Rob Stott: All right, we are back on the Connected Design Podcast and excited to have you on, Mr. Mitch Klein. I don’t know. I had this big introduction planned, but like I just want to have fun, man. I want to have a good conversation. And you don’t really need an introduction. I don’t know if you’re a big podcast listener?
Mitch Klein: Yeah, Rob, I’m right with you. You know, they’re embarrassing if anything, so yeah. I listen to some, yes.
Rob Stott: So New Heights? Are you familiar with the Kelce brothers? Jason and Travis, Mr. Swift. Right. So they love to do, well, Jason, obviously the Philadelphia Eagles Center being a Philadelphia guy, you know, I know that, but Travis just had his big wedding. But every podcast they love to share, they do the clips on social or whatever, and the one clip they always share to like preview that week’s episode is Jason doing this massive like
Mitch Klein: I’m not. No, I’m going to have to, yes. Actually, yes, I am familiar with those guys. The brothers, yeah.
Rob Stott: Screaming at the top of his lungs, reading off all the accolades introduction. I could have. I feel like if I was going to do it, it could have been this episode for you because your history in this channel, and the accolades along with it are lengthy. And I should have maybe had Jason do a cameo. I
Mitch Klein: You know? I am disappointed, Rob, but I will expect this for our next one. How’s that? Okay.
Rob Stott: I know, we’ll make it happen. No, that’s awesome. Well, Mitch, I appreciate you joining and taking the time. And I know too, I hate tying these to news, but like there is a little bit of news to talk about. And that’s, you know, your recent announcement that’s a 33-year run if you count the volunteer time plus yeah, right? Isn’t that something? But who’s counting?
Mitch Klein: Who’s counting? Wow. That’s yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Rob Stott: I did the I did the LinkedIn math, the a 33-year run with CEDIA. You know, we’ll cut this show at its conclusion. I know right now you serve as VP of business development over there. You know, we’ll officially come to an end. So heartfelt congrats. And you know, bittersweet congrats. I feel like. Yeah.
Mitch Klein: Yeah, nice. Well, thank you. Yeah, I appreciate that. And you know, it’s a retirement but not really. It’s really more for me, the next chapter. So much to my network’s dismay, I’m not going away. But I’m confident in some ways I will be visible with CEDIA or working with some of the team there. I mean, it’s still the organization, you know, I bleed, what is it now? I’m trying to remember the color: PMS Warm Red was the actual color of the CEDIA logo. And so
Rob Stott: Okay, there you go. It was an improvement over the orange I got to say. I don’t know. It is orange, all right, but it’s not as the logo it’s more subtle in sort of its nature, right? Yeah. But no, well, I know
Mitch Klein: That is actually the color. Yeah, if you look it up, it’s orange. Yes. It’s tamed down a little bit over the years, yeah. It has. But
Rob Stott: There will be a time and place to talk about your future. And I know, you know, future conversations between us will certainly get into that. But I mentioned that length of time. I mean, you’ve been you’ve seen a lot you know, go on at that organization. Did you ever you think back to the early days and I know you were there for them, you know, did you ever expect at that at the outset of, you know, making C bringing CEDIA to life that it would be what it is today?
Mitch Klein: Right? Of course not. And the beauty was were all a bunch of 20-somethings, so we didn’t know any better. I mean, if we knew better, we would have never done this. I mean, you know, and I’m so I’m not just talking about me. I mean, there’s a whole bunch of folks who deserve kudos for the success of CEDIA. I was just one of many. But you know, were making decisions back then that should have put us out of business, right? Were not necessarily calculating things the way current
Rob Stott: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Mitch Klein: Businesses should really evaluate opportunities. We just saw things and went for it. And fortunately, yeah, it’s turned out pretty good. We still got a lot of work to do. CEDIA still has a lot of work to do. I mean the industry keeps growing. And you know for me, I could have never charted the course. So you say I’ve been involved with CEDIA for 33 years, but not entirely the same way, right? I’ve had a very unique experience in terms of crawling through attics and owning my own business, you know, Media Systems. So I definitely feel for every one of our integrator members and non-members, I understand how challenging it is. And I will tell you, that was the hardest job I ever had. I mean it, and I would back that up with experience too. But even from there, going into doing some consulting and then even at one point being in the semiconductor business for ten years, no one could have predicted that. And so that was more opportunistic than anything else. And through it all, yeah, I came back to my people, back to CEDIA for a couple of years.
