Corporate Communication Technology

Once again, I will be moderating a panel at Digital Signage Expo on digital signage for corporate communication. We've got a slightly new structure for this year's session based on feedback from last year's attendees. 

At industry event like this one, internal signage doesn't have the same "sex appeal" as signage for retail and other external means. But I know we are grateful that the DSE organizers continue to give us a platform to highlight these "hidden" networks. 

If you're attending this year's Expo out in Vegas, I'd love to see you come to our session titled, "Content strategies for workplace digital signage." It's Thursday morning (March 8) at 9am.

On the panel this year we have Frank Kenna (President, The Marlin Co.), Chris Bias (Communications Consultant, Eli Lily and Co.) and Brian Wood (Arizona Director of Operations, Waste Management). Chris is a customer of ours but it will be nice to have perspective of others on this year's panel.  

If there are questions you'd like for the panel to address, leave them in the comments section below. 

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The Super Bowl is less than two weeks away and MediaTile will be there. . . sort of. Let me explain.

MediaTile is headquartered out of California, but I live and work in Indianapolis, this year's host of the Super Bowl. It's been a point of pride for the city ever since the NFL announced Indy as the host for the big game. 

Well now it's here and we're ready show off the city. The Super Bowl Host Committee asked me and 45 other local social media enthusiasts to join its #Social46 crew. Our task is helping spread the word about all of the great events going on in the city and improving communication to our networks, leading up to the matchup between the Giants and Patriots. 
 They are calling this year's game the most urban is history, thanks to Lucas Oil Stadium's great downtown location. And we are working to also make it the most connected in history. Mashable has written about the Social Media Command Center, which we will all have access to. 

If you're on Twitter and either heading to the Super Bowl or just want to check out what's going on, be sure to follow #social46 and share anything with your network that are helpful or interesting. 


So what does this have to do with digital signage or MediaTile? Nothing, except that I work here. But one of MediaTile's partners, Verizon Wireless, is making news with its 4G LTE network. Our digital signage hardware, including the HumanKiosk, can all run on Verizon's super fast network. 

A few years back when Indy hosted the Final Four, it was nearly impossible to send out a call or text due to the bandwidth crunch from tens of thousands of visitors. 

Now with hundreds of thousands coming into town, Verizon is doing its part to help. As this Super Bowl is the first with 4G LTE, Verizon is prepared for its customers by adding all sorts of extra bandwidth. This makes me happy since I have a Verizon Wireless MiFi device. 

Check out this video from Gotta Be Mobile for more details on Verizon's work. 

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I’m delighted to announce that a new guide on 3G / 4G Cellular-based Digital Signage is now available from Digital Signage Today.  As the recognized leader in cellular digital signage, MediaTile has been the proud sponsor of this whitepaper for the past 5 years.

The new 2012 edition includes an expanded section on 4G services and additional information on the growth of M2M (machine to machine) initiatives from worldwide cellular carriers.  Given all the recent interest in, and growth of 4G networks, I expect that this new edition will be equally, if not more popular, than last year’s.

Last year, this whitepaper made the “Top 10 list of most popular downloads” each and every month from the Digital Signage Today site.  Another clear indication that there is tremendous interest in 3G and 4G-based digital signage solutions.  At MediaTile, we believe 4G is truly a “disruptive technology” as it has leveled the playing field between cellular networks and tethered LAN-based networks in terms of bandwidth.  You can now grab the equivalent of 3 to 5 T1 lines right out of the air.

For anyone interested in how 4G wireless broadband networks are expanding the addressable market for digital signage, download the “3G/4G Cellular-based Digital Signage” guide.   As always, we’re delighted to share our expertise in this dynamic and growing market.

I rarely read fiction books. And when I say "rarely," I mean never. (Unless of course I'm reading to my kids at night.)

As it turns out, people are better off for reading fiction. I've always held the belief that there are so many great non-fiction (real life) stories out there that I shouldn't waste my time reading "made up stories." (Those are my words.)

But a new study in Scientific American discusses how fiction can hone social skills. But they aren't talking about Twitter, Facebook and so forth. It's about relating and interacting with actual people - real social skills. This might be a foreign concept to many but is a part of building a successful employee communications career.

