Global Communication

Instant replay of our webinar on digital signage and employee communications

Monday, February 22, 2010 by Chuck Gose

I was thrilled to death with how well our first webinar went last week. But I know that not everybody who wanted to attend was able to. We had some great questions at the end from attendees on tips and techniques of implementing digital signage for employee communications. And though I was able to answer them on the call, I think they are important questions and answers to share here on the blog.

But before I get to those over the next few weeks, you can look glance through the webinar's presentation and see how Eli Lilly & Company uses signage to enhance their global business communication. It includes some great photos that demonstrate the variety of environments the displays are installed in, including shuttle buses. Very cool.

Digital signage & employee communications

View more presentations from Chuck Gose.

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Over the next week, you'll see quite a bit of extra traffic on the blog due to Digital Signage Expo. Should be an exciting time.

Free webinar: Corporate communication & digital signage

Monday, February 15, 2010 by Chuck Gose

I'm psyched to be facilitating this FREE webinar this Thursday, 2/18, at 2:00 EST.

Digital signage & corporate communication

In just 30 minutes, discover how communications professionals are adding digital signage into their standard mix to bring both local and international teams together, ensure up-to-date news distribution and present a consistent message.

Seats are limited so get signed up today if you are interested in hearing from the best.

Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly & Company, the largest corporate user of our digital signage technology, will be on the webinar with me discussing how the company uses signage to enhance communication around the globe. Chris Bias, the mastermind behind LillyTV, will share his wisdom on the tips, tricks and techniques of engaging a global workforce with digital signage.

The globalization of internal communication

Thursday, December 17, 2009 by Chuck Gose

While many think globalization is dead, it really has yet to begin for internal communications. Even with the best and biggest global companies, employee communications is often completely fractured. Rarely is there a consistent message spread across the country, let alone a consistent vehicle that all employees share.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cupcakes2/3465410839/

Translation (or lack thereof) throws a huge wrench into the corporate communications cog. If you don't have people on staff who can do their own translations, it can be trick and quite expensive.

And for those who have tried to globalize their communications, you know how challenging it is. Intranets were supposed to be a big help and are in most cases. But if you've ever been part of developing a global intranet, I send my sympathies. It's a brutal, brutal undertaking. Many are never the same afterward.

Some companies attempt to put out a global newsletter but it's all handled at the top. Very rarely is their local input or authority on content. The corporate messages are key, but so are the local messages. And the integration of the two will determine success. Unfortunately, print is one of the "easy cuts" that companies make when budgets get attacked.

We've seen companies have success with using digital signage as a global tool. Not only can the corporate contribute the wide-reaching messages, but the local communicators can also add in their own unique messaging. This helps employees tie what they do to the larger corporate objectives - a challenge for those troubled with employee engagement.

If you're a global communicator, ask yourself if your tools and messages are truly representative of your audience. If you're a local communicator, are your messages reaching "the top" and can you customize the big picture?

You're at a prime point to make a huge impact globally. Employees are hungry for information and need to trust the information source. Become the trust adviser to your business and deliver value across borders.
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Photo credit, cupcakes2

Wrapping up the Strategy Institute conference (#BuildDSBiz)

Monday, November 23, 2009 by Chuck Gose

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.

Attending this week's Strategy Institute digital signage conference

Tuesday, November 17, 2009 by Chuck Gose

Today, I'll be making my way up to Chicago for the Make Money and Grow Your Digital Signage Business conference held by the folks at the Strategy Institute. I'm not sure who else will be attending so I'll do my best to blog and tweet from the event.

Will you be there? Please leave a comment and let me know.

Per the usual, there is a strong cast of presenters at this year's show. Keith Kelsen, MediaTile's founder, is the chairperson for the show AND our largest corporate communication customer will be speaking.

Chris Bias from Eli Lilly & Company will take the stage Thursday to talk about how he's developing content for his global audience and giving local admins control. I'm not much of a photographer, but I'm sure he'd "love" to see a few pics of himself on the blog.

I'm curious to see what happens Wednesday night as part of the tour of digital signage in Chicago. November isn't always the kindest month to Chicago weather-wise, but it should be a great time to network with other industry pros.

Stay tuned digital signage fans. I know you're out there.

A vote for this blog is a vote for the digital signage industry

Monday, October 26, 2009 by Chuck Gose

Okay, that headline might come across a bit heavy-handed, but I truly am honored to have this blog featured in the Top 50 Indiana Blogs competition.

"But isn't MediaTile a global company based in California? Why Indiana?" I'm part of the list because that's where I live.

