Take in a few educational sessions at Center Stage on the exhibit floor (Booth 3161) and you’ll get far more than you paid for. Each day of the show, top thinkers and practitioners from the fields of retail, entertainment, hospitality, events and education will share their knowledge and insights on a wide variety of topics, all exploring AV’s role in creating a better-designed world.
The 2019 Center Stage—sponsored by Mvix, Samsung, Shure, Dolby, LG and Philips—takes on a new form. “New this year, we are having the opportunity for the participants to meet the experts on Wednesday and Thursday, and then on Friday, we are also offering what we call the Cohort Lab,” said Rochelle Richardson, senior vice president of expositions and events for AVIXA.
The first two days of Center Stage will feature presentations and discussions, with offerings like “How Online Brands are Changing Brick-and-Mortar Retail” and “Optimizing Digital Signage Design with Retail Behavioral Analytics” on Wednesday, while Thursday’s talks will provide in-depth looks into esports arenas, hospitality meeting room experiences, using tablets and displays in classrooms, and even live production on cruise ships. On both Wednesday and Thursday, attendees will get opportunities to literally meet the pros with two “Center Stage Meet the Experts” sessions each day, bringing together the day’s presenters for eye-opening panel discussions.
On the last day of InfoComm, things will start the same at Center Stage, with more insightful presentations, before taking an intriguing left turn. Presentations will explore different ways AV can be part of the retail experience, from translating live event technology for pop-up retail to influencing behavior and enhancing experience with audio.
The massive two-and-a-half-hour last session of the day, however, changes up everything. “The last part of Center Stage is what we call a Cohort Lab,” says Brad Grimes, senior director of communications at AVIXA. “It’s a very interactive, brainstorming, creative session. How do we apply technology to design principles and some other experiential challenges? That’s going to be a very cool, interactive session to wrap up Center Stage on Friday.”
So even those who have visited Center Stage in the past should make a point of dropping in again. “Virtually every program on Center Stage is new this year,” says David Labuskes, CEO of AVIXA. “They are amazingly creative and inspirational experiences; I think it would be a true shame for any attendee to not stop by there and learn and be inspired.”