Rob Stott: Yeah, and well that’s I’m glad you sort of took that route of talking about this because like CEDIA, you almost could divide yourself in half, right? Like CEDIA was one half of your career history, the other half you’ve kind of experienced this channel from every angle, from the integrator side, the consulting side, the manufacturer side, the trade. I know Z-Wave was in there as well. So you right? Yeah, right. So like you’ve seen
Mitch Klein: Yep. The chip side, the wireless communication side, yes.
Rob Stott: Kind of all like talk about that just the holistic experience that you’ve been able to have in this industry.
Mitch Klein: It’s really being able to bring some wisdom, I would say, to some of the challenges that we all face every day. You know, understanding the challenges in control systems, but then with my deep understanding of the wireless technologies, you know, how does that play out? Well, you know, are they proprietary? There’s a lot of proprietary stuff out there which is basically why we run into a lot of challenges. When you talk about proprietary, you know, there’s just so much R&D and engineering that you can throw at it. Whereas if it’s more of a standard, if you will, and there are many standards, but whether it’s a Wi-Fi standard or a Z-Wave standard or other things, you’ve got many, many, many companies working on these standards. And so being able to understand that standards are what makes things more reliable than going proprietary. There are exceptions, and I can probably tap some of those, but even those exceptions, when they want to become interfaced with some of the other technologies out there, smart home systems or what have you, the proprietary doesn’t work anymore. Now you’ve got to start looking at what kind of standard or the bane of the existence of all of us integrators, you know, having to write our own interfaces, you know, things like that. Anyway, but yeah, so that sort of brings that, you know, kind of full circle.
Rob Stott: Yeah, yeah. And I mean, the cool thing too, like the being able to have those experiences while also again, like concurrently working and volunteering with CEDIA, you get to bring those into the organization and does that influence, from your perspective, you know, and I know as you mentioned it, right? So many other professionals that were a part of this, from the early days to now especially, you know, does that influence or how has that influenced sort of the work you’ve done on the association side?
Mitch Klein: Well, I’d like to say I get listened to all the time, but that’s not necessarily the case. But it does have very positive influence when one considers where my direction or input comes from. It generally doesn’t come from a personal, you know, what’s in it for me kind of thing. It’s generally, you know, what’s good for the industry kind of stuff. And again my associates who’ve been through this with CEDIA would basically say the same thing.
Rob Stott: Yeah. No. And it’s cool to see too because again to your point, right? There are so many voices in the room. Just the experience seeing the people that were involved in it early on to where you guys all are today. You think of some of the, you know, the names that were involved in the early days, but you know, the channel maturing too. I have to imagine you take a lot of that into consideration as, you know, on the you know, your day-to-day work, what you’re doing, but on the especially the association side as things change, like how do both the organization but also the industry have to evolve alongside kind of what you’re doing and how, you know, you’re looking to accomplish, you know, what it is you are as an organization.
Mitch Klein: Yeah, first of all, the smart ones that I work with have already retired. They were smart. And you know, just a little off the topic for a second, but the network actually it’s really kind of two networks that I’ve built. Obviously the CEDIA network, which is near and dear to my heart, as well as from the semiconductor side, built that network as well. But these are folks that I consider my friends. So if retiring means I lose my friends, then I’m not going to retire, right? In the traditional sense. And by the way, I’m open to anyone’s thoughts on defining what retirement means. Because I certainly have as much energy now as I’ve had in the past. So I mean what I can’t imagine, you know, living out the next 25 years on a beach or on a golf course or fly fishing. I’ll do all of those things. Yes, but that’s not all I want to do. You know, I want to keep contact with what’s going on and
Rob Stott: Hmm. Right. Well, that’s I think that speaks to you know, obviously you and kind of your passion about around this space, but also the space, right? Like just how you know, it’s kind of I know there’s jokes about, you know, the degrees of separation between you know, we could make steps between us and like some organization or some other prayer like it is a small industry, so it does become like a family, right? So that there’s something to that, as far as, you know, people don’t go far. Like they come into this industry and for whatever reason, I know there’s myriad reasons why, you know, you become an integrator, you know, you end up on the manufacturing side and like there’s a lot of just, you know, musical chairs, but like not in a negative sense, right? Like people like to stay in this channel.