So if you wouldn't mind, take a few seconds and log your vote. You can certainly vote for all of your favorites and not just mine. Though I'm pretty sure I'm the only digital signage blog on the block.

Voting doesn't require any login. Just click vote. Vote because you like digital signage. Vote because you are a corporate communication pro. Vote because you love employee communications. A vote for this blog is a vote for the digital signage industry. . . sort of.

Thanks for your support.

4G and partnering with Alcatel-Lucent's ng Connect program

Saturday, October 10, 2009 by Leah Kane

We at MediaTile are PSYCHED to announce the first "HumanKiosk" prototype. This is an interactive, two-way video conferencing mechanism, enabling consumers and retailers (among others) to communicate directly with one another, in-store- no middle man.

Imagine the possibilities - you're in the store, comparison shopping, you have a question but the store staff doesn't know anything more about the product you're holding than the info which appears on its packaging. No problem- connect to a product expert and have a face-to-face conversation via HumanKiosk.

The excitement surrounding the HumanKiosk release is that it is based on ng Connect's 4G/LTE technology. (LTE = Long Term Evolution). If you're unfamiliar with ng Connect, it is a program "conceived and founded by Alcatel-Lucent, bring[ing] together infrastructure, device, application and content companies to create an end-to-end ecosystem with all the resources and expertise required to rapidly deliver next generation services and applications to service providers, enterprises and consumers. " (quoted from the ng Connect website...)

4G essentially is 3G on steroids. It has the bandwidth to support live and streaming video uploads/downloads - and to support the increasingly interactive nature of successful digital signage deployments.

Every retailer and brand manager hopes to improve communication with its consumer- traditional advertising is limited in this regard. HumanKiosk takes digital signage to another level of relevancy- it provides a purely interactive experience and accomplishes what pre-recorded content, whatever the medium, cannot hope to achieve.

Check it out- we can't wait to hear your feedback!

Will 4G make Digital Signage or will Digital Signage make 4G?

Sunday, September 20, 2009 by Simon Wilson

MediaTile is the world’s first provider of cellular digital signage. Having graduated from 1X and EVDO we have been providing 3G-based networked digital signage since 2005. Naturally we are continuing to push the envelope by working with variants of 4G. The promise that significantly increased bandwidth will create major new market opportunities and applications for network operators is a driver of innovation for the whole industry - in turn providing for improved interactive and relevant content on screen.

As with any new technology however, there are different schools. In the case of 4G, LTE (Long Term Evolution) and WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) are taking center-stage in the race for hearts, minds, regional roll-outs, and partnerships. However, the technology that wins out will not be the big story of tomorrow. The real story is how ubiquitous broadband wireless access will change the lives of consumers, traveling professionals, and small business owners, not to mention how it will facilitate a huge swathe of new or extended business applications as they are unshackled from fixed networks.

4G will add a whole new level of experiential and contextual-based content including on-demand videos to Cellular Digital Signage. 4G is therefore certainly an exciting business prospect for network operators – enhancing their ROI by delivering greater content impact with far less on site infrastructure. Certainly Houston Spencer, Alcatel-Lucent’s VP of Solutions and Marketing seems to agree following their LTE Focus Conference in Amsterdam last week.   But is 4G Digital Signage the Killer App to get 4G across the chasm? Or is our industry a supporting player to other products and applications from other industries that may instead catapult 4G wireless broadband to widespread deployment? In other words 'will 4G make Digital Signage or will Digital Signage make 4G?

Keepin' it Simple

Clicks that click: 09.09.09

Wednesday, September 9, 2009 by Chuck Gose

I'm out at MediaTile HQ in Scotts Valley, CA, this week so I'm a bit tied up in meetings. I thought it was a good time to pull together another list of my "clicks that click." These are a smattering of news items I've picked up over the last week or so that are related to communication in the workplace, social media AND/or digital signage.
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At last June's IABC World Conference, I was asked about the trends I was seeing in corporate communications and what did I see around the corner. My response was that eventually communications would switch into recovery mode and that companies would have to respond to keep employees around. With a nice Labor Day theme, Jeanette Paladino agrees that companies should be ratcheting up their communications. (She mentions intranets, newsletters and face-to-face, but not digital signage. I'm sure it's just oversight.) Jennifer Bull over at Good Company shares our sentiment.
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Global business communication is often a tough nut to crack, but Dave Meyer provides 10 tips for global communicators on his Communication Nation blog. All 10 are solid global communication tips, but I especially love #1 (get outside your fish bowl) and #6 (engage). I'm not sure if Dave did his graphics or not, but they are great.
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Though I'm headed to the circus this weekend, I'm not what you'd call a big fan of clowns. But allegedly you can use scary clowns to improve employee engagement. Go figure. I'd put up the photo but I'm going to stick with the fish.
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Has the employee-employer relationship permanently changed? Yes.
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Apparently, more and more companies and organizations are looking at Twitter to help during crisis communication. Communicating to employees during a crisis has long been a challenge. Digital signage can help on site, but Twitter could become a huge resource for those employees who are off-site or remote. All they'd have to do is follow the corporate account.

