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Out of personal frustration that the major digital signage events and associations pay very little attention to the growing amount of corporate communication networks, I have decided to do something about it.

With the help of Chris Bias and Eli Lilly & Company, I will be hosting the Digital Signage for Corporate Communication conference on August 10 at the Lilly Corporate Center in Indianapolis, IN.

The day-long event will provide attendees tips, tricks and techniques for running an internal digital signage network and improving communication. And as an added benefit, I hope the day will provide great networking for those involved. I hear all of the time from clients that they want to know who else is responsible for running an internal network.

And maybe the best news of all for some of you, the event will be FREE for MediaTile customers as a thank you. Non-MediaTile customers will also be able to attend at a nominal fee. The event will not be a sales pitch so we'd like for anybody running a corporate communication network will feel comfortable attending.

Lilly runs one of the largest corporate communication networks so part of the day will include a tour at the Lilly Corporate Center. So whether you've had a network for a while or are just starting one, you'll get to see one of the best in the world.

So block out the date and please stay tuned for registration information. I hope you'll be able to join us in August.

One more thing to potentially plan for is that Steve Crescenzo, an internal communication guru, is running his Corporate Communications 3.0 workshop the following day in Indy (August 11). It will be a great two days of corp comm learning. As a favor to me, Steve will also swing by our digital signage conference to share some of his wisdom.

It will make for a grew two days in Indianapolis.

Earlier this week, our award-winning HumanKiosk was given a pat on the back from Digital Signage Today. The article highlighted how new technology will change engagement through digital signage.

Keith Kelsen authored this article and is also the author "Unleashing the Power of Digital Signage – Content Strategies for the 5th Screen." Pulling a bit from the article, Keith writes:

I am always impressed by the impact of technology on media and then the impact that will have on us as viewers and media creators: Even how we define "viewer" is in flux right now.

Looking back at the technology advances of the last year and where these may lead us, we can see where "viewer" will become "participant" in the near- and long-term future.

In the near term, displays have delivered on the HD promise, but where do we go from here? What about the connected technology that creates a whole new form of engagement?

When I speak about connected technology I am talking about multilevel, multidynamic, multidimensional connections. These areas have and will create largely new, connected display systems that will transform our viewers into engaged participants.

In one type of connected displays, we have a digital signage network that allows us to change content, update ads, and receive feedback in what I call "Linear Connectedness."

With our HumanKiosk, there is true two-way interaction and communication with the viewing party. Not only are they able to interact with the content, but they have the ability to provide real-time feedback. Very powerful stuff.

For those attending NAB this week in Las Vegas, the Human Kiosk is on display in the Verizon Wireless booth (#SU8502). Check it out.

Wow. You know when you go to conferences and you may not get much out of them but you're still overly complimentary? This is not the case at all. Day 2 of the Strategy Institute's Digital Signage Content Strategies Summit was awesome. And those aren't just my words, but the feedback from other attendees.

Aside from being a consumer myself, I don't have any experience in the retail world and truly am not aware of the challenges they face in the digital world. After yesterday, color me enlightened. Just follow the hash tag #DSContent and you can see all of the messages I shared from the @MediaTile Twitter account.

The day was a good balance of what the possibilities are with digital technology along with many of the obstacles that still exist. Here are a few of my observations...

• Kevin Flatt and Mark Renshaw, Leo Burnett and Arc Worldwide, showcased the future of what digital can be in the retail world, using a great analogy of who's driving the bus. Apparently agencies are the drivers who know where they want to go but often get lost and NEVER ask for directions.
  