Mitch Klein: I like to say that we are holistically, what’s the term? We’re environmentally sound, we recycle our people. You can’t leave, right? Yeah, exactly. Exactly. But what’s really exciting now, and especially today, what’s going on right now, technology and requirements are moving so fast. The obvious thing we’re all going to go, yeah, AI. Well
Rob Stott: Yeah. For better and worse. No.
Mitch Klein: You know, don’t just go, yeah. I mean, what you know today about AI changes next week. You know, the capabilities change. So there’s that. How is that impacting our industry? And you can’t just basically put together a three-year strategy around it because it’s more like a three-week strategy. I mean you got to be nimble, but it’s not just that. There’s all the other things around it.
Rob Stott: Right. Yeah.
Mitch Klein: You must constantly be aware of. Cybersecurity is a biggie, which I know from a CEDIA perspective and from an education perspective, you know, we’re all in on that in terms of being able to prepare CEDIA members for that. And by the way, when it’s CEDIA members, I include manufacturers, reps, it’s not just integrators. But things are changing so freaking fast that we almost need to come up with an entirely new way to educate because by the time we develop and print or publish or what have you, we need to create an addendum already. I mean things are moving that fast. So that’s a challenge that we have not really addressed, nor have we actually solved. But for all of us in this channel, in what we call the CEDIA channel, whether you’re a CEDIA member or not, you’re in the channel, right? That’s the big, big challenge.
Rob Stott: I risk going down a rabbit hole of this, but I’ll try to keep it at a surface level because I know we could have a whole conversation around AI. Have you seen a disruption or anything, you know, another innovation, whatever you want to call it, you know, throughout your career that has been as impactful as AI has?
Mitch Klein: Yeah, yeah. Next time. Certainly not as fast as it’s had impact. No, not really. And because it’s, you know, calling it a technology, I mean whatever you want to call it. It’s still in its infancy. And that’s that’s the scary thing. And then how the robotics that work around AI and then all the applications, whether we’re talking about the classic aging in place, or we’re talking about specific challenges, helping people with Parkinson’s in their home. And I mean it’s just so many things. And where AI can really be the big solution is with all this great hardware that’s out there, AI can actually wrap it all together into a solution. So I think there’s some great opportunities, but I’m not seeing it yet, but I know for a fact there are many backroom operations working on it.
Rob Stott: Yeah. Well, and that’s the unique thing is that because it is so fast moving and so like quickly evolving, I know we just a couple weeks ago had which feels like ten years ago in AI terms, but just did a roundtable with a bunch of really smart people in this channel on AI and how they’re implementing it in their businesses or as their business. And it’s just unique to see, you know, all the idea-sharing that’s out there. People are wanting to learn and you know, see what others are doing so they can try to apply. But I mean what’s also really unique about it is, you know, you can go to five, ten different businesses and they all could be using it in different ways that are great for their businesses. So there’s so much to learn about it and how like but maybe that’s also what makes it difficult is there is no sort of cookie-cutter way of applying, you know, all of these tools or apps or agents. You know, again, I pick your term, your AI buzzword, but you know, that’s just
Mitch Klein: Exactly. Exactly. Right, right.
Rob Stott: It’s so vast this space.
Mitch Klein: Well, you know, we won’t go down that rabbit hole. I will just say that CEDIA is very much actively investigating and working on it. And we have a volunteer team on the education side that are seriously committed to working through the AI challenges and how to make that a thing for members and make it useful. So stay tuned for that. Yeah.
