Stephen Dubner, best-selling co-author of Freakonomics, will deliver the keynote address at InfoComm 2016, the largest audiovisual tradeshow in North America. The annual event takes place this June 4 to June 10 at the Las Vegas Convention Center and Westgate Las Vegas Resort and Casino.
Dubner is an award-winning author, journalist, and radio and TV personality. He is best-known as co-author of the New York Times bestselling Freakonomics series, which has sold more than 7 million copies in over 40 countries. Dubner is also the host of the Freakonomics Radio podcast, which attracts 5 million downloads a month. He also maintains the popular Freakonomics blog, which has been called "the most readable economics blog in the universe."
Freakonomics, published in 2005, was an international bestseller and cultural phenomenon. SuperFreakonomics followed in 2009 to similar acclaim, and in 2010 a documentary film version of Freakonomics was chosen as the closing film of the Tribeca Film Festival. The third book in the series, Think Like a Freak, was published in 2014 and immediately took up a long residency near the top of international bestseller lists. In 2015, marking the 10-year anniversary of this phenomenal series, When to Rob a Bank was published as a collection of the most popular Freakonomics blog posts.
Speaking to the commercial audiovisual industry at InfoComm 2016, Dubner will talk about how emerging communication technologies are changing the behavior of the people that use them. Dubner will explain what this behavior can tell the industry about the kinds of problems that can and can't be solved by communication technology applications. What business opportunities can be created by these behaviors, and conversely, what false assumptions should be avoided in promoting new technologies?
"Though the AV industry loves technology, what AV professionals do every day is really all about people -- helping them communicate, work and learn more effectively," said Jason McGraw, CTS, CAE, senior vice president of expositions, InfoComm International. "It can be hard to predict whether a technology solution is going to help achieve those goals unless you can think like a 'freak.' Stephen Dubner, co-author of Freakonomics, illuminates the unseen forces driving human behavior. His data-driven perspective will help InfoComm attendees better understand the most complex, failure-prone piece of any given AV system -- the user. By looking at the factors that drive usage, InfoComm 2016 attendees will gain insight into how to nurture the successful adoption of new technologies."
Dubner will deliver his keynote speech at 4 p.m. PST on June 7, 2016, at the Westgate Las Vegas Resort and Casino's Paradise North Event Center, which is located adjacent to the Las Vegas Convention Center.
