I had the opportunity to browse the many exhibitors that made up the show while I was there. It was a tech wonderland filled to the brim with eye-catching and beautiful content, and I was equally impressed and intrigued by the unique products and experiences on display.

Here are some of the technology trends that piqued my interest.

8k and video walls: a visual sugar rush

The first thing anyone will probably mention after visiting ISE is the visual explosion that happens when you enter any hall. The whole event was awash with engaging and untraditional displays, such as Ledeca’s giant head-shaped LED display, Sony’s CrystalLED showing stunning 8k content on a display of 9.7 x 5.4 meters (a diagonal of about 440’’, folks!) or LG’s transparent OLED signage screens and their rollable OLED TVs.

The entire LED industry is unquestionably focusing on more and better pixels, and it was an impressive show of force from some of the industry’s titans. But while big screens and more pixels really stole the show at larger exhibitors such as Sony and LG, they didn’t portray anything majorly new or innovative.

I personally thought the 8k content and video walls were more about the ‘cool factor’ than actual usability. What I did take away from these larger exhibitors was the interesting fact that screens are no longer static objects, but can morph into all shapes and sizes, making signage and immersive experiences a lot better.

Digital signage is (still) all the rage

80% of brands experienced an increase of up to 33% in sales using digital signage, just like visual aids improve classroom learning by up to a staggering 400%, and 52% of travelers are more likely to go to a hotel that offers self-check-in, while quick service restaurants report a 30% increase in order value when customers use smart vending.

These rosy figures, reported by the official newspaper of Integrated Systems Europe, The Daily, indicated that growth in the digital signage sector is still on the rise; much more than other industries could hope for.

Because there’s such a rapid evolution going on with size and pixelation in video walls, digital signage can capture the audience way better than before. 8k video walls with IPS (Insane Performance Rendering) makes it possible to drive 8k video walls or clusters of four 4k digital signage displays from a single media player, which is quite something.

Digital signage setups are now able to summarize how many people walked by the displays, looked at the signage, for how long – and then add to that personal data about the user/consumer such as personal identification traits like age, gender or habits. In response to that data, messages can be modified in real-time.

Personal data out the window

It’s quite eerie to see how the use of data has changed. Digital signage can only become this sophisticated because we’re giving away more personal data than ever before.

And why is that? It’s a changing consumer behavior born by younger generations brought up with social media. They’ve been taught to share their data and use it for their benefit, and it’s having a massive impact on what we can convince an audience to do because the message becomes so tailored and specific.

Yes, it could mean a better overall experience with tech tools, digital signage, and IoT, but at what cost? I find it a little scary that the next standard for offices, for example, could be having my face on file as an entrance key or other types of logins. But maybe I’ll change my mind when I see how seamlessly it can make things work for the better.

Standardization

What I generally heard a lot of people say at ISE was that the demand for standardization is high. Users want to enjoy a consistent experience with a simplified design, and preferably one that has a solid standard for implementation as well.

Too many solutions are overcomplicated or require skills beyond what the regular user has. It’s time for tech companies, AV solutions especially, to take a step down from their ivory tower and into the user’s shoes.

Essentially, it’s function over form: if the solution can’t carry out the function it’s supposed to because someone had aesthetic or other things top of mind instead of what’s needed, it’s bound to cause confusion and disappointment.

Unfortunately, I heard the demand for more standardization rather than saw it at the show. It’s a pity, but at least when users are being vocal about their wishes, companies will have to follow suit eventually.

The downfall of projection

LED screens are making a move to steal the limelight from traditional projection. Eventually, they could be a complete replacement in both cinemas and classrooms where they are most widely used.

The average cinema-goer in Europe only spends about five hours in a cinema each year, according to analysts IHS market, and in order to attract more people, cinemas are trying to upgrade the total experience, making it more immersive and of higher quality.

Taking projectors out from classrooms has to do with tearing down walls. A projector binds students to a specific area or classroom whereas screens can be moved around more freely, allowing teachers more freedom and a more dynamic style of teaching.

Immersive technology explosion

It’s time for the physical and digital experience to fuse, ISE 2019 seems to tell us. Virtual sommeliers in restaurants, in-store scavenger hunts, digital garment collections. It opens up to a whole new world of business opportunities when you add digital content to the real world.