Rob Stott: Yeah, that’s awesome. A nice little cliffhanger there for sure. But kind of going back, I you mentioned Media Systems and your time there. And I know one of the things I know we’ve talked many a time, but you know, in the last couple of weeks around your time there, a story that you shared, something you know, about how like the work you were doing when you were there, I love it. I’m not going to steal your thunder. I want you to be able to tell it, but
Mitch Klein: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Rob Stott: I just remember the takeaway for me being that, you know, the conversations you were having then aren’t too different from what we’re having now. And that’s really all I wanted to kind of lead with to let people, as they hear you talk about it, sort of, you know, listen to it and try to find that themselves in this. So with that I’m going to turn it over to you.
Mitch Klein: Yeah. Geez. Well, you know, fortunately or unfortunately, I was way ahead of myself. And not just me, there were others also that were way ahead, which ultimately became CEDIA. But this is pre-CEDIA with not having it. And there was a time I’ll say this was in the late 1980s. Yeah, that’s right, I go back that far, folks. Early ’90s where there was a unique type of affluence and the affluence was basically where they had things you couldn’t get. I have a resource you don’t have. I have my guy you don’t. And so working at the retail level with a company called Tweeter Etc. Way back, you know, having expensive gear and just not really getting the audience coming in because the audience wasn’t going to come in. That’s not where they were going to go, because anyone could go to a retail store. So we ended up opening up a showroom in the Boston Design Center. Again, you look at it now go, yeah well everyone does that. Well, back then no one did that at all. And that was kind of a big leap
Rob Stott: Mm. Right.
Mitch Klein: On my part. So we figured the affluent are building homes, they’re using designers, they’re using architects. Where do they go to shop? They go to shop at the design center. And so that’s why we opened up there. Now you say, of course, but at the time were not very well received. The landlord loved us, but the designers did not, the architects did not. They saw us as disruptors. Designers saw us as just basically stealing the furniture budget from their clients, you know, for all of the audio and video with which the time that was always all it was just audio and video. And so weathered the storm, we joined the ASID, we did presentations to the AIA, we did our best to try and create good relationships with them. The good news is now we’re seeing that, which is what 30 years later?
Rob Stott: Mm-hmm. Yeah, right?
Mitch Klein: It’s taken that long. You know, we had a couple of good ones that we work with, but for the most part we were not taken kindly. So what happened was and we started the CEDIA thing and I had one of my industry buddies had a showroom also in their design center in Minneapolis. Jeff Cussard as a matter of fact. And we were talking, and the space next to my showroom became available and it just so happened I was befriending Theo Kalomirakis and I went to see him. He had a show house, the Kips Bay Show House actually in New York, and he had put a theater in there, actually built all these pillars and everything in the theater. And when the show house was done, I said to Theo, what are you going to do with the theater? And he said, I don’t know. You want it? And I’m like
Rob Stott: Yeah. Why not?
Mitch Klein: Yeah, sure. What the heck? And so we had the space next door and we dedicated it to a dedicated theater. I went to my buddies at JBL and we worked out putting a Synthesis system in there. I talked to my buddy Sam Runco and said, I’m going to need a projector and told him what we were doing. He thought I was nuts and he said, Yeah, let’s do it then. You know, no one was dedicating that kind of space to a theater, right? And so he came in and we, long story short, we had this really killer theater with the Synthesis One and the line doublers from Faroudja, all the things that you can imagine back in the, what is it, the nineties now. And we would take architects and designers in to experience it, which was great. And on their way out, they would go, Wow, that’s amazing, but not in my house. That’s what I kept hearing: that’s amazing, but not in my house. But the key was we exposed them to what could be. And then they say, well, how can we take this and now deploy it in what I’m working on, my designs? And of course we were like, your designs come first and we’ll fit it in, kind of thing. Which again, now it’s a yeah, but
Rob Stott: Yeah. Right. Well, it’s again like I said at the top, right? It’s the more things change, the more they stay the same. It’s a lot of the conversations are still happening and you know, have been happening. I don’t know how many people would think that they were happening 30 years ago. And the fact that they were and the fact that you guys had the foresight to get in there and try to start, you know, forming those relationships, You know, it speaks a lot to just the amount of time and effort and work that had to be put in. You know, what those conversations you were having then, obviously the reactions are different. Maybe they get it a little bit more today than they did back then. But the way you approach them, is there anything that, you know, still applies today in how you were talking to designers and architects back in, you know, in the time in that showroom?
