MWC / 4YFN Day 1 – And so it begins

We, the A team, arrived in Barcelona late last night and after a (very) short sleep made it to the 4YFN hall to register and collect our badges.

Following a rather frustrating hour we were eventually in, set up and raring to go.

4YFN (Four Years From Now) is the satellite show to Mobile World Congress where all the new, disruptive technologies that will change our lives over the next four years are showcased. Seemed appropriate for us!

It was a slow start to the day (this is Spain, after all) with the crowds not really picking up until after siesta time. But the cakes were good, so that kept us going.

Lots of people trying out vTime and lots of chats post lunch, with the B team turning up to steal all the glory around 4pm. Nothing new there then

The A team then decided that our accommodation, which technically was still in Spain but just felt like it was in another country, was too far out of town and set about (thanks to our Glorious leader) moving base nearer to the show – thus saving 3 hours and many euros a day in taxi rides.

After decamping for the second time, into a much nearer and very nice room, we joined the B team for a debrief and a rather splendid dinner of local charcuterie, cheese, sausage and wine. Did I mention we were in Spain? 

There was a painful incident en-route to the B team, which involved the A team banging our heads together in a literal, rather than metaphorical way, but we both survived to tell the tail. And that, your honor, is how I got this black eye.

The whole endeavor here is somewhat different to CES and has taken us a little time to adjust. There isn’t the constant barrage of visitors to the stand, but one or two successful, key meetings here could change our trajectory completely, so slow and steady wins the race.

Filled with wine and heavily salted meats we retired to our new comfy beds, ready to face day 2