Digital Signage Expo kicks off in Las Vegas next week and for the first time – the Digital Signage Expert Tour will be present, sponsored by The Digital Signage Association and hosted by Minicom Digital Signage.  The Tour will be held on both Wednesday and Thursday at 10:00 AM, 1:00 PM and 2:30 PM.

The tour will cover all steps and complexity necessary in planning and rolling out a digital signage project. Participants shall get an holistic overview of the digital signage application and food chain, as our experts guide them through, booth by booth, presenting all components and elements, from content creation through to monitoring at the point of display.

Stops along the way will include Content Creation by AccuWeather.com, Content Management by Symon, Scala, 3M Touch Systems, and Omnivex, Players by Black Box and Magic Box, Displays by NEC Display Solutions, Mounting solutions from Chief, Peerless and ITS Enclosures, Network Owners and Operators UCView and ZipCast as well as others in the Digital Signage food chain.

See all the pieces in one place – don’t forget to reserve your spot today – the Tours are limited.

The wall has become a showcase for student talents, broadcasting their content-based videos to the public. The entire project is 100% student driven. School administration is happy because it really shows off the school and the difference it is making with the students. The project is so successful, that the curriculum in the next school year will be driven by the video wall and digital signage applications. Executive Director of Technology at Coppell ISD is Chad Branum. He says the application is so successful it practically runs itself. “Once it was up and running – it just goes. We are very happy with the solution.”

For additional information, you can download our case study today.

His position is also that this is not necessarily a new phenomenon. According to John, The residential integrator who does a good job on a dentist’s home theater and multi-room audio has a good shot at the dentist’s office and treatment rooms. ﾠAnd vice versa: the commercial integrator who originally provided the office AV systems may do the dentist’s home systems as well. This trend goes back to the 20th century. John is looking for feedback as to whether or not this is a good trend in the AV industry. If you are interested in contact John – he can be found on Linked In.

In these troubling times I see more and more businesses looking to enter new and different applications as a viable way of creating new business and new customers.

I have a slightly different question from the perspective of the Digital Signage Industry. We had a very interesting experience at the recent Infocomm Show in Orlando during our Digital Signage Expert Tour . Both commercial and residential AV integrators asked salient questions about the complexity of putting together a Digital Signage component to their business and the expertise that it would take to do that. They all commented on how confusing and overwhelming it all was. How do you decide whether you can make a DS business profitable? How do you choose who to partner with? How long does it take to sell a digital signage network? All viable questions.

So my question is this – would offering services on how to build a DS business and how to sell a digital signage solution to the AV integrator community by manufacturers who make component parts to the digital signage industry be worthwhile? Can it be accomplished through on-line experiences such as webinars or does it need to be face to face or some combination thereof? Would the AV integrator be willing to pay a modest price for that service? An example of what I mean by on-line services can be found at – http://www.minicomdigitalsignage.com/av-webinars.htm

Your feedback is appreciated.

It depends:
on the environment you a placing the network/signs into;
on the number of locations;
on the type of business you are in;
on the type of content you create;
on whether you are creating an ad based (revenue generating) network or an informational (return on objectives) network;
on the number of screens showing the same content;
and many other factors.

One of the thoughts I’ve had is to create a place where folks can go to learn about the different puzzle pieces in a non-biased way and then learn about all of the questions they need to either ask or answer in order to properly design or install a successful digital signage network. As a review – the basic elements that make up a network are:

Content creation – the obvious root or building block for the network/install – some questions to ponder -
What is the message? What do you or your customer hope to accomplish? How do you know when you’ve been successful? Who is going to create the messages? How often will you need to change them? How long do they need to be?

Content Management – another key element in your total picture. Content management software companies all have different niches they fill or different ways in which they approach putting your content in the right place and the right time. They also have different ways of coming to market. Some questions to ponder – do you want to own the software? Will a software as a service (SAAS) model work for you? Is the software you are looking at scalable if you add different content streams or players? Can your staff operate the software? Does the software allow you to create your own screen designs? Does the software require a server? Does the software allow for local input and management? Are there levels of authorization built into the software? Do you need to have a player at each screen with the software package you have chosen? Does the software support the type of files you want to display on my screens?

Distribution Technology – In a multiple location network, you need to consider how you want to deploy your content to your various locations. This is also a factor you need to consider in the content management software you select. How does the software get the content to where you need the content to be? Do you use a sneaker net? VPN? Satellite? Cable network? Do you have choices?

Players/Content Servers – a piece of the puzzle in many ways determined by the software you choose. Many content management software packages come either embedded on a player/server or come with specific specifications on what type of player is necessary to maximize the performance of the software. Player types are also determined by the content you are using. Do they support the type of graphics you want to display? Do they support the resolution of the screens you think you want?