Mitch Klein: Well, yeah, it’s a collaboration. I mean, and that it’s simply put like that. I mean I remember having conversation with one of the designers who was thrilled at our approach. And he goes, you know, I just had a house, a guy shows up with these big speakers and he says, Where do you want me to put these speakers? And the design says, I’ll tell you where I want you to put those speakers you know. Or up a personal body part, but you know
Rob Stott: Right. Right. There’s a garbage can out front. Right.
Mitch Klein: So it’s still the same thing. It’s still the same thing. It’s a collaboration and I think much of the design community at least is aware of the technologies. You know, back then it was like, Can’t you just hang this on the wall? And hell, a 35-inch glass tube TV hanging on a wall is a bit of a challenge. These things are what, 160 pounds or something like that. But now you can. So now we have the solutions that will actually fit these requirements. Back then we had to be way, way creative. Build a closet behind the wall and make it look like that big TV is hanging on the wall when in fact it’s actually sitting on a shelf in the closet behind it. But you know, now we’ve got a lot of solutions available to us. So good times.
Rob Stott: Yeah, well I know a lot of that obviously is technology advancing, right? You know, the TVs have gotten small, thin. I say smaller, they’ve gotten bigger, but thinner and lighter, right? So I know a lot of that has to do with advancements in display technology and everything inside of the TV, but at the same time it feels like you know, almost like the technology industry was listening to designers that wanted, you know, some of these solutions that would better fit what they like to get these channels closer.
Mitch Klein: Getting bigger but thinner.
Rob Stott: And I mean, talk about the progress you’ve seen in that regard. I know to some it might not feel like there’s been much, but at the same time, you know, I mean, you see the things you look at what CEDIA is doing and the hires that have been made to get closer to that channel and you know, showing up at different shows that are out there and you know, what have you seen from a progress standpoint as it relates to technology and the design-build channels becoming, you know, closer together or more streamlined?
Mitch Klein: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. I’d love to say that the manufacturing industry has become sensitized to the needs of the design community, but I really can’t say that across the board. There are definitely some, absolutely. You know, companies like Samsung and Sony, what they’re doing with their art TVs. I mean, obviously, that’s brilliance. That’s great use of technology, yes. Some speaker companies, you know, I don’t want to go start, you know, building or building brands up, but you know, there are definitely some brands that have made a really good headway into that. So yeah, I’m not sure where
Rob Stott: How about on the integrator side? Like do you see those conversations? Are integrators understanding how to, you know, better position themselves as a partner or you know what from a progress standpoint there as far as understanding, you know, I think the common refrain we hear is, you know, when you’re approaching a designer or a builder, it’s less about specs and more about experience. Do you see that message getting through and carrying, you know, in the conversations that are happening today?
Mitch Klein: Yes, most definitely. And there’s a third piece to it, which is ease of use. You know, make it simple, make it simple. And simple can mean multiple things. Simple can mean simple to use, or simple can mean simple gear, which is not necessarily simple to use. You have to define in that. But yes, actually the good news is there’s some really, really talented integrators around. I mean quite a few of them actually, who are very, very talented and very sensitive. To the design requirements and are working in collaboration. So this is why CEDIA is making a significant investment in outreach to the design community now, because we’ve convinced the CEDIA channel side of the value and the importance of the collaboration. Now we’ve got to convince the design community side. And it’s generally well received, but it’s also not generally well aware of what’s available. So
Rob Stott: Right. Well, and that’s a big part of this too, right? I know this channel we’ve talked about it. I know this channel has talked about it. You know, I think the example I always go back to and I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it on a podcast specifically, but if not, I’ll bring it to the table here. There are those, you know, Best Home publications that get sent out across, you know, if you’re if you open your mailbox like once a quarter you’ll see this mini Yellow Pages looking thing that has a bunch of services listed inside of it from your HVAC to your plumbing to your deck guy to the roofer and you know there’s all of these services in there that if a designer or a builder needed to go find someone, you know, to a GC to go out and you know add this person to their team for a home that they’re working on it’s there. What you won’t find is an integrator. You know, so the discovery aspect of this channel I know has always like
Mitch Klein: Mm-hmm. Yeah, right. Right. That’s right.