• Paul Flanigan, The Preset Group, led a panel of Michael Twitty, Unilever Americas, and Jim Lucas, Draftfcb. The information spewing out of Michael was amazing. I practically couldn't type fast enough about how brands are viewing digital in the consumer packaged goods world. This will lead to future blog posts.
• And we finally had our first Foursquare mention with Stephen Randall, LocaModa. Stephen did a great job showcasing how digital signage and social media content can play quite nicely in the same sandbox. His point that "you must view that your digital signage message has a range of 20 miles, not 20 feet," really hit home with the audience.
• And then there is Bob Stowe, Wendy's. Bob added an important element to the conference, highlighting the challenges faced when working with large corporations. Many wonder why quick service restaurants have been somewhat slow to adapt to digital signage. Bob outlined all of the players that get involved and the challenges with each. Though I don't think he'll be getting the key to the city of Detroit anytime soon. He mentioned that one of their stores stays open 24 hours solely due to security concerns. Yikes.
• Rudy Dearborn, MGM Mirage, outlined the history that his casino has had with the technology along with some of the unique content challenges. What was peculiar is that they use Mac Minis to drive displays and had to have custom mounts built, along with a custom digital signage software application. BUT they do a great job of utilizing existing resources and data to keep content fresh and relevant.
• And last but not least, our very own Simon Wilson and David Ozer, iPOWOW!, presented on the importance of getting instantaneous viewer feedback of what they are seeing on the screens. The audience didn't appear to be a big hunting crowd, so the example of how Hunter Specialities is using touch-screen technology in endcaps to promote their products. All kidding aside, the digital signage has given them a 30% sales uplift. That's no laughing matter.

So, all in all, a great show. But during the networking lunch, one of the attendees asked me how much of our business was in non-retail. Quite a bit in fact. He was curious why there was no attention paid to corporate communication networks.

I told him that's my challenge. That's why I do what I do. That's my crusade.

And I learned it all from my online mistress. . . Twitter. 

I didn't get into Vegas until mid-day yesterday and didn't attend any of the Tuesday Digital Signage Expo events. But thanks to Twitter and those who did tweeted their comments, I followed the #dse2010 hash tag to see what was going on.

So without further delay, here's some of the best advice I've ever read on digital signage content...


This fantastic nugget was delivered by Jason Kates of Argo Digital Solutions as part of Tuesday's activities. What's great about the advice, beyond its simplicity, is that applies to every application of digital signage. I don't care if you're installing it to help out with employee communications, upgrading menu boards for a restaurant, installing signage into banks to advertise to customers, or it's a purely ad-based network.

The philosophy works. It doesn't matter what type of network you operate. If your audience is on the go, keep your content still. If your audience is still, make your content move. I'm now going to share this with even my existing clients because I think it helps cement with people what they need to focus on when it comes to digital signage content.

And at the end of the day, that's simply what matters most. The hardware is important. And so is the software. But if people and clients don't know what to do with content, we're in trouble.

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As the Expo goes on, I'll provide updates through the event. I do recommend following the #dse2010 hash tag on Twitter, as well as the official @DSExpo account. (And it would mean a lot to me if you followed @MediaTile, too.)

Digital Signage Expo is a week away and I'm ecstatic to report that MediaTile will have quite the presence at the event in Las Vegas. To reference a memorable Bill Crystal quote in The Princess Bride, we are "storming the castle."

We have a pretty good sized booth (#1427) at the convention center, but most importantly is that several of us (employees and customers) are speaking at various sessions.

You can check out the full schedule and details of those speaking at panels and Lunch & Learns, but here are the highlights:

• Wayne Ward, Sprint, VP, Emerging Solutions
• Simon Wilson, MediaTile, CEO
• Chris Bias, APR, Eli Lilly & Company, Communications Consultant
• Robert Russell, AT&T
• Chuck Gose, MediaTile, Director Business Development & Social Media
• 
Keith Kelsen, Author "Unleashing the Power of Digital Signage - Content Strategies for the 5th Screen" 

In addition to the panels, the Ad Council, the nation’s leading provider of PSAs will highlight its PSACasting initiative powered by the MediaCast content delivery and management system. PSACasting will make it easy for operators to browse, preview and download current Ad Council PSAs for various causes, such as Haiti relief, to digital signage networks. Visit Booth #C7 in the content pavilion.

We've seen Americans respond in positive and dramatic ways to help Haiti and her people attempt to recover from the devastating earthquakes. And getting the word out more and more only helps.

Through a partnership between the Ad Council and MediaTile, PSACasting.org has three different Hatian relief PSAs that are available to download for any digital signage network.

It's important to note that you do not need to be a MediaTile customer to take advantage of these PSAs or others provided by the Ad Council. You just need to log in or sign up on PSACasting.org to download the videos.

So whether you're running a digital out-of-home network in retail, banks or for employee communications, please consider downloading these important PSAs and adding them to your content playlists.

