Living the future at Nvidia GTC ‘26
Nvidia aims to redefine the tech conference. With Nvidia’s commitment to AI, how can we use it to create attendee experiences that feel natural yet truly stand apart from all other conferences? Rather than talking about the future, what if attendees could experience it firsthand?
Approach
Before jumping into concepts, there were several points to help guide the concepting process
Traditional tech conference → A living system
Overcrowded spaces → A seamless experience throughout San Jose (Attendance has grown 50% YOY)
Passive consumption → Intelligent participation
My Role
Over the course of the 2-week sprint, I…
Participated in cross-functional workshops to develop concepts
Sketched out experiences that spanned conference spaces to digital devices
Collaborated with visual designers to create visual assets for final pitch presentation
The Work
The pitch encompassed three territories with my involvement focusing mainly on Driven by intelligence.
Beyond the expo - Unlocking new zones, easing crowd flow, and inviting exploration across the city.
Driven by intelligence - Simplifying decisions, personalizing journeys, and seamlessly bridging the physical and digital.
Live the future - Turning abstract technology into tangible, emotional experiences.
Serendipitous Paths
A more spontaneous way to experience GTC, designed to better distribute flow across the city and spark unexpected moments of connection with both brands and fellow attendees.
Instead of rigid scheduling, attendees choose from curated personas that shape the tone and rhythm of their journey each day.
Powered by NVIDIA technologies and real-time behavior, the experience blends curated content with surprise detours—talks you didn’t plan for, hubs you wouldn’t have found, people you might not have met.
Quickly learn about the attendee and let AI take care of the rest.
Digital Twin
See twice as much. Learn twice as fast. Feel fully present, even when you’re not.
Inspired by NVIDIA’s digital twin technologies, GTC 2026 introduces a playful, personal AI agent that mirrors your interests and intentions. Your digital twin can attend overlapping sessions, capture key insights, follow leads, network and return with distilled, actionable takeaways and recaps — all customized to what matters to you.
With 900+ sessions and only so many hours in a day, your twin ensures you never miss what’s most important.
Set up your digital twin and let it retrieve what matters most to you.
Surprise! Your digital twin will occasionally make an appearance on the smart, digital displays set up throughout the conference and the city.
To incentivize exploration, digital upgrades and custom mods for your digital twin are hidden throughout the city.
And the cutting room floor
And here are some additional ideas that didn’t make it into the final round. Enjoy!
What if your digital twin could order food for you? When your order is placed, your twin will make an appearance at the local Denny’s smart display as it queues for your order. Did you know that Nvidia was founded at a Denny’s in SJ? 🤯
What if we took over the local Denny’s and called it Jenny’s? At Jenny’s, Jensen Huang (AI doppleganger) takes your order and gives you a easter eggs on how Nvidia came to be.
No time to browse every conference booth? No problem. What if attendees can simply tap their digital device to a booth to favorite it and then get served up the spark notes at the end of the day?
