Hosted by OASBO (Ontario Association of School Business Officials) along with the ECOO (Educational Computing Organization of Ontario), Bring IT Together 2014 is taking place in Niagara Falls, ON this week. Microsoft took a unique approach to engage their visitors by using their exhibit properties to create a theatre - complete with free movies, popcorn and education solutions!
At the AGM in Toronto today: Microsoft's existing booth was rebranded for Azure.
With new LED lighting technology built into the wall we were able to play with the colours in the background.
From this...
To this...
It has been great to see all the tradeshow and training elements come together for the Connected Homes Summit in Niagara Falls this week. Our designers, carpenters, crews and graphic production staff have been working on new pieces for the Microsoft Canada team and it was great to finally see some live photos from the convention centre today.
Microsoft and Lenovo Canada are showcasing their products at the Staples Back2School event today. It is all about the experience: Trainers showcased the devices in a library, living room, bedroom, cafe, office and lecture hall.
The exhibit spaces are based on 10' x 10' footprints. The interior design & staging for these themed environments was focused on showcasing their devices being used in the real world. The printed backgrounds are not photographs, they are 3D environments we created, rendered in Cinema 4D & VRay, and printed specifically for these displays.
In collaboration with Starshot, a marketing agency focused on experience design, we crafted ten Microsoft Kiosks that were installed at the offices of different Toronto based advertising agencies. They were designed and built to showcase the XBox One, XBox 360, a Windows phone and Surface tablet.
As you can see, the initial concept was not far off from the final kiosk design. Our creative team worked closely with the production lead, as well as, the Account Manager to ensure that we built a display that supported the user experience the client had envisioned.
The EB Games Canada show takes place in a different location every year. This year it was held in beautiful Whistler, British Columbia. With a fantastic booth space (in the Grand Foyer of the Whistler Telus Conference Centre), the exhibit was spread out over almost 80 feet! We were able to take the whole foyer and turn the space into a complete Halo experience. We'd also like to thank Pascale at Gadbois Photography for the great photos she took at this event!
A couple of my favorite elements in this booth were the dimensional HALO 4 logos and the HUGE 80" TVs we used in the XBOX360 area.
yes - those are 80" TVs
I wish I could have been there - it looked like the attendees had fun (unfortunately I can't share the 'dancing' videos here!) but below is a tour of the booth.
I was contemplating what I could share with you this week and even though we are currently gearing up for some major trade shows in the next month I kept thinking about this very cool product:
"RADIAN - a motion time lapse device for everyone" Kris Cheng - co-founder
(I'll post another update with photos on the exhibits we are building for Kruger and Flakeboard in the next couple of weeks so stay tuned).
Back to Radian. I know it's not directly trade show related but I'm sure a lot of you photography enthusiasts, IPhone lovers, Engadget readers, builders, stagers, designers, artists, and of course exhibitors....will appreciate this gadget. (watch it here !)
Radian: a motion time-lapse device for everyone from Kris Cheng on Vimeo.
A time lapse video is a very unique way to showcase changes over time. As you can see in our recent exhibit build for Microsoft on YouTube, it's a great way for an exhibitor to see their booth come to life. I used to believe that things like this were only for photography professionals but Radian is compact, has a very clean design, can move from side to side, tilts up and down, is programmed with your Smartphone app and on top of all that - it is extremely affordable even to the casual user.
It's not yet in production (we came across it through a great program/site called Kickstarter "a funding platform for creative projects.") I'm not using this post to get you to pledge, I just wanted to share a very cool product because we love to support innovation and the entrepreneurs who create, design, and bring them to us.
I believe the reason we relate to things like this is because we are a small boutique exhibit house. We like to push our boundaries, we like to try new products, and we like to design & build exhibits with the same enthusiasm that these entrepreneurs do.
Here are some more images:
(Source - Kickstarter)
I am excited to share the installation video of Microsoft's 'Shadow Box' exhibit!
This video was filmed using time lapse and took almost 1600 photos in a span of ~ 8 hours.
Two 10'x20' custom designed walls made up this 20'x20' booth.
Although the columns in the venue made it difficult to find a good spot for the camera - we were able to capture the set-up of one of the walls.
It took a crew a full day to install the carpet, exhibit structure, signage, lighting, AV and one day later it was all dismantled again. If you every wondered what it takes to set up an exhibit here is an example:
