Episodes
Wednesday Feb 14, 2018
Andrea Varrone, Digital Signage Expo
Wednesday Feb 14, 2018
Wednesday Feb 14, 2018
Trade show managers like to attend other trade shows to see what's going and how things are done, as well chat up exhibitors who might also want to hang a shingle at that trade show manager's own event.
So it was no surprise last week to find Andre Varrone - who runs Digital Signage Expo - walking the maze that is Integrated Systems Europe.
Her own show is coming up in just a few weeks, so we agreed to sit down and talk about why she was at ISE, but more to the point, what digital signage people will see at the end of March at DSE.
We found a place up above the crowd, which worked pretty well until near the end, when someone starts singing. Stupid me thought interviewing above the audio area, around happy hours, was clever.
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Wednesday Jan 10, 2018
Mike Blackman, Integrated Systems Europe
Wednesday Jan 10, 2018
Wednesday Jan 10, 2018
Integrated Systems Europe is now just a matter of weeks away, with the doors to the massive pro AV trade show in Amsterdam set to open on February 6th.
The show has broken attendance records in recent years, and it looks very much like the 2018 number will exceed last year's count of 73,000-plus.
ISE covers off a lot of different technologies, but of the 1,200 or so exhibitors this year, more than a third of them list digital signage as one of their product or service categories. That vendor count is twice the number of vendors who set up at DSE.
I managed to get ISE's managing director Mike Blackman to slow down for a half-hour to talk about why ISE keeps growing, who attends, and what's new and different for 2018.
We spoke by Skype, and unfortunately, the connection is a little chunky in spots. But it's still worth a listen if you are going or want to know more about the show.
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Monday Feb 13, 2017
ISE 2017 Bonus Episode
Monday Feb 13, 2017
Monday Feb 13, 2017
This is a bonus edition. I did a pile of sit-down interviews last week in Amsterdam with different execs for full-length podcasts, and you will hear those over the next several weeks. I also did some stand-ups that are already live, with four already up. These are the other four.
I normally get these things properly sound-engineered but in the interests of speed to market, I did these ones myself - so apologies if the sound and levels are a little dodgy. And there's no music.
The interviews are with RED-V from Italy, Interactivescape from Germany, AirportLabs from Romania and NodeArk from Sweden.
There will still be a regular episode up on Wednesday, with Mike Tippets of Hughes.
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Tuesday Feb 07, 2017
Special Episode: Chats From ISE 2017’s Exhibit Halls
Tuesday Feb 07, 2017
Tuesday Feb 07, 2017
This is a special edition of 16:9 Podcasts - interviews recorded in and around the RAI Amsterdam at Integrated Systems Europe this week in Amsterdam.
I am doing a bunch of sit-down podcast recordings this week in and around the giant pro AV show, to be streamed in the coming weeks, but I also wanted to grab some quick interviews about things I see in my travels around the many exhibit halls here.
On this episode, you will hear from a series of companies, large and small, including Sony, Sharp, NodeArk and Condeco. These interviews were recorded today and I am posting this as I wait for the press room happy hour to start.
Oh, it has! Yay.
I'm heading back home this weekend, and next week's podcast will be the normal format.
Also, look for a new 16:9 Projects Podcast, with Michael Tutton, coming this Friday.
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Tuesday Jan 17, 2017
Special Episode - NRF 2017
Tuesday Jan 17, 2017
Tuesday Jan 17, 2017
This is a special edition of the 16:9 Podcast - special because the format’s a little different and because I’m turning this around too quickly to get it polished up by the guy who sound engineers these things.
So no music. Maybe a bit more background noise. The levels are anything but level. But it'll do, in terms of timeliness versus studio quality.
I was just in New York the last couple of days, attending the National Retail Federation’s big trade show. I wanted to pass on some impressions from the show, but also run a couple of shorter interviews I managed to grab on the floor.
I’ll start with an interview I did with Ken Goldberg, the CEO of Real Digital Media. The well known industry executive was wearing a Stratacache shirt and had a Scala exhibitor badge hanging around his neck, so it was a little bit weird to see.
We talked about the news, just last week, that his company was acquired by Stratacache, on the heels of another software rival, Scala, also being acquired.
After that, you’ll hear an interview with Sam Vise of Unefi, a Toronto company that was at NRF showing an interesting product and service that’s built off off 20 years of providing print visuals for the retail industry, and now also does digital signage, off the same platform.
Finally, I’ll pass on some thoughts about NRF.
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Wednesday Jan 11, 2017
Mike Blackman, Integrated Systems Europe
Wednesday Jan 11, 2017
Wednesday Jan 11, 2017
Integrated Systems Europe is coming up at the start of next month in Amsterdam, and Mike Blackman is the guy who has built ISE up to be the largest pro AV show on the planet. It’s also the biggest digital signage show in terms of footprint and exhibitors, though signage is just one element of the event.
Any show that’s just weeks out is in crazy-busy mode, but Mike took some time recently to talk about the show’s roots, how it’s grown and how it works.
We talk about what to expect this year, how to plan out a visit, and how to navigate and survive a show that will likely pull more than 65,000 people and span across 14 buildings.
The good news, if you are now thinking about going, is that there are still hotel rooms available and there’s a lot of different ways to get to Amsterdam.
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Wednesday Dec 14, 2016
Andrea Varrone, Digital Signage Expo
Wednesday Dec 14, 2016
Wednesday Dec 14, 2016
Digital Signage Expo is coming up in late March in Las Vegas. It will be the 14th version of the big trade show and conference.
I sat down with DSE Show Director Andrea Varrone when she was up in Toronto last week, to run through what people should expect to see in 2017 at and around the show..
We talked about a lot of things - like what’s new and different about the upcoming show, and how the event is doing. Varrone talks about the mighty challenge of trying to grow the attendee base when more than half of it is brand new with each passing year. She has to, as she says, keep refilling the attendee bucket.
We get into some of the exhibitor rules that have made some companies cranky, and also touch on the future of a couple of spin-off shows aimed at education and corporate communications, which didn’t exactly draw mobs last month in Chicago.
If you’re a regular at DSE, or thinking about it for 2017, you’ll want to have a listen.
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Wednesday Aug 03, 2016
Florian Rotberg, Invidis
Wednesday Aug 03, 2016
Wednesday Aug 03, 2016
This week I’m speaking with Florian Rotberg, the managing director at the Munich-based digital signage consulting and events firm Invidis. Florian talks about the background of his company, and his impressions of the global digital signage market.
Rotberg goes into detail about the differences between the North American and European/EMEA market, and the challenges American and Canadian companies run into trying to expand across the Atlantic.
We had our chat in a noisier than expected press room in June at InfoComm, just ahead of the Digital Signage Summit he put on there.