This time, from Gary Kayye at rAVe Publications.  30 minutes, fast and furious.  The best “session” I’ve attended today.

The 80’s were all about gathering information/content.

The 90’s were all about managing information/content.

The 00’s were all about displaying information/content.

Now:  What do we do with the content?  How does it evolve?  There is a next wave of “digital signage” and it is all personal & customized.  It is the 11th Screen.  Me and Gary – we’re talking the same language.

But he is from an AV company so he is very interested, knowledgeable, and experienced with the hardware and infrastructure of systems.  I am more interested in the content.  We are both interested in the experience.

His formula was “AV (source + display technology) + IT (network) = next phase of Digital Signage.  So, if I can break this down, what he is saying is when the source/display technology merges with the “network” or cloud, you can serve custom content on custom devices.  It gets to the level of personalization that I’m always talking about.  In his estimation, we are 3 years away.  I didn’t have the chance to ask him why “3 years” – that’s just what his magic ball says.

I thought it was interesting that he claimed that the “cell phone is the ultimate digital signage display.”  I agree with the fact that it is the ultimate personal display, even the ultimate convenient display, but it is an interactive display, not digital.  I might be on my own here, but I think it’s important to differentiate “digital” from “interactive.”

Finally, he left us with 5 steps for success:

1.  Why are you doing what you’re doing?

2.  Where and who are you doing it for?

3.  Plan

4.  Execute

5.  Scale

I have my own thoughts on this, but other philosophies are good!

Two things to check out:  WiMax 802.16 and Vukunet.  I will check them out and give you my lowdown, but anyone else who wants to chime in on their thoughts – with these two and everything else – let me know.