Episode Transcript
[00:00:06] Speaker A: Hello, everybody, and welcome to the Integrated Home, the podcast that's produced by the home Integration Community for the home integration community.
My name is Geoff Hayward, and today we're at Integrated Systems Europe in Barcelona, and we're here to interview the new chairperson of our industries trade body, cedia. Welcome to the Integrated Home.
Now, I am delighted to be joined by industry legend Amanda Wildman, who has just begun her tenure as chairperson of cedia. Welcome to the show, Amanda.
[00:00:43] Speaker B: Thank you very much, Jeff. That's a little bit big boots to fill with the title there. I don't know about that industry.
[00:00:49] Speaker A: I should have rolled out the red carpet in this room, but we haven't.
Look, what seriously, does this milestone mean to you personally and professionally?
[00:00:58] Speaker B: You know, personally to me, first of all, I never would have pictured myself coming into this industry.
Wasn't intended to, but, you know, I've met so many amazing people, and, you know, the chairperson really is. You know, you vote people into the boardroom, so you have to have supportive membership. I was very blessed to have supportive membership to get into the boardroom. I've worked with some great people there within the boardroom. And, you know, working with your peers in the boardroom, they have to support you in getting in the chair position. So it really means a lot more. More than just a position to me. It means that I have a community that supports me. And so I've said, you know, this to me, being in the chair position is my opportunity to thank the industry for supporting me for all of these years. So you say tenure and it. I Wish it was 10 years. No, not. Maybe not. Not really. But with two years, you know, it sometimes feels like it could be really, really long to do it for two years. But the other times I look at it and I'm like, there's so much amazing things that we can do in two years that I've even gotten to the point where I've counted it down by days. So I think we're at three days right now. I don't know when this is going to release, but today is like day 23, and I really try to do something every day to try to, you know, show that I can think this industry back.
[00:02:16] Speaker A: Okay, well, I'm sure you will. And I mean, many congratulations.
[00:02:21] Speaker B: Thank you very much.
[00:02:22] Speaker A: I do feel it is a little bit historic being here with the. The first woman who's the chairperson, but,
[00:02:29] Speaker B: well, hey, I will tell you, I had. I actually had a line at the ladies room at ise, so that's a good sign, right for years. For years, ladies, we've not had waits at the ladies room. So it is nice, you know, to see. So there are more and more women coming into the industry. But, you know, I'd be remiss, you know, of course, if I didn't mention some of the ladies that came before me. And you've got Carol Campbell, you've got Jamie Breezemeister that I served on board with, Melanie Malcolm, who you know really well, all great ladies, you know, that came before me. It's just I happen to be blessed enough to occupy the spot first. That doesn't mean that I'm the first woman, of course, in this industry. There's a lot of really, really good ones that have poured time, effort, and energy into me. So I'm really appreciative of that.
[00:03:11] Speaker A: And I do know you as somebody who's earned this position because you do a lot for the industry. Do you want to just share with our listeners some of the things that you've done in the past and what your journey's been to this point?
[00:03:24] Speaker B: Of course, when I came in, like I said, I wasn't intended to be this industry at all. And I think a lot of women, when they first come in, you know, I. I came in because my husband started, you know, the business. We started it as a family.
[00:03:35] Speaker A: That's True Media, right?
[00:03:36] Speaker B: True Media, yep. An integration company in Michigan.
And, you know, I think the first initial thing is, oh, I'll help on the backside, I'll help with the paperwork. I'll. I'll help with maybe some of the sales, some of the marketing stuff.
But for me, I just found that I really enjoyed, you know, kind of tinkering and kind of being, you know, like on the tools and, you know, getting in and getting involved out, knowing how things worked. And I'll never forget one of the very first experiences I had with my husband handing over a big project to a client.
