. Now that that industry is very much northern. So therefore, the ECN Awards um work well because that's the centre of the of the UK again. The Smart Building Awards, as you know, is always taking place on the first evening of the show at EI Live and has done for many, many years. If I'm to be honest, we are in a bit of a conundrum what to do with that. Do we have that at the NEC or do we spring it out to a separate in London, perhaps, or even Birmingham, a separate awards evening in its own right? Now, again, as of recording this, we are discussing it internally. So where that goes, I don't know. Um the ECN Awards are that we have in Coventry every year. Well, it's in its third year this year. We actually had uh some of you would know because you were there, we had E17 performing last year. Remember E17? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Our era.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Um E17 performing. This year we've got a um uh Take That Tribute band. Uh so we're we're going along the theme of of boy bands. The whole thing with with events like that, uh, unlike some other uh evenings I go to, and I go to a lot of them, people need to be entertained. They don't need to be bored. I mean, I'll be frank with you, when I used to go, it's probably different now, when it used to be the what Hi-Fi Awards used to be held held in um uh the Hilton Park Lane and then went to Dorchester Park Lane. They became very boring because they they would give away 20, 30, or however many awards in one go. And you go halfway through there and people are falling asleep, and and you know, the people want to be and there was no entertainment there. People want to be entertained, and so therefore we do our best. We have magicians around the the the ad dinners, as you know.
SPEAKER_00:Magicians were really good, especially the last few years when you brought them. Obviously, we had um the Together Cinema um gala dinner last year. Yes. We had good old Chesney there. Um and and and even if I go back to like my you know, one thing a lot of people don't know about me is I used to be in the wine industry. Um so even when you go back to my that tells me a lot. My days about yeah, but I don't drink anymore, so maybe that's why. Um when I go back to like the uh Victoria Wine, you know, yearly conference, which was for anybody who's it was a bit like EI Live, but rather than AWE, Meridian, and Ascendo, it was um Glenn Finnick, Bells, and Teachers. So everybody used to deer. Oh yeah, you'd have loved it. Everybody used to get sort of rat assed, basically, and then but you went for like the evening event because they had Lenny Henry there. You know, you used to have Lenny Henry get up on stage and that's all set.
SPEAKER_01:Again, that's about entertaining people. Yeah. If you're gonna get people in one one, we get 300 people at our our dinners, um, and at ECN more than that actually, but but you you've got to entertain them when they're there. You know, people are are buying tickets, they want to go to the awards, but entertain them. Make them make it's that well factor. You you we as organizers and and an event organizers want people to go away thinking, oh wow, that was a great event, or that was a great evening. Yeah. That's what we strive for all the time.
SPEAKER_00:So would you like to hear from people about EI Live on Smart Building Awards? You know, if they comment on this video, if they you know send you a WhatsApp or whatever saying, What about here, what about there, then you can look at that and go.
SPEAKER_01:Well, we've got we've got everything done, we've got show brochures, there are ads running everywhere, we've got the website which is all detailed. Now, if anybody wants to get in touch with me, of course, my my email address is David at all thingsmedialt.com, so all thingsmedialimited.com. Um ask anything, ask away. Um they can contact us through the website. All of all of my company's contacts are on there, so do get in touch with us and and any views, comments, always want to hear about them. Okay. Because it's it's you know the old um it's the old marketing analogy, which people uh people think I'm a broken record, but um it is whatever you're doing, whether it's your products, whether it's your business, whether it's your services, it's about one thing. It's don't give the marketplace what you think the marketplace wants, find out what the marketplace wants and then give it to them. That you get a greater chance of success. So we're all all ears.
SPEAKER_00:Well, it's the old analogy of Steve Jobs, wasn't it? It was like Apple will make a product that you don't realise that you want until we make it.
SPEAKER_01:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:Unfortunately, they're not so much like that anymore. Rest in peace, Steve. Anything else before we get onto some fun questions to wrap it up? Anything else you want to touch on uh about all things media, about ECN Live, EI Live, or the magazines?
SPEAKER_01:No, I think we've covered a lot. Um might get a bit boring if I bang on about the magazine and the and and the shows. I think what we're doing with the show, I I my belief is that we're on to a a big winner here. I looked to do this a couple of years ago. Okay. Um there was a problem with another exhibitor down at Farnborough. Um won't bore you with that, but I then decided, well, okay, I won't, I'll just stick to EI Live. But I wish I'd have done this co-location situation literally two to three years ago. Because I think that would have helped help to expand our market, our market being the essential install CI market. I think by doing this, this is going to help expand our market. Because how do you expand the market? Bring more electricians in, bring more electric contracts in. And by default, more people in it, more people talking to the end user about the industry. So by default, it expands the industry. So I wish I'd have done it two years ago.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, but then you had two years more knowledge to then now do it with two years more knowledge. True. And I and I like to say, we go back to what was said earlier. I think it is a case of that it's better you you do it when you do it and have the knowledge and the commitment from everybody to do it and do it properly.