If you missed last week's Digital Signage supplement in USA Today, you weren't the only one. The 16-page pull-out supplement only appeared in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. I suppose those are USA Today's major markets because it reached more than two million subscribers.

But unless you're in one of those cities or an industry junkie, you likely missed it. If you're interested, you can download it courtesy of Digital Signage Today.

Publications like this one (and the second time it's happened) is truly great exposure for the industry and the leading experts and contributors. I was hoping there would at least been a mention of corporate communication in the publication but alas there wasn't. Some of our most successful deployments are for corporate communicators but maybe we are in the minority. However, there are still threads in the supplement's articles that can be helpful to those looking to install an internal network.

You can check out MediaTile's ad on page 3 of the supplement, underneath the article on Digital Signage Expo.

Last week, I was in Chicago for the Strategy Institute Building Your Digital Signage Business. This is the fourth Strategy Institute conference I've been to and it was another solid conference.

If you are interested in a conference "play by play" both myself and David Drain tweeted throughout the show. You can follow along at #BuildDSBiz.

Though there was a sort of a good news/bad news situation with the show. The good news? MediaTile had a 32" Digital Sign in a Box set up there which generated a lot of questions through the two-day show. The bad news? I couldn't always pay full attention to each of the speakers.

Here are some of my thoughts and observations on the show...

• I was really interested to hear from Tom Campbell, Healthy Advice Networks. I had heard so much about their digital signage network but never really knew the details. He said they use a reverse "Field of Dreams" approach. Meaning, they let the customers (doctors & patients) dictate if a screen is put in place. Health Advice has been around for several years but it was surprising they use dial-up to deliver content to the screens. But if that's what works, then it's working well for them. 
   
• Later on, Pierre Richer, NEC, spoke about overcoming some of the current industry challenges. He said that the current glut of content management systems (CMS) is making ad buys harder. I'm guessing it's going to stay this way until there is some great consolidation within the digital signage industry. I don't see anybody stepping aside to help other vendors.
   
• Later in the afternoon, the debate around SaaS versus a hosted solution took place. I've blogged about it several times here before, but both Greg Argyle, GoGo Cast, and Sanjay Manandhar, Aerva, spoke about the pros and cons of each choice. It seemed to me that the choice might simply come down to a company's culture or appetite for SaaS. if they use it in other areas, then they'll likely use it for digital signage.
   
• Bill Collins, DecisionPoint Media Insights, closed out day one with a highlight of 2009 developments. I'm still a little peeved at Bill for calling corporate communication networks "vanilla" (at the Digital Hub Initiative) but I'm sure I'll get over it.
   
• OVAB's ears must have been burning during the show. They were mentioned so often attendees could have turned it into a drinking game.
   
• I feel one of the more informative sessions was led by Tom Kunka, University of Illinois, and Michael Hoffberg, Villanova University. Both gave a brief review of their networks and it was interesting to see how each school has approached digital signage differently but both appear to be successful with their implementations. And even in the education market, the debate of SaaS versus hosted software rages on.
   
• The conference switched to content, but from unique areas. Manolo Almagro, Show & Tell Productions, focused on user generated content (UGC). I think this was extremely helpful for the audience because there are so many sources for this and Manolo did a great job at highlighting the key sources and provided tips on how to best use them.
  
  Then one of our customers, Chris Bias, Eli Lilly & Company, reviewed his global communication network that he's installing at Lilly locations around the world. At a corporate level, Chris is able to deliver the broader messages to employees around the world, but then give local administrators access to add in their own unique local messaging. This feature is key for any company looking at a larger corporate communication install.
   

As I wrote earlier, I would have liked to have been able to pay more attention to all of the speakers, but I also had a chance to meet a lot of new people and answer their questions about the MediaTile solution. At last year's conference, which also took place in Chicago, we were one of four companies exhibiting. This year, we were the only one. I'm not sure why we were the only one, but others missed out I think.

I scoured around looking for other conference recaps and found this one from AdSemble's Matt Olivieri, who was also in attendance.
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P.S. On a side note, I'd like to personally thank and congratulate Keith Kelsen on his new ventures. I've known Keith for several years, first as a customer when I was at Rolls-Royce and Keith was MediaTile's CEO. He is now moving on to bigger and (maybe) better and I wish him all the best. Four years ago I told him MediaTile had the perfect corporate communication solution and he gave me a chance to prove that. For that, I will be forever grateful.

