ISE 2020 and Interactive 2020 Recap

For the second year in a row, one particular week in February was the busiest of our year. We’re talking months of planning, all hands on deck kind of busy. Stressful? Regrettable? On the contrary, it’s probably our annual highlight. So much so that we braved both a virus threat and hurricane-force winds to get there.

What is this week? It’s Intuiface times two: a booth at the Integrated Systems Europe show and Intuiface’s own User Conference. ISE 2020 was an Amsterdam-hosted show during the week of February 10, while Interactive 2020, that user conference we’re so proud of, occurred in parallel on the afternoon of February 11.

As mentioned, Interactive 2020 was our second Intuiface User Conference, meaning it was the first opportunity to learn from a past conference. We kept the user case studies and Ask Management Anything sessions, but added a fan-favorite Tips and Tricks extravaganza, guest talk from an engaging thought leader, as well as an extended future feature preview. We were pleasantly surprised by the turn-out, considering the abundance of travel challenges. This meant we still had a full room of eager users with hungry minds.

Revel in it's amazingness!

Our special guest speaker, Florian Rotberg – Managing Director and Owner of DOOH consultancy Invidis – energized the crowd with a fascinating look at was and was not working in the world of digital-out-of-home. Sebastien Meunier, Intuiface expert bar none, packed so many features, shortcuts, accelerators, and simplifiers into his session – and received so many requests for follow-up details – that we’re going to convert his talk into a Web-accessible video. The feature preview shined a light on our plans for the next 12 months, highlighted by a look at XXXXX and YYYYYY, but really stunned the audience with its demo of ZZZZZZ. Oh, that's right, futures are exclusive insights reserved for attendees! Sorry, but we can't share them...

We’d like to thank Paolo Tosolini of  Tosolini Productions, Frank Yoder of Lumenday, and Nate Baldasaro of The Element Group for delivering compelling insights into their areas of expertise. They introduced us to the intersection of Intuiface-based interactivity with the worlds of corporate communication, self-service retail, and banking. And guess what, since you were thinking it, Nate’s talk about banking was FAR more compelling than you would have expected. There are lessons to be learned everywhere….

And speaking of lessons learned, there was our Panel Discussion, where Alex Bernier of RealEyes Displays, Ari Santiago of Smart Touch, Ahmed Balfaqih of ClickGrafix, and Janelle Paisley of Design Revolution Studios lifted the curtain to how they do business with Intuiface. We are honored by their participation and honesty.

The day wrapped up with two highlights. First, we awarded Paolo Tosolini of Tosolini Productions with our very first Distinguished User Award. His passion, talent, and commitment to the Intuiface community is unparalleled. In fact, this guy is so great that we even toyed with the idea of naming the award after him! Then, to close the night, Intuiface members and show attendees gathered for cocktails and a five-star dinner (wink wink) to close out the night. It probably went a little later than planned thanks to a brilliant gift of tequila from our now favorite partner, Mexico-headquartered Smart Touch. Unfortunately, life had to go on, so back to ISE it was the next day.

If you missed our booth at ISE, you missed a great look at how all of the Intuiface parts come together. Our multi-station exhibit, with theater, gave visitors an up-close look at how to create, integrate, deploy, and analyze interactive digital experiences. Insights included a deep-dive on how to create lift-and-learn scenarios using RFID sensors provided by our partner Nexmosphere. We even had a camera-driven experience using Intel’s distribution of OpenVINO to create a game where the angriest face wins. Our Seb Meunier won every time. Not sure what this says about him….

ISE reported a 30% downturn in attendees due to the dual travel threat of illness and flight-cancelling, hurricane-like weather. The irony of this downturn is it meant extended time with each visitor, making for a more complete experience. It also meant shorter lines at lunch and more opportunity for lone-wolf Intuiface employees to sneak off and visit with partners throughout the floor.

ISE is moving to Barcelona as it has outgrown the space available in Amsterdam. This means Interactive 2021 will be in Barcelona as well. Everything is going to be bigger and better – plus the weather will be warmer! Thinking of going? It’s our plan to make it a highlight of your year….