I’m still trying to figure out the secret to the success of my first 2019 gig in Orlando. Booth traffic was incredibly strong, with as many as 40 people taking in the exhibits for three and four hours at a time. It was a good thing that many of the exhibits worked in self-service mode since it wasn’t possible to work with everyone in the booth.
Many people came out to see my robot dog, Aibo. I took the dog into a television station for a morning news show the day before the show opened. The anchors couldn’t get enough of it. They thought it was very cute. They liked that it didn’t have to be walked. People told me that they were still talking about Aibo’s appearance and showing footage in the late afternoon.
Show Technology provided premier space for the exhibit. There was plenty of room to run the exhibits around the perimeter and put the dog and my personal robot, Nao, in the middle. People could see the dog ambling around its pen as they walked down a main aisle of the show. That was enough to get them in the booth. Aibo didn’t disappoint. He would bark on command and roll his eyes when petted. We had him chasing a pink ball.
Once inside, show-goers were excited by the new products in this year’s exhibit. They enjoyed listening to Beethoven on Yamaha’s new wireless turntable, the first record player the company has introduced in 30 years. They asked the smart trash can to open and it did. Many people were impressed by the prototype surveillance drone, which received a ton of coverage at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show.
Show Technology did a great job promoting the exhibit on their website and at the show. I gave two stage presentations each day, one on how to save $200 a month with smart products, a second on space planning techniques to make your home “live large.” The tactics were drawn from my new book, Anatomy of a Great Home.
