What exactly is ISE?
Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) 2026, held February 3 to 6, 2026 at the Fira de Barcelona Gran Via, is the world’s largest audiovisual and systems integration show. It is designed for AV professionals across broadcast, live events, smart building, education, residential, corporate, and emerging technologies.
The 2026 edition, themed as “Push Beyond”, set new records, welcoming 92,170 unique attendees and drawing 1,751 exhibitors, including 323 first-time participants. The show floor reached 101,000 square meters, spanning all eight halls of the venue. With more than 120,000 total registrations and over 212,000 cumulative visits across four days, ISE 2026 reinforced its reputation as a premier global gathering for the AV industry.
EdTech Congress Barcelona and the higher ed lane
Running in conjunction with ISE 2026, the EdTech Congress Barcelona took place February 4 to 5, 2026 at the Palau de Congressos, a short ride from the ISE venue. This marked the beginning of a planned two-year path toward tighter alignment, and eventually shared space, between the two events.
Now in its 12th edition, the EdTech Congress brings together education leaders, public authorities, technologists, and innovators to explore the future of learning. The most recent edition welcomed 1,643 attendees and featured 52 exhibitors, with a program focused on AI’s role in teaching, learning environments, and educational management. The 2026 congress also included 81 speakers and more than 60 participating companies, with sessions, demos, and immersive experiences centered on accessible, ethical, and connected educational transformation.
Language shaped traffic and conversations. Many languages were heard across the floor, with Spanish and Catalan likely the most common. Erin Maher-Moran delivered a presentation about HETMA in English, but most presentations were not in English.
The HETMA planning machine
As difficult as it may be to believe, the planning the HETMA crew does for ISE is pretty impressive. We began weekly meetings a couple months in advance, and the plan kept evolving as we learned what was realistic and possible.
We went from a booth at the EdTech Congress and some generous sponsor space on the main ISE floor to a sizable booth at both locations. We coordinated coverage, responsibilities, timing, and logistics like power, network, furniture, and the fun pieces we use to bring people in. It is not a HETMA show without at least one gimmick.
What makes it possible
Sponsors
A few things make the entire week possible. The biggest thing is our sponsors. There are a number of amazing sponsors that contribute time, money, products, and partnership to make this all possible. We have a variety of deliverables for our sponsors, and those start landing before the show opens.
Ahead of the show floor, we run social posts with booth numbers and a bit about each sponsor. We also collect information from our sponsors in advance so we can give people a realistic preview of what they will see when they visit or if they aren’t able to attend.
Partnership with ISE and AVIXA
Another huge part of this is the partnership HETMA has with ISE and AVIXA. We can be a loud group, and we are the first end-user group to have a booth on the ISE show floor.
They take a risk on us every year. Higher ed was not a focus for many companies at a show like this only a few years ago. That is changing, and this partnership continues to evolve in a way that makes each year more valuable for all parties.
Volunteers make the whole thing go
As a volunteer organization, our biggest resource is our people. We had 20 people in Barcelona to build booths, hand out swag, scan badges, run live podcasts, broadcast between ISE and the EdTech Congress, speak at events, and spread the mission further.
These are not paid staff. These are HETMA members, spouses, close friends, and others who put in a lot of hours to make the week work. There are no words for how amazing our volunteers are.
Getting to Barcelona and settling in
Being in Barcelona, travel time varies wildly for most people, and winter can create delays. Many HETMA folks planned to arrive on 1/31 in the late morning. For me, a trip scheduled for 14 hours of flights and layovers turned into 25 hours. Some people’s returns home extended beyond 40 hours.
In full HETMA fashion, the crew also planned a party bus from Barcelona to Camiral, home of the 2031 Ryder Cup, for a day of golf, spa time, great food, and a scenic drive. I heard good stories from everyone who went, and it sounded like a solid reset before a week of hard work.
Barcelona, briefly
Barcelona is home to a lot of memorable sites and experiences, and just riding in a car through town can be an adventure. Drivers get very close to each other, and the pace can feel intense.
From the Sagrada Familia to the Gothic Quarter and beyond, it is a unique city. There is not much time for sightseeing during show week, but it is hard not to notice how beautiful it is. With a metro population over five million, it is not a tiny town.
Booth build and the reality of setup
Booth setup for ISE began on 2/1 and continued through 2/2. We ran into the usual mix of issues: furniture not delivered as promised, challenges getting an additional electrical connection for the kegerator, and delays getting wall panels that allowed us to mount displays.
The EdTech Congress booth was smaller and largely pre-built, so it mostly required swag and podcast setup. Even there, the vision shifted in real time as we adjusted to what we had in front of us and pushed for what was still possible, like the live stream between locations.
NEXXT eXplore as a warm-up
Setup was also broken up by team time at NEXXT eXplore. This was an amazing two-day leadership, innovation, and hands-on program ahead of the main show, designed to help AV professionals navigate the shift happening across the industry in the AI era. Our very own Josiah Way had speaking slot here. It must have been great as multiple people during the week told me I did well at it, mistaking me for Joe.
