LAS VEGAS — The world’s most anticipated security event is ramping up its educational offerings as ISC West 2025, scheduled for March 31 through April 4 at the Venetian Expo, is adding a fourth day of classroom opportunities and boosting its focus on cybersecurity.
To be sure, the annual gathering of security industry heavyweights has come a long way since its humble beginnings more than 50 years ago and has grown to be one of the largest gatherings of the best and brightest minds in the security industry.
Last year’s show attracted almost 30,000 security industry professionals, ranging from exhibitors and attendees to speakers and media.
“We really speak to the full gamut of the security industry,” says Mary Beth Shaughnessy, the event vice president for ISC West, noting the event brings together end users, practitioners, consultants, integrators, dealers, installers, technicians and more under one roof. “There is something for everyone.”
Cybersecurity in ISC West 2025 Spotlight
Among the hustle and bustle of a trade show floor full of new security products, sessions doling out the latest education to eager industry students and plenty of opportunities before, during and after the halls close for networking, ISC West is always looking to enhance its offerings.
This year, that comes in the form of an increased focus on cybersecurity, says Shaughnessy.
“We’ll be bringing in more cybersecurity professionals,” she says. “As the worlds of physical and cyber collide, we really all must work together—and ISC West is the perfect environment for that. It attracts professionals from both fields to collaborate, strengthen their security strategies, and explore comprehensive solutions in an ever-evolving industry.”
ISC West 2025 Education Slate Expands
While there’s certainly plenty to see on the ISC West 2025 trade show floor, the SIA Education@ISC program is a draw that brings some attendees back every year. This year’s slate of classes includes more than 220 speakers, as well as an extra day for lifelong learners to bring home educational nuggets.
This year’s ISC West education offering also includes more than 125 in-depth conference sessions, training courses, and technical workshops, says Dr. Elli Reges, director of learning and development for the Security Industry Association.
“We’re offering more hands-on, interactive content than we did in the past,” she says. “We’ve also really expanded the program to meet the changing knowledge and skill needs of our constituency of attendees.”
The SIA Education@ISC program always includes tracks on access control systems, video surveillance systems, new technology and automation as well as a track for dealers, installers and integrators and another one for end users and public safety professionals.
Reges emphasizes the focus this year on cybersecurity and connected systems, which have their own tracks but are also sprinkled into other education tracks as well.
All conference sessions that are included on the ISC West schedule go through a rigorous review by SIA’s advisory board of more than 35 members, representing manufacturers, integrators, end users, consultants, public safety personnel and more, says Reges. The review takes most of the summer, she says, but are important in ensuring the content is “informative, compelling, vendor-agnostic and product-neutral.”
“There are a lot of moving pieces, especially with keynotes and the career zone,” she says. “We have some special presentation areas within the show footprint and we aim to keep those as current as possible to address issues that become prevalent in industry news.
The advisory board tends to favor presentations that include “dynamic perspectives,” says Reges, meaning including an integrator with a manufacturer and a consultant talking about solving a problem.
“Those types of sessions, I think, provide the audience with the most value, but that’s not to say that a single presenter couldn’t,” she says. The program features both panels and lecture-style presentations led by qualified subject matter experts and reputable industry leaders.
While many of the presenters have experience speaking at ISC West, “we like to keep it fresh with new people,” says Reges. Each year, we receive an increasing number of presentation submissions, making the selection process more competitive than ever.
Reges and her team do a quality check prior to the presentations or their PowerPoints being submitted to make sure they comply with the event’s policies, then drop in on sessions to see how the audience is receiving the information, she says, although they primarily rely on attendee feedback to decide if the presenters and the topics should be considered in future years.
SIA has a track called Tech Talks that includes niche topics, says Reges, giving opportunities to speakers who are covering topics that might appeal to a small segment of the ISC West audience.
There’s a balance, says Reges, between “addressing these topics that are front of mind for security professionals” and “anticipating what’s coming down the pipeline.” That means building sessions focused on school security standards that are published in the spring, for example, and critical infrastructure standards that are released at around the same time as ISC West.
