Connected Design Podcast

As he prepares to retire at the end of 2026, AVIXA CEO David Labuskes joins Rob Stott for a candid conversation about knowing when to step aside, planning for succession, and building a team that can carry an organization forward. Labuskes reflects on AVIXA's global reach, its collaborative culture, and the role curiosity plays in leadership.

The conversation also explores RESIDE and Lightapalooza alongside InfoComm, why community is central to the effort, and how residential and commercial integrators could benefit from sharing a neighborhood. Along the way, Labuskes discusses his legacy, the work of serving distinct audiences, and the potential of unexpected connections.

A new, weekly series takes five stories that custom integrators need to know about and shares the details in five minutes or less.

This week's five-story recap covers adaptable commercial spaces, audio planned around a Denver home's architecture, practical AI opportunities in lighting controls, Mitch Klein and Michael Braithwaite taking on new roles, and CEDIA's upcoming Smart Home Day. Each story connects the news with decisions facing integrators, designers, builders, and their project partners.

Stories and sources:

1. Integrators See Increasing Demand for Adaptable Commercial Spaces — Connected Design
https://connecteddesign.tech/integrators-see-increasing-demand-for-adaptable-commercial-spaces/

2. Sound That Belongs — Connected Design
https://connecteddesign.tech/sound-that-belongs/

3. AI Could Rewrite the Rules of Lighting Control — Inside Lighting, October 29
https://inside.lighting/news/26-10/i-could-rewrite-rules-lighting-control

4. Mitchell Klein Joins BlueConnect Partners — Connected Design
https://connecteddesign.tech/mitchell-klein-joins-blueconnect-partners
Just Video Walls Names Michael Braithwaite CTO — Connected Design
https://connecteddesign.tech/just-video-walls-names-michael-braithwaite-cto

5. CEDIA Leads Global Smart Home Day Activations for Second Year Running — CEDIA
https://cedia.org/smart-home-professionals/news/cedia-leads-global-smart-home-day-activations-for-second-year-running

The Connected Design Podcast heads to L-Acoustics' Americas headquarters in Nashville for a conversation with Nick Fichte, global business development lead for hospitality, home, and yacht. Fresh from experiencing the company's HYRISS showroom, Rob Stott talks with Nick about the thinking behind the space, L-Acoustics' roots in live sound, and how its technology can help one room support everything from movies and music to karaoke, sports, and quiet conversation.

They also explore the importance of room acoustics, the parallels between designing with sound and designing with light, and what helps architects and interior designers understand the possibilities. Nick shares lessons from a London design installation, discusses how growing awareness of spatial audio creates opportunities for the industry, and explains why successful projects depend on close collaboration among the manufacturer, integrator, design team, and client.

On this episode of the Connected Design Podcast, Rob Stott talks with Dave Malekpour and John Songdahl, president and vice president of sales and marketing, respectively, of Pro Audio Design. They explore the thinking behind PAD's approach to equipment, acoustics, integration, and studio design, along with the evolution of Augspurger monitors from custom builds to systems used by some of music's best-known artists.

The conversation covers personalization, the relationship between a speaker and its room, and why an inspiring creative environment starts with understanding the person using it. Dave and John also explain how that experience translates to fitness studios, schools, churches, and other spaces, then discuss changing studio budgets, the growth of personal recording spaces, and their work on modular rooms.

On this episode of the Connected Design Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Rob Stott sits down with Shawn Hansson, founder and CEO of Logic Integration, to continue the conversation that started during a CEDIA Expo education session. Hansson shares the early story of launching Logic Integration, the customer moment that pushed him to build a company rooted in honesty, and the hard lessons that came from learning the business side of integration after starting as a technician.

The conversation also explores Logic's move into commercial work, the similarities and differences between residential and commercial AV, and why integrators should be thoughtful before dabbling in unfamiliar project types. Hansson also digs into culture, transparency, core values, and the importance of building a company where the team understands the goals, owns the work, and knows leadership will stand behind them.