Today's guest entry is contributed by Pegi Patwardhan.

(Pegi started as an advertising executive in 1998 at a b2b technology agency, responsible for all media used in the marketing mix (online, email marketing, direct mail, magazine, events).  Her focus has always been finding ways to shorten the sales cycle for her clients - and has found MediaTile an excellent vehicle for making that happen.)

Banking and digital signage together makes sense.  Customers have a need to know and
learn about their finances. The bank team needs to have current information.
MediaTile has recently added another chain of banks to its list of happy clients.   (Due to  confidentiality agreements, I can't name the bank yet).

What I can talk about is why they chose to go with MediaTile.  Corporate headquarters was looking for a way to deliver specific, targeted messaging to each of its branches, while maintaining consistency in its branding effort.  They also wanted to offer their customers more of a professional experience. Multiple POP displays and printed materials were cluttering branch lobbies and surfaces; by switching to MediaTile, they were able to update their lobby with a sleek and professional, modern look.

Overwhelmingly, banks cite their concern for security as the number one reason not to use digital signage in their facilities. The security of the bank's network is paramount.  However, MediaTile's built-in cellular networking feature eliminates the need to tie into any on-site infrastructure, insulating the signage network from sensitive customer data.

What can digital signage bring to banks?  It can personalize and support core knowledge for everyone who visits.  With MediaTile, banks can also educate customers on their other products and service offerings in a fresh and enticing way. It can offer relevant and timely advice.  It can reassure everyone, with up to the minute information.  That is the service, the value and the purpose of digital signage.

While visiting a range of channel and cellular carrier partners last week in the UK and the Benelux region I was able to spend a day at the Self Service Expo and Digital Signage Show Europe at Olympia in London.  One of our value-added solution partners, Box Technologies, was exhibiting there, so I spent a day chatting with network operators and prospective customers as they came across the Box stand.

I also met with Bill Yackey, Editor of Digital Signage Today, who was speaking on both days of the show covering some great statistics and trends for the industry as a whole. Bill has a very comprehensive write up of the show and event on the Digital Signage Today web site.

For those of you who have visited London in the last few years you will know all about the new Traffic Congestion Charge – in effect a toll charge for entering central London by car.  A masterful ruse to raise money for local government projects all in the name of reducing pollution and the British carbon footprint – trouble is less people are coming into London as a result and business generally suffers - Hence the phrase of the moment in London; “the Traffic Congestion Charge effect”. 

Meanwhile, back at the 2009 Signage Show, the number of digital signage exhibitors was down on 2008, traffic flows reduced, and general activity levels more subdued. Well the view through my rose-tinted spectacles was somewhat more positive.  I saw solid traffic-flow across the exhibition stand, well-qualified and educated prospects, great questions, and folks ready to buy and deploy. 

According to my colleagues, this was true on both days, not just the day I spent at the show.   What was also interesting was the proportion of value added solution providers rather than network owner/operators who were looking for technology partners. These ranged from creative agencies, and merchandising firms, to managed service providers and network management firms.  No longer is this an industry whose channel is dominated by AV integrators.  The emphasis of the value chain or ‘solution stack’ has definitely shifted upstream to consulting, content, and service.

So no doubt the general economic condition has had an impact on our industry with the UK being no exception - but the quality of customers and vendors has improved as a result of this shake out – not only can they afford to pay the Traffic Congestion Charge but they are also ready and willing to buy.

Keepin' it Simple

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Photo credit, SimonDoggett

I had originally intended this post to be more of a "Day 2 recap" of sorts. But since MediaTile is a digital signage company, I felt I should focus on the panel that discussed what we do - digital signage.

The session was good, but also disappointing. But the disappointment didn't have anything to do in particular with the panelists but more so with the limited time. The session was scheduled to last 45 minutes and we got a late start. It's just too big of a topic to even provide an overview in 45 minutes or less. (That's me in the far right of the photo, Twittering away in the session.)

Tim Burke, of Electronic Arts and also known as @kioskguy, moderated the session and did a great job of keeping the conversation moving. Here's the goods and not-so-goods of the session.