Bone to pick with PRSA article

Thursday, July 2, 2009 by Chuck Gose

I admit. I got a bit excited when I received the latest PRSA's PR Tactics in the mail yesterday. Aside from the usual ranting of the same people, it has some really good and insightful articles in it from pros doing the work.

But the headline on the current edition is "Fast Forward: Video's continued evolution." That's right up my alley. I was hoping to there would be content focused on employee communications and not just PR and I wasn't disappointed.

So on page 13, I make it to an article by Mike McDougall, APR, titled, "The changing rules of the video game: Integrating online video into everyday communications."

Reading through the article, I agree with most of Mike's comments, with the key word being "most." He writes about the use of glossy corporate video compared to more home grown versions with employees shooting their own. Solid advice. Along with reminders about how inexpensive video is now. Couldn't agree more.

So I make it to the subhead, "Video for employee engagement." Now we're talking. The good stuff. . . . right?

"A decade ago, company video networks were the rage, with TV monitors scattered across lobbies, cafeterias, break rooms, plant floors and more. But with the advent of intranets the monitors were soon gathering dust as employee communication shifted online. Intranets killed the video star."

What!?

Maybe a decade ago it was the rage, but the rage continues as small and large corporations are looking at digital signage as a way to reach all employees, not just those who don't have traditional access to email, voice mail and the intranet. Many like to single out the manufacturing workforce as if they are some sort of neanderthal workforce because they don't have easy access when actually many organizations (retail and hospitals for example) have thousands upon thousands of workers who don't stare at computer screens all day.

Also what I'm seeing and hearing is that employees are growing tired of always staring at their computer screens (if they have them). If you've been working at your desk all day, are you going to stay sitting there and watch (and pay attention) to a 5 or 10-minute video? So this is where communicators need to reach out and communicate in different ways. For many companies, digital signage is that different way.

And if dust was gathering on the screens as Mike suggests, it was because various communication departments lost focus and neglected the tool. It wasn't because employees weren't paying attention. And let's say it was because employees weren't paying attention, then the content must have stunk, which will kill any communications vehicle out there.

I'm all for video being pushed to the intranet. It's great, especially for remote or mobile employees who otherwise wouldn't have access. But even today, you mention to your IT department that you're interested in hosting lots of video and possibly even stream it, you'll likely either be met with blank stares or bouts of laughter. Yes, IT people do laugh.

And I guess I'm a bit confused by Mike's statement that intranets killed the video star but then he goes on to talk about the use of video on the intranet.

The video star is alive and well. You, the communicator, are the video star. You just need to make sure you have the right vehicles in place to deliver that video message.

Nice to get that all off my chest.

Words of wisdom for the week (6/8 - 6/12)

Saturday, June 13, 2009 by Chuck Gose

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bingramos/120157809/

Attending last week's IABC World Conference provided a wealth of content. Here's the rundown...

Monday, June 8
Day 1 recap from the IABC World Conference
Day 1 is about to officially come to a close and it's been a strong first day. Though it shouldn't come as much of a surprise given that it is a world conference, much of the content and sessions is focused on communicating to a global audience. Global communication is a challenge for any organization with people scattered about time zones and geographies. Just when some employees are showing up to work, others are going to bed.

Tuesday, June 9
Discussing trends in employee communications
I'm really honored to take part in this morning's "expert" panel on employee communications at the 2009 IABC World Conference. Though I feel the expert label is a bit of a misnomer and widely overused, hence the quotation marks. I'm not expert (though others on the panel may be). I'm an enthusiast. I love everything involving employee communications.

Employee communications a hot topic at IABC
I feel like a lot of internal communicators get stuck in their own worlds sometimes. Our audiences are the people inside the four walls so sometimes we don't look outside for help, or maybe just don't realize where help is. At least I never did. We've heard we all need to be better story tellers, and sometimes are stories are the ones best told. I'd like to thank everyone for sharing their hard work.

Wednesday, June 10
ROM for Corporate Communications is a game-changer
It's quite timely that just as we wrap up a successful IABC World Conference, we've announced a special new version of our ROM (Return on Message) Methodology for corporate communications. In my biased opinion, this is a game-changer. The topic of measurement came up again and again at the IABC World Conference.

