Event day

 

Once we settled in the morning, the fire station began to breathe life into the area, like a dragon spitting out a gulfing flame through its mouth, though there was no real fire (or dragon) on site and instead of the mythical fire beasts that we know from stories and folklore, the station had these mechanical beasts also known as fire trucks that were “breathing” down water with their long necks known as “hoses” to demonstrate the kids and families just how cool they were. But they weren’t the only cool things in town, as illusio was going to show off their more holographic beast to the spectators.

 

Our 3x3 m tent, stood out from most of the other stalls as it was bigger than most of the ones around it, but we had no intention of burning anyone down, on the contrary for these types of events you succeed via joint collaboration. For example, in this event we were assigned next to a live snake handling booth (show offs), this obviously catches the attention of by passers and it was no surprise that there was a large queue for it. The knock-on is that our hologram stall got more attention with the people waiting by, as our big A1 posters would have more than a few eyes staring at it. “what’s this?” said a by stander. “This is a hologram stand” said one of our team members. “A hologram, wow! Can we go inside” continued the by stander who happen her two children around.

These type of networking bubbles worked really well in our favour as we managed to gather around groups of people instead of the regular single or two-person group form the street markets.

 

We also got to meet some of the local firefighters hosting the event to see our holograms. They offered help at the beginning of the day to help us set up our venue, so it felt only natural to show them some of our work. Henrique, the founder, spoke to them about the technology behind the magic and where he envisions to take the company forward.

 

Finally, a special note: this event also marked the one-year anniversary of illusio! It’s been an incredible journey so far — a foundational year filled with learning, experimenting, and bringing our vision to life. Our mission to share the magic of holograms with millions around the world is just beginning. With more events ahead and new team members joining the adventure, we’re excited to keep growing and turning that dream into reality.