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Commentary: Education sessions lift up KioskCom & The Digital Signage Show

Cooking Up Content, Tech Tracks and conference sessions add value to the New York expos.

November 15, 2009

I'm finally getting a chance to wind down after a whirlwind week in New York at The Digital Signage Show. I've been to a lot of tradeshows over the years, and I have to say that this was a world-class event.

I've been going to KioskComs for three years now. The organizer, JD Events, in my opinion has always done a good job supporting the kiosk side of things. Two years ago, they added a digital signage component, which was met with a lot of criticism from the industry. The first digital signage event wasn't much to write home about – I believe it was one aisle with some digital signage vendors, and still a lot of crossover from the kiosk side.

It's interesting to see how the event has morphed over the past two years, however. The perception in the industry for The Digital Signage Show has completely changed. This year's event was a "must attend," drawing companies from all over the U.S. and attendees from other countries. It was even deemed worthwhile enough to pull some journalists from overseas. I think we can safely say that it is no longer a regional show.

I think the reason for the growth is rooted in the quality of the educational sessions that occur during the show. Lawrence Dvorchik et al. have obviously been working to come up with some unique attractions, and it's paying off.

The main conference sessions went off well because they were graced with names like Target, Coca-Cola and Justice Clothing Stores. These folks were bombarded with questions following each session. Bottom line: People want to hear about real-world experiences from big-name users. Keep them coming!

The DIGI Awards was touted as a digital signage highlight, but failed to live up to any expectation. There were about 15 in the audience, and the award winners were monotonously rambled off over a 45-minute time frame. Neither the show, nor the hosts of the awards provided attendees or press with the list of winners following the announcements.

(I worked to jot down each award winner, but failed to complete the list accurately. I posted an accurate list later, though.)

I sat next to, and was able to commiserate with Dave Haynes, who also commented: "The crowd for the awards was very thin and the event had all the glitz of the grand opening of an auto body shop in Brainerd." I suggest JD Events put some time into bringing these awards up to par with their own Excellence Awards or DSE's Apex Awards if they are going to continue to host them.

Other than that, a good show. Hats off to JD Events.