Researcher Keith Oatley describes what reading fiction does for our minds:

1. Reading stories can fine-tune your social skills by helping you better understand other human beings.
2. Entering imagined worlds builds empathy and improves your ability to take another person’s point of view.
3. A love affair with narrative may gradually alter your personality—in some cases, making you more open to new experiences and more socially aware.

All three of these would not only make a professional a better coworker, but they would also make someone a better communicator. Think about all of the situations where an employee communicator has to read someone's body language and adjust. It's practically an every day situation.

In corporate communications, you often are challenged with telling the story about or by somebody else. Imagine how much easier and relevant that is when you simply better understand them as a person and can take in their point of view. 

I've known that reading more makes people better writers. That's why I read so many blogs. So it shouldn't be surprising that reading fiction would make us a better human being. 

___________________
Image by kevinspencer

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If you thought Las Vegas couldn’t jam more blinking lights into its city limits, the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) has news for you – Vegas can and did.

In arguably its biggest show ever, CES allowed consumers and companies alike to see what the future holds in the consumer technology marketplace. From Ultra-flat panel 3D TVs to Justin Beiber, CES delivered the goods.

MediaTile was prominently featured in both the Verizon Wireless and Alcatel Lucent booths in the form of The GameTime Media Table. After winning the 2012 DIGI Award for "Best New Content Management Software/Web-based”, absent was “The HumanKiosk” featuring Video Presence. But born from the same value propositions of being cellular connected and cloud controlled, The GameTime Media Table delivered the rich on screen content and unique experiences over 4G LTE that drew visitors to both booths consistently over three days. This is super-powered cellular digital signage. 

The GameTime Media Table showcases multiple interactive features including the ability to upload and display pictures instantly from your smart phone, play music, watch movie previews and the coup de grace: playing video games (single or multi player) where smart phones act the controllers. So if you are thinking to yourself, ‘MediaCast can deliver media like movie/music files, streaming videos, live intelligently routed video calls, interactive gaming and everything in between!’ your thinking would be spot on. Verizon’s network and Brass Monkey’s video games deliver the blows, but it’s the MediaCast muscle that ensures maximum impact (also in attendance at CES was UFC Heavyweight Champion Alistair Overeem, hence the metaphor). Gaming on digital signage... and then some!

It was great to be part of CES and MediaTile is honored to partner with industry leaders like Verizon Wireless and Alcatel Lucent to launch solutions that will steer the industry and delight users for years to come…or at least until CES 2013.

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I'm not.

I've admitted that here on this blog. But in a lot of large corporations, employee engagement surveys can be a necessary evil for employee communication professionals. You can only fight them for so long. 

So if your company is bound and determined to conduct an engagement survey, here are some tips from CustomInsight to improve the response rate. 

1. Ensure anonymity. 
2. Secure an endorsement from senior management. 
3. Keep the survey brief. 
4. Explain the benefits to all employees. 
5. Explain the next steps. 
6. Follow through on your promises. 
7. Offer team incentives. 

Anonymity of an engagement survey can lead to a low response, but it's also required to receive proper feedback. One of those double-edged swords. Numbers two through six are all points that corporate communication can certainly help with. Keeping the survey brief may be one of the more difficult points to accomplish though. 

But the last point can be a tricky one. I'm not so sure offering team incentives will deliver the proper results. If you're conducting an employee engagement survey, I feel your pain. And it's not pain I'm looking to experience any time soon. 



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I'll be the first to admit that I do not make New Year's resolutions. But people making promises and commitments to themselves is a good thing. Melcrum published a piece about 8 New Year's resolutions for internal communication pros. 

Some are weak, but some also have a lot of value. I added my two cents in italics. Here we go...

1. Think of outcome, not output

   Focus on business outcomes, not simply on producing communication collateral. Use communication as a means to an end, not an end in itself. There’s a big difference between saying “who’s got some stories for this month’s team brief?” and asking “what’s the most important challenge for our organization this month? How can we use the team-briefing time to address it?” Resolve to ask your internal customers what their most pressing business goal is for 2012. Next, ask what employees need to know, feel and do differently to help meet that goal. Then, work out what you as a communicator can do to help increase people’s knowledge or understanding, influence their opinions and motivate them to take action.
   
