On June 19, I had the opportunity to drive out to Long Beach, CA. Geographically speaking, it’s under 60 miles from my house, and on a good traffic day, I can get out there in about an hour, so it’s by no means a major pilgrimage unless the 405 is angry that day.

My reason for heading to Long Beach? A conference named Augmented World Expo (AWE). I have been to several small conferences at the Long Beach Convention Center (LBCC) in the past, but this was my first time attending AWE. It was also the first year AWE was held at the LBCC; it had previously been held upstate in Santa Clara, CA.

For those that aren’t familiar with the conference, AWE describes the conference as: “The HQ for everything spatial computing, including: augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), mixed reality (MR), collectively referred to as extended reality (XR); as well as enabling technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), bio-interfaces, haptics, 5G, streaming and more.”

The description had my attention immediately—especially given the fact that I live and breathe experiential technology, and I am tasked daily with helping people design new and immersive ways to engage their customers, students, and employees.

Upon arriving at the conference, I approached the registration desk, utilizing the section designated for press and VIPs, (one of the perks of attending on behalf of LAVNCH [CODE]), and was promptly greeted and given my credentials.

Ethan Rasiel, the PR director for AWE, was present at the registration desk and introduced himself to me. He gave me an overview of the conference areas and expo floor, as well as directions to the press room for coffee and snacks.

He also had a couple special surprises, one being that he had managed to get one of Sony’s Spatial Reality Displays (SRD) for the registration area, and he reintroduced me to the technology which leverages autostereoscopic (no glasses) content with headtracking technology. The product had new features being introduced at AWE 2024 and you can read more about them here.

He also gave me a dollar bill with the Joker on the front of it, that when scanned with an app, launched a Joker themed augmented reality experience, teasing a trip over to the gaming company’s booth that created the experience.

Armed with my SRD experience and my money featuring a fictional sociopath, I was then off to see the rest of the conference and expo.

Upon hitting the expo floor, it was evident that the show was much smaller than the large electronics shows AV puts on throughout the course of the year. AWE says there were around 300 exhibitors attending. Most of them utilized a 10 x 10 or 10 x 20 booth space, with a large majority of them featuring VR headsets, haptic gloves, and specialty VR shoes and walking surfaces.

The largest booths on the floor were owned by Meta and by the Korea Electronics Association which featured several brands. The rest of the booths were what I found the most interesting, as they featured bespoke software solutions, 3D modeling, and bespoke XR applications for specific vertical markets.

I even found some good friends there, a current partner of mine in the experiential space—Inhance—which specializes in immersive applications and interactive tools; the company was showing a VR-based flight simulator application that used a chair, pedals, throttle, and yoke to fly the airplane. The interesting twist was that they had done some work in the software to allow you to see your real hands and feet through the headset when you looked down (not digital representations or an avatar) to allow you to physically see the controls and give you the feeling that you were in a cockpit.

I also met a company called Starport that makes light form displays for teleconferencing, art, or digital avatars—both in a small and a large form factor—creating the closest thing to holography I’ve seen in quite some time.

There was a small start-up section on the floor and to take that initiative a step further, AWE set aside a two-hour window to allow startups to pitch their companies and ideas to court investors. I went over to the start-up competition room promptly at 2 p.m. and it was already standing room only, which attested to the amount of interest in these emerging companies.

For me, the show was extremely valuable. I found companies like TechViz that create highly detailed, 3D models that can be explored through high frame rate projection systems, providing up to three discrete views based on head tracking and frame switching. I met companies like Oberon doing digital twins of highly dangerous facilities like nuclear power plants to create virtual training programs that reduce technicians time exposed to radiation. I found new technologies like the previously discussed Starport and new materials like those from Luminit which builds high resolution integrated optics.

My main takeaway though was that the show was not afraid of innovation. Not everything had to be “shipping now” or have a mass market with proven CAGR in the next five years. Instead, it seemed to be a group of people excited to be a small part of building a future that doesn’t exist yet.

It also gave me the opportunity to get outside my daily routine, escape the inertia of our traditional AV world, and contemplate new and exciting ways to engage people in impactful ways, which at the end of the day, is what I’m passionate about.

Click here to stay up-to-date with the latest show news and visit our AWE USA 2024 hub.