Distribution Technology – in location – Once you have gotten the content on to your players – servers in the locations where you want the content to play – how do you get it to your screens. There are several choices you can make to get content to your screens and they all affect the total cost of ownership of your digital signage network. We have several white papers on both the type of technology that exists and the Cost Ramifications of Player placements in a Digital Signage Network. You can download these white papers from this link. Some questions to ponder: How many different screens do you want to show the same content on? How far apart are they? Are your screens accessible during the day? Is there existing infrastructure cabling you can use for your players? Can you run CAT5 cables?

Display Technology – this is obviously the most visible aspect of the digital signage puzzle. The display technology, whether LCD, LED, Plasma or projector, is what your audience looks at. What you may or may not know is the critical questions to ask and rules to follow to help insure a successful outcome from your digital signage network. Size and distance from viewer and player play a part in your selection. The absolute requirement to use commercial grade rather than consumer grade screens in Digital Signage deployments for a host of reasons including control ability, warranty, positioning and durability. Native resolution or resolutions supported is a determining factor for both software and screens. Some questions to ponder: How far away is the audience from the screen? How big is the area you need to cover with one screen? Will a video wall work better for you? How much information will there be on the screen? Will a projector work better for you in your environment? Do you need a touch screen?

Mount Technology – Sometimes one of the most overlooked aspects of the digital signage puzzle, but one of the most important factors in determining the success of your network. Can I use a mount where I need use one that will not only support the screen you are hanging, but also meet all of the building codes required in your location? Do you need a wall mount? Ceiling mount? Floor mount? Where is the power coming from? Does the mount include cable management and a place to mount your player or CAT5 Remote Receiver?

Deployment – a critical element in the cost of a digital signage network, depending on the location and numbers of installations needed in the network. Infrastructure cabling, power requirements, displays and mounts used all affect the cost of deploying a digital signage network.

So as you can see, there are many factors that help determine the success of your digital signage business or the installation of your digital signage network.

Many of the vendors who service the digital signage market play a key role in your education on the subject. There are forums you can participate in, blogs you can follow, associations you can join and newsletters you can subscribe to that are all focused on the Digital Signage Industry.

Many of the software vendors allow for free trials of their software, including Scala and Rise Vision.

The Digital Signage Group and JB&A are specialty Value Added Distributors that focus solely on the digital signage market.

Minicom Digital Signage and others host webinars on how to get started in a digital signage business.

The first step is get started – by learning as much as you can.

Minicom Blog: How was it overall?
Dave Haar: Really good. There was a lot happening so let me recap some of the highlights. Sony introduced their Felica technology into the US. It is an interactive card that allows network owners and operators to provide customized interactive information to their stake holders through the interaction of the card with a Sony screen.
Panasonic has a new outdoor venue which is completely enclosed and has a rear projection digital sign that provides similar performance as an LCD screen. The box has a pretty large footprint and is designed to be free standing. It looks to have applications in the transit market as well as way finding in other venues but this is a very niche solution for digital solution.
NEC introduced a new on-board PC that fits into the Option slot on the Multeos machines. This device is designed to help customers deploy their digital signage networks using the LAN or WAN for content distribution.
Broadsign’s booth at Infocomm was using Minicom distribution technology to all of their screens. It was a very attractive booth showing off their world quality software. The BroadSignSuite covered all aspects of network management: from enabling efficient selling of your advertising space to ensuring that every campaign runs as scheduled and generating campaign performance reports.
Rhombus Services showed off our DS Vision® 3000 in their booth. Rhombus has extensive experience in logistic project/process management. Rhombus provides manufacturers and retailers with a reliable and trustworthy partner.
DynaSign had a new application called Digital Signage 2.0 which was interactive via a mobile phone.
Ingram Micro were there in a booth where they showed themselves to be a one-stop digital signage solution to the SMB market.

MB: What else did you notice about the show?
DH: Very well attended and had lots of different technologies. There a number there who were reaching out for partners which was interesting. Screens are bigger and there are increasinly different technologies being utilised. I was lucky enought to be able to attend a lunch given by Lyle Bunn which was very interesting.

MB: Thanks for that Dave. Look forward to next year’s instalment from Orlando.
DH: my pleasure.

I got an interesting update this week from Lisa at the Digital Signage Forum that gave me food for though. Lisa was describing a survey that has been recently published about traffic on niche web sites that made me think. Traffic seems to be very strong and ads have much more impact at sites that are not visited by the millions. It seems a very interesting fact and parallels Minicom’s message about the long tail of digital signage. We speak of there being significantly more opportunity to touch people and more opportunity to sell to people in the smaller, more focused environments for Digital Signage.
The article was also interspersed with pictures from a trip she took over the July 4th holiday to a place called Point-No-Point in Puget Sound in Washington. Having visited the Puget Sound on a number of occasions – I was once again taken in by the beauty and majesty of that area of the US. Lisa’s article can be found here.

Have you seen the Digital Signage Glossary on the 3M Digital Signage web site? I found it to be really quite informative in defining terms used in the Digital Signage and computer industries. If you haven’t seen it – you should really take a look.

If anyone has a question or comment on digital signage feel free to write to me.