Rob Stott: Constantly been a struggle. So I mean, you know, I know there’s much to be done, and I know a great thing that CEDIA has been working on, obviously, is the you know, down in D.C., the Hill days that have been going on and getting awareness around the trade itself. Because if I remember right, you’re the one that told me right now this trade is classified as like telephone pole operators. Is that right?
Mitch Klein: Telephone repair is generally where we get classified, which puts us into climbing telephone poles. Yeah.
Rob Stott: Yeah. So yeah, I don’t know how well that stacks up to going in a home and hanging a TV, but and I know that’s a way-understatement of what this channel does, but like it’s not that is, you know, it’s not six of one, half dozen of the other. That they are two different things. So I know that work has been crucial to gaining recognition. But yeah, I mean, you know, I guess I’m looking for my question here is like your input on how have things improved and you know, what do you think the next steps are in terms of, you know, getting this channel to whether it’s being respected, or maybe that’s taking it too far, just being made aware of.
Mitch Klein: Yeah, I don’t think respected is the right term because you have to earn the respect. So, you know, each integrator is going to have to earn that respect one at a time. You know, we can’t establish that as CEDIA, earn the respect. Well, what we can do is earn the recognition that the need exists, right? That you need to bring in an expert.
Rob Stott: Yeah. Yeah.
Mitch Klein: And I know there are a lot of integrators out there that actually get their referrals through the design community because they recognize the need that these days it’s not just simply hang a TV and you’re done. There’s a lot of complications around that, obviously with all the different subsystems. We call it smart home. You know, even if it’s not smart home, there’s a bunch of subsystems, whether it’s lighting and security and audio and a media room, things like that. So it’s just the awareness is really what we can do to try and build the rapport with the different design organizations that say, I recognize the need for it, now where do I go and find someone? And that’s kind of where CEDIA is, we want to be some of that matchmaker and enable that relationship to start. Yes.
Rob Stott: Yeah. And I’m glad you led that off the way you did because the association, everything you’re saying there can do a great deal of and has done and continues to do a great deal of work. But it’s almost like the, you know, getting the ball to the goal-line type you know, analogy, right? Like the association can get it there, but from a respect standpoint it’s up to that integrator in their market to take the ball, you know, whether it’s a pass, whether it’s just turn around and hand it off, whatever it might be, and punch it into the end zone and you know build those relationships and so I thank you for that. I think that’s an important thing to mention. But yeah, I mean the ones that are doing it, there are plenty of examples that you know, of integrators that have gone out there and built those relationships. You know, the benefits to them as a business, I think, are myriad. There are many of them, right? So, You know, what do you see from the ones that are doing it well? I’m not asking you how are they building respect or getting respected, but you know, are there any unique or common, you know, things that they’re out there doing in their markets to, you know, get in with that channel, get in with those builders and designers that you’re seeing?
Mitch Klein: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I would say the real key is the education piece. So, you know, CEDIA, you know, we have a program, you know, Design Build Professional, DBP, I think we’re calling it now. Design-build, yeah. Anyway, you can actually take some training on that and what have you and get certified for it. But whether you’re certified or whether you’re not, the key is the education piece. I know what I used to do and you can still absolutely do it now is you want to reach out to the librarians of the different architecture firms. There is a job called librarian, if you didn’t know that. And the librarians, you know, because there’s so many aspects of design an architect has to deal with. And you want to get in there and bring what we call a lunch and learn. And this is not news. I would hope everyone’s aware of these things. Because architecture firms, they want them. They need the CEUs, you know, set some time up in November, December because they’re getting the end of the year and they need the CEUs to get in. You know, bring lunch in and you know, CEDIA has got programs that you can deliver or you can deliver your own program, but you need to get the CEU approved, but I digress. That’s one way to do it. Events are another way to do it. And I mean really it’s just doing it the old-fashioned way. You’ve got to get out and knock on doors and you know, build the relationship because the majority of the projects involve some type of construction. And so there’s your entree right there through the construction. There’s always someone designing something in the construction project. Again, hopefully not news to any of you folks.
