what’s happening
Sophomore Year of KnowledgeFest Long Beach Brings Pressure to Advance
With an increased media presence, a bigger exhibit hall and education sessions added in Spanish or with translators, the second year of KnowledgeFest Long Beach is projected to be even more successful—with the goal of making it an international event. WORDS BY ROSA SOPHIA
The first KnowledgeFest Long Beach took place in 2018, attracting over 1,100 attendees, and the second is scheduled for February 23 to 25, 2019. It is anticipated to have roughly the same amount of manufacturer trainings—60 hours— along with 30 to 40 hours of educational sessions. Chris Cook, president of the Mobile Electronics Association, stated that he anticipates a significant growth in retailer attendance along with more interaction in education sessions. “Our first year was great, and our second year should be even better,” he said. Because more exhibitors are expected, the conference will be taking place in a much larger hall. “We sold out the space last year,” Cook said, adding that it made sense to choose a larger hall in the Long Beach Convention Center for the 2019 event. “The hall
14 Mobile Electronics December 2018
we’re moving into is about 65 percent larger than the hall we used last year,” he noted. With the completion of the first event came lessons learned, which will be applied to the second Long Beach conference. Also expected is an increased media presence, to help raise public awareness of the event and what it means for consumers of mobile electronics products.
Classes in Spanish and Increased Media Presence Intended to Expand Reach While the class categories will be about the same, with 18 education sessions and three tracks, something new will be offered—some classes will be available either in Spanish, or interpreted into Spanish. “We will still have owner/manager, sales/marketing and tech/fabricator classes,” Cook said, “but there are a lot of
Spanish-speaking folks in Southern California and surrounding areas.” The number of international attendees from Central and South America, as well as Mexico, have increased. As a result, Cook stated, “We look forward to attracting them to what we feel will be a great international event.” With so many innovative products on display, it became clear that it was time to reach beyond the immediate industry to outside mainstream media, in order to further raise awareness of what KnowledgeFest has to offer. “We’re reaching out to local media in Southern California to let them know about the technologies and new products that are being displayed— things they would find interesting, specifically driver safety,” Cook explained. “This year as opposed to last year, there will be media, and we’re looking for a specific time for the media to come in prior to show opening on Saturday.”