   The big takeaway here is asking what employees need to know. Typically a lot of companies will determine this for employee instead of hearing from employees. 
   
   
2. Be a better business person
   Find out more about your industry, your organization’s plan for the coming year and the opportunities and challenges that may lie ahead. Get to know the most important performance measures and make sure you’re up to date on the results. Increase your business knowledge and you’ll enhance your credibility too.
   
   Simple things like understanding a balance sheet, income statement, productivity reports, etc. can help improve your street cred with your bosses. 
   
   
3. Choose tactics that’ll actually work

   Think about the last time you changed your opinion about something. Or a recent occasion when you were motivated to take action. Were you prompted by reading a web article? Or were you influenced perhaps by conversations with trusted friends or colleagues? Perhaps you heard a personal story that made you think? Next time you choose the tactics for a communication plan, don’t just fall into your usual habits. Think about what you can do that has some chance of impacting attitudes or behaviors.
   
   This is what I call the "how about" conversations. Stop doing the status quo and determine what will work best. Or better yet, create your own solution. 
   
   
4. Get to know employees better
   This year, resolve to spend less time at your desk and more time out there understanding what employees care about, who and what they listen to and trust, what’s getting in the way of them doing their jobs and how you can help. Ask their advice when you’re choosing communication tactics. Test out approaches before you put them into action. And get to know when a one-size-fits-all approach isn’t good enough.
   
   See #1. 
   
   
5. Speak like real people
   Please let this year be the one where we stop spouting meaningless corporate jargon. Talking about “streamlining operational propositions” or “moving forward with world class efficiencies” will only serve to drive a bigger gap between leaders and employees. Be the person who asks the stupid questions about what things really mean. And be aware when you really are becoming a spin doctor, in danger of fudging the facts and trying to put a positive slant on events, when the right thing would be to tell it as it is.
   
   We all know better than to speak in corporate lingo, but we still get sucked in. This year, don't get sucked in. Avoid using the word "paradigm." 
   
   
6. Measure something that matters
   So employees like your newsletter and you know what the hit rates were on your last intranet article. What difference does it make? Go back to the business goal you were trying to achieve. What actions were you trying to influence people to take to move the organization nearer to the goal? In what way were you inviting them to reconsider their attitudes? Where were you aiming to increase their knowledge? Find out whether you succeeded and how much of a difference you made. Measure activities that actually have an impact on business results.
   
   This is one of those "easier said than done" situations. Measuring internal communications is important but also very tricky. Work closely with your managers and leadership to define "what matters." Get their buy-in. 
   
   
7. Ask what you can do differently to increase your influence
   Next time you find yourself complaining your leader isn’t listening to you or won’t do what you want, don’t focus on that list of 10 things you wish they’d do differently. Ask yourself what you’re doing that’s contributing to the situation. Find at least one thing you could do differently to improve it. Start by looking at things from their perspective. If you were them, why would you be behaving this way? What would be leading you to think as you do? And what could that person in the internal communication team do to help make things easier?
   
   Having executive support is important. If you don't have it, go get it. The right leader can be a trail blazer for you.
   
   
8. Make this year count

   Probably the biggest thing I’ve learnt over the years is that there’s a difference between “being busy” and using communication to achieve a result and actually getting a result for your organization and the people in it. If your leaders question whether you’re adding value, to be honest, there’s probably a reason for it. Make this the year you can say you made a positive difference.
   
   Now's the time to start over with a clean slate. If you want to do things differently, no better time to start than now. 

Did you establish any communication resolutions for you or your team?

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We put a lot of work into our blog (and I hope those that read it find our posts helpful). I thought I'd go back and find the top eight most-read blog posts from the past year. Why eight? Because it was a crazy year. 

I hope you enjoy. 

