At our recent Next.js Conf and Ship AI events, we introduced an activation that blended technical experimentation with playful nostalgia. The idea started long before anyone stepped into the venue. As part of the online registration experience for both events, attendees could prompt and generate their own trading cards, giving them an early taste of the format and creating the foundation for what we wanted to bring into the real world. Building on that momentum, our team crafted a pixel portrait trading card experience designed to scale to thousands of attendees while still feeling personal. At its core was an AI-powered photobooth that captured each participant’s portrait, transformed it into a custom pixel-style rendering, and printed it on demand as a collectible card. Every card was sealed in a PSA-inspired sleeve and finished with a serialized grading label unique to each attendee. What emerged was more than a keepsake.…