Tag Archives: DSE 2010

Getting Handy with the DSE Planning Site

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The DSE has created a handy Show Planner site for attendees and I started using it today.  Since my schedule is filling up and all, I have to a handy way of keeping organized.

It’s pretty good.

It took me a few minutes to figure it all out, but now I’m cooking.  Selecting those sessions I’m going to.  And the booths that I want to stop by.  It gives me access to everything on my mobile phone and even lets me request eDocs, which plays to my eco-friendly side.

The centerpiece of the site is an interactive map of the convention center and showroom floor.  I saw the same wayfinding map/tool on a touch screen monitor last year, (it was tucked away behind one of the customer service booths) and found it a bit clunky.  I’m glad that the DSE has migrated it onto their site because, despite its clunkyness, it is handy.  It allows me to search by exhibitor name and/or booth number or just click into the convention center for a floor plan.  I can poke around to the different areas of the floor, see where each exhibitor is exhibiting, and get a nugget of information about them in a click.  The information ties directly into my customized planner, for convenience.  Handy. 

Also, if I’m so inclined, I can search restaurants, coffee shops, and bars in and around the convention center.  Again, it’s a bit clunky, but the features are there and they’re usable.  Don’t know if I’ll use them, but if I need this information, I know one place I can find it.  (I’ll probably just use Yelp, though.)  Regardless, another handy feature.

But what is not handy is the non-scrolling-zooming feature + the non-grabbable-moving feature.  Perhaps it’s a limitation of technology and/or budget, but I found it frustrating.  If I were using my fingers to interact with this on a touch screen, I would expect all of this functionality to be fluid and non-linear.  I also found the absence of speakers in the session details not handy either.  I think it would just take adding a few more lines of content (with the speakers’ information) at the very least.  But hey, you win some and you lose some. 

All in all, this site is much more handy than clunky.  I think it’s going to help me out.

A Number 10, 20, 28, 34 and a Super-Session to go

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I’d like a number 10, 20, 28, 34 and a Super-Session to go, please.  To those of you going to the DSE next week, these numbers probably mean something to you.  To those who aren’t going, these are the sessions that I plan on attending.  Here’s the rundown:

Session #10 – How They Did It: Three Real-World Models for Successful Communication-Based Digital Signage Networks – Representatives from Reuters, a college (John Marshall Law School), and a medical facility (Mayo Clinic), discuss their DOOH networks and installations.  All of these seem like they’re fully integrated into their respective businesses and have clearly provided value back to their audiences.  I hope they’re able to cover their different expansive installations, the thought and buy-in that had to go into each of them and then ultimately, how they each look at success.  It will also be interesting to know what they think the future of DOOH looks like.

Session #20 – Creative Tactics for Integrating Digital Signage in Different Environments – This looks to be all about innovation, particularly in various approaches to a wide range of OOH environments and how to best incorporate digital/interactive signage into them.  A Dallas-comrade, Steve Gurley, from Symon Communications here in Plano, is on the panel.  We’re going to get together for coffee afterwards.  I’m looking forward to meeting him and learning more about his company.  They provide all sorts of DOOH solutions, including multiple interactive solutions.

Session #28 – Integrating Multi-Channel Strategies: A Roadmap for Digital Cross-Platform Success –  This is the session that interests me the most.  Primarily because it is one of the sessions that I think is closest to my specific interests – making the 5th Screen (digital signage) into the 11th Screen (through the use of all sorts of enabling technologies).  I think they’ll probably discuss the incorporation of mobile into digital signage more than anything else.  But I’m also interested in it because Stephen Randall of LocaModa – the man behind the company that brought us Jumbli and LBS-integration-into-digital signage – is on the panel.  The other dudes on the panel are no slouches, either. 

Session #34 – Trends in Interactive Gestural and Touch Screen Applications – Now, we’re talking.  “You will learn how organizations such as the Official NYC Information Center and MIT SENSEable City Lab are using advanced touch-sensing and gesture control technologies to bring a whole new dimension to interactive user experiences.”  It’s going to be sweet.  Enough said.

Super Session – Digital Out-of-Home’s Future – I can’t go to the premier Digital Out-of-Home conference without attending the session where industry leaders discuss its future.  It’s the one that has the biggest potential of let down, though.  These types of sessions can be so general, especially in an hour.  But I’ll be there. 

Then, throw in a couple of coffee meetings, a few on-floor workshops (including one by Keith Kelsen, visionary in digital signage), and a “mixer” here and there, and my calendar is pretty much full. 

Oh, and there’s work, too.  That doesn’t stop. 

It will all be busy, but really good. 

Is there anything you’re particulary interested in learning about digital signage or the industry?  Let me know and I’ll do my best to get it answered.

Digital Signage Outlook in 39 Words (+1 Acronym)

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A week from right now, I’ll be in Las Vegas for the Digital Signage Expo!  I’m really excited to go and see all of the advancements that have been made in the industry in the past year.  I was there last year and saw some great products and met some great people.  I expect this year’s event to be a positive evolution on all fronts.

I have been reading the DSE’s Q4 Quarterly Business Barometer, and it only enhances my excitement about next week, and in broader terms, the future of the industry.  If I were to give you my condensed recap, it would go something like this:

Digital Signage/DOOH is here to stay.  Despite the economic climate of the last year.  Despite the oversaturation of providers and networks (which have been consolidated, but more is needed).  Despite the lack of clarity in measurement.  Despite the lack of integration with media companies and agencies.  And despite the fact that most marketers misunderstand the capabilities of “digital signage.”  38 pages in 59 words + 1 acronym.  Not bad, eh?

My projection for 2010 is even shorter & simpler: 

We will continue to see digital signage in our environments around us.  This form of communicating (and connecting) will not go away.  Only the strong will survive, though.  And “digital” just means display technology.  “Interactive” will be the new “DOOH”.  (39 words + 1 acronym)