The Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) is an annual conference in Orlando, Florida organized by the National Training and Simulation Association, an affiliate organization of the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA). I/ITSEC is held at the Orange County Convention Center, a large conference and exhibition center located on Exhibition Drive on the south side of Orlando, Florida.
Attendance 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. I/ITSEC 2020 was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This decision had an estimated economic impact of $45M based on the financial impact of previous years. RADM James Robb, USN (Ret), President, National Training and Simulation Association was quoted as follows, "We cancel this year’s I/ITSEC with a heavy heart and are working on ways the technical content prepared for the conference can be provided to the training community,”
Growth and Evolution The ancestor of I/ITSEC was the “Naval Training Device Center/Industry Conference,” first held in 1966. The conference later expanded to include land, air, and sea systems, and in 1980 its title was changed to reflect this broader scope. The Orlando area became the predominant location, particularly after construction of the Orange County Convention Center (the second-largest convention complex in the United States). This shift was driven by the availability of nearby hotel accommodations, convenient access via Orlando International Airport, and the development of eastern Orlando and Orange County as the Department of Defense’s primary hub for modeling, simulation, and training. This growth was supported by the establishment of the Central Florida Research Park adjacent to the University of Central Florida, as well as the relocation of various DoD training and simulation activities from the now-closed Naval Training Center Orlando to the newly established Naval Support Activity Orlando within the research park. DoD activities located at Naval Support Activity Orlando include: - U.S. Army's Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation (PEO STRI) - U.S. Army's Synthetic Training Environment Cross-Functional Team (STE CFT) - U.S. Army's SFC Paul Ray Smith Simulation and Training Technology Center (STTC) - U.S. Navy's Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division (NAWCSTD) - U.S. Marine Corps' Program Manager for Training Systems (PM TRASYS) - U.S. Air Force's Air Force Agency for Modeling and Simulation (AFAMS) - U.S. Space Force's modeling, simulation and training activity under the aegis of Space Training and Readiness Command (STARCOM). With the exception of the aforementioned USAF activities in Orlando, all others have acquisition authority and life cycle program management responsibility for all training systems in their respective services.
I/ITSEC attendance figures Below is the history of I/ITSEC locations and attendance from 1980:
Exhibit Hall The conference includes an exhibit hall, which typically encompasses approximately 200,000+ square feet and features more than 50+ organizations and agencies. In addition to commercial vendors, academic institutions and military organizations regularly maintain exhibit booths. Many organizations also bring live demonstrations of their technologies. Previous exhibit displays have included computer-based 3D graphics; flight simulators (fixed-wing, rotary-wing, and tilt-rotor); Live, Virtual, and Constructive (LVC) training systems for air-to-air and air-to-ground weapon ranges; armored vehicle and tank crew simulators; convoy trainers; aircraft and vehicle maintenance trainers; dismounted small-unit ground combat simulators; command and control center simulations; first-person shooter simulators; shipboard simulators; virtual reality and augmented reality (VR/AR), SCORM, information technology, advanced distributed learning, aerospace, communications, and public safety training systems. Annually, the NTSA publishes short video clips highlighting notable booths on its YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/NTSAToday
Papers, Tutorials, and Workshops Each year, I/ITSEC requests submissions for papers and tutorials to be presented at its annual conference. In 2025, the conference featured 122 Technical Papers, 33 Tutorials, and 9 Professional Development Workshops. 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. 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, 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) at the tutorials, the professional development workshops, and all paper sessions.
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