See you at AWE USA 2026!

It is that time of the year again: I’m headed to AWE USA!

Yeah, I know, I have just got back from China. And after just one week in Italy, I will travel again. My jet lag is going to be crazy. I’ve just gone from UTC+8 (China) to UTC+2 (Italy), and now I’ll do UTC-7 (California). I guess as soon as I land in the US, my brain will give up trying to understand what time of day it is and will just let me eat and sleep at whatever time of the day I want…

Trying the Huawei glasses in a Huawei Store in Shenzhen

Anyway, I’m pretty excited. I just had my most intriguing trip in China ever, and I visited huge companies like TCL, Alibaba, and Huawei. I’ve tried so many smartglasses, I literally lost count. Now it’s time to go to the other side of the world and see what the XR ecosystem is like in the US. And I hope I’ll be able to have meaningful conversations with people from important companies there, too.

Since the trip to the US is not exactly a short one for me, I’ll stay in California for more time than just the AWE days. I’ll arrive in the Bay Area on June 6th, and stay some days between Silicon Valley and San Francisco. On 12th, I’ll move to Long Beach and stay there until the 19th.

The days of AWE (15-18) will be the most intense, and I’m pretty sure I’ll sleep very little and work a lot. I already envision myself falling asleep on my keyboard while I try to write a blog article at night (for you!) after having attended the event. But on the other days I will have a more flexible agenda, and will try to set up some meetings and some visits to companies.

Me having fun with some good friends (Viv and Alex) at AWE last year!

And here we are at the main reason why I’m writing this article: if you want to meet me… let me know! You may want to meet me because you want my AR/VR consultancy/development services (heyyyy that would be great). Or because you want to show me your super innovative XR product. Or you just want to have a meaningful conversation. In any case, let me know… if I can fit you into my schedule, I would be very happy to meet! I’m traveling exactly for this reason, after all…

Talking about AWE, you may wonder when my talk is. The thing is: this year I didn’t apply for a talk, so I have none. I have just a press pass. But the true beauty of AWE is not speaking on a stage (which is cool, though), but meeting people in the corridors and having meaningful conversations with them. And this is where you will probably find me: either in the corridors making friends, or on the show floor trying some new tech, or in the press room trying to get some free snacks. Which brings me to the most important point: if you want to attract me, bring some free food! (There is always so little free food at AWE, and this is a true shame…)

Even Spiegel on the stage of AWE last year to tease the new glasses

You may also wonder what excites me the most about AWE this year. Well, first of all, it is, in my opinion, the most important XR-related event of the year, and this is why I can’t miss it. But if I have to choose something in particular, of course, I would say that I can’t wait for the 16th in the morning, when Evan Spiegel will do his keynote and will probably launch the new Snap Specs glasses, which will probably be the first consumer-oriented AR glasses. I also hope to try XREAL Project Aura, because everyone says great things about these glasses, but I haven’t been able to try them yet. And who knows if Pico will say something more about Project Swan, even if I doubt it. But the only real reason for which I go to AWE is, of course, to listen to Ori Inbar’s jokes during the keynote…

The man, the legend… (Image by Stephen Shankland/CNET)

So that’s it! Let’s meet, let’s have fun, let’s enjoy XR together! See you in the US in a few days!

(Header image by AWE)

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This article was originally published on skarredghost.com