PDT Creative Director Joel Delman Talks Navigating CES and PaxEx Trends
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As the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) wraps up Day Two in Las Vegas, we sat down with APEX member Joel Delman, Los Angeles creative director at Telefonix PDT, to hear first-hand how a CES veteran approaches the showroom floor masses to uncover the trends most relevant to PDT’s business and clients. Look out for Telefonix PDT’s full trend report after the show.
FAST FACTS
Location: LAX
CES Rookie or Veteran? Veteran. I’ve been to CES annually for 8-10 years.
Now Watching: Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead.
Frequent Flight: LAX-New York
Favorite Airport: ATL
Brand of Suitcase: Samsonite
Paper or electronic boarding pass? Electronic
Passport stamp you wish you had: New Zealand
What’s your game plan? How does PDT plan to navigate the masses of CES?
My high-level plan is to try to avoid some of the masses! While the newest flat screens with bigger, bolder graphics draw huge crowds and press coverage, that’s not of much value to our clients. What I’m here to do is uncover the truly new and interesting categories of products and services that are relevant to our clients. I aim to report on novel technologies and new uses of old technologies that can often be found in the small booths, where the startups are, in the back corners of the expo. These are the trends and technologies that I then share with our product development teams internally and with our clients in the trend report we produce after the show.
Which tech trends are you most excited about this year?
I’m keeping a close eye on technologies that have been out of reach by the average consumer in the past; but now, because of a reduction in price, complexity, or the like, are moving into the hands of the masses. Walking the halls of CES year after year affords a unique perspective into the evolution of technologies. What was science fiction a few years ago in the minds of shoppers at Target is now in the hands of consumers everywhere. We saw those solutions coming at CES a year or two ago, and we’re already working to incorporate them into the products many now take for granted. Products in the wearable and mobile health space are very much on my radar as these are hot and will be the next technologies that fit this niche. I’m also excited about advancements in the automotive industry as the connected car, autonomous driving and alternative fuel sources are evolving and becoming a more integrated part of the Internet of Things movement.
What technologies do you think may have exciting applications in aerospace?
Passengers desire and are expecting to bring, utilize and enjoy the technologies they use every day in the same way in the air as on the ground. I’m looking for ideas and technologies that were not commonplace within the cabin that are marching at a slow but unrelenting path toward becoming commonplace. The real challenge here for product designers is creating exciting entertainment solutions that also address the conflict between what a passenger wishes to enjoy and another passenger’s right to a peaceful, comfortable flight. Solutions that successfully deliver entertainment while addressing this tension that is unique to the flight experience can be game-changing.
I’m looking for ideas and technologies that were not commonplace within the cabin that are marching at a slow but unrelenting path toward becoming commonplace.
What other tech events do you attend and how do they differ from CES? (Besides the sheer number of attendees!)
Personally, I attend four to five shows per year as part of our ethos as a company to stay on top of advancements across a spectrum of industries. The teams at Telefonix PDT exhibit and walk a number of shows each year, such as the APEX EXPO. A couple of recent shows I’ve attended in which I found notable trends were The NAFEM Show, where we saw the latest developments in appliances and machinery used in professional and commercial kitchens. Another is E3, the Electronic Entertainment Expo; probably my favorite show, E3 focuses on electronic culture at the highest level. While we don’t design games, through this show, we see what people are concerned about and looking for in the real world, as we see what appears in the virtual world. Technologies from markets that may seem completely unrelated to one another often translate and migrate to others when leveraged in dynamic, unexpected ways.