AWE has invested in and further developed online training within the Smart Home Academy, which is a multi-award winning part of our business in itself.
“…like everything else we do, we want it to be the very best possible experience for our customers”
Training available includes live sessions with AWE’s team of specialists, alongside live webinars, pre-recorded tutorials, and on-demand training via partner brand portals.
AWE wants the training to be as accessible, interactive and engaging as possible, so the size of the group for live training is being dictated by the nature of the course being provided.
Stuart Tickle, Managing Director of AWE, comments:
“The increased demand has encouraged us to expand our distance learning offering, but like everything else we do, we want it to be the very best possible experience for our customers. Webinar-based presentations for large numbers of people are perfect for providing general information to lots of people at once, but we didn’t want to run these at the expense of the highest-quality interactive training where it is best for the delegate.”
He continues, “This is why, as well as running webinars and providing a wealth of brand-based learning-on-demand options, we have rolled out a series of small group training sessions that more closely replicate the interactive training experience we are renowned for. It is possible that we won’t be able to fulfill all the demand all the time, but we want to maintain quality where it is beneficial to those utilising their time to learn through us.”
The Courses
The courses include Home Cinema Projection Technologies and Home Cinema Audio Technologies. These will run as live 2-hour sessions with AWE’s home cinema specialist and trainer, James Drummie, offering a deeper dive into the products and technologies available to residential installers today.
Home Cinema Projection Technologies
The Home Cinema Projection Technologies training course takes a deep dive into projector products and technologies available to integrators, educating them on how to create fully immersive and entertaining movie, sport, and gaming experiences for their clients. The course can be refined to suit the audience, so whether students are integrators, electricians, or retailers, this session will be suited to each attendee.
“My online training with James was great — he clearly knows his stuff when it comes to cinemas.”
The course begins by looking at different projector technologies — 4K projection, lamp vs laser, anamorphic vs Zoom, HDR, projector lenses, and why chipset matters. It then takes a look at the Sony and Epson projector ranges, focussing on the USPs, benefits, and technologies used. Students will leave the session feeling confident about specifying the projectors for every job and a greater understanding of projector positioning, screen sizes, projector brightness, and more.
Jack Avery, Technical Operations Manager at Integrated Logic, attended the first online session and commented: “My online training with James was great — he clearly knows his stuff when it comes to cinemas. Considering everything that is going on in the world, to be able to login and have an informative educational experience was brilliant. Two hours was the perfect session length and it went into a good level of detail — if you’re after growing your knowledge, then I would fully recommend it. James had some simple and effective visual demonstrations that he talked us through, keeping us engaged and the session interactive. I will be keeping an eye out for any further online training courses that AWE has to offer. I appreciate their efforts in these tough times.”
Home Cinema Audio Technologies
The Home Cinema Audio Technologies course aims to give students the tools they need to design an amazing home cinema. During the session, attendees will gain a better understanding of Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, and other immersive audio technologies, the correct cinema speaker placement, and how to specify the correct AV receiver.
Students will leave the online session with an understanding of the design processes and equipment choices that are required to create a truly immersive experience, whether it’s in a living room conversion or a fully dedicated cinema room.
Whole House Integration, with URC
There is also a Whole House Integration from URC welcome course, where delegates will learn just how much control, automation and multiroom audio you get in URC’s Total Control system in just 1-hour. It is available to larger groups and presented by AWE’s CTO Mal Fisher, or Product Specialist and trainer, Tilak Rana.
For more in-depth URC training, AWE also offers the option to book one-to-one (company-based) advanced sessions, specifically for those dealers having taken the welcome course and wanting to continue with in-depth learning. This provides integrators with the knowledge they need to master the intricacies of whole-house control, automation, and multiroom audio with URC’s Total Control system. Integrators taking this session have access to demo/test equipment at a very special rate enabling live programming and remote assistance during the session, and first-hand experience.
There is also a dedicated URC Total Control Resource Page also providing access for registered dealers to access a massive range of learning-on-demand content, direct from URC.
The introduction to Whole House Integration with URC Total Control course introduces integrators to the URC Total Control product range. This is supplemented with an advanced training session that will run on a one-to-one basis.
Sound United Brands (Denon, Marantz & Definitive Technology)
The AWE Smart Home Academy presents Denon Home, an interactive discussion of the key features of the HEOS platform and how it has been improved with the new Denon Home speakers. We strictly limit these sessions to 4 attendees to promote discussion and interactivity.
You can also join Sound United’s Director of Training for multiple live technology webinars including how to conduct effective virtual home consultations – very topical for the current climate.
HDMI & 4K Video Distribution with HDANYWHERE
Attend live HDANYWHERE webinars that look into integration, features, improvements, models and more regarding the MHUB PRO 2.0, MHUB U & their XTND ranges.
Or register for an account HDA,s learning portal where you can learn how to plan, implement and troubleshoot a 4K-capable distribution system
Further Resources
The Smart Home Academy also provides a gateway to additional online learning resources:
QMotion – Learn how to design, install and program Wire-Free Blinds with QMotion’s online videos. Scroll down to find the right video for you.
CEDIA – A range of courses from CEDIA’s comprehensive training catalogue, currently free to CEDIA members.
More information on these online training courses can be found at www.smarthomeacademy.co.uk
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