“ The Welcome Reception is the largest networking opportunity that we have that will be taking place on Monday afternoon at 5 p . m . Everyone is welcome to attend . That will be taking place immediately after our Monday afternoon keynote , which the Indian Gaming Association is helping us curate .” — Korbi Carrison , Vice President , G2E Event , RX
a little quiz about their interests . And it will create a new kind of personalized plan for them to help them determine which sections across the show floor are right for them , which education sessions are important for them , just based on their interests . So we ’ re hoping to make it a little less overwhelming and a little more personal and streamlined .
GGB : Tell us about the expanded networking area . I know that was very active last year . Carrison : That was something new that we did last year , and it was incredibly successful . So we made a plan to enlarge that space . It will be in a different location . All of our maps and directionals will guide you there . There will be a lot of fun engagement , certainly around the Emerging Leaders of Gaming / 40 under 40 , the AGEM Memorial Awards . We also have a commitment with African Americans in Gaming to host a happy hour there , and we ’ re looking at some other engagements as well .
There are other areas of the show floor , for example , the Innovation Lab , which is a newly reimagined version of that space that you ’ ll remember from years before . The lab is a place where people can connect more around topics . So we will have short education sessions in that space . They ’ ll be about 20 minutes each . Think of it like a TED Talk . But those are engagements that are more from companies that are creating a new technology to address what ’ s up and coming in the industry . And those are folks that may have technology that is so new , they ’ re not ready to do a full-out engagement on the expo hall floor . So this gives them a little bit of daylight to really spread the word about what they ’ ve got going on .
GGB : The Welcome Reception is always well attended . When will that be held in 2023 ? Carrison : Yes , the Welcome Reception is the largest networking opportunity that we have that will be taking place on Monday afternoon at 5 p . m . Everyone is welcome to attend . That will be taking place immediately after our Monday afternoon keynote , which the Indian Gaming Association is helping us curate .
GGB : So you mentioned the Monday keynote . Do you have other information on keynotes at G2E at this point ? Beddis : It ’ s a little too early to reveal who the speakers will be for the keynotes at the show . But as Korbi mentioned , our Monday content is centered around tribal gaming , which informs the keynote that day . In terms of Tuesday and Wednesday , I think the keynotes are reflective of the industry today and the growth of the show . So I think you can expect to see and hear from some of the leaders in the commercial operator space and iGaming as well as sports and sports betting . So too soon to reveal any names yet , but I can assure you that it will be relevant and some of the most important names in the industry today .
GGB : Tell us about the conference program . What are you doing differently this year that you think will appeal to the attendees ? Carrison : As Maureen referred to earlier , the call for speakers and content was a big departure from what we had done before , and it really informed us on several points . No . 1 , we have a lot of very smart people in this industry who are very generous with their contributions of their time and their talents . Unfortunately , we couldn ’ t accept all 400 submissions , so we ’ ve done our best to make the program representative of those different submissions and also take into consideration what attendees are coming to us and saying that they want to hear . So we ’ re seeing a lot of rich content , and we will be having education over four days . We ’ ll have six different rooms running all day on a lot of different topic areas , but especially we ’ re seeing a lot of content around the future of gaming . So it ’ s not only what are we doing now , how can we improve today — there is a bit of that — but also , where are we going in the future ? And that topic extends across commercial and tribal casinos . And it also touches upon non-U . S . interests too , as well as topics around fintech , a lot of talk around iGaming , and sports betting as it continues to grow in the U . S .
On Thursday at G2E , we ’ re designing a fully immersive and very engaging program . These topics were also suggested by the submission , and we ’ re introducing some workshops that we ’ re planning for this year . They will be a ticketed event , and they will be topical with four different subject matters that we are inviting some experts to come in and present about . They ’ re deeper in detail than a typical conference session . And we ’ re hopeful that people will engage deeply , connect with other people that have similar interests and walk away from those sessions with actionable plans .
GGB : With such a wide interest in this year ’ s G2E , and the remarkable revenue numbers put up by the industry recently , what does it say about the growth and the health of the casino industry and its largest trade show and conference ? Beddis : One of the things that we do at the AGA is keep track of the growth and what ’ s happening in the industry . Last week , the AGA released its most recent numbers , and we ’ ve had the industry ’ s 10th consecutive quarter of growth , which is just incredible . I ’ d like to think we are probably the envy of many industries for sure . So I think as the industry continues to grow , the show is extremely reflective of that growth , and I ’ m excited to see what we have in store here for this year .
2023 PROGRESSIVE PRODUCTS PREVIEW P3 9