How a CES 2021 party turns into a virtual floating club – CNET

CES 2021The biggest (only?) Party of the coronavirus derailed what would have been a usual eruption on the Las Vegas Strip. Instead, the place turns into a virtual club, floating in a starry space. You are transformed into a hovering circle which serves as a window for your webcam. Dua Lipa will discuss how artists are reinventing entertainment during the pandemic with Ryan Seacrest on a stage flanked by titanic speakers, before Billie Eilish puts on a show.

And there’s a team of busty humanoid dancers, so there’s no shortage of the essence of Vegas.

For years, CES has drawn tech freaks out to watch luxury TVs and gadgets off the wall. But away from the chaotic performance halls of the Las Vegas Convention Center and the cavernous speeches of the Venetian, media companies and marketers have packed an alternate universe CES, which has little to do with the upcoming doodad. hot. Instead, bargaining and networking are the magnets that draw hordes of media a little further south on the Strip. And the power broker behind this show-within-the-show is MediaLink.

MediaLink, a consultancy firm, has traditionally hosted the official CES media night, which has become something of a legend in some circles. But this year’s fully remote CES is different in every way, including the way you party.

Starting at 3:15 p.m. PT Tuesday, MediaLink is teaming up with radio and events giant iHeartMedia for a digital stand-in for the usual late-night party on the Strip. Instead, they’ll be hosting a virtual event focusing on MediaLink’s networking at CES, networking. Normally, during CES, MediaLink would host around 1,000 customer meetings and interactions; this year, that number will be reduced to several hundred.

But Tuesday’s party is hoping to recreate “a bit of that coincidence” from the typical CES in-person mix, said Michael Kassan, president and CEO of MediaLink. “Given our customers’ thirst for virtual avenues for networking at CES, our goal is to recapture that sentiment.

The two will host a networking event at this open-air club, floating in an unidentifiable space. With over 300 attendees expected to join the event, the experience is powered by a company called Spatial Web, co-founded by one of iHeart’s longtime creative consultants. At 4 p.m. PT, he switches from networking to an interview between Dua Lipa and Seacrest, then Eilish’s performance.

Bob Pittman, president and CEO of iHeartMedia, said the event builds on lessons learned from hosting virtual music events during the pandemic, combined with a desire to provide “a remote unit. at a time when face-to-face meetings are limited ”.

The event also functions as a sort of night out for Spatial Web, having piloted its platform with events last year for Unicef ​​and TedX.

You should also learn from my mistakes and come up with a device made more recently than half a decade ago. My demo had the kludgy delays familiar to anyone who has tried tracking a mega-zoom call when your phone has a few bars – only this demo’s starts were complicated by several large screen videos, background music, aerial navigation attempts and that holographic dance squad.

Tips: Use plugged-in headphones during the event and don’t be that guy who uses your device’s speakers – you might cause annoying comments. Spatial Web recommends using a laptop or desktop computer, ideally one from 2017 or newer, using Google Chrome as your browser. Android devices with Chrome also work, and iPhones and iPads using Safari are said to work as well. Close all other browsers and programs. And if the environment toolbar joystick is too delicate to move, double-clicking anywhere in space will take you there, and you can choose to follow a specific person or teleport yourself. in a specific location in the drop-down lists.

The creators are hoping that a number of real-world elements will help humanize the interactions there. The platform’s spatial audio means the conversational sounds crescendo as you approach the group of people talking, as would happen in real life. The has several hidden Easter eggs, such as private offices for meetings, a “desert music room,” a meditation room, photo booths, and a video booth that they hope will instill a sense of spontaneity.

Even if Tuesday’s event encounters a technical trap, its creators are hoping a CES audience can catch it in stride.

“We hope that the spirit of CES and the spirit of new technology are part of what it is,” Michael Beneville, co-founder of Spatial Web who also works for iHeart, said in my demo on Friday. “For the purposes of the event, just come in and walk around and chat.”

But just in case, organizers say, a team of live human concierges will also be present in the virtual room, to help newcomers navigate their way.

“So much technology right now is about human contact,” Beneville said. “A robot can make you a great drink, but a bartender can listen to your story.”

I can have this drink anyway, right? …

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