Goods:

• Bill Collins, DecisionPoint Media Insights, gave a brief yet informative "digital signage 101" discussion.
   
• The panelists all agreed that companies should be using commercial-grade digital signage hardware and not the consumer-grade stuff that might appear cheaper in the short run but users will pay over the long haul.

Not-so-goods:

• The beauty of digital signage is that it delivers dynamic and relevant content. Yet the samples in the room weren't networked and one screen showed old weather for Lincoln, Nebraska. Nebraska? We're in Cincinnati. Now I'm sure this is because some signage doesn't work unless you set up an expensive IT network. Maybe somebody should look at cellular digital signage. Hey wait, I think I know somebody...
   
• Bill Collins is a smart man, but I was a bit offended when he described corporate communication networks as "vanilla" and ad-based networks as chocolate. He said they're vanilla because they aren't as exciting. I beg to differ. I had a lot of fun managing networks. I like vanilla. You can add all sorts of great toppings to vanilla ice cream. I'll give Bill a pass on this one.

I was glad to see digital signage included in the Digital Hub non-Conference, but 45 minutes just isn't enough. Maybe we can do more in 2010. One idea might be to focus on a small successful case study for each vertical market (retail, transportation, hospitality, corp comm, etc.).

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On a side yet important note, I wanted to personally thank and congratulate all of those responsible for putting on this year's Digital Hub non-Conference. Without a doubt, it was one of the best comms-related conferences I've ever attended. They pulled together a phenomenal group of speakers and session leaders and everything appeared to run smoothly despite all of the rain. I'm looking forward to bigger and better in 2010. Get to work! :)
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Photo credit, marybethonline

Later this week, I'll be trekking down to Cincinnati to attend the Digital Hub Initiative. It looks to be an event right up my alley because it's a smoothie of communications and technology. Local AMA, Ad Club, IABC, PRSA chapters are involved, as well as the Digital Signage Association.

It's refreshing to see the digital signage community get involved in a show like this one, and not just the likes of Digital Signage Expo and other industry-specific shows (nothing against those of course).

Labeled "all things digital," the two-day event (September 24-25) features a digital signage panel on Friday. I'm looking forward to the cast of characters appearing on the panel. Only one panelist appears to be a digital signage network operator, but we'll see where the discussion goes. Taking a glance at the full schedule shows off a diverse cast of speakers from a variety of fields.

I don't think it's too late to register if you're interested. Here's the event summary from the site:
Often times, conferences can be a letdown but I know some of the people organizing this one and I am expecting great things. Any conference that focuses on improving communication is always worth attending.

A communications and technology smoothie.

I've been writing posts for this blog for more than a year now, but I've hardly seen anybody else writing about digital signage for employee communications. But there's hope out there.

Mark Allen, like me, is convinced that companies are scrambling to keep employees in the loop. In his post, Mark goes through a variety of helpful lists regarding content and hardware to make sure you're properly evaluating a solution.

So many digital signage products out there have one main server that "pushes" content to the screens. But what happens if this server goes down or is there an error? Black screens, yikes. Mark recommends one media player per screen. This is precisely what our Digital Sign in a Box provides.

He goes on to support the use of a variety of networking options (LAN, Wi-Fi, etc.), but specifically points out the importance of cellular. THAT'S WHAT WE DO! And we're the first to do it. It's like this guy is writing an ad for MediaTile. Download our networking data sheet to learn more.

I hope to see others in the industry, like Mark and me, pop and support the use of digital signage for communication in the workplace.

A large part of my week is spent keeping up with the Jones's...websites.  Everything is constantly shifting in the world of web marketing, the rules (and search engine algorithms) change by the day. Because of this, exhaustive efforts are made to curry favor with the Great White Whale of the internet: Google.

Google is frighteningly intelligent.

Have you ever noticed how Google appears to anticipate what you are REALLY looking for?  You might enter the phrase "used auto parts Toyota" in the search box and Google returns twenty listings for used Toyota parts...in your neighborhood. 

That level of accuracy merely skims the surface of what Google can do; there are a whole host of tools Google provides webmasters of which the casual web user is unaware.

