Crestron Masters 2026: Built on Experience, Focused on What’s Next
Engineering a culture of collaboration, innovation, and growth — this year in San Antonio
May 1
Crestron Masters 2026: Built on Experience, Focused on What’s Next

Nearly 25 years ago, Crestron Masters began in a modest lab at the company's New Jersey headquarters. No ballrooms. No packed agendas. Just a handful of certified programmers, hands on gear, working through problems together with a shared drive to push the platform further.

That gathering has since grown into a global event welcoming thousands of professionals. What hasn't changed is the audience: deeply committed technologists who have invested in their careers and expect to stay ahead of the curve. That continuity — of purpose, of people, of standards — is what makes Crestron Masters something you come back to year after year.

The growth also reflects an industry in constant motion. Crestron's training organization has evolved alongside it, creating meaningful opportunities not just to learn, but to collaborate, challenge assumptions, and connect with the community in shaping what's next.

What sets Crestron Masters apart is who leads the learning. Courses are taught by Crestron's own engineering and product management teams — the people writing the software and firmware behind the solutions — alongside members of the Crestron Diamond community: seasoned certified programmers who bring hard-earned, real-world perspective into every session.

 

Engineering a Culture of Collaboration

The theme driving Crestron's product development this past year isn't just a tagline — it's an engineering mandate.

Hybrid work is the new baseline for most organizations. AI tools are embedded in the meeting stack. And with that reality come harder questions: How do you deliver a consistent, excellent experience across hundreds of rooms without custom integration at every turn? How do you ensure every collaborator — in the room or remote — has an intuitive, friction-free experience? How do you build infrastructure that actually leverages AI rather than just tolerating it?

Crestron set out to engineer solutions that are purpose-built to meet those challenges. As Crestron’s EVP of Customer Success and Marketing, Brad Hintze describes it, the goal was deceptively simple: “What if collaboration just worked — everywhere, every time?”

That engineering mindset carries directly into Crestron Masters 2026. The hands-on training, direct access to product owners, and peer exchange you'll find in San Antonio are the human infrastructure behind the same culture of collaboration Crestron is building into its technology.

What’s New: The 2026 Curriculum

This year's curriculum is the most substantive update in recent years — deeper technical tracks, new certification opportunities, and a purpose-built path for technology architects working across markets.

Programming: C#, Crestron Construct™ UI editing tool, SIMPL, & SIMPL+® programming language

Expanded coursework spans new Crestron Construct sessions, advanced UI design, and development content across all programming platforms — sharpening practical workflow and your business visibility through SEO and AEO principles (optimizing for AI-driven search engines like ChatGPT™ and Claude® AI).

What’s next for DM NVX® AV-over-IP technology?

As networked AV becomes the default, DM NVX technolgy continues to evolve. Forward-looking sessions will cover next-generation applications, practical deployment planning, and strategies for building your 2027 roadmap.

Masters Technology Architect (CMTA) Path

New this year, the CMTA education path introduces market-focused tracks that let attendees tailor their learning to the verticals they actually work in:

  • Higher Education: Hybrid learning environments, classroom AV workflows, and scalable campus deployments
  • Government & Enterprise: Integrating technology that meets both functional scope and modern security requirements
  • Residential: Dedicated sessions for designers and integrators working in the custom home space

The CMTA path is built for flexibility. Mix and match sessions across verticals to align your training with the real-world complexity of your business. Learn more here.

CM-IVC-E Certification Lab: North American Debut

For the first time in North America, the Crestron Masters Intelligent Video Engineer (CM-IVC-E) lab course comes to Crestron Masters. Available exclusively to IVC-E Certified Engineers, this lab delivers hands-on experience with the latest Automate VX products and features — including the new face-oriented switching capability designed to optimize camera angles automatically.

A New Home: San Antonio, Texas

Crestron Masters makes its debut in San Antonio this November — a city with genuine character, deep history, and the kind of energy that makes for a memorable event. The JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country offers world-class facilities in a setting that matches the ambition of the event. Discover San Antonio here.

The People Behind Crestron Masters 2026

Every great event comes down to the people who build it and the community that shows up for it. Crestron Masters 2026 is led by two familiar faces: Crestron Masters veteran Al Bourke and Training Operations leader Serena Cuna.

Cuna brings a decade of Texas perspective to this milestone. A self-described "Jersey girl at heart," she's spent years building roots in the Lone Star State — and couldn't be more excited to finally bring the Crestron Masters community home with her.

For Bourke, 2026 is about returning to the fundamentals that made Crestron Masters what it is. "We're going back to our roots," he says, "bringing Crestron's most knowledgeable engineers and product owners together with the community, while expanding hands-on labs and demo spaces so attendees have more time to learn from the experts — and from each other."

That's the spirit of Crestron Masters. Not a conference. A community.

Plan Ahead

Seats fill fast — particularly for certification labs and advanced sessions. Here's how to prepare:

  • Registration opens June 1: Mark your calendar now.
    Add to Calendar  
  • Download the full course catalog: Review curriculum paths, prerequisites, and recommended sequences before registration opens. Download here.

For event details, FAQs, and community updates, visit the Crestron True Blue Community Crestron Masters Page.

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Crestron Home®

Crestron Home makes all the devices and systems work the way you want them to. One simple experience from multiple control devices – on the wall, on the counter, on the couch, on your phone.

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Crestron DM NVX AV-over-IP technology

DM NVX® AV-over-IP technology combines video, audio, USB, and control on a single platform to reliably distribute anything across your entire network — in real time, at the highest quality and security standards.

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