Global Tradeshows without the Global Travel

SAVE ON TRAVEL COSTS! This new innovative format for presenting means that you can commit the “presence” of your key global staff members to tradeshows all over the world, without a huge expense and time commitment. The Los Angeles based company, PORTL, has created these phone booth-sized machines that allow you to beam live holograms anywhere you need them to be.

As Business Events around the world start to find their feet and open up again, some of the biggest challenges will be less around COVIDsafe restrictions on site but rather travel restrictions on key staff members required for exhibitors to put their best foot forward at any tradeshow. This is one of many clever solutions to be explored in order to get #expoready.

What is the PORTL – Hardware and Software

Each device is seven feet (2.1m) tall, five feet (1.5m) wide and two feet (0.6m) deep, and can be plugged into any standard power outlet. Anyone with a camera and a white background can send a hologram to the machine in what Chief Executive David Nussbaum calls “holoportation.” Whilst prices for the machine start at $60,000 USD, Nussbaum expects will drop over the next three to five years. The company also plans a smaller tabletop device with a lower price tag in early 2021.

PORTL has just this month revealed its brand new AI-enabled device; the “StoryFile X Epic PORTL” hologram projection machine. This new machine allows people to visit each other as realistic holograms in real time, but also will be used to bring historical figures and dead relatives back to life. PORTL has teamed up with StoryFile, a company focused on delivering “the next chapter in storytelling,” to collaborate on the historical figures, animations, etc. for the machine. It’s not clear how the tech from both companies is being combined, but it seems like StoryFile will be producing specially recorded content for the PORTL machine.

“We say if you can’t be there, you can beam there,” said Nussbaum “We are able to connect military families that haven’t seen each other in months, people from opposite coasts,” or anyone who is social distancing to fight the coronavirus, Nussbaum added.

For Tradeshow use, the machine also has a built-in camera for the holograms’ receivers, which uses AI to help identify faces. With face identification any presenter can be alerted to a visitor on the tradeshow floor that is ready to engage with them via the PORTL device.

Who is PORTL?

PORTL was launched in May of 2019 by David Nussbaum, a pioneer in hologram technology and telepresence. The company seeks to advance the medium of hologram interaction by combining the patented hardware with a developing software ecosystem to accelerate adoption and creativity, and also serves as production house for original content. PORTL’s first product is the PORTL “Epic”, the first self-contained, human sized, scalable hologram projection device for live telepresence, content playback, and now artificial intelligence. PORTL’s studios are in Los Angeles, CA. More info: PORTLhologram.com