The New Media Party in Washington, returning for its second year, featured several inventive uses of technology at events. Produced by Event Farm, the party incorporated sponsors such as Vntana, which created holograms of guests that were then projected onto the walls of venue Carnegie Library. Other sponsors included Lyft, Microsoft, AOL, and Yelp, which created a listing for the event and allowed guests to post reviews and photos.
At the conference, which wrapped May 7 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, 16 large screens created a stunning display around the perimeter of the main networking area, known as the Experience Zone. The screens, if placed end-to-end, would fill the length of three football fields. Questions displayed on the screens were answered during the three keynote presentations.
GWS Technology showed its newest transparent LED displays. The lightweight, see-through panels can be used alone or combined for large displays. Each unit has power and data ports built in.
Ricoh demonstrated its new Interactive Learning Table for meetings, which is currently available in Europe and will soon be coming to the U.S. As many as eight people at a time can gather around the touch panel display to look at documents, videos, and other information. The table can also be connected to an interactive whiteboard to provide additional display options.
EventCollab is a new Web-based project management system that debuted at InfoComm. The system is designed for planning and producing conferences, trade shows, meetups, and other events. Users can collaborate in real time to update files, graphics, and correspondence. The system is integrated with Google apps such as Calendar, Drive, and Contacts.