Friday, June 11
What role will communicators play during the recovery period?
For the employee communications expert panel at this week's IABC World Conference, I was asked to talk briefly about a communications trend I've seen recently. Aside from the obvious one (social media), the only thing I've seen is internal communicators getting beat up on a daily basis.

And here's a few others that peaked my interest...

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Photo credit, bingbing

Day 1 recap from the 2009 IABC World Conference (#iabc09)

Tuesday, June 9, 2009 by Chuck Gose

Day 1 is about to officially come to a close and it's been a strong first day. Though it shouldn't come as much of a surprise given that it is a world conference, much of the content and sessions is focused on communicating to a global audience.

Earlier today, I attended a session titled, "Stop the world, I want to communicate," and especially enjoyed comments from Roche's Ron Fuchs. He simply stated that communicators must do more than just communicate and need to get out and visit with employees where the employees work. I couldn't agree more, so I'll leave it at that.

Global communication is a challenge for any organization with people scattered about time zones and geographies. Just when some employees are showing up to work, others are going to bed.

One of the questions posed to the attendees was whether or not technology is a friend or foe. Friendly technology like digital signage can certainly help to overcome these barriers by being able to schedule communication. And by also giving local communicators access to the signs, they then have much-needed buy-in to the digital signage technology. Thereby improving communication in the long run.

The luncheon topic, "Generating positive energy in tough times," was extremely refreshing. With all of the topics instructing or advising corporate communicators on the communicating the right message in the right way, the luncheon speaker instead encouraged communicators to take a step back and evaluate their priorities. Really enlightening and powerful stuff.

More to come...

The David Hasselhoff of digital signage blogs

Friday, May 29, 2009 by Chuck Gose

Is this site becoming the David Hasselhoff of digital signage blogs? I did a little Google Analytics work last night and our international visitors are getting close to outnumbering hits from the U.S. If this keeps up, we'll be more popular overseas. . . kind of like David Hasselhoff.

And frankly, this is fine with MediaTile. We are build for it. We have international distributors set up all over the globe. Africa, United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Germany and Italy, just to name a few. These relationships make it easy for those looking to install global networks for employee communications (or any reason for that matter).

With our cellular approach, you can now put digital signage anywhere there's a cell signal and control those screens from any web browser in the world. Pretty cool, huh.

But what's not at all cool, but very funny, is this classic Hoff video below. Enjoy.

What do apples have to do with digital signage?

Monday, May 4, 2009 by Chuck Gose

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. What you need to determine though is, at the end of the day, which company will provide you the most robust, headache-free option out there.

I certainly believe a lot in MediaTile's cellular digital signage approach, coupled with our Digital Sign in a Box technology. In my biased opinion, our signage is an ideal solution for corporate communicators out there.

MediaCast, our content and signage management portal, is web-based so you don't have to install software on any computers or servers. You can access the portal from IE, Safari or Firefox on either a PC or a Mac. And if you choose to use cellular as the networking option, you can install an entire network without any IT involvement or investment.

Let me repeat that. You can install and manage an entire network (even global) without any IT. If that's not perfect for corporate communication departments, then I don't know what is.

How about them apples!
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Photo credit, tanakawho

Are your employees sick of swine flu news?

Wednesday, April 29, 2009 by Chuck Gose

News of the swine flu outbreaks across the country and world are spreading, no pun intended. And clearly this is important news because of the potential risks to everyone. Even Google Maps has created a mashup of swine flu outbreaks.

View H1N1 Swine Flu in a larger map

But I'm not a medical professional (nor do I pretend to play on the Internet) so I'm not going to weigh in on its importance. So what I'm curious to find out is if your company is communicating swine flu news, tips or advice to employees?

The question of whether or not it's a company's responsibility was recently raised on Twitter. I'm on the side that thinks it is a company's duty to pass along news because it acknowledges what's on employee's minds and further developments could possibly impact business continuity. It may not quite reach the level of crisis communication but we really don't know where it's going at this point.

And since this is global news, do you have a global communication tool you can use for employee communication? For example, one of our customers was able to report globally that all of their employees were accounted for after the earthquake in Italy thanks to their digital signage network.

Does your company have this ability?

On the road again

Tuesday, April 28, 2009 by Chuck Gose

A lot of people despise business travel, but I actually kind of like it. Prior to this job, I had always pretty much resided in Cubicle World. But now I get to be out and about visiting with companies interested in digital signage.

And what's great is that I not only get to talk to them about our technology but I also get to hear what all of their other methods of communication are. You really get a good feel for the level of engagement at each company this way.

