More than 4,000 attendees and 180 exhibitors are expected at the 8th annual Digital Signage Expo that returns to Sin City Feb. 22-25 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. It is the world’s largest trade show and conference covering digital signage, interactive technology and out-of-home networks. Multiple panels and sessions will appeal to hotel owners and operators, including several with moderators and panelists who work in the hospitality industry.

Randy Dearborn, vice president of multimedia for MGM Mirage, will take part in two sessions on Thursday. From 9-10 a.m., he’ll discuss “Effective Planning for Digital Signage System Pre-installation & Rollout,” and then from 3-4 p.m. he’ll take part in a session titled, “Using Interactive Technology to Inform & Direct.” That session, moderated by Lodging Hospitality Managing Editor Eric Stoessel, will cover how to use wayfinding signage to make hotel employees look like experts, how to personalize content for site visits and special events and how to engage planners and outside businesses to offer advertising space. Dearborn’s first session will get into the more technical application of digital signage, covering issues like sightlines, traffic patterns, power supply and connectivity options.

On Wednesday and Thursday from 11:30-12:30, a lunch-and-learn session titled, “Effective Digital Signage and Content for Hotels and Casinos,” will be led by Joshua Hoffert, associate director of creative services for Alpha Video & Audio Inc. It will highlight three key steps to getting the most from your content: ownership of the digital signage system, content strategy and content creation.

Also at that time both days, Jay Martin, director of U.S. sales for X20 Media, will lead a lunch-and-learn session titled, “Implementing a Winning Digital Signage Strategy for Hotels & Casinos,” which will offer attendees proven strategies for the effective deployment of digital signage networks in the hospitality sector. A winning strategy begins with selecting a solution that integrates with existing hotel systems to lower operation costs, provides top-quality content to support and enhance the hotel’s brand, and can be easily enhanced with functionality such as wayfinding.

Many other sessions will be of interest to attendees from the hospitality industry,

Shelly Palmer, the host of shows “Digital Life with Shelly Palmer” and “MediaBytes” will offer a keynote address during breakfast Wednesday morning from 7:30-9. Jose Avalos, the director of retail and digital signage for Intel Corp. in the embedded & communications group, will offer another keynote address during Thursday’s breakfast at the same time.

For more information, check out www.digitalsignageexpo.net/.