Rob Stott: Right, right. No, that’s awesome. But always good and hopefully not news to your point, but you know, always good to hear it and sort of reiterate the fact that there are things that, you know, are common across, you know, the channel that others are doing and that CEDIA also offers support for to help you accomplish. So you know, I look at the time, I know we could keep going and I want to, but I also want to be respectful. I know, right? Already half hour in, right? It’s quite crazy, right? Crazy how this goes.
Mitch Klein: Wow. Okay. As the listeners say, are you still with us? I know. Okay.
Rob Stott: But I wanted to ask I want to kind of close on one question, a reflective question for you. But again I mentioned the three decades-plus, you know, at CEDIA in some form or fashion. Is there one thing you’re as you look back on that time that you’re most proud of having accomplished with the organization?
Mitch Klein: That’s a hard call because there are so many of them. I’d have to say from my perspective, I’m trying to remember what year it was, 1997, 1998, somewhere around then. I think some of you were born then. There was a piece of legislation that was about to get through the Rhode Island called government governance. And I was in Boston, but I heard about this because I guess it’s next door, which essentially would have required a licensure for anyone having anything to do with a wire, any kind of wire. And it would have essentially put anyone in Rhode Island out of business. And so I looked at that and by the way, these aren’t laws. These are little amendments that fit in between a law that’s about to go out. So, you know, how you even find out these things is well that’s a whole challenge that CEDIA takes on. But anyway, so I found out about this thing, and I said, okay, we’ve got to do something about this. And the good news was I was the incoming president of CEDIA. So guess what? I can do something about this. So I stood up in front during my inauguration, if you will. We used to do that at our expos. And the incoming president was expected to come in and state what their agendas are for the next two years, because this is a two-year thing. And I laid out the fact that we were going to start paying attention, were going to address some legislation and government affairs, which we were not doing. And so I launched the government affairs initiatives, which ultimately halted that legislation by us being somewhat creative and working, believe it or not, working with the Verizon side, which was union at the time. Working with the unions, you’d think we would have been enemies. But the Verizon folks saw this as a threat to their folks too, right? So, you know, again, you know,
Rob Stott: Telephone workers. Yeah. Wow. Yeah.
Mitch Klein: You’re what is it? The enemy of my enemy is my friend or something like that. So very strange bedfellows, but it enabled us to realize, you know what, we can have an impact. And of all the things that I’ve done, I’ve done a lot of things to help influence, I think that has actually been the most impactful and CEDIA is still very much deep into it today.
Rob Stott: My enemy is my friend. Yep. Yep. Well, yeah. I mean, especially even just like the you know, accomplishing that to begin with is awesome. But then just the longer-term impact of, you know, there was no attention being paid to government affairs and to see what it is today and sort of how those efforts have evolved. I know it’s an entire department. And you know, now it’s a multi-year event of going to Capitol Hill and showing face.
Mitch Klein: It’s huge. Uh-huh.
Rob Stott: You know, on a national stage, which is really cool to see. Yeah.
Mitch Klein: It’s national and it’s state by state and in some cases it’s, you know, one metropolitan area and another, so it’s not always just even the state. So it’s an enormous thing. We do round up volunteers. We’re lucky about that. We’ve got some good volunteers that step up and help because we have to testify at some of these events as to why a particular legislative amendment may be harmful. You know, but again it’s a never-ending challenge.
Rob Stott: Yeah, no, that’s awesome. Well, cool to hear. And I know, to your point, right? Like you mentioned, there’s so many things you could call out that I know over time maybe we’ll get to. No, well, hey. Maybe we may have to throw a whatchamacallit, like the Netflix ratings on here. No, that’s awesome. Well, Mitch, this was a lot of fun. To just be able to
Mitch Klein: It’d be fun, you know. We can get it to some fun stories too, which you know, anyway, there are a lot of those. Yeah, right. Yeah. Yeah.
Rob Stott: Sit down and chat with you and kind of pick your brain on how this channel has evolved. And you know, yeah, I certainly look forward to doing it again, man. This was great.
Mitch Klein: That’s fun. Yeah, thank you. It is fun and I appreciate you, Rob. Thank you for having me on.
Rob Stott: You bet.
