The SDM 100 Gala is an evening that many security professionals have come to look forward to with anticipation. Held annually in conjunction with the ESX show, the Gala is a social event that honors the largest security dealers in the recurring revenue business, as ranked on the annual SDM 100 Report. The event includes a networking cocktail hour with open bar, seated dinner, and after-dinner entertainment — all set to a theme that is sometimes classy and sometimes mad, but always fun.

This year’s theme was island life, and guests from SDM 100 companies as well as Gala sponsors proved that no man or woman is an island when it comes to celebrating the industry’s achievements. Guests wore colorful island clothing, donned leis and pineapple sunglasses, and sipped tropical drinks with paper umbrellas, in keeping with the paradise theme. They were swept away by palm trees and an ocean breeze that guided the theme and kept the event tranquil and the guests cool.

As dinner began, SDM Publisher Chris Ward acknowledged and thanked the sponsors, some of which were new and others of which have sponsored the Gala for all 13 years — Honeywell and ADI. SDM Editor Laura Stepanek provided a short summary of SDM 100 performance from this year’s report, and then played a video that showed each of the 100 companies that were ranked in 2018. As the video ran, dealers gathered at the stage for the historic group photo. This year more than 40 dealers attended the Gala and are featured in the photo above. 

Following dinner an improv troupe from Chicago, IO Theater, did a series of hilarious skits based on current news. During the cocktail hour, guests were given access to several newspapers to clip stories from. These clippings were pinned to a cork board and the actors chose several to play out, including one about how Alexa, the digital voice assistant, helps college kids, and another from SDM about deceptive sales practices. In their final skit, the actors brought one of the guests to the stage to reenact his day based on the facts he told them.

The 2018 SDM 100 Gala seemed to prove that life is, indeed, better at the beach. Guests left with smiles on their faces and said they looked forward to not only a successful 2019, but another fun Gala, too.

SDM 100 Gala Sponsors

  • ADI
  • Alarm.com
  • All American  Monitoring
  • Axis Communications
  • Brinks Home Security
  • ESA
  • Honeywell
  • ISC East/Reed
  • Johnson Controls/DSC/Sur-Gard
  • Renova Technology
  • SedonaOffice (Perennial Software)
  • The Monitoring Association