“We plan for those things so that we have a little bit of flexibility to address trending topics,” says Reges. “We have our Security Mega Trends track, which follows the SIA Megatrends Report and is published at the beginning of each year. Within those, you’ll gain insights onto the key topics that are driving industry conversations such as AI, visual intelligence and OT/IT convergence.”
While the trade show is certainly the star of ISC West, the education program has become a big hit in its own right, says Reges. It’s an add-on ticket to take part in SIA Education@ISC but the number of attendees continues to grow every year, she says, including the security project management seminar, security industry cybersecurity certification (SICC) review course and OSDP boot camp, to name a few of the most popular offerings.
SIA has seen an increase in education attendance at ISC West year over year across six rooms at the Venetian Expo, says Reges. She credits this growth to the high-quality content provided by solution providers, end users, and their strategic partners, as well as the SIA Advisory Board’s dedication to staying ahead of the rapidly evolving security technology landscape.
This year’s education slate includes a new track on AI and digital transformation, she says.
“There’s a desire for more education on the basics of networking and IT principles so we’ve added a track focused on IT for security professionals which is delivered in partnership with industry leader RSA,” says Reges. Among the other new tracks are focused on workplace violence and school security, security operations centers, and critical infrastructure and data protection.
“We’ve had an active shooter workshop the past few years that is always standing room only, so we continue to bring that back,” says Reges. “Then we experiment with some new things. This year, we’ll be hosting a cybersecurity 101 workshop so there’s a little bit for everyone and we’re excited to see how these new offerings are received.”
Reges is proud of the growth of ISC West’s educational component.
“Seeing this conference program continue to grow each year is so exciting,” she says. “There are so many thought leaders who have valuable information to share so being able to provide more opportunities to hold those discussions in a collaborative forum is what ISC West is all about.
“It’s one of the few times throughout the year that you have most of the industry together looking to solve challenges and talk about important issues that that we face together to figure out innovative solutions,” says Reges.
ISC West 2025 also features a career zone on the show floor, an area that is specifically designed to focus on workforce development initiatives, foster professional development and talk about special communities, including young professionals, women in security and veterans in security, says Reges.
In keeping with the theme of adding more focus on cybersecurity, there will be a new education track that’s focused on it as well, led by RSA.
“We’re always looking for ways to improve the show and, by expanding our education program and featuring more content, it creates a more valuable experience for all of our customers,” says Shaughnessy.
This year, ISC West offers a four-day education passport or a one-day education pass.
“Everyone is so busy,” says Shaughnessy. “Not everybody can purchase the four-day passport, although we’re finding that is the most popular because it offers the most flexibility over the course of four days. You can pop in and out of whatever is of interest to you.”
Photo courtesy of Security Industry Association
Thousands of New Products
Another popular spot for ISC West regulars is the SIA New Products and Solutions area, where companies can featureshow off their latest security-focused offerings for the first time. The space is “right in the middle of the show floor,” says Shaughnessy, and has been significantly upgraded in recent years.
“It used to be similar to a middle school science fair,” she says. “We’ve really elevated the look and feel of it, so we’ve evolved with the industry.”
While ISC West always welcomes new faces to join the fray, Shaughnessy knows many of the security industry’s top influencers and biggest players look forward to the event as a way to reset and kick off the year ahead in the industry.
“Everybody is ready,” she says. “They know it takes place in March or April every year at the Venetian, so they know what to expect. They put it on their calendar. They’re ready to go. Our manufacturers are excited to showcase what’s new in 2025. It’s the kickoff security show for the year.”
Shaughnessy expects many of ISC West 2025’s exhibitors to be showcasing what they consider the latest advancements in artificial intelligence-enhanced security products and solutions as well as many cybersecurity-focused offerings.
“I think you’ll see a lot of AI, which is very prevalent today, but you’ll also see a wider range of cyber solutions and even more cybersecurity programming,” she says. “We’re really branching out, bringing in more cyber professionals, and making sure we address the future of security head-on.”