The husband and wife walked, you know, through the home, and of course, this was the piece of the custom home that the homeowners built. That was kind of the husband's, you know, his thing in the house. You know, she was all about all of the furniture and all of the countertops and all of those kind of things. But the technology was really his thing. And when we went to do a handover to the client and, you know, the husband, of course, was all geeked out and talking with my husband, and the wife was kind of like following a little bit behind and when she'd ask a question, you know, not for being bad. But the husband was so excited, he's like, oh, I'll. I'll tell you. I'll explain it all in a minute. Because he was just kind of geeking out about it.
And I remember, like, anyone who's been married, if you have to have your husband teach you how to do something, it's not always going to go really well. And so I was like, well, we're already setting up our client or our couple to, like, fight, because if we're going to leave it to the husband to explain and the technology that he doesn't even fully know yet, and he's learning to his wife, she's going to hate this system. And so I remember telling my husband, you know, before we do a deployment handover again, I would like you to teach me, and let's walk through the system so that I can understand it. And we started scheduling, then an appointment. I would tell the wife, hey, you know what? In, like, two, three weeks after the dust settles, you get kind of moved into your home. I'm going to schedule a time when the kids are gone, your husband's gone. I'm just going to come in with you, and we're going to walk through your system so that I can build your confidence.
And that was really kind of like one of those big transition things for me of getting out in the field. And then I'm probably a little, like, OCD and a little bit crazy. So as soon as I, like, discovered, like, rack building, like, there's just something about taking, like, this crazy knot mess of, like, wires and cables everywhere and, like, really having a great systematic way of organizing them. And everything has its own perfect spot and its own perfect function. And you can make it look pretty. I mean, I think I'm pretty decent at it. But, like, I'm telling you, we've got some artists in this industry, like, some of these technicians. I mean, I'm probably one of the only crazy, probably ladies out there in the industry that I've got, like, a whole Rolodex, like, file on my. On my phone of pictures of screenshots that I take off of people's social media when I see great pictures of rack, like, work. And it's just. It's an art form. And to me, it's, like, very relaxing. I can just put in my, you know, AirPods, listen to a podcast, listen to an audiobook or whatever and just get to work and take something that's very chaotic and make it very organized.
And about five years ago, we opened up an electrical division to our company. And so now like doing electrical panels. I mean, I'm so weird, but like, there's just something about like, you know, the perfect 90 degrees and like having everything just right. It's, you know, so I do, I. I like to spend as much time as I can out in the field. I used to spend a little bit more. I was more like 80% of the time out in the field. I'm probably down to about 50 to 60% of the time right now. But any opportunity, you know, that I can get to go out there and get my hands on the stuff and on the tools, I'll be the first to admit though, I will leave any of the ladder work up to my guys. I don't like height.
I'm really good at doing all of the stuff that's low on the ground, but I prefer not to do any of the stuff that's on the ladders or rafters.
[00:07:30] Speaker A: I completely get that. And you are also an incredible volunteer. I mean, you've done a lot of teaching. I've sat in a number of your classes and worked with you on a number of project classes as well, which you're just fantastic. You're a force of nature. So talk to me about the community and how important that is for you as a person with insedia.
[00:07:50] Speaker B: Yeah, well, I always kind of say volunteering is almost like the cheat code, right? We all do video gaming and video games and you want to get to that next level. And so there's like a cheat code or something like that to be able to get there. Volunteering when you want to learn something, if you volunteer with these people, even if maybe the first little bit of time, you're kind of like a sponge and you're soaking it all in.
You know, volunteering, you get to meet some of the best of the best in the industry.
And I really think that for me, that was my fast track because I very early on could say, like, if I didn't know the answer through my volunteering, probably within one to two phone calls, I could get connected with either the person that invented it, the person that designed it, or like one of the leading experts on the globe that worked with that particular thing. So it was, to me, it was like, it was a very fast forward cheat code. It was a way to learn things faster, quicker, more efficiently. And with volunteering, people also share where they maybe made mistakes along the way or some of their connections. I mean, I remember some of the manufacturers that I worked with. If it wasn't for some of the volunteers introducing me and saying, hey, you should really check out this product or you should really work with this manufacturer. Let me introduce you to my person or my guy or a gal, either one. And it was like, that was very, very beneficial because as you know, I mean, it's always so much easier to work with someone that you have, you know, a warm welcome than just, you know, kind of going up to a booth and talking to some random person.