Founded and led by Byron Tarry, Chief Transformation Officer of NEXXT, the event ran February 1 to 2, 2026 at the Fira Gran Via. The goal was to move from hype to practical, secure, strategically grounded application.
The program was structured around three tracks: an Executive Forum focused on relevance and readiness, an Operational Summit aimed at experimentation and roadmap-building, and a Prototyping Sprint where teams turned concepts into working models. Highlights included a keynote by Richard Mulholland, deep dives into AI analytics in AV, and a practical hackathon.
The booth experience: podcasts, screens, and the fun stuff
At our booth we had a table for podcasts and recordings. Part of sponsor deliverables was a 10-minute interview to talk through what sponsors were showing and what mattered on the floor.
We ran two displays. One looped a PowerPoint with sponsor and HETMA content. The other typically ran a live feed from the EdTech Congress, the interview in progress, or mirrored the PowerPoint feed. We used StreamYard so folks at either location could feel connected and like they were present at both locations simultaneously.
During happy hours, that same TV live-streamed DJ Carbon, our own Lisle Waldron, including his DJ setup and music for the booth. We had wine and snacks for the Friday afternoon happy hour and a raffle for some great items from companies on the show floor.
We had beer on tap from a kegerator throughout the day. One of the biggest new additions was a 360 photo booth with HETMA branding and a large H on the base.
Show hours and traffic patterns
The ISE show floor ran 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM Tuesday through Thursday, ending at 4:00 PM on Friday. Badge scans stayed steady all week. Tuesday was the busiest day, but traffic remained strong throughout. Our scanners logged around 1300 unique scans at ISE.
The EdTech Congress ran hours on Wednesday and 6 hours on Thursday. Unlike ISE, it had scheduled presentation blocks, so the floor surged whenever sessions were not happening and slowed during sessions. We added nearly 250 scans at the EdTech Congress
Live content and guests
At both locations we recorded multiple live podcasts and went live to the community a few times. The Higher Ed AV podcast recorded from the EdTech Congress, and we also captured recordings of AV/IT Amplifier and The AV Life from the ISE show floor.
In typical HETMA event fashion, the guest list was strong. We had people like Frank Padikkala from Zoom, Gina Sansivero from AtlasIED, Justin Dawson from Dublin City University, and others. Our booth has a way of pulling in people from across the industry and across the world, and a lot of them are happy to jump on the mic.
Where the booth sat on the floor
The HETMA booth at ISE was in Hall 2, the first major hall many people walk into. We had great neighbors in ScreenBeam, Ricoh, and SHANGHAI SIXUNITED. They always knew we were there, mostly because of the music and the atmosphere.
Across the hall was the Connected Classroom powered by Logitech and T1V. It was a large hands-on showcase demonstrating how AI, VR/AR, and advanced AV tools can transform modern education.
The week beyond the booth
Throughout the week, people broke off for talks, presentations, meetings, and relationship-building. We do not get a lot of time to step away, but we make sure our advocacy and our presence show up across the show.
After-hours events and team time
After-hours events are part of any trade show. Drone shows happened a few of the days at closing time. There were fewer sponsor parties this year than previous years, but there were still good opportunities to connect outside the show floor.
Events were spread across Barcelona, including but not limited to the Maritime Museum, the DUX bar, The Old Irish Pub, and the rooftop of Hotel Moxy. These events usually include food, drinks, and a different pace for conversations. Honestly, some of my most meaningful connections happen after hours.
Because there were fewer sponsor parties, we also had more room for team dinners. We got time to walk around and try a few new places. Time away from the schedule is limited, but it matters, and Barcelona makes that time feel worthwhile.
Why the content matters
From the 10-minute sponsor interviews and the time on the floor, we write articles so people can feel like they were actually at the show. I know I personally did not make it to every booth I wanted to visit, but the sponsor articles and podcasts helped me understand what I missed.
There is not physically enough time to visit every booth at ISE. Having HETMA-generated coverage made it easier to think through what I want to plan for my next refresh.
Show floor tours
We also offered three show tours. Matthieu Kaminski led our first non-English tour in French, and we will use what we learned there as we look at more language options in future years.
We also had two English tours with different routes, keeping the focus on what higher ed professionals would care about. Ryan Gray even did a virtual tour and recorded the full experience.
Closing: what we saw, and what it means
What did we see on the show floor? A lot of impressive work is already here, and more is coming soon. Make sure you check out the interviews, articles, and coverage on Higher Ed AV Media. There is not time to cover it all here, but I am excited about what we saw and how it will shape plans for the coming year on my campus, and on other campuses.
So, what does it all matter and mean? Our efforts at ISE pushed HETMA past our year goal, #RoadTo10K, and that is not a small feat. Numbers are great, but the connections were the real story.
We heard from people across the world who need what HETMA provides. We also discovered new groups and deepened relationships with groups already doing similar work. HETMA is not the only advocacy organization in this space, and ISE helped reinforce our resolve to connect, collaborate, and support that advocacy worldwide.
The A in HETMA stands for alliance. Our goal is to ally people across groups and locations, and to empower others in the process. This show helped reinforce that. The results were real, and the momentum felt tangible.
