The agenda for the TribalNet Conference & Tradeshow slated for Sept. 1-18 in Reno will focus on how technology transforms tribal casinos and other operations in Indian Country.
Now in its 26th year, TribalNet offers attendees nearly 40 sessions in seven focused educational tracks, including general, gaming, hospitality, and tribal-government technology, cybersecurity, the AI revolution, leadership/executive, and tribal health information management.
The conference brings together IT professionals, gaming and hospitality executives, and healthcare teams from tribal governments and enterprises across the country, along with industry partners, for a week of education and networking.
“Attendees learn alongside their peers, leading experts, and vendors and learn about solutions and technologies that other tribes are using, which could transform the way their tribes operate,” said Mike Day, executive director of TribalHub, the organizer of the conference. “These insights and the network our attendees gain access to are invaluable. One connection or solution at TribalNet could quickly save a tribe thousands.”
The two day tradeshow floor will showcase 250 technology vendors that are already working with tribes and tribal enterprises. More than 700 attendees and about 1,500 people in total will be at the conference, Day said. “We keep growing. It’s a 20% increase from 2023 to 2024 and we’re expecting another increase this year. We’re already above the registration level we were at last year.”
The sessions on artificial intelligence will discuss the building blocks and how to release AI in an organization. Tribal enterprises are already using it efficiently, Day said.
“AI and cybersecurity are still big deals,” Day said. “The big piece of technology right now that people need to keep in mind, especially this year, is that it becomes more prevalent in every single operation. If you want to become more efficient, you’ll end up talking about technology. If you want to know your customer better, you’re talking about technology. If you want to improve the customer experience, it’s technology. If you want to drive new revenue today, you’re probably talking about something with technology. There’s no way around it. It’s part of everything we’re doing. Of course, TribalNet is all about technology. It’s the one place that brings it all together.”
The leadership track includes general managers from casinos. It’s important that leaders of organizations understand what can be done with technology, Day said.
“The best leaders today have to have some technology savvy or at least an education on what’s happening. It’s such a big part of organizations today. It’s tough to succeed if you don’t have a basic understanding of who’s out there, what the solutions are and what’s going on with other organizations.”
On the gaming track, the conference will include gaming system vendors to talk about their vision for the future, Day said. That includes executives from Aristocrat, IGT, Light & Wonder and CasinoTrac.
“We will have a session on emerging tech in gaming. We’ll talk about what’s coming and what to prepare for, what tribal gaming and hospitality are using and where you should be focusing your technology dollars in the coming year.”
There will be a gaming session on efficiencies and lowering costs in back-of-house technologies. There’s another on mobile apps and one on success stories on creating the best customer digital experiences, Day said.
“Our advisory boards are leaders across tribal nations and they made the call on what sessions make it on the agenda,” Day said. “They’re a big part of choosing who will deliver these sessions. We make sure we get the right expertise and whenever possible alongside an industry expert or vendor expert, someone from a tribe talking about a real-world experience.”
Day said while the gaming and hospitality tracks are great for the casino industry, attendees can learn from other sessions to better manage their casino resorts by understanding technology from across the nation. They will learn from sessions on AI and how to be prepared to get the most out of it. In addition, cybersecurity continues to be a big threat to tribal gaming, Day said.
“Cybersecurity is still creating a lot of havoc for tribes across the nation,” Day said. “People are more prepared, but the bad actors are more prepared. They are using AI tools and are getting sneakier at what they’re doing. It’s harder to prevent. Everybody has gotten a little smarter in what they’re doing but you have to continuously stay up with what’s going on. The types of incidents we’re seeing and how people are being hacked are becoming more sophisticated.”