[00:09:25] Speaker A: Completely, you know. Yeah, completely. Okay, and here's a obvious question, but what are your priorities really coming into this role? What are you hoping to achieve?
[00:09:34] Speaker B: Well, a couple things. You know, that's a really great question. First and foremost is we haven't had a integrator and in particular a hands on integr in the role for a while.
We've had a lot of manufacturers and they're phenomenal and they're fantastic at what they do. But I think, you know, being a small mom and pop shop, there's a different type of level of empathy and understanding.
Sometimes when you work for a larger company, a manufacturer, even like a rep firm or something like that, you know, I think back to like Covid like companies had big policies and you got a paycheck or there was, you know, a big policy of like how you were going to handle things. And you know, when you're a mom and pop shop or a small, you know, integration firm, I mean, a lot of integrators struggled. You know, I mean, how did we deem ourselves essential? How did we get the documentation to be able to do that? How are we going to continue to, you know, have income? And you know, I know in the uk, you guys, you know, had some really great government, you know, benefits for that. In the U.S. like, we struggled a lot. Like, I mean, we had to fill out for paperwork. And I'll never forget, I mean, if it wasn't for. Oh gosh, Jamie Breezemeister did a webinar with Leslie Shiner. And in there, Leslie said, you know, don't just apply for your PPP loan through your large regular bank if you have a credit union or something like that to do that. And I'm so glad that I had taken her advice because we had originally applied for, you know, some help to take care of our employees. Cause we didn't want to lay everyone off through our larger bank and they had actually run out of funds. But we didn't find out until after I had already gotten approved from like our smaller credit union and had that knowledge not then being Shared, you know, through the industry, we may have struggled, you know, even more. And so I think, you know, having. Having the empathy, I mean, we don't. We don't have the luxury when you're a small integrator, business owner, we don't have the luxury of only wearing one hat. We have to wear many. Some days it's janitorial, some days it's, you know, biting the bullet when, you know, stuff hits the fan. And, you know, some days it's really, really rewarding. But there's a different level of empathy, I think, that. That you have when you're a person that's been in those shoes. And so I hope that integrators, first of all, understand that and see that.
Second, I would say I'm really keen on getting our education.
You know, that's a passion of mine. If you look at my volunteer experience, almost everything has been through education, from starting with a working group, chairing, eventually being on and sharing, you know, the professional development advisory council, being on certification. So I have a real passion and an understanding. And being a mom of, like, young kids who've recently transitioned from high school to college and trying to figure out their career paths. I really, over the next two years, I really want to start getting that framework really, really solid so that we can do some really great things with that.
And I would say the third thing is really rejuvenation of the volunteer community. Like I said, for me, it was so rewarding. And I see so many people out there that they just.
I want to say they're almost like wandering. Wandering in the desert for a little bit. You know, they're part of the industry, but they aren't really in the industry. And I want them to, you know, feel the friendship and the joy and the community that I did. And so I really want people to walk away and be like, it's not just this transactional thing with cdl, Like, I pay my dues, I'm going to get XYZ or whatever for it. But it's really. I'm part of a community. Like, writing that check to your CDM membership should be one of the easiest things, because it's. You're involved in that community. This is your family completely.
[00:13:14] Speaker A: Right. Okay, so bit of an explainer here.
[00:13:17] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:13:17] Speaker A: How does the Cedia chairperson work with the Cedia office team led by CEO Daniel Friedman and the Cedar Board? And what I want to get at is here. Have you come in as some kind of autocratic leader? Can you make anything happen and do it like Overnight.
[00:13:32] Speaker B: Well, nothing happens overnight.
