Classes & Seminars

Since 2003, Christmas Expo has been the premier conference for holiday decorating. We are the only event offering 80 class sessions, plus fun specialty classes like our Holiday Entertaining Series  included in your conference pass.

• Conference Seminars – 1 and 2 hour sessions. With 5 or more classes to choose from in each time slot, there is something for every skill and interest, from beginners through advanced level decorators. These classes are included in the cost of your conference pass.
• Pre-show Workshops – 1 and 2-full day, in-depth add-on workshops occurring in the 3 days prior to the Conference. If you choose to take any of these workshops, there is an additional cost associated with each.
• Specialty Classes – Holiday Entertaining, Holiday Cocktails and Rudolph’s Craft Corner!

2019 Class List

Our class selections change every year, but this is a sample of the class offerings from 2019:

• 3D Printing for Christmas Light Enthusiasts
• A Mobile Pixel Tree
• All Things Wireframe
• Animators Guide to Electricity – The Basics
• Back to the Future
• Christmas Lighting History
• Copyrights – Staying off the naughty list
• Custom Cables, Cords and Connectors
• DIY Building with plastics for your display using PVC, Coro, Acrylics, and Strips
• DIY wireless DMX over E1.31
• Drone Flight School 101: How to safely and legally video your display
• Drones Flight School 201: Advanced Flight and Filming
• Electrical 101
• Holiday Entertaining
• Holiday Cocktails
• How to make your light display have an impact
• How to repair or shorten your LED strings
• How to Use Pixels and Still Have a Traditional Looking Display
• Indoor Holiday Decorating
• I love it when a plan comes together
• I want to Start a Christmas Display – Now What?
• Illumination of Light
• Indoor Decorating
• Internet Controlled Christmas Lights
• Introduction to Audacity
• Intro to DMX
• Keep the Grinches Away – Secure Your Home and Display
• Laser: Fundamentals of laser display for holiday decor
• Laser: Laser Light Show design session
• Light-O-Rama: Getting Started with Animation with Light-O-Rama
• Light-O-Rama: The Art of Sequence Creation
• Light-O-Rama: SuperStar Sequencer – New Features and General Questions/Answer
• Light-O-Rama: SuperStar and LOR S5 Sequencer Integration
• Light-O-Rama: ShowTime Designer S5: Upgrading from S4
• Light-O-Rama S5: Modeling Your Display Part 1
• Light-O-Rama S5: Modeling Your Display Part 2
• Light-O-Rama S5: Adding Your First Smart Pixel Display Element
• Light-O-Rama S5: Sequencing Traditional Lights Part 1
• Light-O-Rama S5: Sequencing Traditional Lights Part 2
• Light-O-Rama S5: Sequencer and Smart Pixels Part 1
• Light-O-Rama S5: Sequencer and Smart Pixels Part 2
• Light-O-Rama: LORhub: The New Way to Build Shows and Update Sequences
• Light-O-Rama: Adapting Shared Sequences in Light-O-Rama S5
• Light-O-Rama: Past, Present and Future
• Mastering Special Effects
• Music’s DNA
• Oh Christmas Tree
• P10, P5 RGB Panels
• Pixel Prop Hands-On Workshop (Kit Fee additional)
• Singing Face Sequencing Without Software Assist
• Soldering Hands-On Workshop (Kit Fee additional)
• Taking the mystery out of power injection
• The Art & Presentation of a Christmas Display: The Holy Grail
• The Business of Installing Christmas Lights – Full day business track
  • Estimating
  • Installation and Maintenance
  • Materials and Products
  • How to Make it a Year-Round Business
  • Open Discussion
• The Great Christmas Light Fight Discussion Panel
• To Pixel or Not to Pixel
• Traditional Elements for a Modern Display
• Using Moving Heads and DMX Fixtures in your Display
• Using Wifi networking effectively in your display
• Utilizing Blow Molds in a Coordinated Light Show
• What makes a great Christmas display? (Interactive class)
• What You Need to Know to Organize a Holiday Drive-Thru Event
• xLights: Introduction to xLights
• xLights: 2019 Update
• xLights: Importing and Exporting Sequence Data to/from xLights
• xLights: Building interactive shows with xLights
• xLights: xLights 2020 and beyond
  xLights: Introduction to ZCPP
• xLights: xLights Buffers & Layers
• xLights: xLights Development 101
• xLights: Value Curves in xLights for the next dimension in sequencing
• xLights: Using Submodeling, Render Styles, and the Render Buffer xLights
• xLights: An Introduction To Singing Faces in xLights
• xLights: xTreme sequencing
• xLights: Into the 3rd Dimension: Xlights in 3D
• xLights: The Virtual Matrix in xLights

2019 Pre-Show Add-On Workshops

• Light-O-Rama Immersion (2 day)
• Spotlight on RGB (1 day)
• xLights (2 day)