AdSense is one such tool.  AdSense, in a nutshell, matches relevant ads to a site's content.  Google already does this exceedingly well, but recently has announced what they call "improved contextual targeting."  You'll find yourself on a website, say, planning a ski trip to snowy Lake Tahoe, and what will appear next to the lodging options but a cozy ad for L.L. Bean.  Coincidence? Obviously not, but what you may not realize is that that ad was served up to you from a pool of ads, dynamically.  

We coach our digital signage operators to take a similar approach with respect to management of their networks.  It's insufficient merely to create compelling visuals for digital displays.  These days, contextual targeting is everything.  Know your audience, understand their habits, anticipate their needs and deliver your messages at the right place, at the right time.

One advantage digital signage advertisers have over internet advertisers is that the targeted consumer is already out of the house!  (In fact, the industry term is "Digital Out of Home", or DOOH) It's much easier to sell paint to a person in a hardware store than it is to a person lounging on their couch with a laptop. 

Context.

Just flash back a few years ago, and it seemed like corporate social responsibility (referred to as CSR) was all the rage. Companies were spending lots of time putting together official plans on where their charitable resources and budgets were going to be spent.

And rightfully so. Times were good. Companies were profitable. People had jobs.

We made plans and the economy laughed.

Now, I don't hear anyone talking about it. Instead, internal communications pros are more focused on keeping their own jobs (and unfortunately keeping a low profile). Like HR is playing their own game of Whack-a-mole.

But as the economy improves, I'm confident companies large and small will again focus on their CSR strategies and plans. But I am curious to hear from you if you think corporate communication networks will take advantage of the free PSACasting.org?

If you are running or plan to run your own signage network, would you mingle Ad Council PSAs with your corporate content? Inquiring minds want to know.
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Photo credit, terren in Virginia

We announced some great news today that other leaders in the digital signage industry have gotten behind what we are doing with the Ad Council. Reflect Systems, PRN and SeeSaw Networks have given their support for PSACasting.org. Check out the full announcement.

In short, PSACasting will provide royalty-free access to the Ad Council's rich library of public service announcements. The site is now accepting early sign-ups. So if you run your own digital signage network or develop digital signage content for networks, get signed up today.

I first blogged about this just last May so things are moving along quite quickly with the project. We expect to have the full site and all of the PSAs up and ready in time for Advertising Week in New York City at the end of September.

I'm excited and proud to see MediaTile involved and leading this effort. DOOH networks are reaching more and more people every day. PSACasting is giving the Ad Council's messages thes ame reach.

I love it when posts on other blogs ask simple questions that frankly I've never really considered. Today I read this post that pins the value of internal communications to the quality of people representing them.

I get it. There's a strong correlation between value and quality. Quality people do quality work. They are engaged in the business and are able to properly frame messages and provide perspective.

For the most part, I agree with this statement but there are quite a few holes in such a general statement, with the biggest being who represents internal communications. Certainly there is a lot of communication going on that falls outside the scope and control of communications professionals.

If you're in a manufacturing environment, it's likely that supervisors play a large role in communicating to the workers. Communicators can provide them information and hopefully help coach supervisors, but at the end of the day, they lose control of the communication. And at this point, that supervisor is now representing internal communications.

Plus, the quality of vehicles plays a key role as well. If you have a horribly designed newsletter that comes out only sporadically, that certainly won't help the quality of your communication. If you invested in poorly designed or ad-hoc digital signage network, you're only doing employee communications a disservice.

The quality of people in internal communications is important, but the messages and vehicles play key roles.

What do you think?

Here's this week's rundown.

Monday, May 4, 2009
What do apples have to do with digital signage?
Absolutely nothing. But as many companies search for digital signage vendors, they inevitably and understandably try to make an apples-to-apples comparison. It can be frustrating for those interested because vendors go about it their own way because they think their way is the best way to do it.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009
New LinkedIn Group: Digital Signage for Corporate Communications
Yesterday I read this post about five tips for managing a LinkedIn group and it inspired me to create one for my passion: Digital Signage for Corporate Communications. This LinkedIn group is a place where communicators can separate from the pack a bit and share their experiences with the technology. I'm also hoping members will discuss various content ideas and formats.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009
MediaTile discussing employee communication at Kioskcom
MediaTile's very own Keith Kelsen will be chairing a very cool session at this week's Kioskcom. It's titled "Employee Communication: Digital Signage to Communicate to Internal Customers." I'm thrilled to see the corporate communication segment being addressed at an industry show. It's a rare occasion.

