Taking Flight with the Commercial UAV Expo

Grant Guillot, host of Drones in America, was joined by Lisa Murray, Linda McLaughlin, and Lee Corkhill of Diversified Communications to preview this year’s Commercial UAV Expo.

With the global pandemic present, many events have been postponed or cancelled.  The Commercial UAV Expo has opted to take the event virtual.

“It’s been challenging.  It’s been interesting.  It’s kind of exciting” said Murray, Group Director..  The overall goals of delivering excellent content to expo visitors, providing a platform for companies to showcase their innovations, and being a premier networking event have remained the same.  How the content is delivered is the main difference.

One of the challenges in coordinating previous expos was scheduling speakers. Linda McLaughlin, Conference Programs Manager, spoke about how this challenge has actually gotten easier for this year’s event.  Removing the hurdles of travel and accommodations has allowed for an incredible list of speakers for the 2020 expo.

Similarly, the virtual event is making access to the event easier than ever before.  Many people who traditionally could not participate are able to join the event.   “About 20% of our audience is international,” said Lee Corkhill, Group Marketing Director, referring to previous years.  This number is expected to rise as well as overall attendance since the virtual event can be attended from anywhere in the world and is affordable as well.

The virtual expo will have many new features never done in previous events.  Live drone demonstrations have always been popular at the expo and will be streamed for this year’s virtual event.  Another huge plus for attendees is that every speaker can be seen and these presentations will also be recorded to be watched afterwards.   There will also be virtual networking events and round table discussions.

The Commercial UAV Expo will also feature a wide variety of drone applications, many of which are gaining popularity due to the pandemic.  “Drone delivery certainly in the pandemic has gotten some traction.” noted McLaughlin, Conference Programs Manager.  Other topics featured at the expo will be public safety, infrastructure projects, inspections, autonomy, and much more.

Catch up on previous episodes of Drones In America!