1. If you're in employee communications, watch this video now
   
   
2. The top holiday gift ideas for internal communicators
   
   
3. What impact did Twitter have on the IABC World Conference? 
   
   
4. Digital signage and the Powerpoint problem
   
   
5. Repetition is key to successful internal communication
   
   
6. Another incredible milestone for the digital signage community
   
   
7. Digital signage gets its own Twitter parody
   
   
8. When redundant communication is effective communication

And for those who question the value of blogging, we had two posts that were written back in 2009 that were part of our most read. 

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What a great way to kick off the New Year. Digital Signage Magazine awarded MediaTile the coveted 2012 DIGI Award for our innovative MediaCast Video Presence system.  

MediaCast Video Presence, which powers the revolutionary HumanKiosk solution, has received a first place award for Best New Product in the New Content Management Software/Web Based (SaaS) category.  

'Tis the season of giving. But do you have that hard-to-buy-for employee communicator in your life and are struggling with what to get them for Christmas?

To help you with ideas, I reached out to several of my employee communication friends on Twitter to see what they thought every communicator needs on his or her Christmas list. Some were serious. But most were not. 

Dana Leeson A suit of armor to protect you when delivering honest feedback to the CEO about their approach to an employee briefing to deflecting missile launched laptops when you remove the coveted cafeteria menu from the intranet. 
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Colleen Hawk An extra large bottle of aspirin, an additional two hours in the day, and clients who don't try to do your job.
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Paul Barton Starbucks gift card (caffeine is our lifeblood), kitchen sink (we do everything), hat rack (we wear many hats), & a CPR course (we bring dead copy to life). 
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Steve Crescenzo The Kodak Zi6 HD Pocket Video Camera with a microphone and cord for better audio. 
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Rachel Miller Mine would be scissors to cut through red tape & silos to enable conversations to happen. That or a fabulous pair of Jimmy Choos!
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Sean Williams Three things: subscriptions to Melcrum's IC Hub & Strategic Communications Management magazine, plus a course in knowledge management.
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Christy Loerzel Advil. No really - a case for iPad/old school notebook. Nice pens and notebooks rate with me!
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Dave Meyer Evernote Premium for papers (and a Fujitsu Scansnap to import their papers)
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Jenni Wheller Honesty... So we can understand more and support our colleagues better
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Christopher Swan I'd go with the external communications experience. Consumer marketing and social features can translate to the internal world. Stretch your ideas!
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Jeremy Schultz I recently bought the Tascam DR-05 digital recorder…light years better than my old one.
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If you have your own gift idea, please share it in the comments and I'll add them to the list. Or better yet, post them on Twitter with the hashtag #icgifts. 

_____________________
Image via Kevin Dooley

I meant to get to this post much sooner but work got in the way. Connect '11 was promoted as the first corporate communication conference of its kind. And it turned out to be very, very true. It was billed as a unique event dedicated to helping communicators connect to the digitally disconnected worker. 

Now the term "disconnected" can be viewed in many ways and many of the speakers focused on that. And though not every speaker kept with the "digitally disconnected" theme, all of the lessons learned were extremely valuable. 

And kudos to the MSL Atlanta staff and PRSA for pulling together what I shared as the most organized and comfortable conference I've ever attended. We've all been at events where little annoyances can ruin the overall experience. But this was not the case with Connect '11. 

Attendees stayed in the same room all day (one track) but there was no fighting for the golden seat by the power outlet. The room was set up lecture style, stadium seating, with several power outlets at every seat. And I have to mention the ice cream sandwiches throughout the day. You can never go wrong there. 

But the ultimate strength of the conference was the variety of speakers. Large companies, small companies. Some names you've heard of, some you haven't. But all of them were well-prepared and well-spoken. 

I also did something different at this event than previous employee communication conferences I've been at. Rather than just take notes, I blogged my thoughts. Below you can read the key takeaways from each of the sessions. 