Wednesday, May 6
MediaTile and the Ad Council team up for digital signage content
This morning MediaTile announced a first-of-its-kind partnership with The Advertising Council, the nation's leading producer of public service advertising campaigns. Through this relationship, MediaTile and the Ad Council will now provide a free service for digital signage network operators to easily add PSAs to their digital signage programming schedules.

Thursday, May 7
MediaTile taking part in the Ragan Corporate Communicators Conference
Today I'm in Chicago for the Ragan Corporate Communicators Conference. It's a healthy gathering of communications professionals from various companies and entities all over the country. So far, I've had some very interesting conversations with communicators who were interested in digital signage but were rejected by their IT departments. Surprised?

Friday, May 8
Butterflies for this morning's digital signage presentation
What's causing the butterflies to start fluttering around is that digital signage rarely gets much publicity at corporate communication events. It's a rare occasion. I feel like this is a one-shot deal to spread the message about how the technology can dramatically improve corporate internal communications.

And here are some other interesting reads from the week:

• Layoffs are hard for everyone
   
• How Twitter can make you a better writer
   
• Too much free
   
• Employee engagement: Bad for your health?
   
• The Digital Signage Show and my reactions

I used to work in the not-for-profit world and can remember how much of a never-ending challenge it was to get PSAs (public service announcements) aired on TV. And even if they did air, it was during the ever-coveted time slot of 3 am. Effective? Not likely.

The world is changing. This morning MediaTile announced a first-of-its-kind partnership with The Advertising Council, the nation's leading producer of public service advertising campaigns. Through this relationship, MediaTile and the Ad Council will now provide a free service for digital signage network operators to easily add PSAs to their digital signage programming schedules.

PSA Casting (as its being called) is planned for release in the fall of 2009 and will provide royalty-free access to the rich library of PSAs, previously available only to traditional media networks.

I'm sure the Ad Council is as excited about this as we are. Not only will this service expand the needed reach of the PSAs and their important messages, but it will also provide fresh content for your digital signs. And if you have a corporate communications network, digital signage could now play a key role in your corporate social responsibility planning. I'll be curious to see if this will increase self-made PSAs for content owners to run on their own screens.

If you'd like more information, you can download the full announcement. You can also check out the Ad Council's YouTube channel for a sampling of their PSAs. They are all very well done.

Here's this week's blog rundown...

Monday, March 23
Are you going to be at GlobalShop 2009? Keith Kelsen is.
Digital Signage Man of the Year, also known as MediaTile's Keith Kelsen, will not only be at GlobalShop 2009, he's participating on one panel (the first one listed below) and moderating another (the second) on Tuesday, March 24.

Tuesday, March 24
Are you pushing out "cookie cutter" internal communications?
I've seen it way too often. Corporate communicators responsible for employee communications receive direction from above that they must use certain communication vehicles, because well, "that's what you're supposed to do." This direction could originate from company execs or various communication groups.

Wednesday, March 25
Previews you'll want to check out
With the launch of Mediacast 4.0, we added a new feature that's going to be huge for all of our MediaTile customers, including those running employee communications networks.

Thursday, March 26
Add some MediaTile magic to your existing LCD screens
When I speak to many prospective customers on the phone about our Digital Sign in a Box solution, I then hear one of these statements:"But we already have an LCD sign in our lobby," or, "My company bought plasmas a year ago. Can we use them?"

Thursday, March 26
Globalshop observations from The (Digital Signage) Man (of the Year)
As I mentioned earlier in the week, our very own Keith Kelsen took part in two different panels at this year's Globalshop in Vegas. Here's what he had to say.

Friday, March 27
Fill in the workplace communication gap
Of the employee respondents to a Threshold Communications survey, only a frightening 29% feel their line manager takes time to talk through company plans with them. This means that seven out of 10 employees who rely on managers do not feel they are getting the information they need.

And here are a few other articles I thought you might find interesting:

• Inexpensive video solutions
   
• Effective communication is critical to boosting employee confidence
   
• Outsourcing: the hidden communication dangers
   
• Boosting employee productivity
  
  
• Punch line first, please (This is a great post reminding to communicate first what employees want to know.)