Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference

Peak attendance at I/ITSEC occurred in 2010 and 2011 (see the table in the next section) with approximately 20,000 attendees. Attendance declined to about 14,000 in 2013 and 2014 due to new restrictions with US military and government travel. As a result, conference leaders are taking steps to attract more international attendees, and they have begun expanding I/ITSEC's offerings to appeal to modeling, simulation, and training professionals who work in sectors outside of the defense and security sectors, such as healthcare, civil aviation, transportation, and disaster relief.[2]

The ancestor of I/ITSEC was the “Naval Training Device Center/Industry Conference” in 1966. The conference expanded to include land, air and sea systems and in 1980 the title changed to a more general one. Below is the history of I/ITSEC locations and attendance from 1980:[3]

I/ITSEC attendance figures

No. Year Exhibitors Attendance Venue

40 2019 550 17400 Orlando, Orange County Exhibition Centre

39 2018 491 16500 Orlando, Orange County Exhibition Centre

38 2017 485 15200 Orlando, Orange County Exhibition Centre

37 2016 489 17100 Orlando, Orange County Exhibition Centre

36 2015 470 14700 Orlando, Orange County Exhibition Centre

35 2014 500 14000 Orlando, Orange County Exhibition Centre

34 2013 400 14000 Orlando, Orange County Exhibition Centre

33 2012 561 16000 Orlando, Orange County Exhibition Centre

32 2011 600 20000 Orlando, Orange County Exhibition Centre

31 2010 595 20000 Orlando, Orange County Exhibition Centre

30 2009 550 18000 Orlando, Orange County Exhibition Centre

29 2008 575 17900 Orlando, Orange County Exhibition Centre

28 2007 539 16000 Orlando, Orange County Exhibition Centre

27 2006 500 16000 Orlando, Orange County Exhibition Centre

26 2005 500 17000 Orlando, Orange County Exhibition Centre

25 2004 480 16000 Orlando, Orange County Exhibition Centre

24 2003 495 14000 Orlando, Orange County Exhibition Centre

23 2002 460 14000 Orlando, Orange County Exhibition Centre

22 2001 429 12000 Orlando, Orange County Exhibition Centre

21 2000 417 14000 Orlando, Orange County Exhibition Centre

20 1999 347 12000 Orlando, Orange County Exhibition Centre

19 1998 341 3000 Orlando, Orange County Exhibition Centre

18 1997 248 3000 Orlando, Marriott

17 1996 242 3300 Orlando, Marriott

16 1995 229 2700 Albuquerque

15 1994 212 2608 Orlando, Marriott

14 1993 191 2003 Orlando, Marriott

13 1992 157 1985 San Antonio, TX

12 1991 162 1954 Orlando, Marriott

11 1990 165 1415 Orlando, Marriott

10 1989 187 1700 Fort Worth

9 1988 161 1861 Orlando, Marriott

8 1987 96 1976 Washington DC

7 1986 115 1583 Salt Lake City

6 1985 96 1976 Orlando, Sheraton

5 1984 97 1498 Washington DC, Hilton

4 1983 84 1334 Washington DC, Hilton

3 1982 84 1469 Orlando, Hyatt

2 1981 57 1142 Orlando, Sheraton

1 1980 39 885 Salt Lake City

Each year, I/ITSEC requests submissions for papers and tutorials to be presented at its annual conference. The peer-reviewed process spans half a year as prospective authors must pass multiple quality assurance gates. Authors must first submit an abstract to one of the six sub-committees: education, emerging concepts and innovative technologies, human systems engineering, simulation, training, or the policy, standards, management, and acquisition subcommittee. Each subcommittee consists of government, industry, and academic members. At the abstract meeting, each submission is carefully considered and either accepted or rejected. If accepted, the full paper submission is required a few months later to again be reviewed and either accepted or rejected. Lastly, accepted authors must prepare presentations that are again reviewed by committee members.[4] Abstract submission typically opens in February each year with full, accepted papers due sometime in June and presentations due around September.

If accepted, authors present their tutorials on the first day of the conference (always held on a Monday). Speakers present their papers during concurrent sessions, held across the subsequent three days of the conference (Tuesday-Thursday). Finally, on the last day of the conference (Friday), invited speakers present special workshops, which are like the Monday tutorials but longer. Typically, each conference includes more than 160 of these educational sessions or special events. Attendees can earn Continuing Education Units (CEUs)[5] at the tutorials, Friday workshops,[6] and all paper sessions.

The conference includes an exhibit hall, which typically comprises approximately 192,000 square feet and features over 550 organizations and agencies. In addition to commercial vendors, academic institutions and military agencies typically have exhibit hall booths. Frequently, organizations and agencies bring demonstrations of their technology wares. Previous exhibit displays have included: Computer-Based 3D graphics, Flight Simulators, Convoy Trainers, SCORM, Information Technology, Advanced Distributed Learning, Aerospace, Communications, Public Safety. Annually, the NTSA publishes short video clips of notable booths on their YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/user/NTSAToday

Each year I/ITSEC hosts a series of special events that reflect emerging topics in the modeling, simulation, and training domain. Special events are devised by the committee members who organize the conference, and special event participants receive invitations versus completing the peer-reviewed paper/tutorial submission process. In 2015 there were 18 Special Events (a mix of Signature Events, Floor Events, and Focus Events) that included topics such as Live, Virtual, Constructive (LVC), How to predict and manage Black Swan events, artificial intelligence for social interaction simulation, transmedia learning, geospatial environment database standards, cybersecurity, and an Ignite (event) session with invited speakers.[7] Frequently, these special events involve discussion panels, with high-ranking military and civilians personnel among the invited panelists. For instance, each year the conference includes a special event, called the “Congressional Modeling and Simulation Event,” where elected official discusses M&S policies; similarly, another special event, called the “General/Flag Officer Panel,” included active duty military officers and government civilians from the general/flag officer or Senior Executive Service echelons.

The Serious Games Showcase and Challenge is a competition and a showcase event that was created to encourage video game developers to create products that are useful for non-entertainment purposes.[8] The annual event, made its first appearance as an exhibit space at I/ITSEC in 2006. The event accepts games from universities, businesses, and government organizations as entries in competition for awards prizes. Each year the event awards a Special Emphasis Award, Students’ Choice Award, Best Business Game, Best Student Game, Best Government Game, Best Mobile Game, and finally, attendees at the conference can also vote on the People's Choice Award.

During I/ITSEC, the NTSA conducts outreach to students and teachers, primarily from the K-12 Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields. Outreach programs include the following:

• America’s Teachers Program: Sponsors the travel and conference attendance for K-12 teachers and school administrators
• Future Leaders Pavilion: Exhibit hall venue for secondary school students to demonstrate technical projects they have developed in modeling, simulation and training topics
• Student Tours: Guided tours of the conference, designed for school field trips

• Simulation
• modeling
• Military Simulation
• Simulation Interoperability Standards Organization
• MORS
• Operations Research
• NDIA

• I/ITSEC Web Site