As the countdown to ISC West 2019 goes from months to weeks to days, it’s time to start thinking about the best way to spend your time while in attendance. And with so much to look forward to, choosing what activities you will get the most out of is no easy task. So SDM sat down with Will Wise, group VP of security events at ISC, to take care of some of the guessing work, and share what’s new at this year’s event.

The Exhibitors

There will be around 1,000 exhibitors at ISC West this year, with 200 of those exhibiting as newbies, according to Wise. 

“One of the things we make a big effort on is making sure there’s always a sizable number of new exhibitors in the event,” he said.

Wise called out AnyVision as a new exhibitor to take notice of because of the waves it’s been making in the realm of emerging technology and AI. Resideo will be making its first ISC West appearance since separating from Honeywell, and Wise said that both companies will have big but distinctly different footprints on the show floor. Also make sure to check out Dell Technologies, as the company will have a booth on the show floor for the first time ever. 

Exhibitors will be split into five different categories: unmanned security, connected security, emerging technology, connected home and public security and safety. 

The Keynote Speakers

The first keynote speaker has been announced as Russ Butler, head of security for the San Francisco 49ers, for the morning of April 11. 

“We’re making a conscious effort to provide more education on stadium and major event security this year,” said Wise. “So Butler’s speech will be exciting. He has a really interesting background in that he used to do security for the royal family in the UK, and he has a lot of expertise in public safety and events.”  

In addition to Butler’s keynote speech, the theme of stadium security will carry over into a breakout session that afternoon, "The Stadium of the Future," from 1-4 p.m. that seeks to share the latest updates and findings regarding stadium and public venue security for the National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security (NCS4). 

The keynote speaker for April 10 will be announced closer to the event.

The Big Breakfast

If you are one of the increasing number of women in the security industry, don’t miss out on the Women in Security Breakfast on Friday, April 12, at 8:30 a.m.

“SIA has this great initiative on diversity in the industry, the Women in Security Forum,” said Wise. “We’ll have some great speakers, and potentially a headliner-type speaker for the breakfast.”

The Sessions

“Bridging off a lot of interest last year, we’re continuing to focus on solutions not just for the commercial sector, but connecting home and smart home solutions, which I think the integrators, dealers and installers will be interested in,” said Wise. 

“Security in the Connected Home” will discuss trends for the home environment, and will take place April 11 from 11 a.m.-12 p.m. Steve Shapiro, general manager of residential, commercial and connected home products at Johnson Controls/ Tyco Security, will be the presenter. 

“Another one of the themes that really stood out last year and all of a sudden became front and center in terms of demands for sessions is the cyber and physical security connection,” Wise said. “An example of us continuing that is a session called “Cyber Risk: It’s All About the People” and I really applaud that approach because a lot of the time, we’ll talk about the risk of cyber security assets, but ultimately it does take the collaboration of different groups to figure out how to bridge that gap between cyber and physical systems.” 

The session will be presented on April 9 from 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

For information on unmanned systems, Wise recommends “How to Adapt to Address Drone Security” April 11, 1:15-2:15 p.m. “There’s really two factors when it comes to drones: how you can beneficially use them to improve the functionality of security, whether that’s law enforcement or commercial entities; and then there’s counter-drone technology that’s relevant to the use of rogue drones,” said Wise. “So there’s some really good content there. This is a relatively new area, so we also have several free sessions in the Unmanned Security Educational Theater on the show floor. There will be about five or six sessions each day that are open to all attendee types, which will provide some greater depth on robotics.”

ISC West 2019 will take place April 9-12 in Las Vegas. To learn more, or to register, go to www.iscwest.com.