We sit down with Jason Turner, VP and co-founder of PowerShades, to recap CEDIA Expo and discuss the company's first full year as part of Springs Window Fashions. Turner shares how the acquisition has strengthened PowerShades' supply chain, fabric development, manufacturing resources, and dealer support while opening the door to broader product categories.

The conversation also covers PowerShades' origin story, the company's early work with PoE motors, the challenges of launching a factory just before 2020, and why lighting and shading are natural partners in smart home design. Turner also explains how integrators can become more comfortable selling motorized window treatments by partnering with designers, getting involved earlier in projects, and treating shading as another layer of the connected home experience.

In this episode of the Connected Design Podcast, host Rob Stott speaks with Todd Katcher, Chief Product Officer for Zoney Digital Signage and Digital Dealership System, about how digital signage can do much more than put content on a screen. Todd explains how signage should be designed around the customer journey, from car dealership service lanes and lounges to restaurants, casinos, lobbies, and large-scale experiential installations.

The conversation explores the balance between attention and distraction, the importance of infrastructure planning, how content strategy changes by location, and why communication between owners, designers, architects, integrators, and technology partners is essential to a successful deployment.

On this episode of the Connected Design Podcast, Rob Stott sits down with Architechne Founder and CFO Jeff Cole for a candid conversation about the company's rapid growth, operator-led expansion model, and people-first approach to custom integration. Cole traces his early love of technology, the career path that led to Architechne, and the operating principles behind the company's growing footprint.

The conversation also digs into culture, hiring, compensation, project management, client fit, and Architechne's unique "life of the client" process, including why the company interviews prospective clients before drafting a single proposal. It is a practical look at what it takes to scale a custom integration business while protecting the client experience and keeping the people closest to the work at the center of the everything they do.

To be fair, there's still time left on the clock for Daryl Friedman's run as Global President and CEO of CEDIA, the association that works on behalf of the custom integration and smart home industry. With plans to stay on through the selection of his successor, he could still be a few months away from actual retirement.

Still, with this being his final CEDIA Expo while serving the industry in this capacity, we wanted to catch up with him, give him a chance to reflect on his time in the industry, and discuss what's next for the organization.

Forge – the new name for the combined Emerald Expo-Questex venture – is barely a few weeks old, but CEO Paul Miller is already doing the rounds to check out portions of the new and much-expanded portfolio. That included a stop at CEDIA Expo in Denver, where we had the chance to sit down with Miller.

The conversation gave us the opportunity to learn about his approach to the event space, the future plans for CEDIA Expo, how trade shows have evolved, and much more.

Jason Ehrlich, business development manager of room acoustics in the home market at Kinetics Noise Control, sits down with us for a conversation about why acoustics deserve a much earlier place in the design process.

Ehrlich breaks down how room shape, materials, seating, speaker placement, reflections, and noise control all influence the final listening experience, whether in a dedicated home theater, listening room, podcast space, or commercial environment. The conversation also touches on CEDIA’s RP32 and RP22 guidelines, the limits of room correction software, why “just adding panels” can sometimes make a room worse, and how integrators can better communicate the value of acoustics to clients, designers, architects, and builders.

In this episode of the Connected Design Podcast, we sit down with Bret Jacob, senior business development manager at Phoenix Marketing Group, to discuss how the company is helping bridge the gap between integrators and the design-build community. Bret shares his path through retail audio, military service, integration, manufacturing, and now business development at Phoenix, where he leads Phoenix Design Build Services.

The conversation explores why integrators need to be brought into projects earlier, how builders and designers can better understand technology’s role in luxury homes, and the tools Phoenix is building to support those relationships, from co-branded marketing assets to project spotlights and design-center resources. Bret also discusses his work reviving the NAHB Custom Builder Technology Working Group and why educating builders on the right technology questions is essential to moving the industry forward.