Yesterday, I took a lovely drive down to Bloomington, IN, to visit with an organization there looking to replace an existing digital signage network. The current system they have is quite cumbersome and only allows them to display static images. Not there's anything wrong with static images, but they aren't very engaging when you can't even play video.

Then later this week, I'm flying out to Kansas City, MO, to visit with a firm looking at our technology to help them synch up their global communication. They have a series of facilities around the world and it has been a constant struggle for them to deliver timely information to all of their locations.

MediaTile's technology is the answer for both.
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Photo credit, Stephen Cummings

Words of Wisdom for the week (3/23-3/27)

Saturday, March 28, 2009 by Chuck Gose

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.)

Are you going to be at GlobalShop 2009? Keith Kelsen is.

Monday, March 23, 2009 by Chuck Gose

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.

If you're attending this year's show or just happen to be in Vegas, I recommend swinging by the Sands Expo and listening in on Keith's sessions.

Session DS-2
Digital Signage Delivery: The Best Choice for Your Network
9:45 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
Digital signage networks are popping up everywhere you go. Airports, malls, banks, bars and grocery stores are just a few of the places where content is delivered to capture the attention of the consumer. But every digital signage implementation is different, and is only as effective as the network that delivers the content. In some cases, the content may be able to be delivered and maintained through physical media, cellular broadband or terrestrial broadband, while other, more extensive networks require satellite network delivery. Which content delivery method would best fit your network? Find out here.
Session DS-6
Content Best Practices for Retail Digital Signage Networks
2:45 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
This panel discussion will highlight how to create and schedule content to achieve the highest possible viewer impact, influence and response. Presented by the chair and members of the Digital Signage Association's Content Best Practices Committee, this presentation will provide attendees with the critical factors that ensure the ongoing and ultimate success of their in-store network. Key topic areas of this presentation include understanding environmental issues such as display placement, location and traffic; creating content that is relevant to viewers based on demographics, lifestyle and dwell time; structuring playlists to achieve maximum effect with loop times, day parts and update frequency; and adding elements that create additional viewer interest such as weather, news and subscription services.

For those especially interested in corporate communication networks, the first one about choosing the right network will be extremely insightful and valuable.

Digital Signage: The news of my death has been greatly exaggerated

Wednesday, February 18, 2009 by Chuck Gose

This Digital Signage is Dead post has been making its way around the marketplace with every blogger and their brother commenting on it. I tried to resist commenting, but to those who know me know I have to put in my $.02.

First off, I love the headline. Declaring an entire industry dead is a great way to draw some attention. This is Journalism 101. If their intention was to draw traffic, then kudos to them. I know of at least 5 other bloggers who've taken the time to pen their own response.

It's similar to the arguments that email is dead. I see their logic because many of the social networking platforms have a messaging system and I use them. But you still need an email address to sign up. Email's not dead. And neither is the digital signage industry.

But if in their heart of hearts they really think digital signage is dead, then they are sorely, sorely mistaken. The industry in its current form is now gaining serious traction and companies globally are now recognizing it as a powerful and cost-effective employee communications tool. We are now seeing global organizations looking at installing digital signs in the hundreds for internal communications.

I can appreciate looking at the "What's next" argument, but whatever is next doesn't always replace the now.

Who is the "THE" in digital signage?

Tuesday, January 27, 2009 by Chuck Gose

A few weeks back, Seth Godin, a very well-known and highly-regarded author and blogger, wrote about the importance of having "The" be your middle name. He provided examples such as Attila The Hun and Alexander The Great.

With "The" as a middle name, Seth writes that you're defining a category. We even saw it creep into politics this past year with Joe The Plumber, which maybe means that "The" as a middle name isn't all that great. I hope we've seen the last of that "The." And, as Seth points out, Winnie The Pooh may not be strongest example either.

But what about "THE" as a first name? Growing up a fan of Ohio State football, it was already great to see a former player announce the school on Monday Night Football as "THE Ohio State University." (And I'm sure it annoyed the crap out of Michigan fans.) It wasn't just any Ohio State University they attended. Oh no, it was "THE" Ohio State University.

Well this got me thinking about about who was the "THE" in digital signage? The marketplace is cluttered with names. Some are continuing to grow (like us) and some are struggling.

Given the infancy and evolution of digital signage, it may take some time to sort out who the "THE" is. But if I may, I think MediaTile has two THEs under our belt:

THE cellular digital signage solution
THE ideal solution for internal communications

It was because of these two THEs that Rolls-Royce and I chose MediaTile for its employee communications network, and I'm seeing other companies choose MediaTile for THE very same reasons.

And I'm sure I've now annoyed any grammar lovers with the use of "The" and "THE" in the same post. Sorry guys and gals.