So first I'll say nothing happens overnight. Second is, I want to, like, let everybody know, like. Like, we're not perfect, right?
CD is not perfect. Daryl's not perfect. I'm not perfect. Staff isn't perfect.
But we are family, and family, even when things aren't perfect, we're going to work together and we're going to support things. We're very lucky, and we're very blessed. I was there. I was not on the search committee when we found Darrell, but I was there, you know, when Darrel first got hired in. And I'll tell you, like, I. You could ask him. I probably put him to task in his first week at Cedia. I told him, if you ever want, I have a chance in this industry, you don't have to take, do what I ask or do what I say, but come out for a day with me and actually work. Like, really understand what an integrator's life is like. And he took me up on it, and it was great. And no lie. I picked him up in a van. I said, no fancy shoes. Like, you're coming in work. Work shoes. And truth be told, it's the funniest story. But my tool bag, I have my.
Every integrator that's out in the field, they have their own tool bag. Like, do not mess with an integrator's tool bag. I have my own do not mess with my tools. And it's pretty heavy. And I knew at the first job that we took him to that we weren't actually going to use anything in my tool bag. But I really wanted him to go home that night and be sore because I wanted him to really understand what it was like out in the field. So when we get there, like, I, okay, you're carrying my tool bag, Darrell. And he puts it over his shoulder. And we went up. Like, in the house, it was the two sides story house. So we went up to the second story, and then he did some work but didn't need to use those tools. And then, okay, well, Daryl, we got to take the tool bag back downstairs. And. But in Michigan, we have basement. So he went down two stories, you know, down to the basement carrying the tool bag. And so he carried it all day. And that was kind of intentional because I wanted him to think about, you know, like, it's easy to, you know, look at the business side. It's easy to look at those things. But, like, we underestimate the fact that, like, our industry is built on the backs of the Men and women, too, that are willing to go out in the field in all conditions. I mean, Michigan last week, we were negative 17 degrees Fahrenheit. I don't even want to think what that is in Celsius.
But then, you know, you go down to Texas or something like that, and, you know, you're dying of heat and, you know, you're still doing it. And that's the thing that we need to remember. All this stuff at the show is super, super cool. Right. But it takes really good, amazing, talented people to go out there to deploy it, to make it work well in all conditions, under all circumstances. And I just want to be able to give a voice and a vision to. To those people, too. They should. They deserve to be seen.
[00:16:21] Speaker A: So that's a really nice story to flip the whole kind of who's in charge, who's not in charge kind of question. But basically what I understand is that you work with, closely with the board, that you're a democracy. If you like, you're advising Daryl.
[00:16:34] Speaker B: So we focus on strategy. So we don't necessarily. We like to call it in the boardroom, get into the weeds.
We don't give Darrell a directive. We don't give the staff a directive. We don't say, like, you must do xyz. We set the strategy. We say, look, these are our goals. These are objectives.
Go about and make that happen.
But we're also here to, like, be support for you. So if you have questions like, you know, Darrell will oftentimes compile someone from the boardroom to say, hey, you know, give us your feedback on your experience or what do you think about this? And, you know, we're really there to kind of like, support v strategy. And like you said, we work together so much, it's hard not to, you know, forge friendships. I mean, some of my best friends are people on staff. Yeah.
[00:17:16] Speaker A: And so with that in mind, a focus on education, workforce development, a focus on community, the volunteers. Building the volunteer community. And. And getting cedar. It feels like getting cedar in the right place to have the right conversations. That seems to me where you're at.
[00:17:33] Speaker B: Of course. I mean, we all have to make money.
[00:17:35] Speaker A: Yeah, Right.
[00:17:36] Speaker B: Because, you know, it's nice, but we're not a charity association or charity organization, you know, so we need to give people the skillset to be able to go out. And ultimately, we have to give them the knowledge, the information so that they can be profitable.