Jason Bourg, owner of Bourg Builders + Design in North Central Arkansas, sits down to discuss how technology has become a natural part of his custom homebuilding process.

Bourg shares his path from medicine to construction, how his lifelong interest in building shaped his company, and why home automation has become central to the way he thinks about custom homes. The conversation also explores his relationship with Brad’s Home Entertainment, the value of bringing an integrator into the process early, and how builders can use technology to improve security, convenience, aesthetics, and the overall client experience.

Bourg’s perspective offers a practical look at what collaboration can make possible when technology is treated as part of the home from the beginning.

Mitch Klein joins the Connected Design Podcast to reflect on more than three decades in the custom integration industry and his long-running work with CEDIA. He shares stories from the association’s early days, the evolution of smart home technology, and the effort to build stronger bridges between integrators, architects, builders, and designers.

The conversation also looks ahead at what’s next for the channel, from AI and cybersecurity education to standards, government affairs, and the continued importance of industry advocacy. Klein offers a candid perspective on where the industry has been, how far it has come, and what integrators need to keep in focus as the connected home continues to evolve.

The touchscreen has taken a few shots lately, as design and technology conversations swing back toward buttons, switches, and voice control. But for Crestron's Giles Sutton and Michael Short, the question is not whether one interface wins. The real story is how the right mix of touch, tactile control, voice, sensing, and automation makes a connected home easier to live in.

On this episode of the Connected Design Podcast, Sutton and Short join Editor in Chief Rob Stott to discuss why the touchscreen remains an important part of the professional smart home, where tactile controls are the better answer, and why design-build conversations should focus less on screen count and more on the user experience each interface is meant to support.

For Jeremy Rasti, the path into custom integration started long before Crescendo Automation Audio Video opened its doors in Baton Rouge. It began with music always playing at home and the simple wonder of distributing video from one room to another.

On this episode of the Connected Design Podcast, Rasti talks about building Crescendo from a two-person startup into a maturing integration firm, expanding from AV into lighting design, shades, and networking, and using peer groups and training to keep the business moving forward. The conversation also turns to a recent viral delivery incident that underscored a more durable business lesson: the client experience depends on the integrator's willingness to protect the trust that exists between a business and its clients.

Warranty programs have their own connotations that they carry. But, traditionally, they're seen as single-product programs that are there in the event of a product failure to protect the consumer. For custom integrators, who install products in myriad rooms and across a variety of categories and price points, the idea of attaching a warranty to all those products would be impossible. That's where SureBright's new offering comes in.

VP of Strategic Partnerships Keith Kranepool joins the Connected Design Podcast to discuss whole-system warranty protection, recurring revenue opportunities, AI-powered proposal workflows, and why project-level coverage can help integrators strengthen client relationships.

German luxury brand Loewe has big plans for their expansion here in the U.S. North America General Manager Jeff Costello joins the Connected Design Podcast to discuss the brand's methodical launch, which starts with their design-forward lineup TV lineup. We also get into Loewe's Cabasse acquisition and how that'll impact their home entertainment story, and the opportunity for integrators serving premium clients.

From a chance meeting in Las Vegas to a podcast together just a few short days later—Chris Oram and our Editor-in-Chief Rob Stott had a great deal to dive into on this episode. Chris is in the midst of a unique journey helping the Audio Advice team open its sixth showroom, and first this far West as the brand enters Las Vegas. As the General Manager of the location, he's got his hands full planning and executing the build-out, while also introducing the brand to a new crop of clients.

Amid construction of the InfoComm trade show floor, we sat down with Tom Devine, VP of Marketing for AVPro Global, to talk about their presence here, as well as the new narrative the brand gets to tell to commercial and residential dealers alike. From their complete package of system solutions, to their ability to support a range of applications, AVPro Global's entire suite simplifies things for their dealers.

In addition, Tom previews how the brand is preparing itself for a new experience at next year's event, which will see InfoComm co-locate with Lightapalooza and the new RESIDE show.