HIGH POINT — Best-selling author and consultant Polly LaBarre will deliver a keynote address during a kick-off event on the High Point Market’s opening day.

The opening day event will be moderated by Stacy Kuntsel, homes editor for New England Home, regional editor for Traditional Home and Better Homes and Gardens, and co-founder of Dunes and Duchess. It will begin at 9 a.m. on April 16 in the High Point Theatre, located in the Transportation Terminal.

At the event, entitled “Re-inventing Retail & Design - Mavericks Driving the Future, LaBarre will focus her presentation on business culture, “maverick” leaders and how technology and innovation will define future success for an industry valued in 2014 at $97 billion in retail sales, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.

LaBarre is co-founder of the Management Innovation Exchange (MIX), an open innovation project aimed at reinventing management for the twenty-first century. Consulting with high profile organizations and brands, including HBO, Adidas, Coach and Liz Claiborne, she applies her dynamic convictions on the topics of disruption and adaptation. LaBarre helped to outline these principles in “Mavericks at Work,” the best-selling book she co-authored, following her role as a founding member of Fast Company magazine’s groundbreaking editorial team.

“The design industry is contending with relentless, multifaceted, occasionally shocking change,” said LaBarre. “In that world, the most important question for leaders of organizations of every size and every type is: are you capable of changing as fast as change itself? It’s no longer enough to have one hit — the imperative today is to build an evolutionary advantage.”

Presented by the High Point Market Authority and Design Tech Summit and sponsored by Wayfair, this event will also welcome co-founders Niraj Shah and Steve Conine to the stage to showcase virtual reality technology for the first time at High Point Market.

Leveraging virtual reality technology to create unique shopping experiences for the home, Wayfair expects to accelerate the shift to buying home furnishings online by transforming the way consumers are able to visualize products into their designs. Wayfair plans to showcase the virtual reality technology to attendees at the ‘Trade Services by Wayfair’ space during High Point Market.

In addition to LaBarre’s keynote presentation, Design Tech Summit is producing "Hack the Future: The New Design Landscape,” an educational event during Spring Market in an ongoing series called designTechconnect which includes interactive seminars, events and education with the goal of creating a more flexible, robust and responsive industry.

The High Point Hack will help facilitate design industry concerns from the consumer perspective—leading to new business opportunities, increased sales and visibility, improved efficiency, agile responsiveness, connecting with the emerging design consumer and so much more. This event will take place on Friday, April 15 from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. at Universal Furniture, 101 S. Hamilton.