[00:17:52] Speaker A: One of the other things that interests a lot of people in Europe is obviously, you're American Cedia is based in the US and has an office in the uk. So how do you see CEDIA globally developing over the next couple of years?
[00:18:06] Speaker B: Yeah, well, that is a really good question. I honestly owe my global perspective to David Weinstein, who was chair a couple terms ago, Right? Two terms ago.
You know, when he first was kind of in the pathway to eventually be chair, I had reached out to him and I said, look, I eventually would like to, you know, see where I could go with leadership, you know, in the boardroom, and I'd like to be involved in the executive committee and if, you know, Lord willing, be chair.
But what do you think? Where do you think that I need to grow? And one of the things that he said to me is, he said, you know, I'm a little concerned. You're Michigan, Midwest. We have a tendency. Tendency to be a little bit of a bubble. And most people where I live don't travel the globe, don't travel around as much. And so he really challenged me and said, you know, I really want you to get a larger perspective or a bigger perspective. And so, you know, I joke around with Matt Nimmons all of the time, but I have some of my best friends, you know, in the UK and did some work, you know, on some volunteering and things like that in Australia, and, you know, Manoj in the boardroom and getting to know everybody from India, you know, hearing those stories, being available, having conversations, you know, that's important. And I think one of the biggest ways that we actually did that was when I worked in certification. Dennis Erskine, when he set up the CDS certification, he was very cognizant of making sure that we had representation from all around the globe. And I think we spent one entire week where we would be on the phone and we were using the same things or the same tools, but just realizing that things were called different names, right? Like, we'd have a plug. Do you. Socket.
[00:19:46] Speaker A: Socket.
[00:19:46] Speaker B: Yeah. So, like, we. We literally. We would sit on this zoom call, and we were, like, running and getting, like, our tools and, you know, things like that. And we have a lot in common in this industry, but there's a lot of things that vary globally. So I think always kind of like, keeping your fingers on the pulse of that.
Anytime I get the opportunity to go visit, you know, travel, even when I go with, you know, like, cd, if I fly in, like, the morning before or something like that, I try to visit a showroom. I try to, you know, track down another integrator and say, hey, can I come out and go to a job site with you. Can I go work with you? I just want to see, you know, from somebody else's perspective because I think that that's important, you know, to make sure it's relevant for everyone, no matter where you are on the globe.
[00:20:27] Speaker A: Well, I agree, Totally agree. Very important. And look, Amanda, thanks so much for sharing your time with us today and. And we wish you every success in your role.
[00:20:36] Speaker B: Absolutely. Thank you. And thank you for all of your hard work. I don't know if anyone's going to say that to you on a podcast, but I would be remiss if I don't take two seconds to let everybody know here.
I helped do the education and curating it at Expo and it's no small feat. And so I know what it is that you've done.
I think you've done phenomenal numbers here. You've curated some really, really great content, some really great stage talks. So thank for your contribution to that and thank you. And supporting CD as well.
[00:21:09] Speaker A: Gonna make me cry. Thank you, Amanda. Thank you.
[00:21:11] Speaker B: Wipe a tear.
[00:21:12] Speaker A: Thank you very much. And look, thank you for listening. Thank you to everybody out there who supports the Integrated Home on our social channels. We're at Integrated Home Podcast if you want to find us. We are a Wildwood plus production and we support Together for Cinema. Thank you.
[00:21:33] Speaker C: The Integrated Home supports Together for Cinema. Together for Cinema is a community interest company that collaborates with the AV industry to design and install cinema rooms in children's hospices and other deserving locations across the uk.
So far, thanks to the huge generosity of manufacturers, distributors and integrators freely giving of their time, products and Expertise, we've created 46 dedicated cinemas equivalent to an installation value of about 1.2 million pounds. In these special places, families, staff and volunteers are now enjoying fantastic movie experiences together and helping to create very, very special memories. Help our industry continue to make a difference. Visit TogetherForCinema.co UK and find out how you can be involved to make short lives just that little bit better.