• Guenther Scherelis and Tommi Paris, Volkswagen Group of America: “Building a New Plant with New People in a New Place: The Role of Internal Communications at Volkswagen Chattanooga”
• Tom Walter, Tasty Catering: "Engage or Entangle? How to Link Communications Objectives That Result in Employee Entanglement"
• Mark Mills, Nationwide Insurance: "Connecting Employees with the Brand"
• Renee Kopkowski, Mars Chocolate North America: “The Power of Intentional Conversations”
• Pete Tosches, The ServiceMaster Company: "'Who Uses That Website Anyway?' Communication Secrets from the Front Lines"
• Kim Lott and Wendy Davies-Popelka, John Deere: “Connecting with Disconnected Employees: Successfully Communicating with Staff Who Aren’t Wired"
• Carol Whitworth, Home: “A Picture Paints a Thousand Words: How to Use Visual Maps and Smart Design to Bring Business Strategy to Life”
• Sebastian White, JetBlue Airways: “How Culture Drives Business Performance”

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When many corporate communication or marketing managers get push-back on installing a digital signage networks from execs, one of the common reasons they hear is, "I don't want our employees watching TV all day." 

Thanks to this infographic from NBRI, we know what unengaged employees are doing. Nearly 30% of employees fall asleep at work (according to the National Sleep Foundation)? Yikes. The rest? They plays games, socialize, use social media (whoops) or smoke. 

The graphic also shares that trust in executives can have twice the impact on employee engagement than trust in immediate supervisors. So if executives don't trust employees and employees don't trust executives, what's a communicator to do?

It's simple. Communicate. Check out the infographic and let me know what resonates with you. 



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Our friends at IPG's MediaLab certainly know how to throw a party – from innovative eats (pizza hanging from meat hooks), a funked up DJ and highly attentive service hosts, this launch event in NYC yesterday evening was definitely Madison Avenue-style (actually 100 West 33rd to be precise).  With roaming camera crews, floating celebs, and of course the hip swinging robot with cute LED blue eyes – guests were put at ease to casually learn and get hands-on experience of some of the cutting edge (some of them bleeding) applications of technology to take consumer/brand retail experiences to a whole new level.

The DailyDOOH picked up on this event and rightly described the new Lab as an "immersive exploration center."  It commented that "At any given time, The Lab will feature 50 of these technologies, platforms and applications from the industry’s most pioneering companies".

MediaTile is one of those pioneering companies and has worked with the Lab team for over a year now – first in the Wilshire Blvd, LA MediaLab and now in NYC - by showcasing MediaCast Video Presence on the HumanKiosk.  So from first-hand experience I can say that the Lab is a very creative space and the IPG team (many thanks to Scott, Sonya and the rest of the team) is great to work with; providing constructive feedback, local technical support in the Lab, a can-do attitude and sharing high levels of enthusiasm about the solutions to both their clients and technology partners like ourselves.

I was at the cocktail party in NYC last night to show guests how to 'get personal' with the HumanKiosk – a fusion of interactive digital signage and video-enabled customer service.  Remote expert agents were on hand in California to take the video calls from the MediaLab guests (thus proving out one of the benefits of remote video agents…..shift work by time zones!).  If you weren't on the guest list last night you can still check out the HumanKiosk at www.humankiosk.com

Along side of the HumanKiosk was an array of many promising Retail and Marketing technologies; from multi-touch product experience tables that allow you to quickly select a large number of product range items and evaluate color, type, or performance merits – through to visual dressing rooms that allow you to see yourself 'virtually' with different clothes, accessories and color/styles without even touching a screen.  In the Consumer Intelligence/Business Intelligence (CI/BI) area there was a great Executive Dashboard that in real time drew visitor statistics from all the social media channels and attempted to correlate them to events and activities, whether local or national, to help create actionable management information. And then there was anonymous video analytics…..those cameras were everywhere!  I saw three different demonstration stations showing different applications of this powerful tool, including one that purported to gauge your emotional response to displayed content.  I pulled a face and made a gesture and sure enough the graph on the demo screen spiked!  I wonder what those CI gurus are making of that this morning……?

The IPG MediaLab launch event reminded me of the theme of CETW event that had wrapped up at the Javits Center just a couple of hours earlier that day:  ENGAGE!  Whether it's self-serve kiosks/tables, interactive digital signage or mobile/social apps – or all three working in tandem – our job in the industry is to engage the viewer/consumer, give them a personalized, relevant and rewarding experience, and do it simply and quickly.  A big thank you to the IPG MediaLab team for making the next steps towards that goal more possible.

