What You Need to Know
- Duncan Wardle will deliver the keynote address at CEDIA Expo/CIX 2026 on Sept. 2 at 8 a.m. in the Mile High Ballroom in Denver.
- The presentation will explore how custom integration businesses can leverage creativity and design thinking in an increasingly AI-driven market.
- A follow-up workshop later that day will expand on the design-thinking concepts introduced during the morning keynote.
Who is Duncan Wardle?
Duncan Wardle is the former Head of Innovation and Creativity at The Walt Disney Company who now teaches masterclasses at global universities. During his 25-year tenure at Disney, he helped develop experiential storytelling initiatives across brands including Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, Animation and Imagineering. Since leaving the entertainment company, he has delivered TEDx talks and currently teaches innovation and creativity courses at Harvard, Yale and Stanford.
What will the CEDIA Expo 2026 keynote focus on?
The keynote presentation will focus on how custom integration businesses can adapt to evolving technologies and changing client expectations using innovation, creativity and design thinking. According to CEDIA, the address will provide attendees with practical tools and techniques designed to help integration firms approach projects more creatively, improve collaboration and identify new business opportunities. “I hope to not only inspire everyone to want to innovate but give them tools that take the intimidation out of innovation to make creativity tangible and the process fun,” Wardle says in the announcement.
Why did CEDIA select Duncan Wardle for this event?
CEDIA selected Wardle because his extensive background in emotional storytelling naturally aligns with the smart home industry’s focus on creating highly personalized user experiences. CEDIA Global President and CEO Daryl Friedman notes that smart home professionals are essentially in the business of creating experiences that feel like magic in people’s homes. “As AI continues to evolve, the real differentiator will be human skills like creativity, intuition and curiosity,” Friedman says in the announcement.
What can attendees expect to hear during the presentation?
Attendees can expect to hear how human skills like empathy, intuition and imagination will become increasingly valuable as artificial intelligence takes over more analytical and repetitive work. Based on his publicly available talks and interviews, Wardle frequently argues that organizations unintentionally suppress natural creativity over time by training adults to search for a single correct answer. He often highlights how relaxed mental states produce stronger ideas and uses Disney examples — such as the creation of the MagicBand and the company’s “guest” versus “customer” philosophy — to demonstrate how emotional storytelling drives meaningful innovation.
Why does human-centered innovation matter now for the custom integration industry?
Human-centered innovation matters now because companies will increasingly differentiate themselves through emotional intelligence and creative problem-solving rather than just access to data. As the custom integration industry fully embraces AI for both back-end operations and the smart home user experience, the human element becomes a critical competitive advantage. By challenging conventional processes and adopting human-centered thinking, integrators can better anticipate and serve the changing needs of modern homeowners.
Additional information about the keynote presentation and CEDIA Expo 2026 programming is available at CEDIAExpo.com.
