Field Report: The Emergency Convention Hologram at Dragon Con 2022!

I'm Nick Wright, one of the writers on this project and a volunteer for Trek Track at Dragon Con. Although I've been helping unofficially with Trek Track for some time now, this was my first year as a For Real Volunteer, and I got to share my official debut with our spiffy new attraction!

Now that the convention is behind us (and we've had a chance to catch up on sleep and soak our feet for a bit), let's talk about how the Emergency Convention Hologram's first Away Mission went.

Setup

The ECH unit arrived on Thursday as we were prepping our Trek Track room for the Con, and the first thing I noticed was how he really is life-sized. The photos and videos I'd seen had not really done him justice. Seeing him in person was a bit of a shock!

The unit is 6 feet tall (without the Kinect sensor), so it really helps sell the illusion that you are interacting with a human. Of course, he's also as heavy as a 6-foot-tall human, weighing in at 183 pounds. I got a taste of that as I helped with the initial setup, but I wouldn't really grasp the full gravity of the ECH's physical form until the end of the Con as I helped get the unit into the SUV for his journey home. As technology continues to improve, I'm sure the ECH will soon find himself slimmer and trimmer in more lightweight hardware.

As @wackomedia was not going to be present for the convention this year, I made myself available to be tech support. I was given the key for the unit and we ran through a couple things I needed to be aware of if we had any issues. Because there is a computer literally built into the console, I was shown where important areas like the power button and cables were set, as well as learning the trick to getting the sound to work. (Psst... upon boot you may have to remove and replace the USB connector that goes to the speakers.)

I'm proud to report that the ECH had a maintenance-free weekend and performed like a champ! The only change I ever had to make was a quick volume adjustment using the keyboard/trackpad combo that was paired with the machine. Once we set the volume to a level that worked for our location, we were able to set it and forget it.

The Reactions

As soon as we got the ECH set up, people were instantly attracted to him! Attendees formed an informal queue to get their chance to interact with our boy. The Dance Off was quickly discovered and became one of the most popular features throughout the weekend, and I would often see people outside the Track room shaking their groove things.

I must admit that I had some initial concerns that the general public would not be able to grasp how this all worked, especially since we intentionally set it up with no instructions. To my pleasant surprise, people innately knew how to use the ECH.

I never saw anyone attempt to use the monitor as a touch screen; when they got close enough to the unit they realized the ECH was tracking them. If he wasn't tracking how they expected, they soon figured out that the sensor was, for example, following the hand they were holding their beverage in instead of their open one. If there were two people crowding the ECH's field of view, they figured it out and one of them stepped back. They adapted. Humans - they'll surprise you!

Having the ECH located just outside the Track room ended up working out wonderfully, as he served as a great eyecatch for the Track room as well as something for our attendees to enjoy before and after our panels. Throughout the convention, the ECH never went too long without someone playing with him!

Security Concerns

Initially, we had some concerns about the security of the unit. Dragon Con had an attendance of 65,000+ people this year, and occasionally things can go missing or get damaged. Just ask Jon the FedEx Guy.

Thankfully, we had no such problems with the ECH, and I think there are a few reasons for that. 

Unlike that temporary cardboard advertising standup, the ECH has the appearance of a semi-permanent fixture that you would commonly find in a hotel where conferences are hosted. The unit is heavy, which means that anyone attempting to steal it would have to bring proper equipment. It would be like going into a hotel and trying to abscond with a display television off the wall, or a table from their conference room. It's simply not worth it.

We were prepared for a little "good-natured" light vandalism, but that was not to be the case either. Our ECH was entertaining enough on his own that thankfully no one felt the need to adorn the unit with a lei or googly eyes. After the ECH survived the first night unscathed, we were able to rest easier and busy ourselves with other parts of the convention.

What We Learned

The ECH was designed to be informative and entertaining, and he went above and beyond on both goals! But by observing people interacting with him, we did learn a few things that we can use to improve him even more for future installations.

Keep 'Em Moving - First off, people love interactivity! While no one audibly complained, we could often tell that people were itching to be able to do something again if we had a prompt that ran particularly long. We learned to break our dialogue into more easily digestible bits (except when we have a joke that we really think will pay off!)

Dance Off, Bro, Me and You - The Dance Off feature was a huge success, but it was also followed by audible disappointment when the ECH wasn't able to give people a judgment on their moves! We had deprioritized work on this feature in the lead-up to the Con, but considering how popular this portion of the ECH experience was, we now know that it should be a priority for the future. We also already have a few more ideas for motion mini-games!

Say (Replicated) Cheese! - People loved taking selfies with the ECH! But we didn't give them enough time to get those pictures, as phone cameras are notoriously fickle. We'd also like to make it more obvious where to go to access that function, but with a limited number of choices available on the root menu, we'll have to be strategic about it.

Get In The ECH Zone - Although they would figure it out eventually, we did find that putting some guide marks on the ground to indicate where users should stand gave them a headstart on learning how to interact with the ECH. We're looking at employing some theater-style stanchions for the ECH's next appearance as a classier alternative to gaffer tape on the floor.

All in all, the ECH's debut at Dragon Con 2022 was a rousing success! He really exceeded our expectations, and he was a fantastic companion to the Trek Track programming for the year. You'll want him around for much more than just Emergencies!