IoT in Action: A Global Roadshow

The IoT in Action roadshow was Microsoft's global initiative to bring IoT technology directly to partners, developers, and customers in cities around the world. I was part of the presenting team, showcasing Windows IoT capabilities across multiple stops.

On the Road

Each city brought a different audience with different priorities. Manufacturing hubs wanted edge computing for quality control. Smart city initiatives wanted connected infrastructure. Retail environments wanted in-store analytics. The core technology was the same, but the narrative had to adapt to each audience.

The Demo Cabinet

For the roadshow, I designed and built a custom Windows 10 IoT demo cabinet — a portable, self-contained showcase that could ship between events. It included provisioned internal electronics, digital signage with custom content, sourced and labeled devices, and specification cards developed in collaboration with hardware vendors.

Getting the logistics right — shipping, setup, teardown, customs — was as much a part of the job as building the demos themselves. A brilliant demonstration that arrives broken or late is worthless.

What I Took Away

Global roadshows teach you to communicate across cultures, industries, and technical levels — often in the same day. You learn to read a room fast, adjust your pitch on the fly, and never assume your audience knows what you know. These are skills that serve me every day as an advisor and fractional CTO.