ISC West 2025 will feature a pavilion dedicated to cybersecurity and connected IoT that will be home to many of those products and solutions for the duration of the event. Shaughnessy expects that to also mean there will be more directors of cybersecurity and chief information security officers in attendance at the show.
“We’re finding that many of these IT teams are working more closely with their physical security teams, so ISC West is it’s a one-stop shop,” she says.
Planning for ISC West starts more than a year ahead of the show dates, says Shaughnessy, meaning they’ve been talking about the addition of a cybersecurity focus for a while now. The pavilion includes connected IoT solutions, which has been a featured area on the ISC West show floor for a few years now. It also includes The Cyber Hub for networking.
“Many organizations’ physical, cyber and IT teams are working together,” says Shaughnessy. “We want to provide a show where customers can visit and see both physical and cyber solutions in one location.”
Photo courtesy of Security Industry Association
How ISC West is Built
By the way, even though the show ends for this year on April 4, that doesn’t mean the team that’s putting the show together gets much time to rest before thinking about what to do next year.
“The show continues to expand, not only with exhibitors, but also just new growth areas, new attendees, and new sectors,” says Shaughnessy. “Immediately after ISC West 2025, we’ll be working on our plan for 2026, ’27 and ’28.”
While some technology industry trade show floors are lined with aisles of vaporware—products that still in the prototype stage with no firm release date—the organizers of ISC West do everything they can to prevent manufacturers from showing off new solutions that may or may not be released soon.
“If they do enter their product in the new product showcase, we have regulations that they have to follow and a strict protocol,” she says. “The product or solution does have to be available prior to ISC West, and we have set dates and parameters, so we are very conscientious of that.”
Keynotes Kick Off the Day
ISC West will feature three keynote speakers, one each day the trade show floor is open, kicking off with Rachel Wilson, the director of cybersecurity for Morgan Stanley Wealth Management on Wednesday, April 2.
Will Bernhjelm, vice president of security at the Mall of America, is speaking on Thursday, April 3, and Kate Maxwell, the chief technology officer of worldwide defense and intelligence for Microsoft, takes the stage as keynote speaker on Friday, April 4.
The keynote series is open to all ISC West 2025 badge holders.
While certainly there are some ISC West attendees every year who stop by for a day and see as much as they can with an expo hall or education pass, most of the event’s attendees stick it out for the duration, or at least somewhere close to it, says Shaughnessy.
“We definitely find that most people stay,” she says. “There’s just so much to see and do, and many of our attendees need to visit the show floor. They have appointments and customer visits, not to mention attending the many networking events.”
“I think anybody you speak to, their schedule is chock full,” says Shaughnessy. It begins early in the morning, goes through the evening and could run the gamut of the entire week. I expect it to be packed the whole week. There’s just so much happening at ISC West.”
Among the events on the ISC West social calendar is a concert by Gin Blossoms on Wednesday, April 2 from 5 to 7 p.m. Tickets for that show are free but limited to the first 2,000 people. They will be given out at featured areas across the trade show floor, says Shaughnessy.
For the 10 years she’s been working on putting together ISC West, the thrill of opening the doors on day one and seeing so many familiar faces in person never gets old, she says.
“We’ve been planning this for more than a year now and it’s just really great to see it unveil and see all of our customers engaging and networking with their peers,” says Shaughnessy. “It’s a really great show. Our whole team loves it.”
While the planning starts well in advance for ISC West, “we’re always pivoting,” says Shaughnessy.
“We’re always trying to incorporate the latest and greatest,” she says, noting that there were some changes and updates being discussed for ISC West 2025 in January and February. “The show is constantly evolving. New ideas are always popping up. We always look to create a better customer experience for our attendees, exhibitors and partners.”
Shaughnessy also touts ISC West’s sustainability efforts, which include a multi-year goal of diverting 90% or more of event material waste from landfills. Last year, the event had 75 metric tons, about 77 percent of the event’s waste, recycled or composted, she says.
Show organizers encourage attendees to sort their waste in the appropriate bins at the show and share the sustainability message in emails and social media campaigns. Signage across the expo hall encourages attendees to participate in the effort.
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