I recently attended the Global Licensing Expo in Las Vegas. It was my first time attending a licensing show. It brings together major movie studios like Disney and Universal, toy companies like Hasbro and Mattel, and gaming companies like Nintendo and Sega. They show off what’s new, upcoming, and sure to be the next trend, and they bring together licensors and licensees, who work together to get a boatload of consumer products to market.

Like I said, it was my first time attending, and the first day is reserved for exclusive sneak peeks at what new movies are coming out, or which properties to look out for. It’s invite-only, and I was lucky enough to attend. So when I saw all these envelopes being handed out with the direction to “put your cell phone in it and seal it,” I was caught off guard. ‘What do you mean?’ I thought, ‘I won’t be able to post any of this on Instagram, or capture any cool pics of upcoming movies?’ Precisely. When each major studio presented, no one was allowed using any mobile phones or cameras.

At first, I kept wondering what time it was. Then I wondered how many emails I needed to respond to. And then, I focussed. I 100% focussed on the presentation, the content, the people speaking about their plans for the next 1-2 years. It was actually quite liberating.

I Have Seldom Seen an Entire Audience Not Distracted

I then perused the rest of the Mandalay Bay conference room, and watched as 1,000+ attendees were not distracted, were extremely engaged, and paid attention to every second of the presentation without any distraction.

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