Registration for the 2018 CEDIA Business Xchange is now open.

This year’s event, hosted at The Camby in Phoenix, Arizona from May 16-18, offers attendees the chance to discuss their biggest challenges with other industry leaders, develop new strategies for success, and hear directly from experts around 2018’s focus of ‘Design Thinking’; a process to solve problems faster and better.

Developed by the Stanford Design School, Design Thinking is a framework for understanding challenges and developing solutions from the users’ perspective. It’s used all over the world by most innovative thinkers and companies, including Disney, Apple and Samsung.

“Don’t let the name throw you,” says Emerging Technologies vice president Dave Pedigo.

“Design Thinking is for everyone, not just designers. It’s a non-linear approach to creating solutions integrating physical, emotional, and environmental needs, allowing ideas to be generated and tested quickly to arrive at actionable insights. Attendees will benefit from learning how to shift the mindset they have about their business, ultimately improving processes and increasing profits.”

The sessions are interactive and will be presented by Michael Shanks, a senior faculty member at Stanford University in Technology Science, Urban Studies and the Centre for Design Research; the research arm of Stanford’s design school. He will also be joined by esteemed CEDIA members Rich Green and Peter Aylett.

“Year-over-year attendees have raved about the platform Business Xchange provides to network and discuss business challenges in a non-competitive environment. This year those opportunities continue with several afterhours events and the ever-popular Idea Xchange,” says CEDIA global president and chief executive Tabatha O’Connor.

Business Xchange will also feature an Emerging Trends Forum, presented by CEDIA’s Technology Council. The workshop explores how both consumer and technology trends will affect home technology businesses in the coming years. This session will be a dynamic precursor to the Design Thinking workshop.

Attendees can save $150 by registering before March 28. Additional information about the 2018 CEDIA Business Xchange can be found at www.cedia.net/businessxchange.