SID Making Its Annual Display Nerd Fest More Visit-Friendly For Less Technical Attendees
April 21, 2025 by Dave Haynes
The Society For Information Display’s annual DisplayWeek conference and exhibit hall is really good event for anyone interested in seeing what’s in the works for pro display in three to five years, or longer, but it can be a bit bewildering for people who don’t have degrees in electrical engineering.
The display nerd fest – and I genuinely mean that in the nicest way – can be a bit intimidating for people like me who show up and quickly go cross-eyed trying to process the technical aspects of advances in things like manufacturing methods and chemicals. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go, and the largely volunteer society has come up with a way to make the event more intellectually accessible to people who want to understand where things are going and how they might apply.
A lot of “lay people” are interested in this stuff, but don’t need to know all that much about what’s under the engineering hood of things like microLED, quantum dots and light field displays.
Display101 is being pitched as “an introduction to the world of displays, designed to give industry newcomers and first-time attendees a solid foundation in display technology. You’ll also get the low down on what to see and where to spend your time during the rest of the week.”
This session will take you through the fundamentals—covering everything from the history and evolution of displays to the cutting-edge innovations shaping the future. Whether you’re an engineer looking to expand your expertise or a newcomer seeking to navigate the industry, Display101 provides the knowledge and connections to set you on the right path.
The session wraps with a Display Week introduction, offering tips on how to navigate the symposium and exhibits to maximize your experience—whether it’s connecting with industry leaders, discovering groundbreaking innovations, or attending must-see technical sessions.
SID expert volunteers are also doing small-group 90-minute hall tours intended to help people get some context on what they’re seeing. I’m not shy about admitting when I don’t quite understand what I’m seeing, and would welcome a guide saying what something is, how it is used and why that matters in the context of displays and real-world use-cases.
You could otherwise, VERY easily, walk right on by stuff that you should know about – because the stand looks like something out of high school science fair.
The Exhibit Hall tours will run on Tuesday, May 13, and space is limited. SID says sign-up info will be sent to registered attendees the week before Display Week.
Display 101 is being hosted by the awesome Sam Phenix, along with the University of Edinburgh’s Ian Underwood, who is a Professor of Electronic Displays.
Display Week is May 11-16 in San Jose, CA, with the exhibit hall open May 13-15.
Many of the companies exhibiting are the bridge between the very technical and the use-case implementation.