We are hearing that retailers’ “dance cards” for the 2015 NACDS Total Store Expo are filling up quickly.

Between the popular “Meet the Market” sessions and meetings planned with suppliers in the Exhibit Hall, schedules are going to be full of opportunities to forge plans and hopefully to discover some of the next big things.

I want to put in a plug for taking some time to visit the Vision 2026 area in the Exhibit Hall. The attraction is billed as “time travel, trade show style,” as it will provide an eye-opening look at pharmacy’s and retail’s future.

Here are a few examples of what you will be able to see:

• A refrigeration case door that allows customers to see products while engaging with digital content on an LCD glass display.

• A virtual opportunity for customers to try on makeup products — on their own image.

• Beacon technology with creative applications for merchandising and other uses.

• Engagement with mobile devices, including wearables, in the store’s front end and pharmacy.

• The “primary care store” of the future.

• The use of technology to aid in symptom management.

• The use of intelligent image recognition to determine whether shelf space is being used as planned.

• Advancements in 3-D advertising.

This is a great opportunity for you and your team to experience current, emerging and new concepts that will be driving conversations into the future, and it is worth some time during what is going to be an outstanding NACDS Total Store Expo.

The 2015 NACDS Total Store Expo runs Aug. 22 to 25 at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver.

Steve Anderson is president and chief executive officer of the National Association of Chain Drug Stores.