Rather than bother everybody's Twitter stream with updates, I thought it would be better to provide presentation thoughts here (and serves as good note-taking for me).

Sebastian White, JetBlue Airways: “How Culture Drives Business Performance”

• JetBlue is now the largest airline in New York City. 
• Focus on service starts inside with a fanatacism toward culture: Safety, Caring, Integrity, Fun and Passion. 
• To combat declining JD Power scores, they created a "Culture is Service" to drive improved business results. 
• JetBlue asked front-facing employees what's getting in their way of providing magnificent customer service to employees. 
• In the summits, employees had to write an essay about why they should attend these working sessions to help provide effective business communication. 
• JetBlue uses NetPromoter to provide a score that impact employee communication. 
• All 14,000 employees at jetBlue have email access and the intranet is the hub of all internal communication activity. The intranet is available outside the corporate firewall and it's open to comments. With the relaunch, employees were told to stop sending email. 
• JetBlue's intranet site also features industry news from other airlines. 
• They use videos and podcasts, even as responses to crisis communication, so that employees can stay in the loop. 
• JetBlue's recommendation: "Throw in a contest and people will pay attention." They even name their jets with the "blue" name in them. 
• They encourage customers and employees to post pictures on JetBlue's Flickr page. These photos then get used internally. 

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Rather than bother everybody's Twitter stream with updates, I thought it would be better to provide presentation thoughts here (and serves as good note-taking for me).

Kim Lott and Wendy Davies-Popelka, John Deere: “Connecting with Disconnected Employees: Successfully Communicating with Staff Who Aren’t Wired”

• The legacy of John Deere is something employees hold dear. The company is committed to "those linked to the land." 
• Manufacturing sites in 16 countries and conduct business in 35 countries. Employee communications is translated into as many as 14 different languages. 
• Once a year, company distributes printed collateral that aligns goals with corporate strategy. Use the same icons that align back to other communication. 
• Like a lot of other companies John Deere uses "jam sessions" to bring in small groups to discuss internal topics. 
• Employees were asked to fill out "commitment cards" to identify personal goals, as well as what they will do to help other succeed and to connect with customers. 
• John Deere encourages customer interactions with employees, either through webcasts or live presentations. Marketing captured employee comments and then share those with employees. 
• "Deere Sightings" encourages employees to share photos of seeing the John Deere brand out in the community. This gets employees involved in employee communications. 

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Rather than bother everybody's Twitter stream with updates, I thought it would be better to provide presentation thoughts here (and serves as good note-taking for me).

Mark Mills, Nationwide Insurance: "Connecting Employees with the Brand"

• Using a powerful brand can most definitely help drive engagement. 
• 68% of customers are turned away by an employee's indifferent attitude. 
• Corporate reputation is how you are perceived. A brand is how a company wants to be perceived. 
• Social media has brought about brand hate. So easy for customers to leave reviews and potential customers become reactionary. 
• Employee communications must be helping to deliver the brand promise to employees so that they become brand ambassadors. 
• A company's culture is the collective behavior of all employees, some of which will be good and other parts will be bad. 
• When the brand says "On Your Side," employees must live that. 
• "I Care" is a customer outreach effort that puts the brand "On Your Side" in action. 
• Nationwide has launched a mobile app (currently just Blackberry) so that remote employees can access the intranet on their smartphones. They are doing 10-12 stories a week on the intranet. 
• The company has embraced the user of Yammer (but it does require employees have an email address and Internet access). 

6 steps to inform inspire and engage:

1. Align and clarify principles
2. Ensure employees truly understand
3. Regularly articulate the brand
4. Create a sense of community
5. Attrack the right employees
6. Inspire, train and reward 

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The fact is I have very high expectations for today's Connect 11 conference. And it's not meant to put any kind of pressure on the organizers or speakers. It's the exact kind of conference I've been looking for since I've been in employee communications. 

The conference focuses on the more difficult and challenging side of employee communications. How do you communicate to a "disconnected" workforce who doesn't have ready access to email, voice mail, the intranet and so forth? 