SPEAKER_01:Well, I think we're perfectly poised for it now. Give a shout out to to uh our sales director here, Kelly Bine. She's been running the ECN side of the business for ten years, joined us ten years ago, still with us. Um she won't mind me saying this uh because we're gonna do some videos with her, but she's grown in stature in the marketplace, and by default, she's grown the magazine to the stature that it now is. Coming back to what I was saying earlier on, which is why we are producing a hundred-page issue every month. And from a uh uh a trade magazine point of view, you know, that's that's quite a milestone. Um one of my competitor magazines at the moment is producing half the size that we're producing. Um so anyway, that's yes, we're we're we're quite pleased and excited about this. I must admit I'm excited about it.
SPEAKER_00:Excellent. So hopefully, I mean I know I am, but it's gonna be an interesting few days and uh be good to learn about some new products. So to wrap things up, uh we're gonna do some fun questions that we do with everybody. So we did it, we've done it with everybody we've done too. Um so tell me something about David that people may not know about, not business related, about you personally.
SPEAKER_01:For many years I raced motorcycles. Um I was a road racing champion. Uh I've recently got my all my trophies, and and I have to say I I won an awful lot. Uh I've got two suitcases full of trophies that I've now got grandchildren, and uh they they love trophies, they love shiny trophies. And so I I got all my trophies out of storage for my grandchildren the other night when they came round and they couldn't believe it, he just filled two tables for. But I raced for many years. Uh a good friend of mine was Barry Sheen. I used to race with him. Okay. Uh knew his wife Stephanie. Name drop. Yeah, yeah. Well, Barry, Barry and I used to well, we raced together, but he was always very damn quick. Um, but I did that for many, many years. Uh I had a start at the Macau Grand Prix. Uh, then I was um I was asked to go and race. I reached quite a good position, I I'm happy to say. Um, and I was uh I finished racing a career with a 750 Yamaha, which was a little bit of a rocket ship. We then went on to an RG500 square four Suzuki. But I was clocked on the Yamaha at Sneterton Circuit on the back straight at 189 miles an hour.
SPEAKER_00:Thought you were gonna say the M25 then.
SPEAKER_01:No, no, no, these were road racing things. Yeah, yeah, you know, and I and I did that for for for many years, and all I wanted to be in those days. I was still in publishing actually. Um I've got loads of of stuff at home where magazines featured me and all this, and I've got a wall of it. So, you know, I was into it, and all I ever wanted to be for years, didn't care about anything else, was a was a motorcycle world champion. Now I never became a world champion, but I did become uh UK champion and stuff like that, and won things like the um King of Brands, Brands Hatch, and all that sort of thing. So I did that for a number of years. Um after that, for several years, I'm actually still am actually, but I became a qualified football referee, so I'm into football, up the Spurs, by the way, and I know people are going to be shouting at the screen. Yeah. And uh so I was a fully qualified referee, and I've got loads of trophies doing finals and semi-finals and all that sort of stuff. So yeah, yeah, I've I've I like doing lots of things.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I mean that that the motorcycling one's probably the best answer I've had so far. A lot of people like, oh, I enjoy doing this, I enjoy doing that. Um but yeah, I never knew that about it.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, I I I I won't bore you, but I could tell you lots of stories about road racing in those days, you know, because it was it was very competitive. We all used to get together in the bar in the evenings, and some of us used to have a few and get a little bit pissed, knowing that we were racing in an international the next day. Um but that was the way the motorcycling industry was. And I remember I was at Brands Hatch on a test day, and Barry Barry Sheen was down there, and he he he was racing Akai and Yamaha's then, and I had a similar bike to him, although his were a lot quicker because his were factory bikes, um, and he broke his arm the week before, uh, or two weeks before something, and he had a cast, but he was nevertheless there in the cast practising on these bikes, and I still couldn't catch him with a broken arm. Um, but of course, Barry Sheen's a great hero of mine. Uh I saw a video the other day, and there's a video knocking around on on social at the moment about Barry. Lovely guy, lovely guy, ladies' man, but such a great, great uh personality. Sadly, he's not no longer with us. Yeah, but um no, in those days it was it was just brilliant. But we just raced, you know, we raced with all of those people. There were people like Kenny Roberts, who became world champion. There were people like Eddie Lawson, but that people won't know these names, but they were internationals, and I used to race in international because I had my international licence. Um, so yeah, did quite well at that.
