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Close view of the IBM booth's glass wall printed with line icons of fries, burgers, drinks, and soft-serve, the show floor blurred beyond
Deep Dives

McDonald's Worldwide Convention 2022 · Orlando, FL

IBM at McDonald's Worldwide 2022

IBM showed franchisees Watson taking drive-thru orders: pods with real menu boards and mics, a footswitch to start each run, robo cams feeding the crowd outside, and a six-monitor wall filling with tickets. Our A/V, network, lighting, and cameras end to end.

By the numbers

8
Drive-thru menu screens
6
Monitors on the order wall
2
Robo cams on every run
12
Radios on the booth channel

A drive-thru you could walk through

IBM took booth TEC36 at the McDonald's Worldwide Convention to show franchisees Watson taking drive-thru orders, and the demo was a row of ordering pods, each built around a real backlit menu board and a microphone, with drive-thru ambience piped into every pod from its own speaker mix. Eight 55-inch menu displays, eight ambient speakers on a sixteen-channel desk, and the highlight reel below came out of the same booth.

The row of drive-thru ordering pods with Automated Order Taker with IBM Watson Orders signage overhead A backlit McDonald's menu board on a blue pedestal inside an ordering pod Menu board detail inside a pod, mounted beside the doorway Booth sign listing the Watson Orders capabilities, from drive-thru acoustics to handing off to a crew member A booth monitor under the AI that makes ordering easy headline carrying the live robo-cam feed

Foot on the pedal

The three-pedal footswitch the IBM presenter used to start each ordering run

Every run started the same way: the IBM presenter stepped on a footswitch, the pod went live, and a franchisee ordered by voice at the menu board while Watson built the ticket on screen line by line. Two robotic PTZ cameras on a joystick controller followed the action and fed a pair of 65-inch monitors outside the pods, so the line waiting outside watched each order happen in real time. iPhones on LTE handled lead capture.

A Watson order building line by line on the pod's menu screen Guests placing a voice order at the menu board inside a pod An IBM presenter walking convention guests through the ordering experience Guests gathered at the audience monitor watching a live ordering run from inside the pod

The order wall and everything under it

The six-monitor order wall populating with tickets as crowds pass through the booth

Across the booth, a six-monitor wall filled with tickets as fast as the pods produced them, while IBM hardware sat out on the demo tables for a closer look. Under the carpet it was ours too: hardwired Cat5 to every position, a security gateway, managed gigabit switching, and Wi-Fi access points. The lighting package ran sequencing control across the experience rooms, and a twelve-radio Motorola package kept the booth team on comms.

The six-monitor Watson Orders wall in the main booth before doors IBM server hardware out on a wood table for guests to see up close A wall monitor carrying the live camera feed from inside an ordering pod The order wall running live from a second angle as attendees pass

One crew, start to finish

The queue outside the ordering pods during show hours

This is the version of a booth we like best: the interactive experience, the A/V behind it, the lighting, the network, and the documentation all from one crew. Our photographer and videographer worked the show for the client, and everything on this page, the photos and the reel alike, is that coverage. Two technicians installed from March 28, two ran the training and walkthroughs before doors, and one stayed on the floor through the April 7 close and the teardown after.

Ordering pods and the order wall together across the booth Corner wide of the booth with food icons printed across the glass walls The line of attendees stretching away from the ordering pods Clean wide of the booth before doors, pod row under the Automated Order Taker signage

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