3 July 2015 | San Antonio, Texas, USA [Katie Allen, tedNEWS] Walking into the Exhibition Centre at General Conference (GC) Session is an experience akin to walking through the doors of international conferences like the International Broadcaster’s Convention Exhibition, held annually in Amsterdam, or Comic Con International, in San Diego. The difference? You are spiritually encouraged wherever you turn!
One of the most personally impacting experiences was at the Adventist World Radio (AWR) booth, where AWR Engineer, Daryl Gungadoo, and AWR Volunteer, Karl Da Silva, drew people in to a 360° video world before the exhibition had opened.
The Oculus device, used by the booth, displays these all-encompassing videos in a way that allows the viewer to be immersed solely in the visual and audio, without being interrupted from the immediate surroundings. You can look left, right, up or down and still be following the story through 360° filming.
“Putting the videos together, I was really excited to get to this point where we could actually tell people the stories of AWR”, enthused Karl Da Silva. “Traditionally, with radio, you can’t see the people you may read about, but with the Oculus, people can be transported to local communities and see how people came to know Christ. It’s such an amazing experience to watch the reactions of these people, how they see what AWR does.”
Impacting lives in a different way, on the South Pacific Division’s booth, were Sanitarium Health & Wellbeing. With 93,000 samples of products to share, such as Weet-bix, the word had spread with exhibitors, delegates and visitors alike, that the Sanitarium booth was the place to go for a healthy and nutritious breakfast!
“In Australia and New Zealand we have 98% of the market share on UP&GO”, revealed Julie Praestiin, Sanitarium’s Corporate Communications Manager, about their liquid breakfast range. “We were the first to market, it’s an innovative product but it also delivers on health and people just love it! We are really excited to be in the UK now with UP&GO, we’re really hoping that everyone in the UK will love it just like us Aussies do.”
Newbold College of Higher Education, a Trans-European Division tertiary institution in the UK, were positioned near the entrance of the exhibition hall and engaged passers by with a replica of the easily recognisable outfit of the Foot Guards positioned around Buckingham Palace, in London.
“We are here promoting all of our programmes in English, Theology, Business and Liberal Arts”, said Kirsty Watkins, of Newbold’s Marketing department. “We are here with our soldier, we’ve got some competitions running, our booth has been really busy this morning taking photos with our genuine guard, who is playing the part beautifully over here. So, people can come in and take their photos with him, we’ve got some great prizes on offer, everything from t-shirts to winning a summer school programme at Newbold, to accommodation.”
The number and variety of stalls at this year’s GC Session exhibition was awe-inspiring, leaving visitors amazed at the different projects, initiatives and businesses within the Adventist Church. “Resourceful”, “over-whelming”, “lively”, “popping” and “spectacular”, were just some of the words used to describe the display of what God has brought to fruition around the world.
To see more photos from the Exhibition hall, please click here. For a video report, click here. [tedNEWS]
tedNEWS Staff: Miroslav Pujic, director; Deana Stojkovic, editor
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