SPEAKER_00:Um and then so tell us uh obviously we are the homestead of our alliance, and this is the HCA uh Tech Talk Podcast. So what's what's your favourite film, or what's your go-to film, or in one of my scenarios, what's your favourite film that causes the most conversation? So if you know what what's a what's a go-to film for you to watch if you've got to put your feet up in the evening?
SPEAKER_01:There's two films. Um a kind of claim to fame. I I was um I was in the uh defence business for four four or five years from a media perspective. I used to actually publish a magazine called Defence, Defence International, which was a worldwide publication. My remit was the world, so I spent a lot of time overseas. Um But being the in the defence business, that was it was about the time when the first Top Gun film came out. And I actually met a lot of I met several of the pilots who were trained at the Miramar School, which is the Top Gun School in Miramar down in California. I even went down there actually, one took me down there, which was amazing. But one of the films I've always aspired to, because I love business, I enjoy business, uh, I eat and sleep business, I have a a pad and a pen by the bed. If I wake up and my brain's full of something, I'll write it down. And one of the great business uh films for me is uh was Wall Street and Bud Fox and uh Gordon Gecko. As Gordon Gecko once said, business never sleeps.
SPEAKER_00:And actually you listen to quite a lot of the podcasts that I listen to now, and a lot of people in you know, 2025, a lot of these people that talk about spiritual wellness and red light therapy and saunas and just looking after yourself, they all say pen and paper next to the side of the bed.
SPEAKER_01:Well you you you have to do it because you you my my brain, it doesn't matter how old I get, and I won't talk about that, but I mean my brain never stops going. Same here. And and it's it's it's difficult to switch it off sometimes. So I tend to um, you know, I'll find something on TV and I I can get lost in a TV or film, and that takes me completely away from business or whatever else I'm thinking in that sense, and I'm absorbed into the film. So, you know, I love our business from that perspective.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah. Well, say one of the things that we're keen to do next year is International Home Cinema Day. We had a soft launch this weekend just gone. Because again, we know about the brands in our industry, we know about these wonderful rooms like I sat at in Barco last week, but the c a lot of the consumers don't know it. Well, here at every exhibition we do, didn't realise people like you existed. So thanks to you for doing looking up on that side.
SPEAKER_01:That's the awareness you see. If you if you narrow our business our business, the the the CI part of the business, if you narrow that business down, it's all about two things it's about sound and vision. Yeah. And it's how you deliver that sound and how you deliver that that the visual effects. And of course, with technology, and you know better than I, with the technology now, you can be blown away by someone's uh cinema room or or media room. Um I remember when I first came into this industry 15, 17 years ago, I went down and they're still around now, uh RGB, RGB Communications, a distributor down Hampshire now, I think they are. Um and I was invited to a demonstration into their their home cinema, their their cinema room. And it was amazing, and they played one of the favourite clips. They played the the the dogfight clip from um from Oh the Hawaii what was the where where where the Japanese Oh Pearl Harbor. Pearl Harbor.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Pearl Harbor. And they played me the famous Pearl Harbor clip where all the planes are flying about shooting each other. And and you're sitting there literally, and it just blew me away because you're you're almost dodging the bullets. You can hear a bullet coming to you, and you you you like this. And they're the effects, and that's what I love about that industry. You're in it more than I. You you create these things. But the the tech technology and sitting in a cinema room, a proper cinema room, a nice cinema room, the the effects are just mind-blowing.
SPEAKER_00:Again, it's it's like the analogy of like if you've got a blocked nose, you don't taste your food. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, if you're watching a film using your TV speakers, you know, and you're not fully immersed in the audio, with either a very good soundbar or a very good two-channel system or a full immersive system, then it brings out so much more enjoyment of the film as well as the video and the audio can bring you.
SPEAKER_01:Yep, 100%. 100% it's a great industry to be in. Yeah. And and uh, you know, some lovely people in it. Got some great, still got a lot of very good friends in the industry.
SPEAKER_00:Well, look, thank you for your time. Thank you for you know talking about um the new show. Thank you for everything that you do for our industry uh from on both fronts of you know ECN and Essential Install. Um, you know, as the HEA, we wish you many, many happy success next year with the show, hopefully. And uh and then maybe we can pick up this time next year and have a follow-up on how the show went. That would be good. And and thank you, Stuart. Thank you very much for your time.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you.