Consumers’ increasing embrace of the smart home and the automation that is transforming the way they live offers the housewares industry opportunities to expand its implementation of smart technology to new categories and products. From Millennials to Gen Xers to Baby Boomers, consumers are looking to fill their spaces with connected products for every room in the home and housewares suppliers are happy to oblige. Carley Knobloch, a digital lifestyle expert with a passion for smart home innovations, says, “A truly smart home is as beautiful as it is intelligent — the gadgets fade into the background, and you just feel like life is easier.”
The 2018 International Home + Housewares Show will provide retailers with the latest developments in the smart home movement with an expanded IHA Smart Home pavilion, educational sessions and networking opportunities. The Show will be held March 10-13 at Chicago’s McCormick Place Complex.
The IHA Smart Home pavilion expands with more than 25 exhibitors of smart home brands and connected products presenting the future of housewares. The pavilion will also offer increased education and networking opportunities. Smart Talks is a new educational stage in the pavilion and will feature presentations, panel discussions, interviews with industry leaders and more all Show days. Retailers can network with colleagues, exhibitors and smart home experts at the Smart Bar, a new lounge in the pavilion offering charging stations, seating areas and a beverage bar. In the morning, the lounge will feature Starbucks coffee and in the afternoon attendees can relax with a craft beer. A list of exhibitors in the pavilion and the Smart Talks schedule will be available at www.housewares.org/show/iha-smart-home.
Be sure to pick up the 2018 Smart Home Magazine, which provides information and education on this trending category as well as spotlights smart home exhibitors and programs throughout the Show. In addition, exhibitors with smart and connected products in other Show expos will have booth signage indicating their smart home products.
The Show’s educational program features several sessions focusing on smart home issues and developments in connected products. The keynote session at Noon, Sunday, March 11 will address “Building Smart, New and Sustainable Business Models for the Kitchen of the Future.” Mike Wolf, curator and founder of the Smart Kitchen Summit, will moderate a panel of thought leaders, including digital lifestyle expert Carley Knobloch, who will detail the impact of the smart home on the housewares industry and offer strategies to help buyers and sellers succeed in this new era of the connected home.
Several programs in the Innovation Theater, located near the Hall of Global Innovation in the Lakeside Center Lobby, will focus on the smart home. The sessions include “Smart Home Mass-Market Adoption: Are We There Yet?” and “The State of the Connected Kitchen” on Saturday, March 10; and “Do I Even Need to be Here? A Human’s Role in the Smart Kitchen” and “Connecting the Smart Home to the Homeowner” on Sunday, March 11.
To register for a free Show entrance badge or for more information about Show events, visit www.housewares.org/show.