The fact is that communicators have gotten lazy. We assume that just because we post something or email something, that people are chomping on the bit to click it. When a communicator doesn't have those options they have to get creative. 

And this is the challenge I sent to communicators who say their employees are all "connected." Are they? 

Do all of your email get opened? Hardly. 

Do employees check the intranet every single day? Maybe but not likely. 

So how are you ensuring your messages are getting delivered. This is what I hope to hear from the Connect 11 speakers. The event has a great selection of corporate communication pros all on one track. 

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This week I’ll be attending CETW (Consumer Engagement Technology World) in New York City November 9-11.  CETW is one of the more interesting shows, as it highlights elements from three distinct, yet converging worlds:  the world of interactive digital signage, kiosk-based self-service systems and the mobile communications.  The common thread:  “customer engagement,” which is right in line with our thinking and our new campaign “get personal.”  The HumanKiosk solution is the fusion of live, video call routing to on-demand experts, and interactive signage so we’ll be right a home with all comers to the event.

You can find me supporting DFI Tech, one of our HumanKiosk hardware partners, in booth #334  - so stop by and see the latest generation of the HumanKiosk solution and our MediCast Video Presence solution that powers this end-to-end system. If you can’t make it to the show, please have a look at our short video on YouTube,  or visit our site to learn more about this revolution in customer service and support in point-of-sale and point-of-service environments.

The day before the show, I’ll be attending the DSA (Digital ScreenMedia Association) advisory committee meeting. As the industry’s largest digital signage trade association, it will be great to see everyone and learn about the new activities underway to further promote our industry and support its participants through advocacy and education.  If you’re a customer of digital signage it’s free to join, so if you haven’t yet done so, please visit their site  http://www.digitalscreenmedia.org/join-users-deployers – you’ll have access to a wealth of industry information as well as experts at no charge.

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To borrow a term from one of our premier partners, commercially 4G means "lightning fast speed" but that is obviously geared more toward cell phone services. 4G in the world of digital signage means something exponentially different. To the digital signage customer, 4G means no longer sacrificing content or interactive features in an effort to reduce cost and complexities of screen installation. 

What 4G allows MediaTile's digital signage solution set to deliver is more dynamic content thanks to the increased bandwidth 4G provides. Specifically, MediaCast can now deliver live, 2-way video communication on screen or "Video Presence". When Video Presence is utilized, our 4G digital signage solution set becomes "The HumanKiosk" (at this point I like to image a mild mannered digital signage screen entering an old-time phone and changing into the HK. You know, like Superman).  The HumanKiosk provides all the benefits of traditional digital signage to attract, engage, and immerse users in relevant digital information but now adds experts, live on-demand.

Beyond delivering Video Presence, the benefit of 4G for digital signage is the ability to start answering the questions "what if?" and "why not?" Because 4G can deliver data only traditionally provided by a CAT5 line, many customers (with guidance from vendor experts like MediaTile's MediaServices Team) are discovering integration points to help increase both hard dollar and soft dollar return on their digital signage investment. 

4G is changing the digital signage marketplace and I look forward to seeing how 5G only raises the stakes. 

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To say the role of a corporate communicator is diverse would be like saying the Sistine Chapel has a nice ceiling painting. And maybe that's laying it on a bit heavy but the point is that corporate communications staffs have so much on their shoulders. 

When it's being responsible for tracking public relations activities, managing corporate social responsibility or coordinating employee communication activities, they carry a hefty load. (And this is just highlighting the "fun" activities. It's always about improving communication. . . or should be. 

This infographic from PRWeek shows the "anatomy" of a corporate communicator. Not the blood and guts part (thought I'm sure you'd find that most have an ulcer), but more the breakdown of what the communicator's responsibilities are and the pressures they face. 

Probably the two least surprising stats on here are:

1. 66% expect no change or a reduction in staffing in 2012
2. Budget restraints are the #1 cause of job stress. 

Is there any statistic that you find alarming or do the figures reflect the challenges facing corporate communications in 2012?

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Infographic, courtesy of PRWeek

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