We’re talking holography to guide you through the consumer/user experience, mixed reality glasses, and gamification mixed with VR. And when you add AI to all of these immersive experiences, the user will be truly engaged with the content presented.

What was missing?

ISE 2019 was basically all the tech giants flexing their muscles. The show-off of the latest cutting-edge technology from all exhibitors, large and small, was engaging and entertaining, yet there were definitely a few things missing.

The 8k content was mesmerizing, but more of an initial sugar rush than something tangible that the user could take away from the exhibition. I think Airtame was a good antidote for all the wow effect booths at ISE, giving attendees a product with actual daily usability.

I wish ISE had a bigger focus on sustainability as well. The long halls were filled to the brim with eye-catching and amazing AV wonders, but I didn’t see a ‘green mindset’ presented in all that.

I did read a small post in The Daily about unboxing, though. With bulkier roll-outs, organizations could reduce disposal significantly by buying from companies that deliver everyday products, such as cables, in bulk. It cuts down on waste and eliminates hours spent on unboxing.

I also think user-friendliness deserve to play a bigger part in the show. We tried hard to make a booth that was different and had the user in mind, and it attracted a lot of attention because other exhibitors had a more conservative approach to their product presentation.

Next year, perhaps more will follow suit. ISE 2019 taught us that we need to see eye to eye with our users in order to better understand their needs, and talking to so many of them last week emphasized the point that they should be the center of attention, not us.

The post Technology trends: What we saw at ISE 2019 appeared first on Airtame.

So without too much gift wrapping, here are some raw numbers from all of us, straight from our data warehouse, to you.

Since our market launch 3.5 years ago, users have had more than 5.5 million wireless meetings and classes using Airtame!
Well, 5,490,894 to be precise, but we think it’s fair to round up.

In October 2018 alone, people had 500,000 meetings and classes powered by Airtame.

In the last 90 days, we had more than 25,000 meetings and classes on average every single business day.

Check out all those meetings per day! We haven’t calculated quite how much time that saves people from having to find the right adapters and fumbling with cables, but we can imagine it’s a lot. Hopefully, that new surplus time has been put to good use – for collaboration and better meetings.

All these meetings equate to more than 1,000,000,000 minutes streamed (that’s a billion – look at all those zeros). In December 2018 alone, Airtame users streamed for 600K hours. That’s a lot of big screen sharing and presentations in one month … hopefully, they were all worth it!

Digging a bit deeper into the numbers and splitting them out over a standard working week, we see that 20.8% of meetings are held on Wednesdays, which is 127% more than people are having on Fridays.

All in all, we are learning a lot from making meeting rooms, classes and huddle rooms wireless all around the world with Airtame. This data is invaluable for us, and it’s amazing to see our solution making a difference to the way people work and educate.

Here are some other milestones we reached in the year 2018:

• We launched our second generation hardware – Airtame 2. It’s been completely designed from the ground-up here at our Copenhagen HQ and is the result of all the hard work we have done through the past years and obtaining invaluable customer feedback. Read more about the product development from our excellent hardware team. Ready to buy? Order your Airtame 2s today. 
• We doubled our revenue for the third year in a row, with around 70% coming from North America.
• We passed the 100,000 devices shipped (and counting!) mark since our market launch 3.5 years ago.
• We launched the much-sought-after Single Window Sharing feature. Select which windows or apps you want to share wirelessly to the big screen, and which ones you want to keep private.
• We had more than 45K conversations with our customers, with 90% of reviews on this communication being 4 or 5 stars. Only 6% of the reviews were marked as neutral so there I think it’s appropriate to give our customer success team a huge round of applause!

In short, we are gaining a lot of traction, and we are truly grateful for that. We have a lot of amazing customers relying on us every single day. Everyone from teachers that are now more mobile than ever, and unlocking active learning with Airtame; to teams doing daily standups; to CEOs doing board meetings.

Wireless screen sharing is for everyone in professional and educational environments. Airtame is the way to unlock it.

We are looking forward to offering up even more ways to use screens better in 2019. We can’t wait to show you some of the things we are working on.

Thanks to all our partners. Thanks to all our customers and advocates all around the world. Last but not least, thanks for everyone here at Airtame for making this a special place to work and get inspired.

The post 2018 review: millions of wireless meetings appeared first on Airtame.