Come Together Now – AUVSI XPONENTIAL Shows Us How

Early mornings. Late nights. 14,000-steps a day. Lots of time just standing on your feet, trapped in a booth, talking to whoever shows interest. Working in a city that’s a current hot spot for COVID. Many restaurants closed. 

What’s not to love?

Greteman Group colleague and energizer-bunny Samantha “Sam” Stinson recently returned from a week in Atlanta at AUVSI XPONENTIAL. She’s already counting down the days until the show returns next year in Orlando. 

Her enthusiasm goes beyond being a young professional who hasn’t logged enough show miles to be road weary. It’s the marketer in her. She understands connection and that there is absolutely nothing under the big blue sky that builds relationships like meeting face to face. It shouldn’t surprise us. Business aviation – commercial, too – is built upon that simple but profound fact.

Controlled Chaos

Sam’s on-the-ground support for client Vantis UAS reinforces the value of simply being there. Catching that the new booth was about to get installed the wrong way, corrected just as workers were about to cut the carpet. Securing editorial coverage that simply wouldn’t have happened without her persistent, personal nudges and cajoling. 

Roughly 500 exhibitors made XPO Hall at the Georgia World Congress Center a virtual nirvana for tech nerds, futurists and businesses looking to lasso the next rising star. Emerging technologies and early-stage companies representing unmanned, autonomous solutions presented a brave, new world. Pandemic protocols – distancing, masks, sanitizer everywhere – helped people assemble as safely as possible so they could get down to business. AUVSI XPONENTIAL showed how to do it right.

Accelerating Innovation and Adoption

Vantis is building a highway in the sky with its statewide network, and Sam never tires of sharing the benefits of its beyond visual line of sight access. “Ask me about BVLOS,” she says with twinkling eyes. And she means it.

But she wasn’t just disseminating information. She was absorbing massive quantities of it, too. Keynote speakers and educational sessions. Facilitated networking opportunities. Experiencing other booths. Engaging with pioneers as passionate as she is, feeding off their enthusiasm for the changes coming. 

Trade shows offer not just the opportunity to be seen. They give you the chance to see, too. From now through September 10, attendees can access content on demand through the online, interactive portal provided by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI). There’s everything from detect-and-avoid technology and AI-based cybersecurity systems to handheld touch controllers and UAV hydrogen fuel cell manufacturing.

The State of North Dakota took the bold step of investing in unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) utilization and commercialization because it sees the jobs it will create and the economic development it will spur. Its BVLOS network positions the state to become the epicenter of commercial UAS activity. It is the first such program of its scale. Ask Sam. She’ll tell you all about it. Even better, reach out to Vantis directly.

If you’re on the fence about upcoming trade shows and whether they’re wise with COVID still among us. Well, I say, be smart. Follow the directives of the Centers for Disease Control. Do your part to keep yourself well – and the economy humming. Our clients still have trade shows on their schedules. They know their value. The connections you make through them are beyond our line of sight. But we know they’re big.