ISE 2021 closes its doors with very positive feedback

On June 1st and 2nd, and for the first time, Barcelona hosted the ISE 2021 Conference, a leading event for the audiovisual and integrated communications sector in Europe and which, up until last year, had been held in Amsterdam.

Mike Blackman, managing director of ISE, said: “We decided to come to Barcelona because it is a technology-based city”. 

ISE 2021 is the sector’s first hybrid event (online and in-person) since the beginning of the pandemic, triggering the starting pistol for future events in this “new normal”. Opting for a combined online and in-person format, the conference was able to open its doors to the world, allowing attendees to participate without the need to travel.

A conference that all participating businesses welcomed with open arms after a year and a half of restrictions, at which they could reestablish that much-needed human contact (in line with safety measures) with networking sessions, a range of talks, either in-person or online, from both large corporations and startups seeking investors.

Despite the uncertainty generated by the pandemic, we feel that the event has far exceeded both the organization’s and participants’ expectations, with better results than hoped for, thanks to the willingness of attendees to resume activity, share initiatives and find ways of collaborating.

A new feature in this year’s edition was the Catalan Innovation Zone, a space spearheaded by ACCIÓ-Catalonia Trade & Investment to help promote the visibility of businesses in Catalonia involved in the development of hardware, software and services in the AV sector. This included a whole variety of companies covering areas such as virtual reality, content management, 3D mapping, team management and audiovisual production, among others. iDISC took part in this space by exhibiting its specialized translation services for the electronics, audio, video, lighting and integrated communications sectors, with its mission to help businesses in this industry to expand.

At iDISC, we know that, in an increasingly globalized world, you need to be able to speak the same language as your potential clients in order to enter new markets. Surprising customers by using their own expressions and terminology and establishing a direct connection without language barriers is something that not all businesses manage to achieve and which, at iDISC, we call the “WOW effect”. This effect multiplies sales opportunities. It is something we witness on a daily basis and which we wanted to convey to other companies in the sector that took part at ISE 2021.

The outcome of the conference has made us both happy and optimistic, and we hope to be back at ISE 2022, which will be held from February 1st to 4th in 2022.