This post is a little late but better late than never! If you are a regular reader of this space you might remember my post about NextFest last year. Well this year the event was held in New York City September 28-October 1. I went back with PlayMotion again.

It was a trying setup but a personal victory. The week before I had to manage the packing of the equipment since our main hardware and installation guy was already travelling for 5 other installations. Three others set out on Monday morning in a van with the equipment. On Monday Jeremy and I had to get the software ready. The addition of a last minute feature to allow us to run all of our stuff twice as wide (different aspect ratio) that we normally do made the task difficult and I didn't get home until about midnight and still had to do laundry and pack.

When I arrived after only one hour of sleep and met the van, our space was not nearly what we had expected or what we needed. Since there was no one there who was responsable for our previous dealings with NextFest I took charge and began sorting out the mess. It was an incredibly long day. Despite the number of requests I had, all of the show production, event center, and union staff were very helpful. I was extremely pleased that my way of dealing with them, sympathazing and thanking them profusely, worked out quite well. After two days of setup we had all the equipment working.

Quasi the robot, who I worked with a lot at the ETC, was originally invited to apply to exhibit at NextFest but was not accepted. I knew he would be the perfect thing for NextFest so against their objects I convinced Greg to let him join us in the PlayMotion booth.

Both Quasi and PlayMotion were enormous hits. The show was so crowded, way more than last year in Chicago. It was also full of exciting events. Quasi and PlayMotion were filmed over and over for various TV or internet news sources as well as countless personal and cell-phone videos to later be posted on YouTube. We met Ron Hower and Kelly Ripa from Live with Regis and Kelly. We also saw Richard Branson who was there announcing the "launch" of Virgin Galactic. And when we ate at the Carnegie Deli we met Mr. T. We had some great food there, and also in Little Italy the next night.

I think that's pretty much all the most important highlights. Take a look at some pictures