And, despite some pretty treacherous thunderstorms, we didn’t disappoint. By all accounts, our first Infocomm as official exhibitors went swimmingly. We got the chance to speak to thousands of pro-AV enthusiasts, resellers and potential partners and convince them that Airtame is the preferred screen sharing solution for smart organizations.

And the pro-AV Oscar goes to …

As if our lead generation success wasn’t enough, we hit the big time at Infocomm this year, winning a Best of Show award!

Presented by the industry leading AV Technology magazine, the Best of Show award honors outstanding achievement in product development.

The award committee judges evaluated thousands of new hardware products against multiple criteria including innovation; performance against category standard; richness/relevance of feature set; ease of installation/maintenance; network friendliness; and value/ROI.

Products with the highest total points were designated as winners, and Airtame 2 – our most recent hardware solution – was one of the select few to be chosen as grand prize winners.

In short, this is a huge win for us. We know that the Airtame solution can transform the worlds of work and education, and it’s great to see industry experts and thought leaders agree. Congratulations to the entire Airtame team, and thank you to all our early adopters that love our new hardware.

Next up on the event front line, our expert North America team are representing Airtame at ISTE 2019, one of the world’s most significant edtech conferences.

Are you attending ISTE? If so, drop by booth #707 for a chat

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What is ISTE 2019?

Simply put, ISTE (meaning the International Society for Technology in Education) is the most significant date on the edtech calendar this year. It all kicks off June 23-26th.

Hosted in the Pennsylvania Convention Center in always sunny Philadelphia, the conference and expo give technology producers, like ourselves, the chance to meet with the world’s pioneering CIOs, network administrators and educators across K12 and higher ed institutions.

For us, this direct connection with tech-purchasers and end users is invaluable. We get to showcase Airtame, and get immediate, honest feedback on how well it works in the classroom, and how we can improve.

Reasons to drop by booth #707

As expected, our team will be on the trade-show floor highlighting the key benefits and core features of the Airtame solution. But, beyond that, we have a few tricks up our sleeves.

New hardware

First up is the Airtame PoE Adapter. Yes, we have already announced this game-changing accessory, but ISTE will be one of the first times we get to publically exhibit the device and highlight in-person how it is the best way to power your Airtame 2s and drive a stable network connection for the best possible performance.

Free donuts!

Last, but definitely not least, is the swag. We’ll be offering lots of amazing merchandise to pre-existing Airtame customers and newbies alike throughout the week.

We’re also partnering with Federal Donuts, a Philly based bakery, to deliver hundreds of free donuts straight to the Airtame booth on day two of the tradeshow. Just follow the potent whiff of fresh doughy goodness that wafts throughout the tradeshow floor and you are sure to land at booth #707.

See you there!

If you’re already headed to ISTE this year, we’d love to chat with you – whether you are an Airtame power-user, or simply curious about the future of wireless screen sharing and active learning environments. Feel free to drop by booth #707 to talk to our expert team of sales, support and product specialists.

Haven’t bagged your ticket? There’s still time! Head to the ISTE website to register today.

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Hosted in Amsterdam, ISE is the biggest annual pro-AV and integrated systems exhibition held in Europe. We showed up as a 17-strong army, all ready to tell the world about Airtame.

And, it worked. In that short week, we spoke to thousands of technology enthusiasts, demoing the Airtame solution and convincing them how our simple to use tech can help improve the way they work and collaborate.

ISE was a huge and exciting phenomenon to be part of, and now we’re doing it all again – Stateside – at Infocomm.

What is Infocomm?

Hosted in Orlando, Florida this June, the exhibition plays host to over 50,000 AV enthusiasts (or, #avtweeps if you’re in the know with Twitter hashtags). If you’ve never been to these sort of events, let me paint a picture.

Bigger is better at Infocomm! The world’s leading electronics companies pay literal millions of dollars every year to build out a dazzling center stage for their new products or systems. There’s glitz, there’s glamour, there are even awards.

In short, it’s quite the spectacle. Attendees show up in their tens of thousands to look through the keyhole at integrated tech systems of the future; at electronics solutions that very few people will ever be able to afford – either as a consumer, a small business, or global enterprise.

Our differentiator

Now, we all love a bit of razzle-dazzle here at Airtame, but we’re trying to do something a little different at Infocomm this year.

Airtame is not a far-off product of the future, it’s in the here and now. A wireless screen sharing device that is platform agnostic, cable-free and collaborative. It’s user-centered, easy to deploy and price competitive. These are the three core values we focus on when we build our product and features, so why not bring them to the trade show floor?

So, we’re heading to Infocomm with another big Airtame team, eager to show you how our easy to use product can enhance your work or school environment, all without breaking your back (or the bank). We value your time, and don’t want to waste it at our booth with empty promises, over-reaching sales pitches or shiny merchandise. The Airtame product is the star of the show.

Ok, there will be some cool and useful merch, but it’s an added extra rather than the star in the spotlight. After all, we’d rather keep our product affordable than spend surplus revenue making more stuff that you’ll stow away in your desk drawer.

Get into Infocomm – for free!

We’d love for you to join us at Infocomm. We cannot pay for your travel to Orlando – let alone the inevitable Disneyland stop-off – but we can offer you a ticket to the entire three-day exhibit and it won’t cost you a thing.

Just visit the infocommshow.org website, hit “REGISTER NOW!”, enter your details and use the code AIR501 at checkout for a totally free ticket. That’s a saving of $299 (almost the price of an Airtame).

Let’s meet

Whether you are an Airtame power-user or novice, we’d love to see you visit us at Infocomm this year. Once you’ve registered for your free ticket, why not schedule a meeting with our team?

We’ll be waiting at booth #4384. See you in June!

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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.

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