I’m sad to say that I missed InfoComm 2010 in Vegas this past week.  Things back at the ranch are just crazy busy and I couldn’t break away, even for a couple of days.  I’ve been observing the action through my Twitter feed and while I missed seeing my buddies, I don’t think I missed much in terms of complete, industry-wide “mixing.”  Like the Digital Signage Expo and Kioskcom (now Customer Engagement Technology World), these shows are void of brands, marketers, and media-buyers.  They are filled with hardware and software makers that show the latest, greatest in technology, but these shows do not attract people from the other side of the equation.

So, here we go, any one of those show organizers who are listening:

Do something to recruit members of agencies (advertising, communications, media) and get them involved.  Create panels centered around less talking and more doing.  Create working sessions where challenges are given, require the entire “team” to put together and solution, and let’s watch them make it throughout the conference.  Bring together all at once the strategists that sell the idea, creatives that create the content, software makers that enable it all to work and hardware makers that show the thing.  And I’m not talking about static, push-messaging digital signage.  Show interactivity.  Utilize the agencies to bring consumer brands if you can’t get them there on your own.  Hold roundtables with these people.  Don’t forget about social or mobile integration, both of which are really nonexistent, unless you’ve got LocaModa or Aerva there.

These shows need to be moved from being “technology” shows to being emerging-solutions (not emerging-technology) shows if we really want to expand the audience.  Otherwise, I can watch all of them from the periphery, via my Twitter feed.