The high-tech block took place in Las Vegas from January 11-14, after becoming completely immaterial due to the health crisis. Two Poitou-Charentes companies shared this 100% default formula.
Tech Mass was held January 11-14, as is always the case in Las Vegas. But this year, CES, the Consumer Electronics Show, the world’s largest consumer technology trade fair, was held remotely.
At CES, for 50 years, the most exciting technological innovations have been presented that will quickly invade your living room (this year, transparent screens), your car (electric, of course) and connected things that will slide in your pocket (requires 5G).
The previous edition had gathered 4,500 exhibitors for 200,000 visitors, but the 54th CES finds itself shaken by the health crisis. And if the innovative remote work solutions are the big logical trend of this year, the most obvious innovation, then the stands are the ones that have become virtual.
The show had already become immaterial, forced to comply with the health emergency, and the organizers had, within a few months, to improvise in a hypothetical version of the show. The sails for the occasion were reduced, dropping to 1,000 exhibitors, always dissatisfied with transport over the Internet.
CES is so well established head-to-head that we expected something truly technically perfect. Above all, there was the agonizing feeling of not having direct, spontaneous human contact. We will not have the opportunity, as in the past, to be able to fall into the corner of an elevator on the person we dreamed of meeting, or to do these completely coincidental encounters which can be so much fun for both companies. , Which could lead to future partnerships. We find ourselves dependent on technology. Will people respond to Linkedin? Will the platform built by the show work? It’s frustrating. ”
Lux-Lingua is part of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region delegation, sorry for the #TeamNA. In addition to the standards that had traditionally been adopted regarding product suitability and for the international development of their companies, their ability to appear during an immaterial exhibition imposed rigorous arbitration, reducing the number of happy elected officials to thirteen, instead of 38 that included #TeamNA 2020. Among them are two companies from Poitou-Charentes. Therefore, Lux-Lingua, in Garnak (16) and Dumalis, at Fontaine-le-Comte (86), which in particular offers a connected “magic” lamp, Aladdin“With a little bit of genius inside.” The tool aims to secure the daily lives of people at risk by detecting warning signs of losing independence, and giving alarm in the event of a fall.
Aladdin
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© Dumalis
We have regained really differently, the concern this year is the success in excellence. We chose to work at the start of the show to introduce to the people we wanted to meet during CES for a meeting or presentation. We worked a lot on our communication tools, which we adapted with very small and short videos to present our product in a concise but relevant way. And since most of the activity is directly answering chat, we have also prepared a whole series of questions and answers.
In the case of Lux-Lingua, the issue has been a little different since the launch of their product, Xemplar, which is a platform of pre-experiences in augmented reality, aimed at showcasing bottles of wine and other spirits, dating back just a month. Last December. After the health crisis deprived them of the hoped-for launch event, they choose an online series that reveals part of the product and its features every Friday.
So we already had a huge stock of videos, and everything was already planned in English anyway. So we said yes very quickly. For us, the timing is absolutely perfect, given that CES allows us to launch Xemplar a little more difficult than we could have done in December. For excellence, we took advantage of social networks because for me the battlefield is available online. This means delivering interesting and creative content, following trends, and finding the right hashtags and the right keywords. It really is basic linguistic work.
If business leaders agree with the frustration that the legendary “CES magic” works poorly in default, they are still conceding some of the advantages of not having to cross the Atlantic.
Even if we had jet lag, as we worked in American time [de 13h à 2h du matin]We didn’t have jet lag, expensive hotels, the hustle and bustle of life in Vegas, and we ran away from pizza and hamburgers. We are well. By the way, it costs much less [environ trois fois moins]Because CES is one thing, this allows us to stay with our teams, but we still have our boxes to work in in times of crisis!
Whatever the case, and however perfect it may be, the distance formula will be a milestone and should continue, in a form yet to be determined.
We can imagine a hybrid version of the upcoming releases of CES, with people face-to-face and others in the background staying home. Or a second show in the default version, at another time of the year. In any case, we will have to adapt to master this type of event. It is also up to the organizers to organize themselves to get the tools that are going well. But the formula is interesting. I see it as a first step. We’re going to evaluate, but the key word is: what have we learned and how it will make us grow for tomorrow.
CES’s Arnaud Brillaud lives in Fontaine-le-Comte
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© Dumalis
Aurélie Colin-Thévenet wants to be a pragmatist.
Either way, you have to be realistic. Over the next two years, we will have to let go of the congregating crowds as we have so far. Even if the method is different, it allows us to continue working. So diving into the shower sure is a little wild, but since you have to learn to swim anyway … that’s fine. Me, I just hope we can have fun in virtual reality. I’m placing my order a little bit but I’d like to have us avatars, so we can customize them …
In Paris, Virtuality, a trade fair dedicated to virtual and augmented reality, displayed an entirely virtual version last December, to overcome the rules of distance.
The default gallery
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© Virtualization
In the spirit of Second Life, each participant there is designed in the form of an avatar that can evolve in the middle of the different stands, in the lanes and interact with the avatars of the other participants.
It might not give more results, but it will allow us to find the icons in the traditional salon. There are a lot of little things that run in real life that we can virtualize.
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